THE HIGHWAY SURVIVORS

“Wow! WHAT a plan! Absolutely thrilling, exciting and so very adventurous!!”

These words blurted out when Dev confided our 3^rd Anniversary plan to me. So far, we celebrated our anniversaries in the sweet elegant yet a bit obvious manner. Like candlelit dinners, wines, great music…little pampering to ourselves. Romantic! Well, that’s how anniversaries were supposed to be, we thought, being beginners. We felt quite satisfied by the “perfect” way to celebrate that special day.

Just a week before our third one, while planning on “what to do’s or where to go’s”, we started retrospections on the previous years’ memories. After a good ponder we looked at each other and came up with exactly the same reaction, “Naaaaaah!!!!! Not again this year!” We were bored. Bored and almost terrified of repeating the same procedure in the alibi of “celebration”! We were very sure that we didn’t want to do something, which was obvious. And that is when Dev came up with this brilliant idea, which forced me to pat his back. This was the plan:

A road trip from Delhi-Bhangarh-Delhi! The reason why this plan raised my eyebrows in excitement apart from the bike ride was, Bhangarh is known to be the most haunted place in India! Now, this was something I would call spine-tickling thrill! Although most of our friends who heard about the plan told us to expect the least, as we might rather scare ‘them’ away, but we were happy. About the l-o-n-g bike trip and visit haunted ruins! We couldn’t wait for the night to get over on 25^th as we were more than convinced to have the best plan one can ever think of for a “perfect anniversary celebration!”

It was just a day’s program so we didn’t have to pack bags or toothbrush or any extra clothes. Just water, wallet, maps, shades…and we were all set to go! Our bike cruised through the NH8 and the city looked all the more pretty in the winter dawn. I kept thanking Dev for such a desirable and wonderful gift! Feeding our stomachs with egg-cheese-sausage-burgers & coffee and eyes with soft glimpse of sunrise from the large windowpanes, we left MacDonalds at Manesar heading towards Bhiwadi. Just as we entered Bhiwadi (i.e. about 65kms. From Delhi), the events started taking place one after another. Never before did we experience such a brim of twists and turns in one store. While penning them down, I’m laughing and having goose bumps at the same time! Here it goes in chronological order:

Twist #1- The first little indication: we found a noise coming from the engine and some fluid dripping on Dev’s shoes. The mechanic at Bhiwadi discovered that fluid to be the petrol, which was leaking, as the knob wasn’t set right. He checked them all, and assured there isn’t any big trouble to drive it for another 200 kilometers. We too became relieved telling each other this is too petty a problem to be worried about and carried on with our venture.

Twist #2- The great fall: the roads were mostly smooth and Dev never tried to over-speed, as he is extremely careful while highway driving. So, we were kind of enjoying the ride. I kept clicking pictures of roads, farms, trees and clouds. The only problem was with the trucks, which drove madly. Since it was a two-way highway, more caution was required. After crossing Alwar, at the mouth of entering Burja, we faced a small narrow wooden bridge. As we were almost at the midway of the bridge, something happened and before we could realize what, Dev was lying on the ground and I, above him! Within a few seconds, bike passers were there to help us get up and they too nodded to the fact, it all happened because of the speeding truck. Also, they repeatedly kept telling us how lucky we were to be saved. Lucky indeed! The bridge was so narrow that we hardly had any space to move away when the truck coming ahead, almost pushed us aside. It undoubtedly was a narrow escape. A few wounds on the knee and a little turmoil in mind, we thought of taking a few minutes rest and…moved ahead again!

Twist #3- Gone with the wind: on our way to Abhaneri, a biker came close to us and constantly tried to communicate. We understood only when there was nothing to do about it. He was trying to tell us, something flew away from our bike, and we later realized it was one of our route maps! Going back to collect it was a bad idea-hence, we started depending on the direction boards mostly.

Twist #4- Off-track: our first destination was Abhaneri to visit a 9^th century old temple and “Chand Bowli”. For that, we had to ride through a place called Bandi Kui. Keeping track of the directions and the milestones, finally we came to a fork junction. We obviously followed the one, which ‘promised’ us to lead to Bandi Kui. Little did we know how misguiding those directions were. Of course, it led us to Bandi Kui, but the way to reach there added another feather in the cap! Instead of the smooth highway road, we had chosen the route, which went through a cramped village where there was more traffic than the streets could hold; more markets than people actually needed; more people on streets than they should be at that time! And, just when we thought it was over, we found ourselves riding through dry, rocky muddy undulating tracks surrounded by hills and forests giving the entire place a look of Chambal Ghats where you can expect robbers on horses coming any time! Travelers passing by gave us suspicious gazes (or so we thought). However, we moved on so confidently as if it was our own village!

Twist #5- Enter the Haunted: fine carvings and beautiful architecture were the vital features of Abhaneri Temple of Harshat Mata. Chand Bowli on the other hand, was 100 feet deep, which meant 3500 steps! Amazed by the ancient monuments we decided to delay our lunch and head towards Bhangarh, as entry after sunset in Bhangarh was strictly restricted. It was a 58 kilometers ride from Abhaneri and would take at least one and a half hours, as we never sped beyond 40-45kmph. Until Dausa (i.e. 31kms.), the roads were not bad but, turned nasty after that. This meant 27 kms of difficult ride. However, the picturesque views around always kept us distracted. While crossing places like Sainthal, Bapi, Nabhawala it was getting darker and sun was getting ready to set. The bike and the roads did not support speeding up. After a good stressful ride when we reached Bhangarh ruins, the guard wouldn’t allow us in. It was sunset already, and they simply could not risk our lives by letting us enter the ‘most haunted place in the country!’ So much of hassles, such adverse experiences all for coming to this place and now they don’t allow us? We remembered the coffee shop owner’s words at Tijara, who mentioned to us, “sirf kismet waale hi pahuch paate hain wahaan, saab!” (only those who are lucky can reach there, Sir). That time he appeared just like any spooky watchman or old beggar who always create a warm-up mood in horror films. We had laughed our hearts out that time but, never thought it could mean something really! Did it? Well, we summarized our tough, full of hassles journey even displaying Dev’s knee wound and finally convinced the guard to let us in! But, those few moments were truly tensed and we almost freaked out when it seemed all our efforts so far had gone in vain!

Twist #6- Change of plan (by choice): after all those tumbling down and off road expeditions and frequent feeding of the bike with engine oil because of that fall- all these ate up the whole day. So, by the time we were about to reach Bhangarh we already decided not to go back to Delhi on the same day. Instead, another 50kms and we would reach Jaipur. Rent a room in a decent hotel, have a drink or two, eat and get some good sleep. Start the next morning for Delhi. This plan sounded just perfect to us and the “kebabs and curries” and the comfortable cushiony bed, warm quilts, hot water-all of these motivated us all the way to Jaipur. This was the first positive twist in the journey and brought smiles of relief on our faces.

Twist #7- Man proposes, God disposes: throughout our way to Jaipur, we kept discussing on two topics. First, the amazing beauty of silence that blanketed the ruins of Bhangarh. The golden beams of dusk hitting the clouds, the greens, the majestic Aravalli and the scattered ruins of Bhangarh over a huge area- all of these exhibited a fascinating blend of colors and we took away an enduring memory with us. The second topic we discussed was however imaginary. That was about the hotel we would check in to and the food we would order (14 hours of starvation helped us to imagine food even better and faster)! When we reached Jaipur, suddenly we realized we didn’t have any spare clothes to wear. Hence, two new pairs of t-shirts and pajamas! Now the only job left was to find a nice hotel with good food (all those kebabs and curries that we fantasized now weren’t too far!) and a comfortable warm room…our perfect anniversary would be complete that way. But, alas! Our fortunes had pre-decided to give us a tough time. We hunted almost every hotel and came out with a frown reading those “alcohol and non vegetarian food is strictly prohibited in this hotel premises” boards! Wish they had some smarter business policies. By then, few agents had already started to nag us with their offers. “deluxe hotel sir! Very good! Madam, very nice hotel” etc. We kept going in and out of hotels with disappointment and more frowns. At last, surrendering to one of those agents we followed him to a hotel expecting the least and worst. However, even our fortunes got tired of playing tricks by that time and surprised us with our “dream hotel!” We thanked the agent our luck for the first time that day, raised toasts to the adventurous anniversary we’ve had, ate like monsters, watched TV and dozed off like never before.

Twist #8- The Big Break: we wholeheartedly kept appreciating the Hotel Nirbana Palace, which actually was a savior for us. Recollecting the previous day’s experiences, we thought it might have been a dream perhaps! We started for Delhi afresh. It was a bright Saturday morning, people rustled bustled on roads making us feel proud that we were not a part of those “poor office goers!” After about one and a half more hours, we took a tea break. Our timing was perfect, and we calculated roughly to hit Delhi by 5 or 6pm. How could we realize the upcoming twist awaiting our life? Just about after 20 minutes, our baby finally refused to move anymore. Dev checked the oil, clutch, brakes etc. but could not get hold of the real culprit. It was in the middle of a highway and no mechanic was visible. We did not know whom to curse- our fates or our extremely adventure-hungry-urges? Anyway, we still were “lucky” to have found some mechanic shops nearby- which literally meant dragging the machine for 1.5kms. After a detailed observation of all the possible parts, trying out some jugaads, the mechanic declared, there was a serious problem in the engine, piston and timing chain. This required overall servicing, replacement of some parts to be bought from Jaipur and not less than 24hours, if we want the bike to get started! We meant to cry, but we laughed out looking at each other.

Twist #9- Change of plan (by force): after spending almost 3 hours at the mechanic shop, it was time to decide about spending the coming 24 hours. And going back to Jaipur seemed to be the only option left with us. In spite of all the odds, we cannot deny the fact that relaxing another evening in that hotel was quite inviting. Although this almost emptied both our bank accounts, but guess we hardly had any choice. Since this was another day for us sans lunch, we again started dreaming of the great food at the hotel! A two hours bus ride to Jaipur, checking in Hotel Nirbana Palace, again eating like monsters and raising a toast on our fates that brought so many spices to our lives, we slept off to put an end to the day!

The next day appeared to be the easiest, giving signs right from the beginning. Like getting a bus readily to Manoharpur (where our baby was waiting for us- all set!), getting the opportunity to eat lunch for the first time in three days, taking planned breaks, smooth traffic-free roads, clean loos at petrol pumps…well, we started believing in signs by then! We saw sun setting behind the Aravallis, rode through the NH8 and gradually kept feeling happy on seeing the kilometers to Delhi decreasing on the direction boards. It was 10.30 pm when we reached HOME! We can bet, our home never looked so beautiful before. In fact, the mere sight of “Mehrauli- 10kms” made us almost jump in triumph! Having dinner with tomato soup and Maggie we exchanged our opinions on the experience. Just then, a friend called up to make sure we were safe home. Listening to the stories and events of our journey he said, “You guys should take it as a lesson ok! So, now tell me, will you ever dare go on a bike venture like this again?” We both laughed out and said on the phone-speaker, “Of course we will…next destination- Himachal!!!!”

Animated thoughts

My animator brother who is great with the computer graphics and Maya and even does wonders with his sketches, somehow goes a little err when it comes to making stories. Even as a child he would ask me to "write poems or short stories" for him so that he can get them published in the school magazine on his name! We have grown, but little seemed to have changed when suddenly I get an sms from him saying, "Didi, please write a story on a "thread" and mail it to me asap!" I can understand your reactions on reading it as mine was the same. I re-read it and asked him again, "a story on what?" and he replies back, " a thread, thread...SHUTOWW (in Bengali)!!!" As usual, I had fewer options than to actually start writing something. No matter how weird my expressions were, or how clueless I felt, as always, I surrendered them all to my sisterhood! Surprisingly, it took me ten minutes in total to think, frame and write down a story! The shortest time ever. So, thought of sharing my first...say, a fairy tale or...whatever you want to call it:

Once there was a thread who used to be very sad. He was black and nobody liked him.

Everyone was fond of colorful threads which they used to sew their clothes with, tie on their wrists as rakhi, or for even tying on temples/dargaah etc. for mannats (prayers)! But as for our thread...nobody wanted him!!! Nobody wanted a black thread!

One day he went to one of those temples to speak to God about his misfortune. He flew and settled at one corner of the temple. Nobody notices him.

he starts crying...nobody sees his tears. He cries and cries and asks God: Why you had to make me black? Why couldn't you put some colors in my fate

I am so very cursed. Nobody wants me. My existence doesn't mean anything to anyone. Why at all did these humans create me if they dont want me?

Please God...you are the only one who can answer my questions. Please tell me why cannot I be of any use to anyone??Please answer!!!!!!"

God did react to his misery and pain. He softly said:

"My dear black thread!

Don't think you are useless. Dont be sad...and don't think you are not wanted.

Today I'm going to give you such a power, that every human would want you to be with them all the time. Every human would become scared and restless without your existence. I have known these human for long.

They will create your importance by themselves!

From now on...you will be the most pious most pure thing they would ever want in their lives!!"

And from that very day, every black thread is considered to be a remedy for shooing away bad spirits...or bad omens! Humans have identified its importance as being a shield to badness!!!!!

That's all folks!!

:)

MEANDERING VISIONS

Being a traveler and not a tourist, I have always enjoyed the journeys more than the destinations. Be it a holiday or life. From all such journeys, I have realized one thing: there are two ways to travel. One is a planned one, where you plan everything right from the color and size of the bag, number of clothes to carry to the name of the hotel, length of stay and destination points to be covered. Second, is an unplanned travel, where you roughly know where do you want to go (which is again subject to change), and that's it! Nothing else is planned and every action is taken on impulse. In all these years, despite all resistances and disagreements, I have sheltered a strong belief and unchangeable thought in my mind that playing safe is boring. Risks and adventures make life interesting and worth living. Sounds crazy? Well, it is. And the crazier it sounds, more is the fun involved.

Let me share two examples with you. Two real life examples. One of my ex-colleagues Sudhir (name changed) was very well known in our organization for his systematic and perfect planning. Be it a corporate party, a small lunch among friends, a family trip or even a Friday ‘after-work-booze-party’, he used to plan them all. And when I use the word “plan” in context of Sudhir, it’s not even close to your extent of definition or imagination. I cannot resist the temptation to share one such experience with him. One day I was fighting hard with the post- lunch-nap, which kept alluring me and was making it almost impossible to keep my eyelids apart. Suddenly, a piece of paper flew in to my workstation from the Xerox machine, which was close to my seat. As I started to read on, the very same eyelids not just forgot to blink, but also sent a message to my brains that left my mouth opened. The paper contained a check-list. Usually we’ve all seen or prepared check-lists before planning a trip. This too was a check-list for a trip. But the contents of this one were no less than a list prepared before shifting a house...or may be a going to live in another country...or probably leaving your parents’ house to live with your husband! Can’t figure out what all it had, right? Let me help you.

It was a list with some ten columns or so. Each column had a heading, and even sub-headings. The main headings included “food & beverages”, “Bags & Suitcases”, “Clothes”, “Shoes”, “Important accessories”, “Cosmetics”, “Toiletries” and “Miscellaneous”. Each column not only had the names but also the quantity, colour, pattern, style and every other possible extensions you can imagine. Now, food, clothes and toiletries are something I can understand to some extent, but shoes? I can’t remember when did I carry more than two pairs of shoes (including floaters or bathroom slippers) in any of the trips of my life so far. Then cosmetics? Why anyone would make a list of his wife’s/girlfriend’s cosmetics or make-up while going on a holiday? To add to this, the important accessories consisted of torch, batteries, repellants, medicines etc. that we all carry. But, it also had needle and thread (imagine you or your wife/girlfriend trying hard to stitch up that little hole in your T-shirt’s sleeve while trekking through a forest!), scissors (hope not when he travels in a flight), shoe polish and brush (why at all carry formal shoes on a holiday, eh); safety pins (have no idea why he can’t do without them ever)...and the list really goes long. Ironically, this is not the end, my friend. All clothes, shoes and bags had their specific descriptions written.

After getting over with my reaction to this legendary trip-list, I went up to Sudhir. As I handed him the sheet, I could not help asking him whether he really followed all of this. Quite surprised to my ‘stupid’ question, he proudly said, “Of course! You know Alaka, I don’t like buying stuffs around when I go on a trip. You just ask for a thing, and it comes out right from my bag! Just when you need it! Ha ha ahaaha!”. So I join him in his laughter with an appreciative expression on my face (or so I tried to). At night while I was scribbling something in my diary, I looked at my huge red travel bag lying above the cupboard. I wondered, “there are people who love to carry their worlds along wherever they go. And there are people too, who just carry themselves and their spirits along wherever they travel”. Thinking about the latter, it reminded me of a friend who, has always acted as a catalyst to my and Dev’s travel cravings!

His name is Ajit. But we would rather love to call him a Globe-trotter! Because that’s how he can be defined best. Used to work as a team lead in the IT application support in a multi national bank. That is his professional outlook. Or should I say, that was. He left his job and eloped to Europe just like that! After a few months of hopscotching, he is now teaching English in some school in Spain! Now, that is another side of Ajit. Besides being unpredictably adventurous, he is an extremely gifted photographer and an avid traveler. His quest to explore every possible nook of the earth took him to the most exotic, virgin, populated, fascinating, infamous, enticing and colourful places on globe. He would not travel without prior research about the place though, as he always used his knowledge as shield to ignorance. We too travelled a couple of times with him and could easily make a difference between a traveler and a trotter! He wanders through the scantiest and the maze-like streets with such confidence that would give any of the spectators an impression as if he grew up there. I even asked him once while following the way he kept walking, “have you been here before?” and he shrugged in a very matter of fact manner, “nope! Why do you ask?”

This is what fascinates me. Not that I’m against the tradition of planning and packing before any venture. However, I simply do not want to miss any little possibility of adventure that can come in way. Ajit would always surprise us with his sudden decisions of going on short weekend trips which would not give us time to plan ‘what to take’s or ‘how to go’s. Neither did it require any prior notice/permission/application as it utilized our ‘weekends!’. Yet, we enjoyed them. We kept waiting for such ‘break-free’s. Many times, we never got the tickets, or found most of the hotels packed already. And there started our hunts, searches, explorations and discoveries. Finding out the unavailable, managing with the unmanageable and flying free beyond the boundaries-those are the true zeal of life. Real fun. Ok, let me ask you a question. Which is more desirable? To find a perfectly clean and decorated room in a lavish hill resort booked for you-or, living in a wood house at a hill top with the local farmers and going to the fields/jungles with them to see how they work every day? Well, a tough question I believe. However, the answer is very simple to me!

Winning over 'The Block'

In my last blog I wrote about my "travel bliss". After that, many of the readers, who happen to be bloggers as well, shared their "writer's block" experiences with me, especially after their very first writing. Every time they talked about the gap or discontinuity in their writing, I assured myself, "I am definitely not going to stop it here. Especially when I got so many encouraging and exhilarating comments (I considered nine to be a good number!)." But somehow, very slowly and mysteriously took birth a small devilish brain who continued hissing in my ears every now and then, "c'mmon! Take a break! Writers have the right to be lazy. How else would you experience the fun of it?” And before I could realize, I had already fallen into the trap of the mighty influence of a notorious monster called ‘writer's block!’

One writer friend of mine once wrote an article on ‘the firsts’. Mentioning, revealing and expressing the different reactions and experiences on her different ‘firsts’ of life. Interestingly, most of the firsts are the most impactful. And when it comes to any creation, the first one has the maximum ingredients! Be it the first blog, the first baked cake, the first show, the first woven sweater, your first clay creature or may be your first film! You tend to put the most in your first creation. And honestly, that’s easy. To create something new is definitely easier. As you don’t have to restrict yourself to any rules or don’t have to bother about ‘touching the benchmarks’. Just an ear to your heart. And that’s what extracts the best of you. You devote your best, receive the best appreciation, encores, applauses, kudos, pats on shoulders…and attain the high of your life! Life seems perfect! But all those highs start fading out soon and that perfect life seems like a mirage. It’s now the sense of responsibility to maintain consistency that begins to scare you. And this is where comes the monster!

Slyly entering into the mind, murmuring in a husky voice it says "You can never become a writer if you don't have such a block, you know! Every great writer has faced this and still does. There is nothing wrong in it…” Even then, if I managed to muster up the spirit and start scratching my head looking for a topic to write, that creepy voice would again pop up, “what’s the hurry? Just take your time! Obviously you cannot force yourself to write something when you don't feel like. You can afford to be lazy; and you can afford to be moody! That's the best part of being a writer..." and so on. Surprisingly, those little green voices turned my laziness into a perfect alibi in no time. Little did I realize, that the examples I was referring to as a support to my laid back attitude, were of those who already are writers…and for them having a block is far more justified than someone like me, who has just begun and needs to first write sufficiently to get a block!

So, after being enough thick skinned to all the sarcastic bombardments by Dev about my lack of inconsistency, impatience and laziness, and also after innumerable self-motivation sessions (I’m glad that I didn’t wait for the New Year Resolution push!), I held the pen for the second time. Not just that, I was determined to come up with something better than the first one as well. Trust me, it took me more than a month to actually ‘start’ it. A few more weeks to zero it down on ‘what to write’. And another couple of months to finally make it a ‘readable scribble’!

Though I’m still not sure about that ‘better than the first one’ statement yet, but honestly, I’m happy. Not just because I have something prepared as a strike back reply to Dev’s sarcasms which would bring a triumphant smile on my face, but also I have known the trick now! And the trick is, I just need to keep on writing to win over that monster. It doesn’t have to be “the most enlightening masterpiece”, neither does it have to be a bloggable material…but anything that crawls out of my brains and flows on the paper through my pen- or rather should I say the keyboard! Doesn’t matter really. What matters is, now I’m ready to go on with it. And I’m again going to prove it in my next blog…very soon….umm…yeah…soon enough!

Being a Traveler and not a tourist…

Since my childhood days, dad would always say, “look around you, as much as you can. There is no better pleasure than traveling….” And we would go on out station trips on our summer holidays, which is the longest holiday in most of the Delhi schools.
As I grew up, I got so much infected by this travel bug, that I chose to study Geography for my graduation just because it was the only Arts subject which had out-station trips as excursions! It involved surveys, which again meant travel!! Little did I know, that I would end up being a Cartographer, which practically meant roaming all around the globe, every street, every village and every little nook…but just through maps! Right at my desk, on my Mac!

Somehow, things kept taking turns. Working in this organization provided me with two very important ingredients to nurture and flourish my travel bug all the more- money and leaves (as in, holidays!). And above all, I got married to a person who eventually to my very pleasant surprise, turned out to be another Travel Freak!
Now I had money, leaves and company, which only kept on adding up to my passion for travel. Thanks to the social networking websites, which helped both of us to remain connected with our old school friends. After a couple of meetings, drinks, lunches and high teas, we zeroed on one very important decision- Let’s travel together!

Guinea Pig…

To start with, in March 2008, we chose a short distance destination -Agra. As they truly say, “to know a person better, you need to share a room with him/her…” after this short trip, we knew one thing for sure: we want to travel more and more and more!!! It was a hit one and we decided NOT to look back. Just after three months, our next trip was to Kausani, Ranikhet & Nainital. This time we had a grup of six people. We could never make those summer days better. The beauty of the Himalayas, the rivers, the air, the clouds…everything seemed to have intoxicated us. We would just stop our cab anywhere we wanted to, and would jump into the brooks and simply get ourselves fed with the nature!

This was the trip when Dev (my other half!) & I realized that, there was another common interest that drove us crazy- Photography. Travel & photography are very good friends of each other and mostly they go hand in hand! So this was the second bug that bit both of us, and we wanted to make the most of it. We started clicking, and kept on clicking each and every bit of the air that our eyes could capture. Tried new angles, experimented on the old ones, discovered different compositions, played with colors, shades and lights…in short, we gobbled as many photographic thrills as we could! It was pure bliss! It was such a beautiful experience, that we still cherish remembering that trip.

Salt & Pepper

Since then, we visited many other places in the span of one year. Those included, Manali & Rohtang (August 2008), Jaipur (December 2008), Kurukshetra (March 2009), Corbett and Shivpuri- White water Rafting in a week’s gap (April 2009) and Haridwar-Rishikesh-Dehradun (June 2009). Each trip was different from the other and had its own significance. For example, rafting in the Ganges was truly the most exciting and adventurous experience. It was like the closest encounter with fear, in true sense. On the other hand, we went dumbstruck by the beauty of the huge Himalayas in Manali with its snow covered peaks peeping out. The vigorous Beas seemed more than a river when we adventurously crossed it by dangling ourselves in ropes right above it! And not to forget the chilly winds that froze our spines while we reached the Rohtang Pass at an altitude of 13,051 feet. Although we couldn’t spot any tigers in Corbett, but the safaris we went out for in open jeeps definitely gave us a real thrill of the jungles. Kurukshetra, Jaipur & the Haridwar-rishikesh-dehradun trips were more of the relaxed ones with not many activities involved other than getting a break from our routine lives/places…these short trips are like refreshment breaks in between a long monotonous board meeting!

In the past five months, there were three more interesting places we visited and the memories of these trips would be unforgettable forever. Keylong-Baralacha La, Kolkata and Varanasi. Three places, totally vivid, diverse and very interesting in their own special ways. Keylong & Baralacha La gave us the magnificent glimpses of dark brown gigantic mountains with snow icing on them. Never before did we see such hugeness. It was scary yet beautiful. It was dry yet mesmerizing. It was crazy chilling, yet we loved breathing every bit of that air. There was adventure in the air itself. The picturesque monasteries on hilltops attracted us as much as the way to reach them scared us! These were hardly 2.5 meters wide unpaved roads, softened by the recent shower. Spirits, greed to see the monastery and our smart driver (as nothing else was left as option!) were what led us there- safe! But I still can’t deny, that I really enjoyed that scary thrill as well! After all, these are like spices that make a trip complete, full of punch and zeal!

One the next one, we experienced the magic behind the 1984 built first Metro rail in India, the mysterious old buildings, the mouth-watering cutlets/chops/rolls, and any other possible fried junk, one thousand and one variety of sweets and Fish which you simply can never get tired of eating! You just guessed it right! None other than Kolkata is what I’m talking about. And did I forget to mention how it feels to travel in a local train during office hours? Well, TRY it…I dare you! If you can manage to continue this particular travel for even a week, you are sure to lose that extra flab you developed by hogging over all the junk foods! Guess, that’s called “Acu-PRESSURE” therapy (does it, eh?). Moreover, if you understand Bengali, you get to hear, see, and participate in the most interesting conversations around, on any topic under the Sun. And that’s free of cost…100% entertainment guaranteed! Another very significant and interesting nature of this city that we observed was, be it a rickshaw-puller, pan-waalah, priest, bus-conductor, student, doctor, businessman, or even a parrot may be…they all have their opinion. They are all well read (novels or newspapers, they survive on reading) and wit/sarcasm is their second language! We were truly awestruck by these interesting facts of the city. It has a different life altogether. Enjoyed it!

Mysticity of the City

Now, let me tell you about our last trip. A place where we spent our Christmas. A Christmas very different from any other year, a place totally contrasting to any other place we have been to before, and a thread of experiences, which again, was something, we never went through-before. This was our Varanasi trip. After much brain storming discussions through e-mails and chats we decided on this place. as soon as Dev and I heard this name “Varanasi” we both felt a wave of excitement that ran though our spines and we both uttered these words “lots of photography man!” Now this place was not at all what is conventionally called a “chilled out place to spend your Christmas with a gang of friends”. It had a different story. Varanasi was special because of its amusing history, its vibrant culture, its people, the maze-like streets, the Ganges that assures a peaceful rest of souls, the Ghats showing varied activities going on, the irresistible street foods, the numerous temples in every other street, the evening “aarti”- the place had a different shade, a different air.

In this trip, we had seven people in our group- the largest number so far. And interestingly, they all had some reason of their own to be excited about this place. For some, it was a great platform for photography, for some the temples, for some the Benarasi Silk sarees, for some the most important ‘must do” thing was trying out famous Benarasi paan, street foods and “bhaang based thandai”, and for some just being so many friends around was the simple reason to be happy and excited about! Honestly, all these reasons were perfectly valid. And, we did NOT miss any of these! Our cameras were getting enough food. The boat-ride early in the morning at 6, along all the ghats and watching the sun rising and gradually changing the color of the river with its approach- this entire two hours journey on the water got us completely captivated. No word, no song or not even a picture can explain what our eyes and hearts felt. Then our haphazard roaming through the streets, the babas (Monks) and watching almost eleven cremations at one time on the famous “Manikarnika ghat” – these were all such scenes that gave goosebumps. These define the intensity, the mystic behavior of the city. Completely diverse to these feelings, was our crazy experience of trying Bhaang! It creates waves all through your body, enters into your mind and gets stuck there! And I’m not going to write anything more about it as you got to try it to get the feel, really! And then the gorgeous aarti in the evening with the glowing huge lights, the bells and shankh sound filled the air with a strange pureness. An amazing positive and serene touch, that moved our souls for a while. Some mystery, some unexplainable magic...After all these, when I lied on my train bunk, I said to myself, “I am coming to Varanasi again…for sure!”


I don’t know whether I’ll visit any of the places I have been to, again or not. Neither do I know how much of India I’d be able to cover in the coming year. But, what I feel, believe and know very strongly now, is that I want to “look around as much as I can” in my life. Because this is what gives me the feel of “pure contentment”…something what I call as “ Travel Bliss”!