horizontaly parked in diagonal world

I joined HZL in 2004 and, by a stroke of luck, was placed at the corporate office in Udaipur, working out of the COO’s office. It was the beginning of what I can only call the most carefree and adventurous phase of my life—long days of work, followed by evenings that often slipped into stories worth retelling. One such night still stands out. Naveen had left for his hometown that weekend, casually tossing me his car keys with a grin that suggested he knew exactly what might follow. That evening, after a couple of beers and no particular plan, Krishnan and Vaibhav dropped by. Someone suggested a drive to Badi Lake—a place that, at night, was as beautiful as it was unpredictable. I was already a little tipsy, but confidence tends to rise faster than caution in your early twenties. We picked up a few more beers “for the lake” and set off, the road gradually narrowing into darkness as the city lights faded behind us. The drive was quiet, almost eerie. The kind of silence that makes you awa...

 We reached Lachung on what we proudly called a “budget trip” —and the budget clearly had the last laugh. Our hotel looked like it had survived multiple centuries, possibly unchanged since the Stone Age. Ahmad and I ended up sharing a room—not out of bonding, but out of survival. The cold mountain wind had VIP access through the doors and windows, slicing through us like it had a personal grudge. At one point, I’m fairly sure the breeze knew our names. The only saving grace? Hot water. That bathroom felt like a luxury spa compared to the rest of the setup. Dinner, unfortunately, did not share the same standards. We ate just enough to stay alive and returned to our “heritage site” of a room. Ahmad, already regretting life choices, wanted to immediately check into a nearby 5-star hotel. I convinced him to stay—mostly because I didn’t want to repack in that cold. Just when we thought the night couldn’t get more interesting, a young solo traveler (an engineer, philosopher, and part-tim...

We spent the evening at Temi Kothy the way such evenings are meant to be spent—without watching the clock. Dinner slowly turned into conversation, and conversation into something warmer, more open. The family spoke to us as if we weren’t strangers anymore. There was no hesitation, no guarded distance. Sikkim people, we concluded, are simply… different. Kinder. Softer. More open to letting you in. At some point, the conversation drifted—as it always does in the mountains—towards stories you don’t tell in cities. Ghosts. Ahmad, surprisingly, leaned into it. With unusual interest, he spoke about how the hills carry their own presence. How silence in the mountains isn’t always empty. How certain places feel… occupied. The daughters listened, half amused, half serious. And I sat there, somewhere between missing my protein-heavy dinner and trying to piece together the history of Sikkim from fragments of conversation. It was all light. Playful. Unstructured. The kind of banter that doesn’t ai...

  Our emergency hotel had done its job. By morning, we were rested—but not settled. There was no plan. No urgency. No checklist waiting to be completed. And somehow, that felt perfect. Sikkim isn’t a place you move through with intention. It’s a place that asks you to slow down… and drift. So we did. After checkout, one decision was already in motion—we would go to North Sikkim. Nathula Pass, Zero Point… places that don’t just sit on a map, but live in imagination. But our car wasn’t allowed. Permits, local registrations, controlled routes—the mountains decide who enters and how. So we handed over our documents to a travel agent, made the booking, and let that part of the journey unfold on its own time. And then, with nothing binding us, we turned south. The roads to South Sikkim felt softer. Less demanding. Almost forgiving. We drove in the direction of Kalimpong—but never quite reached it. Because somewhere along the way, direction stopped mattering. The road became enough. We pa...

After the decision, our hearts were heavy. Nepal had been the plan. The idea. The story we had already begun to believe in. Turning away from it left a quiet weight—like leaving something unfinished. But the road doesn’t wait for emotions to settle. Fatigue had already started creeping in. I wasn’t driving yet. The previous day’s journey—from Bangalore to Patna—was still sitting in my body. A long travel, a 3-hour halt at Mumbai airport, and barely any rest. My mind was alert, but my body hadn’t caught up. So Ahmad started again. And I shifted into my role—co-driver, navigator, decision-maker. The route ahead wasn’t simple. There were options. One of them tempting—cutting through Nepal’s mountain roads. It would have been beautiful, raw, and probably unforgettable. But time wasn’t on our side. So we chose the plains again. A longer route, but predictable. Safer. Faster. The plan was clear—cut across the Ganges-Koshi belt, push towards Siliguri, and from there pick up the Teesta River, ...

I had barely arrived in Patna when the plan found me. No buildup, no long discussions—just a call. And before I could settle in, he was there the next morning. Ahmad. My best friend from our Don Bosco days—the one I went to school with, morning and afternoon, day after day. He was a junior, so we didn’t share classrooms or tiffins—but we shared the road. The drives to school, the drives back home, the small conversations, the comfortable silences. Over time, that routine turned into something deeper—an understanding that didn’t need words. Even back then, there was something distinct about him. Maybe it came from being the son of a powerful IPS officer—but Ahmad carried a quiet authority. Not loud, not intimidating—but composed. Observant. The kind of person who doesn’t react quickly, but when he does, it’s measured. There’s a discipline in him, almost instinctive, like he’s always aware of his surroundings. And then there’s his other side. Ahmad behind the wheel is a different persona...

There was a time at Don Bosco's, Patna when I was completely bored with my classmates. They were decent people, but not adventurous enough for the restless energy I carried inside. Somewhere deep within, I felt there had to be more interesting people in the world — people who questioned things, laughed loudly, and carried a little rebellion in their spirit. By Class 7, I had almost given up on school and, in some strange way, on life itself. To make matters worse, I fractured my hand that year. What should have been a temporary inconvenience became a convenient excuse. I stopped going to school regularly, hiding behind the bandage and my boredom. Still, one thing about me was constant — somehow I would pass my exams even if the world was about to end. So Class 7 passed by quietly. Then came Class 8, and something unusual happened. That year the school failed almost 20% of the students in each class. At the time it felt harsh, but looking back, it felt as if the universe had qui...

 Some friendships begin in classrooms, some in playgrounds, and some over shared interests. Ours began under a tree. My first school had no building, no corridors, and no polished floors. It was simply a primary school under a large tree , meant for children from poor families like mine. In those days I was growing up in what felt like the poorest corner of the poorest state of a poor country. Life was simple, and resources were scarce. School, for me, was not exciting. I disliked the discipline — the idea of sitting in one place, listening, repeating lessons. Even a school under a tree felt restrictive to a restless child. I would have happily wandered in fields or played by the river instead. But that was where I met Munna . Munna was one year older than me. In that early chaos of childhood, he became the first person outside my family who mattered deeply. At that age we didn’t know words like friendship , loyalty , or bond . But somehow we already understood them. Soon Mun...

Behind my house ran a network of narrow lanes, winding and secretive, known only to those who lived there. They were shortcuts in geography but also in imagination, carrying us swiftly from the discipline of home to the freedom of the playground. The dust rose beneath our hurried feet, the smell of evening kitchens followed us briefly, and then suddenly the world opened. Running parallel to the river stood the ancient road — vast, patient, and indifferent to time. Built, they said, under Emperor Ashoka to bind trade, kingdoms, and civilizations, it cut across India like an idea too large for a single generation. That road stretched beyond our comprehension — past cities we had never seen, across plains and mountains, all the way to Gandhar, in what is today Afghanistan. Traders, monks, soldiers, seekers — countless lives had passed there long before ours began. And on the other side flowed the Ganges. Between the road of empire and the river of eternity lay a wide expanse of pale, sand...

The trick is not to arrange a festival; but to find people who can enjoy it. Have we lost our capacity for enjoyment in the seriousness with which we confront life and its difficulties? Isn’t enjoyment something that is always going to be ours tomorrow? I think this was the basic idea which first put me on to the train of thought to write something about the last Sunday — a memory worth keeping. The last Sunday when Krishnan and I woke up, it seemed like an ordinary day, as when we get up and get ready to rush for the breakfast and dash to office. I asked Krishnan if he was interested to give me his company to the holy place of Neemach Mata, as usual he nodded. We made a visit to that place and get back to our room and waited for sometime to have lunch. We did not know what was hidden in the bowel of future because if you are not acquainted with a great personality — Kamlesh Kumar (The Jadugar) only then you can think of your plans otherwise if Kamlesh is there you will never know wha...

In the story of every family, there are quiet heroes whose legacy lives not through headlines but through the values they pass down — perseverance, sacrifice, and grace. For my family, that strength flows from the formidable foundation laid by extraordinary women: my grandmother and my mother. The Unyielding Spirit of My Grandmother My paternal grandmother was not just the matriarch of our family — she was its backbone. Widowed at middle age in the volatile, fragmented capital of Bihar, she faced a harsh world with nothing but grit and determination. Left to raise a large family, she did not succumb to despair. Instead, she became an unlikely entrepreneur, selling toddy — a traditionally male-dominated trade — amid a climate of uncertainty and violence. Her eldest son supported her, but the weight of the household largely rested on her shoulders. She continued working tirelessly until the age of 75, never once stepping back or slowing down. Her resolve, stamina, and ability to lead a f...

  We often speak about beauty as if it were an absolute truth. We say something is beautiful the way we might say something is tall or is heavy . But the more one thinks about it, the more fragile that certainty becomes. Perhaps what we call beauty is not an objective quality at all. It may simply be a signal our biology has taught us to recognize. Across human history, attraction has served a purpose. Certain facial symmetries, body proportions, skin textures, or expressions may have signaled health, fertility, or genetic strength to our ancestors. Over thousands of generations, our brains learned to notice these signals quickly. What we experience as attraction may simply be an ancient biological algorithm quietly running in the background of our minds. This would explain why beauty changes so dramatically across cultures and time. What one era considers the ideal form, another era may ignore. In some societies fuller bodies were admired; in others, slenderness became fashio...