Revisiting Little Lhasa

The gaps between my posts are increasing, mainly because I’m not doing much photography lately. Last weekend I visited McLeodganj for a second time in two years. Although a bit too touristy at this time of the year, the place has a certain charm that will made me visit again.

Temple Road

I won’t bother sharing history or culture of the place or why it’s called Little Lhasa. McLeodganj has a lot to teach tourists about cooking, music, Hindi, and of course, meditation and yoga. You can find posters everywhere advertising the same.

Busy street – Shoppers, vendors, monks…

“In McLeodganj, the weather and the women are totally unpredictable”. That’s what someone told my friend, when within a few minutes we witnessed both bright sunshine and heavy downpour. In fact, on day two we were pounded by hail while trekking back to town from Triund. Speaking of which, here’s my best shot from the trip:

Hand-held panorama of the view at Triund (2832m above sea level)

The trip ended with a miracle – our train escaped the wrath of rioters in Jalandhar (the train which left about half an hour before ours on the same route wasn’t so lucky, it ended up with 3 burnt coaches). We reached Delhi an hour before schedule as the train skipped Jalandhar, and learnt about the incident on news later in the day.

All the photographs are available in my Picasa album. Feel free to share comments.

Civil Services results out: That time of the year again!

Yup, it is that time of the year again. Twice a year when newspapers report on CAT and UPSC exam results, I have to "defend" my decision of not wanting to break my back slogging for these "lucrative" courses. It is a well established bi-annual ritual at my home. Moreover, its not just my parents I need to explain. On such mornings when everyone is reading the same reports in the newspapers, some of my concerned relatives call up my mom, discuss the reports (and the effect it ought to have on me).

This year things became more interesting. Consider the similarities between this year's topper of UPSC (Shubhra Saxena) and me:

• Both residents of Indirapuram, Ghaziabad
• Both graduates of IIT, Roorkee
  
• Both ex-employees of Oracle (Hyderabad)!

See the pattern? Just when I thought the ritual is fading away, Fate was quietly slipping the Lead into the glove (quoting Wodehouse).

Anyway, with no CAT or IAS results due for several months, I can hope my new business will take off and I won't have to defend my career choice any more. :) (Though I will always have some other stuff to defend, from hair style to marriage plans!).