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The Signs Were Always There

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Death is, perhaps, the ultimate answer to all the questions of life, the one reality no one can dodge. Ivan Ilyich learned it in a hard and excruciating way, and for me, it was going to be quite easy. But why, all of a sudden, am I trying to sound so philosophical? Well, because that is exactly what I felt the moment I was face to face with it. Going down the hill from Bhadraj Temple, the roads were absolutely pathetic covered with potholes, steel frames generally concealed under material to provide structure to the path were openly exposed. Add to that nearly 8,000 feet of elevation, a rented scooter around ten years old, and a brake that was screaming to fail. What would one get? Recipe for a huge disaster. The speed was around 50 km/h, and the slope might have pushed it further up by 10 km/h. Then, all of a sudden, a hairpin bend came. I tried to turn the handle in the right direction, but to my horror, the upper body of the scooter was stuck. I frantically tried braking, but to a...
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A Slightly Off-Key Beginning

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Has it ever happened to you that a trip feels unreal right from the start? A strange sensation in your stomach—an uneasiness about whether you’ll be able to live up to what you’ve already romanticised about a place. If yes, then you’ll probably relate to this trip of mine. I was on a solo backpacking trip to Uttarakhand—my first time travelling out of state almost alone. I was unusually nervous about Mussoorie, with a persistent gut feeling that after the amazing four days in Rishikesh, it simply wouldn’t be able to outdo it. Hesitantly, I said goodbye to the sere ne Ganges of the city—a place that became pivotal to the collaboration between Indian classical maestro Pt. Ravi Shankar and Western rock sensation The Beatles, giving birth to the iconic “East meets West” phrase—and headed off toward the chaos of Dehra. I caught a bus from Rishikesh to Dehradun around 8:30–9 AM, already irritated after getting fleeced by a rickshaw driver for a distance barely worth mentioning. I reached Deh...
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