"I think you travel to search and come back home to find yourself there." - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The last six months have been a bit like that for me. I sailed across the high seas, went on family vacations, visited tribal hamlets and lost towns, and travelled on my first international trip to Mauritius. But the last trip to coastal Karnataka to a new wellness resort called Gamyam was more than just a holiday. It was truly a transformative experience. No wonder Gamyam means “destination.” To me, the journey itself was the destination. I will be sharing my experiences on my blog soon - so stay tuned for updates.
Welcome to this edition of Journeys and Jottings. I missed one last month and my apologies for the same. Travels and ill health took a toll on me and I decided to take a short break. But here we are and we will be back on schedule this month. In this issue, we look at not just having the last word but some famous last lines too. A post from my blog which tells you how Sultan Bathery in Wayanad got its name.
And in People Make Places, we speak to Nandita Iyer about her inspiring book, “ This Handmade Life”. If you are in Bangalore this Saturday, then visit Champaca Books where Nandita and I are having a short conversation about her book and there is a fun quiz as well with goodies to be won.
A nostalgic journey to start this issue.
Fifteen years ago, on this day I decided to take a sabbatical from my media career which had lasted for over a decade. In that span of twelve years as a media professional, I shifted gears from content and communications to being a business head and in managing operations. I grew up the corporate ladder from being a correspondent on television to a Vice President for an FM Radio Network. Somewhere in between, the lure of the digital bug made me want to start blogging in 2005, but I had no idea that would become a story by itself.
Eventually, in July 2007, I bid goodbye to my twelve-year-old media career and my corporate job. My boss was gracious enough to offer me a three-month sabbatical to think through my decision, but I knew I was never going back. Travel became the obvious choice and I have never looked back since. It’s been 15 years now. And I have been taking every day as it comes and every moment has been filled with enriching experiences.
I paused for a moment to think about my days in the media. Do I miss my media career? Not really but contrary to what people think, I cherished and enjoyed every moment of my media life and it has to date taken me places. And I am grateful for the same.
Fifteen years now of being a traveller, writer, content creator, and consultant and I am looking for a new inspiration. The journey continues but I am looking at a new direction, a new route perhaps with exciting milestones. I don’t know the whereabouts, but I do hope the road will show up soon.
100 Stories of India - How did Sultan Bathery get its name ?
It was the name that intrigued me. Sulthan Bathery seemed more like a nickname and I wondered if there was a story here. I had stumbled upon the town when I was driving from Mysore towards Wayanad almost two decades ago and the thought had lingered since then. So years later, when I was staying in the gorgeous Lux Unlock Deja View Villa which is located barely 20 km from Sultan Bathery in Wayanad, I decided to explore the town to know a little bit about its history. The first destination was the ancient Jain temple in Sulthan Bathery.
The town was not always known as Sultan Bathery and its story was interlinked with the history of Wayanad itself. Wayanad or Bayalnad as it was called then was once ruled by the Gangas in the 10th century. Bayalnad was referred to as the land of swamps and fields and even today, you can see verdant paddy fields submerged in water. The region later came under different dynasties from the Kadambas and Hoysalas to the Wodeyars and kings of the Vijaynagar Dynasty. Eventually, Hyder Ali and his son Tipu Sultan reigned supreme before the colonial powers took control over the region. And the names changed over a period of time.
The villages around Sultan Bathery were then referred to as Kidanganadu . A Ganesha temple built probably during the Vijaynagar period gave it the name Ganapathivattam. However it was eventually changed to Sultan Bathery. It is believed that when Tipu Sultan was waging a war against the Malabar, he used the area around an ancient Jain temple as the place to store his battery or armoury. And the town eventually came to be christened as Sultan Battery or locally Sultan Bathery.
Favourite Last Lines
We all want to have the last word in any argument. It feels like a victory, a flourish by itself. While the phrase is as old as the 17th century, having penned by dramatist Ben Jonson in his play,” A Tale of a Tub” “He will have the last word though he talk bilk for it”, Bilk referring to nothing - an irony by itself.
However we are not talking about famous last words here, but recollecting some of the famous last lines. When we read a book, we often think the first line is everything - the hook. But the end is equally fascinating. While some lines have a tone of finality to them, others are rather dramatic.
One of my favourite last lines is from George Orwell’s Animal Farm.
"The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which."
If you have read Gone with the Wind, you won’t forget this line
“After all, tomorrow is another day.”
And this one from The Handmaid’s Tale sets you thinking,
“Do you have any questions ?”
People Make Places
Doctor, nutrition expert, wellbeing advocate and columnist, Nandita Iyer is the author of three bestselling books. She has been writing on nutrition, health and food for over 15 years. Since 2006, her popular blog Saffron Trail has been a major resource for healthy food and vegetarian recipes. It was in fact Nandita’s newsletter Sattva which is about the joys of mindfulness and the beauty of slow living that inspired me to start Journeys and Jottings.
But more than anything else, Nandita Iyer is a dear friend who constantly motivates me with her many creative pursuits . A student of Hindustani classical vocal music, she is passionate about everything she does - be it cooking, baking, gardening or knitting . And she is always creative with her busy hands , even though she says humbly, in the opening chapter of her new book, This Handmade Life, “I have workman hands- short, square nails, fingers not stubby but nor slender either, roughened palms and finger tips, which are almost heat proof.” But that does not matter.
What really matters is that these hands of hers have been creating beautiful things, be it a fragrant soap or a lovely crocheted throw. They have tended to lush plants in her garden and magically transformed wet sticky dough to delicious cookies.
As Nandita says, “ I have mentioned in the introduction of the book that I have always been someome who has worked with my hands. Even as a kid, I have always been restless, drawing or drumming something, taking part in competitions to win a prize. and indulging in so many extra curricular activities. This helped me to destress , it made me forget the pressures of studies . And this encouraged me to work with my hands and be creative . “
Her book inspires you to focus on fascinating skills “to enhance and transform your everyday life, “. She lists seven of them, including baking, gardening, making hand made beauty products and soaps among others. These life skills seem to be forgotten today as people she says focus more on professions than passions.
Nandita says, “When you meet someone, they always ask you what do you do ? There is always a pressure that you must be in a fancy profession - a CEO or a software engineer or even a doctor for that matter. No one wants to know you beyond your profession. But I feel like life is much more than pursuing one profession. I get inspired by what people do in their day to day life - how they pursue their own joy and happiness. And whenever I come across such people, I get inspired and learn from them and I think thats the inspiration . Its something I seek all the time in my life. Its a constant.”
Working with hands is therapeutic and cathartic. Its minfdulness, a form of meditation in itself. Nandita writes in her book how basket weaving was used as occupational therapy to reduce anxiety and ailments in soldiers during the First World War. Hobbies, she adds are a natural way to reduce levels of cortisol as there is a special joy when you use your hands to craft something from scratch . So make time , she says to be a maker.
“ I have been following a lot of creative pursuits and I would like to inspire people to pick up one or more of them because I have experienced these first hand and realized the kind of impact it has had on my life by way of slowing me down, giving me fulfilment, driving me more towards creating than consuming. And these are my inspirations to write this book.”
Nandita and I will be in conversation this Saturday at Champaca Books at 11 30 am and you can also participate in a fun quiz as well. Do join us if you are here in Bangalore. You can also follow her on social media @saffrontrail.
Feedback
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.
See you soon! You can also read my travel stories on my blog and follow me on my social media.
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