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Gurgaon’s Secret Paradisiacal Bookstore
It was a typical Sunday. We had finished a hearty breakfast – sandwiches, chocolate cake, vanilla latte, et al – at Sibang Bakery (it’s Korean) at Gurgaon’s South Point Mall – I tell you this understated mall has THE BEST treasures tucked away. (Try Izu, if you love Japanese. The portions are larger than most Jap restaurants in Delhi-NCR). Anyway, so instead of going back home, we decided to walk around the mall in the hope that we stumble across another hidden egg. And lo and behold, there it was: the best bookstore ever! Hidden in plain sight, Chapter 101 seems like a pretty nondescript shop from the outside. In…
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On Departure
I will look at everything and everyone as if for the first time, especially the small things that I have grown used to, quite forgetting the magic surrounding them. – Paulo Coelho It’s dark – 4.27 am to be precise. I can hear the clouds rumble, a soft pitter-patter of the rain fall outside my window. A peacock calls, happy to be alive in this north Indian monsoon. Outside on the road, a few trucks drive by, the sound of wheels ‘whooshing’ through the rain-washed asphalt. I am in bed, eyes shut, wrapped in a cocoon of warmth and denial, harsh reality poking me in the ribs: in just…