MEET AMANDA

12 CITIES IN 12 MONTHS...AND A DREAM

Amanda Sodhi.

Indian-American singer-songwriter-filmmaker Amanda Sodhi is also the founder of Pen Paper Dreams. Born and raised in Washington, DC, Amanda moved to Los Angeles and then Mumbai and Kolkata.

Last December, she sold all her furniture in Kolkata, downsized to one suitcase and on December 31, 2020, began a new journey of discovering home and belonging across India.

This project is titled Twelve Steps To Home and Amanda will be living in one city per month, documenting this journey in the form of a book.

She will also release a new single/music video at the end of the journey, with footage from all 12 places. January was Hyderabad. February was Andaman. And March was Ooty. Amanda’s Insta handle is @amandasodhi.

 Name: Amanda Sodhi. When my parents visited a gurdwara in Maryland for the name ceremony, the letter “a” popped up, and they had short-listed Amanda as an option beforehand. They liked the meaning of the name – “worthy of love” or “beloved” in Latin.

Currently: I am living out of a suitcase – one month per city – for all of 2021, writing a book about this journey of travelling solo and discovering home and belonging across India. Workwise, I’m fortunate enough to be able to telecommute from any location.

Favourite colours: Black, yellow and blue.

Favourite outfit/designer: I love comfy dresses and pyjamas equally. Most days, I prefer pairing a t-shirt with skinny jeans.

Favourite Bollywood stars: Irrfan Khan, Pankaj Kapur, Madhubala and Rajkummar Rao.

Favourite Hollywood stars: Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey.

Favourite movies: Oh my – too many. No, really, there are just way too many.

Favourite singers: Sam Smith, Melody Gardot, Sia, Adele, Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, Sonu Nigam, Vishal Bhardwaj, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Mohammad Rafi. Again, too many!

Favourite songs: It changes every couple of weeks. At the moment, I’m listening to Yawar Abdal’s Tamanna, Ritviz’s Sage, Selena Gomez’s Ring and Justin Bieber’s Lonely quite a bit.

Favourite TV shows: Friends, The Good Place, Jane The Virgin, BoJack Horseman, The Big Bang Theory and Black Mirror.

Favourite ice cream flavour: Tiramisu, sitaphal and strawberry cheesecake.

Favourite cuisine: I live to eat! I love Tex-Mex and Italian dishes a lot. But, I think I could easily live off desserts!

Favourite restaurants: Living in India for the past eight years, I think I miss Chipotle a lot – man, what I’d give for a bit of their guac right now! And, I am craving the banana pudding from Magnolia Bakery and Bottega Louie’s macarons.

Favourite sports: I am the least athletic person on this planet. But, I did clear the first three levels of ice-skating classes when I was a teenager, so I suppose that counts as a sport.

Favourite book: I run an online interactive reading group through my startup Pen Paper Dreams, so I’m constantly reading new material. I really enjoyed Han Kang’s The Vegetarian, Malik Sajad’s Munnu and Lori Gottlieb’s Maybe You Should Talk To Someone. My all-time favourite book is probably William Faulkner’s The Sound & The Fury.

Favourite activities: Reading, writing, cooking, sleeping, travelling, making music, binge watching shows, going for long walks and catching up with friends.

I love chilling: At different coffee shops, and I also enjoy inviting friends home for tea and coffee.

I’m freaked out by: Creepy crawlies. Spiders. Lizards. Frogs. Ants. Cockroaches. They all give me the goosebumps. Also, after experiencing Cyclone Amphan in Kolkata, I am terrified of natural disasters.

I need: Ten hours of sleep a day, which, of course, I rarely get. And, I need lots of hugs, books, tea, coffee and stationery.

I want to be: Better at my craft, whether it be writing or singing. And, I wish my body was more flexible. Oh, and I want to learn swimming and cycling.

My role models: Probably my Nanaji – he adapted well to changing times. I also look up to people like Saket Gokhale and Rana Ayyub who are unafraid of calling a spade a spade considering how dangerous it is to speak up in India given the political situation.

Tips to save the planet: Oh. My. God. People really need to stop littering. The world is NOT your dumpster. I hate it when I visit any beautiful place in India and both locals and tourists alike dump cups, cans, bottles and packaging.

In a perfect world: People would treat others the way they want to be treated, not the way you think they would or should want to be treated. There’s a huge difference.