When Leh-ting go isn’t easy!
Second time in a row. A bunch of over-enthusiastic, over the age of four-O, crazy albeit, friends for 26 years decided to go on a high-altitude reunion! An overland exploratory trip for 12 days to the ‘land of the mystic lamas’- Ladakh! This time it was after a hiatus of three years, the previous one being at the Annapurna Base Camp in Nepal. Destination: Ladakh. Objective: Differed from person to person, ranging from ‘let’s run away from reality’ (me), ‘let’s test if my training was worth it’ , ‘let’s test my mental strength, since...
Read MoreWhat Melbourne did to me…
They say first impressions are always the ones that stay for life. And, its true- as much it is for people as it is for places you visit. But, then things turn around too. And shake up your mettle. Good to bad, or bad to good. For me, Melbourne was a bit like that. It mixed me up. Stirred me. Mostly like a good martini. But shaken, at times too. Past midnight, I walk into the little apartment, right in the centre of town. An apartment on the 42nd floor… where at night, the window transformed into a twinkling array of fairy-light dotted skyscrapers and for the new nights to...
Read MoreBanaras: Bold, Beautiful and Bejeweled!
“Banaras is older than history, older than tradition, older than even legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together”- Mark Twain.. “Kashi” as locals calls it, is a city that should be savored slowly- almost like the ‘paan’ that comes associated with this name in its prefix. It is a city that you either like for its character or dislike for its dirt. So, while packing your suitcase, pack patience. Because, if you don’t wear that, it will be hard for you move along or experience it. Be it, for allowing the musky smell of camphor to...
Read MoreLondon Kaleidoscope: Postcard memories in black and white…
The best thing about being in London, is that it becomes familiar very quickly. It makes you feel at home. Settled in quickly. With different meanings to ‘settling’ in. You can be just another face in the crowd. Or be the perfect tourist. And, in both these cases, you are still ‘settled’-in…and connected. In heart, soul, pulse and pace. It grows on you. The first day you fumble at the Oyster card machine. Two days later you know the exact change to carry to the Pret-e-manger next door for your coffee and croissant. A week later, you don’t feel like...
Read MoreWhy Vicarious?
I have chewed upon this idea for a very long time now. I want a word to be ‘me’! Every person in the world has his or her own word. Some may have a short phrase, and that’s okay as well. And I needed one,too. But it needed to be chosen carefully, and almost wisely. For it cannot change once decided. That was the first ground rule. And then, it just happened.Almost over-night. Like most important decisions of my life get taken…in my dreams! All I did was snug into my bed, and close my eyes. Behind the sheer pista curtains,the shadows of the trees became longer, the...
Read MoreAbout Sambrita
“We gaze, therefore we are”! Stories dwell tantalizingly close to us, around us, within us yet we continuously fail to pause and capture! Our stereotypical concepts of story -telling and spelling out obvious facts and form keep us from unearthing stories and pictures beyond the realm of the obvious. Stories could be anything that catches our imagination, sticks to our fancies urging us to react to it. And I react. I look around and find joy in people’s joy, jump with the street urchin playing with the water hose, feel the pain on a wrinkled face when he begs for money, or delight in...
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