Sameness is an emotion.
I’ve toyed many times with the idea of tethering myself.
It’s 8:03 am on a weekday morning, and I’ve pulled myself out of my warm bed to start the day. Outside, the sun has just risen above the mountains, bathing the landscape and my writing desk in its warm morning glow. I’ve savored many such mornings since we moved to Himachal Pradesh almost 1.5 years ago, and even missed them while travelling in Morocco and Peru.
But standing on the balcony, sipping green tea that was grown just a few kilometers away, I feel an emotion I’ve come to dread. It is triggered when I least expect it - during the simple act of heating food, or leaving home to go on a walk, or tucking into bed to read a book before sleeping. That emotion is “sameness.” Come to think of it, I’m not even sure if it qualifies as an emotion. It’s the feeling of running around in circles, getting nowhere.
It’s not that my days here are all the same. There is always something to feel joyful about: long walks, blazing mountain sunsets, basketball on a public court, delicious lunch at a local dhaba, new stories of this familiar land, vegan croissants at a nearby bakery!
But it’s the knowledge that I have the choice to pick up and leave anytime. Having tasted the freedom of living out of two bags, and chasing epic experiences around the world, I’m constantly aware that there is more out there. When the “sameness” is triggered by mundane everyday acts, I wonder what I’m doing here and how much longer I’ll stay.
When my neighbors are too loud in the morning, or the screeching of kids enters my window on an otherwise tranquil afternoon, or I see locals burning their trash in the open, the first thought that enters my head is, why am I even here?
I’ve toyed many times with the idea of tethering myself, so I feel like I have a reason to stay. We considered leasing land to build a place to call our own. I tried to get a tourism initiative with local women off the ground. I’m still dreaming of renting an old mud house and setting it up as a writing abode. But doubt always creeps in.
Isn’t laying some roots a sure shot way of caging myself? But won’t a rootless existence forever feel restless?
December recommendations
Conscious travel recommendations, eco-friendly finds and meaningful opportunities, as well as articles, books and films that’ve inspired me.
Read:
Is it crazy that our school education hasn’t evolved to keep up with the most pressing issues of today? That we’re still asking kids to cram equations when our planet is on fire? These questions have been playing on my mind ever since I read the new World Bank report on how only 1.5% of climate finance is going into the education sector - and what we need to do about it.
I had a dull streak with books the last few weeks. First I read the depressing ‘Yawar Fiesta’ by Peruvian author Jose Maria Arguedas, on the Spanish colonization of Indigenous communities in Peru. Then ‘Love in the Time of Cholera’ by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, which was rooted in misogyny and normalized sexual assault of an underage kid, leaving me with the question: Who decides what’s a classic?! For your December reading, pick instead from one of my favorite unlikely travel books by local authors.
Travel:
After returning from Peru in late September, I’ve been at “home” in Himachal, observing the seasons change from summer to autumn with a false spring. Overnight, my backyard exploded with pinkish cherry blossoms (yes!) - a local variety of wild cherry trees called pajje. We went on long hikes to remote and sometimes abandoned mountain villages, spotting clusters of trees in wild pink bloom!
I’m not a fan of travelling during the holiday season in December when things are more expensive and crowded, but if you must travel, go off-the-beaten-path in the mountains, with my recommendations for heritage stays, women-led treks, organic farmsteads and self-sufficient villages.
Watch:
Saudi Arabia’s entry to the Academy Awards, Barakah Meets Barakah (on Netflix), is everything I didn’t expect from a Saudi Arabian film. It’s about two people trying to date under the watchful eye of a conservative society. It’s humorously rooted in a reality we can all identify with, atleast a little bit.
I had the chance to shoot a short documentary film in Peru’s Sacred Valley, where community-led social enterprises in the travel space are challenging convention, preserving tradition, and creating new opportunities for Indigenous women. This is part 3 of my Youtube series Routes of Resilience, which features community-focused and gender-responsive climate resilience solutions from the lens of travel.
Check out:
Last month, I was invited on the The Tourism Reset podcast, to chat with Rebecca Woolford about slow travel, passport privilege, community tourism and more. Grab some tea, and hear it on Spotify or Apple Podcast.
We’ve launched a new monthly email newsletter at The Shooting Star Academy, full of tips, inspiration, case studies and exclusive offers for purpose-driven travel creators. Read the first issue, on Instagram, Mindful Growth and Creators Worth Following.
The more I’ve travelled in rural India, the more I’ve realized that women are constrained by a severe lack of options after school - especially the lack of education that enables them to develop skills to build a real career. That’s why I absolutely love the work Sajhe Sapne does - with their 1 year coding, management and teaching tracks for rural women, and a goal to ensure all their graduates secure jobs with real career progression. I’ve visited their Himachal campus, hung out with their teachers, and met their graduates, some of who are entrepreneurs with their own coding company! They now dream of taking Sajhe Sapne to the villages of Bundelkhand, where gender inequality is more evident than many parts of India. They need 3000 people to contribute ₹2000 each (or whatever you’re able to) to make this happen. Please support this dream, and share it with your networks.
My stories elsewhere
Stories I’ve written recently, as well as social media posts I’d love for you to check out.
Freelance:
For the November inflight magazine of Air India, I wrote about an incredibly creative, desert-inspired, Indigenous-owned restaurant in the middle of Chile’s Atacama Desert. If you find yourself on one of their flights soon, have a read!
(PS: I’m not a fan of the final edit which I didn’t see before publishing, but it gets the idea across.)
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