Is it just me or is the world spinning faster these days?! As I run from pillar to post, or rather tree to tree, I can feel the universe, or at other times it’s just my 4 year old, making me wait it out and jeez that’s quite a feeling. Just like I keep my son waiting sometimes deliberately, just cause research saying getting bored or impatient is a great in fact the best way to get creative and be creative. That and then walking and meditating. I am told there is literally nothing better to open up the mind than to take it out for a nice long walk. Mind wandering is a real thing. It is an act of suggesting a topic to the brain and then taking it out on a long walk where the mind wanders as you do, to connect dots and bring things up. For people who don’t get around to meditating, this is a wonderful alternative.
What does one do while one is waiting then? One breathes and that brings me to the book I am currently reading, Breath written by James Nestor. Breathing is a rather natural phenomena and we all do it involuntarily, but sometimes we mind our breath and do it voluntarily. Here’s the thing when we do it voluntarily and modify the we breathe we can modify the way we feel and the body parts coaxing them to even healing. As when we are agitated the breathing pattern changes involuntarily we can even change the way we breathe and will ourselves into another level of agitation altogether. This isn’t news exacting and anyone with a little knowledge of yoga would be aware of how wonderful breathing exercises of Pranayama makes us feel. So elaborating on a serie of experiments, Nestor convinces the reader to one, breathe from the nose, the advice he precisely gives is SHUT YOUR MOUTH, in caps, two, to exhale completely, the advice he gives is to not let any residue air remain before breathing in again, three to breathe slowly taking in about 6 breaths per minute ideally or 13500 breaths per day as the ancient Chinese doctors prescribed or even levering up to 9 breaths per minute as the Tibetan monks do, four, to breathe even lesser air in those six breathes, he says one must sip the air through the nose and exhale atleast twice if not more the time taken to inhale, breathing less means to extend the length of time between inhalations and exhalations, the less one breathes, the more one absorbs the warming touch of respiratory efficiency. The next most crucial aspect of ensuing open airways, unconjested nose and windpipe is controlled through the act of chewing!
Did you know?
The lungs are the weight-balancing organ of the body. And all the fat that we lose is actually exhaled through the nose. The calories burnt as we colloquially say are actually calories exhaled, there is no burning of fat, just exhalation of fat. And in that regard even doing the nose breathing exercises of Pranayama are just as effective in raising the heart rate to in effect lose weight.
The samurai warriors would check if a soldier is ready for war by placing a feather under his nostril. Only if the feather did not move was the warrior ready to fight. That calm would he have to be before he could be trusted to fight.
When we breathe too much, we expel too much carbon dioxide, and our blood pH rises to become more alkaline; when we breathe slower and hold in more carbon dioxide, pH lowers and blood becomes more acidic, yet all our cellular functions occur at a sweet spot alkaline acidic at a pH of 7.4
Breathing, paced breathing is prayer. If one inhales for 5.5 seconds and exhaled for 5.5 seconds, one completes 5.5 breaths in one minute! That is the entire cycle required to chant, ‘Om Mani Padme Hum’, the Ave Maria, the Sa ya na ma chant of Kundalini Yoga, the Hindu hand and tongue poses called mudras through a technique called kechari. Incidentally the optimum amount of air we should take in at rest per minute is 5.5 liters. The optimum breathing rate is about 5.5 breaths per minute. That is 5.5-second inhales and 5.5-second exhales.
Mammals with the lowest resting heart rate live the longest. They are also consistently the same mammals that breathe the slowest. The only way to retain a slow resting heart rate is to breath with slow breaths.
The Yogis life is not measured by the number of his days, but the number of his breaths said BKS Iyengar, India’s foremost guru on the practise of Iyengar Yoga. A sickly child, he learnt yoga and breathed himself back to health.
The perfect oral posture means holding the lips together, teeth slightly touching, with the tongue on the roof of the mouth, holding the head up perpendicularly to the body without kinking the neck. While sitting or standingthe spine should form a J-shape-perfectly straight until it reaches the small of the back, where it naturally curves outward. While maintaining this posture, we should always breathe slowly through the nose into the abdomen.
Stomping on hard food as the molars grind up food chewing hard, stem cells actually grow bone at the back of our mouths. As our ancestors spent hours a day chewing they managed to steer clear of all orthodontic issues that impact airway systems in our bodies and hence had no issues with their teeth.
Inner fire or Tummo meditation 🧘♀️
Expression is the opposite of depression! ~ Chuck McGee III
One can breathe themselves sick just as one can breathe themselves to health, the only criteria being the speed of the breath or how deep or shallow breaths are. The sympathetic nervous system receiver signals are located on the upper half of the lungs, the parasympathetic nervous system receiver signals are located on the lower half of the lungs. Hence deeper inhalations activate the parasympathetic nervous system and hence keeps the calm.
Tummo breathing – lie down, breathe into the abdomen and then the chest, breathe out in the same order for 30 cycles. At the end of 30 cycles, exhale to hold a quarter of air and hold as long as possible. Once you’ve reached your threshold take a huge inhale and hold for another 15 seconds. Slowly exhale circulating the air all over your upper body. Repeat 3-4 rounds, adding in some cold exposure a few times a week. Conscious heavy breathing allows us to bend so we don’t break.
Now, this was one book that I truly savoured or should I sipped, for I did not want these bits of information to slip through my mind at any cost. Plus the way Nestor presents facts is extremely charming and needless to stay I slowed down reading, slowed down breathing and in effect slowed down my life. So much that soon it felt like I wasn’t waiting for life anymore but life was waiting for me, to breathe on!
The home of Tashkent the foreboder of the silk route, the key of the Islamic Golden age, Uzbekistan, once a soviet country is ridden with gorgeous architecture, deep-rooted culture and a bounty of the earth, yes am talking about the fruits of the land quite literally. Most of the Uzbeks are Sunni Muslims, they comprise of a wide mix of ethnic groups and cultures including in minority Russians, Tajiks, Kazakhs, Tatars and Karakalpaks. The country has an extremely high literacy rate with 99.9 percent of adults above the age of 15 being able to read and write. That’s a win for any country isn’t it. It is also one of the only countries to declare the International Women’s Day as a holiday. While soups are a popular meal, green tea is the national hot beverage consumed throughout the day unless it’s summer then it’s Ayran to the rescue. It is also home to Samarkand, the region that produces a range of dessert wines from local grape varieties. Their post-Soviet inheritance greatly emboldens their Armed forces. A very lesser known location, tourists who foray into this Central Asian country are treated to a beauty like no other. The doubly landlocked country presents architecture, nature, landscape, people and food like no other. It is artful, soulful and sometimes wistful. The music of the region is called Shashmaqam which took form in Bukhara, translates to six maqams containing six sections.
And it is not everyday when one spins the globe and randomly decides on a place to go late in the middle of the night, then spending time till the wee hours of the morning to research about the place, before convincing the better half to accompany her on a trip to bang in the middle of Asia. I am talking of Chetna Ramachandra who followed a rather rare epiphany and got family along with friends like family including little kids to a pre-Soviet country that is not just hidden away but also was the mainframe of the Silk-Route. Listen in as she recounts a trip like no other, with kids eating up luscious fruits, never have to be told twice about it, or the domes in Tashkent that could have any architect drooling. A beautiful account about a trip to a faraway land. Chetna is an astute traveller if not an astute person and can be found globe-trotting or getting the average-joe to globe-trot. I for one have been on a couple of trips she planned and absolutely loved them. She can be contacted @rebootescortedtours
Scotland is the home to golf! It houses the St Andrews Link, the oldest golf course in the world. It is also the most happy-go-lucky country there is, not listed on the happiest countries in the world, having their own share of rebels and personals, it is nevertheless a country in itself. A part of the United Kingdom, Scotland is inundated with castles, isles, fairways and rainy skies. It is also the home of the finest whiskies in the world. Scottish men wears skirts oops, kilts and women wear pants, can there be a nation more contended with that configuration! There are several things about Scotland which make it so very pretty, but most of all the sceneries are said to be so lovely even if the weather is not. Listen in to this episode as we talk about the fantasy that Scotland actually is. The place to film out of the world stories, think the Game of Thrones, think of stories that require a scene nothing short of wonder. With the twinkling of eyes and creases on the face that only add to jest, with cities that twinkle like Edinburgh to cities that shine like Glasgow, Scotland is a story waiting to unfold at every corner. It’s close to the North Pole, it’s the land of the Vikings and it boasts of Kings and Queens like no other. A delightful account of a delightful little place in the northern part of the United Kingdom!
Travel is sometimes a bore for some people, or so they say, yet when they are on a trip they seem to be enjoying the most. Out of nowhere our conversationalist on this episode is my husband, Nishil Swamy who incidentally loves travelling but like most hate planning a trip, well luckily for him, he has me as his wife! Jokes apart, the country we discuss today is a lot like him, easy-going, couldn’t give a damn about whats happening in the world and sometimes rebels for rather intriguing reasons. While he sites his year in Scotland one of the best years of his life he has always championed Scotland was being extremely beautiful. Every other person who has been to Scotland happens to say the same. While the world is tuning in and fist slamming to the various Sea Shanties, I for one totally heart Nathan Evans, those that once got weary sailors through the stormiest of seas, has now having all us lesser mortals through the gravest of times. So till I get to make that much awaited trip to the northern parts of the United Kingdom, I agree heartily with, ‘Aye aye mate. Am sure its pure dead brilliant’. And with that Scottish phrase, here’s a conversation on Scotland!
While researching for my podcast that features #🌏in83hours that airs on Google Podcasts, Spotify, I was reminded of a book that I had been meaning to read, Around India in 80 trains. Just while I was looking up the new books rack at the Bowring Institute library, I found that the author had by now, written another book titled, Around the World in 80 trains. I didn’t wait long to begin reading,
Monisha Rajesh does the unthinkable quite once again! After a much appreciated book Around India in 80 Trains she charts new territories with her fiancé Jem and forays into vast and hidden lands in her book Around the World in 80 Trains. Continuous train travelling can tire anyone out but this one seems smitten. She carries on through a chart of trains, obviously making some winsome and some not so winsome trips across the world. Witty and sparkling, this book is quite entertaining and journeys into lesser known lands of North Korea and Tibet are made to be very charming. In fact they are possibly the aspects of the joinery that Monisha seems to have like the most. Being an armchair traveler these days, travelling with the imagination is definitely much less burdensome if not extremely sustainable too. The air miles or even the train miles I have saved this year makes me very deserving of every single use plastic bag that I know for certain that I will not consume. Each time Monisha gives long rambling explanations on why she loves train travel I felt that much happier to be reading about this journey than actually going on this journey. And she gives a lot of these explanations almost in every chapter or even sometimes a couple of times in a Chapter in the book, and as tiresome as the explanations may be they did make me that much happier. But for the benefit of the average reader I hope those parts are edited out, it would save the reader a lot of time. We get it, that the author loves train travel, if not she wouldn’t quite embark on this journey so nattily.
What I did thoroughly enjoy though is how she analyses people, trains around the world with so much wit, empathy and philosophy that this book could well be classified as a self-help book with the author’s philosophical meanderings. North Korea is a nation that is a hundred steps above Singapore in being a nanny state, where every move of every citizen is modified to suit the government. But it is also deeply enigmatic. Seriously we simply do not know what’s happening there. While the people of North Korea are not filled in on the world occurrences. We cannot really judge, when we do not fully understand, but Monisha here presents a first hand account, that is also first-rate. Well while the Kims in North Korea do not subscribe to my life philosophy of being an open book, I cannot be certain that they do not guarantee their citizens a good life. For if the people of North Korea are being manipulated by their government, we are being manipulated by the coders who write software’s for Google, Facebook, Instagram, influencing us to think a certain way and do certain things, really how different are we? We buy things are are constantly shown to us that remain in our minds, we do as our neighbours do, we form opinions through what is being told to us, the constant reinforcing that we do to small children is definitely being done to us by the Internet and media for sure. Monisha’s musings are definitely insightful and brimming with intuitive intelligence that keeps the reader glued. The Orient Express had me drooling while I wished she figured a bit of the Maharaja Express in India too in this book. When the trio of Marc, Monisha and Jem crossed Kazhakastan I felt so worried for them, thereby realising that I was quite invested in their journey and hence the book.
But what tugged my heart is the part in Tibet, the people of Tibet are so heart-warming. The superstar in the journey is undoubtedly the Tibetan nun, who jumped into their cabin at the sight of an Indian, made a lifelong friend inspite of the language barrier and smiled so much! She not only taught Monisha to use WeChat, she also ensured sending her a Buddha emoji exploding in light every time or two, bounced in elation, erupted with joy every moment in Monisha’s company so delighted to see an Indian, the first Indian ever, with so much gratitude and thanks as Indians give help and support to the Dalai Lama, her guru. In an excerpt from the book, “I love how happy this woman is,” Marc said, “it’s amazing. She’s only got happiness.” And that brings me to another excerpt where Monisha writes, “There are certain faces so imbued with goodness that its impossible to look away. Warmed by the kindness of their thoughts and lined by moments of mischief and laughter, those faces compel the beholder to come closer and to trust. Jhampa has such a face.” This she says of their guide. If happiness is the purpose of life, the Tibetan nun clearly has her life in order. As for Monisha, getting home after 7 months seemed like quite a treat and we may not see another book on trains for a while! But this one was so good that I literally slowed down reading as I did not definitely want the book to finish too fast!!
Brazil is famous, Brazil is gorgeous, Brazil is heart-warming. Talk about the parties in Copacabana or the carnival of Rio, talk about the Amazonian forests that are stunning in all their might or talk about the bustle of Sao Paolo. Join in to hear of lesser known hotspots of Brazil and indulge in some Bosonovian music as we zoom into a country so exotic and so distinct as no other yet as chill and laid back as no other. In a confluence of culture and breathing easy hear of a very real and a very recent account of a trip to Brazil as Roshan Swamy answers our 83 questions flying into the two mega-weight cities of Brazil and finally gliding into the furrows of the grandest tourist attraction and a man-made wonder of the world, the Christ the Redeemer. Wonder is as wonder does and we are equally awe-struck at the wonder that Brazil actually is. Inspite of all its natural and man-made wonders it is a country so deeply steeped in resources that are endearing, packed away in a continent that is less thronged by the average tourist! Brazilian coffee or the midnight life, there is more to Brazil than what meets the eye or should I say the eat gathers. A beautiful one of a kind account of a country so fine!
A love for travel, is best caught young, cause catching the travel bug is the end of all reason. It is always better to be unreasonable from the start! It happened with me and it seems to have happened with @roshanswamy. From the visuals I see, I cannot decide what is the most beautiful part of Brazil, the people, the beaches, the Amazon river, the most talented footballers, the flora and fauna of the Amazon rainforest or the Carnival de Rio. After all my favorite superhero of all time, Wonder Woman, Diana is the daughter of Queen Hippolyta and princess of the Amazons of Themyscira. Fact or fiction, Brazil is here on this planet to inspire us all to live with abandon. Hear us in conversation about the party-sharty country of world, Brazil!
Morocco is a country of culture, of luxury, straddling between two continents, Europe and Africa. Join in as Shilpa answers 83 questions about the country that is at once rich and varied, swamped with the Mediterranean Sea, wrapped with the Atlas Mountains. The vibe is wondrous. The very country that has given every glam queen the indispensable Morrocon Argan oil, did you know that the best of this oil is extracted from the goat poop? Whether it’s Fez that charms one with it’s beautiful architecture, or Marrakech that stuns one with its people, or even Casablanca that has Hollywood besotted, there is something to do for everyone. I am for one hugely thrilled to explore this piece of land, standing out on the fringes of Africa while actually being Europe. There is no end to the dervishes or the feverishness of an ode to culture. While everyone is very well kept, Morocco may well be a secret very well kept!
The classy and most likable @shilpamithun, a vital figure in my life these days, as she is the Chairperson of my Circle, the Bangalore North Ladies Circle – 14, a wing of the Ladies Circle India, an organization that binds women in the tenets of Friendship and Service. Each of the 15-member strong active Circlers and a dozen or so past Circlers, we are in absolute agreement on how it is an absolute pleasure to receive her calls. Shilpa I must say, makes an excellent leader, she is intuitive and intelligent in equal measure and her childhood to adulthood in Morocco I think only makes her stand out amongst others if not think out of the box!
The last 16 months or so I kept replaying a particular incident in my mind, yes the twisting of my knee, the pop sound on the icy slopes of the Himalayas that led to a swollen knee, the sound in my head as soon as the pop happened, that I will be fine and then finally many months later discovering a rather annoying MRI. Like doing an MRI wasnt overwhelming enough but the results were a tad bit discouraging and that had me going to 6 doctors for various opinions. Now while a couple of them asked me to wait and watch, a couple prescribed collagen, while another put a stop to doing everything, and others genuinely enocuraging asked me to live life normally till well, push came to shove. And while I mulled over the thought of life being unfair I came up to the conclusion, with a whisk of coaxing from Sadhguru that life may be fair or not but it indeed is fantastic. Now with that particular word in arm I tuned into Yoga for humanity with the esteemed Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi.
Conducted by the Moraji Desai Institute of Yoga under the Ministry of Ayush, championed by the Prime Minister, the 30-odd minute session was simple and basic in its type and the breathing was the main focus. While twisting my body and yanking the mind to place with every breath I am certain that bending everyday, whether we call it Yoga, or not, can literally help us not to break, physically if not mentally. The true ACL tear of mine I am certain happened not on the day that I took a giant fall, but it was literally when I saw the MRI results and the mind decided that it was a tear. For I had not an issue with my knee till I happened to go and get an MRI done, so how much of the pain is in the mind I do not know, mind-bending I did not try, but it would certainly be a win.
As I carefully eased into the yoga asanas, every once in a while checking my vitals on the measuring device that has me hooked these days, I felt the mind ease just as much as the body. As Ian Faria, a coach and counsellor, said the other day at the Leadership Summit of the Ladies Circle India, disease is simply the condition or the result of the body not being at ease, or the mind not being at ease, bringing back a sense of ease in our lives could actually put a hold to any dis-ease. I would totally recommed Ian’s recommendation on how to be a leader, to simply be a Go-To person for people and how to become a Go-To person is well, to read a lot, on various subjects, to know by reading, he sums it up with a catchy phrase saying ‘Leaders are Readers’. I could not agree more because not only do I read a lot and hence in effect learn a lot, I also make an excellent leader, well thats not me being immodest, but me being real.
As my thinking eased bending into the various postures, coordinating breath with movement, breathing in and out gently, I am sure that the ease that this morning routine gave me will ensure that I bend, throughout the day, Modi even says that Yoga is not to be restricted to the morning but can be applied throughout the day, well Sadhguru advises against practising yoga unless your last meal was not ingested 12 hours ago, but a minute or so of mindfulness or meditation interspersed throughout the day would only be of benefit. The core part of Yoga I am told is meditation, so putting in an aspect of meditation in a day is as good as doing Yoga. A friend of mine once told me, when I was pregnant with my son, that if you can do only one thing for your well-being let it be meditation. But I have increasingly found that YOGA is meditation in motion. Bend, all you can, so that you dont break! Mentally, Physically or figuratively!
Costa Rica is a hot-dog country, sandwiched between two oceans. Join in as Unnati answers 83 questions about the country steeped in natural beauty and a content nature. The vibe is absolutely addictive. The place that is about 80% covered in forest, the place that inspired Avatar, the place where Jurassic Park was possibly filmed. There is so much to this place. Tune in and listen away to a real conversation on a real place by a real person. Learn about Costa Rica and get inspired to make a trip to this emerald county that takes you closer to nature than you could ever imagine, whilst brining out your inner spontaneous diva!
The effervescent @unnati_pingle the owner of Unnati Pingle Design Studio and Theorie @theorie.in features in all her glory, recounting a summer trip to the beautiful country of Costa Rica!
I am not an adrenaline junkie and I still have to skydive and I am not even a sports person but I love doing things that set my heart thumping, I love trying new things, in short I love living my life to the fullest. Last winter I received a whopping ACL tear, meniscus tear on my knee while skiing, after a very successful ski session, yet will I do it all over again? I would. Most certainly that too. Why? Even after bursting the capillaries around my eyes after this bungee jump I’d happily do it again, again ask why and I will tell you.
There is so much joy in setting the heart on fire, much like starting a new business, learning a new form of art or simply dancing the whole night away has a charm like no other. That said crossing a busy road blind-folded or investing in stocks on a whim is sheer foolishness. But wearing a harness and jumping off a building, well that is joy, sheer joy. I am a believer that good things, err great things will happen to me, the best is always yet to come and doing is fun. Fun things are even more fun when done in the right spirit. Today as I stuff my feelings due to a lack of adventure of my kind in life I hope there is more in store of things to do and places to go. There is so much hope, so much to look forward to and there’s a lot of gratitude for that. Spend on experience they say, but even experiences fade with time, what remains are feelings and feelings make beliefs.
The last few years have left me accident prone, starting with a scuba-diving accident, then moving on to a skiing accident I thought perhaps it’s time to check the adventure sports at the door. My mother-in-law attributed it to nazar, friends said stay home for a bit and I decided to do just that. But staying home turned out to have its own perils, on one side drawers and shelves turned lethal, a banged little finger and scraped forearms but to think of it the humble Khakra managed to cut me face(!) and am not even getting into the hazards of the kitchen, read burnt fingers and evil knives. This despite the fact that I don’t cook!
So as a dear friend said upon my skiing injury, atleast you had it while doing something glamorous. Bless her soul to put things into perspective. What’s life without living it large and taking a leap of faith here and there. After all it’s better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all. While we go through life, I’d very much like to have thought that I gave it my best shot, come hollering down the hill with a worn body than to have to have called it a day without so much as a scratch or a bump. While I hope my furniture stops trying to kill me as with other elements of nature and I manage to keep myself pretty healthy, I wish the courage to leap never leaves me! How about you?
Where the Crawdads sing by Delia Owens is an ode to nature, to the marshes, to solitude, to living amidst challenges, to thrive and to come out making a killing! Both literally and figuratively. After starting on the book several times and not getting past even one page on the Kindle, though I surprisingly love to read on the Kindle in general, I finally began the book again, this time on a library borrowed hard copy with a great font size and a new binding. And man, this time I couldnt stop. The book is beguiling to say the least and it kept me up all night reading till I ended it, murder mysteries have that quality you see, but this one is not a face-up murder mystery, it probably is but is layered under so many factors that the murder almost seems incidental. For an author who has written several award-winning books on the subject of nature, of the non-fiction variety, one can only expect a lot of information on the world of flora and fauna, while this one ticks all the boxes on the life in the marsh, the plethora of birds are captured quite beautifully.
There is a rhythm on the planet, the way the world works and then there is the way nature works, quite differently from the wordly world made by nature’s fondest child, man. But when the two worlds collide there can be mayhem, but when the two worlds collaborate then there is sheer magic. When Kya, the protagonist, already a wild child, in the rhythm of nature, learns to collaborate with the world of man, they is magic produced. She writes award-winning books, she paints furiously and she gets by on a charm that not many have. While she handles her issues, the author runs a faint thread of the right and wrong in the natural world and with that guides our sense of morality making sure we do not even judge and hardly despise the murderer. That quality which Owens achieves has truly captivated me.
Not much a bird-watcher this book had me looking out into trees, or even the sky watching for birds every now and then, it also had me hearing out to distinguish a parrot from a mynah. If bird-watching has been on your agenda from time immemorial, this one is something that will give you a final push and get you out there in all your glory. Sea-gulls, Red-chested cuckoo, and ofcourse the Crawdads, every page I turned had me googling for how the birds actually looked. I am so inspired to begin the rather noble device of bird-watching. Getting out those binoculars and emptying the mind. The way she describes mussels, fishing and even pies, makes one feel so in touch with the art of being, simply being. If we could only be, emptying the mind of anything, we can receive the enriching gladness of nature. That was my takeaway from the book. And the murder, oh well, it was nature surviving, the river taking its course. La di da.
It is a must-read if you are up for reading, but even if not, fret not, for there is a way, Resse Witherspoon is producing the movie starring Daisy Edgar-Jones as Kya and the movie is slated to release this year. I doubt that the Director can capture the nuances that Owens manages to capture and convey in the book that reads so easily and effortlessly, but I am sure that it may even be worth a patch.
The Sahyadri Mountains or more affably called the western ghats are a range of mountains traversing across the states of Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. They arent as high and lofty as the Himalayas, the highest point at 8,842 ft as against the Himalayas, at 8848m, making them roughly a third of the mighty Himalayas in stature, but unparalleled in beauty. If the color of the Himalayas is white, the colors of the Western ghats is green and what a green it is. This May, we made the most of the Indian Summers and decided to go traipsing across the ghats in the Indian subcontinent centring ourselves around a past of the ghats that have their very own Geographical Index marking, and drove around the ghats going through tunnels, slopy ghat sections, trading through waterfalls, mostly absent in the peak of the summer and then enjoying the loot of the season, read scrumptious berries, strawberries, mulberrys and well, shrewsbury!
Landing into the Pune Airport is like raising a salute to the Indian Airforce, an arm of the defence services of the country. As a defence airport, photography is strictly not allowed, not even encouraged briefly. But the aircrafts we got to see quite by chance even left a 4-year old enthralled. A small brisk airport, it barely acknowledges one, forget about luring one like the airports in the other metros do. Uber though, comes shiny and bright and takes us through the city of Pune, a sleepy big city when compared to the nearby bustling mega-metropolis of Mumbai about 150 kilometres away, serviced by a large-laned expressway, Pune is surprisingly large despite its proximity to Mumbai. Getting by in Pune is relatively easy if one has been subject to the traffic snarls of Bengaluru for sure, but then we are greeted with the tiresomeness of the Indian roads in most cities these days.
Pune’s most impressive neighbourhood is the Koregaon Park for sure, with its massive houses, that could easily pose as farmhouses but then they are houses, so massive in size and boundary walls over 10′ out, they keep away their location quite aptly. The houses of Adar Poonawalla, Cyrus Mistry are deeply aspirational but keeping the city out and themselves in almost seem like they are caged within themselves. I cant believe Poonawalla felt unsafe and had to make a dash for London to save himself even after living in a house like that(!) I mean like he needed the Indian Ocean for a moat to keep away the threats. But then the Adar Poonawalla foundation literally sponsors sports, clean-city initiatives, upliftment of the poor, empowerment of women and lot of other initiatives that seem worthy. While we looked at the fancy affairs of the Poonawallas we also watched Natasha strut at the Met, looking a lot like the cover of Atlas Shrugged as she carried off the spindle-corset and a Sabyasachi sari. One doesnt need to wear khadi to do charity she quips but then one would certainly be more comfortable in Khadi I think. And with that thought we tucked into a lovely sundowner at One-nought Eight, a art-taurent, featuring an art gallery and a restaurant serving up the most delicious pizzas and Pavlova to literally die for. With its earthy-plants and the breezy decor I would say it was absolutely enthralling. The nursery next door offers up scintillating information about plants making this art-place an absolute delight.
Pune is also the city of Osho, the spiritual cult that has several followers, I dont see the point, infact in this case I was glad to see high boundary walls, but the Osho garden made for a delightful walk. It is also the city of the Aga Khan the title given to the Nizari sect of Muslims, and the palace that was built to save the city from the famine, a palace that served a completely different purpose, shielding the freedom-fighters, keeping the Mahatma as a political prisoner in an Italian architecture-inspired building, so decadent as ever, like a cake with all its tiers in a garden so brown that it is a grandeur, a sight to behold, transporting one into varied thoughts.
The rest of Pune is markedly different from Koregaon Park, with the bustle of the Maratha-speaking people going on their affairs, Pune the home of Baji Rao, showcases the Wadis, the museums and the Mastanis, with much ease. It was the seat of the Maratha kingdom and the forts that surround the city tell a story. As time went on Pune transformed into a hub for education with colleges like Fergusson to Symbiosis and I must say the city’s average age is probably 19. Munching on Vada-pavs for dinner or tawa-ice cream seems to be the norm, and dont even get me started on Maggi which seems to be the national dish, atleast in the tourist spots from Kashmir to literally Kanyakumari. The Pune zoo, isnt the best in the country but it does have a bunch a animals worth drooling over, the Tigers for instance and the reptiles, as slimy as they maybe. The lake in the zoo is covered in algae and only speaks volumes about how unclean it is. Plastic ought to be drastically reduced in consumption for sure. That is recurring thought that sticks in my head everytime I walk around anywhere, travelling or not. To take respite and some shelter from the sveltering heat we ran over to the Phoenix mall in Viman Nagar, a neighbourhood that has its roots in the booming IT sector all over the world. Scotch & Soda was one brand that stood out with its beachy and summery vibes and the whiffs at Oud Arabia amidst the usual, Zara and H&Ms! A fabulous riverside dinner (yes, Pune has a river) at the Royal Connaught Boat Club wrapped up our trip to Pune. The Uttukars are a company that import Grass hardware from Germany, apart from making some fabulous clocks and kitchens. Our host, their house boasts of a brilliant log cabin connecting the indoors to the outdoors and the house to the outhouse. It is so inventive and smart, something I have never seen before except perhaps in Switzerland. Another feature as an architect that I loved was the glass loft in the kitchen covering half of the vertical shutter of the loft.
After ousting the closest city to reach one of the most beautiful hill-towns in this country we made our way to the town of Panchgani that is home to some amazing boarding schools and a breath-taking table land or table top. That was a surprise we didnt quite expect and were blown away for real. Honestly we had to hold on to our 4-year old son who was as inspired to take off on the table top as frankly, we were! The table top land is a natural formation of five hills with a flatenned top, giving the town its name of Panchgani. (five angans as translated from Hindi) The table top has two caves, a water pond and views that bring out the best in us and the sun, the sunset is exquisite. While we did not opt to ride the horses and walked all along, we were entertained by our peppy guide who had a lot to say on the place and on Bollywoods enchantment with Panchgani. The Pandavas too shelter in one of the caves of the Panchgani table land. The air in the cave was a good 10 degree cooler than the outside, talk of conditioned air. Our room had a stunning view of the valley and running around under the trees in the expansive garden of the hotel lawns had we fawning over the beauty of life. Another feature of Panchgani before I get onto the main feature is the sustainable, ecological farms that host people to brew kombucha, recycle goods, compost waste and literally learn to leave no trace on this planet. I for one, love to leave a digital trace, and hence this blog, but then it is a wonderful aspiration to have – to leave no trace on this planet and to tread super softly. The air is literally cleaner in Panchgani and the vibe of the place is exquisite. Lucky indeed are those that get to live there, the slowness of life is mighty alluring. And then lets get to the main part, the main feature of our trip, the reason for traipsing across the western ghats, the strawberries!!!! Dotting the landscape of Panchgani are exquisite strawberry farms with sweet pretty strawberries loading up on our plate every now and then. I for one ate so many strawberries that I can literally feel my skin glow with the sheen that strawberries provide. Filled with antioxidants, strawberries taste as yummy as they look and when partnering with cream that make a duet that I wouldnt ever wish to stop. Only until we reached Mahabaleshwar and I will tell you why. In a bit. But for now, Mapro with its strawberries and sandwich and pizzas and views that behold were like being in strawberry heaven. The Mapro Garden in Panchgani has all the trappings of a strawberry wonderland. We loved standing in strawberry cutouts working it up as we went from sampling fresh strawberries or khakras loaded with seasonings.
Mahabaleshwar is about 30 minutes drive away from Panchgani, and in Mahabaleshwar the jungle starts too, tigers were once a normal occurence in Mahabaleshwar, now it is people. In Mahabaleshwar the strawberry farms in May were almost burnt out, in the words of a resident, but the mulberries were in full swing and divine they were. While strawberries grow as a plant, mulberries grow on trees and they too make a wonderful combination with cream and ofcourse icecream. Corn is another ingredient that is found all over Mahabaleshwar, that I mean aside from Maggi(!), makkai tikka, makkai bhuna, corn fried, corn steamed, getting corn to be everything that it could ever be is one big aspect of this town. Apart from the stunning produce that is edible, Mahabaleshwar has produce that even delights the eyes, the view points that overlook into seven rivers that start at Mahabaleshwar, five are keenly visible but two are firmly underground. The major perennial river that starts at Mahabaleshwar is the River Krishna and there is a temple to commemorate the fact. Praying at the Mahabaleshwar temple of Shiva and the Krishna starting point is divine, here the hills are alive with the sound of life, the sound of water. As all tourist spots are these are too filled with hawkers ready to sell ware, everywhere, I wish the country didnt have so many crowded spots but then that is the nature of this country, the population, a bane or a boon, it could be both rolled into one. The horses at Mahabaleshwar too look smart and at the Venna Lake one is shown the best that nature can bring out in people. Boating at the lake is a solitary affair, one where we can rent a paddle boat or an oared one and roam freely in the expanse of the lake, it is the best thing to do, perhaps comes after swimming in my list, rowing ones own boat, so serene and so happiness inducing. And there is something about sunsets, all across the Western ghats, so beautiful as I will continue on the next leg of our traipse.
Driving ahead from Mahabaleshwar we headed to Lonavala, the town famous for chikki in peanut, walnut, pistachio or even in dried rose and strawberry. Every resort in Lonavala is studded with a water-themed park, with water slides, waterfalls and everything gorgeous. Why there is one on trees called a Machan but that is only for couples not enjoyable with kids, the water-parks well thats what makes Lonavala so enjoyable. In Lonavala, there are projects by bigwig developers like Aamby Valley, Lavasa and lots more, the hills have inspired splendid homes, as we saw in Lonavala. Ofcourse they are older and not swanky like in Koregaon Park but the sizes are just the same albeit with lower boundary walls that probably let the people breathe. Sliding down a water slide is such a welcome change for the summer, the sound of water flowing is very calming while standing under a waterfall massages not just the back but the soul as well and as it does it makes the body let go of everything, quite literally. Waterfalls naturally make caves and getting inside one of there waterfall caves is sheer delight, as I found recently, though the Lonavala waterfall is more flat it is to be seen in the monsoon in all its glory. But being amidst water in the hills gets the water to echo its fall all over the hills and hearing the echo is an experience.
From Lonavala we headed to the famous locale of Khandala, one that even inspired a popular song in Hindi. The Khandala ghat boasts of an unparalled view of the sunset, it is marvellous and I totally recommend it to everyone. We loved being on the ghat having our picture taken, eating chikki and doing everything that Aamir Khan recommends as he lip syncs to the song “Aati Kya Khandala”. With everyone dotting the landscape of Khandala the view looks even better. Everything is better when shared they say, the view too gets better I have found. Finding a lone coconut water seller on the ghat we went forward to get one for ourselves, turns out that coconut water is the favorite drink of our family. We lapped up the goodness and heard the tender coconut seller tell us stories about how the clouds rise towards the Khandala Ghat in the monsoons and he is eternally blessed to be sitting there at that spot twenty-four hours in a day, 365 days a year, I couldnt smile as I heard him, for it is not every day that a street-side vendor expresses gratitude or even contentment. There is something about contentment, it is a treasure, not easily found and when you do you realise that it is precious. That man on the Khandala ghat selling coconut water, with a twinkle in his eyes, his easy smiles, and a ready story or two has found his calling and that makes him swell, with pride, with gratitude, with happiness, whether his stall is full or not. A larger number of people throng the tea or the Maggi stalls, but simple pleasures come from the natural, not so much the man-made. The flow of water, the flow of the wind, the siege of the trees, the smell of the strawberries, the terseness of the Mulberries, the beauty of the hills, the sound of silence, the feeling of a full tummy, the excitedness of a 4-year old, the contenment of the heart or even for some with the ending of a trip! Some people are blessed to be insanely happy to return home, to not be bitten by the travel bug, to be happy where they are, to not find a need to travel, to breathe with contentment and be merry where they are, to be like trees deeply rooted, and then there are some like clouds, who want to flitter and flutter, here and there, and everywhere, and they marry each other, and then the magic begins, just like the earth and sky, with its trees and clouds.
While I flit through a dozen apps to plan my next holiday, say Club Mahindra, Kayak, Calendar, Booking.com, Air BnB, Tata Neu, Taj Properties, am finding this term flashing all over Mobile-only price. With increasing apps becoming phone based, yes I am talking about Instagram the phone is getting irreplaceable and the personal computer? Defunct. Such is life. Am wondering like I book a slot for the gym, if I can book a slot for school for my kid soon, claimable at any centre as long as I have a 75 pc attendance clocked, again, on the app. Perhaps leaving some room for online sessions when my son can’t attend class for reasons of travel or simply on a whim.
There is no denying the fact that life is getting so easy on the phone. I can’t believe but getting me unhooked to the computer has been the biggest blessing of this decade. Gone are those shoulder pains and neck aches that plagued me all my working life in my twenties. Not to mention the dry-eye syndrome acerbated by air-conditioned offices and blue-light screens. I can literally run my world lying on a couch, am reminded of Lord Vishnu. As I sketch on my the Pad and sent drawings away in a jiffy, the computer based applications like AutoCAD I wish will increasingly better their apps, so that the personal computer can finally take a hike. I love the times we live in. But I also love having no gadgets around me from time to time. I cannot argue how my friendly neighbourhood gadgets are measuring my height, weight and even stress levels! After all what we measure, improved and there is a lot to gain my taking stock, and I am indebted to technologists who make our lives so easy app by app, one app at a time. Though taking my phone to bed with me has been the worst thing of this decade, perhaps an app can help me with that too!
P.s this weekend while brunching I was told of a friend of mine who was tricked into downloading an app on the iPhone that promised to solar charge her phone(!) I do hope that can be a reality though. Just saying.
Vedasri Siddamsetty 