MYSTICSPICE

I submitted some of my photographs for the International Photography Exhibition organized by Office of International Affairs at my university. There were three photographs submitted under: Place, People and Transportation category. I love all the photographs, they remind me of the amazing time I had during my trip in 2012. The caption of the photographs brings back some fond memories that I'll cherish for life and reminds me how well I connected with all the things I came across :) The Taj Raaz :  Built in the mid 1600s by a Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in the memory of his loving wife, Taj Mahal, reveals its subtleties when one visits it without being in a hurry. While the famous white marble dome flanked perfectly by four tapering minarets persists to be focus of lens’ attention, the closer you come to the monument the more you are bound to appreciate the intricacies in the creation. This photograph  is a section of one of the minarets, which has the holy Quran inscribed ...

Wrote this on January 13,2012... I went to Doon (Dehradun) last week, had some pending dental work and  also I wanted to spend some time with my cousin whom I knew I probably  wouldn’t be able to see until my next trip to India. Also, there was  some writing pending that I failed to accomplish. But that’s ok! It  was overall a good stay in Doon, had good family time and of course  great food.  One of the best things about going to Doon is that every time I go  back I run into new few familiar faces/family friends etc…it is a good  feeling. During my trip, I also managed to get a haircut from the same  guy who had been cutting my hair since I was in first grade. He gives  on an average 50 haircuts every day!  People in the mountains amaze me all the time, they  torment their bodies a lot, but that again is because they don’t have  any other choice, there are times when they have to walk several  kilometers to ...

I returned from India this summer after spending six months collecting data for my dissertation.  My dissertation is on the role of local institutions in natural resource management. For data collection I was working in the central Himalayan region where I visited several villages to interview people about forest management activities that are conducted and coordinated by the local institution in the region. This local institution is called Van Panchayat (Forest Committee), it is a traditional institution that dates back to 1931. Since it was formed before independence (India got its independence in Aug 1947), it is significant in terms of rights of locals’ to natural resources. I collaborated with an NGO working in the region that helped me with navigating remote villages and also with arranging accommodations in the villages. Going from one village to another was a challenge, as there was lack of proper road network, driving was near to impossible, but thankfully there were ...

I went to New Delhi, India to attend a four day long workshop called Future Workshop: Resource Governance in 21 st Century (Jan 14 th -17 th , 2013), organized by Heinrich Boll Foundation (HBF), Germany and Center for Science and Environment (CSE), India.  There were 24 participants in total, out of which 10 participants were from Afghanistan and 14 were from India.  The group comprised of people from diverse academic and professional backgrounds such as lawyers, journalists, graduate students, researchers, consultants, NGO personnel, and social entrepreneurs.  During the workshop these diverse minds pooled in their experiences and creativity to discuss and resolve key natural resource management problems. There were several environmental issues/topics that were discussed, but the ones that generated extensive discussion were Biodiversity Conservation, Water Governance, Mining, and Power Supply. The participants worked in groups and cruised through three planning phas...

Sat with 154 chickens today, for the first time in my life I saw so many baby hens and roosters together. These were just 48hrs old, I saw them yesterday too when they were merely 24hrs old. When I heard about these chickens for the first time I got really excited thinking how cute they would look together but when I saw them for real, more than cute they appeared funny to me. Yesterday when i saw them they were running around, climb or pecking each other but today they looked tired and lazy, most of them lying flat as if they were dead (thankfully there were alive), but that was a strange sight for me to see how chickens sleep. The chicken that posed for me :) Interesting experience for sure:)