Going Solo

Friday morning my career at the Punjab Electricity Board was cut short by a short fuse. I was stress testing an assumption of the endurance of a particularly high voltage electricity line and unfortunately the fuse gave way landing me in the current situation.

Post my masters in bizarre assumptions (sometimes also popularly called MBA), I was trying to find the right job that would enable me apply my education to a good degree. I thought the assumption testing job at the PEB would provide me the right platform. I was not entirely wrong. The job involved testing endurance of human tolerance to high voltage electricity. Basically what I had to do was to frenetically search for human lab testing targets and generally subject them through increasing levels of higher voltage step by step. If they gave away earlier on, we would let them go, else we would subject them to further torture until they agreed to pay us to stop the torture. Quite an interesting job for a person of my qualification, I thought. But while I was at it, I was subjected to other assumption stress tests back in the home front leading to oversights at work.

In a nutshell, Friday morning I found myself in a situation where I had a week of unplanned spare time. Trying to avoid facing reality and undertake a reality check on myself, I considered escaping to the Himalayas for a few days. After a frenetic two hours of rushing through shops and travel agents at Connaught Place or thereabout in New Delhi, I had my hands full with flight tickets and two polythene packets of winter clothing. I was all set for an impromptu trip to Leh - all alone. No hotel reservations, no real plans of visiting any place in particular, the thrill of the trip made me happy for a while. An unhappy wife notwithstanding, I was set for a Monday morning flight from terminal three.

I landed in Leh at 10 in the morning and hailed a cab asking the driver to take me to any random hotel that had a decent room available for a few nights. He probably mistook me for a student and brought me to a dingy place with two narrow beds placed side by side. I was up for adventure, but I was not prepared for this. I let him know as much and he upgraded me to another hotel which had breakfast and hot water on demand. The place suited me and a quick bargain later, I dumped by bag in a room with a strong odor of cigarette smoke. After a quick bath, I found myself walking on the empty afternoon streets of the small town in search of food and a phone booth. I had set out soul searching and what I landed was tom yum soup and a yak cheese pizza. After 15 hours without food, I chose not to complain much.

Pangong lake is a special place in the Himalayas. It is the highest salt water lake in the world and has a special calming effect on anyone visiting it. I wanted to go there the next day, but since it was a long 4 hours drive and back from the lake I did not want to do that alone. Hitchhiking was an option, but since I was in Leh for only a few days, I did not want to risk being stranded on the road early in the morning with nobody willing to accommodate me. After speaking to a few travel agents, I found a group of people of mixed nationalities looking for another traveler. So, I fit in well. The trip was to start early at 6 on the morning.

I went to bed early and decided not to set an alarm. As often is the case with me, I naturally woke up at 15 minutes to 6. I hurriedly brushed my teeth and came out of the bathroom to get ready quickly. There was not much to get ready anyway. I had packed by bags before going to sleep. When I opened the door to ask for the supply of hot water, I soon realized it was quite dark for 6 AM. I rechecked the watch and realized to my amazement that it was 12:15 AM. I was only holding the watch upside down the first time. The false start left me with freshly brushed teeth and 5 more hours to sleep.  

We started for Pangong at 6:30 and after a long bumpy non-stop drive of 4 hours with breathtaking views, the serene lake welcomed us. I left my fellow passengers behind for a long walk along the lake. There were not too many tourists and I soon found for myself an isolated spot next to a few seagulls. The sound of the lapping water soothed my frail nerves and I had almost dozed off when a growling sound woke me up. I realized it was my own stomach. I took the long walk back and helped myself with noodles from one of the makeshift restaurants by the side of the lake. Two hours later, we started the drive back.

After three days in Leh all by myself, I realized the importance of catering to my need of silence and loneliness. In the last 3 days, I would have barely uttered more than 15 sentences and spent 10 minutes with another human being – if you do not include the 8 hours of drive to Pangong. The process of detoxification is almost done, I guess and I am ready to be toxicated again. When you are at 4500m above sea level and heading south, you have only downhill to go, I guess.