2 and 1/2 months in Shangri-La

This is a true story of two people, one from India and the other from France, who came to live in Thailand in the year 2008, to find work and make a decent living. Instead, they found themselves characterized in an urban legend, that spoke neither their language nor style. Worse, the legend revealed nothing. Untimely covered in an ancient and mystical time-wrap, the legend mistook everyone for being the same, and took what people gave up so easily— their appearances. People in this legend never spoke to each other and in time, people lost sense of who they were and where they came from. Everyone travelled around, looking for the missing clue, from Chang Mai in the north to Phuket and Koh Samui in the South. Some in desperation wore yellow robes, some painfully inked the King’s anthem in their arms and legs, while some crafted beautiful scarfs in silk and crafts in bamboo and others who took to the beaches- sat silently, vacantly gazing at the empty seas, as if all the answers will suddenly come impounding on them.

But unknown to all in the legend, and beneath all this legendary fuss, is the one which stood pronounced, in the most hideous fashion – hedonism.

Call it over-indulgence, call it negligence or a 21st-century resonating in hedonism. There’s a free-floating sense of guilt but an over-riding sense of conviction as well - that we did what we couldn’t have done better – ridden on all our senses to feel and experience the last 2 and a half months in Thailand. Eating out everyday, travelling every weekend, sitting in personalized movie halls, daily room-service, free laundry and a must Singha beer and Magarita with every meal. Well that’s the life we are going to leave behind in a few days.