Its winter in Ahmedabad, India, and the minimum temperature has been hovering between 10°C-16°C. Huddled at my desk, feet tucked in thick socks, I shivered and bemoaned the ruthless cold during a telephone conversation with my best friend. Imagine my indignation when she burst into laughter rather than express sympathy over my frozen toes! “Rapti, if you are shivering in…
It’s a common enough complaint of a child of any age that his/her parent nags and tends to hover. I shared the same sentiments. But all of that came to a screeching halt – albeit temporarily – when it came to the trip with my parents to Scotland. Because with startling clarity, I realised I’d been hovering. I’d been overly…
When I boarded the airplane to Bristol at the Edinburgh Airport in September 2017, I’d been thinking about the perfect week spent in Scotland, hoping I could visit the country again. Who knew I would be on Scottish soil before hitting the year-long mark! “We must visit Scotland. I want to show your mother around Edinburgh and Glasgow,” my father…
Sometimes, its good to revisit the beginnings, right? It’s time to reflect on where it all started and it begins with ‘Once upon a travel’
For most tourists, Gabala or Qabala is a preferred winter destination considering the plethora of winter sports that can be enjoyed on the slopes of the Greater Caucasus mountain range. In fact, Mount Bazarduzu, the highest peak in the Republic of Azerbaijan is located in this region. But summer in Gabala isn’t too bad, I say! This tiny city was…
Hey there. I’m back! Hope you haven’t forgotten me! After all, it’s been a few days since I last posted ‘From The Corner Table’. I know pulling a Houdini is breaking one among the few rules of blogging and I’ve already been at the receiving end of the “you have to be regular” lecture from my parents. My sincere apologies to all of you…
Brutal honesty will more often than not set you on a path that is opposing to one taken by others. On this road, you will battle anonymous adversaries, and trolls that will fight you until their last breath, ready to martyr themselves for a notion they think to be right. It could be for a subject as complex as the…
Ever get that feeling of wanting to kick yourself because you’ve been lazy and missed doing something important, like clicking the picture of a place that you really liked? And realising the goof-up only when you are digging through files for a photograph to show off or post on social media!
It tends to happen to me a lot. Mostly because I invariably lose myself in the surroundings, get busy absorbing everything and forget that I have a phone camera and a digital camera that should be put to good use.
The most recent, in this case, being the missing photo of the Kanyakumari railway station – the last station in the southern part of peninsular India with the cool station code ‘CAPE’ and the pinkest station building I’ve seen. It’s not like I don’t have a photograph of this pink station. I do. But I wish I had a better one, along with photographs of the board announcing the station and some photos of the green interiors.
Kanyakumari is a postage-stamp-sized town in comparison to other towns that you may have travelled to. You can easily cover the touristy and non-touristy bits of the city in a day as I did.
She: “So… I read that post of yours. The one where you shared travel tips.”
Me: “You did? That is great!”
She: “Those are generic tips but there’s nothing specific for women.”
Me: ____________
She: “There is so much more women have to deal with when they travel. You should have written about that too”
Me: “Ummm… okay!”
This conversation between me and prefer-to-keep-unidentified acquaintance was a bit of an eye-opener. I’d never thought about travel as being gender-specific. And that was a mistake it seems! Because she made me realised that as a female solo traveller, there are certain steps I take to ensure a smooth run.
I strongly feel vulnerability is not specific to gender, age or region. A lone individual in a foreign country may be considered easy prey and rather than allow the fear of “What if!” inhibit our movement and the joy of travel, a few conscious measures could make the trip a memorable experience in a good way.
Happy New Year! How exciting – or not – was January 1 for you? It’s just the second day of 2018 today and I’m already in trouble. Madame Editor was so not impressed when I told her I had forgotten to work on the new blog post because I had been busy resolution-ning. “Should you not have been done with…