Month Long Backpacking | India & Bhutan

It’s been a year working in the hectic life of a startup, and now I need a break. Early October, the monotony of routine and work life started to hit me. I was working far too much for far too many hours a day, and could feel the weariness and lack of productivity set in.

I needed a month off - I was certain a month without thinking of thermal imaging, Android, stabilization and cameras would help me hit the reset button. I was extremely nervous when I went up to my manager. I had practiced asking this for weeks, played out the conversation in my head a hundred times, I knew exactly how I’d build the story and the tone I’d use for each sentence, and how I’d make it sound convincing enough that I really need time off. When I finally asked him I was surprised at how casually he said “4 weeks? Sure - you didn’t need the story, you just had to say you want 4 weeks off.”

And so here it begins! I’m taking a month off to travel the North India, and Bhutan. I’m really looking forward to skiing - a hobby I developed during my childhood years in Switzerland, bungee jumping, hopefully cycling the winding mountain roads and finally calming my mind and living the relaxed life of Bhutan for a fortnight. I am not carrying my laptop, I’ve bought myself the revamped classic Nokia phone and am hoping I learn to live without work on my mind all the time, don’t have the urge to keep unlocking my phone to check WhatsApp or my Gmail, and hopefully land up in places with poor network connectivity - and use that as an excuse to not being reachable. I’d also like to pick up and read 10 books during this time. I don’t remember the last time I read a book cover to cover in under a week month.

I’m traveling with a friend from college - he’s a freelancer so no permissions for leaves needed. I love not planning, and just showing up at places and figuring things out from there. Here’s as much as I’ve planned:
  • I’ve booked my plane ticket to Delhi. Not my return ticket, because I don’t know where exactly I’ll be flying back from.
  • Train tickets to have a tentative idea of how long we want to spend in various cities.
  • Booked a week long stay at ski resort and a ski instructor, because I really wanted to make sure I’d learn to ski from the best. This is the only stay I’ve booked.
  • I’ve bought a 90L backpack, ski clothes, shades and trek shoes suitable for subzero temperatures, 3 t-shirts and 2 cargos. I’m hoping the non-ski gear will be enough to get me through the month in the warms places I’ll be visiting. I’m carrying 15 pairs of underwear though :D
  • Carrying my passport and passport sized photos for Bhutan.

And that’s it! I’ll figure out everything else as and when we really need to. I love the fear of not knowing where I’ll stay at night, learning from the locals and not using the Internet for everything.

The tentative route is
Bangalore -> Delhi -> Haridwar -> Auli -> Rishikesh -> Varanasi -> Sikkim -> Bhutan -> Bangalore

 from Feb 10 to Mar 10 '18.

Bon Voyage!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Finding My Parter

Finding my partner feels more like finding  my kind . I’m this mix of an Indian boy with Indian familial ties, but European hobbies and a European way of leading life. I've lived in both worlds for 15 years each. There aren't many that have seen and lived in both worlds, and experienced completely different ways of life. Maybe I am asking for too much, but I don’t understand why one wouldn’t. If I have high standards for most things that I do in life, why wouldn’t I hope or want my partner to think from the same lens? Here's my value system. Be generally optimistic. A positive, happy person whose baseline state is to lean towards an optimistic outlook towards everything in life. Be fit. If one is not physically fit, there's low chance they're mentally fit. Plus, being fit shows discipline and consistency. Be hard working. Everything in life is a project. From raising children, to picking up groceries weekly, to building a home. And no one wants to work with a lazy ...
Continue reading »

Two Worlds, Two Lives

I’ve been in India for the past two months now, and for the first time in my life, I can imagine myself live here again. Nothing drastic has changed in my day to day life, nor in either of the nations per se, but maybe I’ve had enough time to experience the flip-side to know what India’s strengths are. I’ve always acknowledged how I get the chance to live in two different worlds. But this is the very first time I’ve realized I also lead two different lives each time I switch countries. For me, Germany is a nation where you put the self first - you learn about yourself as an individual. It’s also a country where you learn to live life in the way they show us in movies - walks in parks, play sports any time of the day, vacations in every season the climate has to offer, meetups at little cafes with chairs out on the street. Work is secondary, rarely one’s primary driver in life. Therefore, it is also rarely one’s identity. The country and the mindset is averse to change. The philosophy h...
Continue reading »

Keeping Fit in India

I have a bold claim to make: As compared to Europe, it's much easier to get and keep fit in India. But it's far less likely. Easier because: Relatability In India, you can relate to the others' bodies. Everyone around you has the same body style, our carb heavy diet that causes so many of us to be skinny fat. And so when you go to a calisthenics gym, it really helps to be able to look around and see that a person who looks like you is fit . That shines hope, telling you that it is possible in the first place. In Europe, the same is counterproductive. Looking at the European's low body fat, tall yet muscular physique makes me think they're just born with it. (Which is not true. I suppose they really do have great genes, but their meat heavy diet and walkable/cycleable cities help with keeping fit). Food is easier in India. You know your food here. You know the spices we use and how it tastes. It's that familiar feeling of eating something you know, as opposed to...
Continue reading »