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In an alternate life ...

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In an alternate life, I could have been hosting people in my own homestay on a mountain top, overlooking a beautiful valley, and cooking up delicious meals, conjuring aromas of the land. Mornings would have me frolicking around in the garden, collecting home grown veggies, plucking flowers for the vases and picking juicy fruits for light consumption. Afternoons before lunch would be a jostle of pots and pans. Lunches would be an amalgamation of conversations in various tongues, licking of fingers, and petting the four-legged creatures in need of love. Post lunch a lull would spread in the property, with some preferring a nap, some getting lazy over the terrace basking in the sun, some retreating to the backyard with a book, and the last few getting busy with making pickles. Evenings would mean unlimited servings of tea and coffee, as per preferences, and collecting firewood together. And nights, ah sweet dear cozy nights, would mean cuddling and blankets and deep sleep and sa

Lohagard Trek

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Long time no see. I needed motivation to write, and finally I got one. My typing has become slow and words don’t flow as they used to. They feel like some guest long left unattended.  Days in Mumbai are different, very different than those in Dehradun. It doesn’t rain here, it pours, quite literally. The rush is unimaginable. And the lack of space, whether it is in the double sharing rooms that we stay in or the houses that we see around, is shocking. It was a huge shift of lifestyle. From Dehradun where the terrace had views of the beautiful mountains and horizons, to Mumbai where terraces don’t even exist, neither do horizons. Well, I have heard how romantic monsoon here is, and how the city grows on you with time. And I seriously hope they are true. I want to like this place, since I have to spend a long time here. Slowly and steadily, I am hopeful, that this city would open up to me. The friends get together planned in Pune finally happened, and the

Water Baby - Missing the Beach

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I love water bodies. Sea, rivers, waterfalls, lakes- they attract me in. I dread them too. I like feeling the breeze in my hair, the salty taste of the air in my mouth, listening to the rhythm of water rushing in its course. I love them from a distance. I would promptly put my feet in it and sit for hours rather than go in and explore. The beach will always be my healing ground. My calmness. My rejuvenation. The hills are beautiful and mysterious too, but not in the winters. The cold weather and the snow spoils my mood. Almost depresses me. So melancholic. I cannot enjoy snowfall, a sad realization. Low temperatures mess with my mind and emotions. I terribly miss home. Feel wretched. Not my kind of a season.  I miss the times with friends, Sagarika and I had been to Vizag to visit Vineela and the time we spent in RK beach. So peaceful. Here too the river that flows through Tapkeshwar Temple is so clear and strong in rainy season. Water surely changes something fundamen

Thinking Out Loud ~ Once In a While

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Mussoorie I don’t know what to write about. Well, there is a lot to write about though. The month of December 2018 brought in so many new experiences in my life, that I ought to write about them. But I don’t know where to begin. Well, for one, I am afraid. I am afraid that the tumultuous emotions that I have been long evading, ignoring, shutting out could overwhelm me before I could even attempt to put them in words coherently. I am afraid that the more I try to reason things, make sense of events that occurred, the more I would confuse myself. Maybe that’s the reason it has been difficult to write all these days, even when all I wanted to do was write- jot down all those thoughts that trespassed my conscious mind. I still don’t know what to type, where to start, but I’ll make an honest attempt. A vulnerably honest one. The sound of typing feels so familiar. I wonder why I had been away from words and blogging for so long. Certain someone had said that I reside too much i

Queeristan by Parmesh Sahani

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  Queeristan (Amazon Link) Thanks to Audible Free Trial I listened to this amazing non-fiction on LGBTQ inclusion in Indian workplaces. Author Parmesh Sahani identifies as gay Indian, working closely with Godrej higher management and employees for years to create an inclusive workplace, both legally and in spirit. This book is a result of those years of experience, research, collaboration with individuals from difference spectrum of the society and organizations who has successfully transitioned into a queer friendly one.   Indian history is inclusive. From the Khajuraho temple architectures, to Konark to the Rig Veda, there is existing proofs even 2000 years ago of Indian inclusiveness of queer. It’s the draconian British law that criminalised it, which was scraped in 2009, came into effect once again following a sad judgement in 2013 and eventually was scraped off for good in 2018. I am in awe of the lawyers who fought this legal battle- colleagues and partners – Arundhati Katju

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