I celebrate myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you." - Walt Whitman, Song of Myself
The Ancient Greeks coined seven words to depict seven types of love.
Eros - Named after the Greek God, it was all about sexual passion, desire, and erotic love
Philia - It was more of a friendship rather than a romantic or a carnal attraction, but this love was deep, involving sacrifices.
Ludus - Flirting, playful, this form of courtship between lovers was bordering more on being amorous and full of fun and frolic
Storge - Being unconditional in love and focussing on all relationships including friends and family.
Agape - Being kind and compassionate and is full of love for the universe and the world at large
Pragma - Bringing in a touch of maturity, tolerance and probably being a bit “pragmatic” to ensure that it’s a long-standing relationship.
Philautia - Self-love and the kind of love that matters to me today.
Self Care is Self Love
For years we have been conditioned to think that self-love is all about being egoistic and selfish, bordering on narcissism. However focussing on I, me, myself is something essential for our own mental health. If we don’t put ourselves first and prioritise our well-being, then we are not going to be able to take care of our loved ones. As Rumi said, “Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”
I started focussing on myself pretty much late in life. And it started primarily with acceptance and appreciation. I realized that I need to first build a relationship with myself - accept myself for what I am with all my flaws and foibles and stop seeking validation from the world. Easier said than done, but it is a daily practice and these are some of the learnings for me
Self Care is Self Love
Being grateful and appreciative of myself and my life
Saying NO, prioritizing, and setting boundaries
Accepting and connecting with my real self
Letting go of toxic people.
Time is my currency. Take time out for yourself, even if it means doing nothing.
The first anniversary of Journeys and Jottings
Hello and Welcome to the 24th issue of Journeys and Jottings. It’s been a year since I started this fortnightly newsletter and am so grateful for all the love that you have given me.
When I started this newsletter, it was just a personal passion project and I wanted to create something meaningful. I wanted to speak about sustainability and inspirations, mindfulness, and gratitude but also have conversations on everyday life and ordinary people living extraordinary lives.
I was tired of being yet another “content creator,” and with the plethora of content being thrown around, I was losing interest. I asked myself if I had to be my own cheerleader, subscriber, and follower, what would I like to read? I needed inspiration and I found that in people and their stories. And that is how People Make Places was born. And for me, that is the very nucleus of this newsletter.
I am grateful to have connected with so many fascinating people and in this issue, we meet Jitaditya Narzary from Assam, a traveller, writer, digital marketeer who has now authored Immersive Arunachal - A Traveller’s Handbook which is a comprehensive guidebook on Arunachal Pradesh. And in 100 Stories of India, we visit Sela Pass in Arunachal Pradesh for a dash of romance.
100 Stories of India
We are driving from Dirang, a small hill station in Arunachal Pradesh towards Tawang set high in the Eastern Himalayas. The mountains curve as River Kameng flows along with us. Surrounding us are cotton candy clouds that have descended from the sky to earth covering everything from mountain peaks to grasslands, flowers, and birds. As I get down to take in the view, they touch my cheeks gently. Small mountain peaks thrust their heads out of these clouds presenting a pretty picture. I am wrapped in a world of white.
As we continue on our way snow-clad mountains give us company until we reach a glacier that opens to a gate guarded by dragons with bright colored flags fluttering all around. A frozen lake greets me. A small tea shop stands around the corner.
We are at Sela Pass, where war and romance meet at 13,700 feet above sea level. The cold breeze blows in my face as I look around. There are no tourists except us on the road. And a tale of tragedy unfolds amidst the scattered snow.
People Make Places
I met Jitaditya at an event in Bangalore and we started talking about North East. I had been to Assam and Arunachal Pradesh just once and it has been a long time ago. I had always wanted to explore the North East but it had always eluded me. Jitaditya’s posts and stories on the North East had always fascinated me. They were immersive and filled with fascinating stories. So when I heard that Jitaditya had penned a book on Arunachal Pradesh, I was so keen to speak to him again. We had a lovely chat where we discussed not just travel and writing, but also about the North East.
Jitaditya is a digital marketeer, an SEO expert besides being a traveller and writer. Based in Guwahati in Assam, he has travelled extensively in the North East and focusses on lesser-known destinations and experiences.
Jitaditya’s book is a comprehensive guide on Arunachal Pradesh and is aptly titled, Immersive Arunachal - A Traveller’s Handbook. As he writes in the preface, “The plan was to create an ideal travel companion to Arunachal Pradesh. While other guidebooks exist, this book has been designed to be backpacker-friendly, no-frills, and up to date. This region still hides more than it offers to the visitors. New attractions from Arunachal keep getting discovered, developed, and added to the tourist map all the time and we have tried to incorporate them as far as possible.” There are destination guides with detailed notes on culture, heritage, wildlife, birds, routes and route maps, suggested itineraries, and new circuits, besides information on how to reach and contact details of homestays as well.
How did your travelling journey begin?
It may sound strange now but initially, I just wanted to own a website and I did not have a clear focus. I enjoyed writing but at that time I was writing about other topics such as films. I did have a latent desire to roam around aimlessly but I wasn’t sure if that could be a sustainable lifestyle (It was a few years before the current travel/influencer boom in India. It was not cool back then).
I was working full-time and I was also involved in SEO and other digital marketing campaigns for clients. I also had a naive interest in photography, which forced me to buy a DSLR with almost everything I had (I am talking about the year 2010). I was also at the crossroads of my life. This was when I decided to make a trip to the Valley of Flowers. The rest of the things took off from there.
During the trip, I also realized that most of the remote areas of India are not well-documented and there was an opportunity to be exploited here. This is when I started thinking about a travel blog and eventually started Travelling Slacker in 2011. Initially the progress was slow as I continued full-time work. However, after a couple of years I decided to give up on that and since then I have survived as a freelancer and travel blogger. I have occasionally published for various travel magazines and now I have published my book, which is a guidebook to Arunachal Pradesh.
I have also just started another blog Periplus Northeast, which is a hyperlocal site focusing on the region. It is still a work in progress, but I will do more things here in the near future.
Tell us about some of the experiences of travelling in the North East
North East is a microcosm of India in terms of diversity. Just like most new visitors in India find it hard to process, even people from other parts of India find it hard to process NE.
You just can't "do" NE in one go. In fact, you can't even cover the whole Arunachal in one trip, which is why I thought of writing this book.
Unlike other parts of India, tourism in NE is a late bloomer. Due to political instability and poor infrastructure, few people visited it earlier and only the younger generation of travellers have finally broken down the barriers and started exploring it. This of course has been aided by a gradual improvement in infrastructure.
Anyway, here are a few of my personal picks in case you want to explore. (There's no logic to this selection, just my personal preferences).
Ethnocultural Trips
I think most people know NE as an ethnocultural experience because there are scores of ethnic groups with their own culture, language, and attire. Yet, I think so far the mainstream tourism has touched less than 10% of it.
It's a vast topic, so I'll just leave you with one small tip. It's better to attend a traditional festival of a community rather than a newly minted tourism festival. The commercial tourism fests have better PR but they're not organic. So, do some research and find out which ethnic group celebrates which festival at what time of the year. Time your visits according to them. I've mentioned many such festivals of Arunachal in the book.
Trekking
Trekking is underrated in NE. The routes have not been developed like Uttarakhand or Himachal, except in Sikkim. Only a few small treks like Dzukou Valley and Nongriat are known. But therein lies huge opportunities in this field. If I have to suggest something instantly, I'd suggest you read up more about the likes of Bailey’s Trail, Mount Saramati Trek, Anini Seven Lakes Trek, and Beyul Pemako Trek.
Rainforests
The grasslands of Assam are famous for their wildlife. However, my personal favourite is the dense rainforests in the easternmost corner of the region. This is where you come across the Dehing Patkai in Assam and Namdapha National Park in Arunachal. Jungles are so dense here that even sunlight struggles to enter. Additionally, one can explore the interiors of Upper Dinag Valley, which has been rarely explored and genuine wilderness can be truly experienced in these areas.
Heritage
Heritage in North East is underrated. In fact, most mainstream visitors consider the whole region to be a cluster of wildlife sanctuaries and hill stations. So, I believe more exploration and documentation is needed here. Even Neolithic remains have been found at various spots while ancient archeological sites can be found in Assam and Tripura. Similarly, the medieval Buddhist monasteries and the fortresses (Dzong) of West Kameng-Tawang belt are worth visiting, just like the Ahom monuments of Sivasagar. There's also an interesting trail of memorials, museums, and cemeteries connected to WWII in this region.
4. Tell us more about the book
There were two immediate reasons for writing this book.
Firstly, there was definitely a gap in the market for an up-to-date guide. Arunachal is vast, diverse, and complex. Most people don't understand it. There are a lot of preconceived notions, generalizations, and a general lack of awareness about the place, culture, history, and politics. Also, due to the aforementioned remoteness, more and more attractions are getting discovered only now. So, even if there was a book or two on the state, they don't cover many of the great attractions that have been discovered in recent times. I've tried to be as up-to-date as possible in this regard. Of course, it's still difficult, and more attractions will keep coming up. But I've tried my best to be up to date.
The other issue I see not only in NE-related books but most Indian travel guides, in general, is that they're not written from the backpacker's POV (because it's still a new trend in India). So, I've tried to include information about public transport, data connectivity, and other practical issues that millennial backpackers and solo budget travellers may look for. I've also deliberately tried to provide contacts of local homestays, instead of hotels, wherever available.
5. People make places - anyone who has inspired you
I mostly enjoy reading old colonial adventurers who explored the remotest frontiers of the subcontinent without the help of modern technology. The likes of Shipton, Smythe, Kingdon Ward, Younghusband, Longstaff, etc are still immensely readable and even with more information and better equipment, we have not been able to achieve even 10% of what they did.
6. How can people buy your book
I self-published the paperback in India through Notionpress while I published the eBook as well as Paperback in overseas markets through Amazon. So, there are multiple ways to access it. Let me list them out one by one.
The paperback can be bought in India from Amazon or Flipkart. However, I would request people to buy directly from the printer, i.e. Notionpress.
The eBook is also available at a cheaper rate via Amazon (You can also read directly on Kindle).
It is available in all other countries where Amazon operates. Both paperback and ebook are available through Amazon. Here’s the link for Amazon US. Otherwise, you can just search “Immersive Arunachal” in your respective Amazon site/app.
You can drop me a mail at thetravellingslacker@gmail.com for any queries or collaborations. You can also find me on Twitter (@travellingslack) or Instagram (@travellingslacker)
Feedback Please
I do hope that you enjoyed reading this issue. Looking forward to your feedback as always. We are going to keep the flow of conversations going and I would really appreciate it if you will share my newsletter with your friends and family. I am so grateful for the love this year and would appreciate it if you can share this newsletter in your circles.
See you soon! You can also read my travel stories on my blog and follow me on my social media.
Blog - www.lakshmisharath.com
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