Back in Trivandrum

It was a testing leadup to this. On the eve of my departure, I got diarhhoea with fever. This meant I was in bed for most of the day, putting off packing and essential preparation. In the evening I forced myself to go out to take some passport-sized photos of myself for possilbe permits that I might need to procure to visit some parts of Ladakh. On the way to Reethi Photo, I felt like an alien as I walked past the people, traffic and shops; there just wasn't any sense of connection in me for the place I was born and bred in, and spent most of my life in.

Later when I started to pack I discovered my winter jacket had gone missing, which didn't help the foul mood I was in.

This morning, however, everything appeared to be working out. The shits and the fever disappeared, the warm clothing got located, and my spirits lifted.

Now in Trivandrum after only eight months, I'm slowly recuperating and readying myself for the journey ahead. Trivandrum has been the starting point for all the major journeys I've undertaken and I ought to feel some fondness for the place. Instead, I just feel very used to it. I'm staying near Trivandrum Central, the main railway station (photo), in a cheap but clean tourist lodge that most Maldivians wouldn't dream of staying in. There are about a thousand of my fellow countryfolk in the city, apparently, but I haven't seen any since I exited the airport.

All in all I don't feel too bad, but I don't feel too exhilerated either. I'm just slowly edging towards the journey that I've long felt I had to take. It's not a journey that anyone else can physically share with me nor, truth be told, do I think they'd want to.

But at least people can check out the blog to find out where I am and to see the photos.