Scroll to the bottom of this email for info about a pop-up project I’ll be maintaining for 3.5 months, the duration of the land rights walk. Or just join the whatsapp or send it to someone you love.

Around six months ago, I sent an email to this newsletter with the subject: why are you subscribed to this?

I was struggling to believe that someone would want to hear about my inner world and lifeways, and the answers were very clear: people like me. They like the way I think, the decisions I make, and the way I articulate what is happening in my world.

I want to express an immense feeling of gratitude for each of you reading this. The reason I ask people to reach out when they read this newsletter is so that I can direct that gratitude towards you, individually. But if you are reading this, know that I feel it towards you.

Turns out, I do have quite an interesting life. For over a decade, I have made choices that take me further from the “typical path” that was laid out for me by my culture, my family, my societal context.

For a long time, I longed to be recognized inside of those systems. I let the collective dictate my sense of self-worth, thinking that the choices that set me apart meant there was something defective about me.

I see things differently now.

I am beautiful, and I have a right to walk this Earth exactly as I am. No edits, filters, or compensation.

And I feel the same way about you.

Tomorrow, I join with a few others to kick off a 3.5 month long walk through Tamil Nadu. Ram puts it much better than I could, so I’ll paraphrase some of his words:

Pushpanath Krishnamurthy - the global ambassador who campaigns through millions of steps in some of the worst climate affected parts of the world - states that walking is the way to relate to social issues, particularly amongst the global poor who have been victims of climate change. Walking is almost a primitive way of the unarmed and dis-empowered people to claim their right as citizen and human.

A long walk under the most difficult situations is also a way to bring attention to issues, challenge the power-that-be with its vulnerability, and bring simple folks closer to societal issues.

One of the primary ways we plan to engage with folks of villages across Tamil Nadu is by listening, and trusting their own expertise with the lands to which they tend.

There’s not much more for me to say here. In fact, I really just want to practice listening. So here are some more words from others:

There’s something that really resonates with me about the simple the act of walking. My dear friend Hamza introduced me to pedestrianism, a way of thinking and being that foregrounds walking as a primary, exclusive mode of transport. I’ve seen him take his damn time walking through the streets of Berlin, being inspired by the sights and sounds of daily life, slowing down and sharpening his attention, engaging more deeply with everything around him.

In his honor, on this latest Europe trip, I descended into a sort of militancy about walking, insisting that others take hourlong walks with me around town when we’d get there in a 20min metro ride or 15min car ride.

I’m even doing it now, in Chennai. The weather is slightly more tolerable than it was back in June, and though the city is preparing for floods later this year that might rival its all-time most intense flooding, today I am letting myself sweat through slow, contemplative walks.

I have to admit, there are parts in me that are simply terrified about this coming march. I don’t even have words for the abject sense of paralysis I feel, even as departure creeps towards me.

Then, there’s this feeling that I snuck into this cool club of organic farmers who have been doing land rights advocacy for many years. What is he doing there??

Another part of me knows that what I bring is beautiful, even if (especially if) it’s distinct, that being “the only one” - the only person of color, the only man, the only queer person - in a space is something I wear well.

Yet another voice says Rishi, you’re never gonna be 100% ready. Just take the leap.

It’s this last voice that I listen to now, as the first day of this nadai payanam (Tamil for walking journey) arrives.

Ready or not, it’s time.

I’ll be taking the leap, terrified, not even knowing what is so damn scary about this thing.

A friend recently introduced me to the work of Craig Mod, a writer who sets up popup newsletters about long walks that he takes around the world (and since the pandemic, in Japan). I’d like to do something similar:

I’m setting up a WhatsApp group where I will share a little bite (~500 words) each day from my experience of this walk, and the other things that I do during the 3.5 months that this walk is on.

You can join here

This season will bring me to more places than just the lands of Tamil Nadu, but the walk will be in my heart, and I hope to think of it daily as “homebase.” The walk plans to end in Chennai, and will cross over the 1 year anniversary of my father’s passing. As always, this is an incredibly potent time.

I sincerely wish you the space to breathe into what’s potent for you. I wish you regular long walks, or other experiences of sharpening your attention and co-regulation with the land. I wish you expansiveness about what you call “home.”

I hope you feel that part of your home is with me. Please reach out anytime. I might be slower to reply than usual, but I’m still here.

With love and gratitude, Rishi