30 May 2006

Return to firm Earth

We got off the train at Dimapur, at noon on the fourth day... felt weird standing on firm ground, without the scenery whizzing past... we foud a little place called Hotel Skylark... walking up the stairs late one night, I saw a woman clutching a towel wrapped around her, rushing from one room to another... and I watched the door shut... and there was a guy lying on the bed from the room she was coming from... he had a glass of water in his hands and the most content look in Dimapur that day. There is a little note in every room which says "You're not allowed to bring in women guests." Paulo's feminist sentiments were churned up.

Walking around the streets of Dimapur that evening felt weird.. it felt like a different country - a dangerous country. We invited weird stares, but soon got used to it.. the city shuts down by 6:30 - 7... so we were back at the hotel... I couldn't believe that we actually made it to Nagaland... seemed like a big joke during my college days... discovered that it's really quite developed.. oh, and I couldn't believe that Paulo actually chose to make the trip with two 'almost random people' (in her own words)... I can think of only one other girl (Maitreyi Mundo) who'd do it... requires real guts to step onto those alien streets, to accept those weird looks, get used to the random strangers as travel-companions, and still retain the open mind.

6 comments:

. said...

If I thought 10,000 was almost no money, I'd be there.
Does it hurt when people hit on the lower part of the body?

Smith said...

ilove that Yeats poem...it's the only poem i've blogged about, it's fantastic...and it's an interesting coincidence to see it here!

. said...
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. said...
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Mridula said...

*taking a bow* almost random became not all that random....

Anonymous said...

dimapur sounds like a village just out of a novel... man send me more pics da... me is envying u dude.. for all the kalai abt ur nagaland trip i'm right now feelin just like how u'd feel at bein tied down... also suddenly seem to have developed this veri to see India... of course unna maadhiri road la laam paduka mudiyadhu!!!