A Tenant of a Tent

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‘Stay home. Stay safe.’ is the tagline for 2021. Undoubtedly, the safest place right now is our home. However, I cannot help but think of another safe place—a tent. Call me a dreamer, but this is the home that I look forward to going to soon.

A tent is a home.

Kedartal trek

It is not nylon, polyester and canvas against bricks, stones and cement. A tent offers a roof where no house can stand.

Mt. Thalaysagar: the peak in the center
Morning view: Thalaysagar peak

It reminds me of snuggling in a sleeping bag in the freezing Himalayan nights of June. I know how cold crawls under layers of clothing if you sleep near the entrance of a cloth tent that is laced shut. I have heard the gush of winds, howl of snowstorms, foot-stomping of wild horses, snarls of animals and even cries of a helpless one outside my tent.

A tent may look nothing luxurious, but at 16,000ft, it could be the home that keeps you alive.

En route, SarPass trek
Nagaru camp, 12,500ft, SarPass trek
If you did not notice how clouds changed the landscape, scroll up and then down again.

Multifunctional! Use it as You Like

  • A tent could be a kitchen where two cooks prepare mattar paneer and rava halwa.
  • It could be a dining area—lit with head torches on a scary night under a heavy thunderstorm—alive, warm and a witness to a game of Antakshari.
  • It could even be a toilet with a tissue role hanging by a thin strip and a fly-infested pit for morning business.
Dreamy snowfall at Kedarkharak camp, 14,009ft, Kedartal trek
River Arkavathi from Bilwa Fishing Hut, Savandurga, Karnataka
The Savandurga peak from the other side of the Arkavathi river


Impressive, From the Door to the Décor

Youth Hostel Association of India (YHAI) Base camp, Kasol, Himachal Pradesh
Bhandak Thatch camp, 8000ft, SarPass trek

Your backpack is your pillow and the sleeping bag a cocoon to get packed into. Only your eyes stay uncovered—exposed to excessive lucid dreaming, something that you cannot avoid at 12,000ft or more—like you are awake every minute, thinking of sleep.

Kedartal trek

Your alarm clock is your leader screaming at the imaginary porch, beating his hand against the canvas. Your bloated tummy gives you the right motivation to get out of the sleeping bag, though it is nothing less that a Herculean task with little sleep from the previous night.

Right before a snowstorm, Kedartal

Its doors, when unzipped, offer a stunning view of mountains or land ending in a deep ditch. A sudden brightness and your eyes squint for a second. Step out, and you touch grass, snow, maybe muck or puddles if it rained the previous night.

Morning view, Gandikota
Gandikota, the Grand Canyon of India

Come night, and you get a splendid view of the Milky Way or maybe the moon shining in its full glory—it catches you breathless.

Beskari camp, 11,000ft, SarPass trek


As a traveller with a mountain to climb, a river to cross, a bridge to pass, a grassland to see, some snow to slide on and a journey to finish, I am just a temporary tenant of a tent, and it is a privilege to live in one.

The Tragic Comedy In Bodhgaya, Bihar: Best Friend’s Wedding Part 1

Gaya Junction is a small station that is a part of Eastern Railway zone of India. Like any other railways platform in India, we envisaged it to be brimming with people, walking to and fro and waiting eagerly for their trains. The station was unexpectedly both clean and empty in the early morning hours when we arrived.

Know how to reach from Bangalore To Gaya, via the second largest city of India, Kolkata.

gaya junction1

Our friend’s brother had come to receive us at the station. Miss Annu, the bride and our best friend Continue reading

The Old Lady In Blue Sari

I was walking back home from the bus stand. A long day I must say, plus the honks of traffic and the bustle of the vehicles clearly didn’t make things any better.

On the way, I saw an old lady walking ahead of me. Bend over with age she carried a jute bag full of clothes. A polythene with a few Parle G biscuits hung loosely from her fingers. She wore a blue sari wrapped shabbily around her petite frame. With her ragged, white hair spread carelessly on her tiny head and her hunched debilitating body, Continue reading