Memoirs of a Wandering Nomad

Of all the things I miss losing, I miss my 'ability to get amazed' the most - to paraphrase a popular adage. You might think this is silly, but I assure you that it is not so. As I continue with my wanderings, both for work and for pleasure, the number of things that generate a sense of awe keep diminishing each year. Things start becoming mundane, more of the same, or how do they say - 'dull'. And yes, yes, I know that the great poets keep saying each day is special, and all places are different and beautiful, which is part true too. But it is only when I visit something so extraordinary and incredible as the Valley of Kashmir , that this phrase comes alive again, and the sense of excitement gets rekindled. For that one thing, I would say that the price of the 'admission ticket' is completely worth it. Baisaran Valley - Mini Switzerland, Pehelgam Nigeen Lake in the evening from the houseboat And it is a steep price, no doubt. E...

Gurgaon - Dharuheda - Breakfast Jaipur - Udaipur - Kishangarh - Bhilwada Lunch Chittodgarh - Udaipur - Shyamalji - Ahmedabad - Early Dinner - Baroda - total 1002 km Baroda - Bharuch - Surat Breakfast Vapi - Bhajanlal dairy - Dahisar - Andheri - total 410km -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- These are interesting times. The world is getting smaller and smaller, yet more polarized. It seems to me we are always at election polls or at war in some part of the world or the other. Inspiration and decadence are neighbors, and no one has time to lift their heads up from their 'smart' phones to know which is which. The world view is getting constantly changed, challenged and defined at the same time, so much that we are now blissfully unaware of things that pass through the ubiquitous membrane of art and culture and language in an orgiastic osmosis of sorts. (I did manage to use all thes...

Agreed that a two-and-a-half day visit, that too only to Yangon , the most populous of the cities of Myanmar , and most of which was spent in the hotel and client's office is not enough to give a fair representation of the country. But then, no matter how much you travel, nothing ever is. So here's to an addition to the list of locations I have traveled, which according to a travel portal is only 139 cities (seems more for sure)  - my first visit to Myanmar, a lesser-known and lesser-accessible neighbor of India in South Asia. Jade stone trinkets at a Yangon market Burmese script on a T-shirt Quite frankly I did not know much about the place, apart from some bits of history and that we share some border with the Burmese. As a practice, I have stopped reading about places before visiting. These days information is cheap and the online overload just kills the sense of awe and amazement from travel experiences. I made it a point not to look up about Myanmar before st...