Drift - Close to kill (IS-1)

Been drifting for a while…

Here's the general 29 day route – a lot of places only in transit
Bangalore - Delhi - Rishikesh - Shivpuri – Devpriyag - Pauri - Shivpuri – Rishikesh - Dehradun - Delhi – Mumbai – Ratnagiri – Malvan – Savanthwadi – Mapusa – Panjim – Maragao – Karwar – Ankola – Gokarna – Hubli - Bangalore

I'm pretty tired. Will let the multimedia do the talking.
I have to finish Into Stone ...


Delhi show of Creeper went well.
This was one of the profiles we used for the show. It's really old - ancient even. Quite a sight.
Don't want to get on the wrong side of this piece of equipment!
Belting Mughalai food at Karims was great.
And if I'm in Delhi, what's to stop me from hopping onto a bus at ISBT and heading for the mountains!!!


Ganga Base Camp - Alpine Star, Shivpuri. Awesome place. Highly recommend it for any enthusiastic white water rafting junkies. It got pretty cold. Played a lot of volleyball. Sat around the fire a lot. Met Jackie - the stupidest dog on the planet. He stole my shoe and hid it somewhere. Udit's brother called me a Sufi. A group of tekkies from Noida were at the camp singing and dancing the whole night. On the way back I did a bit of Kayaking. And one run on the raft. Managed a half-roll with the kayak. The river is a small universe... The current is really strong. I jumped into the Ganga from the raft, right into the rapids before the camp. I was laughing. I am an idiot.

Linked up with Udit and hopped a Commander to Pauri.
Saw this at the bus stop.
Pretty unsettling. Creeper still on my mind I guess. :-)


Lot of clouds at Pauri!!! But you get a 180 degree view of the Himalayas from here. Drank lots of coffee. Wrote a quickie children's play at Udit's computer institute. Kept troubling Seema Ma'am for a computer. Signal returned to my phone - but the LCD nearly froze.


Beyond... beyond beyond... Higher than anything...
Far above the nowhere ladder, over the sun...
Breathe breathe breathe ... Everything is full of infinite detail...


Plucked some oranges. Rained heavily.
Roads unsafe, so parked here. Won't make it to Bombay in time for Thespo.


Hit Dehradun. Wandered around the Forest Research Institute.
Um... I guess this sign means well... But I think we've lost something in translation.

And speaking of strange signage...

Hehehe...

Managed to catch this snap at FRI...

I think I might be shooting a bit better.

Evening in Dehradun. Drank Rhododendron juice at a fair.

It's heaven!

Um... Er... Went shopping???

Landed in Mumbai - from 3 degrees to 30 degrees.

Went at Into Stone with a vengeance.

Drove Q mad by sitting in front of the laptop for four straight days.

"What will you give the boatman?"

Took a private bus to Ratnagiri and then an ST bus to Malvan.

My poor back. The mighty Sindhudurg fort.

Stone stone stone...

Gokarna. The site of the aerial battle between Jatayu and Ravan.

Um... A rather short battle I suppose.

My dramatisation:

Muahahahah! - Bachaaon bachaao - Hic... Hic... I'll save you! - WhackSmashBash - Mayday! Mayday! May_ Splat. - Muahahahah! - I've been winged! Pani pani pani pani...

And so on...

The place where Jatayu was chillin before he decided to take on Shiva's number one devotee.
Bad move, old vulture man. Awesome chimney route here. Wanted to free climb it - but good sense prevailed. Must come back and do it with belay.

I asked a local what these were and he conveniently replied - "Devaru" ... SO... I'm interpreting it in my own way. And declaring that this stone contains the wing, bone and liver of Jatayu.

Man I need some sleep.

Happy new year all!