Manipur, one of the beautiful seven sister states of Northeast India. One of the lands less travelled and explored had taken me on a journey that made me feel at home at the first instance itself. Starting from its birds view from the airplane to the road travel, makes you excited for whats more to come.

Want to know what all you can do in Manipur then read:

Coming back to the theme of this post, while I was in Imphal I came to know a few facts which I found to be really interesting and astonishing which I wanted to share with you all . Here they are:

1. Sanamahi religion before Hinduism

There is a belief that the first king of Kangla, Pakhangba - was a man who could change his body to any form, like animals, and others as he was a powerful God. He was the ruler for Kangla from 1445 - 1405 BC.

Today the dominating religion in Manipur is Hinduism, but before Hinduism became popular there was a religion called Sanamahi in which they worshiped Pakhangba . There is even a temple for the same inside the Kangla fort and thats the only one there.

2. A common townhall and community pond in every village

There are a lot of villages around Imphal. You can easily find one after the other while travelling from Imphal to Moirang to see the Lokatak lake. More than the actual city what grabbed my eye were the houses in the villages. All of them similar to look from far but unique in there own way and most of them had a flowery arch way on their entrance gates which made the houses even more pretty . They just looked so cosy even from outside.

But thats not the fact I am talking about, what I wanted to tell you is that here in Manipur all the villages still follow the custom of having a common Townhall for all the major events of the village . And also there is a community pond in each village.

Also you can still find people(Man, woman or children) taking bath out in the open outside their houses.

3. Loktak lake - Naxalites problem

During the peak of naxalities problem in Manipur they used to hide in the huts in the Loktak lake. Giving the military a tough time dealing with them.

4. People stay in the Loktak lake

The principal attraction of the state is the Loktak Lake in Bishnupur District which is 48 km from Imphal City and it is the largest freshwater lake in the North-East India. Take a boat ride into the lake and visit the fisherman houses on phumdis (heterogeneous mass of vegetation, soil and organic matter at various stages of decomposition). Have some chai and prawn pakodas in the hut or you can enjoy them in the boat too.

Don't be surprised when you come to know that they actually live there. All the huts get electricity from the solar panels set up for each.

5. Nagas on the hills

Manipur has a lot of hills in and around it. Basically the Manipuris are said to occupy the plain lands and the Nagas are the one's residing on the hills. This is prevalent in all of Manipur.

6. Black stone pottery from ukhrul

Black stone pottery - crockery, cutlery, and utensils. It is indigenous to Ukhrul in Manipur. The black stone its made of is only found in Ukhrul and most families of Ukhrul are self-employed in the making of these black pottery items .

7. The palace is supposed to be buried underground

Currently, there are excavations going on the eastern side of the Kangla fort. The archaeologists believe that the actual fort is buried underground in the eastern front and a lot can be discovered once the ruins are excavated. I would not have come to know this if not for our guide Dayarani Devi .

8. The national park the only floating national park in the world

Manipur home to the only floating National Park in the world, the Keibul Lamjao National Park located on the Loktak Lake is the last natural habitat of the "Sangai", the dancing deer of Manipur.

If you are lucky you'll be able to see a deer through the telescope from the hilltop in the national park. It is currently home to 251 Sangais right now.

9. The cemetery is managed by the Olympic committee

The cemetery has 1,600 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War and is maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Till date, it keeps the records and pays the caretakers. Even today you'll find white garlands placed on some of the gravestones. They are placed by the descendants of the soldiers who come to visit this cemetery.

10. You can enter Burma through Moreh in Manipur

Did you know that as an Indian citizen you can enter Myanmar on foot, without a visa and just for Rs 20? and if you want to know how to go about everything related to entering Myanmar through Moreh then you have to read 10 Awesome things you have to do on the India, Myanmar border in Manipur.

11. 36 communities which are recognized and 7 which are still not

This was told to me by a local of Manipur. He was from Meitei community. He told us that Manipur has in total 43 communities out of which only 36 are recognized by the government and there are 7 of them which are still unrecognized.

12. Birthplace of polo

The current game in its modern form originated in Manipur, a northeastern state in India, and was propagated by officers of the British military in the mid 19th century.[4] It is now popular around the world.

The modern game of polo is derived from Manipur, India, where the game was known as 'Sagol Kangjei', 'Kanjai- bazee', or 'Pulu'.[ It was the anglicised form of the last, referring to the wooden ball that was used, which was adopted by the sport in its slow spread to the west.

13. Ima Market - A all women run market

This is a sprawling 500-year-old market has long been an important meeting ground and trading hub of Manipur. An unique symbol of Manipur's history, Ima Keithel (which translates to 'mother's market') is believed to be the largest all-women market in Asia, and possibly the world.

Only married women are allowed to trade and run the stalls in this multi-ethnic marketplace, a privilege that is passed on from one generation of Manipuri women to the next.

That is all for this post and I am officially done with all the Manipur posts!

Hope you guys liked and enjoyed them as much as I enjoyed writing them. Do subscribe to the blog for more such stories and adventures I have to write about.

Chirala, was also known as Kshirapuri is a town in Prakasam district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It's on the coastal side of Andhra Pradesh. A popular weekend getaway for people in Hyderabad. Probably the closest beach and the only beach on this side. Its the same coastline which stretches towards Chennai and as mom says "just keep walking along the shore and you'll reach Chennai in no time". Probably some other day mom!

My whole family, actually the whole extended family had planned to meet there at a family friend's beach shack/farmhouse. We all were together after almost 3 years!. It was a full house plus my grandparents were staying at an Uncle's place as the place was so jam-packed and obviously, I and my brother aren't tiny anymore to be put in a corner so that four can fit on a bed.

All I wanted to do for the 4 days was see the sunrise, eat, walk by the beach, play in the sand like a kid, see the fishermen go to their boats anchored in the sea (and then go catch fish to sell), occasionally get a picture clicked, see the sunset, count the stars ( kidding! Requires a lot of patience), feel the cool sea breeze, and then go to sleep.

And that's all I thought was really possible out here. That's when my mom, reminiscing her younger days and her marriage told us that she had bought her marriage saree, the "main saree" from this small coastal town. I din't believe her. That's because all through the drive down to this place I could only see small kirana shops or dry fish stalls near the sea (you can die of their smell if you know what I'm talking about). No clothing shops, no saree shops not even a single one. And guess what, just then a man entered the garden premises and handed a card for his handloom shop and also showed us some pictures. Now, we had some proof for the above fact.

Turns out Chirala is actually more famous for the handlooms and all types of south-Indian sarees possible than the beach itself. Every year ladies, mostly from Vijayawada and Guntur (nearby districts) come here to buy sarees from the wholesale shops in town. Most of the Marriage saree shopping is done from here. I guess that's one of the reasons my mom also bought her saree from here.

Even when you enter the actual town, you'll have no particular clue about the shops. That's because these wholesalers sell sarees out of their homes. You really need to know someone to reach them. Fortunately, our family friends did!.

This was absolute, out of the blue new information and on top of it were even told that there are a lot of workshops and out of the house hand made saree weavers in the town whom we could visit. So ,we decided to skip the usual basking in the glory of the beach and sun ritual and headed to meet the weavers.

So, we were there inside one of the weavers house , in the front room which would take the role of a drawing room in the common scenario. But instead of chairs and a centre table, there was a almost a 2 feet hole dug in the ground, actually not dug but the house itself was constructed with the opening. It serves as the place for the weaver to half sit and then work on the giant, multi thread, 6 feet in height, a machine which literally sounded like a factory motor while in motion.

Seeing us the person took a halt from his routine of working on a single saree for straight 12 hrs. Yes! It takes a simple handmade Pattu saree or a silk saree (South Indian sarees) about 12 hrs straight to be made. That is excluding one hour break for lunch.

He was working on an order for which he was getting paid around 5k for 4 sarees (that is 48 hrs of work). All the material, design, threads everything is supplied by the wholesalers itself. The process starting from getting the plain white threads dyed (there are local dyers also in the town). Then the threads for around 5 sarees at length are tightly tied from one side to another and then divided into sets of 4-5 threads to then transfer them onto the machine for weaving.

The process of handweaving a saree is really monotonous and tideous and what I felt was the most difficult part is when you have to keep a count of 4 or 5 and then horizontally pass the gold or silver thread ( Zari, depending on the design) from one side to another. You really can't take a chance to make a mistake here as the whole pattern on the saree depends on that count.

It was almost like I was looking at a rainbow which I could touch and also which had black color!

We even went to a neighboring house where a lady was weaving another saree which was of a higher range for which she gets 4k for one saree.

After we had interacted with the weavers, it was time to do the actual shopping. Isn't that expected when there is a group of 5 married ladies around you and they just know how costly the sarees get in the cities. It was in the wholesaler's shop that I got to know that a saree which he was selling for around Rs 1800 costs about 4k or 5k in the cities(That's a big big difference!!)

I guess now I understand why everybody comes to Chirala for marriage shopping!.

What next, mum, aunties and grand mom shopped for some- "this is so cheap, the same will be 5 times the cost in the city and will not get something like this" kind of sarees. Finally, when that got over I was relieved, at least I'd get to go home. I was really hungry!

At the end, all I'd like to say is that Chirala, you really were more than I had expected. Would be coming back to you soon (Will have to, now my mom knows how cheap the sarees are there and she'll take me along!!!!)

# Guest Post

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India is filled with thousands of spiritual journeys which one can walk any time in the wake of finding themselves amidst the chaos of the world or to reconnect themselves with the supreme deity. From the famous Char Dham Yatra to Golden temple in Amritsar to Ajmer Sharif Dargah in Ajmer, there are hundreds of popular spiritual destinations where one can spend some soulful time and can realize their real worth on the planet earth.

So, if you wish to go on such a journey where you can revive your scarred soul and free yourself then, below is the list of iconic pilgrimages will help you to find your way.

Char Dham Yatra has always been revered as one of the pious journeys of India for which millions of pilgrims set foot every year. Char Dham Yatra takes you through a circuit of pilgrimage where you would pay homage at the four spiritual abodes of deities I.e. Gangotri, Yamunotri, Badrinath, Kedarnath. Many also believe that this journey could bring salvation to whoever walk it down and purify their soul from every kind of negativity.

Amritsar has been a dream destination for many solo travelers now because it is one of those journeys which could silence any chaotic soul. The best spiritual experience in Amritsar you can get is from Golden Temple where a large number of devotees come to pray to the Guru Granth Sahib. The gold-domed temple is famous for serving free food to thousands every day, for making people free by its melodic hymns, and for giving a mere walk surrounding the holy water of the temple.

Ajmer Sharif Dargah is another very popular holy shrine where Sufi saint Moinuddin Chisti is being prayed for a healthy and prosperous life. Although the shrine pays deep homage to a Muslim saint, it doesn't exclusively belong to one community because the gates of this shrine are open to anyone who wants to get lost in the spiritual aura of this place. Many also believe that a visit to this place has the capability to fulfill any wish.

A beautiful shrine of Goddess Vaishno is built up in the mountains of Jammu where a mere homage is believed to give peace to any pained soul. A beautiful long walk journey of 14 km amidst the lush green view of the mountain, you will enter a small cave which is dedicated to Goddess Vaishno who symbolize the fire and energy of mother earth. Every year, a million devotees commence on this beautiful journey to get healthy wishes back from the Goddess.

Bodhgaya is one of the ancient towns of India and it is believed to the town which gave birth to the Buddhist religion. There are many Buddhist temples in Bodhgaya but the famous of all is the Mahabodhi temple complex where particularly the Mahabodhi tree is where people pay their respects. The tree is believed to be 2600 years old and is the place where Prince Siddhartha attained his spiritual enlightenment and thereafter, lived his life in teaching people about the secrets of the universe.

Varanasi which is assumed to be the both chaotic and spiritual, is the holiest place on earth. And any soul can be revived to life at this place because people believe that there exists some kind of divine aura. The city is sprawled on the banks of river Ganges and hundreds perform sacred rituals on the holy river bank to earn healthy blessing from the almighty. During sunset, you can either take a mesmerizing boat ride on the river or you can watch the spiritual charm of Ganga Aarti.

The spiritual abode of Sai Baba is the place of peace and prayer which attracts people from different parts of the country. The sacred town is visited by people of a different faith because the ideology of Sai Baba was never to impress any particular religion but to follow the path of righteousness. The famous chanting of this temple "Sabka Malik Ek" itself spread the message of having only one god of the universe and to reunite your faith in him.

So, do care to put some thought on the above list and maybe, book yourself for any of the above-listed destinations. And get lost in the silence of spirituality. You can also check here various Pilgrimage tour packages for more information.

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I hope you found the above write up useful .

You may like to read some of the other Spiritual Blogs mentioned here :

When I lived the life of a Monk for 10 days ! #Vipassana Meditation Experience ( Videos in Hindi & English)

My first Spiritual Travel- Sadhguru’s Isha Yoga Centre @Coimbatore,India (Travel Series – 7, Spiritual Series-1)

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Namaste & Take Care till our next post !

For many of you out there, planning a holiday during monsoon might be a counter-productive idea, but if you care to wipe off the haze created by social proofs, you'll be more than surprised to find that there are unending benefits of travelling during rains. The most obvious of all is that most people consider monsoon as an off season, which is why you can get bumper budget deals and less crowd during this time of the year. However, travelling during the rains may call for a solid packing list. So, what are the must-have items you should pack before travelling during rainy season?

Well, we thought it'd be great to ask some members of Tripoto's Influencers Club to tell us their favourite monsoon essentials. And guess what, we got an interesting compilation of some really handy items that can save the day for you when you're holidaying during monsoons. Let's see what each of them came up with.

1. Ishita Dharnidharka

Co-founder at a travel company | Adrenaline junkie

"My one monsoon travel essential is a good waterproof & windproof jacket. When I have this, I can confidently explore and shoot, no matter what weather throws at me."

Follow Ishita on Tripoto to go through some really compelling stories related about adventure travel.

2. Isa Khan

Travel photographer and Economics teacher | He can act, too!

"Monsoon is my favourite season to go for a trek. Everything is colourful and nature is at full bloom making everything look unimaginably beautiful.

However, one should always carry a raincoat because weather remains highly unpredictable during this season. And that's my travel essential."

Follow Isa on Tripoto and be awed by the intriguing stories behind his stunning travel pictures.

3. Saanya and Abhi

The travelling couple | Drawn to sunshine and dogs

"If we have to pick five must-pack essentials before travelling out in the rainy season, we'd pick the following:

1. A trusty windbreaker/waterproof upper. The one that folds in; it occupies less space and is quite handy!

2. A waterproof cover for my phone. It's horrible to be without connectivity and also since it's also my camera, the waterproof cover is really important for me.

3. One cannot go wrong with the trusty old bathroom slippers. Easy to maintain, simple and go with pretty much anything.

4. A good mosquito repellent. That goes without saying.

5. And ALL of this in a dry, waterproof bag."

Follow Saanya and Abhi on Tripoto to know their amazing travel stories!

4. Shraddha Gurung

Fashion blogger | Always up for a road trip

"My monsoon travel essential is a waterproof see-through pouch which is spacious enough to keep my absolute essentials. The fact that it’s see-through makes it easier to take out or put things back in without wasting any time, especially when you're out there in the rain. Being waterproof, it can save you a lot of damage when the downpour is heavy."

Follow Shraddha on Tripoto to know how to keep up with latest fashion and travel trends.

5. Vaibhav Keswani

Lifestyle blogger | He packs style whenever he travels

"My favourite monsoon travel essential would be a stylish waterproof bag, preferably a high quality PU as it looks quite like leather and very chic.

While moving around during rains, we can keep our essentials safe in it, alongside an extra pair of clothes. Moreover, this kind of classic bag just adds to the style statement".

Follow Vaibhav on Tripoto to understand what he does to maintain an awesome style quotient whenever he travels!

6. Mukul Bhatia

Author, TedX speaker, and photojournalist | A nomad at heart

"Monsoon is utterly beautiful but can really mean trouble during longer voyages, especially where you have to remain outdoors. I just arrived from Goa where the rains resulted into floods. Hair dryer, plastic bags and synthetic clothes are really a must-pack for travelling in such weather.

And even though synthetic isn't my favourite fabric, it's really functional for travels in monsoon since they dry almost instantly and do not smell after getting wet. A hair dryer is a boon not just for your hair but also for your socks, shoes, or cameras. After spending a monsoon in Meghalaya, my camera equipment worth $4,000 was corroded with humidity and destroyed despite being indoors. I carry a few polythene bags to protect sensitive gadgets; it's the easiest and most effective hack."

Follow Mukul on Tripoto to visit some really cool offbeat places through his stories.

7. Kashish Khan

A model | Travel is her ultimate dream

"Monsoon is a beautiful season, but with it comes a lot of insects willing to crawl inside your ears. I always carry cotton balls to protect my ears from them."

Follow Kashish on Tripoto to know how well she balances modelling with travelling.

8. Rahul Vangani

Travel photographer | Knows all the Instagrammable spots

"While travelling during the monsoon is a totally different feeling, it is equally challenging. For a photographer like myself, I have a lot of gadgets to carry. Therefore, I always have to take the equipment into consideration before travelling. During the rains, I make sure that I carry minimum and the right equipment.

A good and comfortable backpack which comes with a rain cover is a good starting point. Next comes a colourful rainbow umbrella. They look good in photos and help add some colour to the boring grey photos on overcast days.

Next comes the devices with which I take some photos, a smartphone and an action camera. Both being water resistant help me to get the shots irrespective of the weather. There is a good lineup of options for water resistant phones and action cameras in the market and there isn’t a better time to use them than in the monsoon."

Follow Rahul on Tripoto to get comprehensive recommendations on matters related to travel, tech, and lifestyle.

Quite interesting and useful, wasn't that? After all, we all have different choices and preferences when it comes to travel, but who would want to miss some healthy monsoon travel tips! Let us know in the comments below if you think you can add some other handy items that can help others travelling this monsoon.

Want to be featured by Tripoto? Join the Tripoto Influencers Club now!

Tripoto Influencers Club is a homegrown initiative to enable content creators and social media influencers to collaborate with us on new media campaigns. Work with Tripoto’s crew and partner brands to create unique and meaningful content. And yes, get paid for it too!

This guest post was contributed by my friend, Tanvi Surti, who spent 10 days traveling in Turkey, and is sharing her experience planning a solo trip to Turkey. Tanvi is a Product Manager at Uber by day and wannabe global traveller by night. Unfortunately most days the furthest she gets to exotic places is a weekly trip to Trader Joe's.

I spent 10 days in Turkey which I split between Istanbul, Cappadocia, Antalya and Ephesus. I had limited time and wanted to have as wide a Turkish experience as possible. Therefore, while planning my solo trip, I chose this 10 day Turkish itinerary so that I was able to have the historical, natural and cultural experiences I was looking for.

Being a tourist in Turkey in this decade is a unique experience. In recent years, the country has gone through immense modernization. Look out the window in Istanbul and you will see the skies peppered with construction cranes and streets with brands like H&M and Starbucks. At the same time, it is a deeply religious and nationalist country, with a troubled recent political past. As a tourist, you get to experience both sides of this country - the modern nightlife and food experiences, as well as the history and religiosity of a time gone by.

Here's a breakdown of everything you need to know, how to plan a solo trip to Turkey, and an itinerary for how I spent 10 days in Turkey.

Is Turkey Safe for Traveling Solo?

I was planning to spend a large part of my time in Turkey traveling solo so this was the first question I got from my family. Yes, Turkey has had a tumultuous couple of years, and being on the border with Syria does not help. However, Turkish people are respectful and welcoming, and the fact that I was traveling alone did not result in unwelcome advances. 

Here are some basic precautions I took as a woman traveling alone in Turkey:

- Avoid traveling to the East coast that is close to the border with Syria. 

- Avoid opining on politics in public spaces. Turkish are deeply nationalist people (you will see flags everywhere!) and the political environment is not amenable to political dissent. 

- Google Maps has a great location sharing feature. While I was traveling, I turned this on the entire time, so that my family had live updates of my location. 

- Keep a scarf on you. This is useful when entering religious places but also helped in scenarios where I felt that sleeveless tops might attract attention. 

- Ensure that you have pre-booked transport back and forth from airports (you don't want to haggle with taxi drivers). Also ensure you are mainly making these trips during the day time.

Planning a solo trip to Turkey: Travel itinerary for 10 days

Turkey has extreme ends of the temperature spectrum in summer and winter so the best times to visit are early summer (April to May) or late summer/fall (September to November). If you are planning to add historical sites to your visit, such as Ephesus, remember that you will be outdoors for extended periods of time without much shade so prepare to deal with temperatures in the 30s (Celsius). 

Here's how I planned my solo trip for 10 days in Turkey:

Day 1-3: Istanbul

I flew into the Ataturk airport (which is on the European side of Istanbul). The immigration process is pretty fast so I was out in no time. From the airport, I took an Uber to the hotel but Istanbul airport is also well connected by the metro which would have been a cheaper option.

- I assumed that the metro, subway and tram map in Istanbul are all the same and interconnected. But, they are not! Figure out your route in advance, or you will need to go back and forth several times like I did. 

- Secondly, be mindful of which airport you are taking domestic flights from because Istanbul has two airports and they are over an hour away from one another. 

- Lastly, some parts of Istanbul, especially around Taksim square, are closed off to vehicular traffic. So, wear sensible shoes and prepare to have to drag your suitcases a few 100 meters on cobbled streets.

Day 3-5: Cappadocia

From the Istanbul Gokcen airport (on the Asian side), we flew a domestic flight to Kayseri airport which is the closest airport to Cappadocia. Have your hotel book you a spot on the shuttle at the airport because it is a long drive to the villages of Cappadocia (1 hour). It cost me ~USD 14 to reserve my spot in the shuttle.

Day 5-7: Antalya

Back to the Kayseri airport, and the next stop was coastal Antalya. Antalya is a mid-sized city and has a domestic airport so you can easily take a local taxi. However, note that there are some parts of the city that are closed off to the taxis.

Day 8: Ephesus

Fly into Izmir airport to get to Ephesus, and once again settle in for a long drive. Also book in advance! I booked a private taxi for this leg which cost me USD 50 one way. It is also possible to get a spot on a shuttle or take a train into Izmir.

Day 9-10: Istanbul

I landed back in Istanbul and then flew out of the Ataturk airport via Air France that stopped in Paris.

If you have more than 10 days in Turkey

I considered these alternatives for my itinerary that would have made the cut if I had more time: Greece (neighboring Turkey and is a cheap flight away), Pamukkale (for thermal springs), Konya (birthplace of Sufi philosophy), and islands along the Turquoise coast on the south of Turkey.

Here's a more detailed travel itinerary for how to spend 10 days in Turkey.

Planning and logistics:

Visa: If your passport requires a Turkish visa, you can get one pretty quickly online . 

Flights: Domestic flights are super cheap! Fly Peagasus or Sun Express between cities in Turkey for ~USD 30. I only booked 5 days in advance, so there's no rush to book domestic flights beforehand. 

Hotels: Your options for accommodation in Turkey range from high-end hotels, to USD 30/night hostels to swanky Airbnbs. My recommendation is to stick with hotels and hostels in tourist spots like Cappadocia and Ephesus. Choose an Airbnb or hotel in cities like Istanbul. 

Taxis: If you are traveling to a major city like Ankara, taxis should be no problem. However, if you have a long commute ahead of you, and don't want to be ripped off by a local cab, you can book a private shuttle. Turkey has a lot of private shuttle services that will pick up at the airport and drop off. Just book in advance! 

Activities: Pre-identify and book these in advance. I had loosely planned my basic activities in each location and had called ahead to make reservations since most activities you might want to do won't have an online booking system. 

Guide book: I relied on Lonely Planet's comprehensive Turkey guide to plan my trip. It was a great source of off-the-beaten-path locations!

Turkey fast facts:

Currency: The local currency is Turkish lira but everywhere you go in Turkey, you will find the Euro is widely accepted. Credit cards are pretty common in cities like Istanbul and Antalya, but keep cash on you just in case. 

Clothing: Locals do not dress conservatively by any means, but be respectful of dressing requirements in religious places. 

Language: In Istanbul, English is spoken pretty widely. But as you travel outside Istanbul, the language barrier becomes more prominent. I used Microsoft Translator and its offline language packs for Turkish to translate when I needed it.

Read more: A detailed itinerary of how I spent 10 days in Turkey and what to do in each city. 

I woke up to heavy snowfall in a misty tent pitched on a mountain rock by a frozen river. It was 7:30am and unaware of my tent mates consciousness I mumbled to myself ‘I officially graduate today’.

An ultra drowsy and possibly involuntary ‘congratulations’ came from the sleeping bag next to me.

That’s all the graduation I got for a strenuous five year-long architecture course that I practically scraped my way through.

I was hella excited about finally doing the Chadar trek that my parents gifted me in return of a pleasant surprise that I gave them. My passing certificate.

But, 3840m above and precisely 2322 kms away from my graduation venue, I was battling a question inside me.

Is it worth it?

Later that day…

I think so :D

Reasons why:

1.)Co-incidences-

On my first day in Leh, I decided to go solo to the market for some vlogging. As a blogger, I’m really into culture and people. So you can only imagine how ecstatic I was when I found out that we were right in time for the first Ladakhi festival of the year. The Dosmoche festival.

The unruly cold was taken over by vitality of the mettlesome streets of Leh Market filled with more than half the population of Ladakh. The festival celebrated in the Leh palace extended to the entire stretch of the Leh market with shopkeepers throwing crazy discounts.

Super trendy clothing, Arcades game, cultural gigs and live food counters all lined the streets of Leh market. Vibrant ‘manes’ (prayer wheels) and the sound of puerile laughter dotted the streetscapes. There was so much to capture and so much to see, I made a whole separate episode for it.

Here is it

2.) I had ideal company; knuckleheads

I was very careful while choosing a tour operator because I had had the worst experience with four-zero forty people on my previous trek to Roopkund. So I chose Bikat that closed their groups at 15 and I was happy

Until one day at office,

I found out that I was the only girl in the group. The whatsapp group was an instant downer.

My real challenge shifted from surviving in -30degrees to surviving a testosterone maelstrom.It was only after I met everyone at the beautiful Muskaan Villa and they laughed at my jokes, I felt better.

The best part about travelling in a small group was there were no groups. We all enjoyed each others’ company and had become good friends.

Some of the best memories I can recall, all involve me terrorizing the surroundings with eerie echoes of my laughter.

Six of us had developed a ritual to play games after dinner in B’s ‘host’ tent. A range of games were played from David’s no-name game that we named Duno, to ‘donkey’ ,whose rules could only be recited by Mohan, to dum-sharades.

One night while playing Sharades, I got a movie which I thought was cake walk. With a ‘lady-please’ smirk I indicated the 6 word movie and acted out the 6th word by pointing at a button. I sincerely thought my team would get it but after 15 minutes of getting nowhere even close to the title, a God-sent voice came from the adjoining tent. ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’.

.

.

*crickets*

.

.

Here I was, sitting in a two man tent, with a team of IIT graduates. While, our trek leader who was trying to sleep in the adjoining tent guessed the movie from underneath his sleeping bag.

I could go on about the memories at the same speed they’re running in my head but I don’t think it’s the right time to talk about how we taught David, a Swiss national, the correct way of greeting his friends in India. (Swear words because,OBVIOUSLY)

3.) Expected the Unexpected

2nd February batch was the last batch of Chadar for most tour operators and all possible speculations were made as to why the timings were bad. ‘Chadar is melting’ ‘winds are crazy’, ‘heavy snowfall’ ‘alot of people are starting to come back half way’

I knew I was with people that weren’t gonna rest until Zanskar was starting to swallow us. So off we were.

Now I’m a woman used to changing landscapes and stellar views of unnamed mountains and meadows. However at Chadar, there’s you, there’s ice and theres two sides of rugged rock walls. I got a little bored on the first day until the weather took it upon itself to change my mind.

The second day brought with it mild snowfall which was supposed to reduce slipping but somehow I managed to fall about 4 times in addition to the 5 times on the first day. The third day brought heavy snowfall and the possibility of having to put aside our Nerak waterfall dreams and run for our lives.

By now I had fallen so many times that it had become a part of my locomotive pattern.

I stopped feeling pain until I reached the campsite. Remarks around me changed from ‘OMG are you ok?’ to ‘Again? Seriously?’ while waking past my Chadar-borne figure.

The third day was when we were gonna witness the Nerak waterfalls. We left our campsite with very low hopes after Gautam gave us a unpleasant heads up because of fatal weather conditions.

Knee deep water, 5 feet visibility, 24km stretch, the sight of trekking groups turning back around and alot of anticipation finally brought us to a sight meant to bless our eyes. We had made it to Nerak. From all the people that we left with, it seemed from the photography rush that only half of us had made it.

After the trek ended, I strayed away from an intense group discussion about a party in Leh, to a beautiful spot by the turquoise waters of the Zanskar River. Took a minute to myself as I stared at the flowing river amidst the failing sheet of ice. Was it worth it?

I think so :D