Akanksha Sharma

Dedicated to my little sister, without whom I would have never grown up.

All they had to do to was convince me that I was not good enough because I cared so deeply about being just that. That there was no way I'd rise from the devastation of my childhood. That there was no way that a flower could bloom out of concrete. No way.

I used to grieve that as a young adult. Sometimes, I still do. But I no longer reject it. I no longer try to make up for it. I no longer consider it a disadvantage.

I am not normal. I am deep, I am maddening, I am passionate, I function in the extremities of my character, I fight against my darkness everyday and I win most of the times. I am everything that I was never expected to be. I am myself.

I didn’t know what happened. I could feel something wet on my face, but I couldn’t open my eyes. It hurt. Everything hurt. I felt the cold cement under my hand as I slowly collapsed to the ground.

In the summer of ’09, I entered my sophomore year and was incredibly focused on academics. On the other hand, that same year, Marcus was supposed to go away to college. He didn’t. He failed the year.
That’s when it all went to shit.

I don’t know why men these days have conversational skills of a toddler. I miss when I used to be able to talk to someone naturally. I miss him sometimes. I don’t mean Marcus. I mean the one I will never talk about. Not in this lifetime, at least.

Marcus was the first boy I loved.
Marcus was also the first boy who hit me the same way my father hit my mother.

“I’m betting on myself.”

When everything else fails and I find it all to be exhausting, there is only the feeling of gratitude that is left for my pen and paper and the incomparable relief of knowing that you, my dearest reader, may never really know if I told you everything on my mind tonight or only that I wished you to know to make sense of this story.

A story about bravery.

A story about friends that are real only to those who love them.

One day, Little Lily found herself looking for something she had lost. What that something was, she could not tell.

A story about loss in the weekly magazine 'Voyager'.

Reading this book made me realise that the ideals we peddle as strong young women are often just that, ideals. They are not values.

Full excerpt in the weekly magazine 'Voyager'.

Real world demands balance. You can do it right but you must find places to be comfortably wrong. Like the women who speak right only till it doesn’t offend a man.

Full excerpt in the weekly magazine 'Voyager'.

But, this is not for you to feel sorry for me. Higher education and lack of imagination constitute many losers but not many disadvantaged.

Full excerpt in the weekly magazine 'Voyager'.

I was brought up to believe that people are—regardless of their obvious and not-so-obvious differences—good. If you do good, are good, believe in good, life will bring more of the same.

Full excerpt in the weekly magazine 'Voyager'.

Moon Tail was tiny and easy to miss. Sometimes, when he fell asleep in a pile of clothes at the bottom rack of the cupboard, nobody would be able to find him but Little Lily.

A story about family in the weekly magazine 'Voyager'.

Little Lily and Moon Tail were inseparable since the moment they met. Little Lily liked that Moon Tail’s fur felt like a blanket. Moon Tail liked that he could find Little Lily anywhere if he followed the pitter-patter of her tiny feet.

For Lyka and the childhood we shared, a short fiction series in the weekly magazine 'Voyager'.

After bidding farewell to The Giant Tree, The Porcupine walked and walked and walked. It seemed like no end would ever come to the green expanse. “Oh! How I wish I could see the sea, the big, blue, beautiful sea!” The Porcupine thought while walking. “Oh! How I wish I could see the sunrise from the top of a giant mountain! It would be so beautiful!” The Porcupine thought again. The sky was still beautiful and the grass was still green but The Porcupine wished to see more.

A story about… Mehr zeigen

After bidding farewell to The Giant Tree, The Porcupine walked and walked and walked. It seemed like no end would ever come to the green expanse. “Oh! How I wish I could see the sea, the big, blue, beautiful sea!” The Porcupine thought while walking. “Oh! How I wish I could see the sunrise from the top of a giant mountain! It would be so beautiful!” The Porcupine thought again. The sky was still beautiful and the grass was still green but The Porcupine wished to see more.

A story about choices in the weekly magazine 'Voyager'. Weniger anzeigen

The Porcupine bid farewell to The Flower and continued to walk ahead. He found a giant tree. Its bark and branches were covered in green. From far, it looked like any ordinary, overgrown tree. Its flowers bloomed fully and danced as the wind blew past. Tired, The Porcupine decided to sit under the tree for a while.

A story about purpose in the weekly magazine 'Voyager'.

Ahead of the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship, Qualcomm Technologies Inc., and Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team have announced their strategic partnership to leverage Qualcomm’s Snapdragon platform to create unique fan experiences—digitally and in-person. In addition, the team is also expecting to deploy Snapdragon and other Qualcomm technologies to create a smart space at their campus in the UK.

There once lived a Porcupine, alone and always walking somewhere with no particular direction or destination in his mind. On one of his walks in a field of green, lush grass, The Porcupine saw a Flower as tall as him. The Flower looked alone.

A story about friendship in the weekly magazine 'Voyager'.

Today, semiconductor chips power everything from switching circuits to allowing electronic devices to function and respond to user commands with precision. As such technologies continue to evolve, so do their use-cases across industries. However, perhaps the least known among the use-cases of semiconductor chips is the case of F1 cars. From its design to on-track performance, a grand prix car needs time-intensive research and development to stay competitive year on year. Amidst several… Mehr zeigen

Today, semiconductor chips power everything from switching circuits to allowing electronic devices to function and respond to user commands with precision. As such technologies continue to evolve, so do their use-cases across industries. However, perhaps the least known among the use-cases of semiconductor chips is the case of F1 cars. From its design to on-track performance, a grand prix car needs time-intensive research and development to stay competitive year on year. Amidst several components that contribute to the success of this car, semiconductor chips play a critical role in sensors, telemetry units and electronic control units (ECUs). Weniger anzeigen

The recent surge in global interest in Formula 1 or F1 can largely be attributed to the success of the Netflix documentary ‘Drive to Survive’—a multi-season, behind-the-scenes of the world’s biggest racing championship. Considering the platform’s reach, it would be tough to argue otherwise. However, this renewed fascination for the sport is also telling of a larger, global interest in technology and its impact on everyday life since we are yet to witness another sport embrace new technology as… Mehr zeigen

The recent surge in global interest in Formula 1 or F1 can largely be attributed to the success of the Netflix documentary ‘Drive to Survive’—a multi-season, behind-the-scenes of the world’s biggest racing championship. Considering the platform’s reach, it would be tough to argue otherwise. However, this renewed fascination for the sport is also telling of a larger, global interest in technology and its impact on everyday life since we are yet to witness another sport embrace new technology as wholly as F1 in its evolution. Weniger anzeigen