The Great Trans-India Trek

What would you do if let’s say …you eloped with the girl of your dreams in a foreign country, and that girl actually had a boy who’s deeply in love with her and who would do anything to have her, and who in his mind thought the girl’s already his wife, …and the girl’s family actually supported the boy, and the entire marriage idea with the boy? And what if the girl had no documents whatsoever (meaning ‘Passport’) to get her out of the country?

Answer: You run like MAD, and hope nobody, and absolutely nobody knows your whereabouts just in case your location is leaked back to your would-be pursuers, imaginary or not. Luckily, India is a big country hehehe. And so started our grand trek across India by foot, horse, carriage, train, car, bus, rickshaw and anything imaginable, and available, through hills, plains, forest, desert and seaside.

Anyway, whether we actually had any so-called pursuers or not, or whether we imagined the whole darn suspense, it sure was a hell lot of fun hehehe. So what the heck, here’re some excerpts of our grand escapade, just for the sake of it!

And for those of you who’re wondering where we are now and where we’d be going next – only God knows… we thought we could stay put in Mumbai (Bombay) for at least a little while, looks like that’s not gonna be the case now, since the Project I was on, has just finished …very prematurely, short …but not really that sweet (the shortest project I’ve ever been involved in, an achievement huh?) Same old story, issues between the Client and the Contractor, blah, blah, blah, well, at least I’m still getting paid for hanging around until the Company decides on something hehehe, great life huh? Now if only they give me some place I’ve never been before …Chennai or Bangalore would be fun hahaha.

The Pink City

Hawa Mahal, the Wind Palace, Jaipur, Rajasthan

The Pink City, that’s what they call Jaipur, the capital of the state of Rajasthan in India. Story has it that once upon a time, the king of Jaipur (yes, Jaipur used to be an independent kingdom, with its own king, forts, castles, walls, palaces, and all other things royal), invited the King (or was it the Prince) of the UK for a visit to his beloved city, and to impress the royal visitor from the UK, he had the entire city painted, …Pink!, of all colours, the colour of Barbie! Luckily, for us guys, the shade of pink in the city ain’t really like the pink associated with cutesy girls, they’re more like dull red, like the red of red clay bricks if you catch what I mean. Anyway, it ain’t a city of Barbies, it ain’t a city of pink cutesy girls (how I sometimes wished it was, hehehe), and neither is it a city of gays or lesbians. It’s just a quaint ‘pink’ (or red) city surrounded, cut and partitioned by numerous city walls (all ‘pink’), palaces, hidden courtyards, alleys and lots of colourful shops.

Jantar Mantar, The Observatory, Jaipur

Actually, it’s a pretty interesting city, like something straight out of the 1000 & 1 Arabian Nights (although this is India you’re talking about). It’s located in a half-desert kinda place surrounded by arid rocky hills on 3 sides of the city with ramparts and watch towers, fantastical domed (Rajasthani-style) palaces and forts atop hills. There’re camels roaming around the city carrying goods (like some barter trade from the past). There’re turbaned, mustachioed & earring bedecked men, with baggy dhotis and pointed shoes smoking hookahs by the footpath. There’re veiled women dressed in the most bizarrely matched colours and the most imaginative jewellery you can find (like upper arm armour-like bracelets & metal breastplates, the men must be really ferocious people here).

View of Amber Palace, from Jaigarh Fort

Anyway, there’re lots of places to visit, lots of ethnic things to buy, lots of touts to drive you semi-mad, lots of guides to bug the hell outta you, and one corrupted police man to drive you outta the city (no, no, no don’t get me wrong, I love Jaipur, it’s a one in a million type case, and it only happened to me & Anu, and this is my third trip to Jaipur, and I have a feeling it’s not the last), so do visit if you have a chance, it’ll be a really enjoyable trip (if it’s in winter). In summer? …heaven help you.

Amber Palace, and Jaigarh Fort (on top of hill)

Mizoram's Taj Mahal

KV Paradise, Mizoram's Taj Mahal

Mizoram has its own version of a monument built for love, in this case, by a man for his wife who perished in an accident. If I’m not mistaken, it’s called KV Paradise, but all the locals just call it Mizoram Taj Mahal.


KV Paradise, Durtlang, Aizawl

The Flattest Place in Mizoram?

Thenzawl, is just about the flattest place I’ve come across in Mizoram, throughout my 1½ years stay. Nothing much here, or for the matter of fact, in Mizoram, except if you’re interested in natural beauty, such as hills, bamboo and more bamboo; and ethnic tribes and their culture. The Vantawng Waterfall’s here (refer earlier entry – “The Waterfall of The Leech”). Our Project’s nearby, which is fortunate since at least Thenzawl has some semblance of a decent tourist lodge, a good enough grocery shop (to cater for the police mainly), some health-care facilities, and the blessings of a river, Mat River, which fortunately brings BC boulders (very technical to explain here). Thenzawl’s also known to be the cowboy town of Mizoram, with farms and pastures (due to its comparative flatness) and a center for production of ethnic weave-work, besides the local liquor, oh I forgot… that’s illegal…




Weaving Workshop at Thenzawl

The Disadvantages of Drinking

...till you're dead drunk anyway.


Some local liquor – dirt cheap, maybe 100 rupees, depending on how many of your friends / colleagues you wanna treat
Some namkeen (tidbits Indian style) – 100 – 200 rupees, again depending on how many people you wanna treat
A photo in the internet, of you plastered on your bed, dead drunk, with your shorts and bed wet with pee, just because you’re too drunk to make a trip to the toilet or to even notice you need to go – Priceless!...

Memories of Mizoram

Mat River near Thenzawl, where our precious 'BC' stones come from. Wanna know more about BC stones of Mizoram? Send me a personal mail...

Farewell Mizoram! Yeah, sadly it’s goodbye, for the time being anyway. Till we meet again (and I’m sure we will, since it’s Anu’s home), here’re more pictures of a place which has given me a lot of friends, a lot of fond memories, a lot of experience and a place which I've already kinda considered home. Anyway, here’s to wishing everyone a Happy Happy Brand New Year! May 2007 bring abundant joy, peace, success, prosperity, luck, love and hope!


Rani, our lovely 'daughter', the hardest one to leave behind in Mizoram


Mausen Village, the village I and Anu were gearing to shift in (for work, it's on the Project Road) before we fell in love, etc, and changed everything...


Mucking around on the Kolodyne River Bridge (between Lawngtlai and Saiha); from left - Nela, Tony, yours truly


Aizawl's Bara Bazaar (meaning 'Big Market' in Hindi)


Serchhip, the biggest town between Aizawl and Haulawng, where we used to stop for lunch, dinner, supper..., depending on the time we reach this place while traveling


Angels of Haulawng at the Vantawng Falls; from left - Anu (with Rani), Rini, Amrita and Anny

Destiny's Path

Recently I got married. …Huh? What?!? Yeah, it’s true, after all I’m friggin human, I’m 36 bloody years old, I’m not gay, and I also wanna have a family of my own, and like it or not, destiny seems to have decided that it’s about time this …err thing happened.

Although destiny didn’t put it in such a straight-forward kinda way. No, don’t get me wrong, everything went on quite normally at first. There was friendship (we knew each other since January 2006, but never in our minds thought we’d be together, …we used to tease each other and pair each other off to potential partners). There was love (of course) and then a proposal (first, on the phone with my now-wife and then I went to her house and family in Assam state and formally proposed to her mother and her brothers). There was courtship (for about ONE WHOLE MONTH, after she accepted my proposal hehehe – when in India, do as the Indians do, right?). There was rivalry, …a lot of rivalry (after all my wife’s not that bad looking and somehow seems to attract a lot of …unwanted (on my part) attention, which include big names which I will refrain from naming here, and yours truly isn’t that bad in the attraction department himself, never would have guessed huh? hehehe). There were a lot of obstacles, ...there was a lot of heartache (refer to my earlier entries – “A Note of Illumination” and “Casualties of Love”). And finally there was our daring escape from Mizoram, when my wife left everything and everyone that she knew, to be with me, God bless her, and it’s no easy task to escape from Mizoram or for the matter of fact, her village (and her house which is inaccessible by car), without a soul knowing about it (don’t believe me, just let me see you do it). So, there you have it, we’re together and happily married now, far from the reaches of Mizoram.

And somehow, after you’re married your writing creativity and inspiration just don’t seem to work?!? …beats me, …but maybe there’s just no bloody free-time, …oh, YES HONEY, I’m coming…

By the way, my wife’s name is Anu, short for Anuradha Rajput.


Gary & Anu at the Sun Temple, Konark, Orissa


Gary & Anu at Taj Mahal, Agra, Uttar Pradesh

A Stone’s Throw from Bangladesh

View of Bangladesh (the flat area in the background) from Khoh Ramhah, Meghalaya

The state of Meghalaya lies just north of Bangladesh and is located atop a high plateau mostly flat at the top with deep gorges cut by the incessant rain on all sides and criss-crossing the state. Bangladesh is that flat expanse of low land hugging the Ganges Delta just beyond the plateau. The effect, Bangladesh’s all over the place, wherever you go you see …Bangladesh!! Especially in the Cherrapunji area which is just beyond the Bangladeshi border. So here’s some nice views of Cherrapunji and ...Bangladesh, what else?


Khoh Ramhah, the basket that became a huge rock - (some stingy bugger in ancient times tried to hog all the food in a huge weaved basket, he died and the Gods left it as a remembrance in the form of this rock, for the generations to come, or so the legend goes...)

Cold War at Shillong

Meghalaya, Abode of the Clouds

Shillong is the capital of the state of Meghalaya in North-Eastern India. Meghalaya is also known as ‘the Abode of the Clouds’ and true to its nature, it’s friggin overcast most of the time with drizzling rain, heavy rain, monsoon rain, intermittent rain, you name the rain, you get it. Not surprisingly then, Meghalaya is also the home of Cherrapunji, the wettest place on earth.


Cherrapunji, the wettest place on earth (formerly, now I've heard some other place's taken over, don't ask me where ok, I have no friggin idea)

What made the British make Shillong the capital (former) of all North-East India in the yesteryears, beats me! (Back then it was all known as the state of Assam, now it’s broken up into seven different states.) Maybe it’s the incessant rain, makes you feel like you’re back in Britain, doesn’t it?


Nong... err something waterfall at Cherrapunji, mates illuminate me if you can remember the name willya?

Anyway, it’s a wonderful place, …Cherrapunji, lovely scenery. Dunno much about Shillong city itself, don’t even have pictures of Shillong, actually, didn’t even go out much in Shillong except for a short jaunt in the bazaar. No pub-hopping (although Shillong’s cheap on beer as opposed to bloody Mizoram where beer’s BANNED!), no visits to the local discos, no trying my luck at the casinos, no mingling around with the local gals (and believe me, Shillong’s full of pretty babes, after all it’s like a melting pot of North-Eastern India – and I can tell you, North East India’s full of diversity, Orientals, Aryans, Dravidians, hybrids of the most exotic, there’re Hindus, Moslems, Christians and Buddhists, not to mention the odd Sikh or so. The Mizos, Khasis and Nagas are of oriental stock and are mainly Christians. Arunachalis are a mixed lot, consisting of many different tribes of different religions. There’re hordes of Nepalese, Tibetans and Bhutanese who’re either Hindus or Buddhists. The Assamese and Bengalis are mainly Hindus or Moslems. The Manipuris are mainly oriental looking and are Hindus (or Moslem). There’re others too, too many to name). Anyway, what do I make of Shillong, what do you make of any place when there is a cold war brewing in the midst? Nope, I’m not referring to the many terrorist outfits that populate the North East. What do you do let’s say, when you have your recently ex’d lover and your new love together with you on the same trip, staying in the same bloody hotel? How stupid can one be huh? (Yup, I can be very stupid sometimes). You’d be lucky it didn’t fester into an all-out bloody war, and I thought it’d be fun and educational for some possible stint at the UN (maybe) as a peace negotiator in future. Anyway, to cut the story short, the potential UN Peace Negotiator failed miserably in his training… Enough said.


The Haulawng Gang at Cherrapunji (from left - yours truly, Rani our little dog, Rini, Tony, Anu, Anny, Amrita)

A Note of Illumination

Some of you ardent readers of my blog (not that I think I have many) must be wondering, why the heck is he suddenly putting an outta-no-where Love Story into his blog?? Truth is, that story reflects something which really happened, and yours truly here is mightily involved. Exciting, ain’t it? The ending’s not that great though, not how I wanted it to end, but that’s life… And I just wanna dedicate my thoughts to a really wonderful girl, to a lovely little dog that brought us close, and to a relationship that was never meant to be… Now be silent for a minute, k?

ONE MINUTE OF SILENT CONTEMPLATION…

Anyway, this is how I guessed the story will continue, Prince Ohim, broken-hearted, quietly left Aramtea, and was never heard of again in the land of hills and valleys. Not long after, the King and Queen abdicated and also left Aramtea. Hara and her Ukhara Prince finally became a loving couple and lived happily ever after. Reyna remained in Aramtea and soon became a much-respected and trusted aide of the new court. Hara’s three remaining sisters in South Aramtea were returned to The Ukhara by the new King and were reunited with Hara bringing much joy to the sisters. THE END.

But of course, there might be alternative endings, but that is another story…