Head in the Himalayas!!

3 days to my next adventure. This time I'm off to the Great Himalayas! Like most pre-holiday posts, I have nothing but a vague itinerary in mind, and tho' I keep telling myself that I'll write long informative pictures posts after my travels - I never get down to posting anything more than pictures! Let's see if this time is any different!

Anyway so all I know so far is that I fly to Delhi on Friday night, and we begin our drive to Manali (I think) on Saturday. And eventually aim to reach Leh (I hope). Trip planning has been left to my darling Totes - Mr. and Mrs.! There's a bunch of 5 of us traveling - happy group!

Being a snow virgin I sure am praying for some snow - tho' I am shit scared of how cold it will be!! Anyway, thanks to my mum and my dear dear friends I think I have enough to keep me snug. If I need more warmth I'll snuggle with some hot mountain climber - who knows :-) hee hee! Wishful thinking never hurt!

www.psychedelicpilgrimm.blogspot.com

My baby brother's begun to blog :-) I do hope he isn't as inconsistent as I am!

It's been ages since my last post - months have gone by without a squeak. I really didn't think I'd get this lazy! We've been going through tumultuous days at work - I guess the whole world is. It just seems to never get better here! Regardless of the times, I've kept traveling over the weekends to visit friends in the jungles, the beaches and the hills close by. And now I'm hoping to go to The Himalayas at the end of the month. The good thing with the shit situation at work is, that I don't owe them anything, so asking for leave is the least of my worries. Hmmm.... must admit however typing that last line out gave me goose bumps! I'm not as brave as I wish I was!

In other news, my swimming is coming along just fine. I haven't lost a gram but my stamina is up and my stroke does feel smoother. It's a lot of fun keeping my coach on his toes!

Tonight I'm off to a posh bar for drinks with an old school friend and his family & friends. Should be fun - tho' I'm not sure I look posh enough for the venue - I'm quite sure never will be, what with my orange wedges!! :-)

The weekend was supposed to be BIG with tons of friends in town. Sadly the littlest one I was waiting for most won't be able to make it :-( This is why I hate PLANS.

The last couple of months have brought out the domestic trait in me! I'm growing Bougainvillea - here's a picture of the first bloom

10 days to the 20th = 30 years of Me!

Its the last few days of the twenties. And I'm quite excited about the BIG 3 0h! I know nothing's going to change, but its nice being excited about a birthday for a change - 29 seemed like the end of something, but this is just the beginning of more madness!

I've given up on the big life plan - the date lines and dead lines! Not that I had many plans. I've always just gone with the flow and believed that stuff happens when it has to. Of course the body clock still tick-tocks - when there's nothing you can do there's no point listening to it anymore, is there? Speaking of body clocks - tho' this wasn't on my list of things to do before 30 - I pulled my hamstring muscle over the weekend! All over a silly drunken race! I must admit that for the few seconds I did manage to sprint the feeling was amazing!

Anyway, as I've learned - there'll be jobs tho' there may not be money! There'll be boys and there'll be men and may be some day there'll be babies too - but for now I'll just let life be! ...hmmm if that makes any sense?

How brilliantly blue was my Valley!

I spent Valentine's Day in the paradise island of Zanzibar! How could I ask for more!?!!

60 days to 30!

Its crazy how time flies and I really didn’t do that much these last 2 years! On Friday, April 13, 2007 I posted a list - which I’ve got just about 60 days left to complete. Well I guess some will just spill over and hopefully be struck off in this lifetime, for now I’m going to strike off what’s done and try to do a little more before 20MAR09!

30 before 30
Can't seem to strike through, so the bold ones are what's left...

1. Live in a shack on a beach.
2. Take a martial arts course.
3. Drink Absynthe.
4. Have a fling with a foreigner.
5. Go skinny dipping.
6. Chuck a drink at someone.
7. Spend an obscene amount of money on something I don't need.
8. Get a job bar-tending - for more than just one night.
9. Drink a beer with my cook.
10. Be hospitalised.
11. Throw a plate against the wall.
12. Have sex outdoors - in a car perhaps!
13. Plan a holiday in under an hour, and rush to the airport/bus station/ train station.
14. Kiss in the rain.
15. Get a brazilian wax.
16. Trip on Ecstacy.
17. Break a bone... of all the undone things I’m really worried about this happening post 30!
18. Get lost in a foreign city where you don't know the language.
19. Punch someone... I pity the unlucky receiver, the power behind that punch is building up.
20. Live abroad.
21. Travel to another city for dinner.
22. Buy a house, or atleast a car - which means: In these grim times, I sure am glad I didn’t do either – no loans thank gawwdd!!
23. ...learn how to drive.
24. Go on a holiday with a lover.
25. Tip the barman with something other than money!
26. Lose weight and get in shape... this is done & undone - 2 years was enough to get in and out of shape unfortunately!
27. Buy my Mum a diamond.
28. Run a marathon.
29. Sing on stage or in a band, and I don't mean karaoke... hopefully this will be struck off 30Jan09 @ The Circle of Life concert – if anyone’s reading this in Bangalore you’d better be there!!
30. Travel more than 500km on a Rs.500 budget for atleast 2 days.

So much for lists!!!! Let's see if I can do better in the future!!

Hip! Hip!!

There comes a time when you actually earn yourself a holiday! Next week is that time for me! The exhaustion of shifting house; been up & down some rocky roads; detoxed and prepared my body for the onslaught - of drunken debauchery and some fun in the sun!! MADAGASCAR & ZANZIBAR here I Come!!

Some of the stress was even brought on by the actual planning of the holiday itself - lame ass visa shit! The pain of dealing with a total asshole Indian @ an embassy which doesn't even issue visas! And the egos of daft men who believe they're in high places has weighed heavily and its finally time fuck all of that and put my feet up & sip a cocktail!

I leave on Thursday for Dubai. Seeing that my tickets are all subject to load, I do hope I make it on the flight! I hear the tension will be well worth the rupees saved...what with the depreciating value of the damn Rs.!! Hopefully next Sunday we'll be in Dar-e-salaam, or may be even on a ferry to Zanzibar! After a few days on the tiny party island off the Tanzanian coast, we head to Madagascar. We're still hoping my fairly flirtatious cousin will hook us up with a rich hunk who'll sail us to Madagascar on his luxury yacht - so we don't have tickets YET! So wish me luck & here's to my island in the sun!

Exactly a month...

...since my last post. Except that with this slow internet connection it may just upload after midnight and become a month & one day.... hardly matters! Just been a long time. My posts are few and far between. Its easy to just drop of the radar, tho' I do manage to read blogs every now and then.

Anyway, just watched the Olympic's Opening Ceremony - whoaaa!!!! WHAT A SHOW!!

Had a bizarre day yesterday. We made a trip to a very pretty hill station being developed near Pune. But before and after I had some very silly moments! Think it was the 3am start which affected my brain and my balance!!! To begin with I walked down the UP escalator - tripped and almost got injured - but finally made it off at the bottom on both feet, with a slightly bruised toe! ...all just so my colleague who was in the washroom wouldn't be alone when she walked out!

Incident # 2 ...dived out of the car and slipped on the mossy pavement of the dam we stopped at! Missed landing on my bum thanks to quick reflexes! But it could've been BAD BAD BAD! Either I'd have landed on the road - or slipped through the dam railings & into the lake!!!

And then there was - tear jerkingly hilarious - Incident # 3! Sooo.. I ran through the rain and turned left - straight into a closed glass door - BANG! DOING... oh that's the same as doing - I mean DOYINGGG.... resonating through the entire restaurant!! All the waiters - turned on their heels! All the patrons - jaw dropping, frozen! And then I just cracked up - much to the relief of my colleagues sitting inside!!!! It's once we stopped laughing did the bruises begin to hurt! Fortunately my head didn't turn into a potato! But now I've got a purple knee and a pain in the head!

Let's hope that's my inauspicious, imbalanced day of the year away & done with!