Finding stories in airports
Most of the time one doesn’t even have to make an effort to find stories inside airports. They are there all the time for anyone caring to look up from the kindle that one isn’t anyway reading… or if one just stops pretending to look busy or important or appropriately hassled or even thinking. Airports...
The creative writer and kayaking
I’m not new to kayaking. The first time I stepped into a kayak was on the River Denva in Madhya Pradesh in tiger territory. This was two years back and I was participating in the NDTV-Volvo Adventure Challenge then and our task was to kayak to a location about a couple of hours distance to...
Points to remember when clicking pictures in a Resort
Points to remember when clicking pictures in a Resort A good photograph must lead you on to discover more Aperture, shutter, and ISO are just fashionable words for those who are not inclined to think about them while clicking a picture. Even I was once more inclined to switch to Auto mode in my...
Journey to a royal rejuvenation
Namah is Shakti, Namah is Shiv… and as Robin Rumi puts it, this word is all about ‘everything male and female, light and dark, flesh and spirit. Perfectly balanced in one single moment lasting an eternity…’ Sounds so much like a sublime journey doesn’t it? Such were the thoughts as I joined around a score...
Crooked, winding, lonesome, and dangerous… but also amazing!
When I mention crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, and amazing in the same breath, all I mean to tell you is how enthralling it is to walk into and above the clouds. It doesn’t matter which mountain range you’re on. It doesn’t matter which villages are near or far. It doesn’t matter which country you’re in....
Roadside vendors of Delhi
‘Move. Run. Disappear,’ he shouted as he ran from one end to the other, ‘Municipality is here.’ There was a major ruckus and I saw footpath empty itself of roadside vendors in less than the time it took me to blink. Some were still there and when I looked at one who stood there, he...
To those who look through the spotted deer
The funny fact about most people visiting wildlife reserves is that they tend to prefer wearing bright coloured caps of all sorts, clothes that would make even the wild hog snigger and keep looking into the screens of their smartphones, saying, ‘There is no network here.’ And every time you meet a canter-full of them...
I’m not paid enough – Life on the streets of Delhi
A friend from London who was touring India told me once, ‘Life is easy in India. Everything is so inexpensive.’ I looked at him in mild surprise and asked him to give me a few days to show that Delhi wasn’t an easy city to live in. As he turned to go, I saw some...
A revolution in your pocket
There have always been a few who have favoured the written word over a photograph and there have existed masses who have discovered a thousand words in every picture. The eye stumbles upon Nietzsche in a photograph… the mind hikes with Mark Twain as it scans a picture… and the smile that one click evokes...
Ravan Reloaded
Ravan is an interesting character… so what if he exists only in a mythological epic. We celebrate his defeat every year and call it a victory of good over evil. But evil still goes on and good is still busy fighting it… just look at the newspapers or the news on the telly and you’ll...
Be the storyteller of Wayanad
About ‘travelling’, Ibn Battuta reportedly said that ‘it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.’ I guess this is true of every place on earth… and I can vouch for this as I have travelled to many places both within and outside India and have been building my treasure of stories slowly and...
Each species is a masterpiece
I’ve heard the language of wildlife many times and I have seen so many of these wonderful species converse with nature. I can tell you it is spellbinding. The hours spent at Dudhwa, Ranthambore and Shivpuri are probably the best hours that I have spent anywhere because they have taken me to a position that...
