And I realised the sheer futility of my pitiful existence - 11

25Jun08

18th May, ‘08 - 0530 hours - Hassan and BP are scouting the taxi stand for anyone who would take us to Jammu. I stand on the pavement, shivering and marvelling at the city’s structures. Neat roads, white buildings… the JK Bank building is impressive. Taking a photo might invite unnecessary questioning. Instead, I concentrate on the birds pecking at the grains on the road. It’s too early to eat, I’m not hungry anyways. Travelling all night through the treacherous passes has kind of worn me out. I hope we find another vehicle quickly and I get back to sleep.

18th May, ‘08 - 0545 hours - We’ve found a Sardarji… an unusually short statured guy. Raju is his name. Hassan left to repair his vehicle and probably return to Leh later in the day. It’s not yet time for the shops to open, even the petrol bunks are closed. We used such a bunk’s unlocked washroom for relieving ourselves. Oh, the relief! Everybody keeps telling me to write down about the numerous stops we have had on our way throughout the trip for peeing. With the exception of Ms T, the four of us would jump out of the cab and run to pee under the open sky. Those lines from Hazaron Khwahishen Aisi come floating back… Our peeing sojourn started from Jammu railway station, continued through the road to Srinagar, rested for the night and again took up on the way to Leh. We had been advised to drink lots of water for keeping off the altitude sickness. We followed that religiously and pee-ed our way to Leh, drowned Leh and came watering the Srinagar-Leh highway on our way back. It was really fun peeing at such great heights. We pee-ed in Zozilla, Khardungla, Shok river, Pangong, Nubra, Fotula … all possible places of interest that could’ve been marked. Even dogs would marvel at the sheer vastness of the territory we marked with our pee. It was not all fun though. Peeing can be very difficult in areas of low pressure. Add the cold to that and you can have a really trying time. It took me around 2 minutes to get going in Khardungla where it was snowing like hell. I’m surprised at how the lone lady with us was so calm despite the need to relieve herself.

18th May, ‘08 - 0735 hours - GBS and BP have bought a pack of cherries. They are… well nice, and soft and juicy, but the taste is not much to my liking. I’m more interested in clicking them. They are a great shade of red.

18th May, ‘08 - 0745 hours - Jawahar tunnel hasn’t opened up yet. There’s a long queue of vehicles waiting to get in through. It opens up at 0800 hours. We are clicking the cherries and the valley. This seems like the Amarnath or the Vaishno Devi yatra - people standing in the middle of the road and gossipping, army jawans chatting leisurely, children running about, people laughing and cracking jokes. Not even an hour out of Srinagar and already I can feel the difference.

18th May, ‘08 - 0850 hours - I’m relapsing into sleep now and then… it’s difficult to distinguish reality from imagination. I’ve this urge to…

18th May, ‘08 - 1030 hours - Raju is uttering expletives as frequently as I blink my eyes. Each sentence starts with a bc and ends with one too. BP is doing half the talking. I’m content merely listening. Who’d want to delve into a conversation such as this! It’s fun listening though. I hope the others don’t wake up soon. Raju is narrating some legends from the valley. I think he’s making it all up. They are so absurd that even a child wouldn’t believe in them. BP offers no resistance, neither do I. Shattering a person’s delusion is something that doesn’t come naturally. Play on, dream on…

18th May, ‘08 - 1130 hours - Coming back to the same place to have the same food is a different feeling. This time the rajma and the chawal don’t appease as they had then. Expectations and repetitions. Even humans wilt under the burden, poor rajma-chawal has no chance. But anyways, I’m licking my plate clean. I don’t know if the others like it. Mr. P does. Of that, I am sure.

18th May, ‘08 - 1230 hours - Mr. P has just managed to click two of Dr. Bangali’s advertisements. We’ve been finding them on this highway quite many times. Dr. Bangali claims to have the expertise to duly cure all kinds of ailments that a man could possibly be afflicted with. I wish we had the time to track down this Dr. Bangali and get his picture.

18th May, ‘08 - 1245 hours - GBS just confirmed that our tickets have been booked from Udhampur to Delhi. We no longer need to go all the way to Jammu. Some 60 kms of journey by road is saved. And that gives us plenty of time to reach the Udhampur station. I’d like to roam about a little but that’d mean taxing the others. I think we’ll have to wait at the Udhampur station. It’s strange that the Indian Railways has failed to bring the capital city of a state under its fold. Udhampur is the northern most reach of the railways. It’s mind boggling when I count the personal records achieved on this tour. A commendable job I must say. Being humble was never among my strengths.

18th May, ‘08 - 1630 hours - Getting on the train out of the state stirs up mixed feelings. While I’m sad that the trip is coming to an end, I’m equally happy to be within the reaches of luxury. All the running around and little discomforts will be things of the past. It’s unbearably hot here. If Kashmir is so hot as this, Hyderabad must be blazing.

18th May, ‘08 - 1930 hours - We are talking about our respective blogs. I’ve never had a chance to visit GBS’s new blog. I’m browsing through Ms T’s blog on BP’s PDA. BP has a whole blogging domain of his own and Mr. P’s blog I’ve been to. None of them post regularly though. Am I the only one with too much time on my hands? GBS has won his bet and is understandably elated. I’ve lost two bets within two days. A pathetic record I’ve set here.

18th May, ‘08 - 2100 hours - The fires seemed to be forest fires at first. Later on we realised that they had been deliberately lighted for jhum cultivation. I’ve taken some pictures of them, but they haven’t come out well. My camera after all has its limitations. The food is tasteless, but I’ve learned not to complain about food. Among other things, I’ve known that food is not meant to be fussed over. I never have been one to have preferences in matters of food, but what little hiccups there were, have been duly taken care of now. And that is a thing my mother would be proud of.

18th May, ‘08 - 2200 hours - BP is making a fool of himself… I can’t stop laughing at him. In fact, the whole lot of people near us are laughing at him. Tomorrow early in the morning, Delhi will be waiting for us.

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Tags: Adventure, Cherries, Dr. Bangali, India, Indian Railways, Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, Jammu-Srinagar highway, Jawahar Tunnel, Lapses, Life, Pee, Peeing, People, Piss, Pissing, Srinagar, Udhampur, Urges