Highway after highway, the bus carrying several passengers, including myself, strode effortlessly along. I remember looking out of the window, watching neat rows of houses pass me by. “I wonder how life is like in those neighbourhoods,” I would muse over and over. Eventually, the houses disappeared, and we crossed over a deep gorge —…
Directionless in Tokyo
On 28 October, 2018, together with my parents, I embarked on what was my first ever trip to Japan. Although it was meant to be a family vacation, it was also an opportunity for me to ascertain for myself if Japan really is how I had made it out to be. You see, for the…
Writer’s Note: Moving Forward
This is something I wanted to do for some time now. In fact, I should have done this sooner, but I wasn’t sure if I had it in me. Dear readers, I am writing this on the back of a trip to Japan just a few days ago, and I will be posting my reflections…
Kyoto-Bound
Some years back, I wrote this for someone I used to cherish. We both dreamt of moving to Japan one day, so we kept each other motivated, and this was how I went about it. Over time, people change, and perhaps my writing has, too. But, the same wistful desire remains. She was nervous….
Playing Marco Polo: Reliving the Silk Road
The searching light shone upon the world by great explorers of the Middle Ages begins to flicker, and for millennials, few of their names bear any significance at all. Interestingly however, prominent figures like Ibn Battuta and Marco Polo appear vaguely stored in our memories, perhaps from the odd atlas book we had skimmed through…
Not Everyone Wants To Travel
There is probably not a soul with access to the internet who has not read an article touting the supposedly endless benefits of travel. Inspirational words are often used as calls to action, nudging the reader out of his ‘comfort zone’, which, incidentally, is a phrase that can also be found in many an article….
Tourist or Traveller?
It seems like every single person who has caught the “wanderlust” fever veers towards one of the two groups; one is either a tourist or a traveller. Perhaps you can relate to the following scenario — you are walking along the streets of Bern on a warm summer afternoon after acquainting yourself with the local…
Dear Anne Frank
Where do I even begin — how do I even start? I passed by Pim’s warehouse back in April, but I was convinced that until I had read your diary, I would not step foot into the Secret Annexe. 340 pages later, I am glad I made that decision; I doubt I would have been…
Chilled Spring — Searching Switzerland
As I began to write this, I realised that most of our time in Switzerland was spent either lounging away in our rented apartment in Zermatt, or commuting between cities. Zermatt, the southernmost alpine town that lies right next to the mountainous shared border with Italy, is at least an hour’s journey by train to…
Chilled Spring — Amsterdam [2/2]
It seemed that no matter where we went, a drizzle was never too far away; a stop-start affair that graced the Nederlands with a strange, dull allure. We needed the sun, but in those few days, we felt like it did not belong. Nevertheless, spring marks the start of tulip season, the very reason we…
Nomadic Affair 