Author: Narayan Kaudinya

The Language is a Poem and Malayalam is its Song

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Listen! someone’s saying a prayer in MalayalamHe says there is no word for ‘despair’ in Malyalam. Sometimes at daybreak you sing a Gujrati GarbaAt night you open your hair in Malyalam To understand symmetry, understand Kerela,the longest palindrome is there in Malyalam. When you have been too long in the rooms of English,open your windows to the fresh air of Malyalam. Visitors are welcome in The school of lost tonguesSomeone’s endowed the high chair in Malyalam I greet you my ancestors, O scholars and linguists.My father who recites Baudlaire in Malyalam. Jeet, such drama with the scraps you know.Write a couplet, if you dare in Malyalam. : ँ : Thank you. If today is the first time you have arrived on The Road to Nara, you are heartily welcome ~ Namaste : ँ : I will take this opportunity to introduce you to About me and importantly; As a co-traveller, will take you through the Ten Lessons I learnt from several years on the road, before you coarse on your own Road to Nara. Also read: 9 Most Popular Essays of 2022 : ँ …

A Father’s Advice to His Son

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As a young boy my mother made me learn a sentence. The magic aspect of that one line was that it did not end with a full stop rather it took a flight of fancy and inspiration even before it ended. And She must have said this sentence a thousand times by the time i was twelve as few other sentences had started arriving at her memory doorstep, but by then I had found the keys to the roots for reaching to the tree top. “If you want to be a happy adult Nara, she used to say, read the 3R’s. And those 3Rs were; Ruskin Bond, Roald Dahl and Rudyard Kipling. As I look back today, I couldn’t have asked for any other direction as a child from anyone. She set me up early in my life filling it with curiosity, travels and compassion towards all beings and nature. As I will be on the Road for next one month, I might not be able to write a lot about things I had thought …

When I Wrote My First Poem After Seeing the Sea in Odisha: A Visual Diary from Shri Jagannath Puri- The East Indian Coast

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I am a north Indian Man. And seeing the sea myself was once like coming out of the shadow towards the the sunny side. Like etching a line on wood. Films were arriving as a means of profession and friends. My earliest memory of train, freedom and words. With myself even, when few of us friends decided to attend a Film Festival in Odisha. Far away on the eastern Coast of India, in the temple town of Puri; that i had only heard in sanskrit verses then. But what those verses didn’t mention was the laid back beach and evening onwards to late night film screenings with winds coming from the Bay of Bengal and the unending background music that arrived from one wave and after. It was a journey of a lifetime as the train took close to 3 days to reach Puri. Trains used to look and sound different. They looked shabby, sounded noisy and felt god forsaken as we can only feel now. My friend on the journey reading through the endless …

30 Moments that I was Grateful for in 2022: Last Visual Notes of the Year

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January of 2023 is going to get over today. And for once I wanted to take out time to examine my last year’s archives before new year starts finding ways to create new journeys, i desired to assemble together those times; Journeys, though only handful they were, to keep them safe, here and create a reason to keep coming back, whenever needed to smile, over and over. Hence for one last time before we leave it all to memory and ongoing Life: One memory which will roam for long is going to be the death of my grandmother, and the times spent in the village along the river Ganges Mother posing on the roof of an Ashram, on the banks of Ganga in Haridwar was a memorable time. THE JOURNEY TO KASAR TEMPLE – ALMORA The first assignment came to document the sacred Kasar Devi Temple in Almora and finding a new home there like my own family, where we took a detour to visit a remarkable museum dedicated to Govind Ballabh Pant in Almora …

Lost In Yellow: Visual Notes of Evenings Spent Wandering Along River Yamuna and Old Delhi

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Much like Lost in Translation I had been wandering, walking for a Research Project in Delhi; One of the great historic cities of the world and spans some 10 centuries of its past. Understanding, observing Delhi is both exciting and challenging. Delhi has had a rich urban past, and what is particularly interesting is the fact that at different points of time several different sites were chosen by various powers/dynasties to found new settlements or cities. Most of them are in ruins but what is important to learn about it is that all even today are accessible. One of them is yesteryears Shahjahanabad, today’s Old Delhi. Shahjahanabad has been subsumed under the gigantic sprawl of metropolitan Delhi. Yet it has an identity that is distinct from any other. Popularly known as Chandni Chowk or Old Delhi, its name conjures up romantic narrow streets named after almost every thing on earth; maze like with a variety of street food and exotic markets. But my exploration is not completely about Delhi, its heritage or food but it …

Two Days To Many : Few Days to the Angkor Wat Photo Festival in Cambodia

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The newest feeling when you arrive in a new country, and not really to visit or to travel but you are invited. You are a fellow finding a story for a prestigious organisation. So active and pumped up i was that I had been walking everywhere for last two days in Siem Reap. But did not really reach anywhere. Concurrently It took me two days to understand that there are parallel roads running together through the Siem Reap central market, they looked very much alike. As it took me two days to understand two important Khmer words like Susrai/hello and okun/thank you, even though i am better with languages. I finally decided to rent a cycle with city tyres i.e. thicker than ususal as it was the best option I found then. And lord, it gave me wings. Today, I spent all day roaming around the outskirts of Siem Reap. Touching rural parts, unpaved roads, fields, seeing houses and realising the difference or the similarity with the huts there are in my country villages. Meeting …

7 Strange Truths I have Accepted About Myself to Find Peace in Life

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I guess as one grows older, there is a part that gradually starts accepting oneself. And if you have a mindset towards movement, you also start enjoying your company. But growing up, Parents, colleagues, compeers mostly found me strange because even in college I mostly opted for peace over party. And it didn’t take me long before finding out that I really don’t have to have a company outside of my own. And then the whole game turned towards becoming the best company to myself. My camera in early days not just assisted but became my voice and so happened with my pen. Yet Life is a journey long enough to give you kicks and tastes while in my case keeping me grounded. And lately, at the turn of the year, I thought of penning down some changes that I experience now after all these years. I hope these points help anyone who is on a journey unto oneself; 1. I have started staring at the top of Trees, often towards skies, Buildings, Birds and …

Top 9 Blog Posts That Changed My Course of 2022; A Summary and A Start of a New Chapter

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Well, this is it. Another year is done and we are looking to the clouds how and where it all went. But nature is no cheat. There is no lapse of a day, of a moment or even a blink. We live it. We are aware of it. We breathe each breath full. One thing that I learnt while I was living 2022 was that even though I enjoy writing, it cannot be my end all. I take joy in walking more, in seeing and being at a place that urges me to contemplate, to talk to it. Somewhere that pushes me to dive deeper in aspects that i wasn’t aware of before. I love movement and I love challenging myself around those movements. So I have decided I am not going to make resolutions anymore because somewhere deep within we know what is required of us at what time. Where are we needed the most. I may prioritise it but life has always taken the better route, or has checkmated me most of the …

7 Simple Life Ways To Become the Change You Want to See    

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I write for my travellers here who are on this Road To Nara with me, but I also write for my students at school who at one point in time are going to grow and find their teacher online on the road. This is for all of us, going in another year, like getting up from sleep again, who are going to get another morning, another opportunity, one more day of possibilites. And it is for anyone who ever in future is going to land on this page, who is curiously questioning, finding a way to grow in value and meaning, who has arrived at the crossroads and perhaps is waiting for that possible kick. 1. De-clutter In today’s age, we are consuming everything possible. Moving, still, visuals, all kinds of trash, text, and even that screen light that keeps glaring on our retinas like never before. In ancient times Yogis were asked to imagine sun between their eyes to grow light and heat in the system. But today the screen we use has replaced …

About Kashmir, A Tale of Keepers and Rowing a Shikara to a Friend’s Wedding in Lake Dal Srinagar

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Learning how to row was the most profound, useful as much as useless, but one hypnotic skill that arrived at one point in my life. I was living with the Huns, a houseboat community in Dal Lake. The boat in general is called Shikara in Kashmiri. And Rowers were called Keepers, an English word. And perhaps it was this word that lured me to become one; a keeper. The one who keeps. Kashmir; the most beautiful valley on Earth. Not because it is pretty but perhaps the most complex. Also, the most militarised one, around that time. The aura of violence and terror was ever present in everyday Kashmiri life. When the valley was going through its longest curfew of their existence, I was there, walking, documenting the flatlands of Srinagar and hiking up the Harvan Mountains, even finding my way to the Mahadev Rock in the Pir Panjals while also finding myself bathing in the waters of the river Lidder, formerly Lambodarini and the mighty Indus. I was learning to live with the birds …

A Visual Diary Of a Day In My Village

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I do not live in my village. Neither I get to spend time there any more. But there are days when the news comes like the fresh winds after Rains. That grandfather is calling. He turned 101 this month. And well who knows he could be even more or less as there was no way to document it in those days. On paper he was born in 1921. Rains. Photography has become like that elusive rain for me. I have stopped photographing like I used to. I do not use any of my three cameras and 8 old-world manual Nikon lenses anymore, that I had carefully and proudly bought. It was through my 20mm and 35mm lenses that I taught myself to photograph day in and day out. To an extent I always felt a sense of belongingness that they knew what I want to see every single moment and day of my outing with them. But times strangely changed or did I? More after I started using ‘Road to Nara’- my blog as a …

The Colours of November : A Photographic Journey

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Second last month of another year will be done soon. December knocks or not it has arrived. Many a times words feel weighty and probably this could be one thing for a writer which is nearly impossible to establish through his writing. A long Silence. Or the absence of presence. He may distract and not talk about a certain thing or may even carve out a poem. But silence is something that is personal to any breathing being. This November was that silent noise for me. It came as it is going. Like life, like age. It is not I who feels older still but only while observing my parents. streaks of hair, dehydrated skin, puffed eyes. Things are certainly moving towards a direction. It was a busy month. Filled with many memories that we as a family collected, and me in my own archival way. Away from expectations or even results. May be I have learnt the way of a writer. Yet still I am and will always be ‘in-practise’ an imagemaker first. Sharing …

What Children Dream?

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Last Week when our projector abruptly died. We were in the middle of a focused class learning about the Human Body System. But the sudden death of our computer gave class an opportunity to discuss something completely different in a matter of minutes. We started talking about dream and reality. Being at an age as they are, though super smart, there is line till where my children can absorb. But more than that they can remarkably express. On a whim I asked them to write what they dream about. Many of them came up with many different thoughts and other beautiful visualisations. But only few could write them so beautifully that I at once decided to share at least few with you all. It were written in such an alluring way; precise and small sentences that you feel it has taken a writer years to perfect it. They were comfortable in Hindi. And even though I might not be able to transpire exactly their language but still I will try to pass on their essence …

My Ten Strange Days of Meditation at an Age Old Vipassana Centre: A Complete Guide On The Final Answer

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It was 1ST February 2007, when I first wrote this article. Fifteen days after, when my supposed vow of silence ended. That was my maiden spiritual experience of living with myself confined in a room. I was younger, attentive, perceptive, and found myself aware of observing the observer in moments of light while co-existing with other seekers. I had barely crossed my teenage. It certainly was a tender time. Even after one and a half decade today, that experience of being; learning to breathe knowingly lingers somewhere in my mind. Even today Whenever I find myself weak, my days unproductive, out of sync, sometimes purposeless or even when my food cycle goes awry I still find myself pulling back to the time and food cycle of my Vipassana time. I had lost this document a long time ago but it resurfaced. Perhaps there is something to learn still that I hadn’t. To understand the intricacies of a process that started then, the subtle nature of a flow that all along kept becoming thicker like fading …

A Celebration for the Sun: A Brief History of Chhath in Paintings and Images

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I had not decided to celebrate today. But nature pulled me in. For last few months I had been parallel-y working on a project in New Delhi. Rather it is my expression on Climate Change living in a region which in itself is an extension of extremism in most ways. For one it is making our lives vulnerable to diseases here, viruses, climate catastrophes in terms of pollution and per square population density, in the National Capital Region. Working on a project such as this has taken my breath, my life in a way that I sometimes remunerate myself a quote that Andrei Tarkovsky used to say on ‘Cinema requiring sacrificing of yourself. That You should belong to it, it shouldn’t belong to you. Cinema uses your life, not vice versa. In all ways, i have proved him right, without making much progress. On a whim last night I and team decided to visit the Yamuna river early morning as mist has started to settle over the flowing water. We walked till noon to film the …

The Times They Are A Changing

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Last week was Historic for India. Not because of an impossible looking chase made possible by Virat Kohli, an Indian Cricketer during India versus Pakistan in Melbourne, Australia during the Cricket World Cup. And may be not also because of Rishi Sunak, a British Indian becoming Britain’s Youngest Prime Minister in 200 years. And that here in India, all are going gaga about 75 years later remark! Even though it isn’t any less an achievement. Given how britishers are divided on an Asian being their Prime Minister. In a hilarious swipe, I heard Trevor Noah stating on it being the revenge time, while coaxing the English people to imagine a time when the great empire was trying to rule countries where no one looked like them!” Anyways, I only wish that however he got elected, he must put his everything to get Britain back on track. But for something which completely got overshadowed with all the happenings the world over. Last week Indian Space and Research Organisation put the heaviest ever Indian Rocket with 36 …

A Land Devoted To Light

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India that is Bharat* is the oldest living civilisation on Earth, and to even our surprise we at times get tired of celebrating so many festivals that arrive week after week non-stop throughout the year. But Diwali is not just any festival. It, I imagine presents the right amount of cosmic chaos, the energy and the passion that brings people together lighting up their homes, decorating streets, shops and on a subtle level trying to illuminate themselves by praying for Knowledge and Wealth on this moonless day. India is a land of Travellers and Storytellers. And Tonight of light which is also my favourite, is celebrated on the homecoming on one such Traveller. The King Lord Sri Rama, personally I revere him not because he was known to be Just, or responsible, balanced, courageous rather severely moral in love and War, but he has been for me the most ideal traveller that i have known through texts and people. He could easily be the most ancient walker who walked with a vow mapping the most …

Why Do I Like Gandhi?

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Because he was an admirable Walker, to start with. 2nd of October is imprinted in each Indians heart. Not only because it is M.K Gandhi’s birthdate. But to us growing up in India this day was always a holiday till we knew why? From my last year’s Essay on Knowing Gandhi and Learning from Mahatma, I myself have come a long way in understanding Politics and Public Service. I have taken small steps in sharing my Yoga dhyana and health as a class, and as much speaking about many issues with children and parents at School and otherwise. I have long admired MK Gandhi. But not only for the usual reasons, some of you may know from previous year’s essays. But Something where I connect with him. He was a great walker; indeed one of the hardiest, most determined walkers of all time. I acknowledge it because I love walking myself and I can say with authority that no day has gone empty where I hadn’t spend an hour or more taking time out to …

Mother, Man and the Queen: A Short Photographic Tribute to September

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“My father worked in the Buckingham Palace mail room for a short while in the 1970s. It was a period when letter bombs were being sent to prominent figures in the UK by the IRA and it was his job to inspect the queen’s mail for any potential explosive devices. The man he worked with, a fellow ammunition technician, himself was a stamp collector. And He couldn’t believe his luck. He, out of hundreds of people was offered a job where envelopes, with exotic stamps stuck…Read more

Ten Hard Truths a Student Must Know For Life

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Last week while taking a round in school, I felt someone is sobbing somewhere. I tried to find the source of the sound. Up and below as it lead me to the basement. One student sat under stairs in darkness, his head down between his legs. He got scared the moment he saw me, stood straight and hit his head hard on the stair roof above him and went down again like a cloth falling from a string. Sobbing out loud. Pandemic fenced my travelling like anyone’s and it turned my attention towards my school. Taking Yoga classes, developing students skills around arts and photography, teaching conversation and language skills. Later when I asked Akshat, the crying boy, what he said took me by surprise. He told me that he fears his mother will die soon, that he cannot bear he will be all alone. His had already lost his father years ago. That evening back home, I decided that I will introduce my children to the wisdom of the ancients. Once a week I …

Mine Against the World of Elon Musk: Some Secrets on High Performance and Thoughts on Artificial Intelligence

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For most of us, our understanding of robots and artificial intelligence (AI) is drawn more from science fiction than from fact. But it is true that the world of intelligent machines is opening up. And as we approach this brave new world of human-level machine intelligence, we may need to reassess what it means to be human.

The STORY OF INDIA in 75 Independent Years

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Today is 15th August. It is a date with destiny. A total of 6 countries got Independence on this date in different years. You can say they were destined too. BahrainCongoThe Two KoreasLiechtenstein and my country, India. The largest and the most vibrant democracy in the world. A country that is diverse in every single sense. Geographically, Socially, Culturally, Linguistically. Since Colonial Rule, a nation of 1.3 Billion people will celebrate the fact that they have proven wrong every Western Commentator who predicted doom upon a young country in the late 1940s, all the way up to even 1970s. 75 Years ago at midnight India made tryst with destiny. An independent India was born. Drained and Divided but desperate to make on its own. How would one describe this journey of seven and a half decades? Its been a staggering, astonishing, colossal and a monumental journey this past 75 years. And no what foundations, morals a man or a country shows; it all boils down to ECONOMY The British crown looted 45 Trillion dollars from …

Making of a Capital : A Short Travel Poem and a Photo Essay

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And now we move to the rhythm of this restlessnessOn these streets many people dead they drive with recklessness 8% growth has some people flex with lexusesIn South ex shop for Rolexes and diamond necklaces Land developers come down hard build power nexusesThey build more malls and shopping complexcesses State militia vacate villages – next exodusSo you can cash checks of sensex indexes. Many narrators refer to Delhi as be-dil(heartless). They say the city is cruel, treacherous, ungrateful, selfish and a whore. Prior to the Muslim rule, Delhi’s most popular name was Yoginipur, City of Yoginis. Jain texts and Prakrita literature mentioned the city as Yoginipur. Yoginis are lesser goddesses; some texts say they numbered 12 while others put the figure at 64. Yogmaya, the presiding deity of Yoginopur, reigned over all the Yoginis. : ँ : Excerpts and Images from an Ongoing Project on Delhi Thank you. If today is the first time you have arrived on The Road to Nara, you are heartily welcome ~ Namaste : ँ : I will take this opportunity to …