A few interesting articles that I came across recently:

The Happiness Benefits of Walking – I have been taking a brisk morning walk regularly for a few years now. It’s become part of my daily routine that I almost can’t do without. And even otherwise, I love to walk. It does help that, for the past decade or more, I have lived in cities that are largely conducive to walking, especially from a weather perspective. If you do not yet appreciate the joy of walking, then this article is for you!

Many birds flocked to cities during COVID-19 lockdowns – This will not really come as a surprise, but there is now data to back the general sense that many of us had during lockdowns last year that we are now seeing and hearing more birds in urban areas. This data is US specific, it will be interesting to read about similar studies in other parts of the World.

A Brief History of the Hippie Trail – The Hippie Trail is a fascinating, and largely forgotten part of the whole youth cultural movement of the 1960’s and 70’s. My familiarity with the Goa of the 1990’s when one could still see many ‘hippies’ is possibly one of the reasons I have been interested about this particular cultural episode. This is a good first-person account of those interesting times.

The most epic overnight train journeys in the world – I have always loved train travel, especially long ones. There is a certain sense of peace in knowing that, for the next how many ever hours, you are cocooned away from the hustle and bustle and stress of everyday life and can happily watch the work go hurtling by outside your window. And while I might be biased in believing that any list of epic overnight train journeys has to include at least one Indian rail journey, this is a good list if one wishes to experience the charms of an overnight train journey outside of India.