What’s all this?
Hi there! It’s lovely to know you’re here! I am Iswarya and I am the lost soul behind Return By Dusk, a blog on identifying ways of appreciating life’s nuances, the struggles of relationships, understanding global politics, and what it takes to build communities in an evermore isolated and complex world. This is a journey of rediscovering humanity.
Return By Dusk is a collection of short essays on the complex and mundane. In these essays, I extract wanderings from my own experiences threaded together in a loose conversation with you, my readers, as I reflect and try to learn how to move forward from these experiences. I also invite guest writers from time to time to share some wisdom. Some of these essay-conversations are meant to be personal and vulnerable, and some are loud and clear, ready for the world to hear. Most are scary to write, and even more daunting to publish, but it’s all worth it in the end.
So why the name? “Return by dusk” is a ritual I try very hard to practice when I feel overwhelmed, or even when everything is just fine. Whatever has happened, at the end of the day, I will return to the present moment, is what I tell myself. Many days this is easier said than done, but I still try to practice closing my eyes, taking a deep breath and remembering where I am. This blog is a space I want to fill with moments of realisation, calm, and restoration, where I want us to share and learn from one another’s journeys and be a force of positive energy as the sun sets.
a little about me
Some fun facts about me: I am 28 years old and I have an academic background in Psychology and Anthropology. I live in London, call myself Tamil, and I support community-driven initiatives, particularly in the UK and Sri Lanka.
I began writing in my teens navigating teenage friendships, boys, Tamil parents with unrealistic expectations, emotional abandonment and depression. Later, blogging itself became a tool for connecting with new and old friends. As daunting as it was to share my pain for my friends and family to witness, it was also empowering and I started to see the change I was making within myself and with others. It became my favourite mode of communication, especially since I don’t fair so well talking about my feelings “irl”. Writing eventually led to many wonderful opportunities, such as being invited to speak on panels, to write as an activist for organisations fighting on behalf of human rights and seeking justice, and meeting many incredible souls also on their own journeys that would not have happened otherwise. By no means will I say I am a good writer, but I love speaking with you all, so I think that helps with slowly getting better.
Return by dusk for the love of life and for the lives we touch along our journey.
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