Statutory Warning:
1) This is gonna be long so brave yourself… :).
2) I haven’t read it over…so E&OE .Please to Bear……
Prologue
A new season......
It’s started all over again. But with a new set of rules and faces.
I’ve been out of touch of posting to my blog for a while now. So will start with all I would love to see in this season. The season starts with awe, uncertainty, inspiration, dare, loads of fun and a lot more adjectives. What am I looking forward to in this season???
Daily Dossier
(Disclaimer: You may skip this section, if you are not interested in the intricate details of our trip)
30th October Friday:
Well.. well..well!!! Finally the day we all awaited for arrived and the day we were starting our trip. As per the last minute plan change we had to cancel Nepal and head to north eastern part of India. I was all excited just by the thought of going away from daily routine (especially from the work place) for few days.
We (Akka,Sandy n me) started heading towards city railway station at around 9.25 PM. Through out the way akka was busy telling sandy how did she managed to get the luggage just in 2 bags... the explanation were so elaborate that the auto driver too had by heart knew all the things we had packed. I was in a dilemma whom to pity the auto driver or the Sandy.
I let her explain and started thinking abt how the trip ll go on? Who all will be coming? Will I get adjusted with them? Can I really enjoy with this grp of ppl whom I have never met..
I came out of my senses when my sis literally shook me, that is when I realized that we had reached railway station and its time to get down and go in search of rest of the grp.
We got down and paid 180 bucks to auto driver. And started going towards platform no 4. Sandy called up Neeraj to find out their whereabouts and we met them. Akka gave intro of Shruthi, Neeraj and Nandish and told me that there were 2 more to join. I was busy receiving calls and replying to msgs from my friends until Geetha and Chinmay joined us. So finally I got to meet all the ppl with whom I was going to share my 15 days vacation.
We boarded the train with enthu of making each and every moment of 15 days , a memorable one. As it was already 11.30, we spent some time chatting and went to sleep.
31st October Saturday:
Wake up and Smell the coffee... Hence we ordered few cuppa coffee and tea. The expression on Shruthi’s face after she had her first sip followed on all the faces and within no time all the glasses were dropped out of the train. Really it tasted yuk…
Almost the whole day was spent just chatting, counting the no of kilometers we had to travel yet, playing bluff, bank games, sandy, neeraj, chinmay’s USS baba magics and akka trying to decode it.
Geetha was having severe head ache since morning so cud not join us in our masti unlimited for the day and went to sleep early. Nandish was trying to compete with geet by sleeping for long hours( I remember he was awake only for 1 or 2 hours in the whole day!!!!)
Once after all the USS baba magic were shown to us and nothing else was left out, Neeraj decided to have fun by making use of wrestling power.( I hope u don’t mind me mentioning it here nee..;) ) He started with chinmay who was sitting quietly after geet went to sleep, and soon sandy was also pulled to their way. Shru didn’t wanted to miss out these, so she started clicking all possible shots.
One wrong decision can cause a big damage to ur life!!!! How true is this!!!! Nandy realized this li’l late. Interruptions to the wrestling session by Nandy made him repent for it later as Sandy, Chin, and Nee started relieving his secrets bit by bit by telling “Nandu Hamara netha hai..Beep Beep Beep Beep.” And once again all the galz trying to decode it. Nandy kept telling many times “hey, saaku..hey beda.Kasta agatthe.’ but it didn’t help him out in anyway.
It continued for some more time and the day ended soon as many went to sleep early. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
1st November Sunday:
Karnataka Rajyothsava…
As the Train was stopped due to crossing, we decided to get down and enjoy the nature for sometime on early morning of 1st of November. Sandy had actually got few good shots, later the photo session continued for some time.
We all were excited as we were nearing to Howrah Station in West Bengal just for the fact that we cud book a hotel room and take bath :) there( its obvious!!!)
We reached Howrah in the afternoon as we had another train to catch up at 5.15 PM , we decided to get a cab to go to any hotel room which went unsuccessful and landed us in Upper Class Waiting Hall.The facility given there was amazing, which kept us astounded that in India any public place can be so clean!!!!
After we got freshened up, photo session started once again keeping the famous Howrah Bridge also in the frame.
Finally the time was to leave from there, so we started again with all our belongings to the next train to NJP.
“Bengal jaaye aur rasgulla na khaye..” ye tho nahin ho saktha., we all had our share of Rasgulla’s ..hmm it was yummy..:)
We were just catching up on some topic, a person came with bag full of cotton sarees… ( galz and sarees..the bonding never fails..) so, we started with our first shopping of trip and ended up with 2 sarees..
It didn’t take much time for other saree sellers to find out whereabouts of bakra(or bakri) from their good networking capacity.
So many of them attacked us with their collection of sarees. The shopping of sarees continued and finally we ended up with 9 sarees in total!!!!!!!
Uncle who was sitting beside our seat was seen failing to hide the uncontrollable laugh over our shopping tantras. (or he might have heaved in the sigh of relief that he didn’t take his wife along with him..)
We played dumb charades for a while and then landed up with anthakshari after dinner with the 2 groups of galz and boyz..
Infectious , uncontrollable laugh was spread throughout the Anthakshari as coz of sandy’s realization over the word “Ra” which they had got many times in their turn. Song for the word “Ra” was supposed to be started with the original song of Rajkumar fame “Rukkammaaaaa..aaaaaa…. “ by sandy ,which was wrongly guessed by Nandy which in turn resulted him singing different song(Ravichandran’s song). Confused with the 2 kind of tunes coming out Nee and Chin decided to sing loudly to match with sandy’s(or nandy’s..dont knw exactly) tune which was even more confusing to the galz gang which made us wonder whom to listen.
All the confusion came to an end when the boyz team found out that lyrics of Rajkumar’s Rukkamma …. has got more magical wordings like “dava dava..dava dava ..dava dava dava dava kelamma..” when compared to Ravichandran’s version of song.
Hence all the turn of “Ra” word was entertained by many remix version of “Rukkamma..aa”, “Rangamma..aaa” ..etc etc..till they got another big realization for the word “Ha” for the song “Hoshwalon ko kabar kya”..( I pity Jagjit singh..;) ).
Akka missed most of this Raga’s by talented singers of our nation as she went to sleep early.
We continued this till we heard 3rd time hit on the other side of couch to signal us to shut up!!!!!! We decided to end our session for the day not only to agree upon the 3rd hit we heard but even to control ourselves frm getting severe stomach ache caused by too much of laughing.
We ended the day after sometime.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…
2nd November Monday:
Finally, We were done with our train journey on Monday early morning we reached NJP. After taking few Shots of KanchenJunga which was seen frm railway station we went in search of Toy Train to Darjeeling. Repeated trials to get the tickets of Toy train didn’t work out, so Neeraj and Nandish went in search of cab to Darjeeling.
Discovery of Travel agency!!!
After much discussion with the Travel agency Chinmay and Neeraj did book a plan which looked great idea to all, so we started our journey to Sweet Home International, Darjeeling.
We went out in the evening for shopping, as instructed by the travel agency we didn’t purchase much in Darjeeling later regretted it.
Oh!! How can I forget to mention the tasty masala tea and yummy yummy momo’s we had in Nimto.
Akka was not well as she had fever. It was not a good feeling to see her down with fever, but it didn’t take much time for her to recover and she was completely alright by next morning. (Thank God :) )
We slept early as we were supposed to wake up early the next morning for the sunrise view in Tiger Hills.
3rd November Tuesday:
Splendid Sunrise Over the Himalayas………..
The mountain top, clouds, the silhouette, the golden ring at the horizon at sunrise– kept flashing in my mind when we began the ride on a bumpy sumo to Tiger Hills. It was 4.25 am when I set my foot on the first stone in Tiger hills. It was so cold, I was glad of my heavy sweater, jackets, especially when the wind blew across us on the open platform.
Sunrise in the tropics happens very swiftly, and the mere anticipation of its splendor had everyone twittering with excitement. All eyes were glued to the east, and some started to greet the dawn with Buddhist chants.
We watched in awe as the pitch dark of night was replaced by a shimmering golden color that silhouetted the mountain range, stage lighting them for nature’s next scene. Suddenly, the eastern sky brightened and then within fraction of seconds a blinding beam of sunlight blazed through the golden turned clouds, bathing the Kanchenjuga peak in light golden hue. Within seconds this golden glow had spread westward across the entire terrain. Sunlight illuminated the snows atop each separate mountain peak- and it was dawn.
We stood there agape with wonder when a collective gasp arose from the crowd and then, filled with joy, for we had been privileged witnesses in the first scenes of an epic play. Now, since seeing the sunrise over the Himalayas, I have become much more aware of the daily treasures, such as clean air, sweet water, caring family and loving friends that fulfill the promise of joy and beauty in the lives of everyone on the planet.(Too dramatic..eh?? now u might be thinking m kinda exaggerating it. Happens sometimes when we are overjoyed. Swalpa adjust madkoli... :) )
Nevertheless, the photo-session did take place. Haan we cud manage to get the glimpse of the peak of Mount Everest!!!!!!!!! And we were ready for a decent descend from Tiger Hills.On the way back to hotel we visited the Batasia Loop and the War memorial Park.
We were ready in some time for sight seeing in Darjeeling..( Oh!! I remember the Travel agency guy mentioning it with heavy Bengali accent..and me, shru, akka, sandy had a good laugh over it.. :) )
We had yummy breakfast on the way, and visited Buddhist Monasteries, Himalayan Zoological Park.
We were destined to meet up with pink cap gal here, whose photo was taken on a secret mission on demand :) . Like they say, “Nice things comes in small packages” ,all demand came crashing down when we spotted pink cap gal again near zoo with her special someone (hope so)(poor Nee).
We said Tata bye bye to Darjeeling and we were off to Gangtok. It was 4 hours journey to Gangtok. Now it was my turn to get sick. I kept quiet throughout the journey and took rest(sitting in the backseat in a bumpy Maxx which was like tossing from hell to heaven) to Gangtok and at the end of our journey I almost recovered from my fever.(yuppie. It didn’t last longer :) ).
We reached Yalung Retreat, Gangtok late evening, by that time Neeraj was completely down with fever. As the fever was high, we decided to postpone the plan for one day and stay back in Gangtok if he didn’t recover by next morning.
Chin decided to give the medicines to Neeraj. Seeing Neeraj becoming active after having the medicine and asking more of it, we all also mutually agreed to take the medicines. We cud not convince Nandy though.
And we were all off to bed soon……………..
4th November Wednesday:
We galz decided to wake up the boyz as it was 9.30 in the morning and still no clue of them getting up. Neeraj who was supposed to be sleeping late, picked up the call and then tried hard to wake up others.
Finally we all got ready to leave Gangtok at 11.30. And we met an interesting person Pasang as our driver for the next 2 days.( u ll get to knw slowly why I said Interesting person as u ll read along).
On the way to Lachen we were blessed to see the Seven Sister Falls and few more, the water was so pure we cud see the pebbles clearly beneath it.
It was getting cold, so Akka instructed me to wear my hand gloves, Jacket. I had just wore my gloves and was the last person to board the Maxx, accidentally my hands slipped and my hand was held stuck between the front door. I was badly hurt in my palm but decided to keep quiet to keep my sis calm.
We had this driver Pasang with us , who wud become active all of a sudden and go into deep thinking in another moment. Sometimes Pasang wud just nod at the many questions we wud ask, and sometimes it wud get difficult for us to stop him frm laughing.We tried a lot initially to make him speak, but we didn’t get any response. It was only after I was hurt in my hand he opened his mouth “Kuch nahin hoga. Zara sa chot lagi hai bus..theek ho jayega..” I had looked up to realize that ‘our driver can speak’!!!
We took a pit stop at one point to have our lunch. By this time Chin and Shruthi were having stomach upset. Chin decided not to have lunch, geet convinces Shru to come along for lunch. With great difficulty Shru agreed to come for lunch , but then something which Shru never ever wants to see in her wild dreams happened..
Koli devva……….
We were just finalizing on the menu of our lunch(which went on waste as there was only the fixed item they wud give..) ,we saw Shru jumps out of her chair and run towards the vehicle parked to get her locked inside the Maxx and feel secured.
Everyone were wondering what might have gone wrong, then in few seconds we cud see the culprit coming out. It was a Hen!!!!
Had I mentioned it that, Shru had a distinct fear for hen’s. She was the gal when in her Class Exam of Drawing she had drawn the picture of a crow when it was asked to draw a hen!!
Nothing much interested us post lunch, so slowly all of us fell into a small nap. But for Pasang post lunch had him all charged up, he was very happy to disturb our nap and wud just shout all of a sudden just to wake us up.
We reached Lachen around 7 in the evening. The houses and lodges around were rather snug…made of wood. The silence was bliss. You could hear the stream flowing right behind the room.One more round of medicine taking session goes on and we were off to bed soon after dinner.
5th November Thursday:
3.30 AM: It was an early wake up call for us. We had to be back in lachen for lunch coz the weather at Gurdongmar is knwn to deteriorate post noon.
We had our breakfast at Thangu on the way to Gurdongmar Lake and got jackets for ourselves to survive from the increasing cold. We met a family frm Delhi who had also come for trip like us and one gal in their family became entertaining factor to us as she kept staring at Neeraj (I wonder how cud she managed not to blink her eyes for few minutes,when we were finding it difficult even to open our eyes completely.)Our Maxx had gotten stuck in small rocks and slush and gave up in sometime.Pasang told us that he needed sometime to fix up the flat tyres and asked us to get down. We met few army officers there and learnt that we were experiencing zero degree temperatures first time in our life. Though we were finding it bit difficult in the cold breeze which was hitting hard on our faces we didn’t back out frm the photo session till the time Pasang started saying his significant trademark “Chalo Chalo Chalo”.
Mother of God…………
We made our two hour long drive or rather climb on the mountain. Cold but fresh and natural, I felt that I had entered the land of mountains.
After that, the topography changed drastically as the ascent began. Coniferous trees give way to bushes. The bitter cold winds of the morning are accompanied by bright sunshine. Not a spec of cloud was to be found anywhere. As far as the eye can see, there was nothing but barren mountains and dusty roads with snow scattered over them at some places.
After climbing a small hillock there it was, a blue green lake clear as a crystal shimmering like an emerald surrounded by giant mountains with just rocks all around. I felt something, I felt humbled by the beauty I felt blessed to have been present there. Honestly I felt like staying back, giving up everything that I had worked for, I felt peace and happiness. This is one place if you sit silently for sometime you can actually hear your own thoughts.
Gurudongmar is an awe-inspiring sight. Its jaw-dropping beauty took a while for us to register. The clear blue lake was surrounded by snow capped mountains on the far side. The water was crystal clear and absolutely still making a great sight with the reflection of the mountains behind it. Indeed many of photo shoots took place. The view at the lake is breath taking with the water having a beautiful color and equally picturesque landscape. You actually feel it; there is definitely something about this place that just can not be explained it has to be experienced.
The white peaks meeting the blue sky with river flowing in between looked like an artists imagination and work on the canvas. It seemed as if god had used earth as his canvas.
We were at the lake only for about 20 to 25 minutes when the wind started to pick up speed. We started climbing the steps to go back. I was chilled to the bone and I enjoyed it until I was out of breath. And we had just trekked 10% of the entire climb of few steps and that’s precisely when I looked up. And the whole idea of climbing to the top seems like a big joke. ‘I can’t do it!, I said. We moved for another few steps and my lungs gave up!. And we were only 25% through. I cud see Pasang well ahead atop calling back every minute –“Chalo Chalo Chalo Jaldi aao,Abhi bahut door jaana hai” ,I would have killed him if only I could reached him. The climb got tougher with every step. I would just stop, breath heavily and pull myself to the next step.
And I looked up again. And the echo sounded louder, ‘I can’t do it’. But Shruthi kept company and I moved on. Every step, I would stop all of a sudden, take huge gulps of air and then start again. I was feeling nauseated. And every step I took told me it would hit me harder if I fell down. And just when I thought of giving up, we had made 100% of the climb. Finally when we reached the last step, that’s it I thought I was unable to move my feet. That’s when I almost gave up.’ I just can’t move any further.
There was no clue abt Geet, Chin and Nandy to come back soon, it was getting very difficult stay there as we were struggling for a single breath so we decided to go in search of water. We found one brave Indian army soldier nearby and asked him for some water. These soldiers who patrol this area in such hostile conditions, acute mountain sickness and in such a remote India-China border area away frm family. These soldiers deserve a thorough round of praise and a salute at the very least.
Geet finally came up with winning smile on her face. She was all excited and told us that she tasted the snow. We were shocked seeing her without those heavy jackets. Great!!!
We retreated from the lake in an hour’s time and headed back to the Lachen. Post lunch we left Lachen. After driving the entire afternoon, we reached the town of Lachung where we checked in for the night.
We met few singing aspirants in the cottage where we stayed. The evening was spent chatting and some friendly conversation. Nandy was off to bed till we called him for dinner. We retired for the day after stuffing our hungry stomachs.
6th November Friday:
Yumhtang valley
Our next destination was Yumthang Valley where river Yumthang flows down between towering mountains the sight was spectacular.
As I closed in towards the ridge, I could see some ice deposits on the top. I climbed further up on a big stone to the top and looked down – and wow! It was the most beautiful thing I had seen ever! Deep down on the other side was a lake – in semi-crystallized form. It’s deep turquoise colors (may be coz of the chain of hills surrounding it) and the reflection from ice crystals on the top was just too good to be imagined. Excuse me for struggling for words; it was so beautiful it looked as if I am in a completely different world. The short walk on the river side is one of the finest moments of the Sikkim trip. It was like one of the scene straight out of hollywood movies where you see just one person walking all alone on a huge mountain ridge with breathtaking visuals! And how I longed to be in such places!”.
I and Chin decided to go for some thrilling experience. Initially akka didnt agree, but then she gave her nodding. We both prepare ourselves for a short walk in the freezing cold water for a small distance. Everyone were gaping at both of us as though they were seeing some insane humans,when we struggled to reach one point then turned to pose for photo shoot.
The valley also houses a small Buddhist temple, the Gods of which must be extremely benevolent, because without their blessings, a place as beautiful as this could not exist.We stopped for breakfast near the valley at Katrina’s ( supposed to be Pasang’s galfrnd ,Don’t blame me for telling this Nandy..I said it’s as per Pasang say…). Maggi served there was too good. Nandy was so impressed by the hostess of the tea stalls Ms. Katrina and Ms. Isha Deol , that he didn’t stop praising them for sometime.
While having breakfast we got a glimpse of or say the staring gal got another glimpse of Neeraj. Seeing the killer look of gal, I thought we wud be burnt to ashes if in case she had the power of ‘durvasa muni’ ,when we all galz were captured well in one frame along with Nee.
We left for Lachung after Nandy was done with his photo shoots of Katrina, Isha deol etc.
We collected our belongings from the cottage we had stayed in Lachung and left for Gangtok. Akka had some bitter moments with Pasang. I took some time to convince her , but it was of not much help. Then Nee came for rescue. He cud somehow convince her.
Not long after , we stopped at Mangan ( Pasang’s place) for lunch. Pasang adviced us to take Bhabhi’s hotel ( must be his bhabhi). But fortunately we found one good restaurant near by and we decided to go to Tamrind for lunch.
Post lunch we went in search of Pasang who was away for his home, and by the time we found him ,we learnt that we ll have to wait for some more time as the jeep had to be repaired.
We found some kids throwing stones at a guava tree, soon Chin and Nee joined their team. Many attempts to get the Guava fruit went unsuccessful and the kids finally came up with few fruits seeing our attempts to get it.
It was almost dark when we reached Gangtok, again we checked in Yalung retreat and went to MG Marg for dinner. We were greatly relieved to get back to the civilized world.
Discovery of food court:
After taking a short walk on MG marg, we discovered Food Court which later went on to become our favorite hog place.
7th November Saturday:
After getting up and having nice hot bath at the hotel we started of for Gangtok 10 points sight seeing The sun shone brightly, allaying our fears.
We started with Enchey Monastery. This monastery also houses antique images of Gods, Goddesses and other religious things.There are lot of big golden Buddhist wheels which I had a lot of fun turning.
We went to visit the Directorate of Handicraft to see the age old tradition of craft and weaving. The traditional weaving, painting and carvings are taught by masters to younger generation of craftsmen keeping alive skills passed on through centuries. Here we can actually see how traditional carpets are weaved and masks carved.
Later we moved on for a ropeway ride. It was overwhelming experience of ride in the cable car which had cool views over the city. I could hardly see over other passenger’s heads, that is. I hadn't expected the stomach lurching height, we were swinging over but I got used to it quickly. All of us enjoyed this ride very much, and wished it cud have lasted for some more time.
We stumbled upon a flower show which is famous for orchids and in the spring has an orchid show. We paid Rs. 10 entrance fee and walked around the small flower show, it was like being at the country fair.
Though we visited several places on that day, the one noteworthy was the visit to the Rumtek monastery. It is located at about thirty odd kms from Gangtok city and to reach the Monastery the car had to navigate on the slippery roads hanging precariously on the lush green mountainsides bursting with wild flowers of all conceivable colours and sizes.The ride itself was mesmerizing.
The visit to this Monastery was even more fun when Sandy and Nee came up with a plan of taking a video there. The slope way had brought one idea in their mind. It looked fun for all and we all agreed to act in that keeping Sandy as our cameraman. Sandy instructed us bend a little and walk in obtuse angle.
It was even more fun after we saw the video which had come out well with all of us walked in a manner parallel to the ground. Geet must have mistaken Sandy s word and walked which made us remember Indian Army marching. ;)
Since the time we had seen the pastry ad in TV, myself and Shru were adamant on having Pastry. Thankfully we found one Baker’s café when we were coming out of Monastery. We all decided to have our lunch there.
Final point was a waterfall in Gangtok. Our driver was all praise of this waterfall and told us its very famous waterfall in Gangtok.
Let me now delve into few of the interesting aspects of our trip, which had more to do with our madness than the places we visited.
The galz grp got to see the glimpse of true color of guys in our grp..hmmm ..Grrrrr....
Sandy told us infact bribed us saying that he ll take a snap of all galz keeping the beautiful scenery behind. When we reached the place running all the way which was decided to be framed in our pic, all the guyz scampered around the place pretending to take pictures etc etc. This left the galz fuming and we decided “Ivru photo thagdilla andre yenaythu..maha..nam hatranu cam ide..naave thakkothivi..they don’t deserve us to be in their frame”.
We tried many techniques to make them turn back and look at us , we even tried shouting aloud in front of other tourists the usual “Beep Beep” stuff and all, but all in vain. The cold battle continued till Geet and Shru went up to them and had given their share of punishment to each one of them. But we haven’t forgotten it yet haan!!.
On being dropped at Lal bazaar, combed through the four floors housing numerous shops selling mostly cheap Chinese toys, foot wear, clothes, cosmetics etc. It is a nice place to pick up some cool bargain if you are happy shopping alongside pan riddled walls and other litter; for some like us there was no choice.
Having Softy in bone chilling cold weather was too good experience.
We were so tired that we hogged endlessly and hit the sack.
8th November Sunday:
Early in the morning, proceeded to Nathula pass, the Indo-China border post at 1400 feet, negotiating through thick wall of fog once again on a wet, slippery road. Our jeep, perhaps, responding with surrender to the mountain God, struggled at a crawl of 10 to 20 kmph. We got the first glimpse of snow at the tenth milestone. And soon enough, as we rode along, the weather mercifully cleared and presented an awesome view: snow clad mountains shining pretty in their snowy outfits on all sides.
Thawed enroute, about half way down at an Army workshop. The coffee had never tasted better.
The destiny had once again planned to make me meet up with one more aunty to my ‘yours truly atthe’s list’. I met this aunty near the coffee shop when I was searching other folks of my grp. She grabbed my hand and asked me where did I get the pink cap I had wore. I replied to that calmly. She felt so happy and continued asking me, frm where I have come, my occupation, my name, my age, whether I belong to marati community etc.
Experience had already taught me what wud be her next question and as expected she said that she had got a son working in Bangalore as software engineer and then turned to the aunty standing beside her and started praising her son, I was so horrified with the way she was holding my hand, and heaved a sigh of relief when I saw my sis coming in search of me. Somehow I managed to escape frm there and ran towards the direction of my sis and convinced myself that ‘ I have reached the safe zone now’.
We finally reached the India border which is separated from the Chinese by just a thin barbed fence. We clicked some photographs with “Bhagat Singh” (the name which Chin had given him) of Indian army.We got to see the Indian army from very close quarters and only then did we realize the tough life the army is leading. Far away from family and friends, and with nothing for company except the snow desert, they deserve to be saluted.
Staring gal was last seen here, and she too had utilized the opportunity well and had got last glimpses of nee.
A descent of 1000 feet and we reached Baba Mandir, dedicated to a soldier who had drowned and then apparently reappeared in front of some of the soldiers of his regiment. Cafe 13000, situated here, made a lot of profit on this day because eight spendthrift people visited them.
Our next stop was Tsomgo lake,It was a lake up above in the mountains which got its waters from the melting snow….It is the most picturesque lake you’ll ever come across….While we were there we saw the clouds come in over the lake and engulf it. It was the most amazing sight ever. One minute you are looking at this beautiful lake….and next minute it is engulfed by a large white cloud. You could be forgiven to mistake it for smoke…..It was as though nature was reminding you again that it has the power of protecting its beauty from you. It was the most belittling moment in more ways than one. It’s an amazing place with breathtaking views around almost everywhere.We saw some yak wala’s around and Akka, Sandy and Nandy tried sitting on them. They looked funny….!
We stopped at one market place and did a lot of shopping there. We drove back all the way to Gangtok. It took us about another 2 hrs. We went to lal Market in to hog the yummy chats. Decided to have an early dinner we went this hotel called the “Apna Dhaba”.
It was time to shed the extra kilos we had gained , after the heavy dinner so we finalized on M.G marg at last. Had I mentioned earlier abt how the MG marg looked like?
Little did we know that we would stumble upon MG Marg, I was so impressed! It was a cobble stone street blocked off from traffic, lined with gardens, streetlamps, and fountains! We walked around and I was taken aback by how clean and friendly everybody was. There were families wrapped up in scarves and crystal clear sky, and trashcans!MG Road in Gangtok is open only to pedestrians in the evenings and no vehicles are allowed. It felt weird and also blissful to walk in the middle of MG Road in the evening with no fear of being run over. It was as blissful experience for other ppl to see us play Leg-touch and Lock and key with hopping in the middle of the road as for us.
While Akka and Sandy preferred to hit the sack straightway, others had the idea of getting themselves captured well in the new adidas track suits they had shopped for the day. I had witnessed their madness and captured them well in one frame. And soon we were off to bed.
9th November Monday:
The morning was spent deciding on and convincing ourselves that we wud somehow watch the movie “Ajab Prem ki Gazab Kahani” which we were planning since 2 days back.
We managed to get the tickets and enjoyed it thoroughly with the happening crowd of Gangtok. The rest of the day was spent shopping in MG marg, where we found out look-alike Emran hashmi who made a lotta profit frm our shopping. We were forced to come out as all the shops were closing down.
Not to miss, the interesting fight between Shru and Nandy: “Neev Sari illa ri”, Nandy was repeating this sentence again and again throughout the day which left Shru fuming.
Guyz had come up with one more entry to the beep list by dedicating the song “Anisuthide yako indu..Beep beep” to Nandy”.
10th November Tuesday:
Meeting someone special
The day started once again with we shopaholics shopping like there is no tomorrow. Myself and Shru met with this someone special while bargaining in a shop. Later we learnt that this someone special lady had come alone for a trek of 5 days all the way frm Bangalore. The most amazing part was when she told us to help her pick one nice pair of shoes for her 11 year old daughter.
She joined our grp soon after that and began her shopping along with us. Though it looked quite awkward to us we kept kept her company.But when it was time for us to go for lunch , we had to give some excuses to escape frm her as we dint find it quite comfortable with her around us.
We were relieved after we bade good bye to her, but it was only Nandy in our grp who seemed not happy with our decision of bidding bye to her leaving her all alone again.
The shopping continued till we were exhausted to hit the bed.
Note: Nandy continued with his japa of “Neev sari illa ri”. And Shru continued with her usual Grrrr…
11th November Wednesday:
Shopping continued till noon, till the time we bade farewell to this land of peace and tranquility and took the way to Kalimpong.
The ride to the Kalimpong was too good. We reached the destination and checked into JP Lodge, which looked like a haunted place with few senior citizens taking care of the lodge. We went in search of good restaurant for dinner, throughout the way Nee was trying to horrify us by saying “800 saal se” kahaniya. Gradually he found it so cool that he started describing each and everything he found on the way existed since “800 saal se” including the uncle who was helping us to the way to market, and another uncle who was found roaming alone with a torch in his hand(haan..here the torch also existed since “800 saal se’ according to nee), the hotel we had dinner, the clock tower in the middle of the circle which connects to the market etc etc.And when we were back in the lodge we found one cute little boy sitting with his grandparents(new 3 entries to “800 saal se”list ). One mistake of mine to speak to that little boy made us listen to his non stop laughing session which lasted for half an hour.
When finally we had got the ‘chutkara’ frm the little one, we landed up playing ‘kalla police raja rani’ game, and then followed by wrestling session by Nee and Chin keeping Nandy as the target.(Shru enjoyed the most.)
Finally we decided to hit the bed. Though the galz team proved to be brave, the one person who was actually building the stories of “800 saal se” was so horrified with his own stories, refused to sleep in the corner and demanded for the place between two(long way to go nee..;) ).
Dose of the day: nandy’s japa and Shru’s Grrrr…
12th November Thursday:
We left from the zombieland after lunch and started the way to Siliguri in a jeep which was owned by another senior citizen of kalimpong(who was also added to the list of “800 saal se”) who shocked us by his maniac driving.
We had our dinner in Krishna hotel near Railway station, as we enjoyed our food geet found something unacceptable in her plate and and denied to have food further. We decided to have golgappa as dessertto our lavish dinner. ;)..
We boarded our train to Howrah, and retired for the day soon.
Nandy’s “Neev sari illa ri” japa had continued again throughout the day.
13th November Friday:
Fun time in upper class waiting hall:
As we had found the waiting hall clean earlier, we decided not to go out in the hot city and stay back in the waiting hall for the train we had to board in the late evening.
We spent some time by playing cards which was followed by USS baba magic of Chin and Nee. Some massaging sessions did happen, and then post lunch it was time for “Kannada Kali” session. Nee shocked everyone by crossing all the hurdle to write few words or say names in Kannada. Later the session continued with some more rounds of “Kannada Kali” and then followed by dumbcharades.Finally , it was time to get into the Howrah-Bangalore train.
(Nandy was never quiet whenever he got the chance..)
14th November Saturday:
As it was the last day of our trip, we didn’t wanted to miss out any chance of having fun. We spent most of the time playing cards, and again with USS baba Magics. This time decoding became easier as Chin and Nee started revealing the secrtes.
Nandy didn’t join us and was fully engrossed inthe book he was reading “The Arabian nights” , for which he had fight again with Shru(actually the book was taken away forcefully frm Shru by Nandy).
Being impressed by USS baba magic our fellow passengers also joined us in cracking the magics performed by Chin and Nee. They learnt some and they taught some other magic to us.
This time Geet shocked us by her talent of imitating Sandy’s trick, and few more magics.
Nandy and Shru continued with their cat-fights. The day went on like this and soon we went to sleep.
PS: though we cud crack or make the guyz reveal the secreat behind many beep in the beep list, we cudn’t get lucky in “Nandu Hamara Netha hai..Beep beep”.Hence the contest ll be held, the one who reveal the secret ll be announced as the winner with surprising gift!!!!!!!
15th November Sunday:
The trip had finally come to an end, when at 7.15 we reached Bangalore. We all bade goodbye to each other and went home ruminating the trip in mind.Not to miss, at the end of our trip when we were preparing to get down, Nandy dropped the “The Arabian Nights” book accidentally out of window.(sorry nandy for revealing all ur secreats)
THANK YOU
This truly was one of the most memorable trips that I have ever been on and its memories will be cherished forever. I was initially unsure whether I would be compatible with the ppl who went along because it is one thing to know each other well, quite another to spend 15 days together. But, in hindsight, everything and everyone made it all the more lively and enjoyable. A big THANK YOU to all the seven friends, who made it so remarkable that even three weeks down the line I keep going through all the photos of the trip every few days.
The cast crew included:
Chinmay fondly called as Chin: with lotsa enthu and ready for any mischief act anytime, talented magician award winner of the year.
Sandesh fondly called as Sandy: talented cameraman, super- duper talented vocalist of our grp, whose realizations over the songs were too amazing.
Geetha fondly called as geethu by Chin and Geet by me: evergreen-smile, and ever ready to sleep..;) .born talented magician who left others awe stuck.
Neeraj fondly called as Nee: originator of USS baba magics,expressive actor for Sandy’s songs, wrestling champion and ‘dil jala’ contest winner (award recommended by staring gal).
Nandish fondly called as Nandy: ‘yare kugadali oore horadali’ kinda guy who love to be a lonely wanderer than to bother to be in a grp ,all time target in wrestling session, fore-finger session and ‘kalu-yelyo’ session.
Supreetha fondly called as Sup and Akka by me: ‘Kabhi haan Kabhi naa’ kinda gal , who made me and Sandy hum the song “aaa aaa aahhh..Kabhi khushi..kabhi gum..naa naraz honge hum, kabhi khushiii… kabhi gummm…mmm..”(with background music)
Shruthi fondly called as Shru: all time super excited ,fight partner of Nandy and true follwer of ‘Hum bhi hai josh mein, baathen kar hosh mein’ song.
Puneetha fondly called as Neethi, Neethu and Appi: he he… abt me..others shd say that..i don’t praise myself u knw..;)PS: The contest of fill in the beeps of “nandu hamara netha hai..beep beep” is still on air. Anybody interested can try their luck to get the surprising gift awaiting for the winner!!!!! So what are u waiting for..Hurry up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
