In silent anticipation of unfelt Happiness

It all started last year, when my cousin Rahul and I finally decided to take off for 10 days to Sikkim. And that was it. The addiction had begun to set in. After coming back from Sikkim, we just never stopped talking about Yumthang or Yumsongdong or the monks and the people we met there. Which is why decided to visit a Buddhist place again. There's really something mystic about the people there. They follow a very simple life. Life IS peace, peace IS life!!!!!

The temptation to return to Yumsongdong in North Sikkim, to camp by the Teestha River for a week was overwhelming, but after much mooting and deliberation, we decided that exploring a new place was the smarter choice. Tibet seemed like an expensive proposition, and the Everest Base Camp was way beyond our reach - physically and monetarily again. So, the next best place we could think of going to was - Little Tibet.

I've always been hearing and seeing so much of Ladakh on TV and newspapers and magazines, I'm surprised why I didn't think of going there before. In fact, the fact that an uncle of mine has been working in Leh for the last 2 years never even occurred to me.

We started casually toying with the idea of heading up north to the peak of Stok Kangri in Ladakh about four months ago. But neither of us really knew when we’d go. The first nail of seriousness was hammered in when Rahul called me one evening and told me he’d booked unchecked fares flight tickets to Leh from New Delhi for about Rs.3,000.

That set things rolling. If Rahul hadn’t booked those tickets, we might actually never have done this thing seriously. I immediately booked my tickets on the Del-Leh-Del sector too. The other things, we’d plan later we thought.

The weekly sessions between Rahul and me, over a plate of french fries and 2 Kingfishers at Denny's, would always centre around our next step – what do we do there? Trekking up Mt.Stok Kangri sadly was ruled out. The 21,000Ft/6,120 M summit was just a mirage. We were neither fit enough nor experienced in trekking or mountaineering to undertake the trek. And the usual compulsions of a heavy work-life left us with little time to actually buy some time to train for the trek.

Around the time when we were still googling around for information on Ladakh and rafting in Zanskar Valley, a very dear and long-lost friend of mine called Vikram, whom I’d last seen in school 15 years ago, got back in touch with me through Orkut. Turns out he loves the hills too. He expressed his desire to join Rahul and me to Ladakh. And that infused fresh blood into Project Ladakh.

Now, after close to two months of R&D on Ladakh, lots of international conference calls between Rahul, Vikram (who’s in Riyadh currently on a work-related project), Roshan (Vikram’s childhood friend who’ll be the fourth member to complete the quartet travelling to Ladakh) and me, things have assumed a certain shape.

We will be flying out of Bangalore to New Delhi on the 16th of September, 2006 by different flights, gathering together at Delhi airport, and departing to Manali by bus the same evening. By next afternoon, we’ll be in Manali. And after a short break, we’ll jump on the next Jeep we can manage to hire, and be off to El Dorado – Leh.

Well, that’s the plan …… that’s the plan!!!!!!!!!

In the middle of all the planning and expectancy, I was just informed by Rahul that Oracle India Corporation will be laying of a sweet little chunk of it's workforce this weekend. And Rahul has the privelege of being one of the chosen ones. He tells me he feels like Keanu Reeves in the Matrix and wants to now try flying off the roof of a building. That calls for a party - Kaadis outside Beef Market, Shivajinagar (Estd. 1924) with onions and lemons + two bottles of KF Premium = Rs.160 (inclusive of all taxes). KICK ASS !!! Closest I can get to Ladakh until i actually get there.

For a while I was a little taken aback by the news. While the thought of Rahul having to look for new employment tickled me uncomfortably, the prospect of him not participating in the Ladakh trip weighed down heavily on my mind, because we are just 2 weeks away from it.

However, all my fears were dispelled by the man himself - "Lay-off or Lay-on, I'm going to Leh-off to get Leh-ed" is what he said. Apparently his colleagues were all logging into naukri.com and monsterindia.com after news of the lay-off broke out. Rahul continued to post a new thread on IndiaMike.com. I'm breathing a little easily now.

Another reason of concern for me is the arrival of Vikram from Riyadh after his project completion. He was supposed to be here a month ago but he's put it off till 6th Sep. That's a little too close for comfort. But Roshan tells me there's nothing to be worried about, that Vikram will be here, and the four us will definitely taste ecstasy this September. I'm continuing to sharpen my knives nonetheless.

Will keep you posted.