Nine years ago, I was backpacking in China. In the middle of the Taklamakan desert with two good friends. We had journeyed across the heart of Xinjiang Province for days together. It was summer, and although we had seen snow in the morning in Kashgar, just a few hours later, we were in the middle […]
My family tells me that I was born with a twin. A baby boy. He didn’t live longer than 18 days, and he was never named. During the rare times we spoke about this, my Mom would tease me that it was I who had contributed to the little baby’s death. Apparently, I took most […]
It is bitterly cold. The tea stall owner is doing brisk business. I am wearing thick gloves and wrapped up in a long coat, but I can still feel the cold seep in through to my bones. My taxi driver, a smiling Nepali who speaks little English, promises me that he will wait, so I […]
It’s a walk of faith, I tell myself. I would walk 800-km from France to Spain to find faith. A walk to dispel my inner cynicism and believe in the essential goodness of humanity. That walk is the Camino de Santiago, an ancient pilgrim trail that starts in different places in Europe, culminating in the […]
I am sitting on Marina Beach, Chennai on an upturned canoe sometime in 2004. Next to me is a guy – Suresh. I watch the waves recede. Ebb. Flow. Recede. Relentless. Suresh turns to me and breaks the silence. “So, let’s talk about you and me.” I almost fall off the canoe and hurriedly clamber […]
I have written a lot on this blog of my soul friend, Birdy, but I haven’t told you about my other soulmate. I usually don’t write about my other relationships much because I thought I would keep those private. But what’s the point of keeping a blog where I promise to be honest and open […]
There it was. A runner who intends to cycle 150+km in a day. Did I succeed? Did I learn something from it? My task: An inviting stretch from Bangalore to Mysore. My gear: A Giant bike fitted with an 18-speed Shimano gear system. My mistakes: No cyclist in their right sense would try the Kanakapura […]
Every now and then, I decide to step outside the confines we draw around ourselves. This month has been enervating, tiring, exciting, and promising. This month started off with me being angry – after a long time – and I sat with that anger. I didn’t react. Previously, I had turned to drugs of comfort […]
It was early in the morning yesterday when I glanced at my phone to check my workout for the day. There was a notification from Google Photos. “Look back on this day last year.” With a start, I realized as the photos showed up that it was on the same Friday last year that Travelling […]