this week with rooh

Jammin’ To 🎧: Like Real People

Time got away from me, as it tends to. But rooh has been here all along, steady and forgiving, like an old friend who doesn’t need an explanation. 

Life has been full, with work, travel, and moments that just come and go before I get a chance to write anything down. Last week, it took me to Cleveland, where I saw John Mulaney’s newest set (he’s on tour!). There’s a point to what I’m saying, I promise, but I’ll take my time getting there. 

I’ve watched Mulaney’s stand-up before on a screen, but something about watching him live filled me with a kind of awe I didn’t expect. There was a moment, somewhere in between a joke about a washing machine and an exorcism, when he stood, looking into the crowd, and everything felt aligned. It was so clear to me that he wasn’t just performing, he was simply being himself, living his purpose. You could feel a kind of energy in the room, this rare sense of someone being exactly where they were meant to be, and doing exactly what they were made to do. 

I haven’t stopped thinking about how there was almost something sacred about watching that kind of alignment. It wasn’t about his fame, or success, or how polished he showed up. It was about witnessing a person step into their reason for being. In turn, that energy spills outward, reminding the rest of us that it’s possible to achieve a clarity of purpose. 

Most of us spend our lives trying to figure out what our purpose is. Few of us get lucky enough to have a single moment of revelation where everything suddenly makes sense. For most of us, purpose isn’t hiding on a mountain top, waiting to be found; it’s something we make an effort to shape quietly, through the lives we build and the daily choices we make. 

Watching someone live fully in their purpose is awe-inspiring, to say the least, but it doesn’t mean the rest of us are lost. It means our version of purpose might live in smaller, quieter places. It could be in the mundane, the overlooked, the ordinary moments. It lives in how we show up, how we pay attention, and most importantly, how we care. 

For me, purpose often shows up when I’m surrounded by people I love, watching them talk and laugh and fill the room with their small, ordinary magic. There’s something about those moments that makes me feel aligned, like this is what it means to be here, paying attention. Maybe that’s my version of the stage, and maybe yours looks different, but it’s just as real. 

As for rooh, I want to let it keep evolving. I want it to return to what it was always meant to be: a space for reflection, for softness, for reminders that even the smallest moments have soul. There will be more of these letters, as I try to share slower and deeper thoughts. Maybe I’ll share a few stories from others who are also figuring it out. The goal isn’t scale; it’s sincerity. 

If Mulaney’s purpose is to make people laugh, maybe mine, and maybe yours, is to simply keep paying attention. 

With rooh, 

Anusha