Kiran Jonnalagadda’s Blog

Deepak asked if he could see some numbers for my sabbatical year. I haven’t sorted out my accounts yet, but for a taste, here’s the budget and actual costs for my trip to Dharamsala in August. I had more time than money at this point, so I went slow and watched every rupee.

Columns with missing values indicate heads I hadn’t budgeted for.

We were a group of four. The others started from Delhi and had already booked train tickets to Pathankot, so I tagged along, even though a direct bus between Delhi and Dharamsala made more sense. I took a sleeper class train coach from Bangalore to Delhi. I wasn’t sure it would be comfortable—36 hours in a metal box without air-conditioning—and budgeted for a three-tier AC ticket on the way back, but found I liked it and returned the same way.

Accommodation in Delhi was free, courtesy friends. In Mcleodganj, we found a guest house with a good view of the valley for Rs 450, split between two occupants over two nights. I wanted to stay longer but the others had work to return to. I had no expenses other than food and transport.

I found myself in Mcleodganj last May, in the company of TB Dinesh and Guillaume Marceau. Dinesh wanted to pick up some luggage a friend had left behind in nearby Dharamkot, so off we went up the hill.

Man, was it hard! The incline could have killed me. I was out of breath and my feet ached. My camera bag felt like a huge burden. I had to stop for breath every turn and rest minutes. When we finally reached Dharamkot, I refused to leave the tea shop for the next couple hours. We hung around ordering several rounds of tea and snacks. Dinesh and Guillaume then wanted to walk further, so I reluctantly tagged along. The body ached but the mind couldn’t refuse the challenge. We walked all the way up hill, past prayer flags in the woods, past a shrine to the earlier Panchen Lama, the current Dalai Lama’s late teacher, up to the top, and down again through the Tibetan Children’s Village, along the water pipeline, back to Mcleodganj.

I had cramps the next day. When I returned to Bangalore and checked my weight, I was down two kilos. In a day’s walk.

And so, a year later and halfway through this year’s resolution to improve health, I had to check again. Was it really so bad, or was I just so out of shape? Has all the cycling in Bangalore and walking in Ladakh’s thin air helped at all?

It has: the walk this time felt like a casual stroll through the woods.

From atop the hill overlooking the Tibetan Children’s Village (off to the left).