My frozen fingers automatically reached for the neatly packed sweater in my black and white striped bag as the train came to a shuddering halt before the sun had fully risen. The sudden change in temperature from the prickly heat last morning to the chilly mist today was proof enough. We had arrived. As my … Continued
It was a three years back when the summer vacation had already begun, and like every year I took a journey with my parents. In most part of India summer is horrendous and Sikkim provided the promise of a ‘great escape’. Located in the north eastern part of India, is one of the smallest state, … Continued
Corbett was always a special place for me as I had celebrated my three birthdays at Jim Corbett, but this time it was different. For the first time in my life, I was going to a place far away from Delhi (where I live) without my family. I was only 10. Our school “PRESIDIUM” planed … Continued
Where in the World Somewhere. a girl steps off a plane and into a world unknown. Sometime. a boy runs barefoot through dirt streets, late. Somewhere far away from here, a girl is assaulted by the new world around her. In the back streets of the old city, the country finds her. Senses are excited … Continued
“Woooosshhhh” goes the sound of the red painted tennis ball as it flies past my head. The laughter from the boys standing nearby, when I swing my arms round and try to hit the ball that has already passed me is thunderous. Welcome to Indian cricket. Street style. I had come to India to watch … Continued
The delicate gold plated earrings stare back at me. In the busy shopping centre at the crowded Bazaar, I breathe in the scent of Hyderabad. People, walking around in search of useless things to buy crowd the narrow roads, hardly bothered about what they’re bumping into or whose feet they’re crushing underneath theirs. Middle aged … Continued
The smoke from the funeral pyres danced in the rising sun, cascading downstream with the river and rising above the morning bathers. The smell of burning wood and incense hung in the air, stagnant, as the sun peeked over the horizon and reflected off the rippling currents. Crows flocked at the piles of ash and … Continued
They say there is no perfect or worst time to visit the magnificent valleys of Kashmir and Srinagar. And, as per my 10 day family trip experience, I now believe in every word of that saying and the endless efforts that authors and poets have made to describe the place so far. My trip started … Continued
We leave at four in the morning. Guman, whose love for genuine conversation has managed to overcome the fact that I cannot understand Hindi and he cannot speak English, is telling me how Guru (teacher) is god. It is apparently written in the Bhagvad Gita. Those from whom we have the opportunity to learn gifts … Continued
Vipassana: 10 Days of Silence, Journey of a Lifetime! Morning wakeup call at 4 A.M., last meal of the day at 5 P.M., complete ‘Noble Silence’ (No talking, No gesturing, No writing, No reading, No NOTHING!), jail-like rooms to stay in, 10 hours of meditation a day in a hall full of 100 complete strangers, … Continued