About my commute...

So time for another post, this time about my travels to work.  I had planned to take pictures of the walk today since I usually do not carry my camera.  Today happened to be a ride to work in the "Montyvan" so that provided a different experience to photograph, but still worthwhile.  Monty usually drives us in GSC (the company that places interns) vehicles but recently he hit a rather large piece of cement while backing up.  It didn't cause any damage but the first words out of my mouth when it happened was "No problem, company car company car" which cracked up everyone in the vehicle and has become a running joke anytime we hit a pothole.  Consequently or maybe coincidently Monty has been driving his van around since then.

For the pictures on the trip to work I'm going to number them as I mention them and place them at the bottom of the page with the number in the caption since I don't want to bump my trek photos.  (1) We're pulling out of the driveway as Shemi walks into the frame as I'm taking the picture.  He is our extremely talented chef and a funny guy to be around, I think the word "jolly" describes him the best.  I have no idea why he had to speak to Chaman or Monty but it meant that he was in the photo wearing sweatpants, which is the only day I've ever seen him not in dress pants.  (2) Monty our driver and (3) Chaman riding in style.  (4) We have a shared driveway to get to the road which is about 200 feet long.  (5) And we're on the road now, the pictures are taken through Monty's windshield which you'll be seeing soon.  Once you've seen it you'll know what the wavy lines are at the top and bottom.  (6) More road and a restaurant under construction on the left.  (7) Next stretch of road, this place is called Neugal Cafe.  There is a small inn on the right as well as a wine shop out of frame.  (8) Some more road, ordinarily I wouldn't walk down this road since there is a shortcut at Neugal Cafe I can take which saves some time.  (9) Some stores, the STD sign is an advertisement for Standard Telephone Dial; something lost in translation there.  (10) We turned left at the end of that street on a road that cuts through a tea garden (on the left).  (11) Monty and Chaman posing for a picture in front of Monty's epic windshield.  (12) As we turned the corner a bus was jugging along and we had to yield.  This is also the point that the shortcut would spit me back onto the main road.  (13) We drive along this road for 1 kilometer or so which brings us to a fork.  The left path continues along the river while the right goes uphill towards houses etc.  This is the part of town featured in the photos from the trekking mountain.  It is a minor establishment 15 stores or so, the "downtown" of Palampur is a 3 km stretch of shops, clothing stores, book stores, cell phone stores, digital photo developers, etc.  That part of Palampur is to the south-east of our current position.  At the fork there is a Samosa shop on the left.  It is the type of place that could be considered a "hole in the wall."  It is quite dark and frequented by many of the same customers and the occasional tourist.  Chaman and I tend to hang out there quite a bit when we are walking to or from since it is a great place to get out of the sun and have water, tea, or a delicious samosa.  A samosa is potato and a few daal (beans) that is wrapped in dough and then deep fried.  It is like a bigger version of Crab-Rangoon but with potato sitting on a plate with a very spicy red sauce pooled at the bottom.  One samosa costs 5 rupees which is comparable to what you might find underneath your couch cushions ($1USD = 44 rupees) aka great deal.  (14) The next picture skips ahead to us crossing the bridge, we took some stairs down to a walkway next to an aqua duct which takes you to the base of the bridge.  (15) The village side of the bridge.  (16) The path up to Dhared begins on the two big limbs from this tree onto a stairway carved from stone.  (17) Up we go, I put away my camera for the next stretch because at the top of this staircase a crowd of 10 or so were gathered.  I don't like people seeing me do touristy things although I've found that I am in the minority on that subject.  At this point I was able to collect 3 separate responses for my questionnaire which makes this a very productive day.  (18) Me.  (19) More walking to a stairway up to the gravel road.  (20-27) Lots of road.  (28) A nice waterfall to break the monotony.  (29) And more road.  (30) We climb some rocks to get up onto the foot trails.  (31)  Grass to feed the livestock during winter.  (32)  Once it is bundled it is placed in a tree to stay dry.  (33) Ahh the power of perspective.  (34) We cross a little stream where water is held in a concrete enclosed area.  I've posted a video of the walk-up to Chaman's house here.  (35) Mrs. Lal and (36) Chaman's youngest daughter who enjoys dipping my gift of chocolate in her tea and eating it.

Enjoy the pictures.