I am sure a lot of you would be wondering why Sankara is not blogging anymore. Well, I just slowed down everything in my life to focus on the smaller things and give my body and mind a much needed break. Even though I visited and explored many exotic places in the past decade, I hardly got a break as I invariably worked every single day. Add to it the tumultuous past couple of years (2016 and 2017) that I had where I saw my dad fight with stage IV cancer and where I lost him and a few other loved ones, you can say that I was pretty zoned out mentally and physically. Health started going downhill and migraines became a common occurrence. And that is when I decided to slow down. Travel pretty much came to a halt. I started reducing work initially, but pretty soon realized that my body needed a total cut off. So that is why after about 4 months, I decided to take a total break for the last two months. Hence, this blogging hibernation!
But, unfortunately, people like me aren’t born to hibernate. In fact, I can’t seem to even manage to stay put and quiet for a day. Thankfully, in this long break, I learnt how to stay put and relax in one place while the world went by in its usual dizzying pace. During this break, I cultivated some new hobbies and interests that allowed me to enjoy the simple pleasures of life and which took my mind off the usual. In simple words, I felt like I was leading a normal life. The hobbies and interests that kept me occupied for the last few months are:
1) Puppies
I have always been fond of dogs, but could never own one as my family was against keeping pets inside the home. Now that I live alone, I thought why not and thus ended up adopting two puppies who were rescued from a drain close to my home. They were the only surviving members from the litter. I named the boys Alpha and Omega. The puppies and I had an absolute blast till, one day, Omega met with an accident and passed away before we reached the hospital. I had brought the pups home to recover from a loss and now I had lost yet another living being I had gotten close to. So, with a heavy heart, I let go of Alpha too. Today, he is happy in a family with two more puppies. In the two months that they were with me, all three of us had a fabulous time. Mostly, I watched the puppies play, spar and throw funny antics and time just flew by. I will miss the boys, but in hindsight, some amazing memories that I will treasure for life.
2) Home Garden
I adore greenery and the butterflies, birds and animals that come along with it. One day, I came across a home with an amazing and super inspiring hanging garden and thus began another hobby of creating an interesting garden for my home. I learned about soil, compost, fertilizers, organic pesticides, seeds, plants, what grows in the sun, what grows in the shade, hanging plants, herbs, pots, watering and so much more. Today, I have over a 150 different plant species in my home garden (mostly flowering species) that are growing well and yielding about 8 to 10 flowers every day and that I hope will bloom in many numbers once the temperatures pick up. Nothing beats the joy of sipping your morning coffee while reading the newspaper and being surrounded by many flowering plants basking in the early morning sun. And all this in an urban environment and that's what makes me super excited about it.
3) Customizing my Royal Enfield motorcycle
For a long while, I had wanted to customize my old Royal Enfield thunderbird motorcycle and I finally took it apart when I had to replace its engine (which had run 165,000 kms). It took about 2 months and 1.75 lakh rupees to do the customization. The design, the components, the colors and the accessories were custom selected by me and my mechanic. In terms of looks, the newly released Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500 X in yellow resembles it closely, but I feel that my motorcycle looks way better. Apart from the engine and the chassis number and casing, everything in my bike is new, including the nuts and bolts. Every part was custom painted. It has a 350 cc engine, a 500 cc carburettor and clutch assembly, racing air and oil filters, a custom racing Yamaha RD 350 handlebar, Harley Davidson like 36 spoke alloy wheels, off-roading tubeless tyres, 4 light BS 4 LED headlamps, a jet yellow glossy tank with a matt black body, a red rooster racing silencer and many more interesting accessory combinations. More on this motorcycle customization will follow in a detailed post with prices, names, et al. in summary, very happy with the way the custom motorcycle rides, feels and looks.
4) Ayurveda
I used this slow down to invest heavily in my body and mind and that’s where I went the Ayurveda way. Under the guidance of my cousin Ayurveda doctor, I started slow cleansing my body through Ayurveda medicines, following the right diet or should I say the right way to eat the right food, nasya therapies to calm my hyperactive mind and now on the path to get myself a full Panchakarma cleanse. The Ayurveda journey has been slow and steady and my various body pain points are slowly getting addressed. Hence, I am super pleased.
This long hibernation has worked wonders for me. I feel much more energetic, while at the same time peaceful inside. And am eager to hit the road once again in the new year. In fact, I start traveling right from the second day of the year and hence you can expect a lot of updates, social media posts and blog posts from me going forward.
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