So

Who, exactly, is this I? And what is this blog about? and now that we are asking, why is this 'I' writing?

I: is Chicu. I am a civil engineer by training, traveller by yearning. I work at conserving rivers and play at writing about them . After spending most of my life on the western coast of India, I upped and moved to the Himalayan foothills in 2008 to be confronted by a whole different world. And that is what..

This blog: is about. I initially felt a misfit here- different language, cuisine, definition of 'cold'. But that is what travelling- and living- is all about, isn't it? So here are stories about what it feels like to work and live in the Himalayas, what it feels like to be a woman trying to live on her own terms in a conservative part of the world, and how to extract every drachm of pleasure from life. And some cooking, some travelling is involved too..which is always good reading..which is

Why: I write this blog. To tell my friends what is going on in my life, to give travel tips where none are available, to share my view of Dehradun and it's people, to rant, and occasionally to boast.

But still, Who are you? Well, I am still trying to find that out. I have come up with a few answers, and here they are.

What is that in your profile picture?
That is a little sacred grove in a village called Kule, in the Kolvan valley in the Western Ghats of India. I started working in the NGO sector in 2003, and on the third day of my job was sent out to live in Kule for a survey which made me very happy indeed. The two trees are chapha or frangipani. And if you put a gun to my head and asked me to name a favourite tree, this would be it for it's sheer sculptural beauty, the fragrance of it's flowers and the childhood memories I have of it.

We would like to write to you..
and I would like to hear from you too! write to me at uttarakhandandi@gmail.com, and  I will do my best to reply in reasonable time.