Manshi Rawat is a high school senior standing on the terrifying, thrilling edge of becoming "not sixteen."

She has often wondered why adults write letters to their "dear 16-yearold self." To her, sixteen wasn't defined by extraordinarily big achievements, but by quiet milestones often lost in comparison to
others, and the overwhelming fear of what comes after school ends. It is an age when tomorrow starts to feel frighteningly real—when worries become so loud they almost steal your breath.

Do Parindey became her quiet sanctuary through all of that noise. Born on daily metro commutes, fueled by hyper-specific playlists, and inspired by random strangers carrying their own unseen weight, storytelling became her way of finding freedom.

When she isn’t writing, Manshi can usually be found wrapped up in traditional aesthetics, drinking coffee, overthinking life, or daydreaming about a quiet, rainy afternoon in Edinburgh.

She hopes that ten years from now, she will be writing a letter back to her sixteen-year-old self with a smile on her face, a fountain pen in hand, and a sky full of claimed horizons.