Clouds in the valley...

Blue skies, the frozen South Ah! The glaciers we had kissed, And yet, those eyes that went unseen For Aoraki, we missed -  The reflection lakes, they came and went The sun, it smiled in jest, Knowing well that we would miss Mount Cook upon the crest. Those few minutes we could turn back Have all now turned to years, How long until the white peak’s seen, To blue a sky that clears They say, Aoraki sees and knows it all, Was it all then planned, I doubt To return again with a purer soul To the land of long, lost cloud… 5th June, 2021 It was a sparkling day, when stunned with the Fox Glacier - within arm’s reach - we headed back to Queenstown. New Zealand, Aotearoa, the land of the long lost cloud is a paradise, every turn a surprise, when temperate rainforest changes to stunning Tasman Coast to alpine lakes to gigantic sand dunes. In this land of plenty, the grandest spectacles have turned to Maori legends, the tallest of which is the celestial visitor, Aoraki, Mount Cook - the talles...

I sit quietly in the beautifully decorated shrine room of a monastery - its walls and floors are painted in crimson red and golden, the rows of cushions on the floor spotlessly Covid-cleaned, while the main altar makes me wonder whether the awe is because of the meditative spirituality it evokes or the artistic splendour. There are three Buddhas in increasing size, representing the past, present and future; they are flanked by other solemn guardians, fearsome warriors, and seven storied wooden pagodas whose artistic intricacies would take your breath away. It is a quiet sunny afternoon, and outside, the magnolias and camellias swish with the gentle winds of winter. I sit back quietly, the only worshipper in the room, and continue to look at the meditative Buddhas who seem to tell me, I have come to the right place.  Every once in a while, a Taiwanese nun comes around and checks if I am really a worshipper - the bodhisattva in me forgives her: she has not seen many Indians around an...