Written and previously published in April 2021 It has been 24 hours that I cut myself off from my phone and with that from the only social media that I have in it now- Whatsup app, to disconnect from the posts about people needing blood, plasma, beds and oxygen. For the last one week, my network has been buzzing with these kinds of messages and even with forwards of information about where to find the necessities much of which, I doubted, was authentic. It was discomforting and I decided to give myself a day off from all the buzz. And I sat down to simply pen down a few thoughts that have been bubbling inside me since some time in an attempt to make some sense of the situation we are in for more than a year now. It’s one year now.. More than that that we got introduced to a new way of living (so to say) which most of us (at least, I never did) had no inkling about. A pandemic with such far reaching effects sprouted from somewhere, caught us off guard and continues to keep us...
You don’t just pack and set out to travel, In fact, Your journeys are the ones you are destined to have. What do you do when a trip to Ooty falls in your lap when you least expect it? You jump with joy (mentally, of course) and want to start packing straight away! That’s what happened to me. I was “in” for the Ooty trip by coincidence. I was not among the bunch of colleagues who booked for the trip. But as one of them backed out at the last moment, I got the chance to get on the bandwagon. A long road trip, dangerously winding roads and mountains sculpted in interesting forms, secretly dark plantations and quietly musical valleys.. surprisingly delightful sights and more Ooty sightseeing places were waiting for me. The Thrilling Drive to the Hills We started in a rented Eco-Sport- a bunch of five- beaming with energy on the morning of Republic day. We slipped off Bangalore through Nice Road and by the time we were on Ramanagara Road, we saw institutes hoisti...