Out of the Wilderness, but Not for Long

Hi folks, ...I’m out of the wilderness for a few days. Unfortunately, there’re tons of work waiting for me at my old Gurgaon office. Unfortunately, I’ve forgotten 80% of what they’re about (told you I have really short term memory). Unfortunately, in life (or is it just this company?), nobody likes doing work left behind by another, unless they’re forced to (example, me, usually me..)

I’m scheduled to fly back into the wilderness in about two days. No worries, I’ve completed nearly err…25% of the darn things that I must do here (don’t ever ask me about time management, ok), but what the heck, life doesn’t only revolve around work, right? So, I’ve been checking on mails (yeah, thanks again for all your mails), and on some of my favourite blogs, e.g. from my lazy sis (who’s started to write again, surprisingly), my wandering brother, my crazy niece (this one’s a real cool one), my family-orientated cousin, my godly father (this one’s getting to look more like a blog for the Prai River Bridge, my previous project), etc. Reading’s much easier than writing, especially nowadays, when my brain turns up nothing but, …. ‘when is this friggin project ever gonna complete?’, ‘when am I ever gonna get out of this rut of a place?’, when can I hike across Nepal into Tibet, or Pakistan into China, Iran into Turkey, across the Stans, etc etc etc, when am I ever gonna get married …...huh?!?! Did I just say that? Hehehe (bet dad must be excited) but believe me, Haulawng does funny things to your head.

Now, come to think of it, Haulawng really ain’t that bad. Haulawng’s actually a great place to: -
- Do absolutely nothing
- Sulk
- Daydream, …and fantasize (coz that’s about all you’re gonna get, …unless you fancy hill-tribes)
- Sit on the toilet bowl for as long as you darn well like (one of my favourite pastimes, maybe read a novel or two in the process)
- Read
- Work (coz that’s about the only thing worth doing)
- Talk, …about work
- Slim down (there’s no shortage of hills and fresh air for you to train your stamina on. Ever since I came here, I’ve lost 2 inches off my waist, an achievement huh? 32 inch waist now hehe)
- Learn how to cut your own hair (you can practice on the dog, I did)
- Surf the net (if it works, …the last time it did was in July, …or was that June?)
- Catch up on the latest movies via HBO, Cinemax, Star Movies, Star Chinese and a slue of other movie channels (now, if only I could get that darn satellite decoder to bloody work)
- Play computer games (no, that’s anti-social)
- Socialize, …socialize?? maybe I should go to church… hmmm, church services start real early, …and the services are all in mizo language, …would prayers be enough?
- Sleep
- Learn how to play a musical instrument
- Start drawing again
- Write
…now I’m coming up with ideas, …BUT I better get back to work, only another friggin 75% to go…


Haulawng, City of Wonders (ya, in my dreams, ...maybe in a century or two some Mahathir-type person would be born here)

The Premier Tourist Spot at Haulawng

Our Base Camp happens to be the premier tourist spot for the locals here at Haulawng. They come here for family outings, for dates, for their wedding photographs (made that up, hehehe). Maybe we should start selling tickets...

Office, Haulawng Base Camp


Our crusher at Haulawng Site

Nothing but hills

Here're some pictures of Mizoram. If you like hills, please do make a trip here. I guarantee you'll love it!

House, Ralvawng Village


View from Aizawl Base Camp


Waterfall on the road to Lengpui Airport

Only in India

Only in India, can you make an 'artwork' out of switchboxes and cables...
Compliments of the Indian School of Ingenious Designs


Lawyer's Office, Calcutta

Gambar Tradisi Perkahwinan Cina

Me and my sis at Starhill

Another one of my sis' bright ideas.

June & Patrick's House

June & Patrick's House, Damansara Perdana

Guess I'll post some pics from home, since I got nothing much to write about hehehe, ...thought I'll take the easy way out... At least there's a pic of Malaysia huh? Want this pic, June?

Things you can do with bamboo

I have no idea why bamboo inspires dances, but here you have it, another variant of a bamboo dance - this one ala Mizoram, taken at our Base Camp in Aizawl on Indian Independence Day (15/8/2005)


Mizo Bamboo Dance

Stuck in Mizoram

Aizawl, capital of Mizoram

Hi Mates! Cibai!

In Mizo language, hello is ‘cibai’. ‘Pu’ is Mr. For ladies, it's ‘Pi’. So over here, you can curse as much as you want, and people actually acknowledge with a smile, and curse you back. Kima is a pretty typical Mizo name. Imagine how you’d greet Mr Kima in Mizo.

The monsoon isn’t here yet but there’re heavy downpours once in a while. The weather is unpredictable, sunny one moment, strong winds and heavy downpour the next. The flights into Mizoram are even more unpredictable. Planes can’t land when weather is bad. Planes can’t land or take off when there’re technical problems (which happens pretty often), even when the weather is absolutely wonderful!

Monsoon or no monsoon, I don’t think I’d be getting out of this place anytime soon. First thing my boss did when I arrived here, was to conveniently announce to the entire known world in Mizoram, that I’d be the new Works Manager (huh?). Now, isn’t that so sweet of him? Apart from introducing a hundred and more new tasks and responsibilities into my peaceful life, he’s expecting me to head almost the entire team of people here (guess boss has finally got the idea that I’m enjoying life too much in Delhi).

I am currently stationed in Aizawl, the capital of Mizoram. Aizawl is beautiful, from afar. It’s built over a few hillocks and is visible for miles and miles around. The main areas of town are on the top of the ridges of these hills. Houses are built on stilts into the slopes of steep hills. Churches dot many prominent spots in town as Mizoram is 95% Christian. There’s no legal alcohol, nothing opens on Sundays, no cinemas as far as I know and the biggest shopping spot is equivalent to the local mini-market in Malaysia. The nearest decent cinema (not nearest maybe, but the easiest to access) would be in Calcutta, about 1.5 hours by flight or 3 bloody days by bus & train from this place. Guess Revenge of the Sith would have to wait, ….sigh.

Driving into Aizawl is a wonderful experience. The roads are narrow and some of them look like they’re 45 degrees steep. The road goes up, then takes a 180 degree turn in the opposite direction, going further up. Buses and trucks spew out tons of diesel fumes trying to hike up these steep and narrow roads. Rows of vehicles frequently have to reverse en masse to allow the opposite row to pass. All very exciting and ‘orderly’, and going everywhere takes at least 1 hour with about half of the time being stuck trying to reverse or to make way or something else.

Apart from Aizawl, Mizoram is totally pristine. Rows upon rows of hills, not a piece of flat land in sight for miles and miles, narrow winding roads that cut thru the sides of the hills, bamboo forests, hill villages, eating dinner & chit-chatting by candle-light and watch fireflies flit by (when the power goes off, which happened almost every day until we installed a generator at our house). Now we have to contend with a thousand and one different types of bugs, mostly moths of all sizes and colour attracted by our bright fluorescent light.

Entertainment is watching tv, playing with the house dog – watching it chase after giant crickets, jungle cockroaches and huge green insects (till they’re half dead – hehehe), killing giant mosquitoes, taking chloroquinone pills to keep us malaria-proof, experimenting with different ways of killing leeches and other types of bugs, reading any reading material that comes along and waiting for the bloody internet to connect or to load something, ...anything. Weather is usually pleasant here. Water here is from heaven (rain) or from the river (of course we boil it thoroughly). Cooking gas comes in cylinders, which we need to queue up for hours and hours to get any.

Food here is simply superb ..for a true-blooded meat-eater like me hehehe. There’s pork (yummy), beef (finally), mutton, chicken, fish and dog (a delicacy here). Our cooks are pretty good here. The restaurants outside aren’t really that many or good.

Mizoram is at the southern tip of North-East India, wedged between Myanmar and Bangladesh. Mizos are of Tibeto-Burmese descent. They’re more akin to South East Asians, looking something like Myanmese (meaning I can pass off very comfortable pretending to be Mizo, if I don’t open my mouth). Their culture, though deeply influenced by Christianity, is also more akin to South East Asia, they’re crazy about football (unlike Indians who’re nuts over cricket), their music sounds like Thai or Pilipino music, unlike the tabla-laden music of India. Heck, if they didn’t tell me this was India, I wouldn’t have guessed!

Anyway, a few days ago, boss told me to prepare to move my butt again, this time to Haulawng (pronounced ‘how long’), about 180km deeper inside this forest of a place (or about 9 bloody hours by road, if road conditions are good). Ahhh, more pristine jungles, more primitive lifestyle, what more can I ask for huh?


Our office building, Zemabawk, Aizawl


My office in Aizawl, Mizoram

Malaysia House, Mizoram

Our house (aka Malaysia House) in Aizawl, Mizoram


Driveway, Malaysia House


The house doggie, Bobby

Calcutta, Steam-cooker of India

The prettier part of Calcutta - Victoria Monument

Fancy being steam-cooked? Welcome to Calcutta (aka Kolkata), city of joy and unimaginable humidity. Sweating is the cultural identity in Calcutta, especially when you’re trying to fly to Mizoram and the flight gets cancelled (which happened to me, and a lot of other people who are very used to this, since it’s a pretty common occurrence). Alliance Air / Indian Airlines (the only airlines flying to Mizoram currently) seem to like cramming their passengers into their sun-baked aircraft for about an hour before the plane takes off, with minimal air-conditioning. All very refreshing and invigorating. Don’t need any steam-baths around here, everyone can sweat a few litres before take-off.


Victoria Monument, Calcutta