I hope Inktober and life are treating you well; unlike me, who’s still a week behind on the prompts. But not to fret; not everything is a race. It’s more about why you’re doing it rather than anything else. For me, that is staying true to my imagination and being consistent in its execution.

What has been your why for Inktober 2025? If you’re amused by the question, try giving my previous post a read; it might have some useful insights for you - Starting and Staying with Inktober 2025. I’ll be publishing weekly recaps of my Inktober sketches along with the story behind each one, so everything’s in one place in case you missed the daily notes.

This post features the sketches and stories from Week 1. Hope you enjoy going through them!

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Day 1 – Mustache

This one is inspired by my earliest and fondest memories with my father. As a toddler, a clingy crybaby as I was, I loved being carried around by him everywhere, nor would I ever miss a chance of being on his lap. He loved taking me everywhere with him too — to his playgrounds, to his meetings, to buy groceries and to the sabzi mandi. I’d sit on the tank of his bike and off we’d go parading through the narrow roads of our tiny little town. Back then, he used to have a sharp, well-trimmed mustache that I found particularly spikey and annoying against my cheeks. He knew that and would not stop teasing me with it. The sketch captures one of those moments.

Day 2 – Weave

One has to be extremely fortunate to be blessed with the love of their grandparents. I am one of those fortunate ones. I grew up with my grandparents and adored them dearly, often spending more time with them than with my parents, especially my grandmother. I would follow her around the house as she did chores, eat from the same plate as her, and sleep on her bed ever since I was just a couple of years old. Being a quiet kid, I had a thing for observing my grandmother and mother meticulously, picking things from them and wanting to learn more about what fascinated me.

Knitting was one of those things. It used to amuse me so much - how simply holding a couple of sticks and moving them with your hands could make a whole sweater or a scarf! Also, the colourful balls of yarn were a delight to my eyes. I’d always get so excited whenever my grandmother would knit. Sitting next to her for hours and watching her. Playing with the yarn and holding it for her. So much so that after some time, she got me my own sticks and taught me how to knit. Little did I know, we were weaving memories together that we’d cherish for life.

Day 3 – Crown

May we all be blessed with partners who give us a royal treatment and make us feel that we deserve nothing less!

Day 4 – Murky

The underpasses of flyovers in India have an entire ecosystem of their own. From offering shelter and solace to those in dire need to harbouring and attracting those who could snatch others of the same, our underpasses see it all. I have always found them extremely dark and terrifying, to say the least. How about you?

Day 5 – Deer

The 17-Mile Drive, California, USA, is one of the most scenic drives I have been on. With different viewpoints spread across the Pacific coast, the serene blue sky, its reflection on the clear Pacific Ocean, and the humongous Cypress trees never leave your side throughout the drive. And, sometimes you are also accompanied by beautiful wildlife.

This one is from one such moment. This deer was casually strolling along with its mates on the Pebble Beach Golf Links, right across the road from a viewpoint. It was a delight to spot them all. I got so excited, I almost screamed, “Look! There are deer!”
I have also added a few pictures from the 17-mile drive for you to look at!

Day 6 – Pierce

I think the sketch speaks for itself in this one. It’s often the non-material weapons that create the deepest wounds, and it’s those invisible wounds that hurt the most. May we all get a little better at treating each other.

Day 7 – Starfish

Have you ever heard of the vanishing sea phenomenon? I had not either until I visited Chandipur Beach in Odisha, India. It’s a phenomenon where the sea recedes dramatically, almost vanishing during low tide due to the unique slope of the beach. It leaves behind a huge paradise of sea shells and starfish on the exposed seabed that you could actually walk on! The seabed is so vast you won’t feel like there is an ocean around.

Being there with your loved ones makes everything all the more better, especially when you have someone by your side, narrating their childhood stories as you walk along.

Have a look at the views from the beach!

That’s all for Week 1! I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed creating and writing these. I’d love to know which sketch or story resonated with you the most — feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. Until next week, keep creating, keep feeling.

All images and sketches by Avisha Jaiswal.

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For everyone interested in sketching or who has been part of a sketching community, you might have come across Inktober at some point or another. If you have ever thought of giving it a shot, this post is for you.

Though I’m already 14 days late with this post (really sorry about that), I hope it helps you in some way — by offering a small framework to think about Inktober and make it your own.

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1. Start with the “Why”

This one is easy yet tricky. Like for many important things we do in life, we ask, “Why do I feel the need to do this?” — you should do the same with Inktober.

If you’re planning to give Inktober a try, the answer to that “why” is probably already sitting in your subconscious — just do a little probing and bring it out into the open. Write it down on a piece of paper — ideally in the same notebook where you plan to make your sketches.

Having a strong sense of “why” helps you stay motivated on days when you don’t feel like sketching.

Your answers might look like:

• I want to reconnect with my creative side and explore sketching.

• I want to be more regular at it.

• I just want to try it out.

…and the list could go on, looking different for everyone.

For me, it looks something like this:

• I want to create more original sketches — ones that reflect both my inner and outer world.

• I want to avoid getting fixated on perfecting my sketches.

• I want to build speed in sketching.

2. Continue with the “How”

This would be your plan of action for the month.

• Outline the time windows that would be feasible for sketching in your schedule. Doing it whenever you feel like it is nice for days when motivation is high, but it creates ambiguity and mental overhead on days you’re swamped.

• Decide how much time you’ll devote every day.

• Think about whether there’s a style you want to stick to.

• Ask yourself how you’ll ensure that you honour your why.

My Hows are:

• Keeping the sketches simple and original to my imagination.

• Devoting no more than 30–60 minutes every day.

• Embracing imperfections and moving ahead.

• Not redoing anything — reimagining a stroke and making use of it if I really hate it.

• Allowing myself to take a day off when I’m sick or low on energy, and doing the prompt the next day — thinking of the challenge as 31 active days of creating, rather than something that ends when October does.

• Letting myself loosen up and enjoy the process of sketching rather than worrying about how it would come out.

3. Plan the prompts

Take a notebook and pen, and sit down with the prompts before you start the challenge. Try to think of each prompt and write down what you want to make of it — a word, a line, an image, anything.

Having a pre-planned prompt list helps you overcome decision fatigue on days when you don’t have bandwidth left for imagination.

Remember: your planned prompts are just a starting point. You can always tweak or reinterpret them as you move along.

When I plan mine, I usually write down the first thought that strikes me — it helps me stay true to my imagination and respond instinctively to each prompt.

A little bit of planning goes a long way in setting up your mindset for long challenges like this and in creating mental space for it.

These steps have personally helped me a lot — I hope they help you as well.
It’s never too late to start!

Happy sketching!

Hello there, and thank you so much for being here!
I’m genuinely excited about this and truly grateful for it.

Without much delay, let me walk you through the itinerary of this journey that lies ahead.

I’m Avisha.

Professionally, I like to build products, teams, and cultures that create real impact in the lives of everyone they touch, and I believe in learning more about all of it — to get a little better every day.
Personally, I love exploring and thinking about everything that makes us more human.
Sketching, writing, and being around my loved ones have been my companions in this space — sometimes taking turns, sometimes all at once.

Working in tech and startups all these years has been challenging, humbling, and quite an interesting experience, to say the least — but above all, it’s been filled with learnings.
I want to share those learnings here — especially the ones that are less talked about, but are far more concerning, and require a bias for action from our end.
The things beyond the hustle hype, the LinkedIn wins, and the constant chase for growth.

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Over the years, I’ve realised that, more often than not, the real cracks in companies don’t come from bad code or failed funding rounds. They come from their people, and how they treat each other.

From how the lack of respect and psychological safety can silence the brightest minds,
and how even a small act of kindness or empathy leaves a lasting impact and fosters trust.

How endorsing pressure is preached more than proactiveness.
How micromanagers can’t stand autonomy and end up stifling creativity and innovation.
How availability, and not outcomes, becomes the measure of productivity.
How leaders make decisions that serve their ego more than their company.
And how, in all this, it’s not just people who suffer — but the business too, often even more.

When I share these learnings, I want them to be more than mere reflections.
I aspire for them to give a voice to those who’ve gone through such circumstances — people who’ve felt invisible, unheard, or unsure of how to take a stand for themselves.
A voice that might equip them to act differently in the future.
And I hope they offer insights to those who want to create better environments — so their colleagues don’t have to go through the same.
Maybe, in the process, we can all become a little better at treating each other like human beings first, and anything else later.

What you’ll find here

My writings here will be something like this — but not limited to:

• Tech and startup culture, and the importance of building one

• The state of the hiring landscape and the improvements it needs

• Leadership, empathy, and what trust — and the lack of it — actually look like in practice

• Lessons on navigating the startup world

• Functioning from one’s values and principles

• The sustainable way of working in tech — and thriving in it

And every once in a while, I’ll step away from the work talk to share a travel story, a sketch, or a creative piece — as life has a lot more to offer than work.
It’s the little things and the quiet moments that remind us to stay human and appreciate its beauty.
For the month of October, I’ll be sharing the sketches I make for Inktober 2025 — a month-long creative challenge where artists all over the world create one ink drawing every day.

This space is my attempt to reimagine and rebuild the culture we work in, because we all deserve it — to be treated with respect and empathy.

After all, work, at its core, is about people — and the kind of world we create when we choose to trust, listen, and treat each other better.

If that resonates with you, I’d love for you to be part of this journey.
Subscribe, share your stories, write back.

Welcome to the conversation!

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