Vibsville

I intended to write a detailed travel description on Ladakh but feel that the place has to be experienced and not read about. Instead, I’m just going to describe our itinerary and provide basic tips on things not to be missed. Best season: July to mid September (If you enjoy music/culture the Leh festival is celebrated early September) Days needed: One can spend anywhere between a week and a month discovering new places in the region. We spent about 12 days total and were quite content but intend to revisit. Avoid large group tours and try and customize your trip. It is a place you want to discover at your own pace and truly immerse yourself in. Basic geography: J&K state has 3 distinct regions: Ladakh (Buddhist majority), Jammu (Hindu majority) and Kashmir (Muslim majority). This makes for complex politics in the region. Leh is the biggest town in Ladakh region and the only one with a civilian airport. This is a broder area also called a War zone. One will see several army/militar

     ‘We live in a man’s world’ goes the common refrain. Each time I end a late night phone conversation with my best friend when discussing marriage, family or work we conclude that there still exists an implicit gender bias in today’s ‘emerging’ India. Not confined to the rural areas or the impoverished population, the bias is visible across India. From the villages where a son is treasured as an asset, an incremental working hand on the fields, to the glitzy offices in urban India, where women candidates are looked at with skepticism since career is perceived as secondary to family, the prejudice is ubiquitous. Five million girls were subjected to female infanticide between 1986 and 2001 in India. To prevent this, sex determination for pregnant women is illegal across the country. Even in seemingly modern families, women are pressured to produce a son to continue the family legacy. The bias is universal; its manifestations vary significantly.    I hail from a Marwari family and was

Just 3 more days before we board our flight to Chandigarh enroute to Leh! It all started with a Facebook message from Jungleore, a company that plans adventure travels, describing their upcoming tour to Ladhak. I forwarded the email to some close friends, one of whom was as interested and flexible with dates and then we began planning… I spoke to several people about their trips and chatted with many agencies to finally configure our route. Would like to thank Kaustabh at Junglore, Neha at Country wide travels, Shehzaad, Nishreen Aunty, Juzer, Rakesh, Gaurav, Hasnain, Aditya, Devangi, Amanjyot, Aiman, Namrata Kothari, the several agents in Leh and Delhi and the myriad travel blogs and websites that helped us plan our trip. I had no idea so many of my friends had been to Ladhak! From the various itineraries available online we could figure out the key destinations in Ladhak, but were confused about our access to Leh. Should we drive from Manali or Srinagar or fly directly. The ultimate

I've just enrolled in a writing workshop at St.Xavier's college.. It's just five sessions and focusses on creative nonfiction writing. Here is a piece I wrote for the class.. Do read!   I stormed into the classroom at St. Xavier’s college, panting, face flushed red. A last minute cancellation had prompted me to register that afternoon for the workshop, my first stint with a structured creative writing course. Unable to find parking, I reached ten minutes late, irked the teacher, clumsily took a seat at the back of the class and took a few deep breaths.   The walls were painted in a bleak grey and the chairs creaked from bearing the burden of several students over the years. 4 antique ceiling fans whirred leisurely above me, setting the pace for the ensuing session.   The first exercise was almost over and the teacher prompted us to sit with a partner. The girls around me had already paired up so I was asked to move and join an older man who sat by himself. The bespectacled

   Bombay is cringing. Its wounds from the blasts in 2008 had barely begun to heal when it was attacked, yet again. At 7:20 pm on July 13 th , 2011, I got 3 missed calls from my father. I was just leaving home and was delaying answering till I began my commute. The fourth time, I answered.   “What is it, Dad?” “Don’t leave home. There has been a blast close to our office in Opera House.”   “Are you guys ok? Where is Mom?”    My father confirmed that they were safe but said they weren’t going to leave the office now from fear of more blasts. I spent the next few hours calling them frequently and checking the news for any additional blasts. They returned three hours later, but 133 people did not reach their homes that evening, 20 of whom have now been declared dead.    This time the bombs targeted the densely populated middle income areas of Opera House, Zaveri Bazaar and Daadar, during rush hour. Indeed, surveillance of crowded areas is challenging and perhaps the glitch in security mea

And just as the weekend of gallivanting across the city drew to an end, I developed a mild fever. Undeterred, I went into the office on Monday morning, only to return home burning with a fever, experiencing brief but painful headaches and severe body ache.   Like most Indian families mine too had its explanations for my condition. “You should change your trainer. The workouts are too intense” or “I told you not to go swimming in the rain” or “You never relax. You’ve been out all week”.   Under normal circumstances, I challenge these admonitions with a dismissive glance. An illness however, brings with it an innocent childish gullibility. I start internalizing and believing all that I hear and a modicum of guilt sets in.   I made a mental note to amend my lifestyle and took the day off on Tuesday to get some rest. By Tuesday evening I noticed 2 small scabs on my stomach and by Wednesday morning a noticed multiple scabs all over the trunk of my body. Several google searches later, I susp

This past weekend, my sister was visiting, so went on a dining and shopping spree in Bombay, patronizing primarily globally reputed brands. Let me detail our experiences from 4 distinct categories: Food, Electronics, Coffee and Clothing, tied by 1 commonality – Shock. Stop 1: Hakkasan: Day 3 of the opening of this Michelin starred Chinese restaurant on the 2 nd floor of a corporate building in Bandra left us impressed overall but left some indelible questions. How can a world-class restaurant not offer valet parking services in Bombay given the onset of the monsoon? Worse still, the mid-end Indian and Chinese eateries bang opposite the restaurant offer this service! While the restaurant is well located for both South and North Bombay foodies, when compared to its global peers, it stands out like a sore thumb. The Miami Hakkasan is at the Fointainebleau while the one in Abu Dhabi is in the Emirates Palace hotel, both very high-end hotels. Surely, the promoters could have found a locati

It took me almost 4 months to actually publish my introduction and this second entry - both were written around February 8th, 2011. I'll try and write up and post things that occured in the past 4 months, but for now, here's a snippet from February. Find below a brief description of my experiences since that conversation with my friend, before I turned 30. Evidently, that’s plenty of reason(s) to celebrate! What: All day sailing trip Date: Jan 26 th , 2011. Location: Alibaug (Ferry ride from Gateway of India) With whom: Mono and Jig Cost: Rs. 4200. Aquasail () organizes a day picnic of sorts to experiment with a wide range of world class yachts, kayaks and windsurfing equipment. We just showed up at 10 am at the Gateway with a change of clothes and the rest was taken care of by the extremely professional team. We were taken on a private, albeit slow ferry to Mandwa from where we walked about 10 minutes to our base camp, were treated to a sumptuous breakfast and then direct