Guinea Pig Tale

It was supposed to be a small stopover. 15 minutes at the Sanchi Stupa, and then we would back on track to Jabalpur. But as it often happens, it is the detours we take in trips, and in life that turn out to be the most surprising. It was by chance that we decided to visit the Sanchi Stupa during our road journey from Bhopal to Jabalpur. Our driver mentioned in passing that it was on the way, and so we stopped and bought the tickets. We walked a few meters and there it was - India's largest Buddhist monument. It might sound intimidating when I say it like that, but our sense of wonder was for different reasons. We had reached here early in the morning, just a while after sun rise. Throughout the journey from Bhopal, the rain had been relentless. But just as we reached here, the rain stopped. The stupas here were built on a hill so that the monks could lead a peaceful monastic life. Since it is a World Heritage site, the place has been left untouched by constructi

This post was written today morning when flying from Mumbai to Bhopal on a 5.30 am flight. I'm flying on a bed of clouds. The clouds are just endless in the monsoon. At some places, they look like mattresses. I see it and I just want to jump off. At others, they're wispier. Like the cotton they use to dress wounds. At some places, you can see gaps - and through the gaps, more clouds underneath. There are moments when the fog obstructs the view and plays tricks on your mind. At night, the shifting fog on Mumbai's cityscape made it look like lights getting switched on whenever it moved. Now, at dawn, the fog is moving at an alarming speed and that's when I realize how fast an aircraft is. I have no idea what's on the ground. Rivers, valleys, ravines - can't tell at all. We're too high up and there are too many clouds. We kept shifting between layers of clouds. Floor 1, floor 2, floor 3 - how many floors of clouds are there? At times, between floors,