5 August 2025. 4:02 pm.

I left the house in search of the Westminster walking trail maps designed by Footways. I was supposed to find them at the Charing Cross library. The library did not have them but I was referred to the Westminster Reference library by the librarian. The reference library too did not have them. I then explored Leicester square a bit. It was my first time doing so. I have been very careful of not looking at London through a tourist/commercial lens. Anyway, I got my matcha from Blank Street (oh the irony) Charing Cross and walked to the Phoenix garden.

Realisation 1- Pocket parks and matcha go well.

Realisation 2- I have literally immersed myself in my thesis.

Realisation 3- This is what I want to do for a living- visit places, write about them, design for them.

The Phoenix garden is particularly beautiful because it is situated right amidst of the chaos of Leicester square and China town. It is not preaching anything but I just saw a wooden board hung on a tree branch, on which were mounted plastic packaging of commodities with a title mentioning the number of years it takes for the decomposition of the packaging material. One of the engravings on a bench says “Look up” (so philosophical). The quotes engraved on some of the benches here make me chuckle and ponder, in that order.

I now see police walking towards the end of the park making sure that everyone is having a good time and no one is doing drugs. I also see couples sharing two flavours of gelato, a stranger reading beside me, a girl lain on the grass, having the best nap of her lifetime- probably a college student and groups of friends sharing gossips over glasses of lattes and matchas.

I now completely understand the frustrations of people whose solo/work/lunch spots get revealed to the common public who refuse to put an effort in discovering them. The design decision of naming these parks in the map seems like a cross I have to bear.

There are some common objects (topologies) that I see in pocket parks- benches, flowers, small waterbodies filled with an algae blanket. This is such a beautiful day. I feel like a fairy sitting in sunlight, occasionally sipping my matcha, typing away…

1200 pounds for four hours- private events. The garden is earning more than me.

I have decided the vibe that want for my project- weird, quirky, unhinged, quite like Phoebe from F.R.I.E.N.D.S. This was inspired from the Phoenix garden.

I had to take a mini-break from pursuing my FMP. I needed to decide the future of my career. I did not imagine that I will be taking such big decisions in my life so soon, I am not happy with that. For the past two weeks I have turned into the professor from Money Heist speculating my reaction to each and every version of my fu-

Sh*t the seagulls have laid their eyes on my iced mocha and donut. God, there’s three of them.

-ture scenarios with reference to lifestyle, salary, comfort, health, investment, Return Of Investment, career, design and motivation. At the end of the day, I am here on a student loan. I might swear on London all I want but I really really appreciate its inclusivity factor for single people. I appreciate its vast resource of third spaces- including the one that I am sitting in right now. I appreciate it so much that I have made it my thesis topic.

I have no idea what the future holds for me, I am afraid. I spent the last two days bed-rotting, I just could not get myself to work, things looked lifeless and bleak. But I will make sure that August is the best month that I have ever spent in London. I will come to my room only when I have to sleep.

I was talking to my friend from India yesterday- I forgot my thought. This has been happening to me since the past month. Found it- I was saying that I have undergone a complete personality change, thanks to London. I have been surprising myself too. The other day I was walking home from Covent garden, when I reached St. Paul’s cathedral I saw a lady sitting in front of it, sketching. I stopped to talk to her about how amazing her sketch looked. She wished me luck for my studies. Never in my life did I imagine I could do this.

Cheers to good and only good things ahead. This sounds cringe, blame it on my metamorphosis.

Here is a recap of everything until the BIG crit.

The most heart-breaking realisation based on the responses of my peers has been that I am definitely a nerd and no one other than me cares about stories, history and culture that makes up a space.

Here are a few statements that are leading my strategy and design based on today’s session:

1. Network/Schematic cartography is the strongest part of my project.

To Do list:

1. Select an area
2. Narrow down on target audience
3. Break down methodologies into clear methods
4. Brand activation
5. User journey- refer to asynch from unit 1

Still need to work on this. It is 21 July 2025.

My project has progressed a bit though- lots of interesting insights.

However, last week has been tedious. Seeing people run towards workshops getting their designs printed has been overwhelming. As for me, I do not even have my business card, CV and portfolio. With that being said, I know that they’ll take shape very very soon.

Some things that my next blog need to address-

1. Interview with Ritik Shah- a way-finding designer
2. How the term ‘pocket park’ entered my field of study
3. Consent zine- Kachori restaurant- chat with the manager- power of design
4. Problems with my FMP

26 June 2025, 4:01 pm

This is a rage-bait. My blood is boiling. I feel my stomach churn as I watch Prada introduce ‘Kolhapuri Chappals’ as ‘Prada sandals’ in their recent show. I had barely processed the Scandinavian scarf scandal when this news came to light. This fashion giant has messed with my city of Kolhapur and these visuals make me nauseous. My stance brings relevance from my position as an international student in the UK.

Kolhapur has always been so special to me. I do not know why I hate to admit it but I feel overpowered by emotions as I read more about Prada’s theft. They are not just stealing the design, they are also mis-representing the culture and dis-regarding the sheer hardwork of the local artisans who clearly put more effort into their designs.

On one side, I am repelled as I go into more details regarding the history of cultural appropriation, on the other end, news articles like these let me have more faith in my thesis topic. I have spent nights being up, pondering about whether or not my place-branding and narrative-fixing themes make sense.

This is a poignant time-stamp in my FMP journey where I have complete faith in my selected topic. I now know what devil I need to engage with.

P.S. Prada might consider themselves victorious in this regard. I know that they will not acknowledge their fraud. However, I am still concerned because the people at Prada have no idea who this person is:

Credits for the image: Kolasur | Kshetra Puranas and Other stories

This is how you do it Prada.

Gosh, the lack of professionalism in the world just irks me.

22 June 2025. 3:43 pm

I write this as I sit in the Redemption Roasters cafe, which is a nice place to work. I would have never known about this place if it wasn’t for us exploring Picadilly by foot. They have an amazing backstory. I wonder if I can make my MA project about amplifying founder/personal stories for places. I realise that I can narrow down on places like parks and cafes instead of taking up huge spaces of areas like nation and countries. I love the idea of branding a borough or a street. I have been collecting the blue stamps of heritage placed around London. My project can also be about community-building experiences. I could handout postcards for London or maps with heritage places that are underrated.

Important insight by Neha: Where do I go after 5 pm?

I would’ve loved community spaces in India but I realise that they are not a thing because India has families. I still would not mind taking a break from them, once in a while.

In another conversation with Neha, we talked about the Mumbai coastal forest project. We also talked about diversity of a region and the future of place-branding with respect to real estate. I realise the possibility of my FMP taking a direction in the colonial history of London. I was also informed on how my take on these issues is valid because of my experiences as a post-graduate Indian student in the UK.

Schematic maps allow personal experiences to seep into a place. I could do something with tailored tours of a city that could elevate the experience. However this is completely opposite to what branding stands for- appeal to the major public.

The next step for me, I guess is my tutorial with Rob. After that I need to finalise names for interviews.

All my academic life, starting from nursery school my mother and my grandfather have begged for me to study in the early hours of the day. It is my tendency to stay up in the night, panic and not get work done anyway. How ironic is it that I understand the truth behind their appeals in the last unit of my post-graduate studies. I cannot see myself doing a PHD in the next few years but when I decide on embarking on that journey. I will wake up early in the morning and do my reading.

I have had a very interesting day today. I would go even as far as to say that my entire Spring holiday has been eventful. This was absolutely the time I was waiting to experience. When I imagined what it would be like to live in London, these were the days that I was visualising. I have just finished watching the last season of ‘The Crown’ and all of the seasons of Sherlock for the millionth time. The experience of watching London on the screen and then stepping out to see the landmarks in real time is unreal.

To talk about today, I was wanting to visit the Blank Street pop up at Charlotte street. I was a bit apprehensive about getting into the line because I did not want to be seen as pitiful and unemployed. My destiny never lets me experience anything for free, it does not believe in luck. Keeping that in mind, I just wanted to look at the picnic pop-up in terms of it being a branded experience.

I reached there fifteen minutes before the event began. I realised that I was too self-respecting of an adult to be doing this and decided to just buy a matcha. I then decided to buy a large matcha after all and walk back home. There was a line even for the normal orders now. Turns out, people who did not get to participate in the free pop-up event had decided to get a drink for themselves anyway. I was one of them. I felt like a guinea pig but I will give them the credit of getting their creative strategy to do good business for their store. I wondered how such decisions require collaboration from all of the departments at Blank Street to persuade me to just buy the drink at their shop.

I got my matcha and walked outside of the shop. Someone in the line had just received a Blank Street picnic blanket from the pop-up. Other people in the line clapped and hooted, I felt second hand embarrassment. Another person on the street in front of the pop-up line then shouted “we are going through a world crisis and look at these people standing outside a shop for free drinks” He said this just as I was stepping out. I practically ran at this point to get away from the shop. I really had nothing to do, I had stepped out of my home with no agenda so I decided to walk home gawking at the landmarks that would come along my way and boy was it a surreal experience. I passed along Leicester square, China town, Trafalgar square, Victoria Embankment gardens, London eye and BFI Southbank on my way home. I have decided that I will do this walk again on a sunny day with my camera.