The Naked Mountain is the account of the ascent and tragedy on the Nanga Parbat in Pakistan. I am aware there are other accounts of the same expedition but Rehinold Messner’s account is the only one I have read. The expedition was full of controversy and ended in almost a double tragedy. The Rupal Face…
Category: Books
Tomaz Humar- The Book that I Read Twice
Tomaz Humar is the name of the world renowned Slovenian climber. He cooperated with Bernadette McDonald to produce this biography. And I read it twice. I don’t know what is the lure of the climbing books for me because I am no climber and I will never be. All I do is to trek once or twice a…
Some Thoughts on All 14 Eight Thousanders by Reinhold Messner
Even if you read climbing related books marginally, chances are you would have heard of Reinhold Messner. Many would argue that he is the greatest climber of all times. I of course have very limited knowledge about climbing. I just like to read climbing books and even with my limited reading I have been able…
Tales of the Open Road by Ruskin Bond- Some Thoughts
I have to admit I love to walk so much so that once a senior professor at my workplace remarked that I actually walk with a vengeance! For me a holiday is complete only if I get to walk for a few kilometers and of course on some of the holidays I predominantly walk. So…
Valley of Flowers by Frank Smythe- Some Thoughts on the Book
In July 2012 I trekked through the Valley of Flowers and Hemkunt Sahib. My base was Joshimath. I was carrying only one book to read, an Agatha Kristie. I finished it at one go! And then I tried to buy another book at Joshimath. I walked through the entire length of the market. There were four or…
Recalcitrance- A Novel by Anurag Kumar
I was lucky enough to get a copy of Recalcitrance by Anurag Kumar from him via Twitter. Whenever I have promised anyone to do a book review I freeze like anything. I am no reviewer or critic. So I decided to do a post where I share 10 things about the book. I would just…
The Book Tag
Since I ran away from the last tag, I thought I would pick up a tag by Emma that I could not complete and it was months ago. And this time it is about books. The list of the books is long and I have read much less than what I would ideally like to…
Retiring to the Hills in India?
How many times have you come across a beautiful place and thought, “Oh! I could build a house nearby and retire here?” I must have done it every two kilometers in North Sikkim, it looks so bewitchingly beautiful and so utterly, truly and completely green. My husband, more often than not, nods his head in…
Hotels, Restaurants and the Like
A Hotel Door (Pelling, Sikkim, India) I was reading The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai on the trip to Sikkim. A paragraph where she is talking about Biju, an illegal immegrant in US working in a restaurant, caught my attention. The sound of their fight had traveled up the flight of steps and struck…
Holy Cow? No, Bloody Hell!
I saw the cover at the Daryaganj Sunday Book Market and I was sold over, more so every book at that particular shop was for Rs. 20. That is how I ended up with ‘Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure’ by Sarah Macdonald. Apparently, Ms. Macdonald had visited India in her twenties and had a horrible…