Shivya Nath's Blog: The Shooting Star

On a breezy afternoon, I sat at a rooftop cafe in Kigali, writing with a glass of regionally-grown iced chocolate. From the tall glass windows, I watched the rain fall gently on the tiled roofs, the avocado trees and the hills beyond. My partner and I had arrived in Rwanda only a week ago, but I already felt like I was part of the country’s fabric. We had serendipitously met Kigali’s zero waste entrepreneurs, hiked in the city’s urban wetlands, attended a moving music gig that paid tribute to th...

I distinctly remember walking on an empty stretch of beach in Goa a few years ago. The setting sun had streaked the sky in pastel shades of orange, red and pink. The soft glow of the evening light, dispersed by the stratocumulus clouds, reflected on the waves of the Arabian Sea. On the other side of the beach, a reddish-yellow full moon was rising.

Normally I would have taken some photos to immortalize the moment, and noted down the words rising through my body like the tides rising up in the...

While working on a research paper on climate adaptation in tourism, I had an eye-opening consultation with a Kerala-based social enterprise.

Over a decade of working in local villages, they developed a strong community tourism model that embeds tourism into the existing agrarian routine of farmers, and allows travellers to authentically engage with the community. Since inception, their primary audience has been conscious travellers from Europe, seeking slow travel and meaningful experiences ...

While working on a research paper on climate adaptation in tourism, I had an eye-opening consultation with a Kerala-based social enterprise.

Over a decade of working in local villages, they developed a strong community tourism model that embeds tourism into the existing agrarian routine of farmers, and allows travellers to authentically engage with the community. Since inception, their primary audience has been conscious travellers from Europe, seeking slow travel and meaningful experiences ...

I had been up since early morning, working on my research, still in my PJs. I longingly gazed out of the window at the sprawling city below and the mountains beyond, wondering what I should do in the afternoon when I took a break.

Just then, there was a loud knock on my door. It was my Cusceño neighbours, who I’d met in passing and made small talk with a couple of times.

“We’re making an offering today to Pachamama – the Mother Earth,” they said. Would I like to join them?

HELL YES!

On a chilly afternoon, under a slight drizzle, I got off the tram with my suitcase. Under the bridge where I stood, the River Garonne flowed gently. I walked the short distance to the nearby neighborhood, located the apartment and let myself in.

I found myself in a living room flooded with natural light, full of little touches, with a balcony overlooking the wilderness. A sweet handwritten letter welcomed me, gave me a quick orientation and pointed me to a careful curation of vegan snacks! T...

On a hot and humid morning, I lay in a hammock under a towering fig tree, serenaded by the call of wild birds fluttering about in the Amazonian wilderness.

We had arrived in Puerto Maldonado, the gateway to the Peruvian Amazon, just the previous evening. After a month in the high altitude city of Cusco and the Sacred Valley, I felt a strange uneasiness from being at sea level again. Is low altitude sickness a thing, I wondered?

A gentle breeze cooled the humidity on my skin and lured me ...

As someone who loves to travel – not just as a source of newness and inspiration, but as a way to experience deep cultural exchange and tell meaningful stories around it – I feel utterly conflicted.

This love for the road, immersing in different ways of life around the world, seeking community and conservation initiatives, and writing about sustainable travel comes at a cost – ironically to the very planet I love and feel driven to protect. This passion, which also feels like my purpose, is ...

I never imagined I’d say “capstone” and “Cusco” in the same sentence, but life has its ways.

After a month of working on my Master’s research in Boston, I had about six weeks to submit my paper on climate adaptation solutions in tourism. The US was too expensive to live and eat, and I didn’t want to fly all the way back to India. So I did the obvious thing: Rented a cosy apartment in Qosqo (called Cusco by the Spanish colonists) for a month, with a writing desk overlooking the city and the mo...

Each year, as I approach another orbit around the sun, I usually try to dwell on the evolution that has quietly taken place within. I think of the places and people I’ve known that year, the experiences that have shaped me, the conflicts I need to resolve.

But this month, as I turned 37, things felt a bit different.

Instead of looking inward, I felt like running away from the questions brewing in my mind, for I knew that the answers – if they exist at all – remain far too illusive. Wakin...