Remembering Nikesh

Goechala trek - 2013

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 ! 

 

EU trip 2025

7 countries, 10 days. Work trip. Late-Oct, early Nov timeframe. Not the ideal time to visit

Itinerary - 

• Sat, 25 Oct - Land in Helsinki, Finland  
• Sun, 26 Oct  - Day trip to Tailin, Estonia via Ferry
• Mon, 27 Oct - At Helsinki. Evening - leave for Oslo
• Tue, 28 Oct -  At Oslo. Evening - train to Stockholm Sweden 
• Wed, 29 Oct - At Stockholm, Evening - Flight to Frankfurt, Germany
• Thu, 30 Oct -  At Frankfurt. Evening - train to Amsterdam
• Fri, 31 Oct -   At Amsterdam
• Sat, 1 Nov -    At Amsterdam. Evening - Train to Paris, France
• Sun, 2 Nov -   At Paris
• Mon, 3 Nov -  At Paris. Evening - Flight to BKR

Interesting points -

Helsinki - 

Not much to do in the main city. Though city walks are lovely. Did not explore much. Our hotel - Hotel Hobo, was really good! Visited cafe Fraser, just opposite the hotel which has been there for close to 150 years. Walked a lot in the city. Great city to walk ! 

The above is inside the main cathedral at Helsiniki. The round sphere is a replica of planet Mars, where each cm represents 10 km of Mars surface. They had hosted this within the cathedral which was interesting. 

Tailin, Estonia 

Lovely day trip from Helsinki. The ferry ride was awesome. Barely missed the ferry ride, one has to be 30 mins before the departure gate closes. Tailin is a old-style European city. Hugely hit by war, but not reconstructed to have the old city feeling. We did a old-city walking tour and did a quick stop at Museum of Torture - the highlight of the trip. The city is a great one to walk on. The walk was informative. 

Would recommend visiting here!! 

Oslo and Stockholm - No sightseeing and no photos. It was pure work

Frankfurt, Germany 

We had about 90 mins before our train to Amsterdam. 90 mins are good to enjoy a quick walk of the city

No Frankfurt trip is complete without this iconic place :)

Our train to Amsterdam was cancelled. We ended up going from Frankfurt HBF to Frankfurt-Airport station -> Koln (Cologne) Germany -> Amsterdam (via Rotterdam). We got a fellow passenger who was also taking the same route. It was good for strangers to interact.

Amsterdam - 

Once the work was over, we went to the downtown and explored the market there. The market was lively. Christmas lights were on, a pianist was playing at the square, people were happy. Seemed good to see explore this. We just walked and ate. Had Dutch pancakes, stroopwaffle, bought souvenirs, cheese. 

Next day, we took a day trip to country side to see windmills, cheese making store and show making workshop. Good fun day trip. 

We got a scare in our return to catch the train to Paris. The taxi driver was really smart and we had to run to catch the train. I was almost convinced at a point in time that we would miss it. 

Paris, France

We had a day and we did the walking tour along with just walk to Eiffel Tower. Walking tour was good, it was raining. Walking Paris was fun! We also saw the place where Princess Diana died. Also, visited a museum which was free of cost and saw Mattise's famous Dance painting. Had lunch at a bakery. Dinner was at a vegan restaurant called Maslow (interesting but okayish).  

Japan 2025 - Perfect 9 day trip - Part 2

 

This is Part 2 of Kanishka and my Japan trip 2025. The first part covered what we liked and didn''t like about Japan.  In this blog, we will share our itinerary. 

Our itineraries are crafted to perfection. They have mix of things that we like - some museums, some local / cultural bits,  some outdoorsy, some touristy, some rustic - a unique blend of experiences that are chosen carefully.  

Day 1 - Our flight landed in Tokyo in the afternoon. Our first thing was to go from airport to Tokyo station, via the Narita express, and then take the train to Kanazawa. It was a daring plan, new country, different train systems and no idea how to switch trains etc. All in a short window to reach hotel by reasonable time. Our hotel in Kanazawa was carefully booked to be about 700m from the train station. 

Why go via all the hurry? Our visit coincided with the annual festival of Kanazawa . The next day, there was going to be an awesome parade as part of the festival itinerary. We wanted to attend it. 

Onboarding to Narita was simple but at the Tokyo station, it was a world of its own. Underground stations have markets, shops, a whole city in itself. At the ticket line to buy ticket to Kanazawa, the guy asked for our tickets that we had used to reach the Tokyo station, thankfully, we had not thrown them away. Still not sure why he asked for it. The train journey to Kanazawa was good. By the time we reached the hotel, it was 8ish pm. 

Our dinner was at Izakaya Musashi, a quaint Gastropub which had good veg options. Our first introduction to Izakaya was delicious, a little pricey though. At night, we strolled on the quite streets of Kanazawa - nicely lit by street lights.

Day 2 - Out hotel in Kanazawa was Hotel Forza Kanazawa. It had complimentary breakfast which we enjoyed each day. Forza kanawa was next to the local Omichi market. After breakfast, we did a quick stroll through the market. I had never seen a cleaner sabji-mandi/fish-market ever. Not even in US. Japan is another level in its cleanliness

Day 2 was busy. We walked to the local Kanazawa castle where they had all these stalls owing to their festival. It was a mela. The stalls were of nearby prefectures who were asking residents of Kanazawa and tourists like us to travel to their towns, selling their town tourism. To get traction, some of them had folks dressed as samurai, some had freebies. 

At Kanazawa castle information centre, we learnt that there is a volunteer led group which gives free english tours of their garden - Kenroku-en. We took their offer and a nice lady gave us a free 90 mins tour. Kenroku-en garden is amazing. It has a waterfall (manmade), a lake, beautiful trails and trees. It is not huge either.  There is also a residence home inside the garden. Each garden is like a king's summer retreat and has a place to stay/relax. The residence was now hosting a dolls exhibition which was good to explore. Post the garden, we also visited the Kanazawa shrine

After Kenroku-en, we walked our way down to the parade route. Along the way, we had cabbage hotdog kind of item on a stick with some very long french fries. The ice cream above  has god leaf covering - something which is unique to Kanazawa

The parade was grand, festive and full of local spirit. It had giesha, bands, boy scouts, ninja, dragon, fights and what not. Very local and cultural. Very Japanese - highly organized, clean and simple. 

After the parade, we rested for sometime at the hotel. Our day was far from being over. In the evening, there was a flute performance - a Geisha would play flute on a boat at the Kenroku-en lake, under the moonlight. It was too good to miss. so we went and saw that. The performance was good but only for 15 mins long. There was also the threatre performance of Noh at the castle. We attended the performance but found it to be too slow for our taste. hat 

After the performance, we went to have dinner. Most places were closed and we wanted to try local. We found one places and were lucky since another family had just got in, perhaps after closing hrs. Our local restaurant did not speak English. But our other family were kind enough to translate for us. We bonded over Google-translate :) 

Here is where we had the template for our Izakaya - soya sauce, sticky rice and vegetable tempura. Here they also gave us edmame

The day was not yet over. On the walk back to hotel, we saw a long night food market and when there is night market, we have to go check it out. We were full in stomach, tired, but we walked the length of market

Day 3 

Day 3 was meant to be light - we woke up cozily and had a sumptuous breakfast. We walked to see local houses os Samurai or other foot soldiers. Kanazawa is a castle town, so there were kings, samurais and soldiers in the old days. The Samurai house are a treat to visit - they have lovely architecture, simple interior decor and an amazing personal garden :) . Inside one of the Samurai houses, we had our first and only tea-tasting ceremony. A matcha tea which is okayish to drink but almost like a habit for locals. 

After the Samurai houses, it was time for some introspection and zen, So we went to D.T. Suzuki museum. Mr. D.T. Suzuki was a zen practitioner and a philosopher who had significant influence on Japanese culture. His museum was serene, and relaxing. we stopped there for a bit. On the way to museum, Kanishka briefly went to McDonalds and I clicked a picture. Right outside, the D.T. Suzuki museum was another Samurai garden, albeit a public one. It was amazingly beautiful. 

We walked down to checkout a museum of bowls. Similar to Berlin's museum island, Kanazawa has a section where there are 4-5 museums. We checked out one and then decided to walk back to hotel.  Our lunch was at this curry place which had chole with tofu curry. What more can we want

Our dinner was hotel-made, bought from local shops. Kanishka got soya sauce and some other items from nearby grocery store. 

Day 3 - Day 3 was departure from Kanazawa. But before I check out, I wanted to share this pic of their breakfast tray - a nice 6 bowl tray that we had used daily. 

Day 3 itinerary was to move from Kanazawa to Kaga - an onsen town. We had to take a train for this. 

Kaga for me was the best part of the trip. It is a village with a main downtown street, some temples etc. We ended up just strolling the entire village. Stopped at small restaurants and had local delicacies, one of them being Kuzu bar. Kaza also had a old traditional bathhouses and this was our first experience with a Japanese bathhouse. 

Japanese bathhouse, separate sections for men and women. You go in full naked into a hot water pool and relax there. After that, there are taps along-side the pool for you to apply soap/shampoo and have a bath. It is incredibly relaxing. In the old days, when soldiers would travel, then these bathhouses (onsen) were build for them for communal baths. Makes sense to conserve water. Also, there was procedures which makes sure that the hot water is clean. It is a unique and refreshing experience. It is a concept that we saw in Germany also. 

We had booked our stay at Rurikoh which is an onsen hotel. We ended up doing onsen hopping, first at the old and moden public bathouses and then later in the night at a private onsen.  The hot water is really hot. Rurikoh also gave us Yukata for free which we gladly wore and roamed around the streets there. 

This was also Kanishka's 40th birthday. We had a noodle dessert, known as Mont Blanc for cake cutting. Dinner was at a local Izakaya. There was a drum show at the hotel and in the night, we dipped our feet in hot water. 

Day 4

Day 4 morning - the Kaga experience continued. In the morning, we went to the public bath of Rurikoh and it was open air hot-spring. It was just surreal, pure natural hot water under an overcast sky. We were debating if we had enough of Onsens but this was a right decision. Onsens also freshens you up like anything. This was followed by a authentic Japanese breakfast buffet, served on the table. It was awesome. 

Rurikoh remains the best stay place and Kaga was the best destination for me. It was away from crowds, no itinerary, no frills. Perhaps, the closest glimpse of authentic Japanese culture. Our next stops were Kyoto and then Tokyo, and now we were getting into the touristy territory :) 

It is the small acts that make you remember the travel. One such act has been imprinted on me. We were at the Kaga station and had to take a train to Kyoto. There were no direct trains. We had to go to a station (forgot the name, lets say X) and change train. I was not sure if I should buy both Kaga to X and then go to X and then buy ticket to Kyoto or can I buy both here. It is a small village railway station with only one employee at the counter and she was dealing with a customer ahead of us and that took 5 mins. We were patiently waiting behind. She seemed very diligent about our job. When our turn came, we asked tickets to go to X,  then I paid for them and she printed those. Later, I asked her if I can buy tickets from X to Kyoto here as well, or should I buy this at X.  She realized that I can save money if I buy a direct ticket to Kyoto via X. She explained the math and it was pretty substantial saving(~30%).  She didn't had to do this since she had already printed one and the easiest would have been to print another one. She also didn't berate us by saying that yo should have told this earlier. She cancelled our current ticket, refunded the amount and then issued a new ticket. During all of this, we were communicating in broken English, with some google-translate thrown in.  The sense of duty and helping others is so much ingrained to them and it is just amazing. The pride-in-the-job concept is so powerful. I feel that if you have to build stronger nations, this is the key. When everyone does their job well, strong nations are built. 

Our Kyoto stay was at Hotel Tomiya with Ms, a Scandinavian decor hotel, close to station with no lobby. a machine an entrance but thankfully, they had help staff to guide us.  Our first stop in Kyoto sightseeing was Ninja museum and it was a very touristy experience. Meant to be insta-grammable. But still fun. We had dinner at a local vegan Ramen place  (Moon and back ramen bar).  Kanishka had booked a walking tour in the night but it was raining heavily. Like heavy heavy downpour. I was thinking that they would cancel the tour but that was not the case. There were 6 of us plus the tour guide and he conducted the entire tour in this heavy dowpour with umbrellas. The good thing was that streets were empty, so we had the place to ourselves. But, we were wet, our shoes, socks, feet were wet. But, it was an amazing experience. Kyoto still has an active Geisha culture and we learnt a lot about their world. 

Day 5

It was still raining on Day 5 morning. So, we decided to go to a museum, thinking it will be indoors and less crowded. But, boy was I wrong. I had never seen a more crowded museum before. Seemed like entire Kyoto was there. We spent couple of hrs learnings about the Japanese history. Even though the museum was crowded, the people were super chill about it. They would take their time to wait in lines to see the exhibits in order. Move slowly, take their time and were extremely patient about it. Again, a part of culture that shocked me.  We had lunch at a local vegan shop and it had a nice poster below

We walked a lot and then visited the handicraft museum. This is actually a local handicraft store, two buildings of local craft that they were selling. Like Delhi-haat or dastkar but in a fancy shop-like setting. Good experience. Mostly expensive items

From here, we walked to a cat-cafe. Japan has this culture of cat cafes where you can spend time with cats. You pay for time and drinks there. Buying drinks is mandatory. This cafe had healthy well-fed cats and it was fun to play with them for sometime. 

Post cat cafe, we were looking for dinner options and stumbled into Nijiya Kyoto - a hole in the wall joint which serves the best Vegana Izakaya. The place is so small that it can only seat 6 people at a time, at a bar-counter kind of setting. This food was perhaps the best food of the trip. There were two people serving the food and it was just amazing how much can be packed in such a small place.  

After food, we were full but craving for some nice ice creams. 

Day 6 

Today was checkout and take the train to Tokyo. Kyoto to Tokyo trains run as if they are local, every 5-6 mins. These two stations are 250+kms apart. We had no prior reservation, so we just walked and booked and had trouble finding seats - many trains were full. Trains in Japan are extremely comfortable. 

We had to change trains, walk a lot dragging our suitcase, but finally we were at our hotel. At Tokyo, we were staying at Ryokan asakusa Shigetsu . Ryokan means traditional Japanese inn. We picked this hotel because it had an onsen on top. You sleep on the ground, on  a mattress on top of bamboo chatai . It is an authentic experience. This place was also next to Tokyo's oldest temple and walkable to a train station. 

Near the oldest temple was a huge market, including a market which sells all the plastic food items. Plastic food items are also such a brilliant Japanese idea - instead of putting real food items on display where food will go waste, there are these plastic replicas which look exactly as the food. And then there is a market dedicated to it.  We just strolled in the market. 

In the evening, we went to the Museum of roadside art and I have never seen anything as bizarre as this one. It is so bizarre that it is cool. Walking with no expectations, it takes sometime to understand WTF is this. But, then the writings on the wall say - what is art - isn't it meant to challenge you . And this museum challenges in you in many many ways. The best part is that we had no idea before we walked in. Tokyo is known for its quirky museums but this one is a topper. I will highly recommend this, but it is not for faint hearted folks. 

Near Asakusa, there is a space needle which gives you a high-rise view of the city but it is expensive. The internet hack is that, nearby, there is a Asahi HQ building who have a beer joint on their top floor and you get equally good view of it. You get good beer and it is cheaper. We went to the Asahi place and enjoyed the lighted Tokyo city. 

Day 7

Day 7 started with a walking tour starting from Akihabara. The walking tour was okay-ish. Since, between Shogun and the Kyoto walking tour, and the Ninja museum, we knew the history. But Akihabara was awesome! 

Akihabara is an experience that again is quintessential Japanese. It is a world of its own. First, there are these massive figurines/manga shops. We decided to check one building which had 9 floors, each with a different aspect of this, full of people. Then there are these arcade game centers where you can just spend the whole day playing arcade games, claw machines etc. And then it has these maid-cafes; we went to maidcafe-athome which is the birthplace of moe moe kyun . Each experience in Akihabara was like something that one will never get outside. 

Day 7 was also the day we had Sushi. We went to a Sushi-bar . At a Sushi bar, you sit on a bar counter and on the other side, there is a chef making live-Sushi for you. It was like an everyday QSR restaurant, nothing fancy, but it had good Sushi. Day 7 dinner was at home (hotel). Japan sells curd, soya sauce satchets, cut cabbage etc and you can make salads at home. We also got Theplas from IN and it made a quirky dinner but delicious. 

Day 8 

Today was 14 June and it was my birthday. We had a great day planned ahead of us. But our first stop was visiting toilets. Tokyo hosted olympics and as part of that they had an art project to have designer toilets installed at various places. It was called the Toilet Project. Each one designed by a different art designer. One of them is designed that the toilet is transparent when not in use and then as soon as you lock in from inside, it changes color and becomes opaque. Just fascinating. We ended up visiting two of such installations

We were now just walking and our next stop was to see the Shibuya crossing. Known as the busiest crossing, we had time to just check it out. 15 year old me would have never gone there, saying that it is just an intersection where people cross roads,  but I am mellow-er now. Anyways, we want and it was okayish. Along the way, Kanishka clicked whole bunch of flower photos. 

Next two events were planned by Kanishka for my 40th. First one was lunch at a Michelin star restaurant - Daigo. This was going to be our first Michelin star restaurant. Food was good, small portions, multipe courses. Each item explained to us by the staff, setup in a cozy setting where we were only ones in the room and the room had a private garden. The food was good. I do not have the palette to understand what makes a Michelin star and what does not. So, I can not comment on that, but it was good. But, what we also remember, and probably will never forget, is that their dessert menu was a slice of watermelon. Japan, a place known for its desserts, a michelin-star restaurant known for its creativity, and we got watermelon slice for a dessert. We cannot forget this. 

We went home, slept for a while and our late-evening program was to visit TeamLabs Planets. Before TeamLabs, we were hungry and next to the planets venue, there is a open barbeque place and we had fries and sprouts there. A very Americanish experience in Japan :)  Team Labs was awesome. So much creativity, experiences packed in one place. we loved all the art installations. In another world, I would just go and spend a day here. The experiences are amazing and I think it is the feeling that  we carry more than anything else. 

Day 9 

This was the journey back day. But, we had a morning to ourselves. In a city with so many things to do, what do you pick up if you have 3 hrs. We decided to keep it simple and go back to basics - visit a garden. We visited the Koishikawa Korakuen Garden - it is one of those decisions which makes this itinerary a perfect one. It was raining mildly and the garden was in its prime green beauty. Plus, understanding the design of Japanese garden, it is simple but an awe-inspiring experience. Garden is paid entry, small-ish one but had all hallmarks - stone bridge, flower garden, ponds, waterfall - you name it.  This was a perfect way to end the trip! 

I do not think that I have experienced so many new things in one country as much as we experienced in Japan. From gardens, to onsen, to concept cafes - cats, maids, to teamLabs, to roadside art museum, to Izakayas, to Michelin-star restaurants, to samurais and parades. Japan has been a perfect way to spend our 40th birthdays. 

Thank you for reading. 

Japan 2025 - Perfect 9 day trip

 

Japan

A bucket list country for a long long time. Stars were not aligning for us to visit. The plan was to visit in April this year during Cherry blossom season but it didn't happen. So, in April we decided to book the trip anyways, in June, on our 40th birthdays. 

Interesting tidbits about Japan/what I liked - 

• Japan's tourism industry is mostly domestic. Japanese folks love to travel and only 10% or so of Japanese have passports. So, majority travel domestically. What does it mean? It means that many destinations/restaurants are not geared to cater for outsiders. Many restaurants have menus in Japanese only, museums have exhibits mostly in Japanese. Fortunately, google-translate helps a lot. Touristy cities like Kyoto-Tokyo is where people know English but in 2nd/3rd tier towns, it is rather difficult. 
• Gardens - I had never appreciated the Japanese gardens before this trip. There was one Japanese garden in SF, I visited there once but did not realize what was special about it. Now, I am wiser. Japanese gardens are an art in itself - there is a man-made waterfall, a lake, bridges, flower gardens, tea-houses inside gardens. Gardens are designed that if you are standing at one place, you can only see a part of the garden, there would be trees or paths obstructing the other parts so that each area stands out. Gardens are also inspired by local places/hills/routes and their design is just fascinating. We based our trip to see one of the three perfect gardens - Kenroku-en. 
• Cleanliness - without trash cans. There are no public trash cans in Japan. Yet, the city is beautifully clean. It is just a way of life for folks - do not litter. Outside = inside. It is an unwritten rule that folks do not eat in public places, including gardens. You buy from the shop and then you go home or office and eat there. No walking and eating, not even coffee. No eating in trains unless the trains have trays. 
• Public transport - Kyoto to Tokyo is ~450kms and the train covers this in 2.5 hrs, a train runs every 5 min in the peak hrs. Locally everywhere in Tokyo or even in interior towns, there is public transport. The coverage and punctuality is awesome. We took public transport everywhere and if we missed one train, there was another  5 mins away. I had not seen this good public transport even in Europe. 
• Walking/footpaths - We were walking everywhere in Japan. Their footpaths or walking trails were just amazing. From stations, we would drag our suitcase for 1 km and it was easy - footpaths had ramp built in everywhere. 
• Shogun - I saw the TV series Shogun before my visit. to culturally immerse myself and it was a good thing. It helped me relate to many things that I would later hear in tours, like seppuku. 
• Plastic food - This is so obvious and it is a wonder why it is not everywhere. In India, every darshini will have a photo of Idli or dosa outside to give a feel of how the dish would look like. In Japan, it is the same, except that instead of a photo, it is real-looking replica of the food made out of plastic. The dish looks exactly like the plastic replica. It is amazing! Since it is made out of plastic, it is forever. It provides a visual representation of the dish. I had not seen this in US or anywhere. But, now that I think about it, it so makes sense. There is a whole market which sells this plastic food items. 
• Public baths - When one army is traveling from one place to another, usually to attack, the soldiers travel in a group and they would like to take bath together. This is the concept of public baths - a giant hot-tub where folks can take bath together - saves water, social activity and is scalable. Separate ones for men vs women. Why is this not common everywhere. 
• Automate everything - If there is a usecase, then there should be a machine to handle it. At the end of the trip, we wanted to return our local subway cards (known as IC cards). We get money back on returning the IC card. We checked and were redirected to a kiosk where this can be returned. It is just amazing how much of this country is ahead of everyone else. 

What we didn't like - 

• Food, specifically vegetarian food - Japan is not for vegetarians. We tried vegan restaurants, we tried vegetarian Izakaya restaurants, we tried ordering vegetarian dishes at normal restaurants - we never got the taste. Not a big fan of matcha flavor, did not like moshi desserts, and sobu noodles were too bland for us. Vegetable tempura and sobu noodles with soya sauce filled stomach but we did not relish the food. It was not a foodie trip. 
• The train/subway IC cards are confusing - Cards bought in one city does not work in the other. There are different rail systems, each having their own cards, and some are inter-operable and some are not. We lost some money in this confusion. 
• Tourist spots have many tourists :) - Yeah, an Indian complaining about population is ironic. We were mindful to avoid many tourist spots/activities. But, when there were people, even in this non-touristy season, there were many. Kind of hard to avoid. 

Diwali ritual - 2024

 How do you celebrate Diwali ?

In my 2008 Diwali post (https://arvindbatra.blogspot.com/2008/10/diwali-post.html), I had asked this question - how does one celebrate Diwali ? For someone who does not like bursting crackers (pollution, money, ROI, you name it, there are many reasons to not do it), not too much in Pooja either, how does one celebrate the festival? 

(Side note - It is amazing that I had asked this question back in 2008 :), sometimes I look back at this blog and it is just amazing to reconnect with a past of myself)

Anyways, responding to this in 2024, I can proudly say that this question has been answered. Kanishka and I have created our own Diwali ritual and have followed this tradition over the last 10 years. 

Our ritual is that we will prepare one sweet from scratch on the day of Diwali. It has to be a sweet that we have never prepared before, we like it and hopefully prepare-able within a day. We have done with almost consistently. 

Diwali 2014 - Malpua

Diwali 2015 - Imarthi

Diwali 2016 - Kala Jamun

Diwali 2017 - Badam Katli

2018 - No sweet. Spent Diwali in New Zealand :) 

Diwali 2019 - Chennapoda

Diwali 2020 - Sandesh

Diwali 2021 - No sweet. Spent Diwali in Goa :)

Diwali 2022 - Mawa Jalebi

Diwali 2023 - No sweet. Were lazy this year :) 

Diwali 2024 - Madeleine

2024 dessert of the year was Madeleines - a French tea cake. We had Madeleines made by deepali Sawant and also in US. It was yum. We gave it a try. There are hundreds (or may be thousands) recipes for this. But, the one that really worked for us was by PastryLiving - https://pastryliving.com/vanilla-madeleines/ . Her Youtube video was very helpful and in the comments, we learnt a lot of what can go wrong. 

(Bonus Tip - In youtube videos, the way to judge a good recipe is to read the comments and learn from folks who have tried it. There are always some quirks, and dos and donts that are not covered, which are discussed in the comments. Comments determine the video/recipe value. In this case, the fact that the batter and the tray had to be refrigerated for the madeleines to get the right shape. was a very good tip)

Like every year, we do not make one recipe but we make variations and do our experimentation. This year, we tried Vanilla madeleines, Chocolate covered madeleines and chocolate madeleines. We tried two or three different variations but the pastryliving was incredibly useful. 

Madeleines were a definite hit this year and almost everyone liked it. It is not so common, so I am guessing that folks didn't had a good reference point either to compare :) . Anyways, they are always nice to us. so gave glowing reviews. 

Overall, we made close to 200 madeleines and it took us almost the entire day :) 

2024 - 

2022 - 

2021 - 

2019 - 

2017 - 

2016 - 

2015 - 

2014 - 

I love the fact that we have innovated our own Diwali Ritual. This way of celebration resonates much more closely - both of us have a sweet tooth. Also, making something on your own has a lot of fun. It is a great way to spend the Diwali day and it makes the day memorable too. What else is Diwali if not to create memories and spend it with the loved ones.