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Hi, I’m Sandhya. I’m glad you’re here.

I have always been someone who writes things down: trips, conversations, things people say that I don’t want to forget, funny interactions with my friends or over g-chat, places I love, questions I can’t stop thinking about, quotes that I see on Instagram and then live rent-free in my head, and especially tiny moments that probably could have remained tiny moments, except that I have a habit of staring at them for long enough that they become metaphors.

Basically: if something makes me stop and think, there is a nonzero chance I will eventually write an essay about it.

About Coffee & Check-Ins

I started Coffee & Check-Ins in 2015, just before a family trip to Paris and India.

Back then, the check-ins were mostly literal. I wrote about where I was going, what I was seeing, and all the places I wanted to remember.

For years, this was primarily a travel blog. Then somewhere along the way, it became something else entirely. These days, the check-ins are less about where I’ve arrived and more about where I am, what I’m noticing, what I’m learning, who and what I love, what I’m afraid of, what I’m beginning, and what feels beautiful or ridiculous or unexpectedly enormous.

The check-ins used to be places, now they’re check-ins with a life (sometimes mine, sometimes yours).

And somehow, after more than a decade, the name fits better than it ever did.

There is a certain amount of vulnerability (and bravery) in putting pieces of yourself somewhere other people can see them. Writing something privately is one thing; pressing publish on it is another. Over the years, I’ve written about things while I was still figuring them out, admitted when I didn’t have the answer, and occasionally looked back at something an earlier version of me wrote and thought, well, we’ve certainly grown since then.

But that is part of what I love about having this space. It has become a record not just of where I’ve been, but of who I’ve been while I was there: the things I cared about, the questions I was asking, the people I loved, the ways I was changing.

I think there is something worthwhile about being willing to be seen before every thought is perfectly resolved. So I try, as much as I can, to write here with sincerity, curiosity, and the hope that something I put into words might make someone else feel understood—or simply make them stop and notice something in their own life, too.

Around Here, You’ll Find…

✦ essays about stars and the planets and the universe that are occasionally also essays about people

✦ essays about people that are occasionally also essays about becoming yourself

✦ poems I cannot stop thinking about

✦ cities, travel, and places worth remembering

✦ friendship, love, ambition, growing up, and changing your mind

✦ science facts that have given me completely unnecessary emotional crises

✦ coffee, obviously

✦ tiny moments I have almost certainly thought about too much

✦ a suspicious number of extended metaphors

✦ essays about one of the ideas I believe in most: people change people

In other words: notes on being alive.

A Few Things About Me

I believe sincerity is underrated. I will almost always look up at the moon. I always talk to my plants, and with very little prompting, other people’s plants too. I love learning things, particularly when an interesting fact opens a door into an entirely different way of thinking about the world. I am deeply sentimental about people, places, traditions, and the softness of everything. I think there is something extraordinary about paying attention.

And I remain completely convinced that almost anything can become a story if you look at it closely enough.

Elsewhere

When I’m not writing here, I’m an antitrust lawyer and am currently pursuing my MBA.

Outside of work, I’m usually traveling somewhere, building legos or making puzzles, reading something, drinking coffee, taking far too many photos that I never look at again, spending time with people I love, or doing something artistic (painting, coloring, etc).

If You’re New Here

You absolutely do not need to read this blog chronologically. In fact, I would strongly advise against attempting to work your way through more than a decade of my internet thoughts in order. We have all grown since 2015.

Instead, START HERE. I’ve collected some of my favorite posts here, along with different themes and mini-series for anyone who (like me) has a tendency to stumble into a rabbit hole and happily stay there for a while.

If this sounds like you, I particularly recommend:

Rent Free Poems · Celestial · Physics Mini-Series

Stay for Sunday

If you’d rather have the next thought come to you, join The Sunday Check-In—a short weekly note with a little something to carry into the week.

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Thank you for being here. Really!

The internet has changed quite a bit since I started writing here in 2015. Somehow, this little corner of it is still here. I’m very glad you found it.

Let’s keep noticing.

— Sandhya