I’ve been drawing comics about mental health for over a decade now. Here, I talk about why I draw comics and how they’ve helped me battle mental demons. When I was about twenty, I started making stick-figure comic strips as a bit of a joke. They worked as great gifts for friends’ birthdays: I’d make caricatures and draw stories of … Read More
Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire: A walk to do on a whim
Meeting waterbirds, fishermen and happy dogs on a walk by the River Cam in Waterbeach The Cambridge railway station is one of those where you can see the train on the platform just by peeping inside. I was walking past it one day when I looked inside and saw a train on the platform. I had a sudden urge to … Read More
St Ives Island, Cornwall: Burnout therapy with a view
A bit of a ramble around St Ives Island, Cornwall My biggest moments of epiphany have been on hilltops: I seem to have a tendency to become wiser with increasing altitude. And St Ives Head was no exception, even though it was just a small hill. I was in a Cornwall with a mission to slow down, after having quit … Read More
High performance and burnout
What I learned from burnout: It’s impossible to consistently and sustainably deliver an “exceeds expectations” performance. Somedays the sun hides, the plant refuses to grow: even nature rebels. You have to lower the flame to keep it burning longer.
Lost and found
I’m always amazed by how a familiar (or unfamiliar) song can make me feel right at home. I seem to constantly find myself in music: an upbeat song playing in an auto-rickshaw in India, jazz melodies in a fancy restaurant in London, the quiet strumming of a lone busker, the cacophony of a pub at night. Sometimes I stop in … Read More
St Ives to Lelant Walk: South West Coast Path, Cornwall
Turquoise waters, wildflower-lined paths and open skies. Running alongside the St Ives Bay Line railway track, the route from St Ives to Lelant winds its way around Carbis Bay and Porthkidney Sands, offering spectacular views and uplifting wind-in-hair moments. It was early April, and I’d just quit my job after a prolonged burnout. I was in St Ives on my own, … Read More
Of owls, kites, and pelicans: Birding in Lalbagh, Bangalore
Making the idea of “escape” accessible on a morning walk in Lal Bagh Botanical Garden, Bangalore. I woke up one December morning in Bangalore with a huge grin on my face. What a wonderful day it was to be alive. I was finally going to see a Spotted Owlet! It isn’t often that I wake up with the mission of … Read More
Writing samples
I’m sharing below different types of content written for various purposes. At a high level, almost all of the content on kolabtree.com/blog is sourced, written and designed by me, including the layout, plugins, etc. 1. A landing page communicating our value to small businesses: https://www.kolabtree.com/solutions/small-businesses 2. Optimizing SEO and content on this page, ranks #1 for “hire a chemist” https://www.kolabtree.com/find-an-expert/subject/chemistry … Read More
Increasing blog traffic (45%) and conversions (300%)
The challenge Kolabtree is an open talent platform that connects businesses to freelance scientists. As the organization speaks to a diverse set of clients, the challenge was to build a scalable and sustainable content strategy for the Kolabtree blog, aimed at maximizing conversions. The solutionTo establish the Kolabtree blog as a secondary channel of business, by publishing trustworthy and reliable … Read More
Defining services for Kolabtree
Before After Context Kolabtree helps businesses hire freelance experts and scientists online. Users are asked to post a project, during which they select the service they are looking for. An internal algorithm works to pull up a list of recommended experts. The problem Kolabtree clients were taking a lot of time to choose a service as the options were confusing. … Read More