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I read a decent about of fantasy but I have never read fantasy based on India. Tasha Suri's Burning Kingdoms is a refreshing read, it takes the genre and contextualizes it in Indian culture. Here the two women protagonists are fighting but they wear saris, wear flower garlands. The food mentions rotis, halwas. The worship/religion is similar to Hindu religion but never explicitly stated. The place and other references are based on Indian lingo, examples - Parijatdvipa, Malini, Priya and Yaksa. The feel of this book is Indian and that is what motivated me to pick it and I would recommend the series.
The Jasmine throne starts when Malini is exiled by her brother to a remote place in the empire because she would not burn herself, that is sacrifice herself, for a prophecy that was foretold many eons ago. It is a form of imprisonment. The book touches a lot of patriarchal subjects without making them obvious. In this prison, Malini meets Priya who is assigned to take care of her. Priya is part of a old tribe who had magical powers and she can still feel the magic in herself.
The magic system of Burning Kingdoms is really well done. It is based on nature. People are infected by a rot - that is they are turning into trees. Skins gets converted into tree-bark like texture, veins into plant-veins, leaves and flowers sprout from body's spores. It is wholesome, easy to visualize and builds nicely. Then there is deathless water, a secret place where you take three dips, each dip either kills you or gives you stronger magical powers. There is training to improve your strength to pass these water-tests.
Tasha Suri builds the magic system gradually and her prose is awesome. Pages flip faster. The book is part of Sapphic fantasy genre - a subgenre of speculative fiction that features women-loving-women (WLW ) or nonbinary people in prominent roles. (I learnt about it recently). It is a love story of Priya and Malini against this backdrop of this magic system and evil logic of burning women.
Fire and water occur frequently and play the role of power/revenge vs strength through the book. There are a lot of good subtle touches throughout the book - nameless gods, prophecies and a lot of politics, and diplomacy weaved in.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book and that convinced me to read the trilogy.
As trilogies go, books 2 and 3 expand on the world building. Where does the magic system come from? Why does the rot happen? As our main characters are going through their journey of self discoveries, sometimes, they find success, sometimes they hit roadblocks. Patience is tested, plans are re-drawn. And in between all of this, there is a longing between the two characters when they are not together and more so, when they are. The society has not accepted woman-woman relationship and they have to hide. Then, there is also the power dynamic - one wants to become an empress, other is a citizen of the empire. Tasha Suri, weaves all these into the plots neatly - the story keeps developing as these themes are explored.
I really liked the world building expansion. The magic system comes from these god-like beings called Yasksa who are celestial beings who once ruled the earth but were killed. Now, they are coming back. As they come back, they have to take human bodies and there are nice inner-monologues on the meaning of human forms for celestial beings. The magic system goes from a celebrated power to a curse because Yaksa are the new threat - they want to rule the world.
I also really liked the politics that goes. A woman to become an empress in the man's world - that does not go well. And there are different shades of it. They are those who support her claim unconditionally. Then there are those who want to remove the evil brother but are not sure of her claim. There are those who support her claim but are not ok with her proximity to the magic system/Priya, Each of these factions have their own political games and Malini dances around them.
By the end of book two, Malini has become the empress and Priya's magical powers are at its peak. But Priya has tried to kill Malini unsuccessfully, So, they are apart now. Book three is about how they eventually come together to destroy the Yaksas.
Book three opens with a strong velocity and I was gripped. But once they hit the early failures, the book takes time gets its pieces back. Somethings work - the Yaksa and anything related to them works for me. But the other things feel ingenuine - example - a character leaves to search for a way to kill or slow down Yaksa and then finds something as the very first thing. No struggle, no challenge. It is the very first thing they stumble into. Some characters who were introduced in book 2, do not show up strongly in book 3.
Tasha Suri manages to conclude nicely. The conclusion is logical, ties many plot points, bring closure and also our two characters end up together. It is a happy fantasy ending - one that is meant to be.
Overall, the writing is tight, good pace and very relatable. I think for the first time, I felt that I am reading fantasy and I can relate to the universe of this. It feel personal and real. That the Indian culture can be used as the base was known but no one had done it (at-least I had not read so far) . I liked the books and I would definitely recommend.
Day 6 - Puerto Maldonado - Tambopata (JunglePro Lodge)
We had booked JunglePro's 3 nights Tambopata tour of Amazon rainforest. As part of this, they provide airport pickup/drop, lodging inside rainforest and various rainforest activities. Amazon rainforest is huge and it borders almost all latin American countries, a small part of it is in Peru. In Peru, there are two places to see the rainforest - Iquitos and Puerto Maldonado. We chose this because of easier connectivity.
We landed in Maldonado in the morning and were escorted to the JunglePro Lodge's base station. We had some time before another group had to come so we went to Plaza de Armas of Puerto Maldonado (where else). There we had our brunch - all local street food. One of the famous street food breakfast in Peru is potato+eggs - two boiled potatoes + two boiled eggs with some mint/mustard sauce. It is healthy and tasty. We also had empanadas. The veg options are few but they are ok. We also had flan :)
We had a group of 4 other girls from Guam - an American colony near Taiwan. Our guide was a rainforest localite who learnt English. His name was Freddy and he was amazing - lot of jungle knowledge and stories.
Our day 1 was a 3 hr boat ride on the Tambopata river to get to the jungle lodge. Along the way, we saw largest rodents on earth - capybaras. We also saw turtle, reptiles etc. JunglePro's lodge is very well built - reminded me of the JungleLodges in Karnataka. They take care of food, stay, wooden based cottages with mosquito protection.
At night, we had our first activity - Jungle nightwalk. Freedy led us into the dark forest. Forest is alive, lot of sounds at night. We had to wear gumboots - the trail was sludgy, and applied some mosquito repellants. Freddy carried a special UV torch - animals like scorpions can not be seen with naked eye but they light up under UV light. We saw tarantulas, large spiders, spider-webs, large ants, and many other animals.
One of the best part of the JunglePro lodge were its meals. We had the best meal here of the entire trip. They would feed us breakfast, lunch dinner. Lunch or dinner had rice and dal - black masoor dal is a staple there. Having dal-chawal in peru was heavenly and it was well made. Since we had shared that we are vegetarians, they would make special dishses for us - sometimes mushrooms, sometimes sauted vegetables They had different salads, potatoes, tofu etc. After a long activity, we would have food and sleep peacefully. The food, stay, nature really reminded me of River Tern
They also had a bar counter where you had to pay for drinks. Interestingly, the payment was to be in cash only and that too in dollars. I have rarely seen a country accepting dollars instead of their own currency as cash.
There was no cellphone reception, but they had wifi, so Whatsapp calling was possible.
Day 7 - Macaws eating clay
Day 7 began at 3 am. We had to leave the lodge at 330, travel up the river for 3 hrs to reach a clay hill. There, in the morning, colorful Macaws come to lick clay. Clay is natural detox. Macaws lick clay to neutralize acids and other minerals that is their in their wild diet.
For the 330 am boat ride, the lodge guys gave us blankets. Thankfully, we had our jackets. When the cool breeze hit our faces, we slept. It is amazing how the boat guy navigated the river current. The river is not clean, so navigating the debris without daylight was a challenge. But these folks are pro now.
Macaws are magestic birds - so much color, beautiful wingspan. To just see them, it was splendid. The guide taught us to use telescope+phone camera to click highly zoomed in photos and videos. We saw parrots, owl, and even a sloth
The breakfast was organized next to the river only. They had boiled eggs, pancakes, banana chips, coffee, fruits etc. The boat-ride back was peaceful.
In the evening, we went to visit a nearby lake (40 mins by boat) . Here, we saw rain - it was heavy. We first time realized that why is it called a rainforest :)
Day 8 - Day hike and tower
We did a 4 hrs day hike to walk to a nearby lake. Anacondas live there appratently but we couldn't spot any. The walk on the way was refreshing - through the jungle and we saw many cool things. Before leaving, the guide cut out a termite nest and by the time we got back, we saw the nest has been fixed. We saw a trail of red-ants travelling with us for about half a km, on the trail to get some specific substance from a tree. We saw Peru monkeys, old huge trees with giant trunks. My cool photo is of this monkey eating banana here -
JunglePro had constructed a 50-floor high watch tower near the lodge. In the evening, we went to climb there and see sunset.
Day 9 - Tambopata - Puerto Maldonado - Lima
Day 9 was just traveling back from the lodge to Lima. We took boat from lodge to reach Puerto Maldoando, then a bus to reach airport, then a flight to reach Lima and then a Uber to reach our Airbnb. We had booked an Airbnb at Miraflores and it was centrally located.
Our Airbnb was a 1BHK and a good kitchen with washing machine. It was spacious and well maintained. Rating is 3.5/5 .
Our Airbnb was close to the Kennedy Park which is famous for having cats live there. Somehow, they have created an environment for the cats to happily exist there. The civil/municipal workers take care of feeding and cleaning them. (Some) Cats are friendly and they let to pet you
Day 10 - Lima downtown
Lima is not a safe city. Only Miraflores and Barranco neighborhoods are considered safe for tourists. But, the downtown Lima, its Plaza de Armas, is at the centre. How to go there ? We ended up booking a walking tour and it took us there. Interestingly, the guide took us via public bus which was also a good experience. Lima, like any over-populated city is battling traffic problems. But, they have dedicated bus lanes, so buses do go faster. But, their bus stops have high demand. While coming back, we saw long queues of people waiting to get on. But, overall, bus management and cleanliness was good.
At the historic centre, the guide took us to various churches - couple from inside and others outside, old Spanish houses, gave restaurant recommendations, and overall shared the history of Peru. He also cautioned on what was safe to walk and what is not. The tour was informative, weather good. So, overall a great experience.
Once the tour was over, we had ice-cream near the Plaza. We took the guide on his recommendations and visited two restaurants - one which served traditional pisco sour, and second one in Chinatown. We did our own walking tour, aimlessly exploring the city. At one place, we saw dentist equipments, machines, drills, etc being sold like wholesale goods, and folks at the side-walk asking random people to get their root canals done, at 50% discount :). We saw couple of girls selling artisinal breads from a food truck . Walking without any aim was real fun.
It is not fun when everything is going good. Some adventure has to be there. We were exhausted after walking the whole day, We took an Uber to reach back to our Airbnb, only to realize that we do not have the right keys, Turned out that at the icecream shop, I had used their restroom and returned the Airbnb keys instead of the restroom key (which had hombres on its keychain) . We quickly took the uber back to the cafe, did the traffic thing again. Fortunately, they had the key. We got the swap done, and finally, went back to airbnb, battling the traffic again.
At Lima, we have been cooking breakfast and some meals. Near to where we were staying, we had Vivanda, a upscale grocery store. We bought water and veggies there.
Day 11 - Museums
Day 11 was our Larco museum day. Larco museum hosts historic artifacts - both from Spanish time and before. It is rated very high and rightly so - very well maintained with a rich colletion of artifacts. It covers thousands of years on what happened to Peru, old settlers, their pottery, textiles etc. Very neatly explained with audio-guide as well.
One thing that I remember very well is that Spanish folks looted a lot of gold from the Incans. The Incan royalty had the habit of weating gold-plated breast-plates, armors, crowns etc. So, Spaniards looted them all and took it back. Only to realize that it was only gold colored and didn't include actual gold. It is funny and sad at the same time.
The museum was blasting AC and I was not wearing any jacket because the outside weather was warmer. So, upon reaching home, I had a little temperature and we decided to call it a day. We had plans to visit Barranco that day but we dropped it. My temperature reached 101+ later and I took Dolo and slept it off.
In the evening, we stepped out to taste good hot chocolate. The cafe next door had jigsaw puzzle setup. So, Kanishka and I solved the puzzle and drank hot chocolate.
Mira Flores also has lot of Casinos and we were living walking distance from them. But, in this trip, I could not visit even a single one.
Day 12 - Sick in foreign land.
This was the last day of our trip. Tomorrow was the flight back. Our plan was to eat at Astrid Y Gaston. We had made lunch reservation. Lima is well known for having 3 restaurants in top 50 restaurants in the world . We wanted to try one even though most of the dishes are non vegetarian. But, they did have some veg options.
My fever persisted through the night. In the morning, it was not coming down. Since we had just returned from Puerto Maldonado, a thought came - could it be Dengue? There were a lot of mosquitoes in the rainforest. Earlier I was dismissive and then thought that so what if it is dengue. But, then a google search showed that flights during Dengue can be life threatening. Kanishka was also having similar symptoms, with fever.
So, we finally decided to get the blood work done. In a foreign land, visiting hospital, this was a first. The first two nearby diagnostic centres we went, the communication was hard, we used Google-Translate. But they said that it would give reports in 2 days. We didn't had the time. Kanishka then took us to British American Hospital. They were super helpful and took me to emergency.
A doctor consultation in Lima is 350 Soles (~INR 10.5K) and emergency visit consult is around 600 soles. Healthcare is crazily expensive there. We took the emergency option to get 2 hr bloodwork done. The doctor was nice and the hospital very cooperative. Both Kanishka and I had tests done and got our reports negative. Huge relief. But, I was feeling low energy, so we bought electrolytes and kept on sipping that. Thankfully, Kanishka was able to claim insurance and we got 80% of our expense back. Phew!
Evening was peaceful. We just went out for dinner at a Japanese place, had ramen and then had churros for dessert.
Day 13 - Travel back
Recovering back, there was some energy. So, we finally did the boardwalk in the morning. It was nice and walking felt good. Boardwalk had the famous kiss statue there. We walked back to the Airbnb. We ended up visiting the Kennedy cats park for the third time :).
Flight back was ok. Watched a lot of movies. Diners card was very useful - we used lounge access in almost all departure lounges in Peru. They were small, crowded but good food, and free water :)
Our return was very long - Lime - Amsterdam - Delhi and then to Bangalore. We could not check in to our Delhi - BLR flight, I think it was sold out, so we had to take premium economy.
The reverse jet-lag and body recovery took another week. The fever indeed took almost 1.5 days from our trip. But no one can plan for these things. It did leave with an interesting experience.
Overall, a great trip - new country, new experiences, new memories. We may not go back to Peru - lots of things to see in the world, but it is a worthwhile experience to go there. Machu Picchu alone makes up for it. Rainforest is a bonus. But, it is a developing country with crime - not much motivation to re-visit it. But, worth every dime to experience it once.
We took the bold decision to directly go to Cusco, that is to not spend a night in Lima. We kept a gap of 4 hrs between landing at Lima and then flying to Cusco. We had to collect our luggage and re-check-in for the domestic flight. But, our flight departed late from BLR, landed late in Paris, the next flight from Paris was delayed and then we landed an hr late in Lima. But, thankfully, we were on time. As they say, fortune favors the brave... or in our country - this was a masterstroke of planning.
At Lima airport, we got the first taste of lack of veg food options... if the airport had so few options, then what would happen. We landed at Cusco at 10 pm and the hotel had booked us a taxi for pickup. It was cold but manageable.
Our stay was at Amaru Colonial Cusco, one of the rare original Spanish architecture based hotels. The entrance is via a small one-vehicle wide cobbled road with no space to park, but once you are inside, it was awesome. Overall, our hotel would be 4/5 for decor and 3.5 overall.
Day 1 - Cusco
Kanishka found an excellent city tour. It covered -
Plaza de Armas - Q'enco - Saqsaywaman - Puka Pukara - Tambomachay - Coricancha
The starting point was walkable from our hotel. At the Plaza, some kids were practicing for the festival, we saw the dance and roamed around there. It is a pretty cool hangout places with fancy cafes and activities going on.
We hopped on a bus to cover these places. Most of the places are ruins of Incas. Usecase of some are known but others, it is a guesswork. For example - Puka Pukara was a market, it sat at the intersection of the Incan trail and a detour to get to Cusco. Now, it is all ruins.
My favorite of the mix was Saqsaywaman - this was built as the meeting place for the Cusco leaders to welcome guests. It has three layers (floors) of zig-zag well structured stones. Some of the stones are huge and they are not local. They were dragged from 12-15 kms away. Dragging those stones with human hands plus some ropes, would have been an engineering feat at that point.
Our guide also shared a glimpse of local challenges. The rates at Plaza De Armas are 2-3x of rates at other places. There is a lot of corruption in Peru. The trust on govt. is low. Many of these sounded familiar to us.
We were tired by the end, so we decided to skip Coricancha and instead headed for lunch. Our lunch was at Vida Vegan Bistro Cusco . I had my first taste of Vegan Pisco sour ( a national drink which typically contains egg). We had burger and pasta and paid 20 soles (INR 600) for two bottles of water. First lesson that water in restaurants are not free. Post lunch, we went to hotel and crashed.
We stepped out in the evening and again visited the Plaza. Our dinner was at this Chia Vegan restaurant. The food was amazing. Peru is known for its variety of potatoes and we had one here.
Day 2 - Cusco to Ollantaytambo via Sacred Valley tour.
We checked out post breakfast and dragged our suitcases on the cobbled street to meet the tour-van. Our night stay was at Ollantaytambo. Kanishka did the clever booking - Sacred valley tours includes Ollantaytambo, so she found one who can give us the tour and also drop us there. That made things simpler
Sacred Valley tour started with a local textile shop Textile quechua . Cusco is known for making winterwear using LLama wool. At this shop, they showed the process of how the wool is made from the llama fur. Pretty good exerperience. They also were selling stuff, the quality seemed good but so did the prices, so, we didn't buy anything.
Our next stop was Chinchero. Another Incan ruin with a beautiful step farming setup. It was burnt down to prevent the Spanish inquisition here. Next stop was Maras Moray - a circular terrace farming place. Our guide told story that it was like a farming laboratory for Incans. After returning back, I got curious and did more research. The farming laboratory theory is now called bogus. But to sell a narrative, it is pretty cool. The sights here were also great. Maras Moray was peaceful, green, serene.
Our next top were the Maras salt mines. We also stopped before at a salt shop and bought expensive salt :) Salt mines are unique, cool, and crowded. But, worth a visit. We had authentic buffet lunch after this. The buffet had few good veg options and flan for dessert. We were sorted.
Upong reaching Ollantaytambo, we skipped the Ollantaytamo ruins from the Sacred valley tour. We wanted to do so at our own pace. We checked into the Airbnb, which was right next to the Plaza de Armas of Ollantaytambo. Our airbnb had kitchen, so we headed out to buy water and veggies :)
At the local market, we saw a 7 gallon water being sold from 12 Soles to 30 Soles. Kanishka did her best to bargain but they were better. Veggies were fresh, juicy and delicious - this is an hilly area, so veggies are grown locally. The market was also like a local basement kind of market but still okay-ish clean. Not as clean as Japan ones :) but a lot better than Bangalore.
At midnight we celebrated Kanishka's birthday. We bought a local brownie but got looted. The brownie was very small and it was for 15 soles. The Ollantaytambo market was a good walk, not much crowds in the evening, well lit and weather was also good.
It is hyper commercialized. The trains to reach there are expensive but they are luxurious. There is no road access. Machu Pichu allows only 4500 visitors per day. One has to select which routes to pick for sightseeing, and the route #2 - where you can walk among the ruins get sold out the fastest. Then you have to book the trains, the bus from train station to entry point, a guide for local sight seeing etc. Kanishka did all the planning here and we booked the Panoramic route which in my opinion is the best one :)
Machu Pichu was never finished. It was not a functional city, it was still under construction. It was abandoned when Spanish folks came. Spainiards never reached here, so it was under moss and ruins until it was rediscovered by a adventurer geologist. It is one of the new Seven wonders of the world.
The train journey is very scenic. We follow the Urubamba river nestled in the mountains. It is like a Vista dome train. The attendants are multi-talented. The attendants does the job of ticket-checker, serving food-drinks, and in the onward journey, we had a mini traditional ritual that was performed by the attendants only. On the way back, Kanishka booked the other train company - Peru Rail and they are also getting into apparel. So, their attendants did a whole fashion show ramp walk. The number of things expected by attendants is just amazing.
Machu Picchu was surreal. Our guide was an expert in taking Insta-worthy photos and made us pose. But once the photo-shoot was done, we got time to sit and admire the wonder. It is amazing. Between the mountains, so quite, peaceful. You get to see the whole thing only in the Panoramic route and I think it is the best one. If you are inside, you do not get to see the big picture, the expanse of it. Only in Panoramic, the beauty comes alive.
The station town is called Aguas Calientes. After Machu Picchu, we walked the streets and had lunch at Iskcon themed vegan restaurant by the name of Govinda. The whole town is pricey. We had some quinoa khichdi and it was yum! We walked through the markets, bought our souvenir magnets here.
We had dinner at a train-bogey themed restaurant next to the station only. The food was awesome. We walked back to Airbnb. This was the highlight of the trip - best day.
Day 4 - Ollantaytambo
Day 4 was meant to be chill day. We had carried Theplas from home. Breakfast was boiled eggs, Thepla, yogurt and salad. I think our meals during travel are way more healthier than at home :)
The market outside the ruins was interesting, After the walk, we ended up buying sweaters and caps. Kanishka demonstrated her bargaining skills - I could not believe that we got 60% discount.
We did a leisurely walk to the Ollantaytambo ruins and explored it. Beyond the ruins, there were some spots even higher and we had to walk there. We took an easy stroll to climb and reach there - it was sunny but not super hot.
The Ollantaytambo ruins are special - it was a living city, fully functional one. When the Spaniards came, they attacked the city but a 19 year old warrior was able to defeat them. This is the reason they never reached Machu Picchu, they turned back there. All Incan ruins have certain things as common - a Sun temple for example. Incan worshipped the Sun god and June 24st, they celebrate the Inti Raymi, a festival dedicated to Sun god. It is difficult to understand how people lived during those times but the space is huge and structure is solid.
Post the ruin visit, we had lunch at the Plaza and had the worst Burrito ever. And at the cost of 50 soles, it was a loot. We visited our favorite local grocery store, bought bread, butter and stuff and then had a nice salad + bread as dinner. We also used this day to do laundry :)
During the evening stroll, we tried local street food. One such drink was Emoliente - a herbal drink made of roasted barley, lemon, sugar and herbs. It is served hot and it was awesome! Our Airbnb had kitchen, heater and hot water. It was next to plaza. It was one of those Inca ancestral home, next to the cobbled streets. I would rate it 4/5 for the experience.
Day 5 - Back to Cusco
We took a cab from Ollantaytambo to Cusco. It was a 3 hr ride. Our driver knew english. He was from the jungle but spoke english fluently, On the way, we say these purple colored drinks sold in bottle and we asked him what it is. It was Chicha Morada , made of fermented corn. We bought it and it was awesome!
Our one night stay at Cusco was at hotel Hacienda . This was far from the Plaza. The hotel was ok - basic, functional. It was next to the Pedro market, so that is where we started.
Pedro market is the local grocery+food+chocolate market there. It has vendor stalls selling all kinds of things. One such thing is roasted guinea pigs :) We tried some cakes, some random items, empinada and finally found a vegan restaurant there - Vegan Pinto and had one of the best ROI (taste over money) meals. We were full but the meal was yum!
After this, we went to see the Coricancha museum - it used to be an Incan temple taken over by Spanish clergy and it was then their sacred place. We didn't had a guide so we didn't enjoy it much. The one thing that I remember is reading about the history and it is here we learnt that Incans used to believe in sacrifices - they sacrificed kids too, sometimes burying them alive in ground. So, Incans were also superstitious and had places to offer sacrifices and many such weird rituals.
Post Coricancha, we went back to the plaza. This was a parade day there - a local festical where they shift the statues of some renowned old priests from one church to another. It was festive atmosphere there.
We had bought a group-pass to get access to multiple-sites. Kanishka figured out that it included a local cultural performance. It was fun. The music is really like the traditional one - lot of flute. It is a govt. run institution, so things are still how they were in 70s :) But we enjoyed it.
Dinner was a walk to a pizza place - fresh oven baked pizza was good. By this time, we were using Uber, so we took the uber back to hotel.
Machu Picchu. Famous with very nice photos enough to pique an interest. First visit to South America. Peru is a four letter word country :) A new country, culture, language, world. A developing country - so always fascinating to see how other developing nations are doing the same things like we have done.
Peru Plan
Kanishka did most of the planning this time. At a high level, the idea was to spend -
Cusco - 5 days
Puerto Maldonado - 4 days
Lima - 4 days.
Cusco is the base to visit Machu Picchu. It was also the headquarter of the Incans which ruled over five countries (Peru, Bolivia, Equador, Chile, Argentina) about five hundred years ago. Kanishka figured out that there is a part of Peru that overlaps with Amazon rain forest. There were two options - Iquitos or Puerto Maldonado. I think it was flight connectivity that led us to pick PEM. Lima being the capital - we decided to have sometime there to explore museums etc.
Our original plan was to do Peru in Dec-end but I pulled a back muscle. So, we shifted the entire trip to June during Kanishka and my birthday week.
What stood out in Peru -
Language and lack of vegetarian options - At the Lima airport, on day 1, we tried to get some vegetarian food. Now, typically, at capital-city airports, by now I expect folks in the hospitality industry to be able to speak English. But, it was not the case here. Staff were all Spanish, the menu options were all Spanish and there were not too many veg options.
This kind of thing made sense in Japan where most of the tourists are domestic. But here in Lima, this was surprising. I will later learn that this is largely because the number of Spanish knowing tourists is very high. We saw a lot of toursis from Brazil, Spain and US. Many folks from US know Spanish as their 2nd or 3rd language.
In Lima, Cusco and other places, we found a lot of veg/vegan options but at the airport, it was a struggle.
Crime and democracy in Peru - As you start to research more about the country, more so, beyond the tourism angle, you get to know different things. In this case, we learnt that Peru has had 10 presidents in last 10 years. Their government instability/corruption is well known. Not only that, in Lima there are only limited localities where tourists can stay - Miraflores and Barranco being the most common. In these two areas, there are upscale malls, good parks, shooping and food options and are (relatively) crime-free but there are many parts of Lima which are No-no for tourists.
Interestingly, the day we landed, the next day there were elections. At the airport I saw a TGIF and I thought I will try their famous local cocktail - Pisco Sour. But TGIF said that due to elections, they are not selling alcohol. This instantly reminded me of India :)
Cusco and Puerto Maldonado were all safe and we even walked at night in Cusco and it was all good.
Toilet Paper - It took me a while to accept this but in Peru, either there are no toilet paper in toilets or even if there are toilet paper, you are not allowed to flush them. It has got to do with their plumbing - their pipes are not large enough or something. You take the paper tissue from outside, wipe your ass and throw this in the trash can. Good news is that all rest-rooms had trash cans.
Now, this is bizarre to me that why they have not fixed this so far. Or if plumbing is an issue, then why not have water jets like we have in India.
Even at international airports, the restrooms had this issue. Typically, one would expect that airports will be taken care of correctly.
Mangoes at Peru - we were delighted to see mangoes in Peru. But interestingly, June is their winter and their summer are in Nov/December when the tree bear fruits. Peru being in Southern hemisphere, the weather patterns are opposite ours.
Spanish language - It was interesting to see that Spanish was the most spoken language, even in jungles and remote places. Their native language - Quechua is lesser spoken than Spanish. Our guide and driver were from jungle (in Peru instead of saying that we are from village, to talk about their remoteness, they would say that they are from jungle) and their first language was Spanish.
Even buildings - at Lima, most of the Spanish constructed buildings are now the parliament and key houses.
I didn't see any hostility to the Spanish conquest even in museums or walking tours.
Plaza de Armas - Every town / city in Peru had a plaza located right at the centre of the place. Plaza de armas actually means place to store weapons. But today, Plaza de Armas means a nice open space with posh restaurants or shopping outlets at its circumference. The open space is used for cultural programs and a great hangout place. We saw this in Cusco, Puerto Maldonado, in Lima. Liked the concept of plaza in general.
I have not read such a mind-blowing novel for sometime, or maybe ever. It is like reading the Matrix or rather Animatrix.
Book premise - There are these organisms, called memes or unknowns, which prey on your memory. So, you do not even know they exist because they alter your memory. Yet, they are everywhere. There is an Antimemetics division created to fight them. The novel is an account of how they go about fighting these unknowns.
The book is bold and full of so many ideas that it is a powerhouse of new sci-fi. Many pages blows you away. The best part is that QNTM is able to put his ideas in words that it is easy to follow. Some things makes sense and some things do not. But it is ok. Because it is not a book that is meant to be easy.
Each of the meme (or unknown) is different. They have their own power, attack, story. There is a wikipedia like collection for each meme that has been observed. Each such entry is redacted for general consumption. Each of this wiki chaper in the book is fascinating to read.
How do you right such unknowns ? By inventing drugs that make you less forgetting. Is that enough? No. But it could just work. That's the trick. There are chapters where these Antimemtics division agents fight these memes - sometimes they are successful and sometimes they are not. The affair is bloody. There is horror in some pages but the settings is such that it is ok.
I picked up this book as I was walking down the street in SF and stumbled onto Dog eared bookstore. The title was intriguing and it was there in the trendy section. It was SciFi. The best sellers in US are different than the best sellers in India. Expected. One really has to scan things to understand what new is out there.
This one was intellectually stimulating. I am so happy to have read this one.
CEO of a corporation is kidnapped by a conspiracy theorist who believes that she is an actual alien. A typical Yorgos Lanthimos film - meant to shock you, awe you and then something. Jessie Plemons and Emma Stone are both fantastic but its the story that shocks you. There is a commentary on the corporate office workings that goes on the side and it is subtle but very well done. The ending, will not spoil it, but it is one of those - "what if we do this" and someone will say "nah, you wouldn't) but Yorgos then will double down
Nuremberg - 3/5
Based on the Nuremberg trials, a perspective from a psychologist who is tasked to understand how the Nazi leaders think, if they have any remorse, trying to understand the why etc. Rami Malek is one of the strangest actor to be in Hollywood - very unorthodox dialog delivery, mannerisms, he has his own style but it works. The challenge with Nuremberg or any other such movies is that if they focus on one subject, the psychologist in this case, everyone else is shown as dumb people who are not listening to the right ideas. The protagonist is the most important person who saved the trials while others were not so good. This stereotyping is there everytime. Makes this a good plane ride movie.
Train Dreams - 4/5
A movie where nothing happens. Slice of life movie about a man who is a wood cutter, cutting wood to make railway tracks, bridges, houses or what not. Lives next to a lake, introvert, finds a girl by chance, happily married, with kids. Lives with nature, peace, but with inner turmoil and then, as is life, life happens. Slow pace, in no hurry. Fantastic women characters - both Kerry Condon and Felicity Jones are awesome. Felicity Jones from Rogue one and Kerry (from F1, Banshies of Insherin) are amazing. Joel Edgerton's perfmance is really good as well.
All We Imagine as Light - 4.5/5
This one won the Cannes top prize 2 years ago. Took me sometime to watch it. Woke up one day at 5 and decided to see it - what an amazing way to start the day. It is amazing and really difficult to believe that this was made in India. Kerala nurses working in a small hospital in Mumbai and going through their life journeys and challenges. A movie of a lot of nuance and texture - many small small things add flavor and meaning to this wonderful film. The camerawork puts the city is very amazing - simple shots of Mumbai local or markets brings out the best part of the city while hides the filth, the people. It is a must watch. Chaaya Kadam is there too and one should watch all her movies :)
I was so impressed with All We Imagine as light that I saw a lot of Payal Kapadia's press interviews, her movie inspirations, cast interviews. This one is a special film. Payal's inspirations and her art, her lens of making movies is up there with the best of arthouses. I would like to see this one again.
The Secret Agent - 4/5
This one won all the awards last year. The Secret Agent is a commentary on Brazil corruption and institutional killing back in the 70s. It takes a lot events that happened and weaves into a fictional story of a professor who is being hunted. The 70s period is captured very well via camera. Then there is a layer of current generation who is trying to research this story and the story also is non-linear - based on the tape recording the current generation decides to listen. Some very interesting narrative devices and some very memorable characters on the side. The real world incidents chosen have an element of magical realism to it. Reminds me of the present day India in many ways. In general, the absurd cinema does not work for me, but in this case, it is based on true newspaper clippings and that adds a fun element. Good cinema.
Sheep Detectives - 4/5
I laughed so much in this movie. The rating is high because sometimes you walk in to a movie that yeah, it is going to be a timepass one-time watch movie but the sheer comedy of it makes you laugh so much that not only you forget the time but also end of recommending this movie to everyone around you and they in turn are also equally happy. I loved Sheep Detectives and will likely watch it again. It combines a murder mystery with comedy, combines real world actors with animations (sheep), combines a small town feeling with cunning - I can go on and on. I love it.
Sister Midnight - 3.5/5
It is actually 3/5 but the extra 0.5 is purely because it was made in India. It is a Radhika Apte talent showcase film - she is outstanding. I went in to see a marital distress film but I was so surprised to see the twist and turn that happened in there. Surreal. Dreamy. The fact that this was made in India is unbelievable. Yet, it did happen and the bold cinema that it carries with has to be saluted. So much new ground is broken. The chawl space is so effectively utilized.
Tu Yaa Main - 2.75/5
I liked the masala. The thing is when you watch so few Bollywood films that when you do watch it, it is a refreshing experience. It is part nostalgia too. The songs or romance that is without a build up is acceptable. If there is a boy and girl, they will hate each other but will fall in love. You do not question this, you accept it. Two influencers are stuck in a diving swimming pool and a crocodile is there. The first part is disconnected from the second part but so what. It is two movies at the price of one :)
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The Boys - 4.5/5 (all season rating)
It is gory. It is madness. It is over the top. It is wild. Action, revenge. Anthony Starr (Homelander) and Karl Urban (Butcher) will forever be remembered for this series. Other cast is ok. But the highlight is the story, the premise and what an amazing social political commentary of our times. It is no kidding that we are living in a time when the exaggerated thing described in the show happens in real life and the show runners have to add extra messages to add that this is fiction. The commentary is spot on.
The Boys ended its run after 5 seasons. Decent ending - little bit more predictable than what the series has been. I would have expected more catharsis. Online too, some fans are not too happy. But, landing an ending is never easy. I would say ending is 3/5. But the show is awesome. It is also funny - so much dark humor. The Boys is the typical American culture show - I do not think that any other country has seen so much capitalism and is secure enough to make fun of it.
What surprises me is not that this show got made but so many folks have seen it - it is extremely gory, and liked it. Just the times that we are living in. I guess, the charm of people without power taking people with power, and to do so in style, some grandy style, makes it viral, as the V dose was.
Daredevil Born again - 3/5 (Season 1 & 2)
It is one-time watch. Does not stand well on its own. Again, a show with lot of political commentary on our current live events. But, many things do not add up, especially the ending where Fisk gets an exile. The legal part of the show is almost gone. There is media, corruption, but the joy that should be there as the good folks take down the bad folks is subdued. Show wants to be gritty to show that good folks can not win but also wants to make a david v goliath story. It ends somewhere in the middle with some sense of flawed morales and story lines that does not make sense. Meh meh series. A 3-star only because of the nostalgia factor of what the show is .
I have known Nikesh from 2009. He had joined Kosmix after finishing his PhD. I had joined about 4 months ago. He took the cubicle next to me. I do not remember who was sitting there before him. We used to work on sister teams, reported to the same manager.
If I had to name one quality of Nikesh that defined him, it would be affable. Put Nikesh in a room of strangers and after few mins, he would have friends. He would be chatting and laughing. He had an infectious laugh - loud, bold - the kind where once you hear, you would know that it is coming from a place of genuine happiness.
His extroverted personality with my introvert one bonded over our mutual passion - events. Work was work - engaging, challenging, lot of fun. But work friends only go so far. There has to be something outside work element for folks to be called friends. At Kosmix, we had a knitting club where one of the work-colleagues use to teach knitting, and every week we would go there to learn to knit, over delicious Dana Street roasting company coffee, and chat about life in general. It was a small group. I joined and Nikesh followed soon. But beyond knitting, Nikesh and I would go to Indian events in Bay area. We will scan Sulekha and the likes and share events with each other.
Two events I distinctly remember - One of them is this play called Blue Mug, featuring Rajat Kapoor, Vinay Pathak, Ranveer Shorey et al (one, two) . It is based on the Oliver Sacks' book - The Man who mistook his wife to a hat. It is one of the best events in bay area that we attended. It was well acted, performed, a subject matter which spoke about memory. Living in US, it stuck some chord with us that it is difficult but after 16 years, I still remember this play and if it is ever performed again, I will attend it. The second one a band, I have forgotten the name of the band, but they performed at a small auditorium in Bay area, but they performed songs of Bulle Shah, Kabir, and other Sufi saints. We would find translations on phone while they sang and share screen. Some images do not go away.
If I look at my 2011, 2010 posts on this blog, Nikesh features so many times. He took me to Stanford to watch Serena Williams play live - I think the only live tennis match that I have seen. We did many small hikes in bay area - Black Mountain, Mission Peak, Stanford dish etc. We also did a 24 hr hackathon at TechCrunch Disrupt and we hacked to make Evister - an event discovery platform that would later become EventsHigh
He invited me to his daughter's birthday. I knew his wife Sujata, his other friends. We used to go to long walks after office, discuss what the company is doing well, not doing well, politics and everything under the sun. We also would often discuss going back to India - a topic that is common amongst all desis in US. But, often everyone would talk, few move back. Nikesh and I would sometimes talk about our hypocrisy but we knew that we have to be the exceptional cases.
In 2012, both Nikesh and I moved back to India. Just like Kosmix, I came few months before him. The WalmartLabs India era was very interesting for both of us. Looking back, I now know that both of us were trying to re-adapt back to India, in our own ways. Nikesh also had a family, so it was more challenging for him. Office pressure was low comparitively to what it was in US. Office became a gaming era in the afternoon - conference rooms had Catan board games, and others. What became the darling game for everyone was what Nikesh started - Bughouse - a four player chess game in which you play as partners over two boards. The game was viral. Everyone would play this game. When 4 people would play, everyone else would watch and give commentary. It was lively, noisy and a lot of fun!
Nikesh and I also signed up to go to the Goechala trek (the above photo is from the trek). We were part of the running club - RunnersHigh. Did half marathon training together. Went to Auroville to run the half marathon there.
We were unhappy at work, not getting the right purpose/meaning. The idea to start a company came in one of those conversations. Our love of events, the broken ecosystem, was something that we would talk about a lot. That led to EventsHigh.
Both of left WalmartLabs and started working on EventsHigh a month later. I remember that we spent one evening 4 hrs to choose the name. I would say something that he would veto and vice versa. Ultimately. since both of us were part of Runners High and we loved it, we called it EventsHigh.
EventsHigh was there from June 2014 to May 2018. They say that you should do a startup with someone you know deeply. Otherwise, companies do not survive. How true they are. EventsHigh journey is perhaps one of the best years of my life. It may also be one of the most difficult years - but isn't it good that the best and difficult co-exist :) . In the movie Arrival (spoiler ahead), Amay Adams knows that he kid would die yet she has it. The reason is that there is so much joy in the life that is lived. To me EventsHigh is that. - there is so much joy in the experience that the challenges make up for it. The challenges are also simpler because there was Nikesh, and a whole lot of really good people - Parag, Simran, Sonal, his wife Sujata, to name a few.
Nikesh took the role of CEO and focussed on investor relations, product and sales. I took the role of CTO and focussed on tech, support and growth (content/SEO). We complemented . Yet, we fought. We had sometimes significant different opinions of what the company should be, what the product should do. Both of us were learning and growing. Both of us were equally head strong :)
Everyone who joined EventsHigh came because of their passion of events. Our socials were also events - we would go for Onam lunch events, concerts together. 31st Dec, New years eve was the biggest day/night of the year, we would be in office till 9 or 10 pm and then go home.We would take angry customer calls next day, understand which events had fights, which were poorly organized etc. We would chase sales targets in dec, see site traffic grow. A small team of folks having so so much fun. We would celebrate hard work by travel - once we went to Yercaud, a road trip.
EventsHigh offices moved. We started at my ND Sunspurge apartment in HSR. Then, we took the apartment next to Nikesh's home in Akme. Here, at one time, his mother would comment by looking at us two that how much we fight. I won a coffee machine in some random contest and we installed it here. We then moved to Domlur, a small 2 room place. We got our own logo, sign-board. Then, we too a bigger space in HSR. We would get threats from people that the events impact their sensibilities. Nikesh engaged with legal on this.
One of the days in EventsHigh, we were having a serious argument, massive disagreement. We were locked in a conf room but it had glass door. Folks could see us. Voices were raised. By the time it was 430 pm. we were exhausted, likely by repeating the same thing. This was in HSR. We then said, lets go and have chaat. We went to Shubh, had gol gappe and packed chaats for everyone else in the office. A gesture to just calm both of us, take a break. Chaat was another shared joy between the two of us. There used to be this Pani puri wala outside Akme and we would often go to him in evenings. A lot of our food explorations were around chaats. On this day, after chaat, we went to home, calmed down, slept over each other ideas, and then figured out a way to work with each other.
Nikesh and I attended various demo-days etc and presented EventsHigh. He was a better speaker than me - much more confident. Nikesh met many many investors before he got Axilor as an investor. He managed the investor relations well. We were learning the business side of our venture slowly. Eventually, after four years of EventsHigh, we were acquired by Treebo.
The Treebo era was short. We were in non-EventsHigh roles. I went to platform and he went to data sciences. Treebo ran into its own set of challenges. After 8 months there, both of us left Treebo, on the same day.
Post Treebo, our paths differed. I went and joined Rubrik and he joined Flipkart. Interestingly, he had offer from Rubrik but he did not accept. I had offer from FK and I said No. It is also interesting that Nikesh went back to the IC route post EH and then I went to the managerial path - both of us were playing different roles here than what were playing at EH.
Nikesh was in HSR for few months and then shifted to Whitefield. Covid came in between and our distances started to grow more. He was busy at FK and I was busy at Rubrik. Different companies, localities widened our distance. One of the other reason for a little bit distance post EH time was that the end result was a disagree-and-commit from both of us. That came after about 6 months of massive disagreements. Some space was needed but I think Covid made it wider.
I remember meeting at his place for dinner once. He was just promoted at Flipkart and I was asking how he was feeling. He told me that post EH, he felt that he had to prove once again the talent he had. With his rapid growth at FK, he said that he doesn't need to do that anymore. There is an acknowledgement of his talent now. When I heard him, I was stunned - this has been exactly the same feeling within me. Somehow, the EH experience, even though it had so much learning and rewarding, it was not well understood. Both of us had to start once again and both of us proved in our respective organizations.
In his last year at Flipkart, before he resigned, I met him couple of times for coffee. I saw some changes. He was questioning his busy-ness, he told that he felt less meaning at work. He wanted to go deeper into spirituality. I attributed this to some mid-life existential thing. But I agreed that both of us work way more than what is required. We were creatures of habit.
Nikesh passed away on Feb 19, 2026.
When we used to meet investors for EH, or many strangers, would ask us - are you brothers? We would laugh and say no. But I can see that why folks would think like that. We were alike in so many ways.
The last I met Nikesh was at Kabir workhop at Udaipur. Kabir, his teaching, was one of the other things that united us. He called me a day before the event, told me that he had an extra reservation, someone had cancelled. Told me to join him the next day. We looked at flight tickets and a plan was possible. He convinced me. I met him there and we had an amazing event. It is so fitting that our last meeting will happen at event.
It is difficult to explain the void that gets created when such a thing happens. If I just stop and think the void is visible. I can sense an emptiness in me. I know over time, life would take over and we all will move on. But I do not think that this emptiness will ever go away. I miss you Nikesh, so much. You were a good friend to me. I am lucky to have met you, known you, founded a company with you and attended so many good events and travels together. May you keep smiling and bring joy to wherever you are !
Channel Miller was sexually assaulted within the Stanford campus by Brock Turner in 2015. She was saved by two Swedish bicyclist who saw the assault happening and intervened and apprehended the perpetrator. She was lying unconscious and had no memory of the incident. The trial started after a year and in the end Brock Turner was found guilty and sent to prison for 6 months. At the sentencing hearing, Channel Miller read out a letter which was addressed to Brock. This letter was later published by Buzzfeed and it became insanely viral.
(If you have not read the letter, please do so now)
For the duration of trial, for roughly about 4 years post the incident, the identity of the rape victim was not disclosed. It was known as Emily Doe. Post the rape, Channel went through trauma, lost her job, felt anger, betrayed, blamed herself, and then managed to find her strength through her persistence. She also had a strong flair for narration, and was able to put down the impact of the impact in the viral letter.
In this book, she decides to name herself. She shares her journey of coping up with the incident, taking us through the challenges faced by her, her support system in terms of family and friends, her attempts to cope, to go to therapy and transformation from Emily Doe to the confidence that she is able to name herself.
The book also covers the aftermath of the trial - the judge was later suspended. It covers the role of Stanford administration, or the lack of it. The book also covers how her note became hope to hundreds, to thousands. How it was quoted by Hillary Clinton in her speech, how it was read in senate. It also brings to the current politics of Donald Trump and Brett Kavenaugh hearings.
But above all, the book is her memoir to deal with all of things happening. What Channel has done is, miraculously, is to provide voice to the thousands of sexual assault victims and their ordeals. She has shown a mirror to the society.
Brock Turner was a olympic level swimmer, with potential and a lot of folks had inputs on how one incident should not define him. But this one incident had defined Channel's life but that did not matter.
““The judge had given Brock something that would never be extended to me: empathy. My pain was never more valuable than his potential.””
"Most of us understand that your future is not promised to you. It is constructed day by day, through the choices you make. Your future is earned, little by little, through hard work and action. If you don’t act accordingly, that dream dissolves.”
“They seemed angry that I’d made myself vulnerable, more than the fact that he’d acted on my vulnerability.”
“In fact I need you to know it was all true. The friendly guy who helps you move and assists senior citizens in the pool is the same guy who assaulted me. One person can be capable of both. Society often fails to wrap its head around the fact that these truths often coexist, they are not mutually exclusive. Bad qualities can hide inside a good person. That's the terrifying part.”
I survived because I remained soft, because I listened, because I wrote. Because I huddled close to my truth, protected it like a tiny flame in a terrible storm. Hold up your head when the tears come, when you are mocked, insulted, questioned, threatened, when they tell you you are nothing, when your body is reduced to openings. The journey will be longer than you imagined, trauma will find you again and again. Do not become the ones who hurt you. Stay tender with your power. Never fight to injure, fight to uplift. Fight because you know that in this life, you deserve safety, joy, and freedom. Fight because it is your life. Not anyone else’s. I did it, I am here. Looking back, all the ones who doubted or hurt or nearly conquered me faded away, and I am the only one standing. So now, the time has come. I dust myself off, and go on.”
I cried several times while reading this book. I felt her pain. I felt the slow grinding of the legal system. I saw the victim shaming, her struggles, the helplessness of her family. Her overcoming of her grief, using her voice to channel the rage, coming to terms that she has to speak up. Her immigrant background, her mother's and grandmother's grit that she inherited, her moral compass to do the right thing. Her love for all good things, her gratitude to the Swedes, her love, her fight. The book is fascinating
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