Blog: My India Trip So Far

Photo by Amit Rai on Pexels.com On May 5, 2025, I wrote about my grand dream of exploring India in a slow, sustainable way. Some of you might've read the original blog, My Quintessential India Trip Dream. One year down the line, I think it's only fair that I share an update on the humble …

Poem: Who Are You?

Who are you: an autumn tree in metamorphosis? Or a spring flower in early bloom? falling and becoming,all at once...

My Books: The Blue Rabbit

My debut English poetry collection, The Blue Rabbit, published by Writer’s Workshop, India, is now available for purchase on Amazon India.

Kottayam Days: Two Pieces of Advice (Part 4)

Railway lines as seen from the secluded path. Continued from Kottayam Days: The Wild Path (Part 3). You might think it queer that a stranger turned up at the library I frequented and chose me as the proprietor of this weird business. You might find it weirder that I accepted this strange proposition without asking …

Kottayam Days: The Wild Path (Part 3)

A tryst with the wilderness - glimpses from Kottayam. Continued from Kottayam Days: The Hostel Hunt (Part 2). Where I come from, there are two popular stereotypes about Kottayam people.  One, they are filthy rich; except in Malayalam, we say they’ve “pootha cashu,” or rotting money. I bet this stereotype came from the ultra-rich Paala …

Kottayam Days: The Hostel Hunt (Part 2)

Continued from Kottayam Days: The Train Ride (Part 1). SheNest Ladies Hostel - An AI-Generated image used for representation purposes only The SheNest Ladies Hostel looked less like a birdhouse and more like an enchanted tower in a fairy tale, though no Rapunzel unravelled her braided hair-rope from its top. Three-storied houses were still a …

Kottayam Days: The Train Ride (Part 1)

Kottayam - the city of letters. The beginning of the cold, dry months of 2025. Precisely, November 16th, a Sunday. My mind was in a pickle. I had barely made it to the railway station on time to catch the 11 am Kollam-Ernakulam MEMU, an ordinary train that passed through my destination, Kottayam. My ticket …

Pathanamthitta Glimpses: Manneera Waterfalls, Adavi Coracle Ride, and Chuttipara

Continued from Konni Elephant Rehabilitation Centre. Our traveller rode through the Konni forest range, navigating its curvy, bumpy, and steep roads, with hills and lush green trees on both sides. Pathanamthitta Konni buses occasionally sped past us. A baby girl in our travel gang danced to the Param Sundari song, while the rest of us …

Pathanamthitta Glimpses: The Gentle Giants at Konni Elephant Rehabilitation Centre

Elephants of Konni - Krishna in Musth, Priyadarshini enjoying her morning bath, and Meena testing the strength of her chains. Have you seen those viral Instagram posts claiming, “Elephants’ brains react to humans the same way that human brains react to puppies… they think we are cute”? Or its highly pookie reply: “My life has …

Trivandrum Series: Watching Kathakali at Margi Theatre

Kathakali artists from Kerala Kalamandalam portraying Nalan and Damayanthi. “The Kathakali Man is the most beautiful of men. Because his body is his soul. His only instrument. From the age of three, it has been planned and polished, pared down, harnessed wholly to the task of storytelling. He has magic in him, this man within …

Poem: Will You Be There on the Day I Win?

Will you be there on the day I win? After all these years of scraping vessels just to make ends meet… Will you be there on the day I win?

Trivandrum Series: A Crazy Journey from Kazhakkoottam to Muthalapozhi – 3

Missed how this crazy journey started? Catch up on Part 1 and Part 2 first.  A Traumatic Encounter While I was resting in a shopfront in Puthenthoppu, a lady - a total stranger demanded money from me. She shouted and berated me when I refused.  Surely, nobody wants to be publicly yelled at for no …

Trivandrum Series: A Crazy Journey from Kazhakkoottam to Muthalapozhi – 2

Read Part 1 of the blog before diving in. “Country roads, take me home To the place I belong…”  - Take Me Home, Country Roads; A song by John Denver. Leaving behind the hot beach sands of Thumba Beach, I trudged back to the main road. Trees shedding brown-tainted leaves and small, yellow flowers bid …