From Deepa's Desk

28.10.2026 Bhubaneswar airport is neat, cozy and compact. It hardly took us minutes to collect our baggage. We booked Uber Intercity for traveling to Puri. We did however pose in front of a beautiful sand sculpture showing the unique trademark of Bhubaneswar.  The airport is surrounded by lush greenery. That, coupled with a sky overcast with dark clouds created a beautiful panorama. The road leading out of the airport is really scenic. There is a huge Ramakrishna Math just outside the airport premises. We passed by, already regretting the very less time that we were going to spend at Bhubaneswar.  I usually think of a word that best describes my first impression of a city. 'Big' is the word that came to my mind on seeing BBSR. Walls adorned with the traditional and beautiful murals of Odisha, broad roads with some of the greenest dividers that I have ever seen and sprawling farms on either side of the road made the drive a heavenly experience. There is a major highway connecti...

27.10.2026 Ornab has officially turned me into a stalker. Never have I ever tracked someone or something with such intensity and fervor. It is unfair, Jagannath... I thought in frustration. He knows how anxious I get about air travel. He knows how badly I have wished to visit the temple. And yet the cyclone had to arrive at the time of my journey! It had to make landfall on the same day that I am expected to arrive at Puri. Just. Not. Fair!!! I got a nice reminder of how narrow-minded I am by watching a video on the SM. This person who works as a guard at the coastal areas was smilingly saying that he and his team had spent a rough night on the ship, being tossed by huge waves. Only, he didn't use the phrase 'tossed by waves'. That was stated by me. What he said was immensely beautiful and poignant. He said that it felt as if Jagannath Prabhu was lovingly swinging the boat to and fro. He exuberantly and confidently stated that only good will come from Ornab. That, many part...

28.10.2026 On any given day, I feel the jitters before boarding a flight. Today I was going to board one, fully knowing that the plane would be flying through cyclonic weather. My anxiety had reached peak levels. "I love the dark of the morning more than the dark of the night." My son told me as we left for the airport at 3 in the morning. I had to agree with him. There was a certain charm to the dark of the morning, if we may say so. You look at everything with a fresh perspective. There is that hopeful feeling of immense possibilities to the day ahead. But all the possibilities that my mind could conjure were negative. Normally I love driving through the ORR - Outer Ring Road, a network of several roads and highways that connect different parts of Hyderabad to the airport and to other cities. But today even the dark, cold and beautiful drive to the airport failed to distract me. We reached the airport with a lot of time to spare. Once all the formalities were done, we board...

  26.10.2026 I check the cyclone tracker for the umpteenth time on my mobile, just like I have been doing the whole day. To be precise, this checking has been going on since a week. Ever since a cyclone named Ornab (also pronounced as Arnab) was predicted for Odisha, I have been checking the weather app and getting disheartened after seeing heavy rain forecast in Odisha in the coming two days. Then Ornab formed, and I switched on to the cyclone tracker, carefully monitoring the forecasted path of the cyclone (as if my monitoring would make the cyclone change its course).  You see, the day on which Ornab was supposed to land on Puri was the same day that my family and I were supposed to land at Bhubaneswar. Via flight. Which is the most terrifying part for me.  Not thunderstorms, not heavy to very heavy rainfall, not cyclones, but flying over a cyclone and the turbulence that is sure to occur.  When we booked tickets for Puri, we had no idea that we would be flying un...

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows It's 1946. World War II has just ended, and the victims and survivors of the German Occupation are slowly gearing up for a new beginning, all the while dealing with the trauma of the war. Juliet, a columnist in London, is bored of writing the usual stuff and looks for something refreshing and different. She receives a letter from a certain Dawsey Adams from Guernsey, Channel Islands, informing her that he had come across a book with her name written on it, and asking her for information about bookstores in London. One letter leads to another, and gradually, Juliet gets introduced to the enigmatic and charming The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society which had its foundations over a roasted pig. Soon Juliet finds herself corresponding with its various members and over shared stories of grief, courage and hopeful beginnings, becomes a part of their community. I am a huge fan of the epis...

Poby & Polly: Choosing Happiness by Jyoti Prateek Available in Kindle Unlimited edition This book is a collection of short and beautiful stories based on the conversations between Polly and her friend / guide / mentor Poby (a polar bear). The conversations are centered around the daily lives of Polly and Poby, their experiences and how Poby transforms simple events into unforgettable and poignant life-lessons.  The conversations are delightful and possess a world of wisdom. The descriptions of the places that Polly and Poby visit bring the locales to life for readers. There is a soothing element to every story. The stories have been written at leisure and reading them feels like an exercise in mindfulness. The soothing aura of the scenes, coupled with Poby's wisdom make for a delightful reading.  Some of the insights shared by Poby are priceless in their wisdom. 'I am on the side of the day, Polly. Whatever it brings, I've decided to greet it with a smile.' 'Let...