“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” – Henry Miller

Wikipedia: Crows Lake in Sikkim

Tonight I head off to the land of tea and Lepchas and Bhutias for a visit and to meet two old college friends. Darjeeling is wonderful at this time of the year, but I have to stock up on Benadryl and warm clothes somehow. I’m also going to spend a few days in Kalimpong and Gangktok, Sikkim, where my top priority after seeing my friends is to get to see as many places as possible, then regrettably drunk for what may be something like we did back in college. My friend told me she’d understand if I wanted to chain myself to the bar.

I am also going to eat every possible meat I can lay my hands on and have some decadent fun that involves alcohol and Valium.
Well, I shall trust my old friend to deliver the goods, or fun in this case. Now, it's off to bed early and a prayer that a good, long sleep awaits me. Making a note that it is past my bedtime now, I shall presume that a long sleep may not be applicable, but I'll hope for a good, restful one anyway.

To all you who sleep tonight, I bid you good night! And to God, I'm really a nice, harmless girl; please let this journey be as painless as possible.

It's not often that I feel like a glamorous jet-setter.

But every once in a while I do.

Like now.

This has been a glorious week. I gave the band Vampire Weekend another listen - 2 albums (21 songs, and a full 60 minutes of new music) earlier this week (Thanks to Ajay). Just listen to this track ‘The Kids Don’t Stand A Chance’ below. That, quite decidedly, does not sound like anything you’ve heard before. It also, quite decidedly, got me very interested in what the rest of their music would sound like.

As we transition into the greatest season (yes, I do declare that the melancholy days of B’lore Winter are the best of the year) I only thought it proper to post this track as I watch the leaves fall outside in the wind.

I’ll miss you almost as much as you’ll miss me. Have a fun week and enjoy the rest of your October. Cheers.

This whole getting back to work after a vacation is exhausting! Let's see. Where did I leave off...?

This time it was to the villages Kisama and Tupema for some ethnic Angami food (a tribe that lives in large numbers at the capital, Kohima) and the Mr. Big show at Dimapur. The food? Good. The show? Excellent.

We saw them after nearly 6 hours of waiting at the venue and, while loud, it was amazing. Yes, I'm very well aware that most of B’lore had already witnessed the band on 10th but still - amazing. After a long tiring night and turning down an invitation to make to the band’s after party, my friends and I headed back home and passed out.

There was more shopping, more walking and a couple of visits to one of my favorite places in the capital - Dream Cafe. For those of you scratching your heads – it’s a café… at the top of the hill. You can actually get yourself one of those special seats in the café, which overlook the entire valley. It’s a fantastic place - they advertise new bands, old bands, mostly local.

The food was fabulous. But can I tell you how much I ate? Um, no. There aren't sufficient words in the English language to convey how much I devoured. It was painful to get up and walk. But I managed.
Mornings started nice and early (6 a.m) with red tea, heavy brunch and then it’s out on the town at 12. Kohima was chilly and a bit rainy but it always cleared up. We caught an exhibition at the museum. We meandered through the shopping areas that sold knock-off designer items and the busy roads, attempting to make it to the topmost part of the mountain but we got sidetracked. The houses, the people, the little waterfalls...they were all gorgeous. Then the drive back, which helped the sore legs and stops to check out the local fast food joint that created pizzas to perfection.

So, we've walked more miles than god but my work here is not done. I’ve got tons write about and show. More, of course, later...
I'll admit, I haven't listened to much this week. But the past two weeks have seen the release of a near-flawless albums – Battle Studies by John Mayer. Seriously. Flawless. Unless you're a raging gangsta rap fan, I can almost guarantee you'll dig the track 'Who Says'. Give it a listen. You'll like it. This might just be his most mature, well-developed album yet in the catchy department.
Mayer also mentions that this song sounds best between “8pm-3am on Friday and Saturday nights”.

But before hitting play, I have a job for you:
- If you've got a blog, pimp it in the comments, lurkers and non-lurkers alike.
- If you know of a site everyone should be reading - your own or someone else's - open up the comments box and let me and the people who visit this page know about it.

Thank you all for checking in while I was out of town. If I haven't responded to your email, my apologies. I'll have some quality time with my Gmail account tomorrow and the coming weekend! Until then, goodnight from B’lore City.