Travelling Philosophy & after thoughts..

Photo by STIL on Unsplash

 We all love to travel? Don't we? I have seldom come across people who say NO! But I am sure some people don't enjoy it as much. But the majority would say a biggggg yes! 

I take some time to reflect on this & realise why we enjoy it so much and how we associate ourselves with it. 

It is something it makes us feel...

We know it messes us up, but we all still want to take that break, that vacation which we plan to take time off. Because the mess is good, it leaves us craving for more, more of the place we travelled to, the more of the free time, the more of relaxation. I reckon when I am back home, something has changed, in the few days of travel. It is moving from familiarity and our comfort zone to an opposite - unknown!  

Travel symbolizes new beginnings and endings, like rebooting our body system and routine. You enter a new city and become an outlander. You feel like a child, curiously exploring the place, trying to make sense of everything around you - reading the signboards, cautious of the routes, the places to return to, visit in coming days etc. And in the span of few days, we leave some part of ourselves behind. We stay there, even when we have returned. When it is time to bid farewell, we feel sad, almost grieve. 

I will always feel lucky and grateful to have had these travel experiences ingrained into my consciousness. You get a bizarre feeling when you're about to leave a place like you will not only miss the surroundings, people, food,  and culture but you'll miss the person you are at this time at the very place because you realise you'll never be this way ever again. Life is a sequence of births and deaths. Moments are born, then moments die. For new experiences to come to life, the old ones must wither away, don't you think?

Anybody who travels with passion in the heart like the great traveller himself, Marco Polo who did not stay in a place from cradle to grave, with love to explore themselves and the world around them knows they move to be moved. It is not about seeing the Great Wall or Eiffel Tower or being on the move. Travelling simmers intrinsic elements - like a shift in the mood, emotions, feelings that arouse when you witness wonder, that you never ordinarily see when you are getting through your daily life. 

The daily life which in comparison is fairly what I would call rigidly structured. A busy life we all lead at other times. It’s hard to imagine doing so little every day. I'm sure we all have experienced it, even my limited free time feels rushed these days having so many things to choose from -  Should I  read? Listen to music? Go for a run/walk? Watch TV?  I certainly can say, my travel times have been one of the most formative, important times of my lifetime. A time of great growth, self-learning and unfolding within the spaciousness & mindfulness.

I wish there was a sort of time-lapse to measure how people change with departures and arrivals.

And yet with all the chaos it brings to our life, we take the mighty leap, you can't help but feel that perhaps humans are meant to be happy on the move, then living in a place, uprooting their identity and being a nobody in a new place. They seem unable to shake off the pleasures that are mooring them through this expedition, dwelling on the experiences assimilated by them, instead of focussing on what lies ahead, luring themselves in the symphony of the bliss of being somewhere new! Leaving them hanging, longing to return to the place to be a newly turned leaf. 

And, if you ask me when I am back after a vacation, I’m never the same as I left.

Unwinding Thoughts

                                    Photo by Gabrielle Henderson on Unsplash

The sky is the same but the colours are different each day. Some days they reflect my mood some days they cheer me up with the clear blue sky filling me with enthusiasm to kick start my day & get things done, ready to conquer the world. 

While some days, it reflects a gloomy self, urging me to quit all the tasks, go up to the balcony & watch it pour & appreciate the lust foliage or inviting me to bury myself under the blanket, or on my cosy corner and read a comforting book with a hot cup of tea. 

Yes, some days I prefer to do nothing, nothing regular - no routine to follow no time schedules, no laptop, no gadgets or no chores to tend to. It's my downtime, a system reboot to rest my brain and ignoring everything else blissfully. 

In times of busy schedules, I let the words I want to write, die within me, such as a dramatic death of poems & essays I wish to write. To not write when you want is hard, it's a daunting task to ignore the inner voice inside you! 

Ask a writer how they hold on to so many words within and they will tell you some days we pretend that our minds are numb, our hearts are quiet, ignoring those voices which keep echoing within. 

Quietly we live in the circus of our life, letting the master take control when you are not in the zone, it’s better to be a silent writer between the pages of a notebook read by no one than spilling out words for the world to read & for the other times you are capable to run wild with your words & thoughts, letting the emotions carry you away, from the present & bury them in the silence of the day! 

Life happens every day for all of us. But for a writer it happens twice, once we live it & second time we cherish, reminisce & let the pen take control & write our heart out recording the events of ordinary life. As we feel is living a life a thousand times. A joy it brings us is enthralling & reading them in future is invigorating, as it brings old memories to life! 

©Shweta, 2021. All Rights Reserved.

Hand Written Journal - Mini Essays Series (3)

                                                             Photo by Grianghraf on Unsplash

As regular readers of this website you will already know, the one thing that has kept me going through life & also through pandemic has been reading & writing.

I am perpetually refining my writing each day capturing details of mundane life as my day goes by; using apt words & describing it. Jotting down ideas, quotes and sentences that move me. Words that put a spell on me. An accidental habit I stumbled upon once upon a time. Going back to the older books, each page is written in a different mood; handwriting justifying it. I find remnants of the former self, memories, days that have gone by and patterns that stay the same — the fall of day and night, the ebb & flow of life. The clarity in thoughts, of being myself. I can relate to the era gone by, the notes — the personal essays, the ache in the pages, happiness gleaming through words and feel grateful filling these journals, recording my memoir.

Herbs N Health by Premnath Shenoy - Book Review

                                                           Source: Shweta's Phone

Title: Herbs N Health by Premnath Shenoy
Language: English
Genre: Research-backed Self Help Health Guide

Pages: 212
Rating: 5/5

Excerpt: 

Most of the herbs and spices we know are good for your body. It is known for them to improve your gut flora, and keep your immunity high!

This book will help you make the best choices to maximize the benefits of herbs, spices, & other plant-based nutrition, to use them for healing purpose & to fix any discomfort keeping you firmly in charge of your own biology.

With the pandemic ruling our lives for a year now, the need to increase immunity has never been more necessary. Herbal medication has been on a rise ever since as a course of alternative means to fight off maladies.

To begin your journey into the world of herbal medicine and natural remedies, I recommend you start by reading Herbs N Health. It has a lot to offer. Capturing micronutrients, quick home remedies to tackle bodily concerns.

Some foods are often overlooked, vital to maintaining optimal levels of vitamins & minerals, which are referred to as micronutrients. The lack of these does not show any adverse effects instantly until they run low in your body. The addition of certain foods can help bring back the levels up to the required mark.

My Thoughts:

Above description vocals elements of alternate medicine. It serves as evidence of the tangible benefits these plants and herbs can offer and how traditional Ayurveda for centuries are healers. We often ignore this traditional knowledge over the “over the counter pills and prescription”. This no doubt over time has diminished belief in traditional cures and remedies. We chose to close our minds to a whole avenue of alternate remedies. This book reminds us there is still a cure, there is still hope, based on centuries of evidence.

This book would make an excellent addition to your library to help you bring the focus. It is easy to read easy to understand but thorough with details. I am extremely pleased with my purchase. I love the simplicity of the book of introducing readers to different herbs and foods, their benefits & usage. There is no requirement of specialized equipment, or to go to the drug store, to pop in pills, purely the exotic herbs and spices all affordable, safe, and readily available at your local grocery store!. The author has done a great job of making herbal support accessible to the open-minded.

Overall a comprehensive guide perfect place to start learning about natural remedies!

©Shweta, 2021. All Rights Reserved.

Tourist in my city - Delhi!

On a particular Sunday night in February, sleep dint come to me like it always does. I tossed and turned so much so that I was bored. I woke up, walked out of the room so I don’t disturb my partner. I tried to read a book with a flashlight and at early dawn, I gently drifted away to sleep.

This whole incident left me groggy when it was time to wake up time. So I decided to call in sick at work. It is impossible to work with a headache and groggy feeling. I function very poorly in a state of mind like this one.

I slept in longer than usual. When I woke up, I felt the need to take a relaxing hot bath. As expected, I felt relaxed post the shower. As if the ablutions washed away my discomfort of a sleepless night. A relaxing hot bath seldom fails to calm me. 

I know at a rational level I should stay in, but a holiday like feeling refuses to go away. I donned my sneakers and mask and headed out. And here, in no particular order of importance, is how I spent my day despite the doom and gloom all around me:-

• Playing Tourist. This is undoubtedly the best way to explore your city. The opportunity to pull out your curious caps while the excitement is of a vacation mode. An unusual day like this one, allowed me to sparkle as I hit the road on a Monday morning, where otherwise people would be heading out to work.
  
  
• Flying Solo & Free. I know, sounds cliched, I was exhausted from work calls. That day I let my guards down and marched right into the world with courage and enthusiasm. It was as if my spirit was on fire that day. I was content going from one spot to another, in a cab. Talking to cab drivers about how their lives were during the last year, their earnings, their perspectives, etc. It felt great to talk to strangers and learn about their life. That is what makes us humans, isn’t it? Connecting with people and sharing our experiences.
  
  
• Reader. I see myself as an avid reader and reading in nature is magical, it is a haven. While I visited some historic monuments in the city surrounded by a garden, I also carried a book with me. I sat there in its sylvan surroundings and read. Read to my heart's content. With no one and nothing to distract me, no task to be done, no chore calling for my attention. It was blissful. 

Quite literally, it was travelling back in time as I wandered off through the city. They say that at least five cities once flourished on the site where Delhi now stands; and undoubtedly each one of them has left some evidence behind in the form of parks, monuments, landmarks or structure of the city. It felt the best use of my time to explore this heritage. You bet, yes I did the rounds of the usual suspects: Qutub Minar, Purana Qila, Humayun’s Tomb, Safdarjung’s Tomb, all of which were much less crowded. One because it was a Monday morning, second covid fear and third of course there aren’t any foreign tourists in the mix.

As for myself, now I will wait for the city to heal, will wait for it to find its way out of the glorious mess and a mountain of the dead the capital is currently buried in. I will stay home as I plough my way through my summer reading list and call of duties at my job. I will look out from my window taking in the beauty of nature, the best way I can. And I will be dreaming of hills, where I can escape the heat for a glorious few days in the months to come.

Thanks for reading! Here are a few more pictures from that memorable day. Tune in again soon.

©Shweta, 2021. All Rights Reserved.

     Humayun's Tomb

                                 

Qutub Minar