This May, Indian Express carried an article on Shimla’s worst water crisis. In many ways, it represented the state of affairs in all our hill stations. We could replace Shimla with Mussoorie, Darjeeling, Manali, Mahabaleshwar, Ooty or Coonoor in the Nilgiris. And, perhaps soon Leh-Ladakh as well. More of us are taking to the roads now. Many once-remote areas are now connected and accessible. More of us are sharing photos and stories online, inspiring many more to travel. All at the cost of natural resources in all these places. In May itself, Arre, an online platform, featured an interesting and…
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This monsoon, the craving to relish the nature’s magic goes up a notch every passing day. With no major trips planned, we try to make use of all possible weekends. Khodala happened like that. So was the trek inside the Sanjay Gandhi National Park to Mumbai’s highest point (more about it later). We manage to squeeze in a short getaway while on a 3-day trip to Kerala for a family function. A lazy Sunday morning at Palakkad. We get up late; relax with tea and newspapers; enjoy breakfast; and then comes the irresistible urge. The low ranges of the vast…