mussoorie, mountains and books

Trip to Palampur: Not as Good as I had hoped

2009-10-02T12:23:00.000-07:00

In the month of January, 2009, I visited Palampur in the Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh. I had heard and read a lot about Palampur and was keen to explore this romantic sounding place. It was a nice trip, though not as good as promised by travelers and writers on the net. On my last day in Kangra Valley, I decided to visit Dharamshala and surrounding areas. I found it a disastrous experience. I think there is way too much construction going on there, like everywhere else in Himachal.

The Charm of Mussoorie

2009-10-02T11:39:00.000-07:00

I travel to mountains every other month and can't get enough of them. However, It seems Mussoorie is where I want to be all the time! I know there are people who simply dismiss Mussoorie as a hill station with over 250 hotels and crowded Mall. Then, they don't know about real Mussoorie. Just move away from the usual 'hotspots' and you can see what Mussoorie is.

God is a Painter!

2008-08-18T03:27:00.000-07:00

On my recent trip to mountains I visited Himachal Pradesh. It was my first trip to Himachal in almost 4 years. Since it was raining, I was able to capture mountains in their various hues. What I saw was enough to mesmerize me. It was as if God was showing me his Painting mastery. Here are few of his “paintings”.

For more pictures, follow the link: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/chaturvediajay68/GodSPaintings

The life of the writer as a life of reading

2008-07-04T02:37:00.000-07:00

Indian writer Pankaj Mishra is not someone who likes to give interviews. So, it was a surprise for me when I came across this interview of him in the literary magazine The Believer. This interview provides an insight into Pankaj’s rise as a writer and his writings.

THE BELIEVER: When you were twenty-three, you went to live in the Himalayan mountains to read and write in the hope of someday becoming a writer. Did you have a clear idea about what you were doing?

PANKAJ MISHRA: Well, I had a basic idea that I would go to the mountains, where it would be cheap to live and there would be lots of silence, lots of solitude. In retrospect, this was a completely romantic idea. I wasn’t making a living at that point—only a few hundred rupees from writing reviews and articles for different magazines and newspapers in India—but this was in 1992 and the economy in rural India was on a different scale altogether. It only cost me two thousand rupees a month to live, with my rent included—that’s forty-five or fifty dollars. I could live very comfortably on that. The day began at five o’clock when the sun hit my windows. The whole day was there ahead of me with nothing to do except read and write. I wrote reviews— I loved reading books anyway, and I was happy to write a few words about them and get paid. There was no television, no telephone. I started on various drafts of a novel, which eventually became The Romantics, but I mostly read, about a book a day. I was able to finish a medium-size, 350-page book in five or six hours.

For full interview check the url given below

http://www.believermag.com/issues/200703/?read=interview_mishra

The Solitude of Latin America

2008-02-15T04:08:00.000-08:00

Today, while browsing the official website of The Nobel Prize in Literature I got fascinated by the acceptance lectures given by the winners of this most prestigious award in the world literature. I found Gabriel García Márquez's, winner of the The Prize in 1982, account of Latin American dictators very interesting. Here is the link for those who would want to read what he said some 26 years ago.

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1982/marquez-lecture-e.html

Exit Wounds: The legacy of Indian partition

2008-02-12T04:49:00.000-08:00

Here is an essay by Pankaj Mishra published in that great magazine New Yorker where he talks about India's partition. It's a really well researched write up by Pankaj, as always! A must read for lovers of good writing!

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2007/08/13/070813crbo_books_mishra?currentPage=all

The Writing Life

2008-02-11T23:26:00.000-08:00

Pico Iyer is one writer whom I admire for writing about the places which are not the kind of touristy locations one reads about in newspapers and magazines. And the kind of observations he makes are his trademark. One of his books which I like most is Falling off the Map. I recently read his article in the Washington Post Book World where he talks about him moving to Japan and it influenced his writing. I think it's worth reading by those who aspire to write.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/07/AR2008020702856.html

Winter is Here!

2007-10-16T00:41:00.000-07:00

I can already feel the nip in the air. When I go for walk in the evening in the neighbourhood park, I can experience the winter mist, though in a very slim way. And this is the kind of feeling which makes me want to pack my bags and head to mountains, preferably Mussoorie. Waking up in the morning and admiring mighty Himalayas glistening in the distance is a sight to behold. Everything seems so calm.

My First Mountain Guru

2007-09-12T05:55:00.000-07:00

I first came to know about Bill Aitken when I chanced upon a book called Nanda Devi Affair authored by him. The book is based on his attempts to climb the revered Nanda Devi mountain in Uttaranchal. It was this book which converted me into a "hill person".

Here the travel writer and author gives list of five must-reads on the Himalayas....

When Men and Mountains Meet
by John Kaye
It is an academic book, but Kaye is a wonderful yarn spinner and he talks of explorers, administrators, eccentrics and some other outstanding characters in this book.
Man Eaters of Kumaon
by Jim Corbett
He was a local man, so he knew his ground. He wrote of the culture and people of Kumaon with authority, and the characters in his books are as interesting as the tigers he shot.
Nanda Devi
by Eric Shipton
One of the most romantic books on the Himalayas. Nanda Devi is a very inaccessible peak and Shipton was among the first who found a way to the Nanda Devi sanctuary.
Into Thin Air
by Jon Krakauer
This is probably the best book ever on Mount Everest. He was part of a commercial expedition to the Everest, during which 13 of his teammates died because of some bad decisions. It is an extraordinary account of the climb.
Black Narcissus
by Rumer Godden
This is the only work of fiction in my list. It is about how difficult it is to comprehend the soul of the Himalayas. A bunch of nuns trying to set up a centre near the Kanchenjunga find that they don’t have the inner stamina to take on the Himalayas.
Malini Nair

-Courtesy The Mint

Landour Days: A Writer's Journal

2007-09-12T04:11:00.000-07:00

Ruskin Bond is the most famous resident of Mussoorie and has written about everything that is there in Mussoorie. In his book, Landour Days: A Writer's Journal, he gives account of his life in the part of Mussoorie which is away from the Mall Road crowd. I myself disappear into one of the guest houses in this part of the Queen of Hills when life in Delhi becomes too much of a burden.

"The habit of keeping a diary has led me into trouble more than once," writes Ruskin Bond in the introduction to this journal of a year in his hometown of Landour, Mussoorie. Filled with warmth and gentle humour, this book captures the timeless rhythm of life in the mountains, and the serene wisdom of one of India's best loved writers.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0670911704/awebloonruski-20

Writer on his experiences of living in Himalayas

2007-09-12T02:54:00.000-07:00

Pankaj Mishra finds peace in a simple and remote Himalayan hamlet that succeeds in ignoring the rest of the world...

http://www.time.com/time/asia/2003/journey/india.html