Deep Adhya, PhD

Skyscrapers. The generic American city invites us in Chicago. The grandeur of tall towers and condominiums reach dizzying heights, the vision of great architects jostling for space in a world reminiscent of Ayn Rand’s New York City. Chicago is a melee of architectural marvels. Some are quite breath-taking, yet some of them are questionable monuments of human endeavour. Some are copies of Gothic architecture, interspersed by exuberant monuments of innovation. Something that I hoped to be translated into its food. Chicago is famous for its deep dish pizza, barbequed ribs and Mexican food. I was taken by surprise at the influence that Mexican food had on the cuisine of Chicago. I mean, geographically Mexico is more than 2000 miles away from Chicago. It does show how much the Americans love Mexican food. The first restaurant my jetlagged friends and I visited was, unsurprisingly, a Mexican restaurant. It was called ‘Flo’ and its décor was a reflection of the tried and te...

A Hippie Paradise A narrow uphill lane of concrete, called Jogibari Road happens to be the main causeway of Mcleodganj. Though it is steep, it does not discourage the unquenchable human spirit from scaling it. An unending stream of cars is always plying up the hill making life miserable for the innocent inhabitants of this hilly town. On both sides of the road lie the main hotels and restaurants of Mcleodganj. There are also a number of curio shops, the occasional bar and some unique meeting places for cross-cultural gatherings to discuss the present and future of Tibet. Mcleodganj is called little Lhasa and the Dalai Lama stays in exile here at his famous monastery. Sadly though, Mcleodganj is replete with foreigners and it is difficult to understand their business here. India has always been the ‘exotic’ land, the place where different forces are always at war amongst each other. But here, philosophers and preachers have always emphasized on finding peace in the middle of grea...

It has been more that forty years since the first mission on moon. Since then, moon has been invaded many times, by man or unman. But all of these missions have needed rigorous planning and plenty of Government money. And, now Richard Branson aims at sending tourists to space and someday even to the moon.  But all that is besides the point. Mandi House is a seven-point crossing at the heart of New Delhi. It is located close to the famous Connaught Place and it is the cultural hub of the city. Other than the National School of Drama, it is home to several auditoriums and museums. But what is its relationship with Manesar?  Manesar is a little village in Haryana about 50km away from Mandi House. Other than the silly village folk who live here, it is home to the headquarters of the National Security Guard or the NSG. NSG serves the obvious purpose of protecting our vulnerable nation against evil-doers. It is also a seat of national intelligence (or so run the rumor m...

So what do I do when I want to eat Mutton Haleem in the middle of summer in the Northern plains of India? I wait for the monsoons to arrive. I hope that the monsoons will wash away the searing heat, leaving behind a fresh earth to trot. When monsoons finally come and the hopes of adventure are raised, how does one predict that it shall be accompanied with hot and humid spells? The hot and humid periods without rain are not any better than the hot and dry ones of summer. They make you sweat so much that soon you find yourself turned to fluids, draining down the sewers. But the human brain is a unique piece of machinery. It gives form to the mind, an intangible entity that believes anything is possible. Thus when the mind decides that it is time to eat Mutton Haleem, the weather hot or humid, it is time to eat Mutton Haleem. Little does the mind know that it must pay the price for being a tyrant to the body that houses it. But I never said that a little sufferance never pay...

Sometimes, nothing makes sense anymore. Our jeep hustled down the twisty tracks of the Garhwal hills in the Southern Himalayas. The journey wasn’t over yet. We still had to visit a place downstream of the river Malini. It was getting dark and all the ancient history from the Mahabharata wasn’t able to enthuse us anymore. Legend has it that sage Vishwamitra meditated intensely on the banks of the river Malini. God Indra, afraid of his dedication had sent the damsel Menoka to distract him. Successful in her endeavor, she gave birth to a girl offspring, Shakuntala who was left at this place called Kanva-Ashram in the care of Rishi Kanva. Shakuntala was the mother of Bharata, a legendary Indian emperor who had conquered all of Greater India, his empire being named after him , ‘Bharat-varsa’ . What was supposed to be a quiet European-like vacation on a British military hill station turned out in the end a trip down mythological folklore. But I wasn’t complaining. Tattling in t...