Blog of an Odd against Crowd

As soon as I saw August 15 on Monday and Raskhabandhan on August 18 on my organization’s internal portal for leave management, I felt a sudden rush, a different kind of joy that was waiting to be rekindled after my Leh-Ladakh bike trip got cancelled for this year. It gave me two days of weekend, Monday and Thursday of holiday. All I needed was to get my leaves approved for Tuesday and Wednesday. Being a senior resource in the team, I had to coordinate with my other senior teammate who was planning a leave from 19 th till Janmashtami. So in all I had time from night of 12 th to morning of 19 th August to make or break the much awaited trip. From my usual Bike Trip, this time I decided to take a backpacking trip by public transport. After giving much of a thought and weighing in locations of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, finally I made my mind to explore Utterakhand. In doubt I turned to India’s best and most friendly Travel Forum, BCMTouring to get inputs from experienced mem

Preview: What it takes to realize everything is fine around you? A solo trip to the mountains, where your soul dwells in the echoes of the winds that carry fragments of clouds with them. What it takes to realize world is going back to chaos and infinite hurry? End of the aforementioned road trip. What happens when you are working full time to a corporate and getting a paycheque at 1 st of every month, and ask your manager for a week’s worth of leaves for a vacation. You manager, at their polite best, would tell “Sorry, you can’t get a weeks’ leave just for some road trip. I would have approved if you were sick or there was some family emergency.” Certainly, you can’t get a leave unless you are dying. This struggle is real. While you have to work till your senses start to die only to pay the bills, there are short bursts of happiness when you get a day or two as “extended weekend” and you start making plans to take a trip to the places you always loved. But, you

"What it takes to realize everything is fine around you? A solo trip to the mountains where your soul dwells in the echoes of the winds that carry fragments of clouds with them. What it takes to realize world is going back to chaos and infinite hurry? End of the aforementioned road trip." What happens when you are working full time to a corporate and getting a paycheque at 1 st of every month, and ask your manager for a week’s worth of leaves for a vacation. You manager, at their polite best, would tell “Sorry, you can’t get a weeks’ leave just for some road trip. I would have approved if you were sick or there was some family emergency.” Certainly, you can’t get a leave unless you are dying. This struggle is real. While you have to work till your senses start to die only to pay the bills, there are short bursts of happiness when you get a day or two as “extended weekend” and you start making plans to take a trip to the places you always loved. But, you ofte

Image Source Remember the days when you were just a little kid, unaware of the world and people around you? I do. I remember everything clear as crystal. I often went to local market with my parents to buy weekly grocery. After making all purchase, the friendly shopkeeper would ask which toffee I wanted. (Then chocolates were for the rich kids, not the largely middle class neighbourhood). I, with my little, but vivid imagination, would look at the jars, full of toffees and look at parents to seek approval. They; however would always say to not ask for things when we were outside, would give an approving node. It was closest to have the greatest joy one could ever have. I would give a cursory glance at bright red Pan Pasand jar, Dull grey Swaad jar, Transparent jar of Orange candy, flashy yellow Mango Bite jar and stop at Red and black jar of Parle Kismibar . There is something really special about Kismi bar, though I never thought why it was named 'Kismi' un