So much chai
Sonder. That quiet, almost dizzying realization that every single person you pass — on the street, in a café, across an ocean — has a life as layered and vivid as your own.
Lately, I’ve been sitting with that thought a lot. How wild it is that we’re constantly exposed to ways of intertwining our stories with something much bigger than just us — beyond borders, beyond backstreets, beyond the choices that carve out our lives.
That potential is breathtaking. And it makes me tear up just thinking about it.
Cuties! Dante and I recently returned from 2 months traveling through South/Southwestern Asia.
Did we thoroughly plan for this? I’d love to say yes. Truth is, a very random incident spurred this whole shebang: your girl won 2 tickets in a raffle to fly anywhere in the world! (Thank you, tween Air Cadets at the front of an Indian Wedding Convention near the Montreal airport, an event we really only attended to slurp down mango lassis with friends for 10 min before a Saturday movie screening nearby. Life is funny.)
We’d already planned to book a honeymoon trip to India and Sri Lanka for a few weeks, but the raffle tickets came with blackout dates in December that forced us to rethink everything. Suddenly, we were looking at two months abroad instead. Shrugging, we thought — why not?
The time-and-place of our lives afforded us this privilege, a fleeting freedom. With our laptops stowed away, to pop out for some days of remote work on either end of the trip, we boarded a few planes and explored.
A few photos and random musings from recent months (abroad, and at home), below.
MEMORIES FROM ABROAD
Little girls from a nearby town pulling my hand to dance together on NYE night in the Jaisalmer desert, shaking their shoulders w their index fingers in the air and copying my lil moves with giggles and bright eyes
Dante saying happy Jan 1st 2025 to me in bed in our Jaisalmer tent, over and over- ending with “happy Jan 2025 witchu!” 🥹♥️😍
Seeing a delicious pakora on street. Dante says, “yum!” Then someone lets out a hacking cough immediately after. Dante goes “woh!”
Shilpgram market - a kid blows a horn behind Dante’s butt. Dante goes “woh!”
Dudes in ripped jeans on dunes asking Dante and me to walk with them to cool TikTok music during sunset, for a video. Beckoning us over - “come, come!”
Sri Lankan families frolicking on the coast during local holidays like Full Moon (Buddhist) and Thai Pongal (Hindu)
Old man with turban and loom at Shilpgram pointing at his newspaper clippings showing what an expert weaver he was back in 2003, and then muttering, “this is not my passion”
A few very random and very singular memories to end with:
Climbing up 5 stories of an abandoned mall in Jaipur, to stumble across a local used book market on the top floor. The students running it had the best recos for us! 
Dante <3
MEMORIES AT HOME
A sweet snapshot of a mural we had commissioned 2 years ago on our Montreal garage behind our backyard, facing the back laneway. (Need to take a shot of it poking out of the snow!) It felt lovely to come back to this mural in the dead of winter, after our trip.
Below, our Montreal muralist Amelia, and her thoughts below on fleeting moments with community, while making the mural - so sweet.
“Present Moment” mural in Montreal📍✅
The name of this mural came to me during its creation. While I was painting, a lot of people came to sit on a nearby bench. Some people were alone with a book or a cup of coffee, others were on lunch break with colleagues or catching up with friends & family. They all had one thing in common, they were observing the creative process, some engaging in lively discussions with me or with the people they were with, others were in quiet contemplation, watching and reflecting.✨
Art has the power to bring us back to the here & now, whether we are the creators or the observers. It fills me with gratitude to know this mural will connect with many beautiful souls, bring color and joy and maybe inspire & spark lovely conversations around this piece.💫Cafe visits, soup swaps, foreign policy protests and iftar plans with the people we love here in MTL.
REFLECTIONS
Looking back - The best moments of these past few months surely weren’t the amazing views or meals or even the cups of chai (though those sure were the cherry on top!). The best moments of these past few months were the ample chances to witness little smiles and kindnesses in different corners of the world - to us, between folks. A lesson that kept hitting home, seeing so many beautiful lives being lived out in so many corners of the world: Everyone is on their own voyage, in a tiny little boat. And our capacity to connect is one of the most powerful strengths we have.
No matter where we are — on a backstreet in Istanbul or sipping chai in our back laneway at home — there are infinite ways to weave our stories into something larger than ourselves. And that realization is breathtaking.
I know the world feels heavy right now, and if you’re feeling overwhelmed, I see you. I hope this lil’ post brings you even a small moment of warmth, and inspiration to continue building in the direction of your values, today.
More photos to come, but first: the last few seconds of our wedding video, made by the lovely Junno. Welcome back, us!
In the meantime, tell me: What’s a powerful moment of connection you’ve experienced, or simply observed, in these past weeks?
Much <3,
Raha
PS: Speaking of connecting with stories larger than our own: Recently released, a damning and stunning meditation on power. (All the more damning when so few in the film world are willing to speak on this topic.)