‘Life is a journey.

Complete it.’

The chances of coming across these lines, at least in my imagination, could be from either or both of these sources:

• Drunk friends (I have many)
• Life-coach (I don’t have any)

It could also be parental advice, but thankfully things have not gotten so serious, atleast till now.  

The actual source of this deep directive was BRO. Not the sibling or mentor variety, but an organisation I have massive respect for: Border Roads Organisation.

To quote Wikipedia: 

The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) is a road construction executive force in India that provides support to and is a part of the Indian Armed Forces. BRO develops and maintains road networks in India’s border areas and friendly neighboring countries.

Travels to the Indian Himalayan states over two decades has led to this respect. Most ‘Border’ roads are at incredible heights with harsh weather through the year. The feat of construction and maintenance in such terrain is as much about human spirit as it is about engineering. So when BRO says something (through road-signs), you take it seriously.

The life-lesson quoted above was from our recent trip to Arunachal Pradesh, the eastern-most state of India bordering China & Myanmar. After trekking in the magnificent Namdapha National Park, Sabita and I travelled further east to Anjaw (eastern-most district of India).

Our base was Walong, a remote hill-station which serves as an ideal base to explore the region. Walong is a gritty cantonment town, unlike popular British-era hill-stations with charming bungalows which are now boutique hotels. But what makes it really unique is the absence of mobile network, a rare phenomenon in these hyper-connected times.

Our plan included a day-trip to border villages with intriguing names like Kibithu & Kaho; where we hoped to get a chance to interact with our soldiers, and also have a glimpse at China in the distance. Given the no-network scenario, our phones were used only as cameras, without any scope of live Instagram-worthy #NowHere #Bliss type updates.

In this flight-mode like lull, imagine our horror when my phone came alive with multiple WhatsApp/SMS notifications.

How? 4G connection… from a Chinese network!

We were intrigued and a little worried at this sudden development. The risk of data transfer on a hostile neighbour’s network in a sensitive region; coupled with the painful prospect of being charged for international roaming – without going international. Amongst a million thoughts, I also wished that there was some sign or warning before this happened.  

It was only later I realised that there was a sign. I had ignored it on the drive up, but saw it on the way down back to Walong, very close to the unexpected ‘network’ area.

Nrupal Choudhari