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March 24, 2016Uncategorizedbirds, blogger, Blogging, derekwalcott, destinations, instapassport, instatravel, lake, Love, Mumbai, Nature, Poem, powai, Reflection, Travel, traveladdict, travelblogger, travelinsights, traveller, traveltheworld, wanderlust, Water

Reflections can be pointed. The lake held a piece of wood that was enough of a perch for a bird!
We all have faces. This poem by Derek Walcott moves me beyond its words.

The time will come
when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other’s welcome,
and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you
all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,
the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

March 22, 2016Uncategorizedblogger, Blogging, chinsweecaves, destinations, entreprenuership, genting, gentinghighland, instapassport, instatravel, latergram, Malaysia, startup, tourismmalaysia, Travel, traveladdict, travelblogger, travelinsights, traveller, traveltheworld, wanderlust

How easy it is for us to mistake a ‘bend in the road’ for the ‘end of the road’. The trouble with views from a height is that they make several things clear. Like the difference between a bend and a end.

It isn’t the same when you are down there, negotiating the bend! The going gets tough and you have to be real slow and careful to take the curve, while working on the incline as well. Holding steady and sometimes wondering when these bends will end!

It is important to take the bends well. With the steady hand, a steely grip and a sure knowledge that the bend will end soon.

Bends are means to greater end!

March 21, 2016Uncategorizedblogger, Blogging, destinations, entrepreneurship, instapassport, instatravel, kalari, kalaripayattu, kalaris, Kerela, kereladiaries, kerelatourism, latergram, martialarts, passion, poovar, startup, Travel, traveladdict, travelblogger, travelinsights, traveller, traveltheworld, wanderlust

He makes it look easy. A tad too easy. There are chains on his body all centred around his chest. At the end of the chain is a ball of fire. He goes on stage and swirls with the fire. The audience lets out a gasp, even as he goes on.

The ball of fire, stemming from his chest acting as his defence. I learn that this is an ancient martial art of Kerela, Kalari. Several centuries old, rich in its tradition and deadly in its techniques.

My mind wanders as the performance continuous. Its not any fault of the performance which is stellar.

It is my own fleeting mind which sees something else.

Anything that comes from deep within you, will be your best weapon. Your ball of fire. When you twirl with passion in whatever domain you choose and keep learning the techniques better, you too are a warrior.

The fire of passion can be the best weapon in the face of severe obstacles. That makes an unstoppable warrior and a sight for the eyes to consume.

May the fires within us keep us moving ahead!

March 19, 2016Uncategorizedblogger, Blogging, boat, boathouse, champions, destinations, instapassport, instatravel, kerala, Leadership, Love, management, Play, poovar, team, thiruvananthapuram, Travel, traveladdict, travelblogger, travelinsights, traveller, traveltheworld, wanderlust, wisdom

A picturesque boat house is best complemented by a an awesome boat. The awesome boat by a super estuary. The estuary by the island. The island by its people. The people by their smiles.

And it goes on.

It’s never just one thing that makes all the difference. It’s in the coming together that magic emerges. Every moment suddenly unfurls itself, dusts off any slumber and emerges in its glory, on the coming together!

That’s exactly what happens in teams as well. There is a difference between a team made of champs and a champion team!

Coming together makes all the difference! Coming together means saying more ‘WE’ and less ‘I’. Try.

(at Poovar Island Resort-Kerala)

March 19, 2016Uncategorizedblogger, Blogging, destinations, emotion, estuary, gangways, instapassport, instatravel, kerala, poovar, thiruvananthapuram, Travel, traveladdict, travelblogger, travelinsights, traveller, traveltheworld, trivandrum, wanderlust

“Thats a pretty gangway”, I tell the boatman who doesn’t seem to care. He gazes into the land ahead. He has to do a few more trips and get people to this part of the island.

He docks the boat with great care and elegance. The inviting gangway helps us leap out to land from the infirm rocking of the estuary. People who stand on the gangway, take our place in the boat. They have all kinds of expressions on their faces.

The gangway is a unique place. It has stories of both joy and sadness. The breathless joy of arrival left at lurch by a strange vagueness of departure.

Hellos and goodbyes are always rich in emotion. There are tears that remain and tears that lurch. In expectation of what is to come or all that gets left behind.

And gangways, they host them all. They ought to be beautiful. 🙂

March 18, 2016Uncategorizedblogger, Blogging, daughterdiaries, destinations, instapassport, instatravel, kerala, Love, miss, missus, time, Travel, traveladdict, travelblogger, travelinsights, traveller, traveltheworld, vagamon, wanderlust

What does love mean if not time. The time that we give to make relationships special, make them special. Relationships are special in their tiny moments. Wrapped in love, kindness, discovery. All a function of time!

What are the best moments of your life? I wonder how it is with you, but I love the moments that I spent shooting the breeze. With mom. With dad. With the missus. With the little miss. With friends. It makes us who we are. At least, I think it does that with me.

It is a different matter though that we don’t give such moments their due. It is when we do, that we begin living our lives.

Today, go shoot the breeze with someone you love!

(at Vagamon)

March 15, 2016UncategorizedBerlin, blogger, Blogging, destinations, Germany, instapassport, instatravel, Performance, road, Sightings, street, Travel, traveladdict, travelblogger, travelinsights, traveller, traveltheworld, wanderlust

Black and Whites capture emotion like nothing else. The drama and flow just stare at me without distraction. Is that the case with you?

Not that I dont like colour. Colour is lovely. It is rich and tells many stories through its several hues. I love colours. But give me black and white when the emotion is raw. When the texture needs to stand out. When and idea needs to stick.

Perhaps it is just me. But please allow me the black and whites! Especially so, given the amount of gray that permeates our lives in the perpetual quest for colours!

We watched an impeccable street performance in Berlin. The artist pretty much turned my mind upside down. His performance oozing passion and a professional arc that I was missing.

I thought his passion stood taller in Black & White.

Now, tell me, is it just me?

(at Berlin, Germany)

March 14, 2016Uncategorizedblogger, Blogging, death, destinations, friendship, instapassport, instatravel, lake, Life, live, Mumbai, powai, Travel, traveladdict, travelblogger, travelinsights, traveller, traveltheworld, wanderlust

After much is said and more is done, you hear an anecdote from the past. Fresh and sprightly.

That’s when it strikes you that even much is said and done, more remains unsaid. Tiny moments wrapped in raw emotion that will tower memory stacks. Ready to light up a dull day.

Even after people are gone, they stay. It is a story of how they loved and lived.

(at Powai)

March 13, 2016Uncategorizedblogger, Blogging, destinations, instapassport, instatravel, lake, Mumbai, powai, Travel, traveladdict, travelblogger, travelinsights, traveller, traveltheworld, wanderlust

The lake holds the shadows of buildings that seem to be in a perpetual ‘grow tall’ mode. The middle of the lake is serene. Its peaceful. Cars ply with haste and pomp a few hundred metres away. But from the water, they seem further.

The waters are bluer than I thought they would be. Stiller than I thought they would be. Far more welcoming than I thought they would be.

Often, what seems is not what is. And what it seems is not any close to the truth. Surfaces can lie.

(at Powai Lake)

March 11, 2016Uncategorizedblogger, Blogging, destinations, flow, Holiday, instapassport, instatravel, Love, stateofmind, Travel, traveladdict, travelblogger, travelinsights, traveller, traveltheworld, wanderlust

When did you last have a ‘Holliday’? Quick, can you take your eyes off the screen and think about how it , to be on a holiday? Relaxed? Fun-filled? Joyous? Peaceful?

Perhaps that was because of the place. But have you imagines a time when you felt relaxed or joyous or peaceful without having to travel to a place?

That is to have a ‘Holiday State’ (of mind)! It is possible. It means to be in a state if flow. It could start with conscious effort to get to that state, but it is a joy to stay there.

So, have to you considered to wear this state of mind? 🙂 Try. It’s a good state to be in!

(at Thiruvananthapuram – Trivandrum City)