Memory Vials

We are a bunch of snow-deprived people. In 2007 I started working as a software developer in my hometown Pune, India. Not everyone will admit it but being freshly out of college and starting a job in software, means you are halfway through your dream of going abroad and seeing amazing places. Well, at least Facebook (Orkut back in those days) made me believe that. So, one year down the line when I missed a few chances to go abroad, it was the biggest turndown for me. The positive thing though was I made some great friends in my company. One of my friends and then colleague, Atul came up with the idea of going to see the Himalayas. He found out one group - YHAI [1] , which is a non-profit entity. They organize highly subsidized adventure tours [2] for the young all over India basically at dirt cheap rates. We unanimously voted for it and thus born another dream. The Himalayas.. snow-covered mountains so gigantic that it dwarfs every other hill I had seen in my life. The news spr

I accidentally ate beef. I once was traveling around south Karnataka, India with my friend Omkar, Martin and Kelly - exchange students who were from England. Martin had his camera ready to click almost all the time and seemed particularly amazed whenever he saw cows on the road. When we were crossing Bandipur national park we happened to spot some deer grazing near the highway and I was excited because it must be the first time I had seen deer in the wild. I looked at Martin who was rather indifferent and didn’t bother to even touch the camera. I asked him that back in the city he was taking so many pictures of the animals and was there anything wrong now. What he said particularly struck me. He said that he sees deer in his backyards in England all the time, it was ‘the cows in the city streets’ that interested him more. (This photo is Martin’s actual Facebook album) We arrived in Ooty quite late in the evening and it was almost past the dinner time. So there were not so many rest