Hi, welcome to my website. I am a painter, writer and international development professional from India, living in Washington DC.
That’s the small version of it, and here’s the long version:
I was born in Kolkata, India and then grew up in different cities of India – Kolkata, Mumbai, Thane, Delhi and different satellite cities around it (or what is called the National Capital Region). I began working in Delhi, found my small footing in this world, fell in love with an American boy who grew up on a farm in the Midwest and followed him to the US. After a few years of back and forth between India and the US, I moved here full time end of 2019, right before the pandemic – first to New Orleans and now in Washington DC.
Like many of us, I loved to draw and paint when I was little, I could entertain myself for hours building worlds in my head, on my pages and sketchbooks. And like many of us, I lost touch with it at some point…and then reclaimed it again during college. I did my undergrad and my Masters’ in Psychology and began to paint on the side. Then I started working in International Development, first in a small consulting firm in Delhi for five years, and then independently for another six years, and now with an International non-profit…throughout these years, I continued to paint and write, in the early hours of the day, late into the night, snatching time during weekends and holidays. I have worked with international NGOs, UN agencies, federal government contractors, I have worked on every kind of development and humanitarian sector projects from labor rights to youth and gender empowerment, health and sanitation to child protection, migration, food security, and everything in between. And throughout it all, I painted and I wrote, creating surreal, ironic, disturbing and uplifting worlds, taking imagery and happenings from my life and surroundings and transforming them into strange and humorous narratives.
You can say Hi to at [email protected]. Write to me if you want to discuss collaborations or want to purchase a piece you like here on the site…and if you live in (or are visiting) the DMV area, come visit me in my studio. In any case, thank you for showing up on my virtual door, and reading through this long intro. I hope to bump into you in the real world too. <3