Beyond the Desk

I travel whenever I can, and nature is almost always the destination. National parks hold a particular pull — there is something about standing in a landscape that existed long before humans arrived and will exist long after that resets perspective in a way no city can. From the desert canyons of the American Southwest to the high passes of the Himalayas, the places that stay with me are invariably the ones where the scale is humbling.

Hike to Grinnell Glacier, Glacier National Park, Montana

Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

Night Sky over Crater Lake National Park, Oregon

Dusk at Yosemite National Park, California

Yosemite in winter

Yellowstone Falls, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Hiking Angels Landing, Zion National Park, Utah

Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

Antelope Canyon, Arizona

Bryce Amphitheatre, Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

Delicate Arch, Arches National Park, Utah

Badwater Basin, Death Valley National Park, California

Winter wonderland experience at Crater Lake National Park, Oregon

Lassen Peak, Lassen Volcanic National Park, California

Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

Day hikes are satisfying; multi-day treks are transformative. There is a particular kind of clarity that comes from carrying everything you need on your back and measuring progress in ridgelines crossed rather than emails answered. I have trekked at altitude in the Himalayas and am always looking for the next route that requires more preparation than comfort allows.

Pin Bhaba Pass Trek — 50km over 9 days, 16,105 ft above sea level, Inner Himalayas, India

Chandrataal (Moon Lake), Spiti Valley, 14,100 ft

Pushing for the pass, Rupin Pass Trek, Uttarakhand

Traffic Jam at the Snow Gully, Rupin Pass, 15,250 ft

Snowy camping on the Rupin Pass Trek

Mount Swargarohini, Har Ki Dun Trek, Uttarakhand

Shea Goru Campsite, Hampta Pass Trek

Wildflowers along the Hampta Pass Trail

Mount Deo Tibba from Shea Goru Campsite, Hampta Pass

Bhrigu Lake (14,100 ft), Himachal Pradesh, India

Dawn timelapse session, Bhrigu Lake

View from my tent — the day before the final push to Pin Bhaba Pass

Photography for me is an extension of travel rather than a separate pursuit. I shoot landscape almost instinctively, but astrophotography is where I have spent the most deliberate effort — planning around moon phases, driving to dark sky sites, and waiting out clouds for a clean shot of the Milky Way (and sometimes Northern Lights!).

Northern Lights over Denali National Park, Alaska

Milky Way over Grand Teton, Wyoming

Night sky over Monument Valley, Arizona

Milky Way from Hampta Pass, Himalayas

Northern Lights, Alaska

Amer Fort, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India

Mount Shasta, California

Snoqualmie Falls, Washington

Maroon Bells, Colorado

Multnomah Falls, Portland, Oregon

Crater Lake, Oregon

At age seventeen, I cracked India's premier National Defence Academy (NDA) entrance examination and cleared the SSB selection process — one of the country's most demanding assessments, with a 0.08% selection rate among nearly 1 million applicants — becoming an Indian Air Force (IAF) cadet. Fate ended that dream, but it never touched the pull toward the sky. Perhaps in some parallel universe, I am still flying a Sukhoi Su-30MKI.

Now, that dream has found different expressions. I have since taken the controls of a Cessna, jumped out of a perfectly good airplane more than once (skydiving), and am working toward my Private Pilot License (PPL). Airports still feel like the most alive places on earth — the organized chaos, the sense of departure, the fact that every gate leads somewhere completely different. I will always choose a connecting flight over a direct one.

NDA days — the beginning of a lifelong relationship with the sky

Photographing Mount Rainier just before touching down in Seattle

First time at the controls of a Cessna

Cloud sandwiched Seattle

Landing in Seattle

Lake Tahoe from above

Northern Lights from 35,000 ft

Landing in Boston

Sunset from 35,000 ft

Paragliding in Bir Billing, Himachal Pradesh, India