Hindustan Times
Shoes that clomp and other impressions
It’s 8 pm. I’m sitting in office and it’s pouring outside. I’m supposed to be filing a story, but I’m so distracted by the thought that I have to leave tomorrow and I still don’t know whether I have enough warm clothes that I haven’t been able to write a single straight sentence about the evolution of the Curriculum Vitae.
Meanwhile the clock keeps ticking away. I’m reminded that I still haven’t looked through my itineraries and googled the little places I will be seeing the next week. My dad has looked through it more carefully than I have. He tells me that I will be crawling through an ice grotto on a glacier at some point. I’m convinced I don’t have clothes warm enough for that.
On Thursday evening, I bought my hiking shoes. I clomped about them in office all of yesterday, in an effort to get a feel for them and break them in a little. That got me more than a few stares. My cousin says that the hiking trips organised by Swiss Tourism are rather gentle and he’s going to take me on a real hike. Five hours of walking – including a 1,000 m climb. I think I was in too much shock when I read that to reply. I hope he doesn’t take me silence as a sign of agreement. I hope he thinks up a gentler plan of action for me.
I’d climbed 700 metres in four hours in the humid weather of Andaman and Nicobar and for two days after I’d wondered why I’d put myself through that on a holiday. Not convinced I want to repeat that experience. I’m picturing the second half of this holiday more as a sitting on a bench by a lake watching the reflection of the Alps waver on the ripples kind of experiences. Let’s see how that works out.
I’ve just learnt that every time I swipe the credit card abroad the bank charges me Rs 40 on every 1000 bucks spent. Guess that limits the amount of chocolates and cheese I’m going to be buying.
Dang, I still have a story to file.
Which reminds me that I may not have a post for you next week. But follow me on twitter (@nehadara)
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