Not Yet in Lucknow

On the advice of my father, this blog has been created. I feel a little silly writing it, so all of you friends and relations better not make too much fun of me for it.

Yes, I did indeed get horribly sick on my third day in India. This is a personal record. Since touching down in Delhi, I have had wretched food poisoning, altitude sickness, and (according to the doctor) "viral diarrhea" -- which is of course treated with antibiotics. I sliced off a good chunk of my heel on a sharp piece of car and banged my shin something awful on a sticking-out rock when I was riding a mule. I am a total mess.

Nonetheless, it has been an adventure. Dan and I took a rickety bus up the mountains from Dehradun to Joshimath. Joshimath is noteworthy because it's where the great Hindu thinker and religious figure Shankaracharya attained enlightenment under a mulberry tree. It's up in the Himalayas, and you can see snow on some of the higher peaks surrounding it. Nanda Devi is the only one which has a name I remember. Joshimath is also noteworthy because it's where I was fed a poison omelet, which made us lose a whole day to convalescing.

For a restful segue back to some level of activity, we took the ropeway -- India's highest and longest, they loudly proclaim -- up past this "ski resort," Auli, up to lay in the grass and gaze at Natural Beauty. Dan makes the good point that until half the 12-hour road from Dehradun isn't washed out gravel and vomitous hairpin turns, he's not sure how well this ski resort is going to get off the ground. It does seem a little questionable, but so much literature has AULI followed by a picture of a cartoon happy skier that they can scarcely turn back now. All the Indians we talked to seemed to think that it was foreigners who skied there, mutatis mutandis for foreigners...

At any rate, we follwed that with a trip over to Govindghat, from where we took the most harrowing hike of my life -- nine hours straight up the mountain to a village called Ghangaria. We should have put our things on mules, but of course didn't think of that until I had already determined stubbornly that I was going to carry my own things, darn it. It left me gasping, altitude sick and exhausted. The trek is supposed to take 4 to 5 hours.

More will have to come later -- I have to be off frm this Internet cafe.

It's my last full day in Dehradun, the captial of the recently-renamed Uttarakhand. Tomorrow it's back to Delhi for a boring orientation with various officials -- ambassadors, ministers of who-knows, etc. Lots of hands to shake. After that, I will be finally arriving in Lucknow to begin my coursework. I am excited about starting my proper schooling, especially since my vacation-type time has been a constant adventure. Reading and writing will be easy compared to the last few days.