Wanderlust

"There's a race of men that don't fit in,
A race that can't stay still;
So they break the hearts of kith and kin,
And they roam the world at will.
They range the field and they rove the flood,
And they climb the mountain's crest;
Theirs is the curse of the gypsy blood,
And they don't know how to rest"
 
-Robert W. Service

Ladakh - The trek, the road trip and lake

The beautiful blue - Pangong Tso

Leh is probably one of those very few places which would be hot on the list of "must dos" of adventure enthusiasts, nature lovers, bikers, lazy bums and dopers alike. Mountaneous terrain, either river Indus or Zanskar alongside and deserted highways dotted with tiny hamlets is representative of Ladakh region outside Leh. We had flown down from Delhi and Leh and the magic of the place hit us even before we landed. Just as the clouds cleared, we could see the vast expanse of snow capped peaks and the valleys waiting there for us to embrace the beauty, Ladakh.

The acclamatization day was mostly spent loitering the streets of Leh (well technically, we were always in fort road), trying everything from Thukpa to momos to kehwa. A hike to the Leh palace which stands guard from the north end of the city gives you the perfect views of the whole valley. As the last rays of the sun set on the hills, you cant help feel a chill. The next day, we drove for ~6 hrs to get to the Pangong lake while covering the Thiksey monastery enroute. Serene waters ranged from turquoise blue to aquamarine while kissing teal intermittently. I have no clue what I just said. Lets just say that the waters were in shades of blue, and loads of them! Ladakh is just like what you see in post cards, picture perfect. We slept by the lake in the night trying to count stars in the partly clouded sky.

Young monk at Hemis Gompa

The Thiksey monastery

The next three days was the trek to Stok Kangri covering  close to 45 kms. We had stayed in a home stay in Rumbak and camped at the base camp at Mankarmo. Starting at 3500m above sea level, we trekked to around 3900m for about 4 hrs to reach Rumbak. The community farming practices and the home stay model epitomized peaceful coexistance in this village. We then hiked to 4900m to get to the Stok la pass and decended back to 4300m at the Mankarmo base camp. The final day was yet another strenuous climb to the advanced base of the Stok kangri peak where we reached 5200m. There were river crossings, deer sightings, hail storms and needless to mention.. paradise on earth!

A trip to Ladakh would never be complete without biking around. We dared the Khardungla pass (5600m) on a set of 2 pulsars and 2 activas. Even though we made it to the top eventually, no pictures can relate the story of how one of us had to push the activa for 3 kms uphill as it refused to get loaded anymore. The ride down was a race of gravity. For our final tryst with Ladakh, we hired a car and a bullet and drove down to Lamayuru on the Leh Kargil highway. This road was the scenic, barren ladakh I have always seen in pictures. 150km from Leh, this bike trip was just something that had to be done!

 

Enroute Khardungla

9 days of pure joy. No net or network (apart from the frantic jampots who managed to get signal even at the markarmo base). Prayer flags, lovely landscapes, colorful markets, apricots, Thukpa to momos, long and sumptious breakfasts, yaks, snow capped peaks were just the tip of the iceberg. In the end, we came out Leh'd!

That little devil

I introduce to you ladies and gentlemen,
my oldest friend, my partner in mischief
not a peaceful nights' sleep, since I was three years old,
thanks to my little sister, the devil

The games we invented;
adventures, we called some
while some were so much fun,
that we even forgot to give them names

Monopoly, we played all day long,
how I always had the reds cards and the blue hotels,
was always beyond her mental faculties
late night horror stories,ruled them all

Hard to forget were those bakery trips and panipuri outings
or those hardy boys and tinkle digests we exchanged
weird were the competitions that we had,
Banana eating beat them all

For 24 years have I toiled so hard,
what do I get in return?
tons of love, greeting cards,
loads of chocolates and a band with "Angry birds"

India at London, 2012

India's all time olympic medal tally

Since India made its debut in the Olympics in Paris in 1900 it has only ever won a total of 20 medals, nine of them gold of which 8 came from Hockey while Abhinav Bindra won our first gold in Beijing 2008. 2 of the medals in Athletics were actually to a British national in 1900. The age old debate has always been on how we barely manage to get one medal in a country with popluation more than 1.2 billion people. 

Blame it on our budgets or on our mindsets or both in this case. Any kid aiming to become an ace tennis player is frowned upon. A kid considering boxing is a maverick and someone who wants to make swimming as a profession is an outright outcast. We could argue that the tropical climate is a key reason why we dont get medals in Athletics. What climate do the Ugandans and the Kenyans live in? In 2008, China was the first in medals tally with 51 Golds followed by USA at 36 Golds. India was on rank 50 with 1 Gold medal. The Chinese got their first ever medal in Olympics in 1984. That year, their total tally was G:15, S:8, B:9 and were at rank 4 worldwide. This was their 2nd ever appearence. Despite various efforts to increase participation and victory in olympics in India, we have largely been unsuccessful. We need to invest more in sports infrastructure and supporting athletes and look beyond our sacrosanct sport - Cricket! I shall not delve into something that I dont have too much idea of. As an average Indian, I am agonized to see us get so few medals with so many people.

This year, I am rooting for the most medals for India as compared to previous years. I look forward to some of our athletes bringing back honors this time around.

1. The usual suspects: Abhinav Bindra, Susheel kumar and Vijendra Kumar (Collected a Gold in Asian Games in Guangzhou last year and a bronze in commonwealth, Delhi)
2. The resurgents:Saina Nehwal (Rank 5 worldwide, Quarter in Beijing 2008 and Gold in Indonesian open earlier this year beating the 3rd ranker)
3. The rookies: Gagan Narang (Silver in Asian games, 4 golds in commonwealth), Mary Kom (Currently tied at Rank 3 in lightweight category) Shiva Thapa (fly weight category) Deepika Kumari (Current Rank 1 in Women's individual recurve and Gold, common wealth 2010)

This is a only a list of some of them from an 81 member strong contingent. Hoping for a double digit tally!

Wonder years..

Remember that purchasing spree of school bags (wide ones weren't cool anymore), Bata shoes, cherry blossom polish, double deck lunch boxes and white uniform every summer? Yes school!

We boys were adorned in shorts (had to wait till class 7 to wear trousers), girls with their ponytails (I mean.. pony? tail?), armed with pencils and compass boxes (had to have a ruler, divider, protractor and a shiny white rubber .. yes.. that's what we called it). By then, our world had changed drastically from the innocent childhood of yesteryears. Priorities.. even more so.

Mom's food became boring and dad being at office was preferred. The neighbourhood kids with whom I played cricket every evening without finishing homework, school bus buddies with whom I shouted and shrieked loudly (confused it for singing for a while too), back bench buddies in school where I perfected the art of rocket making, a la October Sky style and teachers who always kicked me out or made me stand beside dustbins, mattered the most.

We finished lunch in the short break so that lunch break can be for football (with a cricket ball of course), ate Lays for their Tazos, bought Complan instead of Boost for the free tennis ball , loved the unhealthy roadside panipuri and other assorted junk, hated sitting next to girls, and collectively prayed to god every single day at the bus stop for a surprise school holiday! (no wonder some of us ended up being such staunch atheists)

We read Hardy boys, Tinkles and discussed how Yokozuna could easily beat Macho man in WWE (It was WWF until of course the wild ones took over). We were into competitive sport too, challenging each other at Contra, super tanks or a game of monopoly. Then came the glorious days. Summer holidays. Summer holidays meant 2 months back in our villages / towns, meant a long train journey, meant no homework and freedom from mom's shouting. The summers meant the heaven to us. The "fun folk" had to spend their time in the summer camps where they were taught creativity and god knows what jack shit.

Those were the days...

Price rise, salary hikes and haircuts

Years ago, back in my village, we used to get communal haircuts. By the time the barber got home, 6-7 kids lined up and waited for him to snap his scissors and every kid got his hair cut so short that the mothers could not hold them by their hair atleast for a week to come. At that time, he charged 10 rs for all of us put together. The service was standardised. One size fits all. Shorter the better. Cut all you can.Value for money and so on and so forth.

Turn the cycle 10 years forward and welcome to Hyderabad. Owing to advanced technologies and locational disposition, the service has now moved on from door to door to a shop floor model. We now went into shops where there were a row of 3-4 seats resembling chairs we see on the stage in marriages. The shop itself is lined with sleazy glam mags and bollywood newspapers for customer retention. Fortunately or unfortunately, the tools barely changed. The same metallic scissors and the comb. The price shot up to 15-20 rs a cut. The offerings however now had 2 options.. Short and medium!

Come 2012, the landscape just seemed to have altered leaps and bounds. I am now in Bombay. I by chance, or lets just say by force, had to enter into one of those "hair therapy lounges". A.C., Vogue, computer with internet for bored souls. I ended up paying 150 rs for a service that the guy was extremely reluctant to provide. Apparently getting the hair cut short isnt the in-thing anymore. He ploughed through my hair like he was trying to invest in paddy fields. The best part was that I got an appointment for an hour later as the place was full. But thank god some things dont change much. It is still the same scissors and the same comb to weave his magic! Wonder whats next?

The shadow in the dark

Sitting by the dim street light,
attention drawn and mind blank,
I dont hear the frog's croak or the clock's tick
I just sit here, ogling at the starry starry night

My thoughts wander to a place far far away
I feel a sting in my chest, a gushing pain,
yet I sit there staring at infinity,
like a nomad, who has just found his way

Soil, iron red and the sky, coal black
I wonder if thats what I really see.
I am the warrior, the solitary reaper,
the shadow in the dark

I wonder why we love to suffer,
fear of happiness is it?
or just an irreparable sense of inertia
as they say, "Ignorance is bliss" or whatever...

So.. How was New York City?

This was one of those trips that was never planned originally. I had gone to New york to visit my girlfriend who has been working there for a few months now. I was there for eight days and when I got back, there was one question that I faced inevitably from everyone. How was NYC?

Brooklyn Bridge

At the outset, New York did not surprise me. It was as they had showed in various movies like Little Manhattan and soaps like Friends, HIMYM. Central park was beautiful , Times Square was colorful, financial district was bustling and Manhattan skyline was as glorious as I had imagined it all. The streets, the avenues, the color coded metro rail system, the 5 boroughs, the orderly traffic were fairly easy even for a first timer to understand and work with.

But it did amaze me. I have always considered India to be the epitome of cultural diversity with 28 states, 7 UTs, 18 official languages many more art forms. New york, like most big cities, was a microcosm of the world. It was a melange of people from countries across the world, an eclectic medley of cultures. It was very well represented by all the popular immigrant nations of the world. Each had established their dominion. The Chinese had China town in South Manhattan, Italians ruled Little Italy just above the Chinese, Koreans took over the Koreatown in the 33rd street while the Brazilians loved their Little Brazil street on the 46th street. Indians on the other hand have spread their DNA all across New Jersey and particularly in Journal square. You will see the Asians selling Doner kebaps and pita-gyros, the Middle-eastern, Lebanese and Moroccans selling icecreams, the latinos selling NYC paintings and the Chinese selling everything else. Even to the above mentioned folks.

Cenral Park

New York City was a war scene every hour of the day and each day of the week. The water ways, the bus system, the metros and even the pedestrians moved with a synchronized perfection as directed an army general called Time. Time is their guiding force and their nemesis as well. People ran to save time, to fight time. Two minutes lost in catching the next metro was disappointing. Despite all this, the average New yorker spent atleast 15 minutes each day waiting for his turn to sip on the regular double shot expresso at one Starbucks or the other. Their life cannot start without one.

Manhattan skyline

Given the fast paced lifestyle, there is a galore of options available when it comes to food. I tried everything from the all-American burgers and fries to Mexican enchilladas and ribs to Italian pizzas to Chinese *&%^% (Can never remember those damn names).

NYC is beautiful, scandalous, ever growing, confusing and yet charming. Its a city that sets you free, hardens you and consumes you, before you know it. And this, is an Indian's take on the biggest city of the world.

I believe its time to run!

Welcome to the season of running
A season where each of us have juggled between work and work outs
A season where we have pushed our limits
A season where we have drawn inspiration from each other
A season where we decided that we'd run
for ourselves, for fitness or for a cause!

Its time to run!

I believe it starts one step at a time
and then I'd have no idea where my dreams will take me

I believe the world is my treadmill
I believe my biggest inspiration is the person infront of me

I believe in solitude and community
I believe no decision should be made while running uphill

I believe that when I think its over... I can always dig a little deeper
I believe in redefining my impossible

I believe in myself, and
I believe in the run
- Nike