It’s going to be two years since I left the regular, strait-jacketed life in the corporate world. I have hated being away. I have loved being away. But one of the promises I made to myself when I left regular office work was to find more time to travel. I told myself that I would […]
I have a friend who gently, ever so gently, pushes me to explore boundaries I have drawn a border to, decorated, and felt proud of that design. Almost every other day, that friend gives me a ‘challenge.’ No, these are not the “Do 100 Push-Ups” kind. That wouldn’t be a challenge for me, anyway. But […]
Conversation buzzes around me. The occasional drift of cigarette smoke wafts through the air. Music plays softly in the background. I sip a cup of Italian almond tea brimming with notes of subtle bitterness, while I travel on a ship and watch an engrossing chess match between an eccentric chess champion and a mysterious man […]
A few weeks ago, I was contemplating going to Dharamshala for my year-end vacation. I looked at flights and guesthouses to stay in before changing my mind. I changed my mind when I read that the Dalai Lama rarely gives public talks these days. When I read that the monk has cut down on his […]
Talking about myself has always been one of the hardest things for me. I love listening to people instead. Through them, I get to understand so much more about myself. My struggles to talk about myself also come from decades of battling shyness and low self-esteem. “Why would anyone really be interested in knowing about […]
This prompt baffled me. What exactly is “in the air?” It made me remember the phrase “there’s magic in the air.” Then, I found other phrases. “There’s a rumor in the air.” “There’s something in the air.” We build castles “in the air.” There is “spring/love in the air.” I looked at all these idioms […]
The last time I came to Ooty was when I was graduating from high school. I was a certified loner then, and I remember thinking that my biggest fear then was if anyone would agree to be my roommate. I don’t remember anything of Ooty. Not its hills, not its climate, not its gorgeous chocolates. […]
It’s morning but the heat is already enervating. A dry, barren plain stretches out before me. The air is dry. The landscape almost like a surreal scene from a dystopian flick. The odd patch of green struggling against the aridness. Your car turns the corner, off the Sholapur-Pune highway, onto a rough road, and then […]
It was the night the circus came to town. The days when cable TV as a word didn’t exist in our dictionary. Maharaja’s Circus, it was called. No malls. Cinemas, yes. But we would wait for the once-a-year show to reach our town. The night the circus came to town is one I would remember […]