Just About Everything

The evening sky has a rainbow effect, holding me captive and with feelings of hope fo r the future. Here is a poem by  William Wordsworth that I always remember, so simple and beautiful. My heart leaps up when I behold        A rainbow in the sky: So was it when my life began;  So is it now I am a man;  So be it when I shall grow old,     Or let me die! The Child is father of the Man; And I could wish my days to be   Bound each to each by natural piety.

Every year during this time I would generally be counting days for the festive time to begin...  Especially Durga pujas, which is so much more than puja and rituals, it is celebration and fun time...With less than a month to go, if this were a regular year, Kolkata would have started transforming....creative puja pandals would be coming up, shopping places would be buzzing with people, and a general sense of happiness would prevail.  Year 2020 changed it all! This year I feel none of the excitement :(  Can't imagine I won't go out to see those creative and artistic pandals, each more unique than the other. The pujas will be held but on a low scale and in a controlled way given that the pandemic is continuing to be. Don't know if there will be those out of the world creative pandals to see this year, and even if there are, I would have to stay home and watch on TV 😢 I was going through the pictures I had clicked from the 2019 Durga pujas.  Just going through the...

  I love sunsets; there is something indescribably beautiful about them.  Time comes to a standstill; t he changing colours and contrasts of the sky leaves me mesmerizied.  One moment dark and cloudy, and the next moment clear and a brilliant blue; the canvas of sky changes so beautifully and completely... Isn’t it so much like the contrasting experiences we face in our lives? Even more so now with the entire world in the grips of a pandemic that has  changed and is changing so much around us, and in us.  I wonder why contrasts come into our lives...and when they do, the tunnel seems inordinately long without any light in sight :(  All is not lost for sure, and the good news is, nothing lasts forever:) Here is one of my favourite poems by Rumi,  so relevant and so beautiful; it fills me with hope: Seeker, when you feel your soul contracting know it is for your own good. Allow not your heart to burn with grief. In times of expansion you spend ...

The mesmerising Sunrise viewed at Tiger Hill The travel bug in me continues to bite …it is raining and this weather so reminds me of Darjeeling. Perhaps the most crowded and most visited hill station in West Bengal …yet I so love it. There is something about Darjeeling. An hour’s flight to Bagdogra, or an overnight train from Kolkata to NJP, and then another 3 hours by road, takes you to Darjeeling. The best part about Darjeeling is you can chill in the city, it has so many places where you can eat out, listen to live music, and drink gallons of the oh so aromatic Darjeeling tea.Or, you can get out of the city, and visit the innumerable places in and around Darjeeling that offer you such picturesque surroundings amidst a tranquil and cool weather. Just writing about it makes me want to pack up and get there.  However I know I can’t ;( given the pandemic situation…but I can certainly imagine I am there…and that gives me some relief….I am sharing some pictures from my ...

Nuwara Eliya, Tea Plantation My Sri Lanka diary would not be complete without Nuwara Eliya, a beautiful hill station and one of the main locations in Sri Lanka for Tea plantations. Located at a height of 1,868 m with an awesome climate ( it was around  19° with a min of around 12-13...when we visited in Decembe r).  We went by road, the drive was beautiful and we could stop over at various places for refreshments; it was just perfect (it takes around 5 hrs from Colombo).  This was a perfect getaway to just relax, eat, drink and be merry:)  It was a treat to be among the sylvan surroundings, the endless beautiful tea plantations, the pristine lake, and just do nothing:) I am missing traveling so much, and when I was going through these pictures my thirst for travel came alive. I felt like taking off to someplace like this right now…sadly it is so not possible now:(    ....the next best thing I could do is re-live the experience. ...