I grew up in New Delhi, drawn to one question from early on: why do people think, feel, and behave the way they do? That question took me through a Bachelor of Arts - Major in Psychology from Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), and then to the Centre of Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences (CBCS) at the University of Allahabad - one of India's leading interdisciplinary cognitive research institutions - where I earned an M.Sc. in Cognitive Science with a deep focus in cognitive neuroscience, neuropsychology, and computational neuroscience, working with EEG, fMRI, and computational modelling of human cognition.

By the time I finished my master's, I was preparing to move to the United States for a PhD. Life had other plans.

I moved to Finland because I fell in love with a Finn. There was no job offer, no university admission, no strategic career plan. I chose a person, and then I chose to build a life in the country that person called home.

The academic path came after the move. I was admitted to the University of Helsinki, where I now pursue doctoral research in human behaviour and eHealth - investigating how brain-computer interfaces and virtual reality can be combined into a closed-loop, adaptive therapy for social anxiety disorder. The goal is an open-source tool deployable across Finland's public healthcare network, including rural and underserved communities.

I did not set out to build organisations. I was fighting for things that were going wrong - for myself, for my family, and for people around me who had no platform to be heard. I had the lived experience and the education to understand why systems were failing, and I used both.

That is what civic advocacy means to me. It is not a career title. It is what happens when someone with knowledge of a problem refuses to just describe it and starts building the fix.

Kansanhuuto ry ("People's Outcry") - the civic advocacy organisation I founded - works on migrant rights, resident participation, accessible healthcare, and civic education. Our initiatives include A.H.O.P.E. (multilingual healthcare delivery), I.V.O.T.E. (civic education for migrants and youth), and an apprenticeship model connecting language learning with supervised clinical practice.

I also serve on the board of Moniheli ry (Finland's largest multicultural NGO network, 100+ member associations) and HYVAT (University of Helsinki Doctoral Researchers' Association, advocacy and PR). I am a member of the Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation's Finnish network.

I entered politics not out of ambition but out of frustration. I got tired of pointing fingers at decisions I had no part in making, and I decided to act. In April 2025, I ran as Green Party candidate #88 in the Espoo municipal elections and candidate #2197 in the Lansi-Uusimaa Wellbeing Services County (LUVN) elections - one of four candidates on the Espoo Green ticket campaigning primarily in English, targeting Espoo's substantial international population.

I ran. I did not win a seat. But the campaign built something more lasting than one election result.

The distinction between civic advocate and political activist matters to me. Civic advocacy is building institutions outside the system - giving people a voice regardless of who is in power. Political activism is choosing to enter the system and fight from within. I do both, and I think you need both.

I live in Olari, Espoo with my family. I speak English (working language), Hindi (native), Urdu (fluent), and Finnish (B1.1 - conversational).

I practise as a cognitive neuropsychologist, working with clients across anxiety, depression, personality disorders, body and gender dysmorphia, acculturation challenges, and neurodivergence - serving ages 12 and above in English, Hindi, and Urdu.

I am vegan - an ethical commitment, not a lifestyle choice.