Matilda

A frantic nudge on the back was enough to wake me up and disturb my deep peaceful slumber time. Before I realised, it was my sister who had seen a bad dream and wanted me to help her go back to sleep. I hugged her closer to myself and mumbled to her that tomorrow morning will be better than today. Within a few minutes, she was asleep on my arm and I kept looking at her 10-year old face for a long time. I wished, then, that she always remain this close to me as she was at that moment. Till now, my wish has unfolded into an eventful journey.  If I was gentle and all nice, she was all about sass, jazz and spice; If I was reserved and introverted, she was social and ‘Noddy’–incarnated;  If I liked uni-colour cloth patches, she carried shiny dresses with unmatched panache; If I found peace in nature and solitude, she preferred blaring music and lots of DJ dance; If I savoured plain idli and chutney, she gormandized on mysore masala dosa and spicy sambar. The two o...

Ever had a dream of you waking up after dreaming inside a tent on the edge of a mountain slope?Well, I did. Today morning, I woke up thinking I am transported to the tribal village of Rajgundha valley which is comfortably seated in the lap of Barot valley and Bir-Billing. It is no surprise that as this was the most recent trek I had gone for. The Trekkers’ Stoppe took yet another unconventional route of exploring the Barot Valley along the Uhl River. Wake up and show up! Hence, the dream I was seeing in my dream was actually the reality. That ‘trek’ morning, I woke up with the feel of warm sunrays urging me to get up. Their penetration through the green tarp of the tent was as blissful as someone gently patting me on my shoulder. I have observed that I have had the best hours of sleep in the tent during my treks. No bad dreams, no wrong postures and no abrupt calls. I didn’t bother to check the time as it seemed like it was broad daylight outside. The previous day had ...

I whispered to myseIf, "I seem to be seeing the sea!” Very few things were  as exhilarating as a cup of coffee.  Hard to believe that I was on a real sandy beach,  Something that had always been out of my reach.  Lashing waves were a melody in my meditation music, They said its therapeutic value could cure the sick.  But I know now what it means to witness the sight,  Of fast-paced breaking waves forming foam so bright.  Cool breezy wind whizzing past each strand of hair,  Releasing all the doubts I had accumulated with care.  Remembering all thoughts that once shuddered me,  All those locks for which I hadn’t found a key.  Just this moment, I turned around facing the wide shore, Flowing away with the waves like a pebble with a lot in store.  No matter how life throws trials and tribulations weighing us down, No one can dampen the pleasure of waves bowing to cool you down....

She should be able to speak, to pause, to listen, to criticize and to improve. But on her own will!  Growing up in an Indian society, the aspect of gender inequality is something we learn, may be not as early as the alphabet but certainly as quick as that. Observing the undertones of this gender gap, I have strived to gain awareness of how some women are able to break the glass ceiling or even approach it while some are lagging behind. Are the men holding us back? Are women 'supposed' to be held back sometimes? Do men 'need' to be held back too? If men and women work together, why do men take the lead? These are some questions I used to think about a lot as a child. In this blog post, I wish to approach this issue from a different angle. Even though there is no denial that most societies in the world are patriarchal, there is evidence to show that some women are knowingly or unknowingly perpetuating male supremacy. In a bid to be likeable, women hesitate to co...

What you seek is seeking you! That could be true only if you are open to seeking and exploring in the first place. The plunge to start a new hobby of trekking imposes on me an implicit responsibility to live upto its stature. With every new adventure, I try to discover knowledge from the surroundings and capture its essence. My recent escapade was to Prasher Lake and the town of Rewalsar with a group like no other. I describe four major highlights of this trek using pages and images…  Stride and slide till the snowline  'Red' carpet In thy nature is beauty In thy nature is pure white earth In thy nature are origins of my birth & worth The drive from Mandi to Baggi was one that made us observe night turning into day before we reached the village- the starting point of our trek. We were passing trucks ornated with danglers, hanging cutouts, painted faces, jingles and catchy phrases like ‘13 मेरा, 7 रहे’! The guide, we hired, was a winsome local named Raj w...

When in quandary, forget the laundry and leave behind the sundry! If the mind starts churning such poetic lines about moribund lifestyle, a short trek is the ideal getaway. Treks are energising despite being physically challenging. The neoteric approach to trekking is all about adrenaline rush and social media frenzy. But one can consider it as a self-challenge and a retreat from our just-as-usual lives. This is because these on-foot journeys give you a chance to pause and look at the bigger picture. Well,I must say I also had the John Muir instinct of ‘The mountains are calling and I must go’ in minor proportions. The chosen destination this time was Nag Tibba in Uttarakhand. We took a bus from Delhi to Chandigarh where our other trek mates joined us for the road trip till Pantwari. During the road journey, the radio was functioning rather erratically- the motion of the car and the windy roads made it difficult to catch the right frequency so it kept switching between differe...