Baatein Kuch Ankahee Si

After checking off a " Dil Chahta Hai " style trip to Pondicherry from my bucket list earlier this year, it was time for my next filmy trip. An organised trek in the Himalayas with a group of strangers (Ilahi plays in the background) – “Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani”. A slice-of-life film with travel as its background is perhaps the best genre ever created. In the pursuit of visiting all the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in India, Valley of Flowers National Park was next on my list. After much research, I decided to go ahead with India Hikes as the trek organiser (my best travel decision this year). Together with Nanda Devi National Park, these high-altitude West Himalayan landscapes encompass a unique transition zone between the Zanskar and Great Himalayas mountain ranges. Renowned for its remote mountain wilderness, these meadows of endemic alpine flowers (including the rare Himalayan Brahmakamal) are a true nature-lover's paradise.  Pushpawati meandering through the Valley of ...

If you are someone living away from your home, you might be familiar with this feeling. You yearn to go home and only once you reach, you realize you don’t miss home but the feeling (vo “ghar vaali feeling”). The month of July was all about this feeling - Ghar se Dur, par Feeling ke Kareeb! I feel one of the major signs of adulting is realizing that “Ghar” isn’t a physical entity. You get the feeling when you are around your coterie; having your comfort food; visiting those places where you spent your childhood.  The whole month I did things that either reminded me of Home – Shopping from Army Canteen; or felt like home - working from office feels like working from home! All thanks to the wonderful people I work with - Bangalore has started to feel like home. Minimalism For all those who have been living far from their home in a city that’s new to them, we hardly make an effort to seek permanence there. We live in makeshift homes that we will apparently leave when a better opportun...

It's been a month since I witnessed my Moment of Truth. We were headed to Bombay in the early morning (to avoid any congestion). It had been raining heavily for the past one week or so but we were blessed - not a single raindrop until we left the outskirts of Pune. Albeit, we experienced heavy downpour as South-West Monsoons had made an onset on the Western Ghats. & If you have been to Lonavala or even seen it in movies, you must be knowing that the intensity of rain is extreme, as you start approaching the windward side of Ghats.   Reports of Maharashtra Monsoon fury which lead to 300 + deaths had made my Paapa apprehensive about our trip by car. Being away from us (Posted in J&K), when he got to know that we were thinking of driving to Bombay, instead of travelling by train, he attempted many times to persuade us to not travel by car as we worried about the harsh weather.   7:08 a.m, July 30, 2021, Lonavala - we met with an accident. Long story short - if you would h...

 A Golden Day with the Golden Boy - Neeraj Chopra! I couldn't believe my ears when my mom told me that we are invited to meet the Olympian. He has done initial training in Army Sports Institute (ASI), Pune & therefore he was here to be felicitated by the entire ASI team. The current Commandant of ASI who has been acquainted with Neeraj for quite some time now happens to be my paapa's coursemate. I am immensely grateful to my papa for this golden moment. Though he himself isn't posted here currently but made sure that his family gets the toast of their lifetime! Thank you paapa. I am profusely grateful to the Indian Army whose continued support for nurturing talent in Sports has brought laurels to our nation & made billions of people have goosebumps. I am acutely grateful to Commandant ASI - Col. Rakesh Yadav uncle - a very down to earth person - who made sure that not just his family but all his coursemates & subordinates - from Jawaan (soldiers) to Subedar, who...

“Live each day as your last” might worry you more today than motivate you to live at your best. Almost every day, we hear our country breaking its own record in the Covid-19 tally. People have lost their loved ones and are struggling to find hope. Evidence suggests that India might have to go through more Covid-19 waves (after this one gradually slows down) if the vaccination drive remains anaemic. So how do we get ourselves back up from trauma as this virus doesn’t seem to go easy on us? Joy of giving Scientists have discovered that our brain is hardwired for giving. You might come across this thought that “How am I in a position to help others when I need it the most?” But trust me, when we give our endorphins kick in giving us a natural high feeling & our cortisol levels also drop (icing on the cake). Scientists actually call it the “helper’s high.”  Last week our division had our first review of our mini-project by professors. I was apprehensive about it since it was my fi...