Yours Consciously Sneha

Tag: blogger

5 years…

Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time-J. R. R. Tolkien

Time flies they say, it indeed does. It’s been 5 long years since I published my first blog post. I read it again today, I remember how emotional I was that day when I clicked on that publish button. I received calls from friends that night giving a virtual hug. I was in my corporate job, I was travelling on and off following all the travel bloggers I admired. I was also keen on starting a fashion blog, I was following a few fashion bloggers who set an inspiration. In this dilemma, I thought let me just give it a shot with blogging; whatever it may be. It kind of started as a fashion blog, more than the fashion I fell in love with writing.

Through a common friend, I found a photographer/friend who agreed to do photography. We clicked well, every time I would get an idea, we would discuss and select a theme, go ahead with the photography. So the writing always came first, everything else revolved around it. Unknowingly, it was not even a fashion blog anymore; I do not know if there should be any categorization even, but it went well. I was elated every time I would share a blog post.

A few months later, I decided to quit my job and travel. That was one of the fiery statements on social media 5 years ago. Don’t believe me? Just type “I quit my job to travel” and you will be startled to see how many blog posts you would find. I was one of the sheep too who followed that herd of “I quit my job to travel”. It was all rosy in the initial days until the money got over. You know, not everyone would share the hardships they go through, its only the smooth sailing they talk about.

As a reader and an “Aspiring blogger”, I fell for it, royally. The days got tougher, I was doing remote jobs for a few months and travelling. I would be mostly exhausted on thinking of jobs on how to make money. It is close to impossible to make money with freelancing, the freelancing write-ups I did, the money would come somewhere between 4-6 months after the article gets published. So until then, consider that I am broke, no job, no travels, no writing, no life.

All that I aspired to be, went in vain. My writing got slower, I was doing very minimal freelance work, rather I was getting minimal freelance work. I volunteered with a few NGO’s and attended some friend’s weddings. That’s how my travels were. Somewhere I had forgotten the purpose of my existence, the reason why I quit my job, the reason why I didn’t want to live the city life. And Sometimes I feel if I just gave up too easily.

Blogging industry was booming and so was social media, there were/are millions of bloggers and influencers. Every time I am on my computer, I would see these posts saying “20 things to do/see/eat before you turn 20” and I would thank all the billion gods that blogging didn’t work out for me. Every blogger out there has a USP which they try to sell, say for example “Being Vegan”, most of their posts would revolve around it.

It was not interesting to me anymore, I was glad I didn’t take up travel blogging seriously. We weren’t syncing well so I decided to take up a full-time job 2 years ago. In another 2 days, I would hit 2 years mark of working here; longest I have ever stayed after quitting my “Corporate job”. Writing didn’t happen much here, but I did lots of drawing/sketching and dancing. But, I did miss writing and when I did, I would write on Instagram and share a post. Once in a few months, I would write a poem to fill the void.

This whole journey of blogging seems so erratic, it’s been 5 years since I started but I have probably lived in it for 2.5 to 3 years maybe. I am back on track with writing again, neither fashion nor travel. It’s called, “I will write what I want to write”.

Come, read along?

Blooming…

Wild Flower

April 20, 2020
Batman & Buddha

Why do we fall? So that we can learn to pick ourselves, up-Mr Thomas Wayne.

22/03/2020

The day I saw Batman Begins (Not at all because of the Janata Curphew-only for “Indians”)

I am not a superhero fan, hence avoided watching Christopher Nolan’s Batman series. People who know me and my theories of life and my prejudice towards humans, also being a movie buff, it is quite surprising for anyone to believe that I haven’t watched Batman series. After Joker was a huge hit, the pressure from a friend to having me watch Batman series was quite high. And then came Corona/COVID-19 and Isolation and the dark times. So, the best time to enter into a void filled with darkness. Right? Well, so ready to fly?

Sunday it was, also declared as Janata Curphew in India due to Corona/COVID-19. Being in isolation mostly, this didn’t mean much but it did mean that I am not stepping out to even buy chips. Now, getting back to the actual talk, I did all the cooking and opened my laptop at 12:30 pm with brunch in my hand and laptop on my stacked pillows to watch Batman Begins. I drew the curtains for the “Dark effect”(to avoid glare-just say it) and the Batman Begins.

Guess what, halfway through the movie. Something creepy happened, blazing hot sun slipped away and dark clouds entered. There was thundering & lightning, darkness all around. Looked like the universe was trying to tell me something. Hire Morgan Freeman maybe?

A Little Background

Every movie/series that I watch, I always relate to the scenarios that happened in my life or to something that may happen in future.

For example, when Master Bruce falls into the well and sees Bats fly, it reminded me of a Bat baby that I lived with, in my room. She did no harm to me, once I saw her hanging on the fan and she flew as soon as she felt someone was around and I covered my face with arms exactly like how Master Bruce did.

Getting back to the Movie

Master Bruce leaving his wealth behind and walking away reminded me of the book “Siddhartha” by Herman Hesse. More so like Buddha’s life rather, which Master Bruce was trying to live. His clothing, his travels, his lifestyle and his quest in search of the meaning of existence.

Personal Thoughts? Huh! Or Learning Outcomes maybe(I work in a school you see, Ssshhh)

You always fear what you don’t understand-Batman

There are contradictions in me all the time, about compassion & vengeance; about love and hatred; about forgiving and revenge. We live in an evil world like many says, but what’s evil to me may not be evil to you. So who defines what’s evil and what’s not! Or if it is a real evil as defined by “Global Oxford Dictionary”, how do we win over the evil? By compassion, so if we are nice to Evil, the Evil will be nice to us? Then why are they called Evil il if they can be nice!!! Compassion does the magic, perhaps?

As I was typing this, the almost last scene from “The Dark Knight” of two ships appeared in front of my eyes. Compassion does have some power and so does hope to believe in compassion.

For many years I believed if anybody is bad to me, I will be bad to them. This is how they will know how being bad feels like. After a few years, I realized, hang on! If I am bad to them, they will again be bad to me and to someone else and this goes on like a chain and we are filled with bad people so this is not a solution. Probably if I show compassion to those people who are bad to me, they may be turn out to be good.

Right now, I am stuck in between both of these theories. In many instances of my life, when I have responded with revenge, it has helped. It may have not helped them, but has helped me in terms of Self-pride and satisfaction. I will just worry about myself and my happiness, who am I to change the world. A Batman? At the same time, being good has also torn me to pieces that I am still trying to collect to make it one. Because good things always come with a cost you see?

I would be lying if I don’t mention, how much I savoured seeing Joker being hopeful about the crackers flying in the sky (Ships bursting). Sadist eh? and also thankful that the crackers didn’t blow up in the sky. See the contradictions?

I hope I have left with enough worms in all your head to scratch and pull it out!

THE END

I do not really have any clarity after watching these movies either, the contradiction still lies. So for now, I have decided to be both Joker and Batman, use the masks effectively as and when needed.

Anyway, we are all wearing a mask all the time! (Not the Corona Mask you guys, phew)

You all know, what!

But, it still tickles me, if Batman had anything to do with Buddha.

What do you think?

Blooming…

Wild Flower

April 12, 2020
One Trail Many Stories

Everything I learned I learned from the movies-Audrey Hepburn

There is this part of me which floats in the scenes of movies, a part of me that always thinks how does a real-life will be if it was like in movies. With background music, slow motion of a leaf touching the ground, happy endings and sometimes sad endings too. And sometimes, I wonder if the movies are real and if we are living an imaginary life.

I was introduced to West Bengal through a movie, a movie called Parineeta(Porineeta as they say). Many years ago, when I was in college and most of my classmates were from West Bengal. Other than marking West Bengal on a map for a question in a unit test during school days, I didn’t know much about the state. There were no blogs then or rather high-speed internet too to quickly google if I would like to know about a place.

I am glad we didn’t though as West Bengal was introduced to me by the people, food and movies. I knew they loved food, even better if the food has fish and potato. I knew they love dressing up. I knew married ladies wear sindhoor in the partition where the hair gets divided to half, I knew they were white sarees with an elongated seragu (pallu), I knew they wear red and white bangles after marriage. I knew they all had someone else hidden in themselves-a poet, a singer, a writer, a dancer, an actor, an artist.

So, when I stepped into Kolkata last month, even though it was the first time physically, in my mind there was a De Ja Vu moment. I knew I have been here already, it was through a movie. Again, there is this part of me that thinks, if movies are made of real-life or real-life is a movie itself.

The background music just plays though saying Piyu bole & I drift away to another world.

Blooming…

Wild Flower

July 23, 2019
3 Years!

Being able to embrace contradictions is a sign of intelligence. Or insanity. – Richard Kadrey

26^th February 2019, a reminder popped up on my Facebook feed about the blog post I wrote last year. Just then I realized it is my 3^rd year anniversary of leaving my comfortable corporate job. Every year I have celebrated this day, but this year I forgot. Forgot for good? Maybe! It seems like a sign that I have detached from the strings.

How is this life been away from the city, family, and friends? Everyone asks-I cringe a little and smile, saying it’s okay. No, that’s not the answer they expected and that’s not the answer I expected either. I was very hopeful when I left the job that I will be happier than I was before, more satisfied with life than I was before, more sorted with relationships than I was before.

But life had other plans; I have spoken about this in a long post before so I am not getting there again. If you would like to read, here it is! Silence in the air.

Here is a snippet of these 3 years, Bright and Dark side of this life.

Mountain Life

After I left the corporate job and traveled a bit, I started working in the mountains. I lasted for 2 and a half months as it got hectic than I ever thought. In fact, I had more time in a corporate job to write than I had here. My blog was rotting and I hadn’t written in months, one day I went to the owner and said I would like to quit as I am unable to find time for writing.

Now again, I am with mountains. It’s been a year, it’s the same again; after I came here I stopped writing again but I indulged myself in many of my other favorite likings: dancing and sketching. There was a constant unexplained void though, that I am unable to find time for writing.

Bright Side

I am not in a polluted city cramped up in the AC ducts, working on some meaningless excel files. I work with the mountains breathing fresh air and still work on excel files though but the ones filled with meaning (I mean it).

Every morning I wake up to a different view, sometimes to the sun shining right through the window and sometimes to the dark clouds and sometimes to heavy wind and sometimes to rains.

On bad days/stressful days, on the days when I feel if I made the right decision of moving to mountains-all I have to do is make a coffee or hot chocolate and stare at mountains. That answers my doubt, for that day.

Dark Side

Out of many things I disliked in a corporate job, gossiping, biased decisions by peers/seniors was the most difficult situations to handle. With or without knowledge, we often get into this loop of “gossips”. After I left the job, I assumed that I will never get into this Black Hole (Gossips) again. I was wrong, I had forgotten that I will be dealing with humans wherever I go, be it mountains or beach or road or corporate job. It took me a lot of time to accept that this “Black Hole” situation is normal and it is a common trait that humans carry. (As I write this, I am feeling uncomfortable as I have not yet found the answer to why humans (including me) do this, existential questions you see)

There are always contradictions with everything we do, there is always a bright and dark side with everything we do. We just got to accept which dark side is more comfortable to be with and which dark side leads to the brighter path.

Blooming…

Wild Flower

April 20, 2019
Silence in the air.

And silence, like darkness, can be kind; it, too, is a language-Hanif Kureishi

Soaking in the sunset, Kozhikode beach.

In my earlier post, that’s last year; I spoke about all the mistakes I made after I quit my job. I said I am much clearer about the goals and have plans to achieve them. Yes, the goals did get clear, the process to reach the goals changed. This change put me into a silent world, where words are neither spoken nor written. This change kept me away from everything that I was intending to do after I quit my job.

The constant need to update about life, life dependent on numbers on how many followers, numerous bloggers all across social media, millions of blog posts with tips and corners to cover the place. There came a point where my existence didn’t find any need at all. Everybody was writing their own story about the same painting on a different canvas. I could not!

Lack of Consistency

With repeated events in life that pulled me down, I was already lagging behind on the blog posts. From once a week, once a month, once in 2 months, once in 6 months & once a year. This was the pace at which I was publishing a blog post. I was hardly sharing posts on my social media accounts too. The consistency was lost, Big time!

Followers’ game

I maintained a diary on how to boost my blog; there are thousands of tips on the internet. I jotted them and tried them. None of it was satisfactory, for example commenting on an account with a high number of followers to get recognition. It was so not me, to just randomly comment on some account just so that I get visibility. I did do a couple of times but my conscious didn’t feel right about it. Many such processes kept bothering me a lot on if I really did make the right choice of taking up blogging.

Personal note

I did not start writing to make money; I started writing because I felt like writing. Writing has always been personal, it will remain personal. I cannot write if I have not had any experience, this may be the reason why I could not really find freelance writing opportunities. Even if I did find, it did not last long. Very recently one of the editors I was freelancing with mentioned that “your writing on your blog is very different than what you write for us”. After which, I did not receive any offer from her; this is when I realized why I have not been able to find any freelance writing opportunities.

Job

I was not up for a followers game, I was not a good fit to do the freelance job so I was pretty much not fit for anything- a sense of Self-loathing. But I was very sure of not getting back to my corporate job, I was also sure of finding a way to keep my goals intact.

The goals remain the same, I changed the process of achieving it. I started to look for a job in a location where I would fit, somewhere in mountains probably and I found one. A job that allows me to be in mountains and that allows me to travel once in a while. A job that lets my creativity unleash its wings. A job that keeps my sanity sane.

It was not an intentional break from blogging; I had no calling towards it anymore, hence the silence. Number of readers, number of followers, number of posts; Huf! These numbers don’t matter anymore.

It is only the words that matter and always will. I decided then that, I will write when the words need me.

Sunset by the mountains.

Why am I talking about all of this now?
There are some of you who have emailed me and some of you who have always stood by me and still have. For all of you, I owe an answer to my silence. Hence!

Blooming…

Wild Flower

January 31, 2019
Mistakes I learned from after quitting my job!

We don’t make mistakes, Just happy little accidents-Bob Ross

26^th February 2016, the day is stamped in my memories for all the good reasons. I was leaving behind the biggest baggage of my life-my corporate job. I was taking my last breath in the AC filled rooms to venturing my breath in the fresh air. End of one life to the beginning of the new one. Fixed salary every month, friends and memories-all of it I had to leave behind. There was no other choice, the decision was made for my better life and I had to move forward even if the emotional baggage on my back was much heavier.

Time ticked, 26^th February finished its routine. Now, what next? No swiping ID card to enter the office, No manager to report to, no more AC chillness, no more drama with colleagues, no more free coffee, no more fixed salary. All I have now is my “freedom”; mine alone, the freedom that I own.

September 2015 I spent a week in Sri Lanka for my birthday, once I returned I couldn’t work in a closed space anymore. I was confused if I can hold my corporate job and travel using my leaves and long weekends like I did the whole of 2015. It was not enough, every time I had to come back to work that I don’t like; I had this feeling to rip myself out & scream that I am not meant to be here.

Also read: Confession from a Confused Mind.

I had an EMI of my phone to clear so I forced myself to work for few months, save some money and then leave the job. Meanwhile, I started my research on travel blogging, volunteering, freelancing and other jobs I could do while traveling. Everything looked promising; I decided to take the plunge and resigned after 4 months.

After I left the job I had my savings to survive for the next few months, as there is money in the bank account I was not very serious about looking out for opportunities. This was the first mistake I made and everything else followed along with this.

Plans

I did not have any prior experience of writing, blogging and neither did I have any contacts in any media to publish my articles. My rough plan was to travel the next few months with my savings, and then I would receive my Provident Fund (PF) amount which I can use as a base and freelance. Most of the times, few things don’t work like we would want it to work. My PF amount didn’t hit at the right time but I got a job in an Organic Farm/Guest House, this was just when I was almost out of my savings.

This job gave me a feasible income, not less and not more. Just as much as I needed, the job was hectic and I couldn’t concentrate on writing so I could not look for any freelance jobs either. I left the job after 2 months, traveled again for a while and then was almost out of money. Searching for freelance jobs is one of the biggest tasks, it was too difficult and always demotivated me. As I knew I was going to receive my PF amount sometime soon, I have to accept that I almost lost hopes to look out for freelance jobs.

I never believed in plans, plans don’t work I would say. Well, it does work sometimes, especially when a major decision of leaving a job is taken; there should be a good plan to sustain. I indeed did my research before leaving the job but it was not enough, a stronger plan with a good foundation was needed. I was trying to build a palace even without buying a land.

Goals

Making a big name in blogging, being an author could have been my ideal goals. I did not have any, at that moment when I had to leave the job; I was only looking for opportunities where I can survive while traveling. There are many roads and I tried stepping on every road without reaching any destination, of course, the journey taught me great lessons but the destination is amazingly beautiful too. I pretty much blindfolded myself to look at one goal, I was trying to shoot the bullet without aiming.

Money

So far the biggest mistake is to take things very lightly with money, after the job in the Organic Farm/Guest House, I was almost broke the next 2 months, that’s when my long wait for PF came through. I was on cloud 9, I made smaller plans to use this money as a base and do freelance jobs while I savor on this vagrant lifestyle.

As the opportunities for freelancing were very less and every time I think of it I would be upset, I met someone who gave an idea to start the café. I invested all my money to start the café; the very first day when the work had to begin I was betrayed. Not to dwell more on this, the cafe didn’t work out and I lost all my money.

I did not plan better, was not clear with my goals and I took money as a very simple commodity. But let the truth be spoken, money is needed! No matter what, even if I want to escape into a forest I need money to eat food, stay healthy to walk and stay focused.

These are the mistakes I do not really feel good about, instead of “I should have done this or that”; I would like to learn from these mistakes. I am now clear on goals and have better plans to achieve them, like Albert Einstein said-A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.

Blooming…

Wild Flower
(more…)

February 26, 2018
Pursuit of Happiness

Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life – Omar Khayyam

Some of us live our life by doing what we love and some of us live our life by doing what we are trained to do. The way we live is chosen by ourselves; there may be many reasons on why we chose a specific lifestyle but it all calms down to “Happiness”. All of us strive for excellence at work, eventually, it is for “Happiness”. The things we buy, it is for “Happiness”. The course of events that occurs to us or the planned events-we wish that it leads to “Happiness”. Happiness does not have one definite definition; it is a way of life.

One such way of life I found was in Meemure in Sri Lanka, the first few hours I spent I noticed that everyone looked very happy; their eyes were filled with contentment. As the day passed and Crickets broke the silence, I took a sip of coconut arrack; I asked my host Navaratna Aiyya. I sense a great feeling around here; I have been beaming since the minute I reached. Everyone looks happy, he said we have everything that we need here; we don’t need more than this and hence we are all happy. The next day is a new day again he said, sips his drink and laughs.

Also, read Experiencing the richness of life in Meemure

A murmur of happiness in the air was getting on to me, drowning myself in every breath I was gulping. I could slowly feel the change in myself; I was engulfed in that moment forgetting my existence. I was happy; that is all I can say. I could articulate the way of life they live here, I was part of their meaning for happiness.

Also, read People of Sri Lanka

Most of us tend to forget that happiness is always around us, we are blindfolded by the materialistic desires that we assume gives happiness. In this process, we get into a race chasing happiness and end up in a vicious circle. Instead, pause for a second; live in that moment, enjoy the little colorful life, experience the catharsis.

Blooming…

Wild Flower

February 13, 2018
Areca Nut Farms and their stories in Sirsi

Travelling: It leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller-Ibn Battuta

Raindrops are dripping from the concaved mud tiled roof, sky touched palm trees sway along the wind, everyone’s working hard in the fields wearing a unique cap. This is a scene from a Kannada movie called “Nammoora Mandaara Hoove” and this is where I was introduced to Uttara Karnataka for the very first time when I was a kid. The scenes from the movie stamped on my memory and never faded, I had to visit these memories and experience them.

I stayed in a village called Hostota, 36 kilometers away from Sirsi Town at Vihar Home Stay. In a sedate ambiance where silence has its own meaning, paddy fields, and Areca Nut trees encircling the house; in my own solitude, I was embracing the feeling of the stills from the movie that was carved in my brain.

Niranjan Bhat who runs the homestay is an Ayurvedic doctor by profession but he was always passionate towards farming, he left his medical career to pursue his interest in farming. He says he is happier now working on the farm as this is what he grew up with and gives a sense of satisfaction to live the life with trees and birds. The homestay is an alternative income, once in a while I get to meet some interesting people but my priority is towards farming, he says.

He has a great collection of vintage coins and ancient manuscripts made out of palm leaves; he also sculpts Ganesha idol for Ganesha festival in his house, he says it’s a family tradition. His grandfather and father have done this, he is doing it and says his son will carry it forward too.

The food is served to guests exactly the way they eat at home on a banana leaf; the one in the picture here was my first breakfast-Dose, Kai (coconut) Chutney, Chutney Pudi with shengai yenne (peanut oil) and Joni Bella (Liquid Jaggery). Food served to guests here is all vegetarian (Havyaka food as they call it) and vegetables are grown in their organic garden by their house.

I was served chutney made with garlic leaves and cucumber skin, one of the most creative heads with food I have ever met. Nothing goes waste; everything is converted to a splendid dish.

All across Uttara Karnataka, Multi-Crop farming is followed. As the name says, more than one crop is grown in the same field. Areca Nut, Pepper, Cardamom, Cocoa are all grown in the same field; this saves water, land space and also more yield at one go. Although each crop has their own season of harvesting, they work best in terms of preserving resources.

We went for a walk in the twilight to their Areca Nut farm; it was the season for Areca Nut harvesting. The first step is to climb the tree with a rope tied around the waist to hang the Machete and also to pull the other tree to jump on it. Once he is done with one tree, he jumps to another tree. This is the riskiest job in the whole process and there is usually just one person who does this job in about 2-3 villages around. Once the Areca Nut is fallen to the ground, it will be picked up manually and taken for the next process.

After picking up, the orange and green ones are separated. Green ones are peeled as soon as they are plucked, orange ones are sun-dried and then peeled. The Areca nuts are peeled using a specific knife; the outer cover of the nut is removed.

The ladies come from a neighboring village and are paid daily wages along with tea and snacks. They were concerned about me traveling alone and asked me to bring my family the next time, as I took my phone out to take their photo they started to laugh. After a while got comfortable and suggested few places for me to visit around Sirsi.

Peeled Areca Nuts are immediately added to boiling water and is boiled approximately for about 45 minutes. All these steps are completed within 24 hours once the initial process of peeling starts. If there is too much gap after peeling, the quality of the final product goes low. Areca Nuts gets softer once boiled and should be constantly watched and removed at the right time, if not removed at the right time, this can harm the quality too. Once removed, they are dried and sold to market.

The peeled skin of the Areca Nuts are used for mulching around the trees, this helps the soil to hold the moisture and also helps the roots during heavy rains. If not as mulch, they are mixed with cow dung and used as gobar. Yet again, nothing goes waste here!

Niranjan Bhat stirs the boiling pot to make sure the Areca Nuts are boiled at the right temperature and shares the tension about labor not being available off late as they are more attracted towards moving to the city. This has been the same in every village I have visited so far, it continues here too in Sirsi. He tells, how difficult it is to get them to work and how prompt they are with their timings, who would not want to stretch even for a minute if there is some extra work. He mentioned, I guess in few years we will need robots or it’s impossible to carry on with farming.

Most of the houses here have a story weaved in them; Niranjan Bhat’s ancestral house is one of them too. A 200 years old house, it takes 2 people to push the door wide open. The light passes through with high beam and spreads across the house; the strong pillars are holding the roof tighter creating an eternal love story. They moved out from this house as it was difficult to maintain, he took me around the house sharing his childhood memories. I was spellbound looking at the vastness the house offered, the light and fragrance of the wood etch a desire to build a house that shares stories like these.

I lived my childhood dream of visiting Uttara Karnataka in Hostota. I re-lived my dream.

February 6, 2018
Wandering Memories in 2017!

Parties and loud music have never been my favorite thing to do, at least not during New Years. I prefer a quieter one, rather read a book or count stars. When 2017 arrived, I had to avoid invites and hide in a jungle where no one can find me. Instinctive decision told me to go to Sirsi, after a long search I found a place to stay and headed towards my first travel to Uttara Karnataka.

Sirsi

I was introduced to Uttara Karnataka through Kannada movies-misty mountains, tiled roof houses, a unique dialect of Kannada, areca nut trees, mind-boggling caves. These pictures that I had only seen in a movie came live in front of my eyes as the bus window started to cover with white curtains of mist. I stayed in a homestay 40 km away from Sirsi town, welcomed 2017 by counting stars, woke up on January 1^st to birds chirping and went around Areca nut farms to know more about Areca Nut processing. Hiked to a waterfall in the morning and watched the sunset by evening, a calm New Year start.

I then moved to another place close to Banavasi, stayed in an eco-friendly cottage, traveled through those caves that I had seen in movies, relished on Havyaka cuisine. I fell in love so much with Sirsi; I was here thrice in 2017.

Also read: Areca Nut farms and their stories in Sirsi

Highlights: Areca Nut processing, lip-smacking food.

Coorg

Scotland of Karnataka as commonly known, I have traveled lengths and breaths to Coorg multiple times even before I turned to a full-time traveler. It is a commercialized tourist joint now, but a friend and I needed a break and we booked a homestay far off from the town. We hiked around a small forest looking for a water stream, enjoyed the food and rested all our worries in that small forest.

Highlights: Hike to the water stream.

Nepal

The first stamp on my new passport had to be from somewhere new, somewhere I had no expectations from, somewhere I had not really had any dreams set to. All of this was fulfilled when I planned my travels with my father to Nepal, it started dramatically with the flight cancelation. More than 24 hours delay and we were in Nepal, we stepped into this land without any expectations. The warmth of the people warmed our heart, the architecture of the palaces is incredibly beautiful, the stone carvings on the walls are breathtaking, scenic surroundings with river and paddy fields and the food at any corner of Nepal is to die for.

Highlights: People, food, and architecture.

Bhutan

One of the happiest countries in the world, this little paradise has to be on everyone’s list to visit. With their beautiful landscapes covering about 80% of forest, the happiness lies everywhere-in the air, in the leaves, in the river. Pine trees and rivers followed us everywhere, prayer flags swayed with the wind worshipping for prosperity. This country is surely one of the greatest gifts we have.

Highlights: Scenic landscapes, organic food.

Gokarna

Gokarna is one of those places that I can call home, for all those beautiful memories I have spent here; I decided to take my friend who had come to visit me for my birthday. I have always stayed at Om beach, this time I decided to change and enjoy the waves of Kudle beach. We stayed in a place with the view of the beach, few steps hike and there was a private view of the beach. The viewpoints are usually crowded but this one was just for the waves, sun and us. We enjoyed sipping the beer, reading the book and saying goodbye to the sun.

I visited Gokarna twice this year, the second time I did not miss to spend time at my home-Om Beach.

Highlights: Sunset viewpoint.

Dandeli

Whoever is familiar with the word Dandeli, the first thing comes to their mind is rafting. And for me, it’s a different story, we took a bus from Gokarna to Dandeli; the drive through the tiger reserve and the paddy fields was something that I was not aware of in Dandeli. The step paddy field reminded me of the very famous Ubud paddy fields, Dandeli can surely give a tough competition to Ubud. We stayed in a homestay closer to a small town called Joida, amidst the paddy fields and flowering plants that our host had planted for butterflies. My birthday travels for this year, did really end colorfully.

Highlights: Scenic paddy fields, lush green forest, and food.

Kerala

Kerala always happens with a calling from the heart, something that kept me pushing to go to Kerala after my birthday travels. Last year, I had found out about an NGO called Kabani who are working towards Sustainable tourism; I couldn’t go then so decided to go now. Packed my bags and left for Kozhikode in the last week of October to volunteer with Kabani, traveled with Kabani to a village in Wayanad and learned the history of Kozhikode. Stayed for 44 days and all I can talk about is food, this is exactly the calling from the heart and that’s only because of food; food and my heart sync well and that’s where all the calling begins.

Highlights: Offbeat travel with sustainable practices, food.

Blooming…

Wild Flower

December 22, 2017
A day on a Mysterious Village – Mandaram Nuwara

A mystery is solved with a story-Daniel Handler

Rough roads are always memorable, be it the ride or the destination; they are beautiful. Mandaram Nuwara is one such place that took tremendous efforts to be reached, efforts in the form of research and also to find the commute. A friend mentioned about this village, he said its called a Misty City as it is always covered by Mist. I would like to call it as a Mysterious Village-here is why. I started my research and was mesmerized with the pictures of this Mysterious village, but there were hardly any details on how to reach there. I figured out its closer to Kandy, so decided to reach Kandy first & then flow towards this eye candy. I asked few locals, there was no soul aware of this village. The more it was hard to find out, the more I wanted to go. Finally with some help, I found a blog post that had few details of locals who had visited this village couple of years ago. I couldn’t find any details about the commute so I shut my laptop to hit the road. Perhaps, there are answers on the road!

A traveler friend joined along, we began our hunt towards this mysterious village. We went to Kandy bus stand and figured out the direct bus will leave only in the noon. We did not have much time so decided to go to a nearby town to the village called Padiyapelalla, conductor in the bus was trying to build a conversation, I told him we need to go to Mandaram Nuwara, asking him if there is a bus from Padiyapelalla. He said this bus goes to Mandaram Nuwara, I was literally on Cloud 9; never imagined that road can fulfill your wish so easily. Apparently that was the last bus leaving to Mandaram Nuwara from Padiyapelalla.

The houses were placed like cubes amidst the paddy fields, we were closer to Mandaram Nuwara. This was the first sight we had when we entered the village, the house in the corner was the perfect eye candy. Every house here opens up to a view like this. We were welcomed with loud music, huge speakers were placed on the road, people chilling & playing carom, old men having a chat by the verandah, kids had just finished their school, women shared a startled look at us with a graceful smile. Smile-seems like a common jewelry worn by everyone in this village.

We started to walk around the village listening to Sinhalese music, every few steps we take; we stop to see the view staring at the never ending horizon with a huge floor of paddy fields. I kept thinking how lucky these people are to wake up to such a blissful view. The mountains surrounding the village is called Pidurutalagala (Mount Pedro) which is also the tallest mountain in Sri Lanka. We kept walking and stopped over a house for water, a girl came out & asked where was I from, I said India. She immediately said, “Kohli batting, very good; I like it”. I laughed and said yes, he is good!

The Kohli Girl 😉

By the stream in the village 🙂

The kids were all around us, we had a small “body language chat” with them. Like every journey should have an end, this short journey came closer to an end as well. The bus driver & conductor was waiting for almost an hour for us to return to drop us to the town as there were no bus leaving that evening. Both the driver & conductor took us in their Tuk Tuk and showed us a beautiful waterfall, a secret water fall they said! They later dropped us to a nearby town and made sure we got into the right bus to reach Kandy!

Somewhere on the road!

So, the rough roads journey turned out to be one of the most beautiful & memorable events in my life!

Blooming…

Wild Flower

September 12, 2017