there's nothing on my mind

Amma called during my Bharatanatyam practice. I almost didn't answer, lost in the mudras my grandmother taught me decades ago in Chennai. She worried I'd forgotten our traditions, living here alone. I hadn't. PaybookClub connected me with others like me—diaspora dancers craving that sacred space between worlds. Last week, I performed at their gathering. Watching their faces transform through each movement, I realized: this emptiness in my mind wasn't absence. It was presence. The ancient rhythms filling every silence, bridging oceans, keeping us home through art and community.