Short update..

Just vacated my place, and said bye to the landlord.. Have promised to keep in touch.. Moving everything from my place to A's took three tiring trips on the motorbike in the middle of a duststorm.. Will stay with A till day after..
Looking back, this move has been quite hurried, that i haven't been able to say goodbye to most friends properly; i feel it's because gravity of me leaving delhi for good hasn't sinked in.. May be it's because of all these last suppers i've been invited to! May be i might miss them after i've reached trivandrum, and am breathing easily..
Will write a more sensible post once i get to a computer!

Last day

Was too lazy/busy (take your pick to regularly do the timeline thing like the past two days.. But right now, i'm in the bus that's hurtling down the himalayas trying to fight nausea and mobile blog at the same time (which would explain certain weird words and indecipherable sentences)
the day was good, overall.. Started late, but owing to the slow way time passes in manali, we were able to do justice to it..
We ate some delicious bun butter for breakfast along with some tea.. After getting back and freshening up, we checked out of our hotel and went for a walk.. On the way, we stumbled across a pine forest.. It was quite dense, and the trees made sure that all the sunlight that filtered through was a nice shade of green.. The walk was long and good.. There were a bunch of dogs quietly following us, hoping for a morsel.. But we couldn't spare any.. We were fast running out of cash..
We then made another pair of tourists click our pic..
Afterward, we had lunch at our favorite shack, and took our time to eat.. Only when we got to the bus stop, did we realise the bus was just leaving! We showed our ticket to the busstand manager and ran toward the bus and jumped in.. The bus master ran after us and told us our tickets were for yesterday's journey!
What now? It took up another 10min to sort out the confusion. Thankfully, the bus conductor was a nice fellow, and waited for us to make corrections.. And since the date mistake was the office's fault, we didn't have to shell any more money!

(updated the next day) The bus journey was uneventful and we managed without a heavy dinner.. Didn't want to take chances with our stomachs against the chicanes and hair-pin bends!
Of course, there was this stupid with a blaring mobile phone that didn't let anyone sleep.. He assumed everyone in the bus liked bollywood item numbers!
We reached delhi safely at 5.30a took an auto home.. The heat is already getting to me!

Day 3

(please excuse the non-rotated and badly layouted pics.. Or buy me an iphone)
6.53a just got up.. Wanted to go for a walk at 6.30, couldn't.. Or didn't, rather.. Getting up out of a razai is quite hard! Will see if i'll go now..

8.56a Made it for the walk.. To the quieter part of manali.. Came here one early morning a long time ago.. Brought back memories.. But today, in spring time, when everything is not covered in snow, you realise how the green takes over everything that hasn't been walked on in 2 months.. Too bad i don't have a digital slr :-P

10.12a came back from the walk.. Had jam toast, and chai.. The sun's come up.. We've decided to stay here the night, and leave tomo morning.. But haven't decided what to do all day today..

11.30a went walking in one direction with the aim to climb a hillock.. Bought what the shopkeeper claims are raspberries and cherries.. I think they are ooty plums! Didn't climb the hill, but decided to stop halfway and dangle our legs off the roof of an abandoned building instead! On the way we saw a car that went sailing over an overbridge being pulled up by a crane.. Wonder if the man responsible for getting the car down there survived.. Came back and booked tickets home.. We'll be leaving at 1pm tomo..

12.45p at home.. Freshening up.. Getting ready to have lunch..

14.49p finished lunch.. 8 to 10 tandoori rotis each! The roti n dal was brilliant.. Had chai n came back for uno n catnap.. Realized the increased apetite is because of the great weather, good exercise and great food.. Initially thought i could put on weight before going home.. Later decided i'd lose the same in the delhi heat anyway, so there'd be no point.

22.18p stayed in the room till late in the evening.. Went out to get stuff for friends.. Had dinner.. Not as great as before.. A has a sore shoulder.. I have a headache.. Both promise to disappear by morning.. I guess it's setbacks like these that make a trip like this complete..

Day 2

3.30a Am woken up by tossing and turning of bus.. Look out the window to see am eerie stack of lights.. Second look tells me i'm in mountain country

5.45a i don't dare open my eyes. The bus moves at impressive speed along the u bends. Keeping eyes open would result in bad nausea. I remember i need to take my medicine. I negotiate 15 seconds of nausea to pop the pills off their packets n into my mouth. The view is undeniably beautiful.. Camera doesn't capture well.. Always Blame it on the camera

6.10a we stop at sundar nagar.. Take more pics.. It's cold enough we can blow out fog!

9.09a reached kullu.. turns out the road to ladakh is closed.. Will have to change plans

11.31a reached manali.. Booked hotel room.. 400, quite cheap.. Quite shady too.. I've decided we spend as little time in it as possible.. Manali looks different in the summer.. More green than white.. We can still see snow caps though.. But there is no need for sweaters.. A thinks we can stay here for 2 days and relax.. I think we should move in the morning and find something else to do..

3.00p. We've walked for over two kilometers.. The place looks so good in spring.. Though i still like it better in winter with snow all around! Taken good pictures.. But time really slows down.. A sees the point in leaving.. I'm enjoying the cold.. I see the point in staying.. We've postponed the decision to tomo..

5.00p walked some more.. Watched honeymoon couples, each having a photographer and tourist guide tagging along.. Our camera just died.. Darn it..

6.00p walked even more. Crossed the baes river n back.. Again contemplated tomo's plans.. Bought coffee, and roamed even more..

7.00p came back to the room.. Tired with all the walking. Played uno.. Went out again.. Realize that trips with friends are not about doing cool things, but just have fun doing the same stupid things in a new place..

7.40p. At the restaurant.. Ordered one full tandoori chicken.. That's it.. It's raining outside.. Temperature around 15C

8.00p had one full chicken between us, and a full glass of milk.. Time for much needed rest..

Trip to manali

7.30p got into the bus.. Fully packed.. Aashish is saying fond goodbyes

11p stopped over at a busstop dhaba.. Had bunta and clicked pics.. I figure the toilet owner has a friend in the printing business.. See pic.. We buy mint flavored potato wafers made in ludhiana.. Awesomeness..

11.40p on the bus again.. Will go to sleep

Christmas fun

We, the Joseph family didn't know where we'd be spending Christmas until the very last moment. With late planning, and circumstances changing faster than the speed of light, we didn't know whether we'd spend it here in Calcutta, or if we'd manage to book late tickets so that we could have some family time with Grandparents, cousins etc.

But things worked out so well by God's grace, all the tickets were booked and confirmed without much hassle (how was that possible in the holiday season?!)

Being someone who has only just gathered up the courage to make mile-long walks after months of not leaving the house compound on foot due to fear of exhaustion, I found the prospect exciting. Fun with cousins in the middle of tea and cardamom plantations would test my physical stamina and pump clean fresh-tea-and-cardomom-filled air into my TB fluid filled lungs making it a truly rejuvinating experience. Just what I need.
And it's just what I got! Though we had to wake up early (at 3am) in the morning in Calcutta to reach Chennai in the afternoon, then meet my grandparents and watch a movie there, then go to bed late because we couldn't get home on time 11pm and wake up early (4am) again, to take 7 hour train-journey to Mysore, then take a 4 hour jeep ride to our cousins place, to we were all still fired up for a game of basketball that evening, and enjoy a post dinner caroling session after that. Such was the excitement!

Spending quality time with family is something I haven't been able to do for a long time, let alone with the extended family. So, the five month vacation at home with parents climaxing to a 3 day fun-time with the extended family was just what I needed.
Fun treks around the plantations, last-minute-gift shopping, the gorgeous food (courtesy Chitie) singing Christmas carols, pushing eachother to sing solos, pulling eachother's legs, talking and sharing lives and praying together made it so unforgettable.
We were worried if the trip would weary us out, because of all the travelling with so less time spent together. We had prayed hard that the trip would be rejuvenating and not tiresome, and praise God it was! ... err.. rejuvenating.
Can't wait for the next grand family get-together!

Update 2

It's a Sunday today, and I spent the entire morning in front of the comp. Not something a good Christian boy like myself should be doing, but we thought it better I stay at home, as predictably I start getting a fever around 10 in the morning.
Sadly, there isn't anything interesting I can post here, because of the current state of house arrest I'm in. (not to mention the daily 4 hour nap to get rid of the fever) Now, I've gotten so used to the high temperatures, I don't even know I have a fever (101F) that mom has to stick a thermometer in my mouth, give loud exclamations forcing me to bed!
The only other pre-occupation that I have (excluding youtube videos and DD Sports) is ruminating about the future! There have been so many good suggestions from many loved ones, but somehow, I feel the need to have an interest in something in order to get into it. From an idealist point of view, why work for your entire life in an area you aren't interested in at all? The catch to this point is, you need to have interest in something if you want to take that stand. What do people like myself do? Well, thats where things stand now... for those interested, thanks for reading!

Update:

The previous post ranted about people talking about me losing weight when I make sure I do all I could to become bigger. Here's the reason for the mystery.
The day after I wrote that post, I fell to heavy fever, which I figured was a normal viral. Taking it lightly, I went to work the entire week on pain-killers. But the fever didn't go down even after the strong antibiotic dose I had taken completed its course.
I had to forgo a business tour, (I was supposed to leave for Allahabad that weekend) because of the continuing fever, and had decided to stay over at work the following Monday, judging that food and laundry will be taken care of, along with everything else.
It was only after 2 more days of weakness and fever did we do an x-ray and realize it was because of Tuberculosis! (Now that's why I've been losing weight!) Now the X-ray itself is a sight to see. Three fourths of my right lung was missing! Apparently it was all covered in fluid!
An admission to a private hospital and a minor operation involving the Doc plugging a rubber tube through my back and into my lung draining two litres of TB fluid (apparently a hospital record) was something I had to go through before I got to fly home to Calcutta, where I am right now.
I will be here (in Calcutta) for an indefinite amount of time until I'm ready to get back to Delhi.
During this time, I will also be thinking of alternate careers. Anybody with an idea, please please put it in the comments. (not compulsory, but it would be great if you could specify the company/organization or college I might be interested in working or studying in)