Like all previous years, I had called my sister and my mother to Bangalore in March. It’s usually to escape the heat wave that builds up in Kolkata at the onset of summer. Sadly, this year it wasn’t a good decision on my part. Kolkata had much pleasant weather as compared to Bangalore, which regularly … [Read more…]
I. Health and Nutrition In August 2011, I was out of college. I was also in a terrible state. Most of my twenties was spent curating quite a few bad habits. I had completely destroyed my circadian rhythm. In addition to that, heavy intake of processed and junk foods—with no fixed food timings—had caused fatty … [Read more…]
Things to know before reading While it is possible to enjoy the book without having any background of the Israel–Palestine conflict—just the way I had read through the book when I bought my copy years ago—the understanding of this piece of work gets elevated once the reader is exposed to the context in which the … [Read more…]
On June 2017, Alex Honnold made history by climbing El Capitan without ropes or harness—a discipline of climbing known as free soloing. This in itself is a tremendous feat of athletic achievement. Such acts of athleticism walks a thin line between probable victory and certain death. Such acts always push the boundaries of human achievement. … [Read more…]
Nowadays I enjoy some bit of hiking and backpacking. It wasn’t like this. Allow me tell a story that started it all. It is also a story that involves failures of spectacular proportions. I hope that would be mildly entertaining. In April 2008, I was about to complete my second semester as a doctoral candidate. … [Read more…]
I saved the best for the last. I had to vacate the hostel room by 10 AM. I freshened up, took a bath, repacked by big rucksack for one last time and headed off to the reception. The free luggage storage facility was super handy. My bus was at 10:20 PM and I had the entire … [Read more…]
My bus landed in Brussels at 9 AM. I consider myself fortunate that I am not troubled when it comes to sleeping in any mode of transport. Although I must admit that I often develop a stiff neck from sleeping in awkward postures. The prices for hostels in Brussels was quite high. I booked one that … [Read more…]
Me and Partho had already reserved our respective departures from Berlin late tonight. Our booking at the hostel was supposed to expire at 10 in the morning. So we packed up, deposited our big rucksacks in the luggage room (2 Euro for a medium locker and 5 for a large one), and made our way … [Read more…]
The cost of the night at our hostel (A&O) had skyrocketed to more than the double of nominal price. I wasn’t sure if we should stay there. I was able to get better prices on places in prime locations. Our current hostel had luggage facilities. We packed our bags, checked-out, left our big rucksacks in … [Read more…]
Partho was supposed to meet me in Berlin the day before yesterday. He wasn’t able to finish his work the day before and was stuck at Frankfurt because of some strike. He reached Berlin Hauptbahnhof at 9:30 AM and waited for me. We had some hot chocolate and cookies for breakfast following which, he checked-in. … [Read more…]
