Tag Archives: Travel hacks

Fun experiences at home during the lockdown

June 22, 2020 thelostlander 4 Comments

Over the recent years, I have travelled more in seek of new experiences and less to see new places. When the nationwide lockdown happened, I was confined to my house for nearly 3 months. Those familiar with me asked how I coped with not being able to travel. Honestly, if not for the need to be able to stretch my limbs for some physical activities, there wasn’t a day when I felt the need to travel. There were ample things through which I could gain new experiences. Here are some fun experiences during my lockdown.

The first three were motivational experiences that the government of India had assigned as tasks to thank the Corona frontline warriors. All to be performed within the confines of the doorstep of every Indian household. Keeping all the memes and politics aside, participating in them was something I personally enjoyed.

Clapping & Clinging of utensils: Calling a day long voluntary Janata curfew on 22-Mar-20 was a preamble to the lockdown. In the evening, Indians were asked to clap their hands, cling plates with spoons or make any sound that would reach the Covid warriors. The outcome had various perspectives from people with varied background. However, our family did our bit by actively participating in it. While I clapped, my mother went a step ahead and blew the conch from our balcony. If not anything, hearing so many types of sounds from the ENTIRE city/ state/ country in unison was a once in a lifetime experience.
Flash a light: It was like revoking the real meanings of festivals like Diwali, Christmas or Shab-e-barat by celebrating a day of lights on 05-Apr-20. I personally have a thing for lighting clay diyas and I could not miss this opportunity either. We hung LED lights and mobile flashlights on the outside walls and lit candles and clay diyas on the balcony. And seeing the entire city go off at once and watch the horizon blinking with flashlights was another experience that gave me a high.
The flower shower: On 03-May-20, the Indian defense forces took to the skies to salute the Corona warriors. The IAF choppers showered flower petals on various Covid designated hospitals across the country. Also, there was fly-past of various airplanes / jets/ choppers through the length & breadth of the nation. Having an inborn corner in my heart for airplanes, I couldn’t help but run out on the terrace and catch a glimpse of the two C-130 Super Hercules that flew from up north in Srinagar to down south in Thiruvananthapuram.

20200405_221432 — The candles in my balcony

The nature bestowed upon me some unique experiences as well.

Watch squirrels grow from babies to adults: From a pair of squirrels nesting in our bathroom windows to their four new borns taking over our entire house as grown adults, our family has witnessed it by staying at home during the lockdown. Even as the babies were learning to walk, they had us a hard time. They would try to sneak into the house through the bathroom ventilator and often fall inside the bucket or they would simply forget their way out of the house and wander aimlessly. Lucky that a couple of times, they fell into the buckets with only an ounce of water, got their tails soaked and would just not be able to balance themselves. All we had to do was keep an eye on them by checking the bathroom or ensure they found their way out of the house without touching them, every time they came.

Watch a goat deliver a pre-mature calf: With a farmer who came to my backyard to graze his herd of goats, it was one of those days when one of them sat amid a bush and started to cry. The she- goat was 2 months due to her labor, but the pain had started early and the entire herd had surrounded her. The farmer telephoned a Vet who arrived in a while and helped the expecting mother to have a safe labor. The baby was removed out of her body whom we initially thought was still born. However, the little one wriggled in the hands of the Vet with a wailing cry giving a sense of relief to the vet, the mother goat, the farmer and to our family who watched all this unfold in front of us.

The farmer with his goat and her new-born calf

Watching a million butterflies: With permission from the authorities, it was loss of a family member that drove us to a riverbank to let her mortal remains flow in the holy river Cauvery. But as if it was a soothing balm to our family that was going out for the first time during the lockdown, we were surrounded by a million butterflies around us. Under the canopy of red gulmohars flanking the empty roads, the mighty Terminalia trees (need to fact check the correct name) holding up the banks of the river flowing full, with ABSOLUTELY no one to disturb them in an otherwise overcrowded weekend destination, these butterflies were flying FREELY, literally. It was as if we lived a scene out of a fairy tale.
Star gazing: While at the terrace, we even witnessed a meteor shower and a comet. The Lyrid meteor shower is an annual phenomenon that can be usually observed around April. Apart from that, the comet SWAN was a treat for early risers, visible from May 13th through for a week.
Watching the sunset: As I worked from home, I was bummed indoors from morning to evening. So, winding up my day by watching the sunset from my balcony with a cup of tea was my excuse to get my daily dose of vitamin-D. Probably, the beautiful evening views from my home was something I had long forgotten as I returned home after dark on a regular work day and went chasing sunsets at fancy travel destinations on holidays.

And yet, there were several experiences that our family created for ourselves. Apart from sharing long conversations and discussions over shared meals, there were several things that we did in collaboration and had our share of fun at home.

Mangoes delivered in the postbox: The visualization of a postman to deliver a letter brings deep nostalgic connections to people across the globe. With the advent of emails, watsapp and e-commerce, the snail mail is almost a thing of the past. Yet, we had a nostalgia run when we had the ‘King of fruits’ delivered at our doorstep by the postman. The KSMD&MCL tied up with ‘India Post’ to deliver mangoes from farm to homes in a bid to help mango growers to market their harvest during the lockdown. Apart from the experience of taking delivery itself, I believe these were the best mangoes I relished in the longest time.

My experience of taking mango delivery through India Post

Setting up our own home-gym: With pleasant breeze in the terrace, good night view, ambient music and peppy music under the starry sky (considering that the sky was its clearest during the nationwide lockdown), we set our own gym on our terrace with DIY dumbbells and stands.

Growing our own kitchen garden: Brinjals, green groceries, beans, tomatoes, drumsticks etc. were just a few things from my parents’ own backyard kitchen garden that helped us to reduce the number of visits to the stores.
Enjoying homegrown fruits: Watermelons, muskmelons, night shade berries, mulberries, avocados and Papayas are those that our fruit relishing taste buds were able to devour from our own backyard. Not that we have a big space in our backyard, these were all grown in pots with the wet waste from the kitchen that went into composting.

Celebrating birthdays of friends & family members: Baking birthday cakes, making streamers for decorations, sending video wishes and experimenting in the kitchen, these celebrations were fun and different from the usual. In the middle of all this, someone sends a watsapp forward of reminding the pre-Covid situation of how strangely we all ate a cake into which someone had blown air from their mouth to put-off the candle 😀

Mask making at home: I took my mom’s help to learn sewing and that is a new skill I picked up during the lockdown. Apart from making face masks with upcycled fabric, we made new caps, T-shirts and backpacks at home for our personal use.

Oh, I had shared a list of activities that I had planned to do during the lockdown. Have you read it yet? Here’s the link: (Click here to continue reading)

How have your been spending your time during the lockdown? Did you learn any new skill? Did you volunteer for any social cause? Do let me know and share the positivity with all friends and families 🙂

Himachal Pradesh

Visiting the last Indian village in Baspa valley- Chitkul

June 1, 2020 thelostlander 3 Comments

As I arrived at Sangla, the setting sun had already laid a golden welcome… I started to walk around the town looking for a homestay. After walking here and there, up and down, I decided to settle down at a homestay, which seemed like a pretty big bungalow. The owner of the house was away, and it was let to the caretaker’s responsibility. I was the only guest. However, this seemed to be better than all the properties I had seen thus far. I freshened up, unpacked and unwound myself while watching the daily evening procession of the deity of the ‘Chandi Mata’ temple from the homestay itself.

Post sunset, I wore all the thermals I needed and ventured out to explore the town. The commercial area seemed just like any other small town I had been before and didn’t want to get too adventurous on my first day in the valley. In the entire town, I was drawn towards a very small restaurant called ’The Buddhist Café’. I was being just one of those typical Indian tourists in the Himalayas; I was tempted to eat momos 😛 The place rather looked dinghy with dim lights and no customers in their main dining area. On enquiry if the restaurant was closed, I was greeted by an old Buddhist lady who guided me to follow her to the kitchen inside. Despite being a little suspicious of her gesture and given the shady looking walkway, I continued to follow her. She made me sit at a table where she served me steaming hot momos and black coffee after taking my orders.

There were a couple of people who came in and out whom the lady attended to but did not take any money from. It seemed to me that they were mostly labour who helped her in fetching supplies to her kitchen and she retuned their favour by providing them free meals. She was speaking very gently to them as if one would talk to their family members. I felt so much positivity emanating from this lady. Eventually, she pulled a chair next to me and settled down to have a long conversation with me. She enquired about my journey and said a few things about herself and her family. We both were so engrossed in our conversation that it was 09.00.p.m. by the time I realized that I had quite a distance to walk back in the darkness to reach my place of stay. The lady took my hand in hers and asked me to promise that I would visit her daily for as long as I was in Sangla. “Tumse baat karke bahut accha laga mujhe. Kal Aajao, gappe maarenge. Zaroor aana, mein intezaar karoongi”, she said. Amused, I left by promising her that I would return.

This trip has been compiled into a book. If you like to read about the complete journey, you can avail it on Amazon or read it for free with your kindle. Use the link below.

I was an early riser on the following morning in order to make it to the bus stand on time. There was only one bus that ferried passengers to and from the last village in this part of the Indian borders. It ran twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. Chitkul is a tiny settlement beyond which, the mountains belong to Tibet & China. After having read enough articles on the internet, I wanted to check this off from my list of places to visit in Himachal. I however de-boarded the bus at a village called Rakcham, a few kilometers ahead of Chitkul. I was standing on the rear side of the famous Kinnaur Kailash mountains. With curious villagers staring at me as if I was a lost alien wandering alone and children walking to school posing for photos looking at my DSLR, with a beautiful sunrise over the mist laden valley and the gushing Baspa river on the other side, the morning walk on the empty road felt magical. Although I had seen apple trees earlier, it was the first time I was seeing apple orchards. The houses in the settlements on the slopes were unique to the area. I spent good amount of time exploring the village perched on hilltop and down in the cold waters of the Baspa before settling down with a cup of sea-buck thorn juice at a campsite that was being disassembled.

I had read that Rakcham valley looked vibrant with pink flowers of a native millet during its season. But I seemed to have arrived late to see the famous pink fields of Rakcham. Anyway, the orchards had turned the valley equally vibrant, in myriad shades of golden. But, honestly, there was nothing specific to see or do there, apart from the solitude that I had found thus far in my trip. I walked back to the main road and enquired with the shopkeepers about getting to Chitkul. A few localites who overheard my enquiries tried to pitch in their suggestions. Going by their suggestions, I waited by the roadside engaging myself in answering the enquiries about my solo travel. It was well over half an-hour as a shared jeep arrived, which they asked me to board to reach Chitkul. Just as the jeep cranked to start, one of the men talking to me asked the driver to wait. The man ran to a shop and returned with a bag. “It was nice talking to you; this is for your way.” he said while dumping a bag full of apples into my hand… I picked two from the bag (not wanting to disappoint him), thanked him warmly for his gesture and convinced him that I couldn’t carry so much luggage with me and bid him goodbye.

The road ahead was bumpy, yet interesting. It passes through forest area that was in bloom, opened to large meadows and then, the snowcapped peaks appeared rather suddenly. Foreigners need to register at the check post that falls enroute as Chitkul is a sensitive area guarded by the ITBP. On reaching Chitkul, I started to walk towards the viewpoint. Yes, no doubt it looked beautiful and I could walk right into the river below that demarks the border. But my heart skipped a beat when I saw the solitary Indian national tricolor waving in the middle of nowhere. Apart from taking a walk along the valley and exploring the tiny hamlet, there seemed nothing much to do. There are quite a few options to stay at both Chitkul and Rakcham, but for a moment, I feared the temperature that I was warned about. The temperatures in Chitkul are colder than anywhere else in Kinnaur. That’s why I changed my mind to return to Sangla for the night. As there was still lot of time left before the bus started, I decided to walk towards Rakcham so that I could click some good landscape photographs along my way. Anyway, the bus arrived in a while and I returned to Sangla.

There was still enough daylight time left, and I decided to explore Sangla that evening. I climbed up the Kamru fort from where I could see the magnificent view of the town and the golden sunset that had welcomed me last evening. An ancient wooden temple stands strong on top of the fort and looks brilliant with its detailed sculptures and friezes. There is a dress-code to follow (a head gear and a waist band needs to be worn) to enter inside. Since most of us there didn’t have it, we had to wait for the priest to provide the same to us, and go inside, in turns. The priest also gave me a peak into the history of the fort and how the temple came into existence. It felt very peaceful and I sat back there until the sun had gone down completely.

I had decided to leave Sangla on the following morning to continue my journey ahead. I had also not forgotten that I had promised someone that I would visit her. I wanted to inform her before leaving. That’s why I then headed towards her café for that evening. It is hard to explain how excited she was at seeing me. “I wasn’t sure that you would return. But I was looking for your way”, she exclaimed! She served me noodles and black tea, introduced me to her son whom she had called to talk to me and found good company in talking to me. After a couple of hours had passed, I informed her that I was going to take her leave. Guess what? She gave me a rucksack full of apples which she had specially bought and kept for me. She didn’t own any orchard and hence, she ensured she bought the best apples as souvenirs for me. When I say BEST, I mean THE BEST…. Kinnauri Golden apples! Can you imagine me carrying a rucksack full of apples (souvenirs!!) along with 10kgs of additional backpack that I already had. for the rest of my journey??? 😀 I convinced her that I was sorry, and I couldn’t accommodate so many apples in my luggage. And she still managed to squeeze in a good few kilos telling 2 apples for each member in my family, back in Bangalore…!! She had tears as she saw me off and I cried as I was missing my mom! Sometimes, you never understand how connections work with strangers…

Next day, there I was… Inside the bus, chattering in the cold morning… on my way to my next destination in this sojourn: Kalpa

Travel talks

The truth that Travel influencers will NOT tell you

April 11, 2020 thelostlander Leave a comment

Being an Influencer is a BIG responsibility. It means, that person has the power to ‘INFLUENCE’ people. It doesn’t matter if you are a nano, micro or a mainstream- fully-fledged influencer, it only means that you have the POWER to influence a certain group of people in a domain of your expertise. So, every person with this power has to be EXTREMELY careful and responsible about what you are going to communicate to your followers because they follow you for the knowledge that they will gain from you in YOUR area of expertise. (Click on the below image to know how social media influencing is used for marketing products & services)

I am a travel influencer. I write about travelling in INDIA!

So, when I write, I shall be RESPONSIBLE to share what is relevant and falls within my forte ONLY. That said, I’m writing this long post because I am deeply saddened about how travel is taken for granted and how the generation is being WRONGLY misguided by some of the top Travel influencers. So, here are some SERIOUS Stuff that I want to discuss about becoming a travel blogger! Let me break them down into parts…

Part 1: Becoming a Travel blogger

1. Myth: They left their high paying corporate job to travel the world
Fact: A paratrooper or skydiving trainer will take you high up in the air and teach you how to jump or fly. But what he never tells you is that if things go wrong, he will have a backup parachute. Similarly, what these top travel influencers don’t tell you is they are ALL from affluent families who have strong financial backup. If their experiment on the road fails, they always have a family to support them financially and to help them start afresh. Ask me- I have a full-time job and I slog my ass through the entire week to make ends meet and to support my family financially. I save up a portion of my salary to travel and build connections with local people about whom, I can then write.

2. Myth: They sold their house and all the belongings and lead a nomadic life with just two backpacks
Fact: Not every monk will sell his Ferrari! Now that all these nomads without houses are not travelling because of Covid-19, tell me which road are they sleeping on? They are ALL back in India, living in their parents’ houses which probably you hadn’t given a thought prior to this lockdown. So technically, they have a house of THEIR own. They did not have to buy one or spend on renting one because they are not going to be using it while they are travelling. But you perhaps thought it was easy to give up everything and go one day.

3. Myth: They get to travel to all fairy tale places.
Fact: No doubt traveling offers surprises at every step, but what a follower doesn’t see is that MOST of these travel posts are sponsored. Hence, the influencer comes under an obligation to write all things nice about the place where they are getting their payments from. Social media influencing is their “Profession” at the end. They must abide by their sponsors’ terms and condition, no matter how natural their smile in the photo may seem to be like!

Part 2: Becoming an influencer

Creating content and manipulating behavioral patterns of followers using data Analytics: This is the single most important factor that brands ask for while working with an influencer. Their target reach and engagement ratio (You can look up on google to learn more on these terms). Take for example, the below graph of the analytics of my Instagram page. It shows the age group that is MOST responsive to feeds from all TRAVEL bloggers. So, the content created will be considering the psychology of people who fall under this target group. These insights are the basis on which these professionals (Social media influencers) try to manipulate the thoughts of their followers and thus influence them into buying whatever they want to sell (or Tell)! Remember, they are showing you what they are paid to sell.

Part 3: Indian travel influencers on Social media

1. They are not true experts: Yes, they have gained certain experience over time, but they are glasses that are half empty. For example, here is a screenshot (taken on 11-Apr-20) of my reply to a TOP traveler’s post. The person had posted an animal’s photo and said how (he/she) empathized the spotted deer’s death. I corrected the influencer telling it was a sambar deer. Do you see how well informed they are about their posts? If probably wildlife was your forte, you would perhaps know the difference and know how one of the most commonly seen species of wild animals looked like!
PS: You shouldn’t post something that is not from your field of influencing.

2. They do selective replies and reposts: They don’t like to acknowledge when they are corrected. They get offended when their mistakes are being pointed out. My message above has never been read (even after 2 months!). But every day, I see them reposting stories and appreciation about them that were in someone’s story. (FYI, story lasts only for 24hrs and all the tags get delivered as messages in the inbox). How possible is it that my message went unnoticed, till date? No, they did see it. They chose to keep it unread. I get replies from influencers who probably have 3-4 times more followers and spend most of their lives without network.
PS: Be just and fair to all followers.

3. India and its’ government have NEVER given them enough: Tell me how often do they travel in India, on a self-sponsored trip? As fancy as their life seems, they have travelled the GLOBE on freebies. Tourism promoters of various countries invite them with free tickets, free stay, free food and everything else that’s nice, for FREE. Which happy person doesn’t speak nice things when they’ve been given a free meal? Another country and its people will SURELY seem better than theirs, because their poor country doesn’t give them freebies to explore it.
PS: Don’t mis-lead your followers about India and its capacities.

4. They care SHIT about Indian economy: I took the ‘Dekho Apna Desh pledge’ to travel to at least 15 places within India. It is my service to MY country to promote tourism and thus aid local economy (Click here to read how traveling local contributes to economy). Can you name at least five among the TOP travel influencers of India who pledged this for INDIA’s economy? I save up my leaves (and a portion of my earnings) every year and manage my exploration of INDIA as much as possible. I want to do my bit to promote domestic tourism by writing about how MUCH more my motherland has to offer, that no one place in the world has.
PS: I don’t take free tickets to travel and I promote local artisans in India, sorry!

5. They never feel ‘belonged’ in India: The feeling of belongingness should start from “HOME”. As the saying ‘Ghar Ki baat Ghar main hi rehna Hai’ goes, ‘we should not bring our family matters to the streets’. We should rather sit at home and discuss jointly and find a solution. But the people who refused to call their parents’ home as theirs, would never feel belonged to a ‘Motherland’. If you feel there isn’t enough justice, there isn’t enough equality, there isn’t enough security in India, will you give up your Indian passport that bears the emblem of integrity and sovereignty? Nope, I’m sure you flaunt around the passport when you are abroad.
PS: I would never let go of the perks and the attention I get of being called an ‘Indian’ after all!

6. They give a damn about India’s image in the global front: They sit in foreign countries either with a free ticket or have fled India to work for another country. But what they do is, call out on mistakes from their home country’s governance. Can you imagine the amount of negativity this is spreading about your home? They sit in a distant country and instigate their followers to participate in protests for which they won’t be able to come. Why? Because their tickets are not sponsored, know? Rather than picking out mistakes, how often have these people suggested solutions?
PS: If you can’t be a part of the solution, then you are the problem!

With reference to influencers off-late posting about politics, You can’t always pick on ONE person in the government for all the wrong that happens. Do you think the team of technical experts across all domains who are in the advisory team of the government are also half empty glasses like you? Do you think the 100+ million citizen of democratic are dumb to have unanimously elected their representatives? And you are the ONLY intelligent alien here?

It is disheartening to see influencers leaving their field and misusing their powers to call out anti-national slogans (against the ruling government) even in this testing times where the entire country is required to stand as ONE! Oh, come on… to err is human. Small minds discuss people, Average minds discuss events, Great minds discuss ideas! As Gurdas Maan sings in ‘Ki Bannu Duniya da’, the lines ”Par pakki vekh ke kacchi nai dhai di” translates to: Don’t demolish the old foundation for the new and fancy.

As responsible influencers, we must subside picking up negativity. This creates sense of differences. Instead, pick up positive stories and try to unite the people. Both are different ways of approaching the same problem!

Travel talks

Five ways to experience travel during lockdown

April 6, 2020 thelostlander 3 Comments

Continuing my posts on managing anxiety and keeping up self-morale during the lockdown, here’s some more on self help..

Binge-watching on Netflix, Hotstar or other OTT platforms, reading books, Cooking, meditation are so cliched. Doing these things daily too can get monotonous. Doing something for 21 days can lead to a habit. So, by the end of this lockdown period, we all don’t want to become couch potatoes..

Yes, every Sunday evening of our lockdown period has been made interesting by our Honorable Prime Minister. His tasks have made sure that we all came out to our balconies to get some fresh air and break the monotony. The clapping, clanging of plates, bells and blowing the conches from the confines of our balconies with an aim to Thank the frontline warriors of the Covid-19 Pandemic on 22-Mar-20 was a nice exercise to come out of our couches. Similarly, I’m sure the nation showed its unity and solidarity in hard times by switching off lights and lighting up lamps, candles, torches and flashlights on the evening of 05-Apr-20.

But, what about the other days of being locked down at home? Do your itchy feet rare to travel? And oh, those with little kids must be having the hardest time to keep them indoors. So, if you are looking for an offbeat travel experience to break your routine, while being locked up inside your house, here are five handpicked DIY ideas for you 😊

Have your own bedroom rave party: An endless playlist is available either in your collection or on the OTT platform. Use the apps that also provide disco flashlights. Place your mobile screen between two mirrors that are placed at a distance away, facing each other. Switch off all the lights at home and let your playlist take the center table. Voila, you have your own dance floor! Make some drink or look online for some cocktail ideas with whatever ingredients are available in your kitchen and your party is good to go!
Pitch your own tent or pillow fortress: For those of you who are frequent hikers, chances are that you have your own tent. You can pitch it in your own balcony or terrace and experience the outdoors in your own little campsite. For the others who don’t have a tent, fret not. Remember the ‘Pillow fortresses’ we made as kids? Why not let that kid out of yourselves now? Fold up your beds and stack up you pillows. You can even tie a string across your room and hang down a bedsheet from it. You have your very own DIY tent.
Set-up your travel corner: Re-living old memories by digging up the old photo albums itself can be a great way to time-travel. You can pick up some of your favorite photos and hang-it up with lights in a DIY corner of your house. All you need is some strings and clips to hold your photos in place. You can also draw a huge map and mark the places you have been to and have it in your travel corner. Arranging your collection of souvenirs from your travels around this place too is a great idea.
Star gazing from your balcony or terrace: Now that the skies have cleared, it’s a good activity to hone up your skills of star gazing. There are several apps and websites that can help you in identifying the stars and constellations. It’s a great idea to go out to your balcony and admire the vast expanse of the night’s sky. Who knows, you might even get a glimpse of the ISS (International Space Station) which is believed to be going around the earth- 16 times a day! There is usually one major meteor shower every month. Look up on the dates and catch the shooting stars 🙂
Celebrate a festival: Light up your house as if you would do it for Diwali or for Christmas. Make up a mock festival at home. Festivals have always been a great way to bring in fresh energy and pep up the mood. I’m a sucker for diyas and candle lights and totally in love with the positive vibes it brings with it. No mood for festival décor? Why not cook up a nice meal and have a candle lit dinner?

Sounds fair? Let me know how you are dealing with the lockdown…. What ideas do you have to experience travel without leaving your doorstep?

Travel talks

Five ways to manage anxiety during a lockdown

March 23, 2020 thelostlander 1 Comment

I know the entire world is going through a deep crisis with the outburst of the CoViD-19. But that does not mean that the world is going to end, right? Anxiety can hit anyone, any time… that too when someone is locked up inside the house for so many days and weeks. While ‘How many days more?’ has a very uncertain answer, until may be a proven vaccine or cure is invented, nobody is certain- is all one can say. It is human to get hit by anxiety about what’s going to happen next. But let us see the positive side: nearly 50% are recovering. Let’s not panic and do self-care by staying indoors.

I’m someone who has always found company amid nature. Any problem, I believe ‘NATURE HEALS’. For all the abuse and exploitation that man has done to the planet, it is wonderful to see how nature is healing herself (Click here to see the video). That’s said, I am a “Cliched” travel freak who grows restless when I stay confined to a place for over a few hours. I’m sure I’m not alone in battling anxiety. The whole idea is to keep myself away from social media, from where I’m getting all forwards causing more anxiety. Here are a few things that I’m doing to keep myself calm as I continue to stay indoors.

5. Watch the honeybees toil in my balcony: I have set-up a box for them in my balcony and It is therapeutic to watch them work. It is spring season now and no better way to spend a day than sit and watch nature in her calmest ever. The only noise I can hear is the chirping of the birds and the buzzing of my honeybees.

4. Watch the birds flock to the feed and water bowls: The temperature outside has started to rise slowly. As we continue to stay indoors, the birds and squirrels have started to come outside. They will now start frequenting your balconies, only if you’re kind enough to give them a place to sit and take a dip in a water bowl. You will soon become good friends and begin to enjoy each other’s company. I have a good number of sparrows, red-whiskered bulbuls and squirrels occupying spaces in my balcony.

3. Learn birding: As I continue to sit in my balcony and watch the flowers bloom outside, I have started to realize that I live in a place that is no less than a bird sanctuary. At least 40 varieties of birds have been spotted from here and I’m continuing to learn their names, habitat, bird calls and behavioral patterns. Some of them have been photographed and the photo-story is made (Click here to view the photo story)

2. Do up a vertical kitchen garden: While going out should be reduced to as minimum as possible, we can grow our own greengroceries in our balconies. I have converted an old ladder / stand, hung old mugs and tied used plastic cups where I’m growing green-groceries and small flowering plants. Some wet waste from the kitchen too is going into these DIY pots for decomposing. Mustard, tomatoes, brinjal, kothimir, beans etc. are some of the seeds you can easily find in your kitchen without having to worry about buying the seeds separately.My DIY vertical garden

1. Re-kindle a dead hobby: Found stacks of water paint that’s been shelved since school days 😛 most of them have dried up in the bottles. I’m finding new ways to make them useful and kill-my time by doing abstract paintings using abstract techniques. Running out of poster colors? Try organic colors. vermillion, turmeric, indigo, leaf extracts… Don’t’ you think its time to explore something new?

Tell me how are you helping yourself to beat anxiety?

How are you killing boredom at home? Share your ideas…

Andhra Pradesh, Statewise Travel

Traveling to Tirupati? Make it an interesting roadtrip

October 31, 2019 thelostlander 4 Comments

Well… Heading to seek blessings from Lord Venkateshwara at Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam? I’m not a religious person and I’m someone who seeks variety in my travels… The same route and same destination- I have sometimes felt myself being forced into a pilgrimage sort… No doubt, I have loved my general hike up the stairs to the venkateshwara hill, more for the beautiful views, stopover points like deer park, waterfalls and so many eateries all the way up. I have even tried the not-so-pious option of the quick VIP entry for the darshan. But, over time when the route becomes so predictable, even the journey kinda starts to hit you when everyone is sleeping on family vacations that are occasional and are spent on familiar roads!!! So that’s when I started to explore alternate routes and make family road trips more interesting!

While travelling to Tirupati, the usual route one tends to drive through, is the

Bangalore-KGF-Chittoor-Tirupati highway.

But the nice, straight, adventure less route has sometimes made my brother to doze off at the steering. So, the last time we planned to go, we tried taking a slightly longer but interesting route via

Bangalore-Madanapally-Horsley hills- Talakona- Tirupati.

Although this national highway was a single lane, it was absolutely scenic and had so many elements in the travelling. From barren flatlands to lush green hill stations, rustic countryside huts to erstwhile forts, scattered rocky hills to tempting mango orchards and horticultural farms, the route took us through several hues of the deccan plateau. To make it more interesting, we saw milestones with Karnataka’s Kannada and Andhra’s Telugu on either side of the same road marking the boundary of the two states. For the thought of knowing absolutely no words of the language on the other side of this state border, it felt like I was crossing an international border without a passport 😀

The border crossing from Karnataka to Andhra Pradesh through papaya farms

So our itinerary was something like this:

Start from Bangalore by early morning (To avoid the traffic choc-o-bloc at KR Puram)
Reach Horsley hills for a late breakfast or a brunch (before the day trippers, riders and families pour in for lunch)- It is a short ride up but the view up there is worth it.
As we descended the hill, the drive further from there was gorgeous forcing us to take several photo stops.
Drive up to Talakona, the highest waterfall in Andhra. You can book your meal at the forest run jungle resort there before heading out to indulge yourself in some fun activities or getting drenched in the waterfall depending on the water level there. It is also wiser to leave from there before it is dark as it is a national park area and the wild animals get on the road post sunset (Click here for a detailed post on Talakona).
Reach Tirupati and take rest for the night.
Plan your darshan of the deity based on your convenience- a quick visit or a hike up to the temple and return to the room to rest.

It is quite usual that a lot of people extend their pilgrimage until Srikalahasti. They combine the Vaishnavism faith (Lord Venkateshwara at Tirupati) and Shaivism faith (Lord Shiva at Srikalahasti) in the same trip since both are located not far from each other (More details on Srikalahasti in a separate post).

On the way to Kalahasti with a small deviation, is what I figured out was, that there is a 11th century fort at Chandragiri, the erstwhile capital of the Vijayanagar dynasty. It is beautiful and you will not regret the deviation.
Reach Kalahasti for the evening prayers and find an accommodation there.

So, are you done with the pilgrimage? Is your family feeling all blessed and happy now?

Good morning! Save your sleep for some other day and Buckle up. For I’m going to take you through a different route as you return home. You can thank me later 😉

Drive through eucalyptus and teak groves on a scenic off-road to reach Sullurpeta, Your only place to find decent food before you embark on a long day ahead.
Your next destination is 20kms away- thank me later. Drive through a straight dead road, cutting through what is the second largest Salt Lake in India- the Pulicat lake. You will love the drive and the destination.
Welcome, you have arrived at SHAR, Sriharikota island. India’s Large Rockets’ launching station (Click here to read my struggle to finally get there!). The space museum located on its premises is open to public with online registration. You can witness a rocket launch too if you time your trip well.
Coming back to the drive, on either side of this straight road you see is this never-ending stretch of salt. Depending on what season you are traveling, you will be warmly greeted by bright white dried salt flats or brackish molten salt. Spend some time at the watch tower there and you will not be disappointed by the variety of migratory birds you encounter. The entire area is declared as the Pulicat birds’ sanctuary.

Top: Lake Pulicat enroute to SHAR in winter; Lake in Summer

Got fuel? Drive another 60 kms. to a tiny fishing hamlet called Pulicat located towards Chennai. The Pulicat lake is situated between two states, Andhra and Tamil Nadu. Flamingoes and Pelicans are a highlight here along with several other migratory birds that flock the swampy lake every season. Get yourself a boat ride with the local fisherman there and he will take you around the swamy waters. Watching the sunset at the beach will be a perfect way to wind up your day!

From Pulicat, you can take one of the below three highways to head back home:

Drive through Tada and follow google maps to reach the Chittoor highway. Tada has a waterfall to visit and some decent places to stay overnight. It is a village/ township created for the tribes who were relocated from the Sriharikota island when the space station was established and human settlements had to be cordoned off in that island.
Drive further bit to Chennai and take the highway with a pilgrimage / shopping stop at Kanchipuram (Click here to read about places to visit in Kanchipuram)
Take the Vellore route with a stop at the Vellore fort and the Golden temple of Lakshmi. Yelagiri is a popular hill station among the urbanites and is just a short drive away from Vellore. I will personally not recommend it as I did not find worth in taking the effort to deviate from the highway.

If you wish to choose option 2 or 3 to reach Bangalore, do not forget to stuff yourself with some good Biriyani at Ambur, Bon appetite!

Ok, I know this is quite an elaborate itinerary which I usually don’t write about. But I did so, thinking it might help a lot of you out there who text me asking trip ideas from Bangalore. You can skip the temples if you are looking only for an offbeat drive route and I’m sure you will enjoy it.

Or do you want me to customize the itinerary based on fewer or more days you have at your disposal? Drop in your requests, doubts and comments below. I will be glad to help you 😊

Travel talks

Five travel essentials nobody tells you about

September 21, 2019 thelostlander Leave a comment

These are my top 5 tips I want to talk about which probably you wouldn’t have given a thought about. You don’t have to be a “Traveller” to use these tips and these are applicable to pretty much anyone who leaves home for a short time or on a vacation.

NEVER flash your boarding passes on social media: I know it seems cool to flash your boarding pass and tell your followers/friends that you are heading to your next destination. But what most of us are unaware is that the QR code printed on our boarding passes contained very confidential information about that individual encrypted to it. It contains details of the transaction you have carried out in the process of buying that ticket. This in turn will be linked to your bank accounts, Aadhar, number of times you have travelled, places etc. It is an easy way to get to all your personal data which is otherwise supposed to remain confidential. So next time remember not to post it on social media and ensure you shred it or store it securely once your trip is completed.
ALWAYS carry a candy or a sachet of sugar with you: Low sugar levels can happen to anyone anytime. I have experienced this twice during my travel. Once, I screamed out of panic when a bus conductor fell unconscious holding my hand while he was issuing my tickets. Some passengers travelling in the same bus came to his first aid by feeding him some chocolates. That’s the day I started to keep a sugar sachet in my wallet. It is probably the FIRST aid that should run through your head if someone is fallen unconscious. So, I make sure it is kept in the most easily accessible spot of my luggage or my wallet.
ALWAYS sanitise your washroom faucets before use: I have always been haunted by the fear of getting a urinary tract infection by using washrooms outside my home. While on the road, there are times when I haven’t consumed a drop of liquid for many days just to avoid going to a washroom. These days, there are several toilet seat sanitizing products in the market to help me in this area. I keep a ‘Toilet Seat Sanitizer’ handy, that I comfortably spray on doorknobs, faucets and toilet seats before using them and relieve myself of my fears… quite literally!
ALWAYS carry your own cutlery set: There is enough said and done about reducing one-time usage plastic cutlery everywhere. Carrying my own set of re-usable cutlery set is my way of doing my bit. Carrying a Swiss knife set or a kit with individual metal spoon, fork and knife would be ideal, but these are not allowed in check-in luggage if you’re taking a flight. So, you can use wooden substitutes for these which can be carried in your handbag/ backpack irrespective of the type of travel you are choosing.
NEVER compromise on comfortable footwear: Shoes, shoes, shoes… is something I swear by! Since I’m a slow traveller who does a LOT of walking and running around, I always wear a comfortable pair of SHOES- trainers, joggers, sneakers whatever you call it, I mean SHOES that are flat, light and breathable. This is one thing I don’t compromise for low cost because the effects of poor shoes are long lasting. Along with this, I carry a waterproof sandals or floaters to let my feet breathe if I’m staying somewhere. Also, I have major issues of getting cramps if I walk with wet shoes, so that’s why these waterproof chappals come in handy!

Were these hacks useful?