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We are born into stories—of love, duty, shame, and silence. Some of them shape us. Others confine us. But what happens when we begin to question the narratives we were told were normal?
Adaiyalam (Tamil for ‘identity’ or ‘marker’) is a deeply personal and powerful exploration of unlearning—of shedding the inherited beliefs that no longer serve us and reclaiming the wisdom that was erased. Blending philosophy, storytelling, and lived experience, Aksheyaa weaves together threads of mental health, relationships, culture, and self-worth through a decolonial lens.
From the weight of colonial beauty standards to the unspoken grief of neurodivergence, from the complexities of love beyond patriarchal norms to the quiet resistance of remembering who we were before we were told who to be—this book is a reckoning, an unraveling, and ultimately, a return.
This is not just a book; it is a conversation, an invitation, a promise. To question. To heal. To remember.
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Aksheyaa Akilan
Aksheyaa is a 27-year-old dyslexic author, mental health professional, and social entrepreneur whose work sits at the intersection of healing, identity, and resistance. With deep roots in the South of India, her writing draws from personal, political, and ancestral memory to question what we call “normal” and reclaim what was erased.
She is the founder of the House of Hibiscus—an ecosystem of organisations reimagining mental health care through feminist and decolonial frameworks. A TEDx speaker and practitioner with experience at the United Nations and the World Health Organization, Aksheyaa brings a rare blend of institutional insight and grounded lived experience.
Adaiyalam is not just a book—it is a call to action. A call to reclaim our agency, our histories, and our right to define healing on our own terms. It is for anyone who has ever questioned the systems that tell them they are not enough. It is for those who seek liberation, not just in theory, but in the way they live, love, and exist.
At its heart, this book is an invitation to return home—to ourselves, our communities, and the knowledge that was always ours to begin with.
