Travel and Literature

Diveagar, Raigad, Maharashtra
(October 2016)

Dusk (5th November, 2016)

Dusk turns to darkness, as they frantically navigate narrow village lanes, driving past thatched roofs of a centuries old settlement, twinkling with lights and lanterns at each door.

Their drive so far has been bumpy and uneventful, punctuated only by the cries of children and adults alike, turning a full 180 degrees to stop and stare.

"Arre, gaadi varti cycle bagh!" ("Hey, look at the cycle on the car!")

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Panchgani, Satara, Maharashtra

(September 2016)

Tempest (22nd October, 2016)

Outside, a storm brews.
.

Gusts of wind blown across the Arabian Sea strike land,
Channeled by the geography of the Western Ghats,
Into nooks and crannies of the Sahyadri range,
Leaving no place for petty civilization to run or hide
Save for hutments of stone and lowly earth.

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Peace and Tranquillity (24th September, 2016)

You wake up with a start, in darkness.
The room, the air, your head abuzz with the sound of a million crickets, their loud persistent chirping, through the mosquito-net-lined door.
You glance around in all directions, trying to discern your surroundings, lost for a moment, with the incessant crickets and their drum-roll playing havoc with your mind.

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Greece

(May 2016)

Youth, Innocence and the Anachronism of Monday Mornings (9th October, 2016)

Two Greek school kids at the corner of Kipselis Street and Zakynthou,
With their pot-bellied father, awaiting the school bus.
.
Excitement and energy writ large upon their faces,
As they jump around and play with each other, a fun start to a new week.

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Slow Down (1st October, 2016)

Slow down.
Let the next bus go, there will always be another.
..
Sit in the sun for a while, let its warmth wash over you, driving the cold away,
Spreading slowly from torso to tip-toe, like a glass of red vintage wine.
..
Watch the yacht lazily make its way across the horizon, gently rolling across the waves,
Its wake, a serpentine white streak across magnificent blue...

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Mumbai

Delirium (19th September, 2015)

He rides like the wind.
Through the semi-darkness of dense brown forests, filled with timber.
Through wisps of mist amid trunks as wide as a house.
Arching above him, blocking off all sunlight.

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Dreams (Part 2) (16th July, 2015)

He wipes the rain from his eyes, and looks again across the road,
Trying to ascertain if it is her, through the maddening squall.
The wind buffets her hair and skirt. Still she stands.. unmoved, unreal.

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Dreams (Part 1) (13th July, 2015)

He exits the house, glancing up at the heavens.
The sky.. cruel, grey and unforgiving.
A typical monsoon day, cold and pouring wet.
Its been like this since that fateful day, when the rain first came.
A day he wishes he could forget...

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Pain (30th June, 2015)

He sits alone, and stares into nothingness.

Perched on the very tip of a rocky cliff.
A cliff which extends away into the horizon on both sides, its jagged edges cutting into his heart.
A cliff which drops away vertically into the crashing waves of the ocean far below.
So far below, their sound does not reach him...

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The Reading Habit (13th August, 2013)

Fred Wilson wrote an interesting piece a few days back, about the slowing adoption of e-books, v/s paperbacks.
“Many of the early adopters of ebooks and tablets .. have made their move. The diehards aren't going to make that move it seems, or they are going to take their time..”

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