JustSomewhereAlone

That place where you can see a rainbow touch the ground…  the place that each one of us used to draw as kids – with hills, a house, a mango tree, a river and farms… that’s the place I got to visit, for real! Here I sat under a mango tree and made time-lapse videos of clouds forming and raining over just one village far far away before slowly coming towards us. An entire afternoon of natural calm that no meditation can ever give. This is my friend’s village. In it is his sweet home overseeing a lake and his farm stretched across the other three sides, as far as eyes can see. A village where half of the people are relatives and other half are friends to whom you gossip and brag about the relatives. Here, you don’t have to shop for food supplies because you can just walk into anyone’s plantation and get what you need or just ask and they will bring it to you. Everyone gave me a little taste of everything they produced, to take home with me. I have everything I will need...

A wiser-than-his-age friend recently said to me, "It's you who's haunting your Dad. Let him rest, finally." That was when I started seeing less of my Dad in dreams. For the entire year, since we lost him, I was seeing him every single night. Why am I posting this in a travel blog, because this changed my life and I realised how much I love being alone – and it is addictive. Traveling alone takes me closer to him. This is something I wrote when I lost him in 2015: Lost my dad to cancer. He gave the toughest fight – when doctors said a month max, he fought for 8. It was inspiring to watch him fight every day. He was a scientist, not just by profession. He researched on every little detail of the disease, more out of curiosity than finding cures. He explained it to us with brilliant examples, awed by the discoveries – as if Rajiv Makhni was explaining the technology behind a new world-changing gadget. For us, the last 8 months were all about #cancer. Except...

The huge hills seem so alive, intensely protecting the tiny villages nestled between their feet. The villages live happily inside the valleys. And the beautiful Zanskar river dances through those hills, full of attitude, like a pampered daughter. Those hills, who can scare anyone, seem to be looking at her with pride. She brings color to their brown lives; she brings life itself. Like a daddy’s princess, she is always happy, swaying, jumping and glistening, except for those rare times when she gets pensive and mature. She can easily seduce any living being into settling down beside her forever... Within those hills, I felt like home. That feeling when your Dad holds the tiny you in his arms, you fit in perfectly into them, you close your eyes and you are safe forever. When I looked up at those towering hills, they gave me hope. The assuring stillness said, “everything will be alright. We will always look over you.” I was happy again, like that river!       ...

I’m spending more time in my car than at home! It’s Work-Drive-Work-Drive… and I’m loving every second of it!!!   Work, it’s my fallback, it’s my strength, my escape, it’s my kinda meditation. And the road... it never stops to amaze me. There are a thousand stories on the road, you just have to know how to read them ( especially  when you are stuck). I also add my favourite background score to it sometimes. So, finally I’m living the hippie life, a Corporate Hippie. Sailing through the monsoon, literallllyyyy! Nothing like a piece of solitude before facing the day head on, somewhere in my own city... just somewhere alone...

The song:   While saying goodbye, my sulking wife says "You will hold hands of beautiful women, You save them, while I wait for you in this cold..." The only reason people survive the Chadar Trek is because of the Zanskari locals called 'porters'. These porters have magical powers, they can save lives! Yet, they are innocent, the purest of souls ever existed. Most enthusiastic, resilient, fun-loving and respectful. They look small in form but carry our luggage double their weight on craziest of paths. Laughing when they fall and singing while climbing hills - still helping people on the way. Each one of them saving hundreds of lives every year. I imagine them to be those small mythical creatures from fairy tales who come to life just to help someone and become part of woods and trees and land and mountains when their work is done. Coming back only to help again.

While wandering around the little lanes of Leh, I made some wise friends. In all my excitement I told them about my life-changing trek, but they were not amused. They just rolled their eyes and gave me the look of, "Humans! Why do they have to complicate life? Why can't they just chill!?"

  Where the wise Indus and young Zanskar meet  The beauty   The feral Zanskar A tamed river Broken sheets of ice   The waterfall   The frozen waterfall - Nerak Porters make campfire on lucky days  The beautiful, safe, happy, Leh: And a wonderful farewell Walking on clouds!!! Above: Clouds from flight window Below: Walking on Chadar