I was born and raised in Thane, eight years, Providence for a year, and now I have been living in Boston for three years.

Every place has its own energy and has changed who I am as a person, and that shows up in the comics I make.

I am currently working on my graphic novel, Wedding Juice and Other Melodramas.

It is a collection of autobiographical comics that takes place in Thane, NYC, Providence, and Boston.

It is a melodramatic comedy about the circumstances leading up to my wedding.

It is the best language of communication. I knew I needed to be an artist in high school.

I had really bad anxiety, and I realized that the only things that made me feel better were drawing and telling stories.

A professor of mine said to me once, “to be a comics artist, you have to not just love making comics, you need to NEED to make them.

Now I understand what she meant. It is so much work for not too much pay, so you need to have an obsession for making comics that will sustain your practice.

I think most people love making art. And that is such a gift. Drawing comics helps me be a better person.

For example, if I am making a comic about having a disagreement with my father, I have to really understand his point of view in order to write and draw his character in a believable way.

And then it is impossible to stay mad at him, because I empathize with him.

That’s why I think, if we nurtured and supported everyone’s inherent tendency to draw and express themselves, we would live in a kinder world.

Through autobiographical comics, drawings on location, and illustrated interviews, my work strives to capture and communicate instances of emotional connection, queer immigrant culture, familial tension and the deeper sentiments hiding in the heart of it.

My comic series “Wedding Juice and Other Melodramas” won the 2025 Ignatz Award for Outstanding Series. ​

I have also made illustrations for clients like Spotify, Uber, The New Yorker, HarperCollins, D and AD, Das Magazin, to name a few.

While you are away, your country, your language, and your culture continue to grow, change, and develop without you.

And when you return, you realize that the place you have returned to is not the place you miss.

Everyone at home has moved on, but you have become a museum for the home you left.

I am deeply inspired by the India I knew.

The compositions, narration style, and drama of my newest comics series, Wedding Juice and Other Melodramas, is inspired by the Bollywood music videos I grew up watching.

The decorative motifs I use in my hand-lettered typography are inspired by design sensibilities I learned back home from storefronts, advertisements, and invitation cards, and the outfits are inspired by my mom, my grandmother, and my aunts.

The way I like to structure my stories is inspired by my grandparents telling me stories at bedtime or over long train rides.

While I feel deeply connected to my culture through my own memories, I am not trying to explain it through my work.

I am only attempting to use the visual language I am lucky to have inherited to express what it feels like to be an immigrant in America in 2026, through my autobiographical comics.

I am really inspired by the people!

I love eavesdropping on conversations on the bus!

I love watching the elderly ladies dominating my neighbourhood's pickleball courts.

Boston has a reputation for being cold and unfriendly, but I love how people here are honest, practical, and blunt.

A friend you make in New England will be your friend for life.

And there is an AMAZING growing comics scene here.

This is the only city I have lived in that has an organization like Boston Comic Arts Foundation working with local artists to foster a vibrant community for cartoonists.

They sponsor and help organize local fairs, coordinate and promote grants for artists, and also host monthly events and readings to catch everyone up with the incredible comics being made in New England.

As an autobiographical cartoonist, it is impossible not to be inspired by the place where I live.

I am also very lucky to live near the Arnold Arboretum, and I visit it every single day.

It is one of the most beautiful and grounding places I have ever gotten to experience.

It has changed my life.

When I was a teenager growing up in India, my mom had a job that required her to travel to Europe for months on end.

And even when she was home, we would only see each other at night.

We would go on long night walks, which would end in us sitting on our favourite bench in the local neighborhood garden.

On our walks, we would fill each other in on everything the other had missed.

One night, my mom told me about her adventures in Belgium.

She hoped one day we could visit the country together.

We haven’t yet been able to travel to Belgium together, but now with this print, we have.

When people hold this print in their hands, I hope they will feel the magic and potential of a shared dream, and the joy of catching up with someone you love.

I also love coffee as a special occasion drink.

My favorite forms of coffee are :

1. Hot filter coffee with milk and sugar

2. Cold Coffee being drunk while watching the ocean at Marine Drive on a summer evening.

When I say Cold Coffee, I mean the extremely decadent coffee beverage with milk, sugar, vanilla ice cream, and chocolate syrup, that reminds me of my childhood in Mumbai.

When I was in college in Bangalore, you would tell someone you had a crush on them by asking them to share a Cold Coffee with you from the shop across the street from our school building.

3. Coffee cabinets that I was introduced to in Rhode Island.

The worst drawing you could ever make with your hand is infinitely better than anything made by AI."

Together with my girlfriend — who designs all of our visuals — we decided to go for a logo in a raw, street, graffiti-inspired style, kind of like the “Pussy Wagon” from Tarantino’s movie :D

The idea was to create something that contrasts with the more “serious,” Latin sound of the name.

I’d always been into sensory stuff, exploring flavors, building communities, working with people, and doing hands-on craft (I always wanted to work with my hands!).

But I never really saw any of that as a real career path.

Today (1.5 years later) Nolens Volens is a group of people, friends sharing almost the same personal backstory.

Until one day I burned out working in the cultural sector… and just went all in on coffee.

Nolens Volens — whether I planned it or not — I ended up doing exactly what I’d been dreaming about all along.

A few months after I came on board, the place had completely transformed.

Suddenly, in a spot that had never really been known for anything like this (and wasn’t exactly easy to access), we had a shelf stocked with a dozen or so top European roasters.

On the grinders, there were three different espresso options to choose from, which was (and still kind of is) pretty rare in Poland.

And yeah — our lovely elderly neighbors would drop by for flat whites made with Ombligon from Kaffeelix XD meanwhile I was organizing cuppings of competition coffees, and honestly, I felt amazing doing all of it.

It was only supposed to be a bit of fun — a way to switch off, reset, and escape from work burnout.

Then I came across Warsaw’s Runway Hub — a roasting cooperative and B2B roastery — and that’s when I saw a real opportunity for myself.

So I went all in! (with huge, truly invaluable support from my girlfriend!

We’ve got some truly world-class cafés and roasteries here.

At the same time, a lot of them still have to compete on café shelves with foreign brands — often unfairly, in my opinion.

We should be backing our own, Polish coffees way more, instead of constantly feeling like the stuff from the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, etc. is somehow “better.”

I definitely feel that excitement around Warsaw coffee — it’s real.

But at the same time, I try to keep a bit of distance and stay… constructively skeptical about the trends and the aesthetic that specialty cafés have leaned into (let’s say I’m speaking generally — but yeah, we both know I mostly mean Warsaw 🙂).

Honestly, I feel it pretty strongly — especially as someone who only got on Instagram a few years ago because I kinda had to — that the specialty coffee scene hasn’t entirely gone in the best direction for the industry.

A lot of places have become very exclusive, very curated in terms of aesthetics and lifestyle, often aimed at a pretty narrow audience.

And sometimes there’s just a lack of humility and real hospitality toward the “everyday” coffee drinker.

So, as a team we try not to get pulled into any one „bubble”.

We just stick to doing things my way — building something that actually feels right to us.

Walk us through a typical roasting day.

At Runway Hub, it’s not unusual to have 5–6 roasters from different brands around the table during a single sourcing session.

We cup together, share impressions, samples, ideas — and even split pallets or sometimes single bags between us.

We also try to source direct trade coffees, working with our friends in Vietnam, Mexico and Indonesia.

Being part of a community-powered place like Runway Hub makes us feel both privileged and genuinely grateful – we just have constant opportunity to network and meet new people ❤️‍🔥 At the core, what drives us is making specialty coffee more accessible — and keeping our work as tangible and direct as possible.

We try to reflect that in how we select coffees, in our packaging, and in the way we present/sell what we do.

Our lineup includes everyday coffees, but also more funky, experimental lots (though we’re really careful there — we look for clarity in the cup and avoid coffees that feel overwhelming by heavy processing or infusion).

We work with competition-level coffees as well, and blends too — which we take VERY seriously.

In our opinion, blends have been unfairly pushed out of the specialty scene and given a bad reputation they don’t really deserve :(

There’s a Panama, but not a Gesha — instead, it’s a super „approachable” and daily typica.

In my opinion, it leans more toward a “dessert-like” profile as a variety, rather than the classic Panama stereotype of floral, tea-like notes… and the PRICE tag that usually comes with it :D

Then there’s Vietnam, which we’ve been pushing hard for a while now.

We always try to have both an ultra-light-roasted fine robusta and some kind of arabica in the lineup.

And also Salvador black honey — an amazing lot that we managed to grab just 10 kg of at an auction from a friend.

Definitely not your most obvious picks :) and there is some story behind each selection.

And to be honest, that worries me a bit — I’m afraid there might not be enough space for everyone, or that some of them could get lost in such a highly competitive environment :( Fingers crossed for all of them!

I didn’t start my company so I could work 24/7, and luckily, I don’t need to.
So at least for now, I’m living the good life 😀 And let others do the same!

We’re simply building something parallel - one that sits alongside the traditional coffee culture rather than competing with it.
In many ways, the growing specialty scene in Greece is helping more people appreciate coffee in all its forms.

We’re still just as excited about sourcing great beans, roasting for flavor, and chasing bold, expressive profiles for our customers.
If anything, that drive feels even stronger now.
We’ve simply learned how to channel it more effectively and really select the right collaborations for our brand and our philosophy.

Both our Kageyo and Gitesi are absolute fire - think bright citrus, red berries, floral aromas, and a silky body with really nice sweetness.
And these lots recently have consistently surprised people.

They have this beautiful balance of acidity and sweetness that feels very approachable, yet they still have enough complexity to keep you coming back.

It’s one of those origins that deserves way more attention than it usually gets.

Of course, we also wanted to make high-quality specialty coffee more accessible and convenient for customers.
Not everyone has the time or equipment to brew a pour-over or espresso every day, but that doesn’t mean they should have to compromise on flavor.
Drip bags let us bring our coffees to more people - whether they’re traveling, are on a remote island, at the office, or just want something quick and consistent.

To make sure the quality holds up, we’re very selective about which coffees we put into dripbags, and in essence, we put the same single origin coffees we have available in 250g bags.

We choose the lots that perform well with this format, and we take care of the whole operation at the roastery, so we pay close attention to packaging and freshness.

Every drip bag is sealed properly and with care, so the coffee stays aromatic until the moment it’s brewed.

The goal is to deliver the same level of care and flavor you’d expect from our whole bean coffees.

The energy is very much there - customers are more curious, there are more education opportunities, and the conversation around coffee has moved beyond just “good coffee” to really talking about flavor, origin, and processing.