23 August 2025
4:52 pm
I can do the circumnavigation activity at the Finsbury circus gardens. Just a bunch of places to chill. History is a part of the quirk.
Detour-Side quest
pocket face – pocket place
These places are actually calm, they propagate mindfulness and clarity. The bigger parks encourage even more chaos- chaos with your loved ones. Pocket parks are inclusive.
Today I attended the evensong service at Westminster Abbey, it was nice. Now I am sitting on a bench at the Mount street garden. I look at the quotes on the benches and realise that the people who donated them must be filthy rich. Because no one today has the time to build a personal relationship with a park and spend most of their time there- “donated in the remembrance of ___ who loved spending all his/her time at this park”
This indeed is a quiet park. I had to walk for a bit around Hyde park to reach here and I realised that I did not explore- Kensington, Grosvenor square, Mayfair area in depth. I am also thankful that I didn’t because if u did that, by the end of my course I would’ve been seriously depressed- looking at all the shiny things beyond the glass.
As I look around, I see a man peacefully turning pages of his book, a couple laughing and a man swinging his keychain out of boredom. I realise that as humans, this is what we were meant to do.
Parks signify a way of living if we weren’t dealing with consumerism or a large population. I want to build a park when I grow up.
It is currently 6:15 pm. It is true what I preach. Pocket parks do save you from burning out. This garden would be so peaceful if it wasn’t for humans- especially kids.
I have arrived on another set of realisations. Now the challenge is to produce a sprint draft before Monday so that I can show it to Paul in the tutorial. I thrive in chaos, I rise in uncertainty.
Realisation- Pocket parks bring out the poet in me.
Pocket Poet
But while on my walk, I realised (insert meme) that this project has indeed taught me to understand the process of brand identity design in depth. I am truly satisfied with the process and I hope I can say the same about the outcome.
Next on the agenda is Cleary gardens.
When the world tells you to get lost, you do
You prioritise yourself
Ted cross garden
I can’t see clearly. It is hotter than India. I might melt and my phone might burst due to the heat. The garden is lovely. One thing I realised after coming here is that it going to be difficult to consolidate the narrative of this project. This garden has an identity of its own. I wouldn’t want my commercial branding to take over that. I just had a talk with Shura, he mentioned the community and volunteering experience. I will talk to a volunteer now, I see lots of them. They are busy watering the plants, cleaning garbage, gardening. I hate to bother them.
Yashashvi Phoenix park:
Intimate, nice conversations, soft talks
Wildlife- not just bears and lions- but micro orgasnisms, birds, bees
Could maintain a bit, but vibe is nice
You don’t necessarily need to go and sit in a cafe to talk to your friends
30 July 2025
4:14 pm
I see the point of these pocket parks. I have to submit my thesis under a month. I have to find a new place to live. I have spent the last week panicking. I have panicked on some level. It has reached my home in India. I have successfully managed to pass on my insomnia to my father, my mother and my sister, my friends too.
But sitting at the Drury lane pocket parks, looking at the kids play, shout and just be themselves is doing something to my serotonin levels. My matcha from Jenki is adding to them. I’ll turn off my Jab Tak Hai Jaan playlist and immerse myself into the environment now.
There are two things that I have realised today.
Places are perceptions. Reality doesn’t exist, it is built. I probably do not love London, it has kept me away from my parents. I do, however, love the idea of London. I deliberately play ‘Challa’ as I walk through Trafalgar Square; hell, I even skip some steps matching my strides with the beats. I have all of my main character moments as I walk on the Millennium Bridge, all of them.
The other thing I realised is that the experience of a pocket park is meant for you to stumble on it. I was going to come to this park yesterday, but all the planning took the fun out of it. Now I’m sat on a bench here and I feel so calm. It has little story trail stickers which I’ll look into later.
Talked to an urban sketcher, sketching in front of St.Paul’s- She discovers green space with the help of her bicycle.
Compare your study to Ben Wilson- he breaths life into something dull and grey- the bridge. Great comparison with your aim. People stopping to discover- observation. Trail- small scale interventions.
Your canvas is discarded gum—something people don’t even look at. What does that say about value, attention, and beauty?
-story collective.
Design outcomes:
Picnic merch
Utility in rains and winter
Southwark cathedral
5:27 PM
5 July 3025
So many there’s to talk about
Such rich historical threads woven into intricate tapestry of stories. They have attempted to preserve its presence and influence in the present world.
LGBTQIA+ flags in a prominent churchyard would’ve been the blabber of the borough back in the day (talk of the town) A few years back, people would have been kil*ed for this.
I haven’t met Hodge the cat. That is highly disappointing.
New information and investigation makes me happy.
Where is Hodge?
Shakespeare’s brother lays here and so does John Harvard, the founder of Harvard university (I might be wrong in this but I know that he was born and christened here)
My sense of smell is overstimulated from the borough market. I cannot believe I almost missed coming to this place. God knows I don’t want to leave Southwark.
There’s a small, almost hidden herb garden based on biblical themes. It smells amazing.
Publication based on the first sentences that people utter upon been taken to a pocket park.
Pocket conversations
19 July 2025
12:36 pm
I am sitting outside of Whisk by Jenki in borough market. It’s been an amazing start to the day. It’s raining, I’ve come out for a walk. I went to the Southwark cathedral to catch Hodge- day 2 of me not catching a hold of him. Now I am sipping matcha with ‘mashallah’ playing on my headphones. I smell cheese coming out from the cheesemonger’s station. I see heaps of people passing by the market
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:
To Do list:
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-
