Short, first-person pieces set in the places our books walk through. Each takes a few minutes to read. Then follow it into its book.
28 stories · 3 books
Start hereA clearly fictionalized reflection on the limits of treating Kasol as the whole of Parvati Valley.
“Kasol answered the questions I brought. The villages past it asked better ones.”
Parvati Valley2 min read
Read the story
From the book · 10 stories
A clearly fictionalized reflection on the limits of treating Kasol as the whole of Parvati Valley.
Fictionalized editorial composite: no real traveller, visit, interview, character or conversation is represented.
Parvati Valley2 min read
A fictionalized reflection about failure and travel, not a report of real travellers or events.
Fictionalized editorial composite: the travellers, visit, local characters and conversations are invented, not reported.
Kasol2 min read
I train bodies for a living and thought the climb would be easy. It was. Sitting still in the hot spring after, with my father's stents on my mind, was not.
a gym trainer from Ludhiana, 33, six weeks after his father's bypass
Parvati Valley2 min read
I went to Tosh expecting a trek. I left thinking about a laminated menu with three cuisines on it, and what that actually says about a place.
a Yatri Reflection: an editorial composite representing a traveller's perspective, not a transcript of one verified interview
Tosh, Parvati Valley2 min read
I came to Kalga for a weekend to escape deadlines. By the third day I had stopped counting how many messages were waiting for me, which had never happened before in my adult life.
a Yatri Reflection: an editorial composite representing an Indian traveller's perspective, not a transcript of one verified interview
Kalga, Parvati Valley2 min read
A fictionalized reflection on langar and pilgrimage at Manikaran, not a report of a real visit or interview.
Fictionalized editorial composite: the narrator, visit, pilgrim and conversations are invented, not reported.
Manikaran, Parvati Valley2 min read
I carried a bottle of rum up to Grahan out of habit. I carried it back down unopened, and felt strange about how easy that decision turned out to be.
a Yatri Reflection: an editorial composite representing a traveller's perspective, not a transcript of one verified interview
Grahan, Parvati Valley2 min read
I moved my laptop to Pulga for a month, told everyone it was for the connectivity. The waterfall outside my window did most of the actual convincing.
a Yatri Reflection: an editorial composite representing a remote worker's perspective, not a transcript of one verified interview
Pulga, Parvati Valley2 min read
I planned a short detour on my way through Himachal. Kalga had other plans, and I am still not entirely sure how I let it win.
a Yatri Reflection: an editorial composite representing a foreign traveller's perspective, not a transcript of one verified interview
Kalga, Parvati Valley2 min read
Our guide told the Alexander story like scripture on the way up to Malana. On the way down, I asked him a different question, and got a much more honest answer.
a Yatri Reflection: an editorial composite representing a traveller's perspective, not a transcript of one verified interview
Malana, Parvati Valley2 min read
From the book · 3 stories
I audit accounts for a living. Then I stood at a lake that has kept perfect books for five hundred years, and I owed it one entry.
a chartered accountant from Mandi, 45, settling an old promise
Rohanda, Mandi District2 min read
Everyone asked what I was doing with my life. I went where the nights are longest and learned to answer slowly, beside a bukhari stove.
a 23-year-old who left engineering in the third year
Above Manali2 min read
When the temperature in Delhi hits 45°C, the soul of Manali begins to suffocate under a sea of white number plates and honking horns.
Above Manali2 min read
From the book · 2 stories
My knee ended my marathons, and my doctor said find a slower religion. So I climbed to the shrine of Shirgul at the speed of grandmothers.
a former marathoner from Chandigarh, 41, learning to walk slowly
Sirmaur2 min read
After my grandmother died I went looking for the kind of shrine she used to sweep. Above Sarahan, I found one that was still warm.
an architect from Delhi, 38, carrying an unfinished ritual
Kinnaur skirts2 min read
Beyond the books · 13 stories
I record sound for films. One monsoon in Seraj, a temple drum answered the thunder, and my equipment could not hold what my chest could.
a sound recordist from Mumbai, 36, one working ear that month
Seraj shrines2 min read
Thirty-one years in uniform, and my first month as a civilian I walked from green Kinnaur into bare Spiti, to see which side of me was left.
a retired subedar from Hamirpur, 52, first month out of uniform
Kinnaur to Spiti2 min read
I have been scared of heights since I was six. The year I turned forty I stood on top of Buran Ghati at dawn with a rope in my hand, laughing.
a bank branch manager from Solan, 40, afraid of heights since childhood
Pabbar Valley to Kinnaur2 min read
Twenty-two years of teaching, and then my voice gave out mid-sentence. In the Jibhi cloud forest I met the one classroom that never needed me to speak.
a government schoolteacher from Una, 47, on medical rest
Jibhi & Shoja cloud belt2 min read
Eight months after her knee surgery, my mother wanted one walk that fit her. The forest path to Serolsar Lake was exactly her size.
a son from Bilaspur, 39, walking at his mother's new pace
Jalori Pass2 min read
Kinnaur isn't just a district; it's a boundary between the cedar forests and the cold desert. Dealing with the landscape's raw power.
Uttarakhand to Kinnaur (Sangla)2 min read
My last scan came back clear in March. In April I lay down in a meadow above Manali for one whole afternoon and let the grass do the celebrating.
a school librarian from Ambala, 49, one clean scan old
Upper Beas meadows2 min read
A student asked me why the island in Parashar Lake moves, and I gave the physics answer. Then I went to check, and the lake asked me better questions.
a physics teacher from Sundernagar, 35, out-argued by a lake
Mandi, Himachal Pradesh2 min read
My phone died forty minutes into the park, and that is when the trek actually began. A story about losing signal and finding bearings.
a product manager from Gurgaon, 34, first time past Chandigarh
Great Himalayan National Park fringes2 min read
Three years of white noise machines, and then a river. A new mother borrows silence from the Tirthan and takes some home.
a new mother from Chandigarh, 31, first night away in three years
Tirthan valley2 min read
My sister's visa came through in April. In May we climbed the Rupin's waterfall staircase together, our last big walk on the same side of the world.
two sisters from Shimla, 26 and 30, one emigrating in June
Uttarakhand to Kinnaur (Sangla)2 min read
Nine years photographing other people's weddings, and my first free June in a decade. I spent it above the treeline, shooting nothing, humming everything.
a wedding photographer from Palampur, 37, first empty June in nine years
Kullu & Lahul ridges2 min read
In the Tirthan valley, time doesn't tick; it flows with the river. A local's view on why speed is the enemy of the mountain spirit.
Tirthan valley2 min read
The books hold the full chapters: the route, the history and the etiquette behind each place.
The Lost Trails book gathers forgotten shrines, shepherd paths, and echoing caves. Chapters move like lanterns through the archive of stone.
Open bookVillages, trails, people and stories beyond the famous gateway. Kasol is not Parvati Valley. It is only where the valley starts, and this book follows what comes after.
Open bookWinter gathers stillness. These chapters move through frozen lakes, long shadows, and firelit hearts.
Open book