Ishani's Pen

A very famous saying goes “A book is a gift that you can open again”. As a 90s kid, I used to read short stories, fairy tales, Aesop fables that I had been gifted by relatives or that I used to buy from our school on the day of Parent-Teacher Meet in August every year. But it was only in the year 2002 (age 11), when I was captivated by the idea of “reading” and that book was J.K Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s stone”. And that book opened many doors into the world of reading – from Harry Potter, to Nancy Drew, Enid Blyton’s Famous Five, Hardy Boys – it was a reading marathon or spree. I started to eagerly wait for December every year for the Annual Book fair of Guwahati. I wished my sister to say that she needed something from Pan bazar so that I could tag along with my mother and cajole her for a little indulgence in “Western Book Depot”. Years rolled, different books from the mentioned titles got exchanged between friends as my reading genre remained limited within that...

  Travelling has never been my thing! As a person who suffers from major motion sickness since childhood, the travel or “journey” part was never a “fun” experience, rather it is more of an ordeal. However, after many years I decided to challenge myself (and my 68-year old mother) to make a trip to the beautiful valley of Kashmir! There is no doubt about the fact that Kashmir is beautiful – we have been reading about it in school and watching videos (and movies) from the place. But what we experienced was beyond our expectations – the valley was beautiful beyond words! Being blessed with a large no. of Kashmiri friends, I had received a suggestion to spend one night in a “houseboat” on the Dal Lake of Srinagar. So as planned, our tour guide dropped us in the Shikara of the “Nanga Parbat” houseboat – the place which was supposed to be our residence that night. My mother was initially a little apprehensive of the idea of spending a night in a houseboat. But her doubts all flew out ...

The Mughal emperor Jahangir or Salim had once commented “ Agar Firdous bar ru-e-zamin ast, Hami ast o-hami ast o-hami ast ” (If there is heaven on earth, it is here) on the mesmerizing beauty of Kashmir. The vast expanse of land dotted with pines and maples (chinar), bubbling waters of Indus and Lidder provide a breathtaking view as soon as one lands in Srinagar. The most common places to visit on a trip to Kashmir are Pehelgam, Sonmarg, and Gulmarg (especially in winter). However, a place that very few tourists visit is Doodhtpathri, which literally means “Valley of milk”. Located in the Budgam district of Kashmir, this small, hilly region is located approximately 30-35 kms from Srinagar. As the location is at a higher altitude than Srinagar, the air and wind are chilly and fresh. Traveling on the curved roads of Doodhpathri, one can actually experience “Europe” in India – it is no less than any Bollywood movie shot in Switzerland. On both sides of the road are lush green valleys co...

  Over the last few months, the country was devastated by the sudden demise of young people like Siddharth Shukla and KK, and even Raju Srivastav recently. There were similar tragedies closer to home too but they were not in the limelight. For instance, a resident of Zoo-road, Guwahati lost his businessman brother (aged 46) suddenly, a non-smoker, non-alcoholic fitness freak, while working out in the gym. Such news has managed to instill fear in the minds of young people because now, it is death of young people which seems to be in “trend.” If people who work out regularly in the gym are suffering from sudden cardiac arrests, what about the average “young” individual who is not very conscious of his health? As such, there is now a shift towards “healthy lifestyle choices” especially among young people. Gym registrations are increasing, along with the work pressure! YouTube is also helping to fuel this choice – fashion influencers like Komal Pandey, FitTuber and others releasing v...

Remember that heavy, fat book that used to be a constant in every household back in the 90s? The book that was the most difficult thing to carry if anyone at the house wanted to know the correct spelling of a word? Yes, I am referring to the house of huge no. of words “Dictionary” or “Obhidhaan”! Some assamese households even had the linguistic version of it, referred as “Hemkosh”, after the legendary Hem Baruah. Searching for new words and their meanings in an alphabetical order used to be such an exciting job then. With the passage of time, dictionaries started becoming compact and started to being available in pocket sizes; the first of its kind being provided by the Oxford house. English literature was incomplete without the use of dictionary, especially for poetry. In fact, there used to be a question for lower classes as “Write the meanings of the following words” – something that used to inculcate the habit of turning the pages of this fat book at a young age. Even writers of ...

 You will love many a times, but there will be only one love, only one moment, after forever of union, that'll burn your soul. And in that surrender you disappear, eternally. You become, FOREVER!

  It was probably the year 2000 when I had first come across the famous lines of the Welsh poet, W H Davies “ What is this life, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare… ”. The poem “ Leisure ” had surely been the part of English literature for many in school; I am pretty sure we had known the poem by heart then, along with the substance. But did we actually comprehend the essence of these lines then? Maybe NO! Today, 22 years later, those lines truely make sense to me. Each one of us, irrespective of the age, qualification, economic status, gender, is running continuously (not literally!) – whether it is to score the highest marks in class or to get more clients or to fight the traffic and reach work on time! In this state of life, we all have lost or forgotten to enjoy the simple pleasures that life has to offer. No more do we spend time with our friends and family playing outdoor games like kabaddi or badminton, or even silly games like hide-and-seek or blindman’s buf...