Engineering my life

"Do more of what makes you happy." I read the above quote recently and it made me think about happiness. More, specifically, about what makes  me  happy. Different people have different passions that bring them joy; it can be your job, your hobby, pursuit of an idea or a goal, your family or friends, or even yourself.  But, perhaps the first step towards constant happiness is recognizing what makes you happy. So, I began to contemplate moments in my life when I felt the most joyful. And one moment, in particular, stood out the most. This is that moment. It was the end of the first day of my Himalayan trek. I had been trekking for about 9 hours and was completely and utterly exhausted. The altitude had me gasping for air for the better part of the trek and my legs were killing me by the time we got to the homestay where my guide, Stanzin, and I would be spending the night. We were greeted graciously by our Ladakhi hosts with cups of hot tea and I still remember th

"The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall" - Nelson Mandela It seems fitting to start this post off with a quote by Nelson Mandela because I've spent the last couple of weeks in South Africa. And boy, has it been one huge learning experience! I truly feel incredibly grateful to have had this opportunity not just because I've always wanted to visit Africa and because I love traveling (although I'd be lying if I said this wasn't one of my best traveling experiences). But this trip eventually ended up being something a lot more for me. I've always had a rather idealistic outlook on life. Everything was always black and white and since I was a kid, I had this ridiculous idea that life would be all smooth sailing. I would call it optimism but looking back at it, it was definitely closer to naiveté because I had absolutely no clue what I was talking about. And then life happened. Just like everyone else,

It’s been about a week since I’ve been back home and I figured this would be a good time to pen down some final thoughts about my experience in Jaipur. The entire trip was fantastic. From interacting with the kids to the delicious food to the wonderful volunteers, I really couldn’t have asked for a better experience. Let me start off by talking about the people I met on this trip. Amita and Pranay are the people who run Sankalp. They’re a married couple who have been doing this for the past 6 years. They really took great care of us and went out of their way to make us feel at home. I was in India for Christmas and New Year’s and they put up a Christmas tree for us and decorated the living room with lots of lights. It was a small, but really touching gesture because this was about the time when most people were starting to feel homesick. We even had a cake (which apparently tasted like chlorine) on Christmas Day. For NYE, they set up a bonfire on the terrace, along with lots of u