Kick off to a travelogue

No holiday could have started off more eventfully. A 3 km dash through the drizzle with 3 bags thanks to a traffic jam thanks in turn to heavy rains in Delhi. Arrived at the airport sweating to my chuddies swearing I’d find it tough to make the flight but got the emergency exit window seat with ease. Damn... I must be a charmer.

I’ve been around this country a fair bit. Trains to buses, to driving myself around; India’s beauty never ceases to amaze me. I also believe that while I am severely critical of the shortfalls of this country, I love India with a ‘vengeance’ (if I may borrow a line from a friend). I love India for what makes most of it – its quaint people, sheer natural beauty & rustic appeal. I might be biased to the mountains but even the hinterland of Jharkand, the plains or plateaus of Maharashtra or beaches in Goa are a melody of colours, medley of people and full of the myriad ambitions of a country on the move.

And I love traveling. Anywhere. A work flight for me is interesting, I enjoy finding myself a cab in a new place, making friends with cabbies, looking up places, finding places to eat and exploring towns. A travelogue holds more potential for me than a blog. So here goes.

2008 & 2009 have been eventful. I’ve made trips to Dalhousie, Chamba, Dharamshala, Rajouri, Leh & Ladakh, Uttarkashi in the Gharwal region, Gulmarg, Goa & now Sonmarg apart from work related travel o Ahemadabad, Pune, Calcutta & Jamshedpur. More than anything else though the basic mountaineering course in 2008 and the current expedition hold great significance. It taught me that I loved the mountains more than I thought and that there was an intellectual appeal to getting to know them better too. There is a lot to learn about maps, stars, the clouds and the winds and apply it. I’ve been lucky to take a skiing trip in Jan this year and come back now for this expedition to Machoi. Always ambitious sort about squeezing in holidays I hope to make it to Everest / Annapurna Base Camp in 2010. It’s a tryst that I know will continue.