The Shooting Star

4 days ago | the-shooting-star.com | Shivya Nath

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 into a nap.

1 week ago | the-shooting-star.com | Shivya Nath

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.

2 weeks ago | the-shooting-star.com | Shivya Nath

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.

1 month ago | the-shooting-star.com | Shivya Nath

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.

2 months ago | the-shooting-star.com | Shivya Nath

On a spring evening in Japan, we had just returned from a stunning day of hiking amid volcanic landscapes on Kyushu Island. After a soul-satisfying meal of koya dofu, seasonal veggies and udon noodles, I was ready to call it a day.