Reassurance in new company

Good. A buzz is extremely good. A rum and coke certainly takes the edge off. Cheers! 

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Strange strange surroundings... What does one make of it? One thinks one should let go of inhibitions and do whatever one pleases. 

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Notes to self on socialising 

• Be confident
• They are not better than me so there is no need to feel overwhelmed
• I am not better than them either so there is no need to be patronising
• I will have fun
• I will not be moody
• I will trip responsibly 

Inspiration from the mountains

At Turtuk, I saw a headstone. One meant for a soldier who had died while laying the roads in a place so desolate and unconnected to the rest of India. It called out, "Here great fortitude and courage is the norm". Such a beautiful dedication to the person who had laid down his life. I wish there was a way in which he could know the magnitude of what he has achieved. For silly old me, being able to reach a place so beautiful and inspiring, helped me find direction when I was lost. I now know for sure that I want to do something that holds value, not just for me, but for others as well. 

Great fortitude and courage is the new norm for me! 

Dangerous curves ahead...

Seems like the person who was assigned the task of coming up with catchy phrases for the road signs through the Ladakh region did a fabulous job. Not only are you fascinated by the scenery through the drive - majestic mountains, the blue, blue sky, the never ending stream of water; you also get solid entertainment in the form of road signs. Some of the messages are downright sleazy, some funny and some others thought provoking; all of them however do drive home the point - road safety!



Here's a list of some of them, in no particular order. 

- Don't lose your nerves, when you see curves. 
- The enemy of the road - speed, liquor and overload.
- Speed is like a knife that cuts life. 
- Feel the curves, do not test them. 
- Feel the curves, don't hug them. 
- I am curvaceous. Be slow. 
- Driving faster can cause disaster. 
- Be soft on my curves. 
- I love you, but not so fast. 
- A spill, a slip, a hospital trip. 
- If married, divorce speed.
- If engaged, go steady. 
- If single, watch for curves. 

Animalia

One of the things I really enjoyed doing on my trip to Kashmir was taking pictures of all the animals that we came across. From majestic horses to pot-bellied marmots to birds I couldn't identify to random strays, I was in awe of everything. Here are some of the beauties I met. 

Gulab and Mehendi - Gulmarg

Horses - Gulmarg

Ducks in the water - Nagin Lake, Srinagar

Dog at Tibetan Market - Leh

Oneandaf horned domestic cow - Leh

Goat - Turtuk

Magpies on a wire - Turtuk 

Bactrian Camel - Nubra Valley

Himalayan Marmots - Near Pangong Lake 

Horses - Near Pangong Lake

Duck - Pangong Lake

Surprised Cat - Jalianwalla Bagh, Amritsar

Prelude to Ladakh

When Mark Twain wrote "cheer in every face and a spring in every step", I am certain he not only meant the glorious Sunday that Tom Sawyer and his boys were out to have, but also the feeling when he set out on a journey, long dreamt of, leaving everything else behind. This is exactly how I am feeling at this very moment. 

So after three years of planning and going elsewhere, our Ladakh trip has finally materialised. My girls and I are only a couple of hours away from having to pull out our jackets and caps. Brrrr... the excitement is chilling me! (For those who don't get the pun, it's an old MTV reference). 

So we didn't really have to pull out our jackets and caps for a good part of the holiday. It was bloody hot. 

Here is a picture of Drass. 

It must have been about 30 degrees the day we were there. So much for the warm clothes!

Animal Spotting

The forest plays tricks on your mind. Especially when you are driving through with the anticipation that you might spot some wild animal in its natural habitat. A fallen bark looks like a gaur that is lying down. A rock in the distance resembles an elephant. If someone convinces you enough, you'll swear that you could see the ear move. The ant hives on the branches of tress; they become small animals sitting high up. Maybe the Giant Malabar Squirrel. But no, this one's still. You cannot see the fiery orange tail flit between the branches. 

Whether I see any animals or not, I still like driving through the forest. The trees make for a pretty sight. Yes, you do feel exultant if you can rattle off a number of species that you have spotted when you get out of the forest. But even if you don't, you have still seen them all in your head. And they will be waiting for you the next time you go back as well. 

And since I am feeling exultant at this point, I will make a list. 

• Elephants -  at least 10
• Chital/Spotted Deer - 3 herds
• Monkeys - many, many, many
• Peahen - 1
• Giant Malabar Squirrel - 1 
• Gaur - 1 + 5

Also, in case you saw only the trees, HAH! 

Much love,

Ganga

Window Seat

Holiday clothes with anklet et al
Candy striped bag to rest my back on 
Legs stretched on a bed that's called a sleeper
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society to keep me company 
So begins my weekend to Goa
The window open to let all the air in 
Buses and trucks whiz past
Our tyre goes bust and a one hour stopover 
Slumber, sweet slumber
And then another stop, another tyre gives way
Slumber, sweet slumber once again
The cool night breeze ushers my holiday in 
My dreams call for yet another vacation 
A music fest in Jaisalmer
Next year perhaps
Light creeps in 
What a sight to wake up to
Bare trees shrouded in mist
I sit up to take in the wonder
Another hour of sleep 
I once again wake up to the forest
Thick with trees, with branches branching everywhere
The first sight of the shore
Fishy smells assault my senses
Going up my nose to my brain
My mouth waters at the thoguht of the fruit the sea will bear
My head moves to the right to dodge 
Some branches longer than others
Trying to poke me in the eye
Through my window
Ear phones on
Grooving to The Bare Necessities and Home and Freedom
Waiting to arrive, but not really wanting to get off 
And change the view

The window seat is my favourite place in the world
Anywhere
At my home, in a car, in class, at work
Especially on a holiday
It's my window to the world

Comforting Sounds

So this is Comforting Sounds by Mew. Each time I listen to it, it moves me. Makes me feel a myriad of feelings. It appeals to my innermost being. 

And right now, as I listen to it for probably what is the 157th time, I realised something. This is could be my turn to piece of music for pretty much anything I find myself in the midst of. I've imagined a number of scenarios. 

If I was being tossed about by the churning waters of the sea on a rainy day, I would die happy if this was playing in the background. When I bungee jump off a really high bridge, where it takes forever for me to spring back up, it fits. In fact, the song would pick up, just as I sprang back up. If I was sobbing after a heart wrenching incident, the song would play along as if it knew exactly how I felt. When I am driving through wide open spaces, chasing a dream, this would be the very song that I played over and over again on my stereo. If I was lost in a jungle, the build-up would start just as I found the trail that would lead me back to civilisation. When I hop around on my future farm with my cats and dogs and cows and chickens, it would keep the beat. When I discover a book among a thousand, one that was written for me to read, it would fill the room. 

It is perfect right now too; I sit by my window seat, watching the trees go by as I make my way to the sea. This could be the soundtrack of my life. 

My unfinished tribute to Himachal

I love Himachal Pradesh! Been there twice in 2012 and i have fallen in love with the state - the scenery, the terrain, the people, the food, the weather, the roads... simply everything that the state has to offer. 

So my first trip there was with the MTB Himalaya team in September 2012. MTB Himalaya is this annual mountain biking race where cyclists need to cover over 400 kms across 10 days in some of the most severest and scenic terrains of Himachal.  I was part of the Communications team whose job was to send out press reports, update FB & Twitter from time to time and for some strange reason emcee the closing ceremony. Thankfully, we pretty much covered the same distance as the cyclists in the support vehicles.  

So there was this one evening, where the comms team got off the support vehicle to make way for tired cyclists. And by the time the vehicle that would eventually take us to the campsite arrived, it was dark. The moon was brilliant - almost full, and it cast a lovely glow on the mountains. Inspiration struck and there I was typing a poem on my phone. 

So here it is my unfinished tribute to Himachal Pradesh... 

Through the whistling pines and woods
Blows a breeze: it's the song of the wind
The clouds descend, kiss the mountain tops
A love affair rekindled every sundown
Blue black sky with moonshine bright
Radiant light: it's the night at play

And this is where I either started getting car-sick from all the bouncing around or killed my phone battery, therefore rendering my tribute incomplete. I vow to complete this the next time i set foot. 

The Sweetness of Doing Nothing

It’s been a little more than 4 months now since I stopped working. After 4.5 years of working, 4 months seems like a long time to have taken a break for. And for almost the entire duration of the break, I’ve been in one of two modes – couch potato mode or constantly on the move mode.  No prizes for guessing which of the two I would prefer to be in for the rest of my life.

The former does have a certain appeal; in all honesty I think it’s akin to a holiday in your home. You chill all day, you mindlessly watch TV, your diet goes for a toss, you sleep and when it gets too much, you curl up on the rocking chair with a book and a cup of hot tea. Makes for a perfect winter holiday...

The latter is an eye opener. It’s like a ball rolling downhill – rather difficult to stop. From Coorg to Hampi to Delhi to Kasol to Bitherkad to Goa, back to Bangalore, it’s been one long trip. Each place obviously had something different to offer.  Coorg was refreshing – it was after a really long time that I was bonding with extended family once again, and I had the wind, the cold winter wind in my hair all the time. Hampi was fun – any trip with friends is – more so when you go exploring and wind up with a seriously fucked up ankle; a villager offered to give me a piggy back ride too, I politely declined and then gave one limb each to friends to carry me to safety. Delhi was cold –cold enough to make me buy thermals. The evenings were lovely though.  I have never been one for waiting. But wait I did, and the minute my boy came back from work, the cold didn't seem so bad. Chilly weather does give way to romance, allows you comfortably bury yourself in the arms of a loved one. Delhi was also a recce of sorts - do I see myself living here in a few months from now? I absolutely do! Kasol was breath taking – I touched snow, I had a snow fight, I warmed my bones by the tandoor, I was baked, I had a killer New Years, I went on holiday with my boy and there were so so many gorgeous dogs and 1 cat.  

Home aka Bitherkad happened next. This has been a roller coaster ride of sorts – I think trying to live in the same space as your parents especially after you have spent most of your time away from them in hostel or by yourself, always is. From many rounds of rummy to yummy food to fist fights to shouting matches to drunken brawls to promises of sobriety to estate work to even cop calling, the 10 days at home have been insane. A couple more days will be spent here and they promise to be exciting as well. Among the various things that I’m looking to do are also the following:  

• Paint the pots
• DIY Project – Make pots out of a tyre. Thanks My Sunny Balcony for the idea and Two Material Girls for the inspiration
• Piss off the cats
• Walk around the estate
• Cardamom drying and storage on a daily basis
• Water therapy for my foot
• Prepare my resume

I proceed to Goa from here. As commercial as it will be, it’s once again a trip with friends and therefore will be brilliant. Post that i get back to Bangalore for a little while – most of February at least. It will be my party month, a month of unabashed drinking.  There are 4 birthdays to celebrate including mine. There’s a big fat Indian wedding which will feature more drinks. My boy will be visiting, so it will be interesting to figure new dynamics in our old setting.

So while I tell the whole world that I’ve been jobless, the past couple of months have been more packed with excitement and fun than I can remember.  So much so, that I want to be on a break forever, I want to go out more, I want to see the world, I want to go to Italy! If only I had the money.. for the money, i need a job. With the job, I'm sure to need a long break. With the break, I will live it up. To live it up some more, I need money. Aaaaaaaahhhh… vicious cycle it seems to be.

In any case, I am so thankful for the present which in the words of the Italians is, "Dolce far niente" - the sweetness of doing nothing.  

Flight 6E 141 from Delhi to Bangalore

I write this out of sheer boredom. I usually find something to do or rather look at once I've depleted my stock of books while travelling by air. This time round I've finished V for Vendetta and am unable to get my head around A Brief History of Time, and I'm terrified my phone will die and with it so will the music. So to entertain myself and you I present to you, "Observations from Seat 20C".

1) Children should  be sedated. They are noisy; the parents/grand parents of these kids are noisy too. The last thing i want to hear is the lady across the aisle screaming at the toddler who has slipped from her clutches and is presently staring at some random passenger, who i'm sure has no kind feelings either, especially when the toddler is all red-faced and splotchy. Maybe the  lady should have been sedated too. 

2) The next time you are in an aisle seat and the food trolley stops right next to you, see if you get claustrophobic.

3) The in-flight magazine is called "Hello 6E". For those missing the word play, 6E would be sexy. Baaaaaarrrrrrffffffff!!! 

4) Some of the puns that Indigo comes up with are fun though. My favourite is 'nut case' for the little tin box that the masala nuts come in. 

5) People who take a window seat should be tasered if they sleep. What's the point of hogging the window if you're not going to look out of it? In addition, if these people wake up only to go the loo or to get off the place, one should feel free to trip them and hope to hell they fall on their face and pass out on the aisle. This could also ensure that noisy child doesn't get out and that the trolley cannot come by again with its claustrophobic intentions. 

6) I'm not much of a talker, especially when it comes to talking to a fellow passenger. But I long for the day when this mysterious, brooding passenger strikes up a conversation and we hit it off. We could stay friends for the rest of our lives and then visit each other with our future families. 

7) More claustrophobia! Not just the damned trolley; its accompanied by a whiff of stale deodorant and sweat. 

8) In case of turbulence the overhead compartments could open, bags and boxes could fall out and the heads of a good numbers of flyers in the aisle seats could be decapitated. I would be spared of course. 

9) How can anyone use the loo? It sees an average of 1 user a minute. That would mean on a 2 hour, 40 minute flight if you happen to be the last one to go, you're likely to be peeing on 159 instances of pee. YEW! 

10) And Bangalore is here... Excitement! To see and feel the sun would be brilliant. Especially if the temperature at landing is 21 degrees Celcius. That would be 18 degrees more than what it was when I woke up this morning in Delhi. 

That's all folks! I have landed... almost actually. I wait for the thud of the wheels on the ground to make my pen go crooked and then stop the entry. I see the familiar looking plots of land. Not that I know them personally, just that they look Bangalore like. And touchdown in 3, 2, 1... OK then, bye bye. 


P.S: It's sad that digital entries cannot convey handwriting. Mine is spectacular, especially after the thud of the wheels. 

Hampi

over-packed bag
a bit much for 2 days and a night
intoxication to get through the shaky bus ride
a boat ride across the tungabhadra
waterfall guest house with ramu and vasu playing host
charlie with his gorgeous eyes and rancid stink
hash brown potatoes, nutella pancake, mint tea and lemonana by the dozen
bike rides
more intoxication
maus & pi for company
a dip in the river; the smell lingers
some more intoxication
sleep
breakfast that stretches into brunch that stretches into lunch
scouting for 300 year old trees
through the fields, through the trees, over the rocks to the river
but wait; a foot slips, an ankle twists
hobble hobble hobble back
away from the river, the rocks, the trees
carried over the fields
intoxication to numb the pain
rocky road back to the city
hampi was a blast - and i've a sprained ankle and a fractured wrist as testimony

Here i go again....

“Not all those who wander are lost.” – J. R. R. Tolkien


The forces that power the need to travel - see, feel, touch and experience - cannot be contained. Set them free and they will literally take you places! 

So for the rest of my life, I set out to do the following... 

• Do the local circuit, visit touristy places, venture into nooks and corners that no humans inhabit... 
• Travel by foot, cars, over the oceans, fly through the air... 
• Spend half the holiday money on a luxury resort; maybe slum it in a place with the loo out in the open or at least a 5 minute walk away...
• Meet people, be asocial to do some soul searching...
• Experience forests and seas, buildings and grasslands, culture and sport, food and drink.. 
• Get the f*** out!

Of the million places to go and see around the world, here is my list of the where and what in no particular order... 

1. Watch the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) in Norway.. 
2. Be a mute spectator at The Highland Games.. maybe take part if they have a version of Discus or drinking for beginners.. 
3. Watch penguins dance at the South Pole.. just like they did in Happy Feet
4. Live in the company of baby wild cats for atleast 3 days
5. Get bloody intoxicated in Amsterdam 
6. Spend a month or two in the Seven Sister States.. cover the north east!
7. Be a part of the wildlife census in India, preferably for tigers or snakes
8. Africa... for its wildlife and erstwhile Pharaohs
9. Climb a mountain? Hmmmm.... 
10. Snorkel... actually see the underwater flora and fauna without getting felt up by a lecherous coot
11. Discover a cave or waterfall or a new species for the first time in the universe... 
12. Stroll around buck naked on a private beach, where the water is calm and blue
13. Learn to speak Italian in Italy
14. 
    
15. 
    

As and when a new place catches my fancy, here it shall go on my list. 

And before i'm 70, i will have done them all.... Discovery... open wide thine arms unto me!