Clear Blue Sky

Last night was cold and grey. The weather forecast told of bad weather for the next two weeks. The prospects for an early morning flight departure did not look very bright. Nevertheless, when I woke up this morning it was still dark and no electricity. I could very well be stuck for weeks as the high passes would be blocked by snow. When I looked out I could see some stars in the sky, that's positive. When I came down with my bag there was no sign of life but after a few minutes Dawa stumbled out the front door. As the dawn rose I could see that the sky was clear and blue. Good, but from experience I also knew that everything could look different in a couple of hours. Dawa started the van and turned on the heat. Off we went. A good thing with Leh's airport is that it's very peaceful, no rush. This time of year there is only one flight in the morning and not very many passengers. When all the passengers were checked in and had passed through security everyone waited for the increasing sound of a jet engines coming in from the East. And suddenly there it was. Everybody sprung in motion. The flight was half an hour late but at least it had come. Twenty minutes later we were on our way. It was still a beautiful morning with fantastic views over the now snow capped Himalayas. Big glaciers curling down the valleys and Nanga Parbat's tower visible far away in the west. Gradually the white cover disappeared and we were soon over the brownish southern foothills. The temperature in Delhi was 19+ and the first thing I did was to strip off my layers of technical outerwear. Now, around 1 pm it's probably 27+ here. I'm not sure what I will do next. Call a few people, I think. Tomorrow I'll meet with Brij. So this is how things stand right now: warmer but boring. This is not my favorite city.

In the afternoon I went for a meeting at the Swedish Embassy. It was very laid back and productive and gave me a few ideas about SASNET's future strategy. It seemed that the embassy staff knows zip about SASNET. Gautam Bhattacharyya (a Swedish guy despite his name) was there. I haven't seen him for 4-5 years now although we've been in email contact. He has two small children now and the family lives in Vasant Vihar in south Delhi. Inside the embassy it looks pretty much like in a Swedish government office. Even the coffee was Swedish. It felt a bit weird to tell the truth.

I can't beleive how decent the weather is. Despite everything bad here in Delhi it's a great, warm evening. And only two days ago I was struggling knee deep in snow to give Stanzin's car a grip on the ice at Photu La. Can't beleive it...