My name is Aashka Patel. I live in Surat, in India, but I think you all knew that. I’m good at a lot of things but certainly not the best. I can’t figure out if that’s a blessing or a curse, because I can do a lot of things–play the guitar and piano, paint both on paper and digitally, dance (kind of)–but I’m not much noteworthy in them. One thing I’m excellent at is understanding other people. It may not seem like much, but it’s very helpful in the long run., as understanding the people you surround yourself with helps you avoid so many misunderstandings and arguments. As a budding psychologist, this also helps me in my studies and ambitions.

I enjoy playing and listening to music. Music to me is very much like the eye of the storm, where everywhere around you it’s destruction and chaos but inside it’s just peaceful. I also enjoy learning and listening to different languages, especially Asian languages. This may be a side-effect of listening to Kpop and watching too many animes, but I know how to make the basic introductions and questions (without offending anyone because Asian languages have insane honourifics) in Korean and Japanese both.

Reading is another one of my passions. I read so much that I’ve come to a point where if I’m given the entire day free without any disturbances, I can complete a 40 ch book or 100 chapters in a Manga/Manhwa (which are the Asian equivalent to American comic books). This may seem like I’m exaggerating but I’m not. Fiction is my escape, and I especially love magic and fantasy and supernatural things. One side effect of reading too much and loving languages is that I also became pretty good at writing, and that’s the only reason I survive having both Hindi and English HL. Reading too much also helps me with my ambition of one day becoming a book editor (although being a psychologist is still my number one choice).

And how can I ever forget the multitudes of TV series and Animes I watch religiously? I’ve watched so many things that I’m a pro at recommending stuff to other people. Just tell me the genre and type of series you wanna watch, and I’ll give you the perfect recommendation. Maybe I should start a business with this….. Jokes aside, people may not believe me when I say this but TV series have helped me a lot a in life. From knowing how to stop a person from bleeding out, to knowing exactly when hypothermia sets in (Thank you Teen Wolf), to knowing about the multitudes of mental disorders and profiling, courtesy of Criminal Minds, TV series are a huge part of what made me what I am, and I’m forever grateful. I even considered being a scriptwriter after being amazed at the fabulous shows.

Art is also something I immensely enjoy, be it from enjoying it as a watcher or as a creator myself, though I’m average when I try to make something on my own, but I can very beautifully make pieces from references or inspirations. It’s just beautiful that humans can create works so intricate and genuine, works that speak to you.

I won’t consider myself a samaritan, but I like to help people out. One day, if I have enough resources, I would like to build an orphanage or a charity to help people in need. A warm place to sleep and feel safe, because that is one of the luxuries of life not everyone in enriched with. Life is generally way too cruel to people who don’t deserve it, and I would feel satisfied with myself if I can do something to reduce that cruelty they face.

That is my main reason to be a psychologist. I want to help. I’m not particularly strong physically or have a passion for mathematics or science; but I love Psychology and the human mind. I want to use that passion to help people find themselves, to help them move on, because it took me a long time to find myself, and even now I’m not entirely complete. It’s not a bad thing being incomplete or imperfect, and I want to help people understand that. I want to help them accept that. So many people have mocked me when I told them I want to be a psychologist, because apparently anything that is not a doctor or an engineer is a loser career, but they don’t get it that a psychologist is a doctor too, and no, they don’t treat “crazy” people, they help lost people find themselves. One added advantage to my ambition is my understanding of human nature, and the ability to keep secrets. If you tell me a secret, I will take it to the grave. Trust is not something I value lightly.

Maybe its the literature nerd and idealist in me, but I hate it when people compare and discriminate, and I would hate myself if I did it too. Being a psychologist gives me an opportunity to never become one of those people who take everything for granted and who look down on others, because being a psychologist ensures, at least for me, that I be true, just and non-judgemental, to myself and to everybody else. Everyone has a story, everyone has their reasons and their justifications, and being a psychologist would give me a platform to learn about those stories. It would make me a safe person to share your secrets and worries and troubles to, and nothing would make me happier then to being a person’s safe place. Maybe it’s because I haven’t ever had a safe place, not in the truest sense, and me being one would help at least one person to never feel that.

That’s it basically.

This blog contains who I am, what I want to be, who I never will be.

(But not everything, because like I said before, I’m a pro at keeping secrets, and that includes my own too).