Life Through A Lens

As the new year begins, I am here to tell you about an experience that has solely been the highlight of the year 2021 in my life. My first blog  Ladakh Part 1 from the Ladakh series describes the burst of emotions I felt about the trip. In my heart knew it was a dreamland, but it did not hit me until I reached Leh Airport.  Well, in this blog I shall be telling you the entire process of planning the trip, our itinerary, and how it turned out to be.   Trip planning-  Planning the trip is the most exciting phase because the quest to see the dreamland you always wanted to visit is finally coming true. This trip was the first trip me and my brothers went on with strangers. All we knew was there would be 22 strangers on the trip and, for the 8 days, a new experience unfolds.    As far as my travel experience is concerned, we never booked packages in advance. Our parents suggested trying a package this time since it was our first experience traveling to a...

Every time I heard about Ladakh, my soul would hop into a virtual dreamland and, my heart would wish to witness this dreamland.  I probably come from that group of people who saw Ladakh in the Movie 3 idiots for the first time and, I do not mind giving them credits for increasing my hopes about the place.    This Ladakh trip seemed too good to be true. But what’s more interesting is the process of having a conversation about the trip. It started with negotiations, permissions, then planning, and much more.    How did it begin? As part of my annual visit to my maternal grandmother’s house, we all were in Karnataka. My brother was in the hostel all this while but had a short break in July-August. My elder cousin started a conversation about the Ladakh bike trip. He was looking for a trip with his friends and asked my brother if he wanted to join.  All this conversation happened in front of my dad. He immediately showed interest and agreed to their plan. They ...

I am in my 20’s as of now but looks like my choices are of those in their 60’s. One-day retreats have been in trend for quite a sometime and I always wished to spend time with my close ones doing in-house activities present there and eat lots of good food and in the end spend time on a poolside just wishing to stay back in the pool forever. There is nothing better than treating yourself with a day off just doing nothing.    Well, that one tiny wish came true very recently on my trip to Karnataka, my hometown. Here is how it went- Stage 1- Cribbing about planning In every household, every trip begins with endless cribbing about not being able to go anywhere and have a good time together. Many of my elder cousins own a shop and in business one hardly gets any time for themselves until there is someone who can replace them for a few days. So, trying to convince them for a short break is another big task.  Stage 2- One of us comes with a plan- Well after a never-ending decisi...