Monthly Mood: ’Tis The Season To feast at weddings, rub charas, and be festive with the Hindu gods. Monthly Mood: ’Tis The Season New content… new About page old about page made into a post: About Vivian Alive TBT: Diwali Delights Happy 11 11(: After seven shaves last year, my hair turns one today. Not one snip or buzz, just… Read More
TBT: Diwali Delights Celebrating today’s Diwali with ghee lamps floating on the Rishikesh Ganges and old writing from Diwali 2020. Diwali Delights Day 1010 14 November 2020 Parvati Valley, Himachal Pradesh, India My first Diwali injects me with an unexpected shot of nostalgia. The Hindu holiday is a blend of the Halloweens and Independence Days of my American… Read More
Monthly Mood: Good Company Comes In All Shapes “Finally,” I thought to myself, “back on track with Monthly Moods out on the 11th.” How foolish I was. October 11th would have me living India instead of writing about it. Life creates the content. I just edit. Monthly Mood: Good Company Comes In All Shapes New content: Falling In Love With India’s Finest Aloo… Read More
Monthly Mood: Stop Everything makes me smile. Somehow I have my doubts that it would make you, the reader, smile, but I catch myself smiling to myself about the thick spider that dwells in my toilet paper roll with its monolithic size and very visible pincers. This delayed post regards the events between August 11th and September 11th,… Read More
Monthly Mood: Himachali Summer Photo Journey Photo journey from Dharamshala to Parvati Valley and back. A scroll-licious, delayed post due to website changes and meditations. After all, a photo is worth lots of words. Both locales are part of the northerly Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. Photos from July and August, 2021. Dharamshala… July saw many a coconut-cream extraction. Artistic… Read More
The World’s Yummiest Masala Chai I must have sat and sipped at dozens of tea stalls all over India, and at hundreds of such establishments around the world. Minty greens of Morocco, Turkish blacks in hourglass cups, streetside tintos of Colombia, and iced coffees over a layer of condensed milk in Vietnam are some of the caffeinated concoctions that bubble… Read More
Meena The Parantha Queen Once upon a time a Punjabi boy visited Manikaran, a holy hamlet of India that was especially venerated by followers of Sikhism. When the boy was hungry he found a local tea stall. He bit into the steamy, crispy layers of a stuffed flatbread and his life was transformed forevermore. Love at first bite. The… Read More
I’ve Reached The Light But I Preferred The Tunnel A much needed trip update on the self-growth and life lessons of 189 days spent in COVID-19 lockdown. When COVID-19 had international borders sealed shut and I committed myself to India, I surrendered all notions of having plans. I opted to not go back to my birth country and instead chose to let life happen.… Read More