4 Volcanic Hells and a 59th Milestone

Tuesday, 16 June 2026 

The day began with the familiar rhythm of a run, but it was no ordinary day. It was my fifty‑ninth birthday, the first ever celebrated outside India, and Iceland had chosen to be my backdrop. Wishes poured in from family and friends back home, each message a warm tether to Mumbai even as the Arctic air wrapped around me.

The landscapes of the North‑East unfolded like chapters in a fantasy novel. Stuðlagil Canyon revealed its symmetrical basalt columns, rising like organ pipes carved by nature itself. Dettifoss thundered with earth‑shattering force, its spray soaking us in icy mist, while Selfoss offered a gentler cascade upstream, a reminder that power and peace often coexist. At Hverir, bubbling mud pools and sulfurous steam vents conjured visions of Dante’s Inferno, the stench sharp enough to make us laugh even as we recoiled. Grjótagjá’s volcanic cave shimmered with blue water, its depths mysterious, while Dimmuborgir’s citadels stood like fortresses from another age, their towering shapes casting shadows that seemed alive.

Goðafoss, the Waterfall of the Gods, crowned the day with its crescent majesty, its roar echoing across the valley. And then came the Forest Lagoon, a sanctuary nestled among rare Icelandic trees. Immersed in geothermally heated waters, surrounded by rising steam and quiet woodlands, the fatigue of travel melted away. The design of the pools blended seamlessly with the natural rock and canopy, offering a meditative vantage point over Eyjafjörður fjord. For a couple of hours, the endless road travel and the stress of the missing luggage simply faded into the background.

But the greatest gift arrived outside the lagoon. Gopi and his family intercepted a courier and retrieved Geetha’s long‑lost suitcase. After three days of improvisation, her reunion with her wardrobe was celebrated like a festival, laughter and relief spilling over into the evening.

That night in Akureyri, the Capital of the North, we dined quietly in our room. A birthday in Iceland, a suitcase restored, and a day that felt like a novel in itself. Tomorrow, whales awaited…

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