Backpacking away from computer

Taking a break from online life and spending time in offline world is something that I really cherish. It has become sort of a new resolution of mine. Last time I took one week off and this time I was away for 2 weeks. It is fun to do such a thing and at the same time you get so many idea when you are away from your computer or laptop. We humans are not designed to think in front of a screen and I can vouch for that statement.

In the two weeks that I was away I read a lot, met friends, spent a lot of time with loved ones. For a week I also went on a backpacking trip to Himachal, spent some time in Delhi, also visited Dehradun.

Mumbai Vs Delhi:
I watched Singh is Kinng in Delhi and also in Mumbai and surprisingly the experience was starkly different in either city. Delhi crowd was going crazy while Mumbai crowd had more of a "WTH" feeling. I had a blast! May be the Delhi guy in me comes up sometimes.

Delhi Rains:
I witnessed the heaviest rains of Delhi and to be frank that was hardly a rain for Mumbai. The potholes on the roads were bigger than the ones on Mumbai roads. While everyone was grim I couldn't stop grinning. I guess the Mumbaikar in me takes over sometimes.

Dehradun:
Dehradun has improved a lot since my last visit. Bit modern and yet that coziness of a small valley town, that place gives a unique feeling. The only reason to crib I have is about the road from Delhi to Dehradun (which also takes you to Haridwar, Masoori). Inspite of being one of the most traveled roads of north India it's in terribly bad shape. I fail to understand why?

Cloud covered towers. For more pics visit my photoblog.

Himachal:
Himachal is really beautiful and in rains that place looks like heaven after a wash. The only colors I could see were the shades of Green and Brown. The clouds had shifted their home to the hills and the mistiness added to the whole divine experience. I was traveling some of the interior villages of Himachal, got to meet a lot of people talked with them about the life and challenges that they face. People are extremely friendly, they open up quickly, they accept you quickly. Something that we in cities should learn. Life is hard there, they can hardly do anything after it's dark (but they do so much during the day). Good Schools are rare. After schooling the choices of courses are very limited. Those who really want to do something have to travel to other states (not a bad thing) but the knowledge of what other universities can offer is again very low.

A Wedding in Himachal:
People live a very community oriented life there. I attended a wedding and more than an event of an individual family it was more of a community event. People from all over the villages dropped in to help, they chip in with all the necessary things like milk, vegetables, grains and most important of all their time and efforts. The marriages last for three to five days and it is more of a festival for the whole village than a family or person. Something starkly different from cities.

Coming Back Online:
Coming back online after a long break is not easy. There are so many things to catch up. It took me two days to read and reply to all the mails, three days to read blogs of my friends, one day to catch up on twitter and one for all other social networks. Pheww...

Things I am looking forward to:
Barcamp Pune is coming back and I am part of the planning team (interesting times ahead). Capgemini is waking up to the concept of Barcamp it is going to be an internal event but surely going to be interesting. I have a new photoblog (someone said the dark side of your blog, I say colorful side of my blog:)). The Business Analysis Blog is doing good, getting a lot of interaction going on but somehow BAs prefer mails over comments.

Tarun Chandel
Feeling refreshed after a break!