The Himalayan Sojourn,Chapter 2: An acquaintance with Leh

Our first two days were spent acclimatising in Leh. Initial acclimatisation* is critical before moving on to higher altitudes and normally takes 1-2 days. Drinking plenty of water helps, I religiously drank 4 litres of water (my highest ever average daily consumption) and earned the title of the "water lady" , much to the amusement of my fellow trekkers. The Leh itinerary was normal touristy stuff - Thiksey Monastery,the Shey Palace, the Sindhu Ghat on the banks of the Indus and a stroll in the Leh Market to pick up woolens or other essential trekking equipment.

There is something very mysterious and blissful that fills the confines of the monasteries of Ladakh. There is darkness, yet a lot of colour , faded frescoes and beautiful buddhas but also a bewildering variety of images. In front of the altar, there are butter lit lamps and usually small bowls containing water.Scrolls of silk hang from the roof. Long woodblock printed , loose leafed books with wooden covers are kept near the altar. Buddhist monks in their red robes silently walk by. A world almost untouched and eerie lies behind the walls.

The Leh Market is small but littered with shops which sell almost everything ( my fears of not being able to find batteries were pretty much unfounded). In case you need to stock up on essential items for the trek , you will be able to find everything - backpacks, downjackets,batteries, trekking shoes,medicines , trekking guides - albeit at a hefty price.The market is also a good hunting ground for street food - hot kebabs on skewers and a mouth watering variety of street snacks. A visit to the Amdo cafe is a must , a well known eatery serving Tibetan food. Amdo cafe turned out to be one of our favourite haunts for Tibetan food and the 10 of us would just land up there with a marathon of orders whenever we dropped by at Leh.

On the third day, we packed up our backpacks and headed out of Leh with our guide and porters. The plan was to visit Lamayuru monastery situated on the Srinagar-Kargil -Leh road during the day. Lamayuru is one of the oldest monasteries in Ladakh and the long winding road also passes through the confluence of the Indus and the Zanskar. We would head off to Chilling in the evening where we would camp for the night on the banks of the Zanskar. Next morning , our horseman with the mules would meet us on the other side of the river from where the trek would begin.

A punctured tyre just a few kilometers away from Chilling in the evening forced us to set camp at a hamlet nearby instead of the original camping site . As the sun set and the icy winds grew stronger, all of us gathered in our dining tent for our first camping dinner. During the entire course of the trek,an inadvertent pre and post trekking regime automatically fell into place- a wake up call at 6a.m in the morning before which most of us would be out of our sleeping bags (some even had unique warmup exercises to fight the biting cold), retiring after the trek to discussions over cups of hot tea and kawa ,details of which I have promised not to reveal ( what was said in Ladakh, stays in Ladakh;)) and continous games of Uno (the charm of which I absolutely failed to understand) , sometimes continuing well after dinner.

After dinner we strolled around for a while , trying to figure out constellations , but retired to our tents soon as the winds grew stronger. Our trek would finally begin the next day - five days of experiencing Ladakh , raw and unplugged.

Conversational footnotes:

Heard at a liquor shop in Leh where a couple of us stood shivering asking for some brandy:
"Brandy ka season to khatam ho gaya,woh to winter mein milta hai" (clearly someone has not heard about benchmarking)

From the neighbouring tent on the first day of camping:
"Can I turn inside my sleeping bag on the side?" ( No Mevil, I wont write about your more intriguing questions in order to protect my blog's sanity).

*Diamox is a very useful drug which helps in acclimatisation by making the blood thinner. Test for sulphur allergy before diamox intake. Also, the drug is only a preventive medicine , it cannot ensure altitude sickness will not hit.

The Himalayan Sojourn, Chapter 1: The Arrival

" Not more than 6 alkaline batteries in your handbag" - the lady at the security check at Bangalore Airport was adamant.She took out my batteries and threw them aside. I stared at her in disbelief -" But these are for my camera, I HAVE to carry all of them", I paused. "Can I put these in my co passengers' handbags?"-I pleaded. All the other guys were already through the security check and I could see them loitering around the restaurant. Her ice cold gaze didn't change for a minute.I might as well be speaking to a stonewall. She slid across a cancelled boarding pass - " Get a fresh one, check with your airlines if they can put the batteries in your check in luggage". I pocketed the boarding pass and walked  to the check in counter with a terrible scowl on my face. " But your luggage has been checked in till Leh, we can issue you a fresh boarding pass though". I walked back to the security check with the boarding pass, slid my six batteries aside and walked away. I was in a terribly bad mood which meant I shouldn't speak much.

" They took away all my freaking batteries. What if I don't get any in Leh now?". I grumbled away as I ate my dinner with my fellow trekkers. The Jet Airways flight to Delhi was already late by more than 3 hours , the flight was to tentatively depart at 1:00 a.m now. What a start to the Ladakh trip! " Relax, we will try and get your batteries back. We have enough time on our hands", Avisek said. We walked back to the security check after dinner. " Madam , we are all going to Ladakh and I asked her to carry my batteries as well. Could you please return them?. It may be difficult to get any in Ladakh , you see" , Avisek was at his gentlemanly best. I stood beside trying not to open my mouth at all. " Show me your handbags, do you all have cameras?" , she peered into three of the handbags to find a camera in each. "Okay" , she muttered nonchalantly and slid across my precious batteries. I burst into a gleaming smile as we walked away , I could have almost done a somersault!
We loitered around for the rest of the night till a boarding announcement was made for the Bangalore Delhi flight. My hopes of catching up with sleep aboard the flight were pretty much dashed. Once in Delhi , we caught up with the two others in our group who had already arrived in earlier flights. Luckily, the Delhi - Leh flight was on time.I sat bleary eyed aboard the early morning flight staring through the window below.An hour into the flight , the clouds disappeared to give way to a carpet of snowcapped ice peaks below.

Ladakh lies beyond the Greater Himalayan Range and the enchanting mesh of the Himalayan peaks and clouds continues uninterrupted for the entire last 30 minutes of the flight till Leh. The spell is only broken by the flight landing announcement. I quickly fastened my seat belts and put my camera inside ( for the best views, always ask for the left side window seat on the flight from Delhi to Leh , I unfortunately got a right sided one over the aircraft wing!). As we headed out of the aircraft to collect our baggage , I could feel the chill in the air and a slight but throbbing headache. "Altitude, let's hope this gets better fast"- I thought to myself. Two jeeps from the Ladakh Sarai had come to pick us up , the luggage was hauled and the jeeps raced ahead cutting through a landscape none of us had ever seen before. All around were the lofty peaks of the Himalayas,and a frontier of purple haze mountains of the trans Himalayan Ladakh and Zanskar Range,gradually descending into barren , arid land. As we stared around in disbelief , the realisation finally hit us - our journey into the Himalayan kingdom had begun. Juley!

Mixed bag!

The blog has been dormant for sometime. Blame it on my comfort zone with travelogues. No weekend travel for sometime meant no updating the blog – bad Cheshire I say! My blog conscience was catching up , so I sacrificed on a lazy weekend afternoon siesta (sigh!) to blog on a couple of random things:

A week's vacation to Calcutta in March – Pure bliss:). My parents finally settled in Cal , which helps resolve the following issues (in no particular order):

1. I have a permanent address now , Yippee!
2. No more racking brains to answer “so where are you from” conundrum.
3. No more “whattay nut” look when I mention I dont know where home is exactly located since my parents just moved places and I havent visited them ever since.

The vacation turned out to be what a Cal vacation is supposed to be anyways – eat-sleep-eat marathon. The air conditioned volvos plying from the airport were a pleasant surprise. The Bedouin rolls at Gariahat market taste the same , my aunt continues to admonish me for not gaining weight and discussions around where to get the best fish from still gain centrestage. Thank God for things in life which never change!

Speaking of food,some epicurean adventures in Bangalore at:

• Ruh , a mediterranean restaurant located at a stone's throw away from office, forced out of extortion for winning the HSBC annual debate. Sprawling area comprising of an open mediterranean set up and a lounge like version with a Dracula theme – red curtains , waiters with pin tailed coats et all. Food is just about ok , music is incongrous.I liked the bar though, and also added bartending to my dream profession list:).
• Jukebox, Koramanagala – a colleague's suggestion for a team dinner. Jukebox is a rundown version of an American diner.Don't expect a TGIF for the ambience , but a good place to get some great steaks. Serves only beer for drinks. And the cheese toasts for starters are really yummy!

Great starters for thought at the HSBC annual debate where it was back to Keynes-“In the long run we are all dead”. (or the grateful dead as Krugman puts it in an interesting but slightly dated article here ) Eclectic arguments drawn from economics to the Gita. Also heated debates over the womens' reservation bill issue , Sachin versus Beckham etc. An enthusiastic audience and some out of the box questions:). A thoroughly interesting evening and a clean sweep by the marketing analytics team.

Oh and yes - a first tryst with Bangalore theatre – Girish Karnad's Bikhre Bimb at Rangashankara. If it ever happens to be staged in your city , do not miss it. A brilliantly executed monologue by the protagonist Arundhati Nag , the play explores the dilemma of Indian writers who choose to write in English and serves as a moving story of conflict and the desire for fame. I also liked the theatre ambience at Rangashankara , somewhat similar to Prithvi in Mumbai (not sure if they have the same cutting chai though). A successful first tryst for sure, and hopefully I will end up catching more of Bangalore theatre there!



 

The French Connection

The grumbling auto wala from the Pondicherry bus stand was in a constant peeve - "You could have taken a hotel closer to the bus stand" (or so we inferred from his otherwise incomprehensible Tamil). An almost sleepless (Surprise, surprise!) overnight bus journey from Bangalore brought us to Pondicherry. It was just the wee hours of morning and the town was still asleep under a blanket of very un-Indian tranquility. The auto took a sharp left turn on a street and stopped.“That's Du Parc” - the autowala pointed to a huge medieval door on the opposite end. As we knocked bleary eyed , the door opened to the villa which stood like a time trap - a courtyard lined with pastel coloured walls and large French windows. Du Parc was originally a French Villa built in the 17th century, now restored as a heritage hotel. The colonial rooms are styled beautifully, we were particularly thrilled with ours which had a split,duplex setting. After the initial excitement of running up and down the stairs inside the room (yes, the silly girlish streaks are unputdownable at times:)) , we chalked out a rough itinerary for the two days and plonked ourselves on the grand beds to catch up with sleep till breakfast.

Pondicherry is tiny - a queer mix of the French colonial heritage and the ubiquitous small Indian town. As far as colonial history goes , it has never occupied a predominant place in the discerning travellers' imagination the way other colonial cities in India have. Set up by the French in 1674, it was captured by the Dutch almost immediately , retaken by the founders and then sacked by the British. Also, unlike the more glamorous Goa , this coastal town on the Bay of Bengal has shied away from the glammed up crowd looking for a hip beach getaway. In Pondicherry, time unwinds at it's own pace like a leisurely amble on the wide brick streets by the sea or stands still at the old pastel coloured Catholic Churches.

We decided to visit Auroville and Aurobindo ashram on Saturday and spend the next day exploring the town on our own. Auroville is a universal township in making ,some 10 kms from Pondicherry. The utopian township was founded by the Mother, and is a means of implementing the teachings and vision of Sri Aurobindo. Visitors are only allowed till a viewing point where one gets to see the Matri Mandir or the meditation centre. For those interested in spiritual experiences of the very alternative kind , there are cafes galore which offer the best gastronomic fare ( including fresh sea food and the best pasta:)) or boutiques selling chic craft clothing , handcrafted leather and bohemian jewellery.

Our next stop was the Aurobindo Ashram where Sri Aurobindo and the Mother lived for most of their lives. At the centre of the Ashram, in a tree-shaded courtyard, lies the Samadhi, where their bodies are laid to rest. A slew of visitors were lined up for a visit to the Ashram as the Mother's birthday lay the very next day.
From the Ashram , we headed out towards the sea. The too-rocky-to-swim beach is smattered with tourists , a very incongrous statue of Gandhi ,stately old buildings , a boutique hotel - Promenade (a Hidesign hotel) and a 24 hours open cafe by the beachfront which turned out to be our favourite haunt during the Pondy stay. Endless conversations over coffee later , we decided to solve our “what-to-do-next conundrum” with shopping for shabby,chic street clothing and headed back to the hotel for a quiet dinner.

The next day we rented bicycles and decided to explore the quiet town on our own. Pondicherry is a vagabond's delight!You can wander through the streets aimlessly,relax at a shady corner along the neatly lined perpendicular streets or just breathe in the breeze along Goubert Avenue across the sea. The neighbourhood changes drastically near the sea - the 'white town' with it's colonies of ochre coloured walls, tile roofs ,wooden shutters,colonnades and balconies and streets with very Gallic names. Straight ahead from the beach,the surroundings gradually change back to a familiar,daily Indian town. The Rendezvous, a well known restaurant situated on the Rue Suffren (I tried to pronounce it the French way, from the remnants of a semester of French at university:)) serves the most amazing and fresh sea food.

Endless meanderings through the town, a stop by at an old church and cups of coffee later we returned to Du Parc in the evening and headed back to Bangalore at night. The weekend turned out to be everything a Pondicherry holiday had promised – leisure , amblings, conversations and the childhood pleasure of letting time just roll by.

Hotel Du Parc is a highly recommended place to stay in Pondicherry. Contrary to the autowala's grumblings , it is located only 10 minutes away from the bus stand. The villa is situated in the French quarters , close to the beach. The beautifully restored place and the hospitable staff make it an extremely memorable stay. Details of the hotel here:

http://www.hotelduparc.co.in/

A weekend called Wayanad

"Climbing at altitude is like hitting your head against a brick wall - it's great when you stop"-Chris Darwin

We had reached the peak ,2100 m above sea level and the highest point of Wayanad. A panorama of peaks and valleys of deep forests surrounded us, receeding gradually into the carpet of lush green plantations way below.The trek had started late, almost near noon. The sun was beating down upon as harshly as we started the climb. The ascent to Chembra peak is interspersed with flat stretches of lowlands till the heart shaped lake- a natural lake shaped in the form of a heart, believed never to have dried up (“Because love never dies”;) - as a fellow trekker smartly quipped). The hardest part of the ascent began after the lake, not only because it was steep,but because everytime we climbed and reached a peak we could see another one towering infront of us. The terrain was rocky, and the sun flashed directly at us, dehydrating us frequently.To make things worse, a frolicking bunch of Wayanad school kids crossed us on the way, reached the top and met us on their way back while we were still some distance away! The last frontier to the peak is near vertical rock formations. But once atop the peak, the view is simply captivating. Chembra stands imperiously gazing upon the Wayanad landscape...well..almost imperiously! In the backyard of Chembra,lies Vellarimala , taller than Chembra at 2240 m above sea level,but geographically in the Kozhikode district. Discounting for the slight heartbreak caused by the sight of a taller peak after a tedious trek , climbing Chembra is an exhilarating experience.

Wayanad lies on the southern top of the Deccan plateau lined by the Western ghats ,interspersed with dense forest and valleys. The region was known as Mayakshetra (Maya's land) in the earliest records. Mayakshetra evolved into Mayanad and finally to Wayanad. The Folk etymology of the word says it is a combination of Vayal (paddy) and Naad (land), making it 'The Land of Paddy Fields'.

An overnight journey from Bangalore through Bandipur forest brought us to Mepaddy where we were met by our guide, Santosh. We were a large group divided into two tempo travellers.The journey was pretty uneventful except for minor glitches: The music CDs I wrote failed to work . So while people hurled abuses at me , I blissfully went off to sleep in my cosy tempo traveller seat (a divine art I have mastered to near perfection).

Our weekend itinerary included a trek to Chembra and back on Saturday, a tour to Meenmutty falls and Edakkal caves (the only known caves with neolithic stone carvings in South India) on Sunday before heading back to Bangalore. The trek to Chembra was accomplished without any major disruptions this time (much to Santosh's relief , who had accompanied us before on our now infamous Kudremukh trek). As the temperatures dipped after sunset and the shadows of the Wayanad peaks loomed around,we gathered around a bonfire over dinner,drinks and a game of dumbcharade with some thought provoking performances.

Next morning ,we headed over to Meenmutty, albeit later than planned. The drive to the starting point of the waterfall is beautiful , through undulating roads with tea plantations on either side. A steep downward jungle trek begins some distance from this point ,mostly over loose pebbles and rocks. Meenmutty is the largest waterfall in Wayanad. The first sight of the waterfall is spectacular - a three tiered waterfall with a height of 300 metres in an unspoilt natural setting. We climbed our way back after spending sometime near the waterfall.

By the time we reached back , we realised it was too late to visit Edakkal and decided to head back straight to Bangalore instead. Our hopes of sighting some tuskers as we crossed Bandipur forest around sunset were dashed. A stop by at Mysore for dinner later , we reached Bangalore late night,back to the humdrum of our daily lives.

Footnotes:

1. My google search reveals interesting facts about the name – 'Meenmutty' which literally means fishes can come downstream but can not retrace their path back through this waterfall. Why would a fish ever want to retrace it's way back through ANY waterfall remains a semantic mystery to me!

2. The climb back in the heat from Meenmutty leads one straight to a small shop selling buttermilk strategically placed at the starting point of the trek. Two important tips for visitors (based on fellow travellers' experiences):

  - Do not gulp bottles of buttermilk like magic potion (even if you are dehydrated to the hilt or someone volunteers to pay)

 - Do not mix buttermilk with lemon soda ( you better believe this!)

3. Instances of dumbcharade inspiring lateral thinking among enthusiastic, first time trekkers:

a. "Pratighat" - Desperate climbing acts to express trekking on Western "ghats".Commendable lateral  thinking despite failure to communicate.

b. "Reshma ki Chadti Jawani" (yes,we are nasty people:P) - Highly random,adrenaline packed gestures including running around to express “race”(and hence Reshma). Sucessful communication by protagonist.

The new year camping adventure

The sun was setting behind the western Ghats.The four of us watched in silence, perched on the edge of the valley.As the saffron hues of the sky unfolded,our conversations slowly died down. Beneath way below, we could see the flickering lights of the town.The whispering wind grew stronger by every passing minute and the silence was getting eerie. The other groups of trekkers had left long back and we were the only group of four camping in the valley beneath the peak.

Earlier during the day when we had reached the valley just below the peak , we were still unsure of our camping plans. The only source of water in the valley was a small,stagnant waterhole with floating mosquito larvae, quite contrary to the "drinkable water' that we had heard earlier. A guide with another group of trekkers we met had also informed us that the valley was the transit route for elephants and that the wind gets very strong at night.Camping for the night already had some cons - there was too little water for the four of us and the not-so-interesting-idea of an inquisitive elephant toying with the tent in the night. Add to the fact that none of us had ever pitched a tent before. So we decided,well,almost decided to trek back instead of camping. But the futility of carrying camping equipment to 1600m was difficult to ignore. Someone suggested a dry run. So there we were,trying to figure out how to erect a tent for the first time ever!(with ideas as diverse as climbing to the top of the peak to see if we can get GPRS to watch a you tube video on how to pitch a tent:)). Finally , the tent was erected ..or atleast it looked like one:). But the decision was still not to camp. So we packed up , left our backpacks and camping gear in the valley and climbed the 100 odd metres up to the final peak. By the time we came back to the valley , it was already 4. The harsh daylight was fading away slowly and we realised it would get dark very soon.

“Guys,we can just camp , we will go back tomorrow” , like a bolt from the blue Soumyajit suggested as he plopped himself down on the grass.
“Yea,I am cool”- Varun was thrilled (he probably wanted to do a somersault but restrained with great effort)
“Okay didnt we decide just now not to camp? And it's getting late , so camp or no camp we need to decide fast ” - I looked at the three of them.
“Shireen is getting pissed , let's decide” (how I love pressure tactics!) and all eyes turned towards Ayan who had no clue why he was chosen to decide. “Umm..okay..let's camp” , said Ayan. And so , in exactly the way all truly momentous decisions are made,we decided to camp the night in the valley.

We had pitched the tent a little distance away from the waterhole , near a concrete hut (which probably is a storehouse for a Shiva temple also located on the valley) , to get some protection from the wind. There was some firewood we had managed to collect just before it got dark. The plantation owner we had met on our way when we started the trek had given us some kerosene. But the wood was wet , and the wind was now a ferocious roar.The fire flickered for a while and went off. Darkness had fallen and the night sky was bombarded with a million stars,the sky so clear we could even see the milky way.

As it got colder, we decided to move inside the tent and slipped into our sleeping bags. The night went by uneventfully,except for Varun waking up in the middle of the night to declare that our tent has “moved”!!?? I slept like a log (much to the surprise of my fellow trekkers) only to wake up intermittently to the sound of the wind raging throughout the night. Our tent miraculously survived the night despite a missing peg which we discovered in the morning the next day:)

Travel trivia: The trek was to Kotebetta  (literally meaning the fort mountain as it looks like a fort in distance), the third highest mountain in Coorg at 1620 m.Trekking distance is 10 kms each way.

How to get there: Take a bus from Bangalore to Madikeri and from there onwards to Hattihole.The trekking trail starts through plantations and is quite broad throughout except for a rocky ascent for the last part of the trek.

Camping facts: The camping site lies on the way to the waterhole in the valley.Do not camp very close to either the temple or the waterhole.Carry adequate water and make sure you do not leave any trash (plastic bottles,polythenes) after camping. Although we were warned about wild animals (especially because of the waterhole) , we never encountered any , the only signs we came across were elephant footprints in plenty and some pug marks.

Attitudinal segmentation – the game of Chinese whispers in consumer decision making

A couple of days back we were at a team dinner , a whole bunch of 20 of us from the marketing analytics team. Someone came up with the idea of playing a game of Chinese whispers – a commonly known game where one person starts with whispering a sentence. The fun lies in the unintended distortion of the information as it is passed from one person to another - larger the group , higher are the chances of distortion. In one particular round , a colleague started off with a sentence which said ”Heaven is an American salary , a British house, an Indian wife and Chinese food”. By the time it had reached the last person , the final piece of information had an Indian salary , a motley group of British ,Italian and Japanese wives and a Chinese daughter thrown in for company.

So what was happening in this innocous game of whispers? Every single person was responding to an information signal differently (One of my team mates said he thought the information piece consisted of a Chinese wife because Chinese wives were pretty:)). Marketing space today is experiencing a similar game of Chinese whispers. In a digital world , the explosion of channels and information has put the balance of power in the consumers' hands. Marketers can no longer differentiate or control the information stimuli they want to use to influence different segments of consumers. And every single person will choose to react to the same stimuli in a different way.

Traditional marketing thought has revolved around the idea of consumer decision making occuring through a funnel process. In a world where information channels were limited, marketers constantly tried to reduce the number of potential brands that the consumer has in mind till they emerge with one brand that they choose to purchase. In the process what they built on is who to target , how to target and what to target through an understanding of segments based on an intersection of factors – mainly demographic and financial in nature.

Well, why doesn't the “funnel” hold today? Here is why:

a. The consumer is much more informed and has access to unlimited information. The “touch points” of marketing are virtually present everywhere for everyone – from a 5 second TV ad to a pop up on your facebook account. The process of selection of relevant information is no longer linear.

b. Segments are not defined by conventional demographics anymore. I relate much more to my 50 year old academician aunt who travels to a different country every two years than my 27 year old cousin who is a working female , lives in a metro and hates the idea of travel . In short , attitude or behavior now transcends age, geography , income and other conventional demographics . And attitude is almost impossible to predict.

So consumers now scan their environments for personally relevant information and self select themselves into responding to relevant stimuli. Marketers will need to understand how this process of self selection works and create stimuli which bring them into the initial consideration set and keep them in that set as their target consumers move ahead in their decision making while constantly being bombarded with new information. Some of the most important questions in marketing analytics/research now revolve around how this process may be captured through attitudinal segmentation – which creates actionable segments for marketers to work on.

The game of chinese whispers is on and marketing thought should change to discover consumer segments that recognize variance in consumer behavior by itself as the driving force behind consumer decision making.



References: David W. Stewart (1991):”Consumer self Selection and segments of one : The growing role of consumers in segmentation” (Advances in Consumer research Volume 18,1991)

David Court, Dave Elzinga, Susan Mulder, and Ole Jørgen Vetvik:” The consumer decision journey” (Mckinsey Quarterly,June 2009)