Two Hundred and Fifty

Hello Universe 250

I remember the evening of April 6, 2021 quite well. I was working from home in Ahmedabad due to the pandemic, freshly stimulated from a cup of warm tea that Mom used to make in the evenings to keep me fueled for the last lap of work. I was thinking about the 100 poems I had written in 100 days just as 2020 had flipped to 2021. I was thinking about the exhilaration I felt from writing a poem and sharing it with the world. I was thinking about how making words rhyme was so much fun that doing it once a week it was more sustainable as a method of self-expression, instead of burning out and abandoning it completely like I had done after my exhausting 100 day run. I was thinking, “What’s for dinner tonight?” And then I clicked send.

I also remember the evening of March 15, 2022 a little bit. I was now in Mumbai, as I had returned to office. I had put some time into thinking about how to celebrate 50 weeks, a proper milestone of writing this newsletter. I thought of how I could surprise and delight my readers. I decided to make my first poem video, and beneath that, I also tackled something important to me. Many times when I met someone and told them that I was writing a poetry newsletter to hundreds of readers, I would get the suggestion that it could be a great side hustle to make money. But I didn’t know why I had an aversion to monetizing this. The poem I wrote on that day was a fun attempt to tackle that part of me. But honestly, most of all, I was giddy about the funny video I had just produced. “Boy, I love making things that make me laugh.” I thought, and clicked send.

On February 28, 2023, I was in Ahmedabad again, this time celebrating the gap between leaving an old job and starting a new one, anticipating a new life, looking forward to a lot. I felt grateful for having made it to 100, which to my mind was a significant milestone because of the previous 100 poem journey I had made. I had started prepping for this milestone even more in advance, as I had begun leaving mini poem comments on the comments of my subscribers for a few weeks, and I shared these mini poems as my 100th post. It was honestly, one of the most positive life experiences I remember. With a wide smile on my face, I clicked send, and went and hung out with my parents.

I don’t remember the evening of February 13, 2024 very much. I do remember that I was in Bangalore. And that I clicked send. I would have loved to tell you the story behind my 150th poem but it beats me right now.

I do remember the evening of January 28, 2025 quite clearly. I was now in Berlin, barely a month into the city. I was walking home with my classmate Mariana, and we were talking about the fact that I had written poems for 199 weeks and that I was about to publish my 200th. We had been in class together just before that, and I had written the poem surreptitiously in class, so she asked me to narrate it to her. I did, and I remember the look of wonder on her face. It was what I wanted my audience to look like after they read my poem. Here I was in a new country, new city, trying to make a new life, with everything around me and about me changing. But there was one thing that did not change. I wrote poems every Tuesday. I knew that this part of me would not be changing any time soon. With that happy realization, I clicked send.

Here I am on the evening of January 13, 2026. I have now arrived at week 250. I am in Berlin today. Today I’ve been thinking about all those evenings from my past. For all of them, there sat a person, putting his words out in the ether, hoping that they touched someone meaningfully. But the person that I was on that evening in 2021 on week zero, would probably have laughed at you if you told him that he would still be doing this in 2026 on week 250. And the person I was on week fifty, week hundred, week two hundred, none of them would have believed several things about me if you had gone and told them. I am, in many ways, a future self that my past selves might have thought impossible.

There was a time when I was impossible. Yet with time, here I am. With time, here you are. That’s what today’s poem is about.

---

You could have been so much more,
and yet, here you are.
You could have been so much lesser,
and yet, here you are.

This life you get to see today,
was once just speculation.
And yet the Sun rose, and it sank,
without an aberration.

The stars you glimpse were born in fire,
and burned before your birth.
They had no notion that you would
now wander on this Earth.

The ones who came and went before
had doubts and dreams like you.
They feared the dark, they chased the light,
they wondered what was true.

Now here you sit, or stand, or walk,
through every joy and grief.
Living a thousand lifetimes yet,
your time somehow is brief.

So think of all that's wild and weird,
impossible, far-fetched.
And know that on a blank page,
any story can be sketched.

Any future can come true,
and any tale be told.
One day you will be young,
and then one day, you'll be old.

Between those two, you're here, right now,
the rest is yours to find.
Be gentle with the days ahead.
and gentle with your mind.

You could have been everything,
and yet, here you are.
You could have been nothing, and yet.
Here you are.

---

That’s it! Thanks for reading edition 250 of Hello Universe. Thank you dear reader for being a part of my journey into my future self. I feel a debt of gratitude towards you, because there were many weeks when I wasn’t sure if I could send out a Hello Universe post in time, but I knew that there was an inbox that I belonged to, and I must reach there without fail. You keep me accountable. Without you, this future self may not have existed.

I’m curious to know - what is true about you today that your past self from a few years ago would have thought impossible?

Share your thoughts in the comments below, and hey, it’s week 250, let’s celebrate that together in the comments too!

Here’s a great adventure on the way out.

That’s it for this week, see you next Tuesday.