Returning from the Himalayas

A significant place in my life...

Hey friends,

Greetings from Jaipur, India!

On Saturday, I got back from a week long trekking/camping trip in the interior forests of the Himalayas.

Sitting under those massive peaks, strolling through the vast pine and oak forests, I reflected on my life and what I want to be spending my time on. I consider this trip as one of those monumental moments in my life.

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Nature and Wildlife

In my life, I’ll work across the world. I’ll travel to the remotest parts of the globe to explore.

But my heart will always reserve a spot for the Himalayas.

There is something so intensely powerful about staring into those blue mountains. They’ve stolen a piece of my heart, and I feel like I could spend my whole life there.

I think part of the reason I love them so much is their massive swathes of forests. These jungles, made up of pine, oak and maple, stretch on and on into the horizon. In the south, where I come from, you know that the forest is going to end at some point. There are simply too many towns. But here, in the mountains, they go on forever.

They are the final frontier.

A friend took this image of me, and I absolutely love it. As the “photographer”, I don’t have that many images of myself. So this was such a treat!

I will need the next few weeks to process all that happened on the trek. I will write about it in the subsequent issues. For now, soak in these images.

PS: The people of this region are just beautiful. Roaming through those remote villages, I must have asked everyone I met if I could take their portrait.

Here are some links I enjoyed this week:

• The Giants of the Treetops: My first article in Nature in Focus has been published. It’s about the giant squirrels that I’ve been studying in the dense rainforests and cardamom plantations of Idukki, a remote corner of India’s Western Ghats, one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet.

• Change Your Life by Journaling (My Ultimate Guide): I’ve been journaling NON-STOP, ever since I got back to Delhi, to understand this trek. I swear by it.

Postcard

Before the trek, I had the opportunity to catch a meal with Cam Houser. Cam is a 4x Founder and Entrepreneur from Austin, Texas. He is a friend I made in Write of Passage, an online writing course and community. 

Write of Passage has definitely been another monumental chapter in my life. It has dramatically expanded my world. All of a sudden, it gave me friends and contacts all over the world. As I write my book and begin my other projects, my world is expanding. I’ve gotten to meet people from all walks of life.

We talked about entrepreneurship, writing, my book (he helped me with one of the chapters), US and India and more. I also gave him a tour of Delhi’s Connaught Place.

I took Cam’s free course on becoming confident on camera, and he liked my testimonial so much that he put it on his website. You can see that (and his work) by clicking here. 

Favourite Quote

We exist because we are wanted  - Armin Arlert (Hajime Isayama in Attack on Titan)

Have a creative, wild and inspiring week!

If you’re new, welcome to The Owlet! My name is Ishan Shanavas, and I am an Artist, Photographer, Writer and Student of the Natural World.

Here I talk about my work, along with curating the most interesting ideas on the internet. I confine them to topics like Nature, Culture, Photography, and Art but often fall prey to other genres.

I would greatly appreciate it if you shared my newsletter and work with your friends. It really helps me out :)