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Writing

Expedition stories, field notes, and musings from the road.

The Left Bank

A Sunday afternoon on the less-explored Left Bank of the Beas - through Baranigran, Nathan, and the forests between Naggar and Jana.

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The Left Bank

Ice Climbing in Praxmar

Eight days of learning and practicing ice climbing in the Stubai Alps, Austria

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Agumbe: Into the Rainforest

Two weeks volunteering at the Agumbe Rainforest Research Station in Karnataka — King Cobras, leeches, camera traps, and the strange quiet of a forest at night.

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An Alphabetical Ode to the Cyclists

A poem written somewhere on the road between Shimla and Keylong — each line starting with the next letter of the alphabet.

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Shimla to Narkanda: All is Not Well

Days 1 and 2 of a bicycle trip from Shimla to Keylong — a forgotten quick-release, a flat tyre in the first kilometre, and the first brutal climb that made everything feel impossible.

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Shimla to Narkanda: All is Not Well

Everything is Not Money

A night camping in a stranger’s field on the Manali-Kaza route, with no money, a cold wind from Rohtang Pass, and more kindness than we deserved.

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Ooty Trip Notes

Two days in Ooty alone — forest permits refused, a sunset from a college terrace, and breakfast for Rs. 50.

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Solo Cycling to Bharatpur

205 km alone on a bicycle from Delhi to Keoladeo National Park — 12 hours, 10 of them pedalling, the last 50 genuinely gruelling.

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Trek to the Parvati Valley

A thirteen-day trek through one of Himachal Pradesh’s most remote and beautiful valleys — from Barsheni to Mantalai Lake at 4,100 metres.

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Trek to the Parvati Valley

Keval

A day in the Parvati Valley with Keval, a young Gaddi shepherd — fire, chai, and a landscape that belongs to someone else entirely.

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Alone at the Base Camp

Lost among the boulders at 3,900 metres on the way back to camp, with a growing headache, rain coming in, and no sight of the tents.

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Welcome to the Southernmost City in the World

Arriving in Ushuaia at the start of a student expedition to Antarctica — the dinner table, the Beagle Channel, and the feeling of being 19,000 km from home.

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Ronge Island: The Glaciology Team

A morning on the Ronge Island glacier with the Students on Ice glaciology group — digging snow pits, measuring density profiles, and standing inside a landscape too beautiful to photograph.

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Students on Ice: An Antarctic Expedition

On 14 February 2011, I was one of 53 students selected from around the world to join the Students on Ice educational expedition to Antarctica.

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Students on Ice: An Antarctic Expedition

My First Trek to the Himalayas

Five friends, a rented tent from the Indian Mountaineering Foundation, and a bus to Govind Ghat — the beginning of a trek to the Valley of Flowers and Hemkund Sahib.

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