Europa!

'Europe is always a good idea'.

Let me begin at the beginning.
I have been traveling to the US a lot for work, over the past one year. Paglet moved to Germany last year. Travel planners that she and her husband (N) are, they immediately started asking me to do stopovers in Germany during my trips. I confess I tried 2 times and failed, for one thing or the other. Then we decided to plan my first full fledged Europe trip instead. That's how this all began.

N is really into small, indie music festivals. He was booking early bird tickets for a festival in Italy which was going to take place in July. I said yes without knowing much about the festival and knowing my borrowerd music history. 
My festival tickets got booked in Jan/Feb 2016. 
I booked my tickets to and from Brussels in April. 
My rough itinerary got designed in May. I included visits to some cities where I had really close friends.
I applied for visa in June. 
I received my visa in July.
I dropped a few places from my plan and re-did the itinerary. And I took off for 18 days of vacation in July/August.

check in done and ready to board! also diy #travelgoals tees :D

A lot apart from this happened in this short span. I was getting slammed at work. In July R got married for which Paglet flew to India. We booked her tickets so that we both (paglet and I) could fly from India to Brussels together. All this drama and planning! The month of July really was a whirlwind. We left for Mumbai from where our flight was on July 19th. It was the first time Paglet and I were traveling together. So we were both excited and anxious. Oh what a journey it was and what a blessing it proved to be to have her by my side!


To be continued..

P.S.  I plan to do the entire travel cost post as well. But I understand that you don't want to wait for it. So I'll do the costing at the end of individual post.

To those wondering, I used some of my miles accumulated from the work trips to book the Europe tickets. So here is the international travel cost
Pune - Mumbai return trip by Shivneri - 1000 Rs.
Mumbai - Brussels return trip - 24,500 Rs
Internal Mumbai taxi etc - 400 Rs.

Total - 25,900 Rs.

Baby H

Dear (baby) H,

I know you will not be a baby forever. One day you will grow up and read this and roll your eyes like your mother* does. And then you will laugh at this Mavshi of yours, an even louder laughter. I also fear you'll stop visiting me for my soppy attempt at trying to word what I felt when I first met you.

*Your mother the only goddess of sarcasm and baking I know. Your mother and I, whose friendship is now ancient.

You were an year old. An unbridled bundle of joy. The happiness you radiated when you threw your little hands around my neck, the safety you felt when I pretended to throw you towards the ceiling (a silly game humans play with their tiny offspring), still bring smiles and tears of warmth and joy to my eyes. The entire hour spent around you made me forget the burden of being a grown up.

my little money <3

A grown up who constantly worried about how can she be a part of your world, your mother's world. 
But there you were. More welcoming than my anxieties. 
My insecurity. Insecurity of how to fit in. To belong. 
But there you were. Laughing that innocent laugh of yours, giggling to yourself for no reason. Telling me you don't have to worry around me to belong. 

Come, be a part of my antics, you said. Outrun me just in time to save the kitchen utensils from an utter disaster. Those mischievous yet cherubic eyes of yours baiting me with your next great adventure. 

I still carry the smile you passed on to me that day. Imagining it would be a good idea to have you around all the time. And I started to hope for your mother to move nearer to me. You may have realized grown ups are selfish. Rightfully so, if the reward they get is spending time with you.

My next mission is to teach and introduce you to all the amazing fairy tales and harry potter and Carl Sagan (And you can confirm this when you read them). Of course I'll have to wait for a couple of years. Until then I'll make do with being a part of your adventures.

Listicle

• 6 months being a vegetarian! yay! This was my long term life goal. And I am glad I could embrace it in my early thirties. Slightly inspired by Scott Jurek's lifestyle change and a lot more about trying to have minimal impact on nature and my surroundings. I know this sounds totally absurd, at least in my head, but believe me the more I think about it, the more I know I made the right choice. I have 0 cravings for chicken or any meat items. Initially I used to consciously tell myself to not gravitate towards the shrimps or the fish or the chicken. This was mere habit and did not take me long to change it. Another disclaimer : I am still eating eggs once in a while. Its because its easier to prepare eggs during travels and also easiest source of protein. Slowly I'll get there i.e. being a complete vegetarian. Next step in this journey : Growing my own veggies and food.

• My past few years' reading pattern suggests that I read non fiction just to add variety to my book lists. My personal grudge with non fiction is its boring most of the time. And I pick up a book only if its been recommended by someone I trust highly or getting rave reviews. This year I am trying to change that consciously. I have read 4 non fiction books till now (yay!) and none of them put me to sleep. I enjoyed each one of them. Needless to say they were really informative and at places inspiring. In fact the next 2 books in line are non fiction as well. I have put off some novels I wanted to read on the back burner since April. Talk about change.

• Recently I visited Las Vegas for a conference. I was least excited about being in the city. As expected I did not enjoy it one bit and was glad that I was there for work. This also saved me the trouble of writing a travel post. Although the only touristy advice I have is, do try the unlimited brunch/breakfast options at one of the casinos. We tried the one at Ceasar's palace and loved the variety of food.

• 6 months into this year and I have not registered for any running race. I am doing pretty good on the 'don't be so hard on yourself' pact I made with myself. My routine includes pretty much easy runs. And its unbelievable that I trained and ran 42 kms 5 months ago. Hence I like running. Its so humbling. Do the same thing over and over again. The moment you feel like you have arrived, you are back to being a novice.

C

One more long haul flight. Few more weeks of asking the household maid to keep watering the plants every day. Few more weeks of living out of hotel bed, missing hearty home cooked meals and freedom to lay around the house like a dead rock.

C and I are in an unusual relationship. It did not start with hate. It did not start with sparkles either. It was meh. So meh that initially I used to dread spending time with C. The wannabe-ness of it all. The craze everyone felt about C. The throngs of people who would trade places with me to embrace C openly. Unlike the reluctance and reticence I showed. 

From the beginning I stayed on the back foot. Gauging every move C threw at me. C expected me to be bold, fearless. C wanted me to drive after the first month or so. Explore the outside more. Not that I could not drive, but fear of the unknown. With much resistance I accepted it. Not the change, but the demand for it. May be it was out of some survival instinct. Gradually I realized how liberating it felt. Not being outside. But calling my own shots. Deciding which route to take. Learning to explore the neighborhoods. Hand in hand. Sometimes driving each other nuts.

Then came the time for me to depart. The first time I was little relieved. I mean adventures and all are ok. But a homebody like me loved the comfort of being cooped inside my nest. By chance I had to visit C a lot more over the past one year. It was mostly because of work. But we started getting to know each other better. Some of the trails C showed me became my companions for long runs. I started getting used to the moods and colors of C. If it was cold outside, I would put on a jacket, sip warm coffee. If it was sunnier, put on my sunglasses. Sun or shade we started figuring things out. Together. I also made a bunch of new friends while visiting C. Hikes amidst the mystical redwoods, house parties, conversations, sharing stories became a regularity. 

C is growing on me. And I on C, because C likes me despite my baggage. Of another C gone by. 

In case you were wondering the C in the post are California (present) and Chicago (past). 

An ode to work

That keeps me busy and occupied day after day.

That on really slow days makes me feel thankful for being there.

That makes me appreciate the various skills required, on a day to day basis to get a task done. Technical, tactical, strategical and human.

That makes me realize the value of showing up day after day. Sometimes that is all what is needed from me, it assures me.

That makes me realize, I can grow old doing this or something like this, even if it means working from a desk, sitting across a machine.

That is sometimes an escape, because it keeps me engaged and takes my mind off other negativity around.

That is sometimes as mundane as eating a meal.

That is always there, even if I feel like taking an effort or not.

That teaches me that dream or not, it is just work after all.  

That lets me be creative, impulsive, really intelligent (at times) and really stupid.

That is a constant when everything around me is constantly changing.

P.S. I am an office going adult. And feeling generally grateful about the ability to work to derive and create meaning.

of home furnishings etc.

I moved into this new home more than 6 months ago. The place has an open kitchen, airy and spacious living room, huge wardrobe, enough furniture for me to never think about buying anything new, a terrace and lots of plants. Yes, my generous ex-owner thought she could leave all her non human living co-habitants with me. Thanks to the super nice cleaning lady they are alive. And thanks to aai, who cleaned a lot of pots, cut away weed, they are thriving. I take credit for all the beauty and life these plants add to the home. Simple. Ok I am not that neglectful, I do water them every now and then and do make sure the weeds are thrown out. I just wanted to convey that plants are not dying on me or I am not causing anything harmful to them and those things changed in this house and hence this is special! May be I am too naive to take this all personally but you get the gist, or need more rant?

Anywho, the move happened as I wanted and I loved the new place, but I never quite settled in. This, that and a lot of laziness. I lived almost 4 months without a refrigerator and with a makeshift kitchen. So much so that, that was the excuse I used few times to avoid unwanted guests. Over time things had to change because how often could I crash other people's dinner or self-invite myself to their homes ? After many other measures to procrastinate, I now have a fully functional kitchen with refrigerator and appliances and what not.

book nook!

The only other part of the home, which was fully functional from day 1 was this book nook. I love how light played on the books from this window. Window. This window. The window which streamed abundant sunlight as the sun started setting, since it faced the west. The window without the curtain. The window by which KT and I sat and discussed, how it needed a dreamy curtain. 

Dreamy curtain. It all started that day. The quest to drape this wistful window by a dreamy curtain. How you define dreamy is up to you. To me, some fabric which would let the light flow, not block it fit the bill. A fabric with flow and lightness. I turned all home decor shops in my neighborhood upside down. Ready made curtains got rejected for obvious reasons. I sat by pile after pile of reams of cloth and inquired about how I would get a curtain stitched. Nothing felt like 'this is it'. You know the magical moment, when everything starts making sense ? Somehow google became aware of I needed a curtain and one thing led to another and I started exploring online options. I was reluctant because, how do you buy a fabric without feeling its lightness ? Just by description and pictures ? I put few things in my cart. Started taking opinions. And then went on a 3 week work trip. When I returned the contents of the cart were not available any more. The question of the elusive but curtain-less window remained.

Around 10 days ago, I finally placed an online order for a curtain, irrespective of what lay in store for me. To make matters tougher the website people decided to take their own sweet time to process and deliver the goods. I started tracking the order progress every day. Day before yesterday when the order progress bar had not moved even a tiny bit, I grew impatient and in a desperate bit, let it go. And then by some uncanny magic, yesterday in the middle of a meeting I got a call that the delivery person was out. I told him to leave the package by the security guards, only to realize after few hours that my much awaited dreamy curtain was here!

half dreamy

I finally collected it and hurriedly opened the package and oh! it was really a dream! The fabric was soft, light and had flow. I knew my dream of a dreamy curtain had fulfilled. 

Of course everyone including me would want the story to end here. But my handicapped home furnishing knowledge had made me order 1 curtain for a 2 paneled window. So in short this is how the curtain looked on the window (<-)

So after adorning half of the window, I frantically opened my laptop, searched for the product online. Thankfully it was in stock. But now they were selling it in pairs instead of single piece! Grinding my teeth, pulling my hair, I placed another order. Now in another 10 days or so, I'll have my perfect pair of dreamy curtains. And of course, one unwanted dreamy curtain.

So moral of the story, don't settle unless half or 1 1/2 of your dream is fulfilled.

Pahadi (himachal) Safarnama (Diaries)

I am not a traveler. I mean I travel in a literal sense a lot i.e. going from one place to other. But I am not much into elaborate vacation planning. I like exploring new places only on the condition that the place is there in front of me to be explored. I'll not move mountains to just be someplace and experience living there. It has taken me quite a while to accept this about myself. I am much into imagining and time traveling through the books I read. 
Having said that, I do have a select list of places I would like to visit, because my favorite books and movies happened there or referenced them. (Kashmir was one such place!)

Most of my close friends are avid travel enthusiasts. They love doing all this planning, data gathering, logistics mapping exercise. And it works for a travel sloth like me :)

So when Paglet shared her India visit plans sometime in December, I was relieved because I knew she and her (travel crazy) husband would plan everything. And we would just have to show up. She planned a 3-5 days trip to Himachal Pradesh in the 2nd week of March and I was in! For logistics reason, I and a friend traveled to Jammu. From Jammu we booked a 13 seater mini bus for the road trip to Kasol Valley in Himachal Pradesh. 9 of us boarded the bus and we started the journey from Jammu. It was a slightly rainy day contrary to our expectations so we decided to keep it slow and have fun along the way.

Our first stop was for breakfast after entering Punjab before Pathankot. We were in the land of aaloo paratha and rajma chawal. So without even bothering about what time of the day it was (it was around 10.30 am), we ordered aloo paratha, rajma chawal, paneer paratha and chai (tea). I had the special neembu kehwa chai. Needless to say everything was yummilicious and fresh. It was a roadside dhaba so I can't recall the name, exact location to be able to recommend it to you. I believe all the dhabas on that route must serve the same tasty food!

Further journey till Palampur was uneventful. We tried playing a very silly but most fun game called ping pong. It didn't take off among some players. So we switched to playing Dumb Charades. Of course my team trumped the other team. Then we took a stop just outside Mandi, at hotel Ranjeet. We were starving and ordered all kinds of food there. From chinese to roti sabji to tea, coffee and varied starters. The staff there served us the most awesome road food I have ever had in a surprisingly short time. Within an hour we were back on the road, our stomachs full and our faces happy. Highly recommended place!
(Complete address- Ranjeet dining star restaurant, Joginder Nagar, Mandi).

Post Palampur, the hills were on our vista. We were longing to be among them. Once we entered Mandi, the first road block happened. Someone had parked their broken vehicle in the middle of the road, driving entire traffic to a standstill. Typical small town experience of no one being in a hurry happened. We with our city life conditioning, immediately got out and started trying to clear the deadlock. After 30 minutes halt, we were back on our way. We were moving even slowly now because of the hilly winding roads and sporadic rains. We took a tea break around 7 PM just outside Kasol to relieve ourselves and freshen up. Because we arrived in Kasol after sunset, the hike to the village where we were supposed to stay for the next 2 days did not happen.

We stayed at a local hotel in Kasol where the staff was nice enough to take dinner order from us at 9 PM. We were famished and ate like there was no tomorrow. We played cards and after some fun and frolic, we fell asleep one by one. I was probably the first one to doze off as usual.

Since we had arrived in Kasol after sunset, I had no idea what lay outside. So I was pleasantly surprised and squealed with delight when I woke up to this view outside my room. ->

beautiful Kasol!

We got ready by 10 am (cos of the super long journey the day before) and by the time decided to trek to the village, it had started raining. Starving (I think there is something in the mountain air, it makes your metabolic rate zoom), we had a very sumptuous breakfast of omlettes, tea, egg-paratha, bread toast, scrambled eggs etc. After having fed ourselves we finally headed out, rain or no rain. Thankfully it had stopped raining but it had become chillier. So mandatory winter shopping break happened. Slowly we made it out of Kasol by crossing a precariously placed bridge over the Parvati river. (I dont have a picture of it).
The Parvati river became our companion as we hiked to Chalal. It was a 40-45 min hike made surreal by river on one side and the mountains on the other. Escapist thoughts of disowning all our city ties to dwell in the woods came to all of us, turn by turn. 

When we reached our cottage in Chalal, there was no electricity in the village. Us city dwellers, eager to charge our smart phones and share the beauty on social media, had no option but to let it be. After settling down for a while and exploring the nearby areas, we started scouting for lunch locations. A village of 30-50 houses offers very few options. The kind people at Cafe Freedom offered to prepare fresh lunch for us (it was 3.30 PM). Only in really small towns/villages can one find such hospitality! We ordered loads of food and topped it off with tea, maggi, sandwiches while waiting for real meal to be ready. We got back to our cottage happy and fulfilled and only after sunset. Then we cozied up in a room, singing songs, making up songs, sharing warmth in the cold! One of the rooms also had a wood chimney so some of us got busy to fire it up to try to make the room even warmer. I called it a night early cos of all the airport lag and chill in the air.

Again, the next morning this is the view I woke up to. There was fresh snow atop the distant hill in this picture. I could spend hours sitting in a chair spellbound by the mountains with a glass of warm black tea in my hand. I had my bit of being vain, as my phone showed some network connectivity.

cottage with the view

After rounds of black ginger tea served at our cottage to us early risers, we decided to head out for breakfast. It felt like an expedition, as on the chilly day, even the villagers had decided to take it slowly. Home after home we inquired who would serve us omelettes, bread, aloo parathas and tea. Ema, singlehandedly accepted to serve the gang of 9 (us). The expedition had filled us with cold and we immediately huddled under the thick blankets Ema provided us. Once the warmth was back the chit chat and banter returned. Suddenly overcome by guilt to not even have asked Ema whether she needed help, a friend and I got out of the cozy room and went into her kitchen. She graciously accepted the help and we started serving everyone. I cannot put into words the feeling of eating a very modest breakfast but still feeling overcome by gratitude and satisfaction. Ema's mother, a sprightly 58 year old, who hardly looked and felt her age, sat amused watching us devour the food.
 
We did not do much during the day later and headed back to Kasol by afternoon. From there we went to Manikaran. Spent some time at the hot water springs and headed for Bhuntar. I and a friend were to catch bus for Delhi from here. I personally was very bummed to be leaving that place. On the other hand I was also proud of myself, because I had not accessed office email even once during these 3 days. The temptation was there, but nature saved me.

Though we did not do a lot of touristy things during this trip, I was glad that I got to meet some friends and do a road trip through parts of Himachal Pradesh. With the logistics and unexpected weather changes all went well. Now bitten by the HP warmth, I wish to visit it often and for longer duration.