There is an inlet in the rocky coast east of Marseille, France, where a pool is formed and a peaceful getaway offers itself to the hiker who wills to make a grueling effort. Away from the city, and yet, not so far, i go there to spend the time with no regrets. The sound of … Continued
At one of our first ex-pat events, I sat on an unwelcoming green velvet chaise, suffering through a shaky rendition of “I Love Paris.” The nails on the chalkboard were both literal and figurative as my husband and I could only use “adore” to weepingly talk about the lives we had left behind. Paris was … Continued
At the border between Colombia and Ecuador, there lies a cemetery so beautiful that they say it invites one to die. A place where sculpted green giants and doves watch over rows of flowers like Mother Earth’s sentries. I wander between the headstones at the topiary cemetery in Tulcán. Music drifts through the air as … Continued
People from the southern United States have a by-the-numbers routine for topics of conversation. The first topic is always your name. The second is the weather. In no place else and at no other time is weather more important than in the South in the Summer. In New Orleans as the summer ripens, the weather … Continued
What is the true meaning of inspiration? In theology it means: a divine influence directly and immediately exerted upon the mind or soul. Inspire means to fill with enlivening or exalting emotion. I am not trying to give you a grammar lesson, but actually emphasizing my feeling. I recently went on a second holiday to … Continued
The semester was over, with month long arduous exams just attended. Another challenging semester and further exasperating exams. Life wasn’t particularly blissful, with the same monotonicity, absent of any vigor and gusto. The thoughts were infuriating. And, all such turmoil and muddle, set on the noisy, dull and cynical city of Kathmandu made me sometimes … Continued
New York City. The city of bright lights and big dreams. A place where you can unknowingly rub elbows with local bums and foreign diplomats on your daily commute; where you can find ramen and saag paneer and hot dogs all on the same block; where you can take the subway uptown, a taxi downtown, … Continued
Some would think that public transport is a service that carries you from one place to another rather than an adventure without regrets. After a year in Africa and with more hours clocked up in transit than is thinkable I would have to disagree. From car to bus, to boat to motorcycle, to pick-up trucks … Continued
My car was whirling on the curvy, rocky highway of NH-31A, the sole connector of Sikkim to the Indian territory. It was a 12 hour ride and as for me, you could connect me to a barrel of scopolamine (drug for motion sickness) but still my vomitus would flow more heavily than rain pouring down … Continued
The further south one travels in the US, the less relevant and more fluid time becomes, as though the Mason-Dixon Line were some boundary not of cartography, but relativistic physics. Reasonable standards of time are casually tossed out the window like so much warmed sweet tea; phrases like “a little while” encompass not minutes, but … Continued