My Wise Friends From Ladakh

While wandering around the little lanes of Leh, I made some wise friends. In all my excitement I told them about my life-changing trek, but they were not amused. They just rolled their eyes and gave me the look of, "Humans! Why do they have to complicate life? Why can't they just chill!?"

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This is a story of a house that built us

Sitting on the rooftop water tank of this house, I used to scribble escape plans in my diary, dreaming of the solo adventures I’d embark on once I got out. Little did I know that once you leave, you never truly come back. My mom and dad built this house. Though it was far from where we lived at the time, they visited the construction site every evening after work. My brother and I would join them on weekends. For us, those days were like picnics—playing on hills of sand, building forts from bricks, splashing in “lakes” made from water tanks, all while singing, “Bob the Builder, can we fix it?” Some days, we’d return home covered in mud and sporting bruises, satisfied that we had “helped” the workers. My dad didn’t just oversee the construction—he truly built this house. As a scientist, he experimented with materials to ensure the most sustainable outcomes. To me, every brick has “Dad” written on it. I’m convinced if I threw one into water, it would float. Dad is my Ram. He lives in eve...

Mortifying fear transcending to an achievement is a powerful thing

This time it’s the Trail Survivor Course @ Mahindra Adventure Off-Road Academy, Igatpuri One of the many amazing highlights of this whole thing was the confidence the instructors have in the vehicle and their experience. They don’t judge you as a driver, they push you in the pool. We, Pooja and I, reach the gate at reporting time. Beautiful place, weather and the cars parked. Manish, Head Off-Road Academy, asks Satinder – one of the 4 senior instructors, to fetch us to the training site in one of the Thars. Excited, we follow Satinder who says, “come, you will drive it from here”. Our jaws drop! We have never even sat on a driver’s seat of any 4x4… and this is Thar – the boss! The dilemma: get embarrassed by refusing him or get embarrassed by doing something stupid?! We chose the latter. Remember that feeling when you were crushing over someone and they came up to you and said “Hi”? How that word promised the possibility of a beautiful forever? That’s how the first ‘vroom’ ...

Chadar Trek - Walking over a frozen Himalayan river

Chadar Trek is listed among world's top 5 dangerous treks. Chadar is a sheet of ice that forms in winter on Zanskar River, a tributary of Indus, in Leh-Ladakh. It came into limelight after BBC Human Planet did a documentary ‘Chadar – The Most Dangerous School Run' in the 90s. That's when even I had wished to meet the Zanskaris. I got to know about the trek when I visited Leh in the summer of 2014. I was obsessed with Zanskar and this year, even though I was not prepared, I had to go, and so I went. I saw heaven, hell and some magic! Beauty: The last point of the trail is called Nerak a village that has the biggest frozen waterfall. The Zanskari locals (porters) jocularly say "you go through Swarg (heaven) to reach Narak (Nerak)." The river is a powerful, ruthless, seductive beauty. She does things to your brain. Her water invites you. At times when I was alone, she tried to manipulate me by singing 'how heavenly it would be to be one with her'. Her ...

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