Steep and narrow roads lashed with rain. Cars plough through them, muddy water spraying and foaming around their tyres. My hostel is a horrid place with uncomfortable bunk beds and a horribly fickle electricity supply. The biggest problem of all is the cold. It gets to me everywhere – even when I’m inside.
And that is why, when I sat eating my paneer parantha listening to the lashing rain and trying not to shiver, I suddenly made the decision to head south again, not tomorrow but upon this very day. And all at once I was filled with excitement again. The mystical land which surrounds Manali, the tall spruce trees and the great clouds of mist hanging beneath the snow-capped mountains – none of it is lost on me. There is possibility here but I am cut off from it. I don’t want to continue into the Himalayas wet and lonely; my heart urges me to go south again, to make the most of the time I have left in India and meet the friends who have offered to show me their hometowns.
So I hurried back to the Roamers backpackers hostel and booked a bus to the city of Pathankot.
Pathankot is a city in Punjab and is the hometown of Anshu – a girl I met in Rishikesh, who, along with the a guy from the Indian army, taught me a variety of important Hindi swear words, including how to say “Garlic Dick”. I looked forward to seeing Anshu again and seeing her hometown…
