Some journeys are measured in kilometres. Others are measured in memories, emotions, silences and the people who leave an unexpected imprint on our lives.

For author, poet and illustrator Madhurima, her recently released poetry collection, Between Fuel Stops and Feelings, is a journey that exists somewhere between all of these worlds.

With its evocative imagery of a lone motorcyclist navigating mountain roads, the book immediately establishes a sense of movement, solitude and discovery. But beneath the roads and landscapes lies something far more intimate—a poetic exploration of love, longing, admiration, memories and the process of finding meaning within one’s own journey.

The book carries the evocative subtitle: “The poetic journey of Shimo — From his to you. And dedicating to him.”

And Shimo is not merely a fictional creation.

He is the real-life inspiration who became the emotional spark behind the book.

“Shimo is his own superhero.”

When asked about the person who inspired Between Fuel Stops and Feelings, Madhurima speaks about Shimo with a warmth that makes it clear that his influence on the book goes much deeper than simply being its inspiration.

“Shimo is a passionate traveller in the truest sense,” she says. “He genuinely loves exploring. He gets on his bike, travels, discovers places and, in a way, I feel he is also exploring his own life through those rides.”

For Madhurima, it was never simply the idea of a man travelling on a motorcycle that fascinated her.

It was the philosophy behind it.

“What inspired me wasn’t just the bike rides, the mountains or the travelling. It was the person behind all of that. Shimo lives life on his own rules. There is something incredibly inspiring about watching someone consciously craft the life they want for themselves.”

She describes his determination to become better as one of the qualities that stayed with her.

“He has this unconditional love towards creating his own life. He keeps working on himself, keeps trying to get better and doesn’t necessarily wait for somebody else to tell him what his life should look like. That really inspired me.”

That admiration eventually found its way into her writing.

What began as thoughts, observations and emotions slowly transformed into poems, illustrations and, ultimately, an entire book.

“I didn’t initially sit down thinking, ‘I’m going to write a book about Shimo,’” Madhurima admits. “It happened naturally. His way of living stayed somewhere in my mind. His journeys, his determination, his relationship with his bike and his willingness to explore life—all of it slowly became a part of my writing.”

For her, Shimo represents something larger than an individual.

“I see him as his own superhero,” she says.

The idea, she explains, isn’t about being flawless or invincible.

“I don’t mean a superhero because he is perfect. I mean someone who is constantly trying to understand himself, improve himself and create his own path. I think that is something young boys can really learn from.”

Madhurima believes that young men need more examples of strength that aren’t necessarily defined by aggression or perfection.

“You can be a young man and still be vulnerable. You can make mistakes, learn, grow, travel, work on yourself and still be strong. You don’t have to pretend that you have everything figured out. What matters is having the determination to keep becoming better.”

That philosophy became one of the quiet foundations of the book.

From his journey to hers

While Shimo became the inspiration, Between Fuel Stops and Feelings eventually became Madhurima’s own emotional journey.

The motorcycle becomes a metaphor for movement. The mountains represent challenges and discovery. The fuel stops become those inevitable pauses in life when we step away from the road, look back and ask ourselves where we are headed.

And the feelings are everything that cannot always be expressed aloud.

“I think we all have fuel stops in our lives,” Madhurima reflects. “There are moments when you have to stop, breathe, look at everything you’ve experienced and then decide whether you want to continue. Sometimes those stops are painful. Sometimes they’re beautiful. But they are necessary.”

The collection explores love without attempting to simplify it.

There is longing, admiration, distance, tenderness and the complicated process of holding on to something emotionally meaningful while continuing to move forward.

Rather than presenting a conventional love story, Madhurima uses poetry to explore what happens inside a person when someone becomes important to them.

A book where words meet art

Adding another deeply personal layer to the project, Madhurima also illustrated the book herself.

The artwork complements the poetry, creating a visual world of winding roads, mountains, motorcycles and solitude.

For an author who is also an artist, the decision to illustrate the collection allowed her to express emotions that words alone could not always capture.

The result is a book that feels less like a traditional poetry collection and more like an immersive journey—one where the reader is invited to travel alongside the emotions.

The road becomes both literal and symbolic.

It is the road Shimo travels.

It is the road Madhurima travels through her writing.

And, eventually, it becomes the road the reader travels through their own memories.

“From his to you.”

Perhaps the most striking aspect of the book is its dedication to Shimo.

Yet Madhurima’s relationship with the inspiration is not presented as a simple story of possession or permanence. Instead, she seems interested in what happens when one person’s existence inspires another person’s creativity.

“Shimo inspired me to look at life differently,” she says. “He made me want to write about roads, about becoming better, about the things we carry within ourselves and about the feelings that stay with us. He became the inspiration behind the journey, but somewhere along the way, the journey became mine too.”

And that is perhaps the heart of Between Fuel Stops and Feelings.

It is not simply a book about one person.

It is about what one person can awaken in another.

Sometimes inspiration comes from a teacher. Sometimes from a conversation. Sometimes from a place.

And sometimes, it comes from watching someone live their life with enough conviction to make you look at your own differently.

For Madhurima, that inspiration became poetry.

And poetry became a book.

What comes next for Madhurima?

With Between Fuel Stops and Feelings now released, Madhurima is already looking ahead to her next literary journey.

She is currently working on her upcoming novel, When Love Lasts, continuing her exploration of love, relationships, human emotions and the complexities of the connections we form.

While Between Fuel Stops and Feelings takes readers along a poetic road filled with motorcycles, mountains, memories and feelings, When Love Lasts promises to take Madhurima’s storytelling in a new direction through fiction.

For an author who continues to find stories in people, places and emotions, one thing seems certain: the journey is far from over.

And perhaps that is the perfect philosophy behind Between Fuel Stops and Feelings itself—

sometimes you stop to refuel, sometimes you stop to feel, but eventually, you find your way back to the road.