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I’m Shakthi. I create and curate thoughts on the things that matter to me. Visit here to know about me and my interests. If you keep a blog or a website, please let me know. I’d love to look through your work.

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Foremost among the things that make travel worthwhile are the stories we collect on our journey. We were fortunate to discover a life-affirming story on my last day at Lucknow.⁣ ⁣ This morning, my friend and I had arrived at a cafe @cafe_wtf we had picked for our last brunch together before I leave for home. It was closed. Just then, two young women appeared at the property's gates.⁣ ⁣ The young woman, dressed in a indigo colored top, informed us that we could wait inside and vowed that we'd be served in fifteen minutes. We watched the two young women springing the desolate looking closed cafe into life. ⁣ ⁣ Ms. I, the young woman who owned the cafe, invited us in. The place had a tasteful interior with a lot of character and a woody feel to it. We found a shelve of books and took a table beside it.⁣ ⁣ We soon found that Ms. I was also the chef. We requested her for a couple of pastas, an Irish coffee, and a Hazelnut cappuccino. She rather enthusiastically latched on to my friend's suggestion of adding chopped green chillis to the pasta. ⁣ ⁣ On the wall to my left was a large steel framed poster with a handwritten poem. It was a beautiful poem addressed to the author's beloved. I asked Ms. I about it. She said she had written the poem for her fiancee. The book collection at the cafe were his favorites. Asked about the story behind the cafe, she said it was her fiance's dream and he owned the cafe. Now, they were co-promoters of the dream. ⁣ ⁣ Ms. L, a sweet young woman who was still getting the hang of the her role at the cafe, brought the food to our table. Meanwhile, Ms. I transitioned from a chef to an entrepreneur. She sat at the table behind us, as she worked on her laptop and attended her phone. ⁣ ⁣ Over the meal, my friend and I watched an episode of the TV show Friends. She came over to share that she was a great fan of the show and has watched it several times over. We shared a moment of togetherness.⁣ ⁣ Soon, we nodded silent goodbyes even as Ms. I was engaged on another call. ⁣ ⁣ The morning brought a closure to my search for meaning on the trip. I left the cafe completely satisfied and nourished. . . . #traveljournal #travelstories #followingdreams

An evening in Lucknow: Life-affirming scenes from the terrace of a Kulfi shop. Clear blue skies with tiny meandering black dots of kites and the occasional black bird skittling past. The bustle of the Saturday evening market unfurls below. @justwellbeing intones a impromtu mash-up melody that begins with strains of a Qawwali and breaks into a popular Hindu Bajan set in raag Hamir Kalyan. The Azan from the nearby mosque offers the harmony. . . . #traveljournal #travelscenes #travelwriting #travelindiagram #travelindia #travelblogger #eveningsky #moods #musicalmoods #indiatravel #traveling #mindfulness #traveldeep #culturetrip #culturalimmersion #streetscenes #everdayscenes #travelwithfriends #hangingoutwithfriends

"The time has finally come to concentrate my thoughts: to write down, as simply as I can, what had brought me here, what I have seen, and what I hope to achieve in the next few months."⁣ ⁣ Wrote @williamdalrymple on 29 June 1994, his first night at the Monastery of Iviron, Mount Athos. In the next few months, he would trace the AD 578 journey of John Moschos from Greece eastwards to Constantinople and Anatolia, then Southwards to the Nike, and thence, to the Great Kharga Oasis, once the Southern frontier of Byzantium. He would discover Orthodox Christianity, the continuity of Byzantium and Ottoman culture especially architecture, Orthodox monasteries, and humanity in general.⁣ ⁣ The book that came out of the journey was 'From the Holy Mountain', the first travel/culture book that I read. It left a indelible mark on me. And I think it's time to begin a journey of my own, what better way than to go back to where it all started. ⁣ . . . #bookshelves #williamdalrymple #traveljournal #travelliterature #booksarelove #indianbookstagrammer #travelbooks #travelindiagram #travelindia #bookstagramcommunity #bookrecommendations #travelinstagram

The Fish Fall in Love⁣ ⁣ Pots simmer with stews that contain lentils, beans, tomatoes, potatoes, spinach and meat. With a wooden ladle, Atiyeh stirs the pot and ladles the stew into a dish. Touka slices an organge into halves and places them on the side of the dish that also contains a serving of rice made Persian style. The dish is carried out to the restaurant's patrons in large circular steel platters. On the kitchen shelves, there are jars filled with herbs, spices, pickles and jams. This kitchen-restaurant is run by four women. ⁣ ⁣ A port town on the Caspian sea, fish stuffed with Walnut and pomergranate paste, Iranian chai in glasses, two love stories, a loyal friendship, and much more. The film is replete with life-affirming sequences. But the most life-affirming aspect is the camaraderie and the warmth that the four women enjoy. In one of the scenes, at the end of a long day picking and boiling oranges to make jams, the women take a break as they eat oranges, have chai, and share laughter. . . . #iranophile #iranianfilms #worldcinema #filmbuff #movierecommendation #moviebuff #foriegnfilms #womeninfilms #feminism #feministcinema #lifeaffirming #foodfilms #foodinfilm #kitchenscenes

If books had love bites: a portrait of a well-loved book with page flags. . . . #bookblogging #bookstagramcommunity #bookstagramer #bookstagramindia #booksarelove #booksarelife #johngreenbooks #booksbooksbooks #readingislife #readingisfundamental

A Ramzan Book Recommendation: The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak⁣ ⁣ While I'm not a Muslim either by birth or by practice, I still appreciate the month of Ramzan which calls us to reflect on the deeper aspects of life like love, kindness, and meaning. This Ramzan I picked The Forty Rules of Love for a second reading. I'm glad I picked it up. There is hardly any other book (which I've read) that captures the spirit of Ramzan as this. The book is about love, freedom, and life. ⁣ ⁣ Set in the 13th century across Turkey and Iraq, the story traverses around the Sufi saint Rumi, his companion Shams, a Northampton married woman, a young Sufi, and the forty Rules of Love. ⁣ ⁣ I believe it will be a great and an apt glimpse into Islam for people who don't have much idea about it. To understand that it is all premised on love. ⁣ ⁣ Below are a few of my favorite quotes from the part of the book I have been reading recently:⁣ ⁣ But Rumi has a quality that very few scholars ever have: the ability to dig deep below the husk of religion and pull out from its core the gem that is universal and eternal.⁣ ⁣ Intellect ties people in knots and risks nothing, but love dissolves all tangles and risks everything.⁣ ⁣ But eventually it is best to find a person, the person who will be your mirror. Remember, only in another person's heart can you truly see yourself and the presence of God within you.⁣ ⁣ Be thankful! It is easy to be thankful when all is well. A Sufi is thankful not only for what he has been given but also for all that he has been denied.⁣ ⁣ East, west, south, or north. No matter what your destination, just be sure to make every journey a journey within. If you travel within, you'll travel the whole wide world and beyond. ⁣ ⁣ The whole universe is contained within a single human being - you. Everything you see around, including the things you might not be fond of and even the people you despise or abhor, is present within you on varying degrees. . . . #bookshelves #bookrecommendations #bibliophile #booklove #readingsaveslives #thefortyrulesoflove #elifshafak #elifshafakquotes #ramzan #ramadan2019 #ramadan #ramadan_nights #bookstagramer #bookstagramindia #sufism #rumi

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Some Interesting Reads

Three reads I cherished this week on the web:

8 Things John Green Taught Me
William Dalrymple in Damascus: The Final Refuge of Christians in the Middle East Under Threat
The Need for Eloquence: The School of Life

Some of my work

Becoming Michelle Obama: Lessons for Life
An Hour at the Mosque: A Ramzan Diary
Thirteen Days: The Cuban Missile Crisis

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