Went to manali, but could not go to ice point as there was no transport and we reached late at manali around 1 pm as my developer had some health problem and does not get up early. He is engaged and so now is engaged with the phone and keeps talking very late in the night.

We went to a nature park built as usual built around a river and there we could only see honeymooners and well I dont have to say what they would be doing. Seemed a bit amusing to me as these are the people going to fight like hell in the days to come. Half of them were just in embraces and of course the chivalrous menfolk guiding their consorts with all graciousness while negotiating the river bed, rocks and what not and whether they are slippery or not. Needless to say we were a pretty odd sight there. And from there we proceeded to Hidamba temple by auto and simply walked back to the bus stand which was more interesting in fact. We could not go to rautang pass ( maybe this is the ice point) as there was no time. I will regret not making this trip for a long time I guess.

Today we went to another project site, deep in the bowels of the mountain. The trip was perilious and fraught with danger as the roads are very narrow and road slips here and there with just a foot or two from the edge of the abysmal valley, breathtaking in sight and as usual the lights played a fantastic game with the mountains bathing them in all hues. As the mountains are literally packed so clse that one of them recieves the sun and the other dark and livid and the shapes of the rocks and trees is a feast for the eyes. Nature's awesome might is manifest at every bend and curve and corner. We returned after it was dark and saver our jeep's headlights there is not a speck of light but for the shimmering stars and some lights in the yonder. It was an eerie experience and to top it some guys were trudging back home and for the devil I can't fathom how they find their way in total darkness. I dont have to mention about the chill wind.

More on this later

Went to one of our project sites near kullu. It's a tunnel project to bring the water from parvathi river and the company has to carve a tunnel out of a gigantic mountain for more than 20 kms. We went about 1.9 kms inside the mountain i.e the tunnel. It was an eerie experience indeed as it was dark, lit by the powerful lights of the blasting and excavation party. A giant boomer drills holes up to 4 meters in the rock and then stuffed with explosives and finally blasted. The might of nature overcome by the mind of man, albeit destructively. After the blast the enormous pressure i.e the 1200+ meters of solid rock starts telling on the top of the tunnel and the tremendous pressure makes the loose rocks burst intermittently when it no longer is able to resist the strain. It plops with a terrifying sound and I was just meters across and it seemed that any time the whole thing might cave in or the debri flung in all directions as nature vents its fury at man's blasphemy of even thinking and then attempting to tame mother nature.

The workers were holding their lives and working, in fact they did not work as we witnessed this phenomenon which does not occur daily, lucky for we were able to see first hand of nature's fury. The whole trip to that place was just breathtaking, valleys everywhere, mountains of different shapes, sizes and colors, the sunlight playing a myriad games basking the moutains, rocks and trees in different hues, a feast for eyes, for once this phrase has some real meaning. Rivulets and streams meandering all over the mountains battling with the rocks. What beauty and and what splendor. The mountains towering and leaping to the skies in all its grim majesty, a magnificence that leaves us in awe and incredulity. We returned after night fell and the trip back the meandering ghat roads was fraught with danger lurking at every bend. It was not so easy to take the thing off our minds.

Where is my previous Blog. All my work gone in a jiffy? Ok I will go about it again. Ravi took me to Ludhiana market yesterday and what an experience it was. Went by a thing called share auto and the driver was so magnanimous that he never says no to any one and somehow makes room in that. Got down in a crowded street lined with shops where you can get everything under the sun, cds and dvds littered like fruits. Picked up a couple of sweaters from a 4 floor shop just piled with sweater and sweates of all size, shapes, colors and price. Then we went to have some sweets. Thats when I was stunned. The whole street was just nothing but heads , a sea of humanity stretching for as long as the eye can see. Stunned and amused we started weaving and meandering in the that roard, which actually means broad market.

Another stunning thing happened just a few yards in front of me. Suddenly a buxom lady slapped a tall young guy, the guy went terribly silent and started slithering as if nothing happened, but where to go, so our intreped girl leaned forward and smacked a few hefty blows to that guy's nape and poor guy cant retaliate lest he be savaged in that crowd and somehow sneaked ahead. Pity the guy who marries her. While returning the snail paced crowd stopped dead on the tracks and we got stuck for a long time consciously guarding out pockets.

Then we finally made it to the main street and hopped in a share auto. One guy wanted to get in with a long steel bar (gadaparai) and tried to prop near the driver and then had some better sense and got off. The shrewd driver beckoned the guy and gave him a what-a-fool-you-are look and then asked him to push the steel bar from the back, dividing me and ravi and resting on the floor of the auto, a good one foot projecting out at the back. God save some car or any vehicle coming at the back and our guy slamming the brakes. Oops and then got out and went back to SPS apollo hospital and the kind soul ravi came till the lift, actually I asked him to come so that I dont have to deal with the security in punjabi. An eventful day it was.