1) Though I was born in the United States, my heart will always belong to my homeland of India, both in my father's region of Chennai and my mother's of Bengaluru. Growing up, I enthusiastically embraced my culture, with my heritage instilled in the food I ate, the holidays I celebrated, the words I spoke, the books I read, and the people I learned from and loved. Though I grew up with sincere pride for my identity, the world around me seemed reluctant to accept what I knew to be true. Western media often warps Indian culture, especially in film and television, perpetuating stereotypes that taint the image of Indian individuals for the American public. In response, my work as a poet and filmmaker confronts the core of Indian culture, showcasing Indian culture as something to be celebrated. My first poetry chapbook as the Youth Poet Laureate of Virginia offers a truthful look into the life of an Indian girl living in a white-dominated society. My work doesn't shy away from the truth, introducing both positive and negative aspects of the Indian experience. It includes pieces about domestic violence in Indian homes, religious struggle through feminine expectations, the India-Pakistan partition and its historical significance, the treatment of menstruation in Indian society, and Indian orphanages and their poor and often heartbreaking conditions. Being Indian has wholeheartedly influenced my life goals and artistic passions, as well as informed my future aspirations of developing an Indian-owned and managed film production company. 2) Although on financial aid documents it seems like my parents can afford my education, truthfully, our family's financial future is very uncertain. My mother was laid off last year after her position was eliminated due to an Executive Order reevaluating and realigning United States Foreign Aid. Being on the older side, she has been unable to find another job. Additionally, my father has been diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, an incurable cancer. He was previously in remission for 8 years, but the cancer unpredictably returned last year. This has created uncertainty around his potential to work in the future and has contributed to escalating medical expenses. Additionally, I have an incredibly intelligent younger sister with lofty aspirations of attending a top-tier university to study Engineering. Without my father’s current income, there is no practical way our family can support both our ambitions and educational paths. This scholarship would truly ease the financial difficulties my family has been facing and allow me to continue pursuing an arts degree at NYU Tisch. My BFA education will, in turn, pave a path for me to develop Indian-centric work to the best of my ability that authentically represents my culture.

My friends would all describe me as self-aware. I know what to say when I enter a room, the role I have in others’ lives, and how to maximize my own efficiency and organization. What they don’t know is the reason why I am. Growing up in an area where no one looked like me, I fought to blend into the background. I felt like everything I did and said singled me out. Whispers followed me everywhere I went. My classmates kept several feet of distance, chuckling and sneaking looks at my lunches and my clothes and my dark complexion and my frizzy hair. Self-awareness was the only way I could exist in an environment I didn’t fit into, minimizing myself to be palatable to my peers. Being Indian was shameful, so I spent my formative years trying to be someone else. Now living away from home, my culture connects me back to my community. It is my greatest pride to know I am part of a group of people who are authentically vibrant and possess so much history and cultural richness. More than anything else, I want to build a haven for other young South Asian women to recognize their worth in the same way. I hope to show youth their genuine beauty just as they are before they can ever question their worth. As a filmmaker and writer, the best way I can accomplish this goal is by using the universal language of the arts to produce work that positively promotes Indian culture and features Indian characters that are beautifully complicated and relatable. I aspire to build a production company for South Asians, by South Asians. We will feature a slate of films that incorporate narratives that are unique to our heritage and foreign to the Western world. The team will be entirely South Asian, so that the stories we tell are written, directed, produced, and performed by individuals who have a personal connection to the work. Rather than waiting until I’m out of school, I want to start this initiative now. This scholarship would provide me with the ability to jumpstart my company and connect me to other brown artists who have like-minded goals. I would sincerely appreciate the opportunity to uplift my culture and help others see it the way I do, building a future of acceptance through art.

Seeing poetry as a mode of human contact and open conversation, I write for myself and my people. My narrative poems are emotion-filled and raw, promoting genuine connections with others who have undergone the same struggles she has. I perform so my audience knows they are listening to someone who understands. I write about my Indian culture and how it has impacted my own life and beliefs while shaping my views of the world. To bring Indian issues that are ignored by the media to public attention, I create poetry that boldly represents these problems with no reservations. POETRY INITIATIVES * Created ‘Parenthesis’, a workshop-based series of initiatives to bring poetry to all corners of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Performed poetry alongside other Youth Poetry Laureate(YPL) members to an audience of individuals across Virginia. Led a workshop that consisted of writing with prompts and a Q&A with existing YPLs about their experiences. Many audience members expressed interest in getting involved with poetry after the event. * Started the Virginia YPL Video Database. A collection of videos from YPLs on a centralized YouTube channel and Instagram for emerging poets who can derive inspiration from the words of other writers. * Spearheaded poetry cafe initiative in Andover, MA. A dimmed-lights, jazz-bar vibe poetry open mic event that allowed writers that differ in poetic style to come together and perform unitedly. * Crafted themed poetry anthologies/collections on specific identities that were open to the students in and around Phillips Academy, MA. Featured works were hand-picked from poets that share their raw, honest, stories (anonymously if desired) to relate to other members of the school population. Anthologies included LGBTQ+ stories, domestic/sexual abuse stories, Indian stories, and more. POETRY COMMUNITY SERVICE * Worked with WBL to teach poetry to elementary schoolers new to writing who attend school in socio-economically disadvantaged areas of D.C. Students, though unsure at first and discouraged by the language barrier many faced, ultimately loved the portfolios they constructed and left with smiles on their faces after the end of the week-long workshop. * Was on the Kennedy Center, D.C. Youth Advisory Board for the Arts. Planned events for the D.C. community and beyond through an arts-first approach alongside other high schoolers passionate about creation. Developed a "summer in the arts" program that promoted interactivity and novelty in the activities implemented. * Teen Artist: Alma Thomas Artist Residency at D.C. MLK Public Library. Created art and learned from workshops about the underappreciated works of Alma Thomas, a painter and activist. Learned from the teachings and brought the works back into my community through school presentations and service. * Part of the initial Virginia Young Poet in the Community (YPIC) cohort. Given a grant to bring poetry back to a STEM-focused and arts-scornful community and promote freedom of expression. Organized workshops and open mics to give a voice to artists and soon-to-be artists from every corner of the county. * Participated in the ‘If These Walls Could Talk Mural’ Project, a Poetry collaboration with MendingWalls, Richmond, VA. Commissioned by the Richmond Poet Laureate to be part of a small, hand-picked cohort of writers that partnered with Mending Walls, a justice-driven mural art initiative, to write a poem that accompanies a specific mural. Wrote a poem for a mural depicting peace through the principles of Hinduism and the work was advertised through both the organization and the Richmond community at large.

The trees are heavy with mangoes and the ground finely-ground, ivory sand. The world seems saturated here, too picturesque to be real. Despite India being my parents’ birthplace I have visited just a few times and never ventured beyond the upper middle class comfort of my family’s home. However, when my mom recommended the novel The White Tiger to me as one she grew up reading, I was eager to connect with her childhood and the culture I knew so little about. I opened the first page, worn from years of use, and sat down to read. I finished the lengthy book in just a week, enthralled by the storyline. I learned of a fictional young man’s aspirations to be successful despite living in poverty and his journey in achieving them. More significantly, I learned about the part of India not exposed to the public. The slums are not a tourist destination or an ideal visitation spot but in their own way, that side of my home country is just as beautiful. A multitude of disease and hardship seizes many every day, but an atmosphere of hard work, big dreams, and determination lies in the unseen. Following The White Tiger, for the first time, I saw India in its full-colored glory. Today, I use my writing to expose to others what The White Tiger did to me. I hope to eliminate the absence of knowledge involving India and someday make its beauty visible to all.

Growing up, I was constantly overlooked. Being a child, many regarded me as naive and irresponsible upon first glance. The phrase “can I speak to your parents?” was too often recited. I discovered my goals early on, being lucky enough to pursue the passion that will one day become my career from the young age of six. Still, many adults would not take my hopes seriously and encouraged me to wait until I was older and more mature. I never listened to these remarks, knowing in my heart that following my dreams early on was the best course of action. Financial planning is the same way. Rather than waiting until you are an adult, start learning right now. While it may seem like taxes, mortgage, insurance, and other personal finance-related expenses are lightyears away, independence arrives quicker than expected. This message is crucial to being the best suited possible for life away from home, after high school. Additionally, by being well-versed on such lessons contributes to being better prepared economically later on. For example, I have been saving up money in a checking account of my own for years, allowing interest to collect on what I put in and my money to remain safe and unspent. Therefore, once I leave for college, years of putting aside small amounts will pay off. Whether it be with your dreams or finances, do not allow anyone to tell you that you are too young. If you are confident in yourself and well-informed, your successes will be proof enough that you are ready to take on the world.

Living thousands of miles away, my country of origin often feels like a dream. I have only visited a few times and much of my knowledge is gleaned through history class and mythological stories my parents would paint growing up. My family, however, is always a part of me. Despite living on the other side of the world, they have made a significant impact on my personality and growth - even more so than people I interact with on a daily basis. And while India is a land of beauty, it is rich with gender disadvantage, unfair beauty standards, and pressures we have finally moved past in India. To target this issue, one I have continually hoped to address through writing, I used a figure that is prominent in my life: my grandmother, called Dodda in my language. My Dodda In A Day walks readers through a day in her life from start to finish, doing everyday chores but with insight into her mind and knowledge of past experiences. She has been raised in a generation rife with the necessity for change and knowing her story through my mother, I felt the urge to write what I have witnessed. While her life differs from other Indian women's, I utilized similarities and even parts not applicable to her to speak for progression in all areas of South Asian social life. This piece has allowed me to bridge the gap between my family, culture, and passion.

Mindy Kaling is an artist for the people, her witticism, charm, and naturality in speaking helping her fans to better relate to her. In a platform where people who look like her and me are often underrepresented - the media - Mindy Kaling has taken strides to provide realistic images of Indian Americans onscreen and vouch for those of the population that have difficulty "fitting in a box". But the reason I so greatly appreciate her is because she encourages those in the minority to create outside the box and think bigger rather than squeezing into normality. As an actress, writer, singer, comedian, and director myself, just as Mindy Kaling is, I hope to someday further the era of equality she began.

Alone Together is a song I wrote only recently but its content has been circulating my mind for years. As an Indian American teenager, my opportunities are endless compared to those of my hometown. I have been lucky enough to lead a life in a privileged community, grow up in a stable environment, and have an endless supply of both wants and needs at my feet. Still, even thousands of miles away, the misconceptions and lack of knowledge accompanying my hometown create barriers. I grew up with a love for performing but when I entered the professional world of acting, comments of “you aren’t the right look” emerged at every corner I turned. I hoped to find role models I could follow in the footsteps of in the media but discovered none I could resonate with. There were few characters in the media who looked like me as is, both due to a lack of roles and comments similar to ones I faced, and those who existed were stereotypical and objects of comic relief. Other friends of mine who are Indian American and even South Asian have similar struggles in various pursuits. This song introduces two characters, specifically, a girl who has fallen victim to internalized racism and has a desire to be lighter-skinned and a boy who tries to replicate the looks of buff, lighter-skinned male models and has a difficult time coping when he fails. These are just a few of many related stories across America. Alone Together calls for better representation of South Asians in the media and better treatment of Indian Americans through awareness. It asks for the chance to introduce the beauty in being brown. ========================================================================= ALONE TOGETHER: LYRICS C - Am - C - Am (Finger picking) Verse: She, she starts her day, With the water running cold down her back. She, she goes down to pray, Kneels before God, asks for a new face. Am - Am/G - Am/F - E Pre-chorus: 7 days a week, 6 people she would rather be; Up till 5 in the morning. 4 3 years she'd spent alone, no representation of her own. If we'd open 2 eyes and see: A G F G - Am G F E Chorus: We need more than 1. We need more than one. The stereotypes undone. Tired of trying to make them pleased. The whole world's been deceived. Throw your head back and scream. Big noses, come join us. Big voices, come in. They can't stop the revolution. It's enough to make us seen. (Short interlude) Verse: He, he starts his day. With workouts under salmon sunsets. He, he'd never say, But his confidence drains with each handsome white face. Pre-chorus: 7 days a week, 6 people he would rather be; Up till 5 in the morning. 4 3 years he'd spent alone, no representation of his own. If we'd open 2 eyes and see: C - Am Am - G C-G-Am-G Bridge: Change. Change the system. Role models of every color. Stop, cherry picking your love. Racism comes in all forms. Cause each heart. Each cinnamon heart. Just needs someone to take some time. See their culture, peer from the inside. Chorus: We need more than 1. We need more than one. Basic characters are done. Tired of trying to make them pleased. The whole world's been deceived. Throw your head back and scream. Thick accents, goodbye now. No personality, you're gone. They can't stop the revolution. Time for Indians to be seen. Verse: I, I started my day, With Fair and Lovely dripping down my back. I, I cared what they say, But I'm tired of wishing my life away. =========================================================================

This piece, titled Alone Together, has been circulating in my mind for years now. As a young Indian teenager, I've grown up feeling ostracized from my white friends as well as my culture. I didn't see others that looked like me in the media either and that incited the constant feeling that I didn't belong. As I grew older, I began to eat more Indian foods, read Indian books, attend Indian functions, and bask in the lifestyle I was meant to have. As a result, I have been able to vouch for the representation I didn't have growing up. This song is an ode to other young people of color who feel alone and who desire more role models in the media.

During the summer of my fourth-grade year, my family had to stay at Kathy's House, a hospital guest house, while my dad was recovering from cancer treatment. This was difficult to endure, but despite the staff's heavy workload, they helped to make our stay comfortable. Their devotion to volunteerism inspired me to make a change as well. As a result, I created Kindling Knowledge for Kathy's House, a day camp for elementary school children where middle school volunteers teach them new, fascinating topics. The two events we have had thus far have elicited $2000 for Kathy's House!