Here & There

Hello readers,  It has been a while since I last wrote here, but today I wanted to share something close to my heart.  Almost 2 years ago, I moved from India to the U.S. with no idea what life would look like. Everything was new. A new classroom, a new home, new roommates, new friends, and new cuisines. Living away from family wasn't entirely new to me. I had been away from home since 2018. But Boston taught me something different. It taught me how to truly live on my own; it taught me patience, resilience, and consistent faith in the Universe.  Being the youngest in my family, I grew up surrounded by love and care. Yet every step of becoming independent was possible because my family and friends never stopped showing up for me. No matter the time difference, no matter how late it was back home, they were always there. I will always be grateful to them.  Now, as I prepare to move to another state, I do so with a heavy heart. Leaving Boston is not easy. Over the last ...

Hey Folks!  I was wondering lately that what if poems, art, photography, and all those quiet, loud, messy, beautiful hobbies were humans? I can imagine they wouldn't sit still in one place. They would rather wander into your life unannounced, knock on your heart at odd hours, and stay longer than you planned. They wouldn't ask for permission. They would just show up when the world feels a little too much. Poetry would be the soft-spoken friend who listens more than they talk. They would sit beside you on the floor at 2 a.m., handing you words when your emotions refuse to cooperate. They would never rush you. They would believe that pauses are meaningful as sentences. Poetry would understand your silences better than your explanations.  Art would be the expressive soul with pain on its fingers and chaos in its bag. It would encourage you to make a mess, to feel first and fix later. Art wouldn't care if you stayed inside the lines. In fact, it would gently push you outside th...

Yellow! You know how sometimes we just need to step away from the usual routine and breathe for a while? That's exactly what this little trip to Maine turned out to be a pause, a reset, and a reminder that life has its own gentle rhythm. Surrounded by fall colors, laughter, and quiet moments, I ended up learning more than I expected about change, letting go, and simply being present.  I recently traveled to Maine with my roommates and friends to witness the fall colors and honestly, every mile we drove felt like moving closer to something sacred. As if we were slowly entering a quiet, gently heaven painted in shades of amber, rust and gold. The trees stood there like patient artists, each leaf an intentional brushstroke.  Fall always amazes me. Nature performs this dramatic transformation every year, and yet we never stop being in awe of it. We celebrate the changing colors of leaves, but when it comes to humans, we struggle to accept change in each other. Isn't it strange? Th...

Hello everyone! Lately, I have been stuck in this weird loop of thoughts. You know, that “late night, can’t sleep, overthinking about life” phase. And somewhere in between scrolling reels and sipping tea, I realize we all live a lot of our lives in Khayali Pulao. Yeah, imagination. Daydreams. “One day, I will do this” kind of thoughts. We’re constantly planning; "If Plan A doesn’t work, I’ll try Plan B. If not B, then C" .  We create backup plans for our backup plans. Our lives start feeling like a PowerPoint presentation of “what ifs” and “maybes.” We think we are being practical, but honestly, are we really living or just preparing to live? Sometimes I feel like life itself is a grand illusion, a dream within a dream. We are all running so fast to accomplish our dreams before we fall asleep, but maybe the real question is - what if we’re trying to WAKE UP from one? We chase success, love, validation, that perfect health, that dream job like they are the ultimate destination...

Working with sequencing data is a lot like opening a mysterious treasure chest; there is the thrill of discovery, but also the risk that what is inside might not be as valuable as you hoped. Hidden within those files could be the genomic equivalent of gold or just a lot of noise. This is where  Quality Control (QC)  becomes indispensable. In my recent learning from NASA's Genelab On-demand course, we focused on S equencing data QC,  the crucial first step before diving into analysis. No matter how advanced your downstream methods are, poor-quality input will always produce unreliable output. In bioinformatics, the saying  “garbage in, garbage out”  couldn’t be more true. Why QC Matters? When we get raw data from sequencing machines i.e. FASTQ files, it is not perfect. Errors creep in due to base-calling mistakes, adapter contamination, overrepresented sequences, or even leftover PCR duplicates. If we skip QC, we might spend hours or days analyzing flawed da...

A man once placed a bird in my hands, Saying, “You might save a life.” With a heart full of hope, And a will to do good, I gently took it in. The moment I held that fragile form, It no longer felt like a bird But a bond, A life entrusted to me. I named it Sky, A name that whispered freedom, That spoke of soaring heights. I asked, I learned, I did everything I could. Food, warmth, care, Prayers whispered like lullabies, Under sleepless stars. All I wanted was to see it fly, To see it live like it was meant to, Free and fearless. But as dawn approached, So did the truth. Fate had a different plan. Sky took its last breath, Cradled in its so called "home" A silent goodbye. In that moment, I broke Not just in grief, But in understanding. Responsibility is heavy When a life depends on you. And sometimes, Even love isn't enough To change what’s written. Still, I hope Hope that in another life, Sky will fly Higher than ever before. Stronger. Bri...