Raashi, the sunshine friend

Unhurried, unstoppable

Climate reality training Minneapolis

I met Raashi in Mineapolis USA, under the wide hum of the Climate Reality training given by Al Gore. It seemed like that trip was exactly what we needed to nail down our life-crises at the moment. The room was full of people who wanted to save the world, but she had a kind of confidence that made her stand out. She didn’t speak to impress, she spoke to connect and laugh. Her words carried both intellect and ease, as if climate change, technology and human hope could all belong in the same sentence.

Both of us were desperate for a personal growth chapter and tangled in work-related crises, unsure where our careers were heading. Being selected for Climate Reality felt like a small divine validation amid the thousands of applications, and somehow we made it there. Minneapolis itself felt like a soft landing, as if the city was hosting our confusion with kindness.

By the third session, we had mastered the material - mostly because we were bored enough to read ahead. Raashi leaned across the table and whispered “Let’s bail, I’ll invite you a burger and a drink”. And we did. She taught me that day that time is precious, and when something doesn’t nourish you, you’re allowed to walk out.

This is how she rolled, so you just had to go with it. And sometimes, we don’t do that enough. We can walk out the door. We can change the conversation. We can bail if it doesn’t feel good. This essay, is an ode to Raashi’s sticky personality, I hope some of it sticks to you as a gift from me and her.

Raashi is a strategy consultant for non-profit organisations that promotes sustainable global development, the kind who builds ideas from nothing and gives them shape, direction, and heartbeat. I think? Isn’t that what friendship is anyway? To love someone while having no idea how to explain what they do for a living?

What I do know is: people come to her for clarity, for vision, and somehow always leave with laughter too. The kind that hurts your belly and makes your cheeks go red. She may be Indian by origin, but she doesn’t belong to any one place; she belongs to the wind. She moves through rooms like someone who knows life is serious but refuses to live it that way. She is sunshine in the darkest rooms.

What she is to me, though, can’t be captured by titles or conference badges. She has become one of my closest friends. The kind of friend you can say anything to, the kind who doesn’t fuck around when the truth gets messy. With Raashi, there is no performance, no fear, no need to be smaller or neater. She meets you as you are, raw edges and all.

Climate Reality may have been the initiator of our friendship. At the end of the Minneapolis trip, we vowed to do a project together to improve tech waste in our respective cities. Of course, it never happened. But our connection and laughter carried us to several other trips and meetings around the world.

She laughs really loud, the kind of laugh that turns heads and disarms tension. She carries lightness like a philosophy. Even when the world burns at the edges, she finds a way to remind you it’s still beautiful.

And then there are her baths. Long, sacred, infuriating baths. I remember the day we were heading to the Lindt Chocolate Factory tour. The trains booked, tickets timed to the minute and, she was still in the bathroom, singing like time didn’t exist. I hovered outside the door, panicking, muttering that we’d miss everything. She emerged at last, unbothered and glowing, hair damp, smiling like the world was right on schedule. We did miss the first train, of course. But by the time we finally made it, I couldn’t stop laughing at her chaos and ease. That’s what she does; she dissolves the urgency, turns it into something lighter, something almost delightful.

Her mind works in a way that’s hard to label. What keeps her going is connection, simply having someone there. When she calls, it’s not really about the complaint; it’s about talking, being heard. Friendship. Shared time. She’s guided by curiosity, by the way people’s moods and moments interact. She often mentions the absurdity of life. The fleeting moment that that was.

Being around her feels like being grounded and lifted all at once. She is brilliance without arrogance, calm without passivity, joy without apology. Sometimes I think of how rare it is to meet someone who changes the rhythm of your days simply by being in them.

Every now and then, we call each other during our lunch break. I go for a walk around the office, while I accompany her to go waxing or shopping lol. Every call ends the same, “Life is too short babe, just go for it” she’d say. Why can’t more people be like her? Kind open, and live life like it’s last damn day.

That’s Raashi. The friend who reminds me that there is space for both purpose and play, that life like her laughter, is meant to be taken all in. I wish everyone could experience the joy it is to have a friend like her.

Today is coincidentally her birthday! Post a comment below to wish her the best day!