and with this...

I am off to the mountains for a couple of weeks. My ngo, Rural Litigation & Entitlement Kendra (RLEK), is building two primary schools in the Uttarkashi District of Uttranchal. I am going to oversee some of the building and to make sure things are in order for the May 8th opening of both schools. You should see how fast things get built in this part of the world.

From what I have been told, one of the schools is nine kilometres from the roadhead. To build the school we have been hiring donkeys (at 200 rupees a trip) to haul bricks from the truck at the trailhead to the building site. I will be spending a lot of time organizing materials, drinking chai, smoking a beedi or two and reading. All this amidst the high mountains of the himalayas, about 300 kilometres from the Tibetan Border. I look forward to returning to Dehradun with some lovely images, good stories and my clothes emitting my favorite cologne in the world- the warm smell of a fire.

Love to all.