heartbeat of the road
South to North, rural India, conventional-unconventional, Woolf, the cost of Reliance's Wildlife Ambitions, and pictures
Dear Reader,
Thank you for joining me. I hope your week has started well.
In the last newsletter, I narrated my partner’s and my ongoing journey from the South of India to the North where my parents live. We have been traveling extensively, exploring many of the destinations we wanted to see. Every day of our trip—from Kerala, then into Tamil Nadu, to Karnataka, and now into Maharashtra—has been amazing.
I have taken every day in, opening my arms to the open roads, letting the sun scorch me and the wind blow my hair. I’m driving, seeing, listening, talking, eating, reading, writing, and consciously trying to be available to every moment.
When my partner drives, I watch the fields fringing the highway racing away from us. My senses get all of it—the onion farms being harvested, cotton growing all white all over the miles, juicy oranges and figs piled up in baskets, cardboard boxes of back and green tiny grapes fermenting in the sun, their sun-scorched farmers desperate to sell and go home, orange trees dotted with the bright juicy fruit that makes my mouth water, pomegranate bushes sparkling red, husked rice and ragi piled upon the sides that I did not inspect up close and now I want to, miles of fragrant eucalyptus, pine, mango, and tamarind trees, green stalks of onion plants spread like green fountains over the earth, the neon blades of paddy swinging with the wind, huge pyramids of red and yellow corn cobs lying about in the fields, sugarcane and coconuts, jackfruits and grapefruit. Everything I have seen. Many fruits I have stolen—running up to the farm, taking a few, and sprinting back to the car. And so much I still have to understand.
All of this I need to know. I need to know my country, any country, to write about it. To write about a farmer from thought and to write about her while seeing her sweat in her colorful sari, bent over her cauliflower plants, are two things as different as the sun and the sky.
Earlier when I was studying and working in corporate, I was learning through a system that told me what was important. I didn’t choose to focus on what mattered to me. I was not reading literature. I didn’t see much drama and theatre or pursue other arts (I did write from time to time).
I looked at the daily as a means to an end, rather than being an end in itself.
I was desperate to find my path. So there was a six to seven-year-long exploration of other methods, professions, and ways of life before I quit my corporate career and shifted to a life of writing.
Here, this might be interesting: Thinking of a Career Change at 30? I Quit My Job, Too
Then it began.
Since then, I have been learning by the way of life, by meeting new people, old people, and people I had crossed before, I see them change, I am helped by different staff every day, I deal with various kinds of humans daily, they tell me lies and truths, I listen, I doubt. I judge them, I believe them, I get angry at them, I smile at them, and sometimes, I am befooled by them in ways I had not imagined. I let go and I hold on. I rethink the same things, I stop thinking.
I take responsibility for my choices. The journey makes me let go. It demands my attention, forces me to focus on the now, and makes me move ahead.
For now, the road is my guru, my teacher.
Even though I have hoards of writing waiting upon me to be published, I am trying to stay away from the guilt of being able to do only so much on the go. And I shouldn’t forget these travels are giving me unforgettable tales—so much of the writing is direct narrations of the adventures and the rest is being shaped by an ever-changing itinerant writer, that is me.
As Virginia Woolf said about her early diaries (I'm reading her entire collection),
at different times, & in different moods it is written, & I am certain that if I imposed any other conditions upon myself it would never be written at all.
I ought to do my thing, what I believe in, and live the way I want and deem right, rather than the standards.
We can create the life we imagine for ourselves, rather than choosing from the available options.
And I won’t lie. The difficulties of the road sometimes make me yearn for a conventional life.
As Woolf said in one of her later year diaries, “I wish one liked what everyone likes.”
All of the last three years since we have been on the road in India without a home to go back to have provided me with a bounty of knowledge, experiences, and truth. I shouldn’t be anything else but thankful.
Now we have reached as far as Maharashtra, a western central state in India. Soon we would see the Ajanta and Ellora Caves, dating as far back as 400 BCE.
I am looking forward to a few more days and then to be at my parent’s home, at least for a week or so.
Then who knows where the road might take us? What I do know is that we would slow down, choosing one place to stay for at least a couple of months. Please let me know if you have any ideas for houses to live in—either in India or outside. Green, quiet, and kitchen are the main priorities.
And you? How are you learning every day?
For this week’s letter,
Some of my writing,
quotes I love,
things to read,
things to watch,
and
travel tips.
Articles From the Past,
as I am reading Virginia Woolf again,
Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own — A Meditation on Writing and Life
Lessons on writing and life that Woolf was so benevolent in sharing with us in her seminal essay “A Room of One’s Own.”
Read the meditation now. Or Pocket it for later.
as I’m asking a lot of questions every day,
77 Deep Questions About Life [And My Answers]
Questions I have asked myself over the years and my answers to them.
Read the questions now. Or Pocket them for later.
Quotes I Love
“I thought how happy I was, without any of the excitements which, once, seemed to me to constitute happiness.”
Virginia Woolf
so many things I do not see, but when I do see them, they are as clear as shards of light piercing in through a window. I trust that light has always been there.
Yours Truly
What I’ve Been Reading
I’ve been reading short stories, books, articles, and so much more. I can’t possibly list all what I have read in the past week so I’m putting down the things I found most relevant and worthwhile.
A must read: The costs of Reliance’s wildlife ambitions
As the writer and historian Ramachandra Guha said—”This is an important story, which needs to be widely read, discussed, and acted upon.” I also suggest and insist everyone to read the article.
The piece details and summarises how and when more than 1000 elephants and more than 300 large cats—amongst 3000 herbivores, such as deer; over 1200 reptiles, including crocodiles, snakes and turtles; and a huge number of birds—were brought to Ambani’s private land adjoining a petrochemical complex where the family’s latest marriage function was conducted with the animals available for show and to be petted (the article has pictures which prove that). The thoroughly-researched article raises red alarms about the humungous and unprecedented transfers of wild animals from all over the world. How many of these animals are brought to the private collection for protection and refuge—as India’s richest family claims—and how many for the whims and fancies of the rich Ambani son?
This story makes me more hopeless in the world than ever. So, here I am, encouraging everyone to read, to see the facts, and separate the truth from the fake narratives.
"India has to reckon with the full costs of this effort, which has brought huge numbers of wildlife to an enormous, privately-owned petrochemical complex, where the Ambanis can even use these animals as the backdrop for a party."
Led by Anant Ambani and supported by the Indian government, Reliance’s effort to shelter abused elephants has transmuted into an enormous wildlife centre—raising concerns over the sourcing of some animals as well as over India’s wildlife management
But were all the 3889 birds and animals from 134 species that Greens reported having as of March 2023 – up from 1873 in 2021–22 and 68 in 2020–21 – in extremis?
I have also been reading A Fork in the Road : Tales of Food, Pleasure and Discovery On The Road by Lonely Planet—The travel stories in the collection are centred around food and are hilarious, honest, and delightfully dig deep into the local food.
Also obviously, the entire collection of Virginia Woolf. Some might say her works are hard to read. I will say if you want to do any kind of writing, you can’t skip Woolf.
A brilliant article in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) which I subscribed to years ago by a matter of chance. NEJM’s weekend newsletter is more of a use to the medical industry. But, as I said earlier, some medical cases written out as stories are delightful to read. They hold my eyelids open to reality and teach me a lot about the vulnerabilities of this one precious life.
What I Do Not Tell the Medical Student by Erica Andrist, M.D., M.B.E.— the story of an experienced doctor about how the senior doctors project a sense of calm and that things are under control when they might not necessarily feel so.
What do we tell medical students who are wowed by senior physicians’ power and control over patients’ conditions and outcomes when we know this power and control are largely illusory?
To access the piece, create an account on NEJM or login with Google. You are allowed two free articles every month.
What I’ve Been Watching/Listening
that’s worth mentioning
the heartbeat of the road
And for all adventure lovers!
Sharing pictures from the past couple of weeks
Thank you for reading.
I hope you have a beautiful week ahead, hope you can perch up on trees as well :)
Let me know what you think about this letter. Press reply.
Yours,
Priyanka
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