Vales and Nibs

By Sneha Acharekar on January 5, 2022

Ever wondered what it would be like, to be on a Himalayan retreat and write your heart out?

Well… I always have. So when my husband planned a trip to Tirthan Valley in Himachal Pradesh, with a tour operator this New Year’s, my creative mind planned a lot of Instagram reels, plans to write, plans of the next plot and what not…
My anatomy however is acclimated to the boring weathers like those in Mumbai, and the freezing temperatures in HP at this time of the year, were no physical motivation at all.

While the trip was a beautiful experience and I may have met a lot of lovely people who may next be sketched into stories, writing while on a Himalayan vacation is an impossible task. Let’s just call it wishful thinking!

‘Cos if you’re writing, then how will your senses ever capture the beauty of these places? If you wanna be left alone writing, how will you meet new people that will inspire those new characters in your story?

Moral of the story? Travel when you travel and absorb the experiences in, to spill them into words later.

In the heart of the valley,
Where breezes flow astray…
Meet me and stay frozen,
Like the temperatures here sway!

I have always been a hill-station person. The woods, the breeze, winding roads, beautiful landscapes painted by the sunset or sunrise are all I need for a vacation to be memorable.

My romance with hill stations may have begun when I were on the school trip to Matheran. Firstly, a trip with school friends is something one never forgets. Secondly, it was a study tour organized by a then-existing tour operator called Datamatics, and they scheduled trainings like horse-riding, air-rifle shooting, rock climbing, rappelling and an overnight trek to a table land somewhere down one of the hills where we spent a whole night star-gazing. Nothing ever felt more peaceful or enjoyable.

Hill stations have their own charm, especially when it comes to activating the writer inside you. You look at people and your characters develop. You visit ‘difficult’ terrains and have such experiences that your plot develops a conflict on its own. The vista actuates all your senses and penning down the ambience keeping all the five sensory experiences about it, becomes plain sailing.

If you are a writer, you already know what I mean when I say traveling is an important aspect of your writing journey. I began my year with a beautiful journey and hope to pen down my journeys into stories someday and hope they would be as beautiful, too.

Happy 2022 to one and all! May this year bring alive more stories in your lives!

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