Sula Vineyards - India's Mini Napa Valley!

I visited the Sula Vineyards this February, during the harvest season(December to march). Experienced the most amazing ambience, view and ofcourse - Wine!!!

Safar-e-Firdaus

This has been a story, an experience overdue here since quite a while...One of the reasons I had not penned it down for so long is the fact that I am still under its influence, influence of the place, the people - the experience - my trip to Kargil.

A close friend(Purva) and I shared a common yearning - in a small way, do something for our jawans at Kargil. NDTV's various efforts to praise them, letters sent by thousands of little children thanking them for their bravery, etc. were almost like a nagging force - "Deepti, you must so something for such courageous souls, you must do something..." BUT WHAT - one wondered... Purva said, "I wish we could actually go and meet them - the strong men at Kargil!" Thats it! I said, we will indeed!

That, as the cliche goes, was just the beginning of my journey... through realisation.

In any aspect of life, what has always attracted me the most is - innocence. Be it while practicing photography(my passion) or through my travels... Little did I know that in a land where many have faught for the freedom of their motherland, big bold men, strong and firocious to their enemy - I would discover precisely that - Innocence.

The hard work that went into approaching the army and working hard to actually make our dream come true seems trivial incomparision with the innumerable immaterial gifts we have been showered upon. Here goes...


In the month of June, 9 students from Jai Hind College were flagged off from the Colaba Army Head Quarters, Maharashtra Gujarat and Goa (MG&G) Area.

For the development of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, the Army launched Operation Sadbhavana (Goodwill), an ambitious project to build a functional community-Army relationship. In this operation, the army set up a number of schools, adult education facilities, skill centers and even computer training resources in some of the most remote border areas of Ladakh. They also send children form Kashmir to cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Pune, to experience the different lifestyle and to give them a feeling of the world at a young age.
We, the students of Jai Hind College went on a visit, which was a reciprocal to Operation Sadbhavana.


We visited Jammu, Srinagar and Ladakh and interacted with sons and daughters of soldiers, young adults of their age in villages and different people from the army. The main feature of our trip was a five day halt in Kargil. We learnt a lot about the 1999 Kargil War, saw Tiger Hill and the Tololing range, two main features of the war and went to villages that were destroyed six years ago. We also interacted with teachers and students of various Army Good Will Schools at places like Channigud, Harkabahadur and Kaksar in Kargil district.

The moments that we enjoyed the most were those spent with the Jawans. Their humility and simplicity backed by odles of courage was a rare sight for us - city bred youngsters.

Happy New Year!!!

Mystic Moon

Sun Kissed Clouds!

Yesterday, the Sun God was reportedly seen romancing the clouds! Don't believe me? Check it out for yourself!

Need I say more?A picture indeed speaks a thousand words!

First trek at FLAME

India won the World Cup. The euphoria reached a hilt at one point when enthusiasts demonstrated their emotions on the furniture outside pitstop! 6.30 am next morning. 23 sleepy students. Waiting at Pit Stop. Still celebrating???

Naaa! We left behind Bhaji’s captaincy for something even more fun – a trek with General Mehta, our CO and inspiration for numerous initiatives at FLAME.


There were some samples of course; some were literally dragged out of bed like our Gandhiji Vickey (ahem... Dipika had to do the honours of dragging her bhiya out!)

On the way up the hill, General Mehta shared a few precious memories of his time spent in Kashmir and the jawan’s life in the Indian Army, extremely inspiring. It felt so great...an honour to be able to hear his stories and be a part of the experience.


As with all awesome things, the fun part came right at the end, while walking half way down the constructed road, some of our crazy UG girls came up with the brilliant idea of taking the ‘off the beaten track’ - a slope cutting almost 75 degree right down, leading us to the golf course! Now, normally, we would have taken the sane road and come down like respective (read boring people) but no, the crazy gang with our 60 year young leader went down the rubble filled slope!

Slip! Tumble, scratch! Ouch! Through muck, slippery grass, and a lot more, we managed to paint our bottoms a healthy earthy shade, what with everyone sliding down with no clue as to where their feet slip next!


It wasn’t exactly the most strenuous trek, neither was it tiring, yes we all came back all dirty, but with big grins all across our excited faces, and most important of all - the fun-o-meter – I rate that a 100%!

Cheers to more such adventures at FLAME!