Gurudwara on the border of Punjab and Himachal. Not only is it the full moon, it's also Guru Nanak's 555th birthday. How many more magical Nate, things need to happen on this 2.5 week journey?
I even took this information back to my hotel room when I had Wi-Fi to map out what I saw. I'm a healthy skeptic lol but these were definitely the Himalayas!
Day 1, 15 minutes into my trip and I'm crying. This is going to be a very intense 2.5 Weeks.
I'm probably autistic. Don't get me started on the history of bagels 👀
Thanks for seeing us @rosebluds, I see you
Being a third culture, kid is not easy, especially when you're looking to reconnect to the land that your family is from.
I've been given this amazing opportunity to go back to Punjab, India and reclaim my identity as an artist and as a Punjabi woman.
There's parts of me that are sad that I'm going now that I don't have family there.
There's parts of me that are sad that I'm not going with my father
There's parts of me that are sad that I wasn't able to sell my small group trip in order to make this happen and make it easier.
But it wasn't meant to be easy. I don't believe I was meant to go with a group, I believe I was meant to do this on my own.
I don't eat Indian food
I'm not a fan of human
I don't speak any other Indian language
And I'm going to be on my own navigating a very overwhelming City for the first 5 days until I make my way to the farmland in Punjab.
I know that my ancestors are here supporting me because I feel them, they're leading the way, they're asking me to trust in this process.
I also know, when I return I am not going to be the same Rani it's both exciting and terrifying... Which is the same chemical compound in our bodies by the way lol.
I've been preparing myself and healing all of this trauma with my family through @browngirltherapy class called Boldly bicultural. It's been helping me recognize why I'm feeling the way I've been feeling.
I am still raising money to make this trip less painful lol. If you want to contribute, you're more than welcome to vnmo me at @rani-cheema My artist statement is linked, if you want more information you can send me a DM or comment here and I will send you a link in order for you to learn more about me and how much this means to me
With great love and appreciation!
The very terrified, Rani
I had three calls today with clients who canceled or didn't show up. I got annoyed! Either they forgot to reschedule or they forgot to cancel or they just didn't show up.
The amount of excuses I received today made me want to respond with...
"You're going to have to pay an additional fee in order to reschedule because that was my time that you took away. If you mix that next call, I'll charge you DOUBLE!"
Of course that's what was going through my head I would never send a message like that. But in the moment I realize their excuses were real life issues and this is why they're coming to me for coaching calls and mediumship calls.
They're overwhelmed, they're doing too many things at once, they're a single parent whose kid got sick, they scheduled this call in the middle of a work day, their inbox got overwhelmed and they missed the reminder emails.
Sh*t happens! Life happens!
We need to give not just ourselves Grace but we have to give others the same. Because we all need to lean into the feminine when it comes to everything including our businesses.
If we don't want to work based off the patriarchal standards of how business is supposed to be run, then stop running your business that way and do it the way that you want to do it.
We're dropping our service fee from $150 per day of travel to $75 per day of travel, this was the service fee for my business 10 years ago!
This October, I'm celebrating a milestone of being in the travel industry for 10 years! Cheema's Travel didn't officially exist until 2016. But in 2014, I became an accredited travel advisor.
There have been some incredible highs, some incredible lows, but no regrets ... Ever!
Not only are we dropping our service fee for travelers, but this month I am hosting a travel advisor master class for both newbies and seasoned travel advisors.
FOR TRAVELERS
If you're interested in working with us or have some questions, just send us a DM and we'll send you a zoom link or answer your questions.
FOR TRAVEL ADVISORS
You can check the 🔗 in our bio, or comment GIMME, or send us a DM and you'll get the link to the class syllabus.
We also have a special guest speaker, one of my favorite people and human design coach Jackie Roby of @inspiredjourneyconsulting
There are only 10 spots left. I want to keep this small as possible So everyone can get that attention that they desire.
Let's say you've been given the opportunity to go to your ancestral land to study.... Study something you feel so deeply passionate about and your ancestral land is in a part of India that no one ever does anything in 👀
Wouldn't you do everything in your power to make that happen? Sometimes you need your community to support you.
I've been reconnecting with my Punjabi Roots since the spring of 2023 because the Punjabi side took a backseat to the other half the Puerto Rican side. It was cooler to be the Puerto Rican kid than it was to be Indian at the time... But, I was never cool 😂
I've been given the opportunity to participate in an artist's residency in Punjab, India. I was only able to afford half of the residency and I just found out the organization has already coordinated things for me for the other half due to my highest level of confidence in raising the rest of the funds.
Please send me a DM for the link to my GoFundMe and to read my artists statement.
$3500 - for the second half of the artist's residency
$1700 - for my round trip flight to India
If you can donate that would be amazing! If you would like a mediumship reading in exchange for a donation, just let me know! Send me a DM.
Thank you!
@cocoaandjasmine
@chinatownfirstfridays
@prelude_and_dawn
@thefrogtownproject
