Reflections

When I spoke about my travel destination for this month to my friends, I received a lot of ponderous ‘umm’s’ and ‘are you sure?’ and ‘why do you want to go there and do that?’ I shrugged them all off but I did have my unsaid misgivings about the trip. The past few weeks in Bangalore have been horrendous with the clogged and water logged roads resulting in torturous commute lasting for hours to cover distances in single digit kilometres. Rains has never been a favorite with the city. It just cannot handle it. Will the rains follow me all the way till there? Attappadi is known for its unpredictable nature but that’s its ultimate beauty too. Something which can never be said about a city like Bangalore which is ripping at its seams. I didn't think much but went ahead and plunged headlong in to my adventure. The place was rather unknown to me except for what I have read and heard about in bits and pieces. A tribal settlement, one of largest in the state of Kerala,...

 It must be the place! I am sure of it this time.  It must also be the people!  They make the place! What about the biting cold and the ice like drizzle? Can’t be ignored. Along with all this it is also the fact that writing and love happen in isolation; removed from daily chaos, mundane routine and a cluttered mind. I have been counting down for the Jaipur Literary Festival 2015. It’s become a favourite from the time I visited it in 2012 which was my first time exposure to the festival in the pink city which huddled up its people in the month of January! The first thing I remember about the visit is its vibrancy; of Jaipur and of  JLF. They reflected upon each other. The traditional Rajasthani warmth softened the bone biting cold to an extent. Coming from a land which we consider as God’s own, hospitality was taken for granted by us. But what I experienced in Jaipur was something else; it beat it all. Right from the rickshawalla and the tea vendor to a passerby w...

Don’t let the lack of familiarity stop you from letting be Don’t let the ways of the world thwart your connect with the free spirit within Don’t let the picking of speed and the piercing wind shut you off from the pleasure that is yet to be Things  grow richer in shade and warmer in feel on a pillion ride