Or should they be? That’s what I am trying to achieve.

Hi! My name is Urvashi, a humanitarian worker, who amongst other UN agencies like UNOPS, has also worked as refugee status determination officer with the UN Refugee Agency. It is, these times, which shaped much of my writing. As a legal adjudicator for asylum grant, I came across several downtrodden and helpless souls, which needed legal aid, yes, but above all, they sought respect for their identity and justice. Justice for the pains they and their families had suffered, while fleeing their war-torn states and justice for the unheard voices suppressed through domestic violence, conflict, or other non-state actors.

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As for the inspiration itself, I feel inundated! I mean, where do you start, when you wake up with tabloids buzzing with headlines of Taliban’s takeover of Kabul and images of people holding their young ones chasing humanitarian airplanes in desperation, on one side, while on the other side, images of reeling Haiti after a devastating earthquake. This is where I found my inspiration. I wanted to write about human suffering, for sure, but also, wanted to address the social justice system and the imbalance created by lack of education, economic, and human rights. I wanted to voice out the unspoken moral dilemma that observers or adjudicators, people like me and you, often go through.

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Oh well, long story short, after surviving harsh winters of Asia, Europe and America and bloody summers of Africa and Australia; after tasting sweat, blood and tears of Tokyo, Washington D.C., Rome, New York, New Delhi, Cairo, and Addis Ababa, I decided it was time! Time to create a delectable cocktail of poetic expressions and activism. So here I am, advocating for migrants, refugees, women, children, people of color, trees, and book lovers!

Now that you've made it this far, a good conversation is in order.