At some point, all of us have thought of pressing the pause button and taking off on a sabbatical to escape the frenzied pace of our lives. A forsaken dream for many, New York-based engineer-MBA and novelist Karan Bajaj actually took a year-long sabbatical along with his wife, Kerry in 2012-2013.


Writer Karan Bajaj (first from right) exploring the terrain at Dhanakosa Buddhist Retreat Centre, Scotland 

He recalls, "I'd always been interested in Eastern mysticism but my mother's young, untimely death from cancer forced me to question the predictable rhythms of birth, suffering, ageing and death in a more urgent way.