Some days the anxiety is a quiet fog and I just go through classes like a background character in my own life. Walking around the Udupi temple streets in the evening helps a little, the crowd and lights remind me the world is still moving. Writing this so future-me remembers the fog does lift.

I sketch anime-style portraits of my hostel friends and give them away, too shy to ever charge money. One friend framed hers and it made me feel like maybe I am actually okay at this. Trying to believe my art has value even when my marks feel like they do not.

Second-year engineering and I still do not know if I chose this or just did not argue with my parents. Exams make me question everything at 3am. Anyone else studying a course they are not sure is theirs, and just trying to pass while figuring it out?

Hostel taught me that homesickness hits hardest not at night but at lunch, when the mess food tastes nothing like amma's. My roommate and I have a rule: whoever is sadder gets the window seat and the good blanket. Small treaties that keep us human.

Anime is my therapy, honestly

Rewatched a slice-of-life anime this weekend and cried at a scene about a character just being allowed to rest. Sometimes a cartoon understands me better than the people around me, is that weird? Anime got me through my worst hostel nights, no exaggeration.