relishing the daily
wild peacocks, light at the end of the tunnel, Pondicherry family, finding our pleasures, blinding faith, night and day, and food.
Dear Reader,
Thank you for joining me. I hope you are having a joyful week.
It’s been a couple of weeks since I sent this letter so here I am, in happiness and excitement.
A lot has happened since the last newsletter. As I said before, I moved out of a two-month home in Siliguri town in West Bengal. From there — though it was unplanned — we stayed in a tea estate and in the town Kalimpong at the foothills of Himalayas for a few days.
While walking towards the wild forests beyond the tea estate, I surprised dozens of peacocks pecking amongst the tea plants. They flew away when I was still ten-fifteen feet away and didn’t know of their presence. But in their escape, the birds gave me the pleasure of watching a flock of flying peacocks who then perched on a tall dry jungle tree moving closer to its trunks with my every step. I wandered around those forests for two days and they deserve an independent post.
And this is the wild way. Deviating from the perfect two-kilometre main path laid out for visitors, I found treasure.
But as everything was expensive and busy in those parts of Bengal, we drove further into Sikkim — the state of the eastern Himalayas. Here every day I eat a new thali: a set menu, walk up and down the steep mountainous roads, and write in hotel rooms. It is a pretty engaging life at the moment that is providing me exactly what I need: a room to write without having to clean or do laundry, food that just appears on my table and replenishes me, and enough newness in the daily that cocooning up to write brings pleasure not loneliness. All of us adults who shoulder both work and domesticity would appreciate this automation of chores and cooking and so on, as I am doing.
But all the journeys come with their own difficulties.
I found this entry dated Feb 16 in my writing journal that would make sense here.
Every interaction had been teaching me something. Nothing of what goes through my mind right now is so important, the real joy is in doing. This hotel is great, there is nothing to worry about. Ever, anywhere. There is always light at the end of the tunnel. So cliched a statement and hence so taken for granted and so ignored. But we can’t forever be in a tunnel, that is just simple Physics. If you want to play check-mate — that you give me a negative answer for every positive thought or idea I muster — then there is no hope. But if you are ready to be proven wrong — to accept the possibility that out of the dark you are bound to appear into light — then we can do something, anything, everything.
As I travel to unknown places and meet strangers every day who may or may not be good with me, sometimes I feel I have been surrounded by all sides, that everyone is out to get me, and I become serious. But I don’t have to be. If we can still see the temporariness and humour in this all then it is all so much easier.
So what if someone was rude, judgmental, or inconsiderate? No one is safe from bad experiences. And there is a world outside ours that still lives and laughs and gleams.
like this table of food.
a set menu — a simple vegetarian thali — here in Sikkim. With two vegetables and dal and three different kind of pickles you see in little closed jars. It is amazing to get this sumptuous meal that is not only nourishing but also tasty in simple cafes all around. Perfect for budget travellers, but also for those who love homely food.
Do you let yourself be burdened by difficulties or you keep staring at the silver lining?
For this week’s letter,
Some of my writing,
quotes I love,
things to read,
things to watch,
and
travel tips.
Articles of the Week
The Big Lessons a Little Family in Pondicherry Taught Me
About a small fish-eating, chicken-cuddling Pondicherry family that in its being taught me important lessons on love, peace, and their power.
Read the story now. Or Pocket it for later.
A Joyful Meander Over a Must-Do Himalayan Hike: Finding Our Own Pleasures
The story of a day when I learned that we don’t always have to make it to the destination as quickly as possible, irrespective of how much others insist us or even if they rush to the top. Sometimes it is enough, and perhaps the right choice, to meander around.
Read about wandering around Himachal’s Rohanda village instead of hiking to a temple summit now. Or Pocket for the weekend.
Quotes I Love
“You should belief that what you are doing has the potential to be really good.”
Javed Akhtar
“We can all affect each other, by being open enough to make each other feel less alienated.”
David Wojnarowicz
“Of course I have to pay the people who pose. Not very much, but because it's an everyday occurrence it will be one more expense as long as I fail to sell any drawings.
But because it's only rarely that a figure is a total failure, it seems to me that the cost of models will be completely recouped fairly soon already.
For there's also something to be earned in this day and age for someone who has learned to seize a figure and hold on to it until it stands firmly on the paper.”
Vincent van Gogh
If I show irritation or scorn to the one who has performed badly, then she is left behind without any reason or encouragement to better herself. In fact, I am snatching away her last hope of improvement.
But what if I let go of the past and smile at her anew, hoping this time she would be better? And then I do that again and again?
What is the worse that can happen? Perhaps she would think I don’t mind and would keep behaving poorly putting no effort in her labour. But what if, and this what if is the one that matters the most, seeing my faith and frankness, just when she thought it should all be given up and that life is the worst and so on, she regains trust in herself to try just one more time — and she does this all these many times.
Simple mathematics say that even if all her trials are just infinitesimally better than the previous ones, she would still be growing exponentially.
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.
Beautiful reads from the week,
Night and Day by Virginia Woolf — This is of course a heavy novel and it took me about three weeks to finish. But like all Woolf’s novel, the book is indispensable in its presentation of common lives, their joys, struggles, desires, conflicts, and ideas. It was also so interesting to read because during the years the novel unfurled, unmarried woman in England seemed to have as many restrictions as we still see being imposed on them in India. How’s one to deal with them, what conflicts raises in the woman’s heart, and how the external reacts to her decisions was cathartic to read from as great a writer as Woolf’s pen.
Night and Day is a hard read, but given a price has to be paid to procure all good things, the cost still isn’t much.
What Role Do You Play in Your Relationships by the School of Life — A must-read on the three roles adults assume in a romantic relationship.
What Does Offbeat Mean by Jodi from Legal Nomads
When people write me to ask for isolated places, I do send them a list. But I also suggest that they remain open to the panoply of human interactions as they move through their days.
What I’ve Been Watching/Listening
that’s worth mentioning
I watched Drishyam, a thrilling movie that shows that one should be brave, and instead of hiding from the harmful, keep an eye out for it all. So we are not caught in surprise and unsure of what to do when the difficulty comes. And that some things are better kept in our own mind and not shared at all. What great entertainment!
And for all my Wanderlusters
Today’s theme seems to be food because I have all these food pictures to share.
An Odia thali (from Orisha) I had the good fortune to eat while crossing Bhubaneshwar last year while on a road trip from Pondicherry to Kolkata. Fish, dal, mango curry, and bitter gourd.
Rajasthani food and its makers at their best. I took these photos in the Pushkar cattle fair and around Pushkar's streets years ago. But my best meal was the chapati made on wood-fired chulha in a neighbourhood home by a kind woman. I ate four. Of course, I don't have the pictures.
now these are slugs I clicked in Himachal Pradesh last year in 2021. No, they are not to be eaten, but they are really pretty to stare at. It is amazing what we can find once we step out and look.
A sumptuous Nepali thali in Sikkim. And yes, also the vegetable thukpa and the local beer HIT. We got this at a small Gorkha hotel. It was a delicious meal enough to keep me satiated for the whole day. One can refill rice, dal, and vegetables, unlike the big places.
And that’s it for now.
Thank you for reading.
I hope you have a great rest of the week. Hope you can relish the daily :)
Let me know what you think about this newsletter. Just press reply.
Yours,
Priyanka
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