With my laptop tucked away in my backpack somewhere in the dusty corners of a certain temple in Sarnath, and with increasing reluctance to spend time in internet cafes and amidst technology and civilization in general, the journal mutates temporarily into a retro-format.

I will be writing into my notebook / diary whenever inspiration flows. With a journey to modern civilization with all amenities in sight, I'll snap photos of the entries meant to go online and post them in. People will have to put up with my handwriting (and pandist can debate on alternative readings), and there will be no paced publication strategy whatsoever — as much as I have ready, so much goes online at once.

In all likelihood, the bulk of the entries will be retro until the end of the year. The laptop's going to go, sold away — and do I say that with the pride of an ex-junkie off the hook! Mp3 player remains as a good companion. Camera remains to be seen — it's a bit big and clunky, I'd really rather not drag it around, and it's still worth some monies that would perhaps help me get the return ticket...

Speaking of returning, a great many opportunities for going underground have presented themselves, in India, in Nepal, as elsewhere. I'd need to be off the grid until the end of 2010 to rid myself of the upcoming imprisonment following my conscientious objection. And god knows I'd have been long gone, were it not for some debts I have to friends from our house project a year and two back. A man must bow before his duty, so stands the working conclusion, despite the vast array of allurements the Tempter has presented...

More to come within two weeks or thereabouts, I'm heading back to the hills tomorrow or the day after. And e-mails are, apologies to everyone affected, for the most part really either extremely short or unwritten for now...