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Shruthi Subramanian
Shruthi Subramanian

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Published in Abroadingly

·Nov 19, 2020

Living/Leaving

Paris can be a good idea, yes. In late September, I found myself struggling to operate a handheld digital weighing scale. I’m a hoarder; I hate packing; I loathe moving. Same old, same old. I had been packing to move to Paris — sounds magical, doesn’t it? But the truth is that I was terrified about leaving…

Living Abroad

7 min read

Living/Leaving
Living/Leaving

Published in Abroadingly

·Oct 4, 2020

Claiming Abandoned Flannel

Nothing gets thrown out in Berlin. In the summer of 2019, I struggled to pack my entire existence into two pieces of luggage: 23 kilograms each. I did what I had to in order to carry on; that’s additional. I’m a hoarder, and so my heart was more set on packing a souvenir ukulele than it…

Berlin

3 min read

Claiming Abandoned Flannel
Claiming Abandoned Flannel

Sep 25, 2020

Hard Spices and Soft Parties

As a child, I appreciated the variety but hated cinnamon. I cannot be the only one. I distinctly remember hating these chunks of bark and dried up leaves in my food. My tongue could do sweet, salty, spicy, and candy. I couldn’t appreciate the complexity of cardamom, but I could tell the difference between tap and bottled water. I was…

Food

4 min read

Hard Spices and Soft Parties
Hard Spices and Soft Parties

Sep 16, 2020

Lost and pfand in Berlin

Berlin is a small city with a big personality. Much like the city, every neighbourhood is an adjective. — It’s tacky to begin an essay with a dictionary definition, but hear me out. Google Translate defines pfand as a “pledge.” Every time you pay for a bottle in Germany, you pay a small deposit that you can claim if you bring the bottle back. So, you’re pledging to return…

Berlin

5 min read

Lost and pfand in Berlin
Lost and pfand in Berlin

Published in Abroadingly

·Aug 10, 2020

An Indian walks into an Indian Supermarket

Sounds like the set-up for a grand joke, but this is just me exploring what I found to be the least gentrified Indian space in Berlin. — Stuck in what was a balancing act to keep all my glass bottles and plastic bottles from overflowing out of my large tattered grocery bag, I thought about how I had stopped going to the store that I had initially bought the bag from. I wondered if I should replace…

Indian

4 min read

An Indian walks into an Indian Supermarket
An Indian walks into an Indian Supermarket

Jul 17, 2020

Luck and Other Luxuries

If it doesn’t fit in your palm, maybe it’s not lucky. I don’t believe in luck, or at least I try not to. Of course, I give in and look for a new source of hope but not without putting up a fight. It’s the last resort. You know how…

Musings

3 min read

Luck and Other Luxuries
Luck and Other Luxuries

Jul 8, 2020

The Winds Have an Address

Meteorology and geography — I mean, it’s all related, right? We lock our windows before we go to bed. Is it possible that you feel cold because there’s a gust of memories pricking at your skin, urging you to go back? Yeeeeeesh. I’m not so sure I should’ve said that…

Home

3 min read

The Winds Have an Address
The Winds Have an Address

Jul 6, 2020

Arrivals & Departures

A year ago, I left what had been home for more than a decade to move to Berlin. I remember the sprint from the international terminal to the domestic one. I was so, so terrified of missing my connecting flight. The sun had been out, but the fear had kept…

Travel

2 min read

Arrivals & Departures
Arrivals & Departures
Shruthi Subramanian

Shruthi Subramanian

I write and eat my feelings. Hi, I’m Shruthi.

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