CEO @ Design Mechanics is an agency that amalgamates stellar creative ideas into clever marketing strategies, blending it with necessary elements of technology for lasting impact. The perfect melange of brainstormed ideas and decades of experience makes us one of the most trusted agencies around. Helping Agriculture & Allied, Animal Husbandry and the Fisheries departments of the Govt. to communicate and market the livelihood schemes in order to establish backward and forward linkages; empower with technology to manage the operations; execute primary & secondary research and impact assessment. 

Painter @ Canvas and paper 

Cartoonist - https://www.instagram.com/officetalescomics/

Motivational Speaker

Nitin Ahlawat

Somehow, we have trained our minds to think only negatively…

Did it all start when we started calling positive overthinking — ‘daydreaming?’

Thank you for coming here! I’m Smitha, writer, speaker, and co-founder of MyndStories and we are reshaping how India approaches mental well-being. In 2021, I went through a harrowing time with COVID. The anxiety and trauma that followed made me realize how easily we neglect our mental health, especially when it’s invisible. That experience became the starting point for building platforms that speak to the mind with clarity, care, and courage. 

At MyndStories, we’re building India’s first content-led mental health ecosystem, offering therapy, relatable stories, podcasts, and group sessions to make mental health human again.🔸Think evidence-based strategies, emotional literacy, deep insights, and bite-sized tools that help young people thrive.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐝𝐨:- Speak on mental health, communication, and writing- Ghostwrite thought leadership for founders &amp; changemakers- Co-create programs that make mental health real and relatable in schools and organizations. With 22+ years in content, a past life teaching in China, and bylines in publications like Deccan Herald, Hippocampus Magazine, Kitaab, and Eshe, I bring narrative depth to every project. I am the author of an epistolary memoir, 'Worlds Apart.' 

𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐟𝐬 𝐈 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐲:- 
Kindness isn’t optional
Feminism
Real connection is more than follower count

So, if you're looking for a content partner who can help you tell your stories with impact, or if you'd like to partner with MyndStories to create better mental health outcomes, please don't hesitate to contact me. I am available as a speaker on mental health, communication, and writing.

𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐞: Bosch India | Google | Hindustan University, Chennai | Business World | Lady Shri Ram College | Christ University | MPower Technology | TedX Reva University

You can book a call with me on Topmate: https://topmate.io/smithamurthy to find out more.

𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘦: 𝘐 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘦. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺.

Smitha Murthy

I have been experiencing a weird feeling the last three weeks.

Initially, I didn't know what to call it. This was unlike anything I had felt ever in my life. Strange things are often uncomfortable, but this felt like a warm blanket in a Spiti winter. 

Comforting. Reassuring. Light. 

It took me a while to give this feeling a name.

Happiness. Joy.

It took me 46 years to get here - to feel happy. Without constraint. Without boundaries. Without the fear that this would be snatched away. Nothing in my life had changed. I still had the same worries over finances, family, old trauma, brittle friendships, and chronic ghostings. 

Yet, here it was. Tender like a flower's first bloom. Radiant like the sun's last kiss to the sea. As sweeping as the blues on a January sky. 

I savor this feeling. I am happy, and there's no reason to be happy, but I am.

And that's when you realize that you are finally, living. That you can carry sadness for the losses, pain for the hurt, anger for the betrayal, worry for the uncertainties, and you can still be unfathomably happy.  

How did this happen? 

Maybe, it was the Dalai Lama. 

But it wasn't just one moment crystallizing into definition. No, I feel it was more the accumulation of beauty and love. The weaning of grief and the slow lingering of love. 

What I am here to tell you, in broken prose, is that when you stay, life can reveal its own Happy Playlist, and you press Play and wonder how you hadn't heard this song before. 

Or perhaps, we just weren't paying attention. 

Would you tell me about anything at all this week that made you happy?

Co-Founder, MyndStories, your Mental Health Ecosystem| Author | Sunday Features Writer, Deccan Herald | Speaker | Neurodivergent

You know what breaks me?

People with "Communication" or "Writer" in their LinkedIn headings using AI to write their posts. 

I get it - we all don't have time to write but we must stay relevant, too. But can we also care for the reader? This reader, who in one scroll, will be fed:

"Not all revolutions are on the battlefield. Some are in board rooms."
"Stop waiting for motivation. Start building discipline. That’s the secret no one talks about."
"Today I chose growth over comfort. And honestly, that decision changed everything.”

And something is quiet. Always quiet. Quiet cafes. Quiet people. Quiet whispers. Quiet stories. 

I am tired of the quiet! The faux motivation. The amazing insights. 

Please, for the love of AI, if you are working in Communication, Content, or Writing, please spare a thought for the reader. They are our biggest assets. Use the words that justify that designation.

I believe they are called "YOUR WORDS."

We don't need masterpieces here. We just need our honest flaws.

Yours,
A frustrated reader who is quietly scrolling past posts that are AI-written.

I have become a public menace. 

Having a dog, I realize, means being exposed to constant embarrassment. 

Khushi Bun, like any other dog, loves her walks. But unlike other dogs, she has an inordinate interest in tires. No, not the ones I have. But the actual ones on vehicles. A mostly obedient dog, she is unrecognizable when there are vehicles around with delicious scents and smells. No amount of tugging and pulling will help if she must sniff.

This has resulted in many distressing situations for me. 

The other day, I was jauntily walking Bun in the morning. Head held high, I was enjoying the attention of a long line of school children and their parents, waiting for their bus. Suddenly, I was pulled by an Immensely Powerful Force of Fur. Khushi had sniffed a scent that MUST be investigated, and before I knew it, I was propelled, in a most ungainly manner, straight into the broad chest of a startled guy on his bike. 

For a while, we stared at each other, so close I could smell his morning toothpaste. The kids gawked at this real-life DDLJ scene. But this dog wasn't bothered. 

If you haven't tried it, I don't recommend trying to pull a 28-kg dog while holding a poop scooper in the other hand, with your head nestling against a stranger. 

"Sorry," I muttered into his shirt. "Dog."
The guy peered over, and Khushi Bun was still ardently sniffing the front wheels. In Bollywood, this is when I would jump onto the guy's bike and live happily ever after.

In my life, I got a glare. He harumphed, and I tugged harder. To no avail. I had to endure a full minute of indignity and wounded pride before Bun let go, and the guy kick-started his bike with most unseemly vengeance. 

I am also marked as a threat among cab and autorickshaw drivers. 

With rickshaws, Khushi Bun likes to jump onto the seat, believing she's off on a ride. With my flaming red hair, many a poor driver has thought I was kidnapping him or stealing his rickshaw. 

The cab drivers are another story. They sit grimly, staring at their phone until they see me staring at them. Unmoving. I try to give my most socially awkward smile and say there's a dog. But alas!

It's really hard to see a dog that's under the bonnet. They peer suspiciously out of the window, if it's open, and hurriedly roll up their window, if it's not. Others just stare back at me. Three long minutes usually pass in this memorable fashion before Bun gives up her sniffing, and I can resume life as Harmless Smitha and not Stalker Smitha. 

Because of this public indignity, I have often wondered if I should wear a face mask on Bun's walks. What if I appear on some portal as an "Unknown Offender On The Loose?"

There's one bright note to all this ignominy. I am now an Expert on the Insides of Cabs. I have observed in minute detail the upholstery, foot mats, the tiny Ganeshas, swaying Hanumans, and Sai Baba stickers. 

Please consider me a brand expert from now on. Please also let others know I am really harmless.

What does it take to tell the whole world you are fat? 

And speak with the utmost honesty about your struggles with your body, weight loss, and the shame of not being that perfect figure in this imperfect world?

I have been watching with awe Ira Khan's recent reels on her Instagram account, where she speaks about body image. What incredible courage. I could feel and hear every word. 

Ever since I started taking medications for ADHD and anxiety last year, my weight has shot up by nearly 5-6 kgs. I have not seen myself at this weight in decades. When I saw the scale touch 58 last week, I felt hollowed. I couldn't, like Ira also admits in her video, look at myself in the mirror. Of all the things that we do in therapy, getting comfortable with our bodies is one of the hardest. 

I was a skinny kid in school, gawky and ungainly. I was told to "fatten" up. I did. But then, I was told that I was too chubby. I hated my glasses and wore contact lenses despite how uncomfortable they were. I would tuck my stomach in during photos. Now, of course, we have filters and instant flattening. 

But there isn't a filter for the mind. It takes in all the pores, wrinkles, flab, and fat. It shames you more than society ever will. The Smitha in her 20s would hate this flab and try to outrun it. 

Now, I am trying to understand that a woman's body in her 40s runs differently. You can try a lot of things, weight training, running, and meditating, and still your body will not change. You can eat the right foods. Sleep the right number of hours. And still, your body will be stubborn. 

It leaves me frustrated. Not because I can't lose this weight, but because I can't make peace with the fat. I see here on LinkedIn people post their slim bodies for the world. Showcase their deadlifts. It's supposed to be motivating. 

But it actually leaves you feeling defeated, doesn't it?

Why can't you be like that? your head screams. My health tests are perfect, though. I have a physically fantastic body. But it's not the body I want. I want a slimmer, more svelte version of myself to emerge. And I hate that she is not there. 

Here's to courage. In speaking about our failures and struggles. 

Link to Ira's reels:

https://lnkd.in/gEy2UJwE

https://lnkd.in/gS2DiYc8

My co-founder, Swati Nair, shared her own story with weight loss:

https://lnkd.in/ggs6NXDc

Pic: The one I wouldn't want to post. But well, mirrors don't lie.

Jan 11 marked Metta Media's anniversary. Three years. 

Gosh. What have I done in three years while people have woken up at 3 am, run 2,500 marathons, drunk 489,000 power smoothies, hired 44,000 folks, fired 87,000 folks, written 45 books, and disrupted everything from Dadi's hair to Mittu's dolls?

This. 

- We have built a content powerhouse library of 400+ stories. Not AI-generated fluff. But real stories. Your lived experiences. Insights.
- More than 100+ audio episodes from storytelling to conversations to mindfulness.
- Built the MyndStories tech stack to now include therapy aggregation and AI-generated insights through Habitize. 
- Launched a shop for curated mental wellness products, and we are now open to others to sign up as creators or sellers. 
- Group support sessions from art to music to writing.
- Launched the MyndReaders Book Community - 52+ sessions with the most fun, warm people you can meet to discuss books. This group has helped brighten my Fridays and changed my relationship with anxiety.
- Created the MyndReaders Book Subscription - one thoughtful book and curated accessories. 
- Curated the MyndStories Writers' Community. A weirdly lovable bunch who will resist all attempts to write but still win my heart. 
- Final stages of publishing for 'Our Stories Are Us,' an anthology that YOU put together.

What I am trying to build with you (always with you, never without you) is a complete mental health ecosystem. If you think mental health, I would like you to think MyndStories. 

It's tough to live without a paycheck, and I keep wondering if I should give it all up. Is any of this making a difference to anyone? And is 'making a difference' a cliched aspiration that I should let go of?

I don't care about disrupting anything or becoming a unicorn or mushroom babycorn. What I do care about is if we can make mental health conversations in India easier. If we can build with compassion and care, while admittedly having our flaws...

If we can do that...we have done well, no?

What do you feel? Do you think this approach is good or should I go the founder-mode and start pivoting and disrupting?

Dear Content Writers,

You may have taken many a copywriting workshop. Some with folks who haven't even worked in advertising. Erm. Okay. Some with folks who call you for weird "house parties." Some with folks who create uncomfortable WhatsApp groups. 

I have heard of all these folks. 

My aim is to move away from the men, and give you workshops designed and crafted by women. Namrata P. was a wonderful find for us with the Healing with Emotions Workshop. 

And now Snigdha Ghosh Roy is here with a Content Strategy Workshop. It's designed to be a functional introduction to understanding how communication often revolves around a clear strategy. This is not about writing clever punch lines and posting spec ads. 

This is about crafting viable strategy decks. Understanding organizational behavior. Researching best practices. And eventually, becoming a person who understands how to design content strategy for brands and companies. 

This workshop is great for those who are:

🟦 Starting out in their career as writers/copywriters/content creators
🟦 Stuck with copywriting and would like to enhance their skills. 
🟦 Marketers looking to up their content game.
🟦 Corporate communication folks.

This workshop is supported by MyndStories and certified safe - it's our effort to create safe spaces for writers here, who have often struggled to find mentors they can trust. 

Please share in your network, WhatsApp groups, as well as with the pigeons and crows.

https://lnkd.in/gyecUrvb

All participants will receive a Certificate on completion of course work by Metta Media.

Dear Writer of Friendship Stories,

It is amusing how quickly one jumps to delete a comment that quotes your own words.

Poor Bhaskarjyoti Paul made an innocent comment on a post yesterday that discussed how difficult it is to make friends as one ages. He quoted lines that were sent to me. Same words. Same meaning. Yet, in a legal notice, accountability was swifly pushed aside because it was conveniently described as a 'quote from the therapist.'

But the same thing here? Deleted in minutes. 

It is tough to stand on the other side, isn't it? To see words that give you discomfort. If someone merely quoting your own words back to you causes you discomfort, then pause a while to see what impact it may have had on the original recipient?

I’m tired of this old excuse where men hide behind ‘I was just repeating’ or ‘I didn’t mean it like that’ to escape ownership for that impact. 

Because you see, if those words were as harmless, why delete them? 

Research and lived experiences have shown that men are far more likely to reframe harm as just a misunderstanding, intention as pure, and impact as an exaggeration. So much so that when a woman receives words that feel violating, confusing, or destabilising, she is asked:

What was the context?
Did you misunderstand?
Why are you taking it so seriously?

But you see, deletion proves me right in ways that no context or misunderstanding can. When you delete, you acknowledge authorship. When you erase, you admit impact. 

Point is, when you control visibility, you are showing where power really is.

With us women. 

Which is why Jay Shah and I are planning to make our voices more visible. Coming soon: A new feminist voice on MyndStories so that our stories are always loud.

Here's a trivia question for you:

Who wrote one of the earliest leftist feminist novels in Bengali literature?

You may not know the answer. Neither did I. I stumbled upon Sulekha Sanyal's life and work during my research on women writers in India. 

And what a woman she was! Born in 1928, into a powerful Zamindar family in Korokdi, Bangladesh, Sulekha spurned caste and class norms, choosing to write about oppression. She married in 1948, but, scandalously, to the society of those times, got a divorce a few years later. 

Sulekha lived through some of the most turbulent times in Bengal's history: the famine, independence, and the partition of India. Through it all, Sulekha never left writing. She wrote more than 30 short stories and 3 novels:

➡️ Nabankur: The Seedling's Tale
➡️ Sindure Megh: Red Clouds
➡️ Dewal Padma: Wall Flower

Nabankur, the most famous of her novels, is the story of a young girl called Chhobi who rages against patriarchy. Chhobi "fights to share the privileges offered to her brother and male cousins, and refuses to see her future as another submissive household drudge." She concludes that not a single woman she knows has been spared grief - the grief of labor and toil. 

This book is available in translation on Amazon and Bookchor! Wonders never cease!

Sadly, Sulekha suffered from leukaemia, and despite treatment in Moscow, she never fully recovered and died in 1962. 

But she never stopped writing even until her last days. 

What can I say but be awed? We owe much to the writers who showed us how to fight injustice.

This is part of a series on India's unsung women writers. 

Pic credit: Unknown.

Dear Writers, Poets, Readers, and Teachers of LinkedIn,

There's a word in German called Selbstachtung. It means self-worth. In Mandarin, self-respect is called zì zūn xīn. In Japanese, it's jisonshin. In Hindi, it's called Swabhiman. 

We can also call it dignity. Our sense of self is our last reservoir. You strip human beings of their dignity and self-respect - you strip them of soul. Of the essence that makes them human. 

Let's say someone betrays your confidence, maligns you to someone else, triangulates and uses you, objectifies and sexualizes you, and wonders why they are "being nice" to you. What would you do? Offer support, thinking you are being mature?

Or would you bristle with anger and withdraw support? 

If you ask me, maturity is not tolerating that behavior. Maturity is knowing that access to you should be a privilege. It is earned. Dignity lies in withdrawing it when you are disrespected. 

Yet, I am baffled when I see people here reward such a person with access and validation. A like or support isn't casual. Social validation is social currency, and when you freely offer it to such a person, you are debasing the currency of your self. 

You are denying yourself grace. You are telling yourself and the world you don't matter - not even to yourself. 

It's an act of self-abandonment, isn't it? You are telling the world that your dignity is flexible, and your boundaries optional depending on who violates them. 

Our desire to be right shouldn't be so much that we will be wronged just to be right. 

We can do better. 

If you don't think you are worthy of respect, how will anyone offer it to you?

Years of therapy have led me to:
- Cut access to anyone who has harmed me. 
- Fight for yourself because no one else will do it for you. 
- Stand for your values because that's what you will carry in death.
- Withdraw support to anyone who has harmed or enabled harm. 
- Support marginalized groups such as women, LGBTQ+ folks, and minority religions. 
- Not offering forgiveness like it's a universal right. It's your choice. 

And here's my unsolicited advice:

Don't think that the people here on LinkedIn are what they show themselves to be. The most soulful poet can hide the most callous skin. The most ardent warrior will betray trust. The oldest writers will carry the most intense hidden desires. 

Tread softly, my friend. If you must be gentle, be gentle with kindness. Otherwise, rage. Rage against the death of honesty. 

Pic: Generated randomly. Any resemblance to any post here is coincidence and banter.

What a fantastic women-led collab this is turning out to be!

The final stages of print for the MyndStories Anthology, 'Our Stories Are Us,' are now underway. But that's not the point of this post.

What I must share is how thoroughly I have enjoyed working with some amazing women in putting together this anthology.

First, the e-book creation and overall marketing are with the wonderful Namrata P. from Keemiya Creatives. Both Namrata and I share a common passion for promoting more women-centric books and companies. Her team has been lovely and accommodating. And honest. They don't do paid fake reviews or random reels. 

Then, I had the most fantastic email collab with our cover designer, Meera Raichura. My interactions with Gen-Z haven't been inspiring, but Meera was an exception. She didn't baulk at iterations and worked on this book as if she were the author. I still remember an email from her at 1 AM, titled "Eureka," because she was trying hard to get the colors right! Woke up in the middle because that idea struck her, and just had to work on it! You can't buy this support.

It's why I call her Meera, my Veera.

The print publishers, Antara Nanda Mondal, from Blue Pencil, were so patient! We went through so many publishers - some were rude. Some curt. Some just wanted to dump a quote and say, "Go and print now." But not these folks. They really cared about the manuscript. I am excited to see what the final quality will be. 

Even the endorsements for the book came from two women: Anukrti Upadhyay and Ira Khan. 

This makes me heart-happy. 

Pre-orders open:
https://lnkd.in/gxdFzx7p

May we find in us the words to light the way for someone lost in the dark.

taplio

The Battle

Nitin Ahlawat

Smitha Murthy

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taplio

The Battle

Nitin Ahlawat

Smitha Murthy

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Nitin Ahlawat's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreSmitha Murthy's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreNitin Ahlawat's LinkedIn Performance