Pipilika

25/12/2023

We are always travelling inside, even while we wait to travel outside..

18/12/2023

Pre-menopause has definitely made me look at "travel as a way of life" in a new light!

Slower travelling, resting between travels, less filled daily agenda, lazy meals, visiting one or two sites (only if it deeply interests me) and spending mundane time with locals is what this new phase has brough me.

Looking forward to your and your partner's pre- during- post menopause travel stories :)

Women share their stories and tips on how to travel through the menopause years

11/12/2023

After a long working holiday at a friend’s beach house in Morjim, Goa, life has brought me to live with a decade+ old friend Preeta at Parra, Goa. We don't have any formal exchange but she has offered me a calm private space to sleep and delicious meals.

I am learning from every conversation we have. She being a therapist, advaita practitioner, sound healer and an enneagram expert has the ability to help me bring my attention continuously to my feeling, staying with it and not try to fast forward it to the perfect state of healing.

In her quiet house, I am also trying to calibrate some new dawned revelations, which revolve around my toxic co- dependency patterns, people pleasing attitude and saying yes when I want to scream a no. It's amazing how fast one can grow with someone who also focuses on self reflection and action based spirituality.

She has also been cooking her favorite meals for me, especially grand Bihari meals because she does not cook for herself, but only when there are more people. Also my house rule that whoever cooks, does not chop and clean, motivated her to do this with more ease and love. These are a treat especially after 50 laps in her very clean and sparsely used community pool.

Apart from this, our days are spent waking up to melodious japas by the neighbor, playing board based solitaire, going for walks, watching movies, understanding human design better, stargazing and going through an intense “mushroom” journey.

You are welcome to get in touch with her to start- sustain your inner journey by finding beautiful ways to live with yourself.
Invite me to live with you to share some time together and learn from each other, while I house hop through India.

Thank you for reading and loving my many selves.

Love,
Deepa

Photo: Preeta with part of her sound journey paraphernalia
—---------------------

About Preeta
After three decades of career across verticals, Preeta chose to take a sabbatical in 2016 and travel, learn and reinvent as a Wholeness Coach - niche being Emotional Empowerment primarily for women through emotional transitions.
Preeta's holistic practices extend to Yoga, Breathwork, Energy Medicine and Emotional Healing with Gratitude, Forgiveness and Acceptance as pillars.
During this phase, Preeta also has adapted to a life of simplicity and minimalism. Today she resides in a small apartment in Goa having divested herself of most of her possessions.
You can follow her on
https://instagram.com/wholenesscoachpreeta
https://www.linkedin.com/in/emotionalwellnesscoachpreetapradhan
https://wholenesscoachpreeta.com

About Deepa
Deepa is the founder of (inter) nationally acclaimed alternative initiatives in: gift culture, zero waste lifestyle, minimalism, slow travel, flow funds, reclaiming your food one pot at a time, living a self designed- intentional- deschooled life etc. For the last decade she has been exploring spirituality through various mediums. She spent the last 1.3 years traveling through Brazil and Germany sharing these experiences, rooted in lived practices in daily life i.e. अनुभव. With no fixed base she lives with whoever houses her, expanding her definition of home, friends and family. More about her skill set- work- life- travels https://tinyurl.com/v9nwba2

27/11/2023

And thus ever, by day and night, under the sun and under the stars, climbing the dusty hills and toiling along the weary planes, journeying by land and journeying by sea, coming and going so strangely, to meet and act and react on one another, move all we restless travellers, through the pilgrimage of life.

- charles dickens: little dorrit

20/11/2023

Seen the movie holiday?

Here is a fantastic group to live it by swapping your house for another one.

Yet to find a dedicated group for India.
Share if you know one :)

13/11/2023

A glimpse from the recent intimate gathering, in Gurgaon.

Happy to do more in Goa, Bangalore, Pondicherry and around. Thank you for inviting me

11/11/2023

In goa for a bit, lets meet

Since 2014, I have been committed to creating a healthy culture by starting with an unwavering commitment to my own personal growth and transformation. As a result of my own journey with toxic relationships and depression, I understand that a healthy relationship with the world begins with a str...

05/11/2023

Superb links to be a host family for kids from other countries and find loving families in foreign lands for yours :)

Youthforunderstanding.com
Rotary clubs
Lions clubs
EF.com

Happy browsing,
Deepa

30/10/2023

A home gathering in gurgaon.
Come by :)

23/10/2023

My family just returned from a short trip visiting family. With my son ending his years in high school and my daughter nearing the end of high school, it was important for us...

16/10/2023

If while washing dishes, we think only of the cup of tea that awaits us, thus hurrying to get the dishes out of the way as if they were a nuisance, then we are not “washing the dishes to wash the dishes.” What’s more, we are not alive during the time we are washing the dishes. In fact we are completely incapable of realizing the miracle of life while standing at the sink. If we can’t wash the dishes, the chances are we won’t be able to drink our tea either. While drinking the cup of tea, we will only be thinking of other things, barely aware of the cup in our hands. Thus we are sucked away into the future—and we are incapable of actually living one minute of life.

Now replace this metaphor with other doings including travel and see where this enquiry takes you.

~Thich Nhat Hanh, Modified

09/10/2023

Hi
Hope you are well.

My name is Deepa, and I would like to offer a workshop on 'art of travel' workshop. Thus I am seeking a space which has its own network and marketing team to spread the word and bring participants.

Me and Tautik, my co facilitator, have been hosting these at various venues in India since 2018. He is also marked on this email.

It's a 5 day intensive- residential workshop to be attended in its entirety, where we share in depth lived experiences from 20+ years as we both have chosen the road as our first love- career- teacher. We can also explore a non residential workshop if it's for locals.

Our short bios are below.

Deepa has been traveling since her first pay cheque i.e. 21 years and exploring themes around- slow- green- minimal- solo- long term- frugal- volunteer- gratitude journeys. These include living long term in places (iran, hong kong, india) to soak the daily local life, culture and forge lifelong friendships, spending many summers in Ladakh and winters in North East, taking the road from India- SouthEast Asia, crossing the highest non motorable pass of the world on foot (twice) in Nepal, walking the Dandi and cycling through India without phone and money and more. She recently lived in Brazil for a year without money, exchanging skills for food, room, love and care. Travel, she says, has taught her the power of less and being more. With no fixed base she lives with whoever houses her, expanding her definition of home, friends and family. She is also the founder of (inter) nationally acclaimed alternative initiatives in: gift culture, zero waste lifestyle, flow funds, reclaiming your food, living a self designed- intentional life etc. More can be read about her life- work- travels in this profile link https://tinyurl.com/v9nwba2

Tautik is passionate to inspire people to travel — to travel long-term, to travel frugal, to take that long journey into oneself. A fauji kid, Tautik has grown up across India attending nine different school/institutes. A 4-month long road trip across India turned out to be the seminal moment for him. He changed over from being a Management Consultant for the corporate world to one who works towards generating livelihoods with non-profit organizations. He feels alive on the road. Tautik has swum with the hammerhead sharks in Galapagos, traveled in a boat along the Amazons from Colombia to Brazil, slept with the homeless in Argentina, driven an old motorcycle (a La Poderosa II) across Bhutan, feasted with strangers in Iran, camped alongside a glacier in Chile, and lived with the tribal of Central India. Travel, he says, helped him appreciate minimalism. When all his needs fitted neatly into a backpack, quickly did all the stuff back home become redundant. He believes in the philosophy of an impermanent home. At present, you can find him dwelling in a small village in the Central Himalayas.

Looking forward to hearing from you and hoping to collaborate to spread slow living- traveling, one workshop at a time.

Thank you for reading.

Regards,
Deepa
[email protected]

02/10/2023

हिमाचल प्रदेश में हमारे पास दिल्ली से दो संबंधी घूमने आए
मैंने उन्हें घुमाया और घर वापस लौटे
वह बोले आपने हमें कुछ दिखाया नहीं
मैंने कहा बर्फ से ढकी हुई पहाड़ियां घने जंगल झरने कलकल बहती हुई नदियां
हमने दोपहर को एक झरने के पास बैठकर खाना खाया
क्या यह सब आपने नहीं देखा
वह बोले इन चीजों को क्या देखना यह तो हर जगह होती है
भारत में ज्यादातर लोग इसी सोच के हैं
जो चीज मुफ्त है उसका कोई महत्व नहीं है
साफ हवा साफ पानी शांत माहौल इसका कोई महत्व नहीं है
हम धर्मशाला के पास रहते हैं वहां एक जगह है मैकलोडगंज
वहां अक्सर विदेशी युवक युवती आते हैं
वह बस से उतरेंगे बैग से नक्शा निकालेंगे और कई किलोमीटर आगे जाकर सुनसान जगह में पहाड़ के ऊपर चढ़ जाएंगे
वे किसी नदी के किनारे अपना टेंट लगाएंगे रात में आग जलाकर अपने साथ लाया हुआ सूखा मांस चाय और डबल रोटी खाएंगे
दूसरी तरफ हमारे पंजाब से या दिल्ली से गए हुए लोग जब मैकलोडगंज पहुंचते हैं
तो सबसे पहले महंगे से महंगा होटल खोजेंगे
फिर बाजार में निकल कर दबा के शॉपिंग करेंगे
भाई जी के लिए शॉल भाभी के लिए पंचू बच्चों के लिए जुराबे बहन के लिए दस्ताने मफलर अगड़म बगड़म
फिर पीतल की दुकानों में घुस जाएंगे बुद्धा जी की मूर्ति खरीदेंगे
बे जरूरत की चीजें खरीदेंगे जिसमें हुक्के से लगाकर काले रंग की तलवारे तक शामिल है
फिर पतिदेव दारु पीने में भिड़ जाएंगे
और देवी अपनी बहन को फोन लगाकर घंटे भर तक शॉपिंग की डिटेल बताएंगी
इसे भारतीय लोग पर्यटन कहते हैं
मैं गांव में रहता हूं चारों तरफ हरियाली है साफ हवा है ट्रैफिक का कोई शोर नहीं है
लेकिन बड़े शहरों से आने वाले लोगों को इस जगह का कोई आकर्षण नहीं है
हम असली आनंद को पहचानते नहीं
हम फूल के पास से गुजर जाते हैं लेकिन फूल की खूबसूरती का आनंद नहीं ले पाते
हम बेकार के विचारों में खोए रहते हैं
या तो हम अतीत के बारे में सोचते रहते हैं या भविष्य के बारे में
वर्तमान में जीना हमें नहीं आता
चारों तरफ कितनी ताजी हवा है जो आपके गालों को छू कर बह रही है बच्चे हंसते हुए दौड़ रहे हैं चिड़िया बोल रही हैं यह सब हमारे लिए महत्वहीन है
हमारे लिए पैसा कमाना महत्वपूर्ण है मकान बनाना बच्चों को ऊंची तालीम देना घर में सामान भर लेना और फिर शांति की तलाश में धार्मिक स्थलों की तरफ दौड़ना या गुरुओं के चरणों में गिर जाना
एक बड़ा अच्छा शब्द है ध्यान जो बुद्ध का शब्द है
इसका मतलब आंख बंद करके पालथी लगाकर बैठना नहीं होता
ध्यान का अर्थ है ध्यान देना यानी होश के साथ जीना
हमारे चारों तरफ कितने अच्छे लोग हैं कितनी अच्छी प्रकृति है उस पर ध्यान देना
अगली बार जब कभी आप कहीं घूमने जाएं
तो होश में रहकर वहां की प्रकृति को ध्यान से देखिएगा
प्रकृति के कंज्यूमर मत बनिए आप उसका अंश है

- हिमांशु

25/09/2023

A photo from one of the home gatherings in Bremen, Germany where I shared my decade long journey on exploring different forms of capital other than money :)

Looking forward to doing more of these in other parts of Germany, Denmark and Poland.

Thank you for reading and being with me

18/09/2023

Try to travel, otherwise you may become racist, and you may end up believing that your skin is the only one.

Travel, because if you don't travel then your thoughts won’t be strengthened, won’t get filled with ideas. Your dreams will be born with fragile legs and then you end up believing in tv-shows, and in those who invent enemies that fit perfectly with your nightmares to make you live in terror.

Travel, because travel teaches to say good morning to everyone regardless of which sun we come from.

Travel, because travel teaches to say goodnight to everyone regardless of the darkness that we carry inside.

Travel, because traveling teaches to resist, not to depend, to accept others, not just for who they are but also for what they can never be. To know what we are capable of, to feel part of a family beyond borders, beyond traditions and culture. Traveling teaches us to be beyond.

Travel, otherwise you end up believing that you are made only for a panorama and instead inside you there are wonderful landscapes still to visit.

- Gio Evan, poet and songwriter.

11/09/2023

Photo from the last home baithak in Brazil, where my mom also joined online from India.

It was the first time she was formally listening to my cycling journey during the pandemic from Delhi- Tamil Nadu without phone and money.

After a long 2 hour sharing, with tears in her eyes she asked me to compliment my generous host, Suzana, also playing the role of a translator. Her translation in Portuguese made my mother feel as if Suzana was the one on the journey and not me.
Such is the power of storytelling, even if it is from across the continent.

Post this everyone said goodbye to her and lingered on to cry, hug, hold hands and have chai (tea).

Looking forward to doing more baithaks in Germany and eventually in India.
Invite me

10/09/2023

Updated dates :)

I shall be sharing about my experiments with gratitude journeys, living on gift- barter- skill exchange and my role as a cosmic hustler for over a decade.

Date: Sep 11th and 14th
Venue: Bremen, North Germany
Time: 7.30 pm
Entry: You are welcome to offer a donation to support me and my experiments
Email to RSVP (do not pm): [email protected]

Looking forward to doing more home gatherings, talks, workshops in Germany, Denmark, Netherlands and Poland.

Also below is the you tube link to my first podcast in Germany.

Thanks for reading and connecting me to like minded folks in Europe

The universe has made us a gift.The world - travelling zero-waste lifestyle coach Deepa from New Delhi joined us for an intense exchange of thoughts in our 1...

04/09/2023

Slow is Sweet
Slow is Serene
Slow is Sensual
Slow is Spiritual
Slow is Satisfying
Slow is Smooth
Slow is Safe
Slow is Simple
Slow is Slow

01/09/2023

Happening today :)

CHANGE IN PLANS! The universe is making us a gift. The world travelling zero-waste lifestyle coach Deepa from New Delhi will join us for drink and an intense exchange of thoughts in our 14th edition of the Café Courage. We will talk about sustainable living and travelling and many other topics. I h...

28/08/2023

14/08/2023

Photos from the last 2 official talks in SP, Brazil :)

Do connet me to folks in Germany or around who may want to host talks by me

07/08/2023

A podcast (in English) recorded in Brazil on my year long experiment, exchanging skills for food, room, love and care.

I share my experience on how did these 27 homes found me and the navigation it took to survive- flourish- dance through the different eco- systems that each house brings.

Thank you for listening.

Love,
Deepa

P.S.

I am in Germany for few months.

Do connect me to people who would like to live and learn together :)

More about my skill set- work- life- travels
https://tinyurl.com/v9nwba2

O sócio consultor Vicente Gomes conversa com Deepa Chanana a respeito da experiência única que ela tem vivenciado ao visitar um país diferente, onde os recur...

24/07/2023

How brave you are for slowing down. For not finishing that to-do list.

How courageous you are for not crossing that finish line, because your body said “enough.”

How fearless you are for choosing the quiet of your soul over those voices driving you always towards more.

How bold, how rebellious- you, out there, honoring your own natural rhythm, going against the culture’s breakneck speed.

We tend to make heroes of those hungry with ambition, relentlessly doing, producing always more.

We applaud those who refuse to stop or rest. Who push themselves so hard in the name of achievement, that they sacrifice their body and soul and heart in the process.

We celebrate those who are ill or aging but never show it, never slow down, never reveal a moment of vulnerability.
This drivenness can be heroic, at times. It can be necessary for our survival or the greater good.

But,
I want to make heroes of those who slow down.
I want to make heroes of those who listen to their bodies, who do not strive for more than what the soul truly needs.
I want to make heroes of those who do not force or push, but surrender to each moment as it opens.
I want to applaud those who may not be driven towards success as we know it, but instead are nurturing something deep and subtle and needed.
I want to celebrate those brave enough to cease all doing, even for a second, and sit with the ache in their hearts. A task many find harder than summiting the highest peak.
I want to make heroes of those who honor their limitations.
Who are unable to keep up with the busy-ness of our times, yet show up to each profound, necessary moment.

It is truly an act of courage and rebellion to do any such thing, in a world demanding you resist your own self, your own rhythm, your own soul.

And the paradox is, that often when we cease our incessant doing, even for a minute, and listen to that quiet voice within, we discover what it is we absolutely must do, and what instead can fall away.

We finally hear the call towards what serves our soul, and what then will serve the world. Nothing more, nothing less.

A hero is simply someone brave.
So come, be softly brave.
Be a new, quieter kind of hero.
Few may applaud, it’s true, but your soul certainly will.

~ Leyla Aylin

03/07/2023

26/06/2023

Hi,
How are you?

I am an Indian woman experimenting with different forms of capital for over a decade.
I am currently traveling in Brazil for a year on a surrender project, under which I move from house to house on invitations by strangers.
During these stays I offer my skills in exchange for food, board, love and care.
The idea is to travel through a foreign land without the use of money as much as possible.
I am currently in my 27th home and have learnt and shared a lot from everyone I have lived with.

Life is now bringing me to the EU (18th July onwards) for the first time and I would like to try this out in Germany/ Denmark or around.

Thus, i am seeking
- people/ families/ communities to meet and live with
- spaces (public, private, universities) to share a talk on my my social experiments including my cycling journey in India during the pandemic without phone and money which led to this Brazil experiment

My detailed skill set is in the link below and includes skills like permaculture, zero waste lifestyle, slow living, digital fasting, meditation, yoga, conflict resolution- spiritual chanting- language proficiency (hindi english) etc.

Happy to exchange these skills for a private sleeping space (for two) and 2 meals a day.

Thank you for reading.

Love,
Deepa

My skill set: https://tinyurl.com/v9nwba2
email: [email protected]
fb: https://www.facebook.com/deepaaaaaaaaaa

16/06/2023

For friends in Sao Paulo, Brazil :)

Andando de bicicleta pela Índia (2.400 km) durante a pandemia sem telefone ou dinheiro]

O India Corner, localizado no Aucani na USP, tem o prazer de convidar a todos para uma palestra inspiradora com Deepa, uma corajosa mulher indiana que realizou uma jornada extraordinária pela Índia durante a pandemia, utilizando apenas uma bicicleta como meio de transporte, sem a utilização de celular ou dinheiro.

Deepa atravessou diferentes regiões da Índia enfrentando desafios, e compartilhando sua história de resiliência e sustentabilidade. Sua jornada não só demonstra sua força interior, mas também destaca a beleza e a diversidade cultural da Índia. Leia sobre sua trajetória neste link: https://tinyurl.com/v9nwba2

A conversa será realizada no dia 22 de junho, às 14h30, no India Corner, localizado na Aucani, na Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Este é um evento imperdível para todos aqueles que desejam conhecer a Índia de uma perspectiva única e vivenciar uma história de determinação, solidariedade e autossuficiência.

O evento será realizado em inglês, com tradução simultânea para o português. Após a palestra, haverá uma sessão de perguntas e respostas, onde os espectadores poderão interagir diretamente com Deepa e aprender mais sobre sua incrível jornada. Não perca esta oportunidade única!

Detalhes do Evento:
Data: 22 de junho de 2023
Horário: 14h30
Local: India Corner, Aucani, Universidade de São Paulo (USP)
Participação aberta a todos os interessados

Sobre o India Corner:
India Corner é um espaço dedicado à cultura e à divulgação da Índia, localizado no Aucani, na Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Oferecemos uma variedade de atividades e eventos que buscam promover a compreensão mútua entre o Brasil e a Índia, fortalecendo os laços entre os dois países. Há palestras e conversas com especialistas da Índia frequentemente, e os interessados na cultura indiana estão convidados a participar. As datas e horários são publicadas no site da Aucani e na newsletter.

12/06/2023

Pretend, for example, that you were born in Chicago and have never had the remotest desire to visit Hong Kong, which is only a name on a map for you; pretend that some convulsion, sometimes called accident, throws you into connection with a man or a woman who lives in Hong Kong; and that you fall in love. Hong Kong will immediately cease to be a name and become the center of your life. And you may never know how many people live in Hong Kong. But you will know that one man or one woman lives there without whom you cannot live. And this is how our lives are changed, and this is how we are redeemed.

What a journey this life is! Dependent, entirely, on things unseen. If your lover lives in Hong Kong and cannot get to Chicago, it will be necessary for you to go to Hong Kong. Perhaps you will spend your life there, and never see Chicago again. And you will, I assure you, as long as space and time divide you from anyone you love, discover a great deal about shipping routes, airlines, earth quake, famine, disease, and war. And you will always know what time it is in Hong Kong, for you love someone who lives there. And love will simply have no choice but to go into battle with space and time and, furthermore, to win.

~James Baldwin
(Book: The Price of the Ticket)

05/06/2023

Do you appreciate your daily decisions to slow down and rest? :)

“What is without periods of rest will not endure.” —Ovid Recently, I spent a few weeks on vacation. The time was filled with travel, reconnecting with family, playing golf...

29/05/2023

Many years ago, me and a friend explored the Dzüko Valley located at the border of Manipur and Nagaland in Northeast India.

That´s me in the pic, staring at the serene valley and imagining all the abundant lilies in place.

Sharing our experience penned by this friend in Discover North East, a very exclusive- gorgeous magazine on these least spoken corners of India

22/05/2023

I was invited to another podcast by Vincente in Sao Paulo, Brazil to record a podcast on how to trust the will of the cosmos and its beings.

He had recently conducted a survey on people in corporations and the results shocked him as everyone trusted the future but not their present!

We talked about what is trust, who and how people make it to our trust list and why is it SO easy to trust people while travelling as compared to daily life :)

15/05/2023

Recording my first professional podcast on "life as a nomad" and that too in my newly learnt broken Portuguese in Limera, Sp, Brazil.

Saying yes to life and invitations is the biggest lesson living on the road has taught me.
What's yours? :)

08/05/2023

Sharing travel stories from India in the basketball court of an alternate edcuation centre, Itapira, Sao Paulo, Brazil :)

01/05/2023

शशि जी द्वारा अनुवाद की गयी मेरी दिल्ली से तमिल नाडु, बिन पैसे- बिन मोबाइल साइकिल यात्रा, `साइकिल` पत्रिका ने छापी