Ritika Bajaj always knew her life would revolve around the written word. Her journey with language began when she graduated in English Literature from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, and later pursued a masters in English Literature from SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai.

In 2002, she started her career as a feature writer in a lifestyle publication called Marwar. She soon became editor of the magazine in less than three years. Ritika has since worked with content in different formats and mediums, both online and offline.

At her most recent stint with the company Common Sense Living, she started blogging extensively and reached out to thousands of readers with her new and distinct perspectives on life, productivity, spirituality and entrepreneurship.

Today, she is a content consultant, working with individuals, start-ups, and companies to help them brand and message themselves effectively. Additionally, she has launched her own blog publication called Pink Pinjra on Medium.com, based on the premise that one can find joy through expression.

Ritika has immense faith in the power of the written word and its ability to not just transform yourself, but to also connect with and empower others… In her unique storytelling style, she brings out small nuggets of wisdom for better living and higher thinking, impacting one reader at a time.

Her journey with words has indeed been filled with great insight and connection, amply evident in all the interaction her blogs receive. Ritika Bajaj is undoubtedly a woman of words! Do check out her blogs in the links below… 

Read more of her work on: medium.com/@ritikabajaj
Follow her on Twitter/Instagram/ Facebook/Linkedin: @ritikabajaj24

Note by friend Ashwin Lalchandani:

“I first met Ritika on a blind date 3 years back. While our romance was a non-starter, I didn’t realize then what a profound influence she was going to have in my life.

At the time of our first meeting, Ritika was already an accomplished writer and entrepreneur. She had started her career in a publishing house where she quickly rose to become an editor. At a very young age Ritika interviewed eminent personalities and captain of industries in India and she rapidly built her expertise in writing on a wide range of topics including business, lifestyle, travel, culture and fashion. However, Ritika knew her ultimate calling was entrepreneurship. She started her own venture, a design and content house that focused on custom publishing. This provided Ritika with the foundation and the experience which makes her who she is today.  

One of Ritika’s strengths is her ability not to be caged by her environment or circumstances. Each time I have observed her stuck in her personal, professional or spiritual life, she has blossomed and became bigger than her circumstances. This I believe is the genesis of her blog, the Pink Pinjra. With this initiative, Ritika’s passion on writing has taken a new life.

I am a regular reader of Ritika’s writing on Pink Pinjra. Her writing covers a wide range of topics including spirituality, her travels, entrepreneurship, her wins and losses and her fears and hopes…essentially, her life experiences which she unabashedly shares on her blog.. These real stories give me strength and inspire me to cope with my own life issues, whether personal or professional. Connecting the dots from our first meeting to today, I realized how important Ritika’s presence has been in my life and I wish more people benefit from her wisdom and kind nature. “

An example of Ritika’s writing:

“Nothingness Can Create Immense Possibilities

Every now and then in life, we reach a point where it becomes essential to empty our cups.

Emptying your cup is about letting go of your past beliefs, prejudices, thoughts and perceived limitations — basically ‘unlearning’ — to learn something new.

But there’s another more important reason to empty your cup — to reach a state of nothingness.

Because, in the moments in between, when you let go of your previous learning and create a blank slate — waiting to absorb the new — is where your maximum potential lies, to create something unlike anything you’ve created before.

Creativity lies and emerges from a state of emptiness and nothingness…

A space where you don’t know what will unfold, but you’re still open and willing to experience what emerges.

Yoga has a breathing practice called shoonyak, which can be translated as the ‘zero state’. It teaches you how to suspend your breath after an exhalation, and hold that emptiness for a few seconds.*

In those few seconds, you truly experience nothingness… Your mind is stilled as it is focused on holding that nothingness. It stops chattering, and thoughts are kept at bay.

Being in the present moment frees you of past memories and future anxieties.

And, liberated by the fact that you can survive even for a few seconds without breathing, makes you realise that life can show you multiple possibilities, in a state of calm and quietude.

The yogic breathing technique of shoonyak is a great way of letting go — Letting go of everything you thought you needed to survive, or thought you were and knew, to discover what you don’t know, or the unknown.

Creativity too reaches its peak when we have absolutely no resources to depend on…

When there is nothing within you, and you are down to zero, you think of newer ways to create and express yourself.

Throughout my career, I only played with the written word, thinking it was all I could be flexible with… I changed words, and restructured thoughts to write all forms of content to make them easy to read, interesting stories.

The process gave me much joy and comfort. But I soon realised there was something missing…an element of me waiting to be discovered.

So, I took a short sabbatical to learn about the intricacies of yoga…

To see how its theories and techniques could help my philosophical enquiring mind with more fodder.

What dawned upon me next, was that the mind is at its finest state when it’s blank…when you create enough emptiness within it to hold the unknown.

If you have to stretch and stretch some more — be it the mind or the body — all you need to do is create more space…

Space for old ideas to be exhaled and new ideas to be inhaled.

This for every creative is shoonyak, or the space of nothingness, where the potential for creativity and originality lies.

My sabbatical is like shoonyak for me, the state of nothingness… A kind of breathlessness, during which I wait to inhale the next long inspiration.

In the meanwhile I’m not planning the future or holding on to the past…

I simply absorb the present moment with calm and strength, reassured in the fact that it will take me to its rightful destination!

*Disclaimer: Please do not practise advanced yogic breathing practices, like Shoonyak, without supervision.“

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