Travel Blog - Journey, Stories and Experiences

In November, I decided to visit Harsil Valley. A picturesque valley with snow-peaked mountains and the last settled village on the way to the Gangotri Dham. It had long been my wish to visit Harsil, and at a time when the water is blue and the wind is cold. Fortunately, November weather matches my conditions perfectly. I booked a homestay with Ishan, whose first line read, "Atop a small 1.5 km hike is our home with beautiful Apple orchards." When I enquired with him before booking, he was quick to tell me that the homestay is not in the valley, but we have to hike a bit to get there. "Although the view from my home is great," he said after mentioning the hike. Hiking wasn't a problem, and I could easily sacrifice my legs for the views in Harsil Valley.  My trip to the Harsil valley started with multiple U-turns, thanks to Ishan, who was confused and did not know the signs on the way. "I am at the signboard that says, Welcome to Bagori village", I said,...

An adult, grey, and beautiful pigeon sits on a balcony visible from my room. The balcony is one floor higher than mine, whose shorter side faces my balcony. I sit and work close to my balcony, inside my room, where my desk and chair are greeted with solid sunshine each morning. While I pay rent to stay in my room, pigeons live rent-free here. I see them all day, from my chair, flying in all directions, drinking water from the swimming pool, and diving from the terrace straight towards the ground. Now that so many days have passed, I inadvertently ignore them as they have become a part of my daily life. For more than a year, the balcony on the upper floor, which I mentioned above, has not been lonely. I say lonely because I have never seen any human on that balcony. Just some ropes and a pipe stay there, lonely and forgotten by their masters. The balcony doesn't speak to me, else I would have given her company every day. We are too close to hear each other, even if we talk in a norm...

The division of our society is explicitly visible in the products people living within it make. A train comes with coaches divided into upper-class air-conditioned private coaches to lower-class messy and sweaty ones where people rely on air from the door and windows. This means if the train is not moving, its "AC" is not working. Buses follow a similar pattern where there are air-conditioned, high-tech Volvo buses which are often looked upon by people sitting in a lower-grade bus with hopes and desires, and often followed by abuses such as "rich brats". These lower-class buses are termed "ordinary" in the government booking portal, glorifying the fact that you cannot expect something lavish here, or to just portray that the other bus is "extraordinary". Maybe "ordinary" is an alias used for a bus but signifying the current societal status of the people sitting in it. I become "ordinary" when I sit in an "ordinary" b...

Skydiving has been a long-standing desire for almost everyone around the globe. It is nerve-wrecking but exciting at the same time to wonder about the views one would get while falling freely from the skies. Surrounding views in the context of skydiving are so important that while skydiving can be done at a lot of places, only a few of them are popular. One such popular spot to jump is Interlaken in Switzerland, and while I am here at this beautiful spot, I also wanted to experience the natural wonders that one may never get to experience while walking on Earth. Arrival in Switzerland I booked a helicopter to jump from 14000 ft above. In Switzerland, only helicopters are allowed to carry people, as there are too many mountains and planes can't maneuver as fast as a helicopter. However, I did not know how much 14000 ft means practically. Yes, I know aircraft fly at 36000ft, and this is less than half of it, but sitting inside an aircraft, none of us would feel the height as we would...

I can't open my eyes. My friend rolls his scooter on a downward slope and the high wind is hitting my face. It is a battle between me and the wind where I struggle to keep my head up, straight, pretending that there is nothing around me. "What are you saying?", is the common sentence occurring out of my mouth as I can't hear my friend. I don't even remember what story or what opinion of his is he telling me. Sometimes I say "Yes" just for the sake of it but sometimes I can't take the risk of a cross-question from him. It is nice of him to be talking with his head turned towards me. But sadly, that is not enough. With the slope still continuing on in a lush green area with tall trees on both ends, a motorcycle comes right beside us. The shiny afternoon is making this red bike glow making it impossible to ignore. The head turns towards us and the guy on the bike raises his visor and shouts, "Oye!". My friend stops the scooty and so doe...

Varanasi or Kashi or Banaras, whatever one may call it, the place plays a significant role in the life of a Hindu whether he believes in god or not. It's not about the temples you visit but the air you breathe when you are walking on the congested streets of Varanasi. It's about the ghats you visit. It's about the food you eat. For long people have associated Kashi with a sense of spirituality often labeling you with tags as "devotee" or "Shiv Bhakt" but my trip to Varanasi made me realize that the magic that people talk about happens not inside the temples but in the places you would least expect. Varanasi and the vibes I was one among the millions of people who arrived in Varanasi for the annual event of Dev Deepawali celebrated fifteen days after Diwali and organized by the Uttar Pradesh Government. The highlights of the event are the firecrackers which when I witnessed, completely left me in awe of the moment. The greatest fire show I witnessed! Bu...