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Showing posts from August, 2016

A Quiet Corner: Notes from a Desk at 30,000 Reads

A message to all my readers  When I first began writing down my stories in this quiet space, it was nothing more than an open diary. A place to put memories that needed somewhere to rest, reflections gathered over a lifetime, and thoughts that felt too personal—or perhaps simply too ordinary—to share in conversation. Conventional wisdom often suggests that personal musings rarely accomplish much on the wider internet. There are no frameworks here, no quick advice, and no polished agendas. Just the raw textures of life as I have experienced it: the sudden turns, the quiet routines, the moments of doubt, and the steady work of beginning again. Recently, as a small corner quietly crossed 30,000 reads, I paused to look more closely at the numbers. What moved me was not just the milestone itself, but where those visits were coming from. While some readers join from home here in India, so many of you are reading from entirely different corners of the earth—from Singapore across the seas ...

CRAFTING MY WALL

Surely, SUPW (Socially Useful Productive Work) was something I enjoyed at school not because we could do something worthwhile as the initials stood for, It was like a silver lining during the exams when we could take leave to prepare for exam or perhaps even skip school for a Saturday Sunday outing by missing on a half day school which had two periods of SUPW . SUPW class was meant to give us an opportunity to be introduced to newer skills which we under normal circumstances avoided. It was CBSE's smart initiative to make it a part of its curriculum. Strikingly a number of projects that I have executed until now owe their roots to those formative years. The cognitive abilities acquired then, have been the foundation stones to many projects taught to my children. Every time an idea was required I had something new to offer for which I was gratefully thanked by my two teenagers. Though my creative talent oscillated between bad to good I had a wonderful and enrichin...

CASTLE BIJAIPUR: A HERITAGE RESORT

CASTLE BIJAIPUR      A HERITAGE RESORT We all know stories from Chittorgarh in Rajasthan; it is famous for its fort, its ruler Prithviraj Chauhan, and his valour. What we do not know is about its lesser-known “havelis”. Modern-day restorations and the service industry have transformed them into heritage resorts. Castle Bijaipur is one such place in the backdrop of mountains. Ever been to a heritage resort? No, then one must go to these beautiful places at least once, travelling backwards in time. Doing so reminded me of a “Star Trek” time travel to unexplored destinations. The road to the castle is lined with trees and wild plants on both sides, in all imaginable shades of green. Its entrance is marked by a huge door with beautifully sculptured arches and ornately decorated with flowers and leaves. The monsoon season we visited had just lit up all the shades of nature. We were staying on the topmost floor, and the view from here was splendid. The “jharokhas,” ...