MoveMEANT x Rohini

Tell us about yourself 

I fear not the life that I have been given to live, while change has been my only constant. I’m a fire spirit, born in Calcutta, India. From the age of 4, I began an adventure with my intrepid parents and we set on the migrant path. From Calcutta to the Gulf to small town Canada, swimming and tennis, all kinds of odd jobs for survival and forest adventures with friends nurtured my formative years. After a couple of years in university, I realized that academia was not for me. After 8 years of spending my teens in Canada, I dropped out of university and moved back to Calcutta where my parents had also eventually returned. The next few years I found myself blissed out with photography work, traveling the length and breath of India and reconnecting to my motherland and my family.

In need of change and heeding the call, I moved to Nairobi, Kenya. The 6 years I spent there, were the most radical, mind and heart opening years so far in my life. I studied Journalism, started a sustainable clothing line and pursued documentary and fashion photography. My true idea of a gypsy life came calling eventually and manifested itself when I found my way to an incredible community of travellers and Kenyans involved in a traditional boat and community building project aboard Musafir. Around the same time I hitchhiked my way across Kenya and Uganda using no money, just barter economy. As the trade winds blew, at some point, I eventually decided that I needed to stop, integrate and make new roads for myself towards somewhere I could pause for a while. While I had spent the last decade learning how to co-exist with others, my last move, which has been to Goa has been a sharp learning curve in figuring out how to co-exist with myself! Currently, I am engaged with my string art commissions, photo shoots, festival production and my work within the global Tantra and Meditation community. My life has been truly blessed, every blind corner has always revealed a chance to change, adapt and grow. 

How do you inhabit the spaces and time that surround you in daily life?

Like in most place, these days have slowed down considerable, I am moving slower, with a light foot and a light heart. Every evening is filled with music, chatter and a ritualistic havan. Though I have always found ways to grow plants, these days there is more child-like, wide-eyed curiosity in me for my own homemade ecosystem - its daily care and upkeep. I’ve been able to spend hours observing birds weaving their nests and wasps making mud huts, whilst sipping on herbal brews from my own kitchen garden. My partner and I spend days planting new seeds, replanting, and pruning. There is a beautiful river that my home overlooks and watching it ebb and flow daily, with all the different lights and colours it etches, never gets old. The spaces in my home, the art, photographs, and chalkboard scribbles on its walls, sooths me. I’ve also had the pleasure of being surrounded by the warm scent of hearty lunches and the happy banter of visitors who often come home for dinner.

What does movement mean to you in life?

Today's movement has become about the little things. There was a point in my life when  I wanted nothing more than to be rooted somewhere. After living 30 years of my life in some sort of constant physical trajectory, I finally have a home with an intensive root system. I think these plant roots are a physical manifestation of my soul’s desire although I know that it doesn’t mean I will be here forever. The need to physically move my body has been extremely pertinent. I've been used to walking everywhere, all the cities I have lived in have supported this habit. However, Goa isn't like that. Here you need to ride to get to most places. So I have had to make a conscientious effort to stay active. Now movement, for me, are hikes in the forest, long swims in the sea and dancing whenever the music feels good.

What trajectory has it embarked upon in recent months?

Currently I am working on string art commissions, photoshoots and festival production. I am also engaged with the global Tantra and Meditation community. I often find myself jumping in and out of the restaurant industry because I love service, production, food, and creating rich experiences for my community - whoever or wherever that might be. My partner and I spend most of our free time cooking, talking about food, shopping for ingredients we can’t grow and growing those we can. Though we live in a flat, we have a wild balcony full of incredible biodiversity. I truly believe that my journey of knowing myself has been influenced largely by nature and her many lessons.

What has been your most challenging point of adaptation in your life? Did it empower you? If yes, how?  

My life has been truly blessed and  every blind corner has always revealed a chance to change, adapt and grow. I believe that the universe has always been kind to me - giving me plenty of guidance, having my back, and keeping me safe while I’ve lived my wildness. I feel a real sense of protection and trust in the universe and hope to inspire those around me - not by preaching this but by living it. 

I have spent a large part of these past 4 years in my own company to process many personal pains and struggles and have been taking things a day at a time. I came here expecting to find some sort of tribal family to coexist with. Instead, it has been a sharp learning curve to understand how to coexist with myself.

I feel like my heart is full to the brim, rich with experiences and content to know there are many more to come. I am at peace with whatever challenges lay ahead and know that I'm prepared now.