time to heal

Last December I hurt my big toe. it has been blood shot and blue for all these 7 months. it went through all the different stages of sensation- first it was painful, then it was ticklish and tingling, then it was numb and then it started growing like a normal nail with a not so great nail colour shade.
the story of the night I got hurt is another one- had spent some very good time with friends; we all laugh at ourselves when we remember that night even though we have some additions to that category of anecdotes now.
but coming back to the nail. after 3 months of growing slowly, it is nearing the time when it finally comes off. it is going to be a painful process and i can already feel the reverse trend in sensation backwards from growth. I'm just scared that i don't accidentally hurt myself and give my poor toenail an early death.

Funnily, most things/people/incidents in life also go through the same process before they are wiped out of our memory (unless they are ripped and thrown out of your system forcibly-which I am thankful has not been the case with my nail. not that i could'nt bear the pain, but i like to be reminded of the good times that hurt it). maybe we don't have the capacity to remember each and everyone of them and so we are meant to forget them, move on and get hurt at other places to have new memories. maybe next time i'll try not to hurt my toenail. it did heal very quickly :)

sweet rain

and so it finally rained here in Jodhpur.
it was wonderful, good rain with strong winds. much needed to cool down temperatures.
the earth gulped water in large amounts and the trees were a brighter shade of green.

it rained for about half hour in the early evening and as soon as the clouds parted for a few inches, the western clouds rushed westwards as if they were late for an appointment. i guess they had one at Jaisalmer.

waiting for rain

July 15th is the day when it rains in Jodhpur. At least i remember it that way. for a few consecutive years when i was in school, monsoons reached Jodhpur on the 15th of july and we would have our first light rain, followed by a day of heavy rains in the next few days.
today it has not rained. i waited patiently the whole day. it was sweltering hot, it did get a little pleasant in the evening and there were clouds, but it has not rained yet.
i really dont ask for a lot, just a little bit of rain :(

monsoons had reached mumbai long back, so i am wondering where the clouds got stuck. it isnt a long way. i was in Mumbai recently and there were rains. i got drenched and quite liked it. I was in south Mumbai and did not know the way to reach churchgate station. so i asked 2 people if they knew the way and they offered to lead me as they were also going the same way.
i guess this happens only in Mumbai. complete strangers help you, sometimes even out of their way. it was fun to walk with them, listening to their office gossip, even though i could'nt make anything out of it. it was nice to be helped, knowing i could find my own way even if they were not there.
the rains felt great that day!

mind loss

I have to be the dumbest twit on this planet. I have this tendency to keep important things so safely that i myself forget where i keep them and then keep searching for them like crazy. Obviously this searching happens when i am in dire need of these things(most frequently documents) and when i cannot find them i have to do procedures to get copies and duplicates which is even more irritating sometimes impossible.
the first question people ask is how did you lose these documents? there are things in this world that you just lose and there is no explanation for it. explanations are possible only when u have been in unfortunate (maybe funny) accidents of sorts. but sadly, this is never the case with me. i simply forget where i keep my important sheets of paper even though i know they are supremely important.
i wish life were like a treasure hunt game with clues to what you're looking for or with detectors in your mind which would sound louder if you're closer to your coveted object. but again, we have to remember where we keep things and then forget them to make life miserable.

i do not know how to overcome this problem. i do not want to give my responsibilities to others even though i know they would be much more efficient at it.
for the time being i just hope i find these set of documents that i need.

Bye Bye Bangalore

the last one week has been a good bye process to the city of Bangalore. I was there for 13 and a half months working at a very cool place doing this and that. time flew by as it always does and before i knew it i had to leave the place so that i can go and study at a foreign university. Even though i dint stay much at the city it was always a good feeling to come back from my travels. there was a hidden satisfaction in the growl, "back to the grind!!!"
why? i dont really know. before i cam to Bangalore i knew only one person there-my friend from Ajmer- who had also started studying at the same time i joined my job. When i left I had increased that number to 4-5 and some really good acquaintances. Now i truly feel that a place is what u make of it. the choice lies within you.
I will miss Bangalore. I will miss the long walks in the cool breeze with a heavy laptop bag, waiting for an auto to stop and agree to take you to your destination (we shall delve in this matter a little later). I will miss the hours of reading novels sitting at coffee shops (esp. the one on MG road) and 'whiling away time measured in coffee mugs'. I will miss head-banging and singing at the top of my voice at my 2 favorite pubs in the city. I will miss laughing at long queues of people outside movie halls on weekends. I will miss going for a ride in the airport bus just for heck of it. I will miss discussing work related issues over breakfast, lunch, tea, dinner, drinks and late night snacks--and having idealistic chats. I will miss having Gmail and Skype group chats with people sitting in the same room and building (and 5 people in the same room laughing out loud suddenly). i will miss the deserted brigade road on weekdays. i will miss the all-english-song radio channel. i will miss making fun of friends, who by the way are a fabulous set of people :)
I will miss the kitten i nearly adopted (i might even miss the dumb dog at my PG--just might). I will miss the starlets at my PG (we had some really fun times commenting on soap operas that i was really disgusted with, but had to put up with sometimes)
the list would go on and on. so all in all i will miss the place and the people that made it memorable.

Gangotri Post

and so i am finally back from my trip to the beautiful Gangotri glacier.
for those who might never get a chance to be there (due to personal circumstances or because it might vanish before they can make it), it is amazing!
it is this wall of ice with a small cave like opening in the lower parts from where the river Bhagirathi gushes out.
it is true that the glacier has receded miles from where it used to be in the past and anybody who states that everything is fine with our water sources and there are no problems lurking in the near future, needs to see a psychiatrist. one needs to see it to believe it (not the psychiatrist, the glacier)

my trip started from Haridwar (where i reached in my last post) in a group of 6 people-4 Indians, 1 Brazilian and 1 Britisher, our motto being to photograph the glacier and try to compare it with earlier photographs.
i know each individual has a peculiar personality and one need not comment on them, but it is also funny how you get along with some people and you can't stand the presence of some others. photographers and a group of journalists (from the television media) are 2 groups i have started growing averse to, but thankfully i had some other buffer people with me all along the trip.

the trip from Haridwar to Gangotri town, should not have taken us the whole day, but it did. the roads were'nt the best, the traffic was also not in our favour, the tyres of the car din't really like us; preferring to go flat and as a result we reached Uttarkashi by 4 PM still 100 kms to go. Here we divided into 2 groups again and the 2 of us (who travelled together from Delhi to Haridwar) took the long road ahead to reach Gangotri. Of course the afore mentioned problems remained and with great difficulty we reached Harshil (35 kms still to go) at 10.30 PM.

Point to be noted, Uttarakhand roads are really bad. I am aware of the terrain of the state and mountain roads are difficult to maintain but negligence is quite evident in these areas. There is no lighting whatsoever, roads have big potholes, no check-fences, no signboards for directions at important turns. I like the border road organization, but i feel they need to put some more time and effort into these areas making the roads tourist friendly and safe at night.

Harshil is a cute village i must say, even though i got to see a bit of it only in the dark and early morning when we left. its an army camp, so foreigners are not allowed inside the area. if given a chance i would love to go there again and stay for a while.

Gangotri on the other hand, i feel is an over hyped town. it is more like a long lane along the river with nothing really great to boast of. Since i am not intrigued by temples, the big attraction of the Ganga maa temple was also not very exciting.

the best part of the trip started with the trek to Bhujbasa where we were to camp for 4 days. I wasnt well the day we left but i felt better after the 14 km uphill walk. it was amazing to see Sam and Chris cover this distance with their luggage on their backs. I accept i don't have the guts to do that.

Camp was great. good food, comfortable sleeping bags, tea/coffee/soup every evening, just a bit of dust and no toilets were the only issues. but we did overcome these and were able to start for our 5 km treks every morning and come back by 6 every evening to a sumptuous and very tasty dinner.

We accomplished our mission of taking photographs without much of my contribution and came back to Gangotri town moving on to Haridwar and a hurried return to Bangalore to finish some personal work.


P.S.-this is what happens when you dont finish your post in one go and try to add on later. I hope I dont do this again.

speshal, famous, mashoor and bangali

I reached Haridwar after a long and hip breaking bus ride from Delhi, and since then thanks to my friend and colleague, we are having a gastronomical adventure of sorts. I don't think I eat this much in Bangalore, no matter how good the food is. I hope the trek we have planned ahead helps us shed all these extra kilos that we are putting on.

the ride to Haridwar deserves a mention. we reached Delhi airport after a not so great flight and waited for like an hour for our baggage to arrive. it was like receiving an old friend at the airport whose flight has been delayed for days, except that this friend arrived on a horizontal conveyor belt.
so we left Delhi airport instructing the taxi driver to stop at any place that would get us some cold lassi. I can say that was the highlight of the day. we reached the bus stand and get to know there is no volvo (as was said by our dear Vijeta) and the ac bus would leave at 4.30 or maybe later coz its not back at the station yet.
in the excitement of getting tickets to a bus which was not ac but had recliner seats, my friend and I just jumped on to the bus getting the last row. just getting on that bus was like climbing a peak in itself. they should've put a board: not suitable for oldies/ladies in sarees and weak of heart and health. when we entered the bus, it was like a coal mine. pitch dark, hot and sweaty with people trying to get into seats and settle their luggage somewhere. somehow we took our seats at the back of the bus and the ride started.
a word of advice for the unknowing, Uttarakhand roadways buses are not so great and the pathetic condition of the roads makes the ride horrible. if you did not have any back problems, you definitely would have 3-4 at the end of the ride, assuming you will make it to your destination.
so after going through all of this, we reached the mid-way where the driver tells us, the bus does not go via Haridwar. it goes straight to Dehradoon. it was hilarious and sad at the same time. why the hell were we on a pathetic bus, when it does not even go where we want to go!
the driver and the conductor, being the friendly people they were, made a small detour to drop us on roorkee highway, from where we took a cycle rickshaw to the bus stand, found a bus ready to go to Haridwar. we scrambled to the express bus and finally reached Haridwar and at our hotel at 10.30 in the night.
food and sleep were the only thoughts on my mind and thankfully this time I got what I wanted. not the best food and not the sweetest of dreams but I managed.

Haridwar is an interesting place. it reminds me of the walled city in Jodhpur, where there are small lanes lined with shops, open sewers and lots of people teeming these lanes to buy something, to go somewhere, to sell something or generally walk around aimlessly. not that the whole city is like that but the part where we are staying. we start the day with lassi and repeat it twice through the day along with kulfi, falooda, thandai, chole bhature and of course chapati and sabzi. as I write this, I am still to have dinner, so lets see what comes our way :)
everything here is either speshal, famous, mashoor or it is bangali. the streets are full of bengali restaurants and people talking in bengali. maybe its a traveling season for them, or its just a coincidence that I noticed.
the food and drink are supposed to be really famous and really special, at least they make it sound like that. I would like to know what normal is just to compare it to the special and famous.
I think I would remember Haridwar with this specialty.
the only specialty I saw was the river Ganga that flows through the city in full speed. it is a beautiful sight, though I would love it to be cleaner and healthier (but I shall not talk about work here)
after a short stay here, we intend to trek to the glacier, heights upto 7000 feet and temperatures as low as 0.
i'm really looking forward to it.