Dawn: a daily fiesta

A rooster crows to herald a new day. Gradually, the sky lightens and a chorus of birds, squirrels and cattle sounds waft in the wind. A startled peacock flaps noisily into the tall teak trees. Beyond the church, the river that was a silvery grey now turns to molten gold. In the pale sky, delicate egrets and majestic yellow beaked hornbills fly southwards. Every living creature is celebrating a new day dawning.

My most memorable sunrise was on the Matunga hill among the splendid ruins of the Vijayanagara Empire in Hampi. Climbing up the steep rock face was daunting and exhilarating. A few tourists had camped at the temple on the hillock since sunset the day before. Everyone was silent. Then, quite suddenly, one saw the Book of Genesis come alive. The sky seemed to separate from the water. Trees gradually became visible. Clouds lazed over the horizon. Birds flew high in the sky. And then dramatically, cinematically, the sun rose… like a majestic God arriving on a slow chariot. When it was finally light, a sunbeam pierced the clouds and illuminated the golden top of the sacred Virupaksha temple. This remarkable Divine choreography happens every single day.

Many Indians celebrate the dawn with a Surya Namaskara, a dip in a holy river, hands folded in prayer; sacred chants are whispered and yogic asanas contort the human form. This ritual awakening is celebrated each day in India. Sadly, in many countries, it is routine to tumble out of bed at the sound of an alarm and race through a jog or hurtle to work. It is as if the sun is a cursed intruder, a slave driver, a sad reminder that another day of hard work is at hand. A pity! There is much to celebrate every single day at dawn. If nature does it so instinctively, we should all become a part of the almost miraculous process we call a sunrise.

Watching the sun rise and infuse life into the earth and its wondrous beings is vital to the optimism that energises a person. It illuminates the soul after the dark of night and gives one hope and positivity that there are joyous events to behold for the next 12 hours.

And the revelries continue…

Every morning, after the celebration of the sunrise, a breakfast tray arrives near my favourite balcão. At my feet is my menagerie of pets. A blue eyed Harlequin Great Dane called Zeus, a fiesty boxer Sophia and an adorable daschund christened Tyra. Three out of five cats are also within stroking distance. They live in harmony with their canine friends.

On the tray sparkling in the weak sunshine is freshly squeezed juice, an array of glowing fruits and water drawn from the well attached to our kitchen. And between all this, a bit of style that always makes me smile—a flower from the garden.

The flower does not belong on a breakfast tray, but it sits there glorious and resplendent. Some days it is a white hibiscus. On others an assortment of jasmines, arums, or the flowers from fruit trees… like this morning. The delicate pink petals and multi-stamened flower of the jaam [love apple] tree that will bear fruit a month from now. The flower on every serving tray is not just style. It helps celebrate whatever is on offer. Whether green tea or a glass of champagne.

Triumph in creating something new

In my studio every evening there is a celebration of a different sort. After a day of draping, cutting and creating… each a wonderfully blissful process, we have a cluster of garments that makes us all smile.

I cannot explain the miracle of my work. One day, there is an idea in my head that becomes a sketch. The next day the sketch becomes a garment that we celebrate because it gives everyone a high that we made this object of beauty. A month later, it is applauded on ramp. And a few months later, I see it in a room, worn by someone I do not know. It has come to life in a very real space. It is no more some object on a hanger or on a mannequin. It is a moving, living entity as part of someone’s life. At that moment my heart is singing in celebration.

When one reads my memoir The Green Room, it is obvious that I am the eternal optimist, opportunist, travel addict, foodie and art aficionado. I cannot fathom people who wonder what to do with the time on their hands. I always tell them to go for a walk or a drive. Outside your home is a world of wonders. There is so much to appreciate. A child’s smile. A wild flower growing in between a rock. The aroma wafting off the basket of a fruit seller.

Even in a bustling city, we can encounter sights and emotions that can instill happiness. Many are for free. An art exhibition, a film festival, a book reading by a celebrated author. Celebrations all! There is a choice… always… of how you want to plan your day. I could simply run from a cab to the train at the end of the day. Or I can turn it into a celebration. I love to do the unusual. Instead of hurtling to platform two at CST station, I sneak into the main building, go to the topmost floor and watch the fascinating spectacle of traffic and people below me. It is exhilarating. And all it took was five minutes.

Last month I went to an exhibition in Delhi. Indian calligraphy on stone, wood, cloth and paper. Straight from the airport, I took a half hour break en route and I am so glad I did. It changed forever my vision of our country. Through objects of great beauty, I could see why we are one of the best countries on earth. Before me were the various scripts of India. Each different, each potent and every one of them fantastic. Which nation has so many scripts? Europe and the Americas have Roman and Greek. Japan has Japanese. China has Mandarin. But India…shall we start counting or shall we simply begin to celebrate?

I was watching Sridevi in the movie English Vinglish the other day. Every single sari was a celebration of our clothing legacy that we wear. Since over 4,000 years, we must be one of the few countries that wear our clothing heritage. It is a pity that even enlightened countries like China are now in the limited repertoire of Western casual wear.

Trailing through many countries and a fabulous assortment of cuisines, we have been fortunate to celebrate via travel. For my 50^th birthday, we took a cruise that began in Grenada, went round the Cape Horn and up to Acapulco. On the way, we saw the carnival in Rio, tango in Buenos Aires, penguins in the Falklands, Nazca lines in Chile and the most beautiful sunset in Torres del Paine in Patagonia.

Star studded finale to the day

When the day is done, my partner and I go on our little boat in the backwaters of the Mandovi. A cool breeze whispers against our skin. In that open expanse the sky looks bluer, the clouds more plentiful. We have learnt to identify each bird that flies past. And we know where large crocodiles inhabit the island of Corjuem or the Cambarjua canal. When I took Lisa Ray, Malaika Arora and my godchild Arhan into the small rivers, I could see the wonder in their eyes at this daily spectacle we enjoy.

Talking about Lisa, we have just dispatched her wedding dress to Canada. What a brave heart she is. Battling and winning a dreaded disease and embracing each day like it is a celebration gifted by God. Like her, we should celebrate each day. Not just on festivals and weddings. Those are special in any case and we Indians know how to do those in grand style.

Don’t miss » “I believe with all my heart that I will heal completely”—Lisa Ray

When light falls on the river and the sun seeps into the horizon, we steer our boat to our favourite spot in the river. The sky is pink above and like an ombre dyed fabric, orange at the horizon. The waters reflect this wondrous colour palette. This spot is almost sacred to us because of what transpires next.

From beyond the hills of Chorao Island arrives a fleet in the sky. We are in the daily migratory path of birds returning to roost from the South. Friends like Amitav Ghosh, Rahul Bose, Rahul Khanna and Orhan Pamuk, among many others, have gasped in wonder as tens, then hundreds, then thousands of birds float home in the pink sky. It is the perfect way to celebrate another beautiful day gone by.

It turns dark now. The planet Venus shines brightly. The stars come out and are reflected in the inky waters. Suddenly I see fireflies flitting about and it seems as if the stars are above, below and now flying between us. The fireflies are an indication that the monsoon is nigh—our beautiful Goan monsoon. Soon the hills will turn green and the fluorescent green paddy fields will flourish, turning the landscape from summer brown to verdant green. There is always something to celebrate on this earth!

The post A million reasons to celebrate appeared first on Complete Wellbeing.

The key reasons why we tend to put on weight while travelling are: disruption of the Circadian rhythm, imbalance of our gut bacteria and of course, unplanned meals and junk food.

Circadian clock

Circadian clock or circadian rhythm is more often called our “body clock.” This internal clock, which is present in almost all living organisms, is responsible for regulating sleep and wake cycles, hunger and satiety, hormone balance, and behaviour. It is driven by a master clock located in our brain which is connected to other “peripheral” clocks located in different organs like the liver, the gut and so on. This master clock runs on a 24-hour schedule by receiving cues from our environment, such as light, darkness and food.

Gut bacteria

Gut bacteria are the trillions of bacteria that reside in our intestine/gut. They have their own clock which sends signals to the master clock in the brain. These bacteria play a critical role in our metabolism, mood, health of our brain and heart and how our body absorbs nutrients from food.

When the gut bacteria and our circadian clock are not in sync, our health starts spiralling downward. Travel, even if it’s domestic travel and does not involve different time zones, could send our body rhythm out of balance.

Three things that affect gut bacteria

• What we eat
• When we eat
• Our sleep-wake cycle

Apart from this, the geographical location also makes a difference, though studies in this area are at early stages.

The reason why we feel tired and sluggish at the end of a road or rail trip [even if we just read or slept during the travel] is because we spend our time doing something that is out of our normal pattern. This also disrupts the body clock and gut bacteria.

The travel fatigue that we feel after a long day of travel within the same timezone should go away with one night of sound sleep, hydration, nourishing food and a warm shower. The recovery is not so smooth and quick if you are travelling international or across more than two time zones and that’s what we call a jetlag. Jetlag doesn’t go away with one night’s sleep and hydration because the circadian clock is not synchronised with the location and external environment.

It takes time to realign our biological clock. Our body needs approximately 2/3^rd the number of days as the time zones we have crossed to adjust itself.

Tips to avoid weight gain during travel

Whether it’s a fun domestic trip or an international trip for work, if we plan the travel carefully, we can avoid putting on weight, feeling bloated or having water retention at the end of the travel. Some of the things that we could do are:

1. Carry your own food. This ensures that you are in better control of what you eat [and what you don’t end up eating]. People tend to give in to temptation when they are hungry and don’t have much choice
2. Avoid alcohol, packaged juices, refined foods and desserts during the journey. Travel by itself is dehydrating, especially flight travel. Sugar, alcohol and juices [which are a concentrated source of sugar with almost no fibre] will only worsen it
3. Avoid refined, fried, salty and ultra processed food
4. Carry fruits, nuts, cooked rice, beans, nut balls, sandwiches etc. These will make it through most security systems and are less messy to pack and carry
5. Keep sipping water through the journey. This will keep you hydrated
6. Move around more, walk as much as you can
7. Use ginger to your fatigue rescue. Have ginger tea, or dry sweetened ginger or ginger chews once you reach the destination to help you get rid of bloating and get back your appetite and digestion.

How to adjust your body clock quickly after travel

1. 1. Use light and dark to set your biological clock. If it’s morning when you reach your destination, get exposed to sunlight often through the day and that will keep you awake too. If you reach your destination at nighttime, reduce the lighting indoors and any light emitting devices [including phones, tablets and TV]
   2. Change your meal and sleeptime according to the destination timezone from the moment you start your travel, through the journey
   3. If it’s nighttime at your destination and you are not sleepy, have a glass of warm milk with a pinch of turmeric powder and nutmeg powder. That will help you fall asleep and improve your immunity that’s disturbed by the travel
   4. Workout first thing in the morning once you reach your destination. A few rounds of suryanamaskar or a light jog or run in the fresh crisp morning air for 20-25 minutes is enough to awaken your senses and make you feel fresh and ready for the day.

With the current lifestyle it is not possible to avoid travel. Following these tips will help you enjoy the travel and reduce the impact of travel on your waistline, mood and overall health.

The post How to avoid weight gain during frequent travel appeared first on Complete Wellbeing.

The right day

Long weekends spell family holidays, but for a road trip you probably want to avoid long weekends. Reason being, traffic snarls. Being stranded in serpentine traffic takes away all the fun of a road trip and will be a major turn off for the person driving. If you still choose a public holiday or long weekend then begin your drive early in the morning. You’ll have to forfeit some sleep but if you’re lucky, you may catch the rising sun.

Identify pit stops

When calculating travel hours, allot for sufficient break time. If there are elderly or children travelling with you then you may need to take more frequent breaks. You need not always halt for a washroom or restaurant break. Just halt to soak in the scenery and stretch yourself for a few minutes. Decide in advance if you will be making any stop overs for the night. If yes, make advance bookings for the same. Everyone in the group may have different thresholds for how long they can endure a car drive. Check with each passenger in advance so that there are no surprises en route.

Clothing

Roads trips, on occasion, take you through different climatic conditions. Starting from the plains you may be headed out to the hills or you may hit rain on the way. Therefore knowing your route is important. Wear comfortable clothes that can be layered. Pack in a manner that makes weather appropriate protection easily accessible.

Food and first aid

If you are leaving in the wee hours of dawn then breakfast at restaurants may not be available yet. Also, since you want to navigate out of the city before the peak hour traffic starts, you have no time to waste. Therefore keep snacks and water handy. When packing the snacks, divide and pack so that passengers in the front seats don’t have to reach back for food. The last thing you need is food spilling in your vehicle. A first aid kit in the vehicle has to include salves and bandages for injuries, medicines for heat stroke, upset stomach, motion sickness and headaches. Keep a garbage bag in the car for any waste that needs to be disposed. Chocolate wrappers and toll receipts do amount to a lot of trash.

Packing 

A few must have are spare money, a notebook, pen, flashlight, toilet roll, medicine kit, sunglasses, power bank or USB cord, reading glasses, travel pillow, travel mug, hand sanitizer or wet wipes and a swiss army knife. These items should be easily accessible.

Vehicle check

Atleast a week before your trip get your vehicle serviced. Check the engine oil, coolants, windshield wiper liquid, lights and indicator. While on the trip, check the tyre pressure every morning before heading out. Do carry spares like headlight and indicator bulbs.

Music

What’s a road trip without good music? Don’t forget to take along a collection of everyone’s favourite music copied on a pen drive. You don’t want to be only listening to your favourite music at the cost of boring the other passengers.

Maps

Check your route before your start and share the same with your co-driver. This helps to avoid any confusion later and you can avoid high traffic zones. Google maps are a boon but not 100% reliable. Rather than going around in circles just ask people for directions. That will not just ensure you are on the right path but is also an opening gambit to a conversation with a stranger.

Children

Road trips with children require some extra planning. If you do not want to hear ‘are we there yet’ for the nth time it is important to keep the children engaged. You could submerge them in electronic games, however a road trip is also an opportunity to engage their curiosity and knowledge. Inform them in advance about the amount of time they will be spending in the car and encourage them to plan games and other activities.

Groups 

A group road trip with multiple vehicles has a few more challenges. Driving at the same pace and looking out for each other is tiring and a distraction too. So it would be best to decide on way-points along the route where everyone can catch-up. Also, a communications person should be nominated to ensure everyone gets the required message and sends the necessary response.

Share responsibility

At the outset, decide who else will be sharing the driving responsibility and when your next change will be. One passenger [whoever is best at it] can be responsible for reading maps and giving directions. Before and during the trip, the car will need cleaning. You could take turns to clean the car to make sure the job is done and no one person gets all the load.

The post Tips for planning your first road trip appeared first on Complete Wellbeing.

1. Walking to explore

Remember to include your most comfortable walking shoes when packing for a holiday. Walking can be the best way to stay active on a vacation. Even before you start your adventure, stroll up and down the airline terminal. Why sit and wait for your flight? You will be doing plenty of that once you’re on the plane.

Walking is perhaps the best way to experience local life of the place you are visiting. Look out for restaurants that are close to your hotel and enjoy a cool evening walk towards your dinner destination. Strap on your shoe laces and go hiking. Forget gaining wait, you may return home having lost a few kilos.

2. The elevator is not your friend

Elevators take both you and your weight up. Unless you have a severe knee problem or are suffering from arthritis, avoid using the elevator. Whether it’s in your own hotel or a museum you are visiting, climb the stairs.

3. Pack healthy snacks

When packing food for a holiday, we tend to choose foods that are easy to carry and have a longer shelf life. But don’t forget to consider their health quotient too. Carry whole grain crackers, dry fruits, energy bars and laddoos made out of dates and dry fruits. Carrying these healthy snacks diminishes your likelihood of binging on packaged junk food while travelling. Once you reach your destination, visit the local grocery and stack your bag with fruits and healthy local snacks. Eat more natural foods like fruits, vegetables, nuts; avoid or at least minimise your consumption of processed foods. Also check whether the hotel kitchen caters to requests like low-oil meals and green juices for breakfast.

4. Does your hotel have a gym?

If you are planning to stay at one location for a long time, make sure they have an in-house gym or a fitness centre nearby. If your hotel offers yoga or meditation classes, book a few sessions for yourself. It’s a beautiful experience to practise yoga on a holiday—it keeps you energetic and upbeat throughout the day.

5. Be consistent

“Doing something is a whole lot better than doing nothing at all,” says athlete Scott Danberg. Let this be your motto while vacationing. If you regularly workout at the gym, go for a run or do suryanamaskars, continue the practice. If you usually eat light for breakfast, don’t stuff yourself just because the breakfast is complimentary. Decide to have just one treat everyday and not let yourself loose at every meal. Another good rule is to avoid eating two heavy meals in a row. If one meal is heavy, keep the next one very light.

6. Stay hydrated

You probably already know that alcohol adds a lot of calories. But it’s vacation time and you want to drink. All right, but balance it out by avoiding the extra calories in colas, coffees or fruits juices with sugar. Drink lots of water throughout the day. Also, don’t order sodas or liquor to go with every meal. Moderation is the key.

The post A guide to staying fit while travelling appeared first on Complete Wellbeing.

Every experience helps a child to grow emotionally. As a Child Health Nurse, my knowledge of child development told me that early experiences in life lay the foundation for further learning. Different experiences are critical at different ages for optimal brain development.

Every experience matters

How do you know which experience will be life altering for your child? Ultimately all children benefit from getting out into the big wide world and experiencing places, people and life challenges beyond their own backyard. The benefits of their experiences may not be seen immediately if you are travelling with young children, but remember, all experiences build to form children’s brains and the people they grow to become. Maybe a trip to the Great Wall of China might trigger a desire to study Mandarin and Chinese History or a trip to the Great Barrier Reef might spark a lifelong career in marine biology and environmental tourism.

My favourite quote is written on the wall of a backpacker’s hostel in Barcelona, Spain: “Travel is the best university.” Travel should have an element of challenge that can be embraced and teach children flexibility and patience. Travelling with children overseas to a five star resort where they spend their time in kids’ club, eating hot dogs and fries at every meal is unlikely to add value to a child’s development compared to a trip to a distant city where you can explore the sights, sounds, tastes on foot and by using public transport.

No such thing as ideal age

Travelling with children is not an easy feat. It doesn’t matter whether you are planning a short local beach holiday or an epic multi-country adventure. Kids are kids wherever you take them. If they are fussy eaters at home then they will be fussy eaters on the other side of the world. That doesn’t mean you should sit at home waiting for their manners to kick in. I asked Patrick, my nine-year old son, when the best time to travel with children is. His reply, “When they can follow instructions and not have hissy fits.” My response, “That means we can’t take your teenage brother anywhere for a while!”

From my experience I believe that there is no best age to travel with children. All ages and stages of children’s development have pros and cons when it comes to travelling. Plan your travel so that you build on your child’s current level of skills and abilities. Babies are portable and generally easy travel companions; toddlers are tricky and certainly dictate heavily on how and where you travel for their own safety; preschoolers are more aware of the world and have some self-help skills and budding independence; primary school kids can carry their own backpack and be quite adaptable; teenagers go back to being tricky. A fine balance between their needs and wants must be considered to keep family travel harmonious.

Why my kids thought travel is good for them

I asked my two sons, experienced world travellers that they are, why they thought travel was good for kids. They put a great deal of thought into their answers and were amazingly similar in their views. I truly couldn’t have put it any better myself. Harris, aged 13, believes that travel helps you realise you are just one of seven billion people in the world. He quoted a Cambodian saying, “Same same but different”; meaning everyone in the world is different but ultimately we are all the same. He said you realise that “…there is more in the world than just the little town that you live in; that money isn’t everything. Your head becomes filled with stories.”

Patrick, wiser than his nine years, said, “Travelling teaches you not to judge a book by its cover; people might sound different, speak a different language, dress and look different but we are all people.” He also said kids get better grades in school if they travel!

Involve them

Whether you explore you own “backyard” or go further afield, travelling with kids should be enjoyable and ultimately educational. Let your kids be as much a part of the planning as their age permits. Kids go at a slower pace than adults, so remember this when scheduling your days. Allow time for kids to take in their new environment. A wonder of travelling with children is that you get to view the world through two sets of eyes, adult eyes and the eyes of your children. Your child will not remember everything they see and do over the years but have confidence that their experiences will make them well rounded, caring, empathetic citizens of the world.

The post Why travel is undoubtedly the best university for your kids appeared first on Complete Wellbeing.

Pre-vacation

Most of our vacations follow a predictable pattern and style, from the planning to the actual vacationing. The preparation phase of a vacation is exciting. It takes considerable creativity to imagine everything that might go wrong while travelling [snowfall in summer, food poisoning, sudden craving for theplas in Heidelberg] before deciding what to stuff in your suitcases. The day of departure is the most hectic: emptying the fridge, stuffing door-gaps with newspapers to keep the dust out of the house, making frantic calls to newspaper and milk delivery guys, triple checking if all the doors and windows are locked before rushing off to the airport or train station. When you are roughly halfway to your destination, you are suddenly seized with the nagging feeling that you might have forgotten to turn the gas cylinder off. You spend the remaining journey imagining a charred house that will greet you when you are back and a life thereafter spent in penury.

Nonetheless, in my experience, a vacation has four stages: when, where, I can’t believe I’m finally here, and phew! It’s good to be home.

Most of our vacations follow a predictable pattern and style, from the planning to the actual vacationing

When

Deciding when to take a break is governed by a lot of factors. If you have school and college-going kids who are still not embarrassed to be seen with their parents, you plan your getaway to coincide with their holidays. Nowadays, however, most children spend their vacations in coaching classes and other activities that are supposed to turn them into super-achieving clones. Regardless, family vacations do happen, and planning them can be a nightmarish experience.

Contrarily, if you are unattached, so to speak, planning when to take a trip is a relatively personal decision. You simply wait for the symptoms to show up. These include restlessness, driving your colleagues insane with ‘I-could-so-do-with-a-break’ whining, and extreme envy at your just-returned-from-Leh friend’s travel photos on Facebook.

Where

This is usually dictated by three things: ‘must-visit places’ listicles that you browse while pretending to work, vacation pictures shared on Facebook or Instagram by “friends” you’ve never met, and a long, hard look at your bank balance and all your outstanding bills. Gone are those days when people could throw darts on the world atlas to decide their next holiday destination. The passionately patriotic Indian these days keenly follows prime ministerial itineraries to draw inspiration for new destinations.

A vacation has four stages: when, where, I can’t believe I’m finally here, and phew! It’s good to be home.

I can’t believe I’m finally here

So you’ve finally arrived at your dream destination. You congratulate yourself on booking the ‘romantique suite’ at the so-called heritage hotel after weeks of sifting through listings on travel websites and burning midnight oil extracting the essence from conflicting reviews. And it turns out to be a matchbox in a rundown building with a sewer-side view [your room with a view]. Not the type to waste time on heartbreaks, a DSLR camera slung around your neck, you set out immediately clutching maps and lists of must-dos [usually in multiples of 10] that you downloaded from someone’s blog.

You risk being disowned by the Worldwide Association of Hyper Tourists till you record the most ‘out-of-the-world’ experiences in a day and get herded around like cattle in tour buses. When you get time from watching the sunrise from the top of a volcano and the sunset from behind shrubs filled with rare snakes, you pose and preen in front of monuments, fountains and the Armani store, hoping one of them turns out to be a superb profile picture that fetches you hundreds of likes on Facebook.

It’s not a vacation well-spent till you exclaim “Oh god! I’ve put on so much weight” every few hours. It’s not fun till you feel guilty of having too much fun. Within a few days of hectic vacationing and plying yourself with meals so exotic that you can’t even pronounce their names, you start craving ghar ka khaana and the comfort of your own bed.

It’s not a vacation well-spent till you exclaim “Oh god! I’ve put on so much weight” every few hours

Phew! It’s good to be home

Vacations may be cruel reminders of how boring our regular life is. But when you finally walk into your living room—nursing bunions, lower back pain and a tan that makes you look like a roasted aubergine—you inhale the stale air and exclaim, “It’s so good to be home!” That’s the cruel irony of our lives: we long to escape our mundane lives and when we finally do, we start missing our boring yet comforting routine.

Then you commit the biggest mistake of weighing yourself. After you’ve managed to scream the daylights out of your neighbours and the pigeons on your balcony, you Google “how to lose weight in 10 days” and put yourself on a punishing diet. Within days of washing kilos of unwashed laundry, restoring the house back to its shining glory, eating 20 grams of carrots and 6 raisins for all your meals, going through zillions of unread spam and emails, and putting extra hours at the office to finish all your pending work, your vacation euphoria becomes a distant memory.

You are completely drained. You flop on your chair and exclaim, “Damn, I am so tired, I could certainly do with a vacation!” And the cycle begins all over again.

A version of this was first published in the December 2015 issue of Complete Wellbeing.

The post The four stages of a “perfect” vacation appeared first on Complete Wellbeing.

Passport processing can take up to six weeks or even more. So as soon as you start planning for your trip, you need to check the validity of your passport. Apply immediately if you don’t have it yet. If you already have yours, make sure that it hasn’t expired or nearing expiry. Remember, some individual countries require that you have at least six months on your passport before expiry to be allowed to enter. Also, if you have one of those older handwritten passports, get it reissued as soon as you can, because many countries do not consider those valid anymore.

2. Not making copies of your documentation

Keep a paper copy of your passport, visa and airline tickets in a travel folder, should you lose these essential documents. While many people photograph them and have it on their phones, this can be problematic if your phone is stolen, and the rate of theft of phones left idly on a coffee shop table is high. As a back up, always email yourself scanned copies of these essential documents, or save them on a cloud, so that you can access them anytime from anywhere.

3. Not figuring out airport transfers

Have you given yourself sufficient time between interconnecting flights? Some airports are huge and require a great deal of time to traverse between terminals.

4. Not knowing how to get from the airport to where you are going

What time are you arriving? What airport transfers are available? Do they run all day and all night? Certain airports stop their transfer services between certain dark hours of the night. Many people do not have a game plan to travel from the airport to their hotel, resort or place of stay. This needs to be pre-organised in many cases.

5. Not booking a place to stay—at least for the first night

This is a peace-of-mind decision. Knowing where you will stay on the first night gives a little breathing space and secures a safety net for you. There is nothing worse than standing in the middle of the airport, trying to decide where you will spend the night. This is could be an expensive mistake, especially since you are likely to be too tired to think straight and will go with the first option available to lay your weary head. Inevitably it will cost you an arm and a leg and probably be located in the remotest area.

6. Not factoring in the different time zones when booking your trip

This is one where we have been caught, with daylight savings hours kicking in and out at various times of the year. Check in advance to avoid arriving at your destination at an odd hour. If you have made transport arrangements you may find that these don’t go entirely according to your plans.

7. Not using RFID protectors

This is a prevalent crime where thieves electronically scan your credit card details and empty your account of all of your travel funds. Information can and is stolen electronically by Radio Frequency Identification and an RFID protected wallet made of particular blocking material gives you some peace of mind, though it is not entirely foolproof. We have been using one from Amazon as it came with excellent ratings by other customers. We have had no problem thankfully.

8. Not calling your credit card company

Have you informed your credit card company and bank that they will see transactions being made from the backwaters of wherever? The banks and credit cards companies might block your card, if they see unusual activity. This is done to safeguard you, should someone use RFID to steal your money; but it is bad if it is you standing in the middle of Chian Mai hoping to get some money for your Thai lunch. Inform your bank about your travel plans so they know that it is more than likely a hungry you. Ditto, if you have been robbed—ring them immediately and have your card cancelled. Most will have a back-up plan to get you your lunch and lodgings, so check that this is included.

9. Not checking your phone plan

This one could cost you the family castle. Ring your phone company and find out about international phone charges, and how much data usage will cost. Then check whether it is better to buy a local SIM card for the duration of your trip. Don’t forget there are other and sometimes cheaper ways of keeping in contact, like Skype and Viber and even a postcard.

10. Failing to research local transportation

Ignoring local transport is a significant problem as the price variations can be enormous. The last thing you want is to be wasting your travel time in figuring out the best and most affordable option to get around. Pre-plan or at least talk to local people who know what works best. Also be aware that train and bus stations are often known by different names locally compared to the official moniker.

11. Not buying health insurance

We all believe that we are infallible and that nothing will happen to us—that health insurance is money in their pockets and not your travel account. We hate to tell you but sometimes things do go amiss and you do not want to be paying out a huge amount in medical coverage or even worse, medical evacuation.

12. Not setting a budget

You need and must set a budget and then add 10 per cent on top of that because not everything will go according to plan, and unexpected costs inevitably crop up. Better still, make it 20 per cent of your allocated budget and then if you are doing well, treat yourself to something fancy—or start planning the next trip.

13. Keeping all your money in one place

This is a big consideration. Money belts can work for some people, but try not to make it obvious that you are wearing a money belt.

1. It says loud and clear—here is all of my money and probably my passport, just thought I’d help you out by making it as obvious as I possibly could, and
2. It makes you look terrible.

Being a woman, I keep my money in my bra though a Venezuelan friend has told me that this is the first place that Venezuelans will go for. How they do that, I have not ascertained. You could also keep money secure in a zippered front pocket or in a thief proof packet or bag, but advertising it is dumb.

14.  Using a currency exchange or money changers

If you change money on the streets, be prepared for inflated exchange rates from some less-than-scrupulous operators. You could change at your hotel, which is marginally better and a lot safer, or use an ATM taking all precautions to be aware of your surroundings and careful with your pin number. Also, when pocketing the money you have withdrawn be discreet. You will need to pay a small transaction fee to your credit card company or the bank, but it is safer by a long shot.

15.  Over packing

Yes, we are all guilty of this but we are advocating the approach of fashion icon Coco Chanel who said, “Before leaving the house, a lady should look in the mirror and remove one accessory.” In case of packing, we suggest you remove more than one accessory and more than one of everything. Seriously, pare down on what you think you need. Remember—you can wash on the road, you can replace on the road. Leave the kitchen sink at home. It is not a competition to look the most stunning; it is about travelling practical so that it allows you to walk a lot and explore your new destination.

16. Not being aware of local customs

A little research on your destination will help you to understand some of the do’s and the don’ts in various countries that you visit. These are important to the local people. As guests, it is a sign of respect to the country you visit that you try and adhere to these. Some countries require a more moderate dress code than Westerners on holidays are used to. Adapt. The sarong can be your greatest asset for covering a bare head and arms. Know where public displays of affection are frowned on and in many countries, so is patting the head of a child or pointing.

17. Not being aware of public holidays or weekly offs

Not a biggie, but public holidays in some places, particularly smaller towns, can render you incapable of eating or catching public transportation. Or, imagine reserving a day for shopping and discovering that it’s a weekly off for the markets.

18. Trying to see and do too much

So many people plan to see too much, just to prove that they have been somewhere. It doesn’t matter if you do not see everything that is iconic. Take your time and get a travel balance going just as you strive for a work-life balance. Have that afternoon nap or get your feet massaged. Give yourself some down time to regroup and also to savour what you have seen and done.

Many people are not honest about their interests, likes, and dislikes. Have an honest talk with yourself about what you actually want to see, and let serendipity have a free ride. See what comes your way, especially things that you were not expecting and had not planned on. These things make travel special and memorable.

This was first published in the March 2016 issue of Complete Wellbeing.

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There is nothing romantic about struggling up a steep slope. No one else I meet on Bowen Road seems to think so either. The street winds up the hill that leads past apartment blocks and small garden spaces to what is called Lovers’ Rock. Most are joggers bent on the task of putting one foot after another with concentrated precision as they rush past you with glazed eyes.

It is my first evening in Hong Kong [HK], after a night spent partly at the airport waiting to board a post-midnight flight and the rest cramped in an aircraft seat meant strictly for size-zero models. And now, every step is a punishment.

Just ahead of me, hands linked, the couple I am with on this trip are… well, not exactly tripping along… but showing more alacrity than I am capable of.

Chance, circumstance and the Hong Kong Tourism Board have conspired to get them to experience the city together and, as the line goes, they are ‘lovin it’.

Revisiting Hong Kong

Not so long ago, Durjoy Datta wrote a story on demand. When asked to set it in HK he agreed quite happily, as it meant exploring the city to decide which places would fit best into the plot. The romance novel Hold My Hand went on to become quite a hit with young readers.

So when a tall, pretty young professional named Avantika, who lives in Dubai, met Delhi-based Durjoy for the first time on an assignment in HK, the inevitable happened.

Here they were, once again, walking hand in hand. They were oblivious to everything including the nagging jetlag, to reach up to a place called Lovers’ Rock. Lovers, as you know, do these things.

Praying for a ‘rock-solid’ relationship

The Lovers’ Rock that stands tall, jutting out of a cluster that holds it in place, has a story. Obviously, since its discovery in the late 18th century, the rock has been found to possess the power to help in matters of the heart. So single men and women [mainly women, I discover] pray here for a good marriage. Married couples too seek its blessing for better understanding, and couples in love seek the favour of their ever-after being truly happy.

The edge of the road, where the steps to the rock begin, displays signs of incense stalls and other offerings, but the sellers have packed up and gone back to their evidently happy homes. Spending days on end in the shadow of the rock must surely ensure that!

Our lovers climb the steps and lucky to find a half-burnt incense stick, light it to say a prayer. Others, more demanding, have even tied wine bottles to nearby trees to ask for progeny. Covered in some red paste, with paper flags waving gaily in the evening breeze, the Rock stands unmoved. It gives no indication of having noticed our presence. But the evening mists are already rising, veiling the twinkling lights of the city spread below in a gentle haze, and even the dog walkers and the huffing-puffing runners we meet on the way down cannot dispel the soft mood that seems to have crept up and enveloped us.

Once in the bus, ensured of a happy ever-after, the couple lean into each other and give in to jetlagged slumber.

Seven sisters: the immortal matchmakers

Also mandatory for people in love is a visit to the Seven Sisters Temple. We take the ferry, which heaves us across seas that threaten to become choppy any minute, and get off at the island of Peng Chau. It is a village walk that takes us this time through winding, narrow roads lined with small shops selling the stuff of daily life, and then through leaf-lined avenues to finally reach the temple.

Perched on a rock, the tiny temple is obviously much revered. According to legend, the temple is also linked to the Chinese Valentine’s Day, which is celebrated in its premises. There is a sweet story about the Chinese Valentine’s Day that bears repetition. The story I hear is that the two stars Altair and Vega are actually a mortal cowherd and a goddess weaver who unfortunately fell in love and were cruelly separated on either
side of the Milky Way. But on Chinese Valentine’s Day, magpies take pity on the star-crossed pair and form a temporary bridge for them to be united.

The Seven Sisters have many roles to play, including helping their devotees find love. Part of finding a good husband involved, in the era before readymade garments, necessary proficiency in needlework. Hence, the goddesses were also approached by young women to aid them better their needlecraft.

Avantika’s carefully selected wardrobe shows no evidence of needing any prowess on her part in needlework but she plays safe and lights a stick of incense to ensure the wooden deities inside the temple notice her presence. A pair of stones shaped like two halves of a bean seed hold the story that if they fall in such a way that one faces up and the other down, the person whose hand throws them will have a good relationship. What they revealed to our lovers, I choose to keep secret.

The gaily painted wooden temple and the wooden statue within it, which was reportedly found by the original owner when he was out fishing one day, are quiet during our visit. However, on festival day the place is full of young women and couples who want children, lighting incense sticks and making offerings.

Love on high

But HK is not only temples and secluded romantic spots. Young couples also take rides on the steep, gravity-defying tram car that toils upwards to The Peak. Here, they can cuddle up and watch the city lights come on, or sit down to a romantic dinner in one of the fine-dining restaurants on top. Many newly weds prefer to use the backdrop of The Peak for their wedding photographs. Even as our young couple poses for photos under a pagoda in the lovely terraced garden on the slopes, I watch a newly-wed couple leaving the place, the bride’s train trailing behind her in the
soft grass.

Also on the agenda for the young is the new panorama light-and-sound experience, which offers an uplifting 15-minute look at the city and its sights, sounds and history. All the while, the wind blows through your hair and the smell from the food stalls floats invitingly in the air. The trendy imagery and the novelty of the projection that lasts 15 minutes is often the precursor to an evening of romance, all other requirements being conducive, of course.

Gliding through the city

Incidentally, HK probably has the longest escalator in the world; it goes up and down in a continuous undulating movement, carrying office goers, shoppers and tourists like me along endless levels of streets. While I explore its passage through old HK, the lovers are exploring their old haunts… Durjoy is leading Avantika through Pottinger Street, Arbuthnot Street and the Old Central Police Station Compound, with their historical buildings that whisper of a time gone past. These are some of the lanes where the story of Hold My Hand is set. And of course, when I catch up with them, they are infused with the romance of the old city and are at the moment, you guessed it—holding hands!

This was first published in the December 2014 issue of Complete Wellbeing.

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Published by: Leadstart Publishing Pvt Ltd

ISBN: 9789381115800

Pages: 379

Price: INR 399

Samir Nazareth is on an exploratory journey. He has quit his job and is spending months on the road; his aim—to explore as much of the coastal regions as he can, on a limited budget. The title of the book makes his primary interests evident—food, towns and people.

Food, clearly, is of great importance. Samir calls himself a ‘travelling gourmand’ delighting in local food, whether at the small thelas [carts] on the road, or in small hotels and shacks. This not just provides him with much needed nourishment at reasonable rates, but also acts as an ice-breaker for conversations. The towns he halts at are varied and interesting. He starts his journey by train from Nagpur to Bhuj; moves on to Okha at the westernmost point of India; travels down south to Rameshwaram and Kanyakumari, up the coast to Kolkata and Gangasagar; and finally heads towards the hills to Gangtok. Along the way, he stops at small and big towns, some he knows; some he has just heard of; some just end up on his itinerary according to the whims and fancies of the public transportation system.

Coming to people—they are everywhere! Unlike the towns and the bananas, there is no way he can keep a count here, but some stand out, and feature predominantly in the narrative. Whether it is the couple on the train, who is focussed on ordering food, the fishermen at Korlai, the guides at the palace museum at Trichur, or the hotel owner proudly talking of heritage at Puri—they enhance the story of his journey, reminding us of similar people we have met.

The narrative is smooth; Samir’s quaint humour coming through every page. There are hilarious bits, many relating to communication gaps due to difference in languages and dialects. His journey often takes him to ports and boat yards. We learn that he has some experience with them and naturally his knowledge in the area comes across. However, though the book is about his journey, we learn but little about him.

One thread that runs consistently through the book is the questions he is asked regarding his reasons for travel: Why does he travel? Why is he travelling alone? Why isn’t he married? But I like that he does not try to explain his actions and choices. After all, they are his reasons and his choices, relevant to him alone. Upon returning home, when he’s asked these same questions, he realises that he has come full circle.

I enjoyed reading the book, especially the sections about places that I have myself already visited. The people in this book reminded me of people I met on my trips and, as I read, I frequently had a nostalgic smile on my face.

Towards the end, Samir concludes that there is no such thing as a bad decision while travelling. I agree with him. Travelling is about the experiences; everything else is just incidental.

This was first published in the September 2015 issue of Complete Wellbeing.

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Pangi Valley

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A few months ago I woke up feeling melancholic about how my travels had started to become sterile and boring. Yes, I enjoyed them since they took me to exotic places but they were becoming predictable. It was becoming the same set routine: take a flight, check into a hotel, go explore the town, go to a fancy restaurant… each trip began to feel like the one before it. I knew that I would travel and stay in comfort, that the food would be fantastic, that there might be some odd curiosities in the town, but nothing more, nothing to astound me.

I found myself suddenly longing for that delicious uncertainty that would always accompany me when I first started travelling.

A plan is hatched

As a travel writer who thrived on excitement, I knew I had to take immediate action to get out of my doldrums. And so my friends and I hatched a plan to go on a road trip to Pangi Valley. This narrow valley within the Pir Panjal range in Himachal Pradesh is little known and is a short-cut from Chamba to Manali. The valley has  two high passes, one of them is the popular Rohtang Pass and the other is the spectacular Sach Pass.

A sunny September Saturday saw three of my friends and me at Teddy’s Lodge in Dalhousie tucking into breakfast served by none other than the owner of the lodge. Teddy Singh is ‘the’ grand old man of Dalhousie and he’s spent much of his youth leading trekking parties into Lahaul and Spiti. Today, even as he stands on the threshold of becoming an octogenarian, his spirit is as unflagging as triple distilled rum.

Fuelling up for the trip

A believer in bountiful breakfasts rather than debilitating diets, he had laid out a spread of porridge, fried eggs, toast with a thick layer of butter slapped onto it and rich apple pie. Knowing that this was probably going to be our last hearty meal till we get to Manali five days later, we ate with gusto.

With our bellies full, we loaded our vehicle and headed off towards Chamba via Khajjiar. A few kilometres into the drive, my buddy Kartik’s sudden yell put a halt on our sojourn. A big fat bumblebee had just stung him on the back of his head and within seconds the pain was radiating down his neck and shoulders. But an SOS call to Teddy Baba yielded a local treatment.

“Bloody hell” he boomed over the phone, “Why was he mucking around with the bee? Just find some marijuana leaves, crush them and apply the juice.”

Getting and applying the remedy was easy because cannabis grows wild in most Himachal districts. Soon Kartik was well again, though a little glassy eyed and vague.

That night we stopped at the Public Works Department [PWD] guest house at Bairagarh, a small town just before the ascent to the 14,500 feet Sach Pass begins. The watchman at the guest house offered to fetch groceries for our dinner, provided we cooked the meal ourselves. With three out of the four of us being ‘hobby chefs’ that was not a daunting task. So we took up his offer and 30 minutes later we had steaming green Thai curry and rice ready on the dinner table.

Refreshingly slow

The next morning we geared up for the climb to the spectacular Sach Pass—a highlight of our trip. At its almost stratospheric height, this pass has huge permanent glaciers that are the size of city blocks. After Bairagarh, all semblance of tarmac disappears. This meant that we would have to drive very slowly—at an average speed of about 14kph.

In the last few months, I had zoomed down country roads in the Czech Republic, driven on the German autobahns at ridiculous speeds and seen the countryside go by in a blur as I sat in a swift and silent Swiss train. The result of which is that I remembered the insides of the cars and trains very well, but not so much the landscapes. This experience of travelling slowly was refreshingly different. I appreciated the shapes of the clouds swooping across the magnificent mountains, spotted Himalayan hares scurrying out of their burrows and gazed with wonder at a Himalayan Black Eagle happily flying around. We continued our journey and, after a while, I stepped out of the car to breathe in the crisp cold air. While I took in the clean air, I tried to brush away the dust from my jacket and realised with wonder that it was a snowflake. I regaled in nature’s quiet beauty.

The Sach Pass is the gateway to the Pangi Valley, which is a verdant and narrow valley in the Udaipur district. The Chandrabhaga River that flows through this valley is, unlike most of Himachal’s rivers, unfettered. The pale blue river gurgles with glee as it flows over the boulders.

It took us an entire day’s drive to cover the 65 kms from Bairagarh to Killar, which is the first town after the pass and also has a scenic PWD guest house. Unfortunately, this guest house had been fully booked by the entourage of a visiting government official. So we backtracked to a fork and took the prong going towards Kashmir via Kishtwar. 10 kms down this road is a little village called Dharwas where again we were told that the guest house is full. Fortunately, the chowkidar was a kind-hearted man who let us pitch our tents on the manicured lawn of the bungalow.

When I laid my thin sleeping bag out in the open, I anticipated an uncomfortable night. But even though the temperatures fell to about 3°C that night, I had a comfortable night’s sleep.

Transcending material pleasures

The next morning over tea, the chowkidar casually mentioned to us that there was an incredibly narrow and scary road across a cliff, about 15 kms ahead from where we were. Even before he could finish his sentence, the four of us got into the car to explore this road. As we crossed into the state of Jammu and Kashmir, the apprehension on the face of the border guard was obvious. He didn’t seem too keen on the idea of city dwellers wanting to drive on that road. His fears were not unfounded; I have to confess I had never driven on a scarier road. It is narrow with sheer drops and a forbidding overhang. It feels as if the rock-face has grudgingly yielded a barely drivable path. This beautiful road, with the river on one side and the silvery green trees on the other, with its 1000 foot vertical drop and huge mountains made me feel insignificant yet incredibly alive. The view was so exquisite that we decide to brew some masala chai right there. As we sipped our tea, we also drank in the serenity of the place.

We then had to drive 12 kms further down that road to find a place where we had enough of space to turn the car around.

On our last night, we camped at the beautiful Miyan Valley that is an offshoot of the Pangi Valley. Kartik made some delicious biryani for us at our campsite by the Miyan River. Even though he cooked it on a portable propane stove and used a large amount of guesswork to measure the ingredients, it was as sumptuous as something you’d get at a five-star kitchen.

My trip to Pangi Valley taught me lessons about how I could live my life in the city. For the locals there, a landslide is just a minor inconvenience. They don’t fret or fume but patiently wait as the road is being cleared. Getting no electricity for days is not a problem, nor is the delay in getting a gas cylinder. Life in Pangi Valley goes on beautifully without the material comforts we have, and it is in fact richer and not short-changed. Today, as I sit in the sweltering heat of Mumbai and reminisce about my trip, I invariably go back to that moment sitting by the rushing river, eating that delicious biryani by the light of fireflies buzzing about camp. Bliss indeed!

This was first published in the November 2014 issue of Complete Wellbeing.

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