joie de vivre

Yes, you guessed it right. Credit for the new title 'joie de vivre' for this blog goes to my recent weekend getaway trip to Mcleodganj and Dharamshala. Don't remember for how long have I been wanting to visit that place and finally did make it. But ofcourse it wasn't that easy to get there. What with work dominating all aspects of my life...and narrowing it down to just one aspect- professional.

But on deeper analysis...it was definitely worth it. Yes, I had a good time...everyone was happy (it was a family trip) and if I had not taken those 3 days off from office (weekly off + extra), then I'd have ruined everyone's trip. And that was the last thing I wanted to do, what with me being informed by my folks like a month in advance to plan my work accordingly. But how can I ever explain it to them that the kind of work I do, I can never plan it that well in advance....there are always last minute screw ups...it's almost impossible to stay away from office for 2 days at a stretch leave alone 3 days... Anyways this blog is not about work...or I should say it's not just about work...it's about everything...about my life (no not the past or the future....just the present which is truly a gift!).

Well, for those not quite tuned in...I'm working with a TV channel which is a best place to be in for workaholics (read majdoor) and the worst place to be in for sophisticated and nerdy ppl and probably anyone and everyone who wants a balanced personal as well as professional life...cuz once you are here you are made to forget everything and I mean it everything else than work. And if someone can manage to have some personal life after working for 14-16 hours a day on an average then he/she is definitely worth appreciation.

Anyways I'm sure by now you must've realised that there is nothing particular I'm going to talk about here and more or less just faffing. So here is a chance to move on...and for the rest who are still reading...best of luck :P.

Well, I think I lost track somewhere...anyways enough cribbing about work...I honestly enjoy what I am doing...have no grudges whatsoever. So back to Dharamshala- Mcleodganj trip. Yea so, since I couldn't get an off on Saturday as the show I work on goes on air.. we hired a cab and left around 9:30 on Saturday night for Dharamshala...man it took us like a good 15 hours to reach that place (includes journey breaks and a diversion that we had to take because of a landslide). Which means it was almost Sunday afternoon and it took us another hour or so to find the place where we were supposed to stay-- an army cantt by the name of YOL Cantt. (Now here I have to tell you the interesting story about the cantt.-- YOL- Your Own Line... well, I dont know the exact and the full version but I was told that this cantt got the name YOL because during world war II when there was no place as Dharamshala and it was just a jungle with no habitation whatsoever...some Italian prisoners of war were dropped here from an airplane/helicopter and so the name 'Your Own Line'.) For more information kindly google!

Anyways coming back to where I left. So:
Day 1: Sunday afternoon-- Driver decided since he drove all night he will not go anywhere after this (after we reached YOL cantt)...though i threw my charm and suggested, "bhaiya abhi thoda rest kar li jiye shaam ko agar theek lage aapko to kahin chalenge aas paas...". But the answer was ofcourse a straight and clear cut "nahin- aaj main kahin nahin jaoonga..." There goes waste the first day...why did we ever leave at night and spoilt our sleep if it was to be wasted like this... *frustration*. Anyways this paved way to spending some quality time with folks...went out for a stroll with brother and bhabhi in the evening and played cards till late that night with mom and dad and everyone...and ofcourse not to miss the tasty food from the army mess added to the fun. So all in all not bad.

Day 2: Monday-- Started early all set to rock...no no rock climbing :( it was a family trip...anyways so headed straight to mcleodganj...all happy and excited...and guess who was giving us company?? Dalai Lama himself was there to welcome us :D... Well so we obliged him by arriving in the middle of his teachings... Though didn't get a word of what he was teaching or preaching but yes could see a lot of devotion on the faces of people there...sitting patiently in pin drop silence and listening to him....

Anyways that was that...some shopping from the Tibetan market and lunch...and by this time we were in the midst of clouds. Simply Beautiful!! Post this we went to see Dall lake...which wasn't such a great place but ofcourse it started raining and the garam garam chai made it a blessing!!! And so since we had exhausted all worth seeing places leaving out a couple of temples...everyone was pretty much ready to go back to the Army Mess and call it a day... But since there were teachings going on in the monastery when we visited it... I didn't really get a feel of it and enjoy it, I decided we should go back to Mcleodganj if they had no plans to bring me here again the next day (as everyone was planning to leave by noon the next day). And so we went...and that's when the below pic was taken along with a few more. A bit more of shopping and I was satisfied. We came back to the guest house and exhausted enough...everyone slept early...except me...I think I am a bit over enthusiatic when it comes to things like these...
A day well utilised...

Day 3: Everyone got up early and since we had nothing much to do except to eat, get ready and leave by noon...we decided to play cards for sometime...once we got bored of it we got ready and left around 12:30 pm from YOL Cantt...
Just for fun sake me and my bhabhi started talking about how we should have bought 'stuff' from Mcleodganj and so on...listening to which our driver got psyched and definitely got some wrong ideas (you'll know what I mean as you read on)... hehehe :)
Anyways on our way down the hill we came across a water fall....crystal clear water...and this became the best part of the entire trip. We got down from the car and spent like a good 1 hour there...that was real fun!!! And when we were leaving that place and going towards our car...there was this bunch of kids probably from a nearby village who were so happy to see us that they wouldn't stop waving at us..."didi, didi, bye bye..." Such cute kids!!!

So, when we reached our car parked at a distance...the driver was doing something which I really didn't understand at first and just joked..."bhabhi, see he's taking out some weed". And so it turned he actually found some of those plants nearby...by the end of it he had enough for one joint...as told by him...and I was amazed!! Amazed at the way he did it...and they way he was boasting about it. Anyways so we moved on from there and at one point somewhere in Punjab he showed us those plants again and stopped and prepared some for us (again enough for one joint as told by him)... but ofcourse I never touched that thing again after that day...what was intriguing and interesting was the way he took it out from those plants...that gave us like more than 'called for' excitement...

We reached back home around 3:30 Am the next day. Slept as soon as I reached and was in office by 9 Am the same morning...back to that grilling...

But hey that's joie de vivre!!

P.S> Forgot to mention the highlights of the trip:

• Dog lying in the midst of a meditation session of monks (refer to the post below)
• Stopover at a waterfall in the middle of nowhere
• Learning how to gather weed
• Amazing chai at roadside dhabas

By the way there were 3 other guesses for what's the dog doing in between the 2 sets of monks sitting and meditating facing each other, apart from the comments (refer to the previous post):

• The dog is unconscious and these people are about to kill him for god knows what reason so they are just reciting some prayers before that...
• The dog is already dead and so they are praying so that his soul rests in peace... hahaha :D

Anyways, the correct answer as told by another monk present there is that this dog finds a lot of peace while these monks recite their prayers and meditate so he usually comes and sleeps in between the two groups whenever it happens...surprisingly he got up right on time to get his picture clicked by me!! he's definitely looking at the camera while I took that picture and so are a few other monks if you noticed :P

Phew! that was some explanation!!