Author Archives: Shashwat Mishra

What’s the best local dish you’ve ever eaten while traveling?

While traveling, getting peanuts with black salt and spicy green chutney(sauce) makes the experience truly delightful. This is my favourite snacks and it is easily available here.

The crunch of roasted peanuts, the sharp kick of salt, and the fiery freshness of green chutney. It’s the kind of simple roadside snack that turns travel into an experience, almost like carrying the flavor of the land with you.

The chutney’s coriander, garlic, mint, lemon, salt and green chili brightness cuts through the richness of the peanuts, making every bite feel alive.

It reminds me of how journeys often become memorable not just because of the places, but because of these small, flavorful rituals a snack at a bus stop, tea at a railway stall, or fruit from a roadside vendor.

Share a photo of your pet and tell us one thing that makes them uniquely them.

Cows can actually make surprisingly gentle and affectionate companions when kept as pets. Their qualities go far beyond the traditional view of them as farm animals.

Cows are naturally calm, gentle animals that often enjoy human contact such as brushing, belly rubs, and quiet companionship.

They can form strong emotional bonds with their caretakers, showing excitement when they see familiar people and seeking attention.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

When something continually looms in the back of your mind like a taunting, that’s an alarm. It’s a signal that you need to evaluate and address that issue, or it may become a life-long fear.

Looming larger each day until it morphs into an obstacle you may never overcome. There is nothing wrong with being afraid or hesitant. We all have our reasons for remaining in the shallow end, but we must make our shallow end a training ground.

Too often, we treat our training terrain as a lazy boy. We lay back, get comfy, and then have tha audacity to wonder why our lives aren’t getting any better while we do the same shit we’ve always done.

I should have been using my time in the shallow end as mental preparation, imagining deep water with every stroke.

What’s a quote that perfectly describes your outlook on life?

Smile, you have another day.
Smile, you have another chance.
New morning, new strength, new story.
Keep going ,your best is still ahead.
Let your smile brighten the world, but don’t let the world dim your smile.

What are your top 10 travel destinations?

After a long journey, when I reached the lap of the Himalayas, I stood by a beautiful lake nestled in a valley amidst towering mountains, simply gazing at the splendor of nature. And all the fatigue from getting here had vanished.

Amidst this magnificent spectacle, I stand transfixed, simply gazing at the natural beauty. The valley was adorned with colors the likes of which I was seeing for the very first time.

The mind was utterly calm, as if it had attained everything; there were no longer any grievances or complaints against anyone—as though all the entanglements of life had come to an end. What greater peace could one possibly imagine beyond this.

The cold wind which is coming towards me, it’s the breath of the mountains themselves, carrying centuries of silence and wisdom. When it touches your face, it feels like nature reminding you that you are alive, that your pulse belongs to the rhythm of the earth.

The Himalayas span five countries: Nepal, India, China, Bhutan, and Pakistan. You can choose any 10 destination for me and I am sure each one of them will more beautiful that other. I haven’t traveled much yet, but I am absolutely certain that these will be my favorite destinations.

What is your favorite quote?

There is evidence that Indian authorities have used force and restrictions against recent youth-led protests, but it is more precise to say they have cracked down on some protests than to conclude they are broadly trying to silence all youth voices.

Human Rights Watch said police used batons, tear gas, and internet shutdowns against largely peaceful student protesters in New Delhi. After the protests, some government actions appear aimed at discouraging or controlling youth dissent.

This is not fair at all,  the government should have shown magnanimity by closing the chapter right there after protest was finished. How relevant this quote by Gandhiji appears to be in the context of student’s rights. In the true sense, this is precisely the hallmark of a healthy democracy.

If you had to give one life-changing tip, what would it be?

A scientist named Dr. Curt Richter proved this when he gathered dozen of rats and dropped them into thirty inches deep glass cylinders filled with water. The first rat paddled on the surface for a short time then swam to the bottom, where it looked for an escape hatch.

It died within two minutes. Several others followed that same pattern. Some lasted as long as fifteen minutes but they all gave up.

After he placed the next batch in their jar, Richter watched them, and right before it looked like they were about to give up, he and his techs scooped up the rats, toweled them off, and held them long enough for their heart and respiratory rates to normalise.

Long enough for them to register, on a physiological scale, that they had been saved. They did this a few times before Richter placed a group of them back into those evil cylinders again to see how long they would laston their own.

This time rates didn’t give up. They swam their natural asses off, for an average of sixty hours without any food or rest.

In his report, Richter suggest that the first round of subjects gave up because they were hopeless and that the second batch persisted for so long because they knew it was possible someone would come along and save them.

Who is the fictional character you relate to the most?

The dreams I dreamt with you
were lanterns adrift on a quiet river,
their light trembling against the current,
yet refusing to fade.

Each vision was a borrowed tomorrow,
woven from whispers and half‑promises,
a fragile architecture of hope
that lived only in the hush between heartbeats.

The homes whose foundations
were laid with love
were swept away by the flood of time,
walls once echoing with laughter
now dissolved into silence.

And though morning scattered them
like dew dissolving into sunlight,
I still carry their echoes
soft, unbroken, infinite
as if the moment itself remembers us.

Do you think everything happens for a reason?

We rarely accept events or incident that happened as they are, instead that we weave explanations the reason that fit our comfort, our worldview, or our convenience.

Think of it like standing in front of a mirror that bends, the reflection is recognizable, but distorted just enough to make us feel taller, slimmer, or stronger. The truth is still there, but softened to suit our comfort.

Similarly in a exam failure, we give the reason with our convenient. “The exam was unfair, the questions were tricky.” This is self-serving bias, shifting blame outward to protect self-esteem. Sometimes the preparation wasn’t enough, but admitting that hurts more than blaming the exam.

Again this happens in Relationship Breakup. “They didn’t value me, they were selfish.” This is face-saving, preserving dignity by painting oneself as the victim. Often, both sides contribute to the breakdown, but that’s harder to accept.

What’s a song lyric that has stuck with you forever?

This is preamble of the constitution of India.

WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA,
having solemnly resolved to constitute India
into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC
REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens:
JUSTICE, social, economic and political;
LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;
EQUALITY of status and of opportunity; 
and to promote among them all
FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and
the unity and integrity of the Nation;
IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this 26th day of
November, 1949, do HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE 
TO OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION