(By Vish)
I have been to quite a few hill stations in my life, but I can safely say that Patni Top is by far the best! To be honest, I don't have words to do justice to this place. I shall only say that it should feature in the 'Places to visit before I die' list. If you don't have one then please start asap cuz life is too short to waste by holidaying at the same spots over and over again.
Before you start expecting a million things out of this shockingly low populated village, let me tell you the one nd only thing to do here. It is called.. Wait for it.. Umm.. NOTHING! Yes, you got that right! You will be shocked to know how much you can actually achieve while doing absolutely nothing (on purpose, mind it!). However, You need to know the trick cuz there is a very fine line between being bored and being extremely happy within!
People say that I am an extrovert and a social person and I don't deny it, but not many know that I am not scared of being alone either. Sometimes you need to be alone to get in touch with your real self. Not the person ur parents/lover/colleague/friends/relatives think or assume you are.. But the one you have known since you were born. I wonder why so many people get worried at the prospect of being 'alone' when the fact is you are spending time with one person who has known you the longest and most - yourself! My guess would be that they get confused between being alone and being lonely. Yea! That's gotta be the reason else they would actually look forward to being with potentially their best friend and confidant!
A lot of things happened during these two days. Men in blue lost all hopes for retaining the world cup, Indian women's team got themselves a spot in the world cup semifinals, mum tried a new Chinese dish, dad ate without any suggestions to the chef or any complains, brothers surprise plan for his wife flopped big time, I smiled throughout the stay without flinching even once!
Unfortunately, my personal experiences cannot be expressed in words. But, fortunately, I am returning completely refreshed and with a whole new perspective towards life!
Life is simple... Indeed! :-)
Ps: Take a trip soon!
Pss: Smile!
Psss: Spoil yourself and all your loved ones!
Pssss: Support the Indian womens cricket team.. They have more balls than the men in blue! (No pun intended)
Showing posts with label trip. Show all posts
Showing posts with label trip. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Friday, June 12, 2009
Part 2
(by Vish)
Traveling in train can be quite an experience, if taken in the right spirit. I didnt! Nd hence every passing second was pissing me off! We werent even halfway to our destination nd I was ready to get off, cudnt handle these stupid co-passengers!
Three magazines, one pack ciggarettes nd few rounds of cards later, we were ready for dinner. Btw mum's a fabulous cook nd I can bet on my life that noone can make a better non veg dish than her. So I forgot everything nd served myself a big fat mutton piece. Mr. n Mrs. Jignesh Shah were really ticked off at the sight of me digging into the once alive creature! To be honest I was really tempted to offer them some.. Maybe tmrw I will! Hehe
It was time to get back to my third grade second class seat. Its strange how the whole look of a train changes when u walk from a 'sophisticated' airconditioned surroundings to a 'down grade' second class envionment. I mean how dare the Gujju family offer me theplas nd khakras when barely 10 minutes back two from the same culture were trying to give me a heart attack!
I was kept awake by the little monster's cries.. I think he was trying to communicate with his buddies left behind in Bombay! I wud love to know whr was he getting the energy to take his screams higher every ten seconds!
Heres an idea, why dont we make a car that runs purely on babyscreams? I mean we 'Indians' are producing these little rascals by the dozens, so why not make some use of em in the bargain? I hope no chinese hakka noodle is reading this.. Back off!
After changing my seat for the convinience of my co-passengers, I finally found one middle birth to sleep. I think I got an hours shut eye before someones laughter woke me up. This was different you know, full hearted laugh which always ended with a sad sigh! Took a peek towards the toilet area nd found 4 middle aged men having a merry time with handful of bidi's nd desi daaru. I stood there for a bit, had one ciggie before offering one to the laughing dude, he looked like a story teller. Sitting in the middle with, now, 6people surrounding him. 'Dhanyawaad baabu.. Ab aap harari bidi lo.. Specially Manali se laaye hai.. Kadwi nahi lagegi aapko' How cud I not try it after this explanation? Soon I gave my entire cigg packet in exchange of the gold leave bidi's nd within no time I was sharing the 'homemade' daaru as well. You must try this combination, with the exact bunch of people, at this exact time, in this exact train! Oops.. You cant! Suckers.. Hehe
These guys never run out of stories nd they have one for practically anything nd everything! Some you may doubt, some may leave u speechless nd then some which will make u roll on the floor laughing ur guts out!
One dude was traveling to Vaishano Devi cuz his mother wanted to visit the god herself, but she died of some kind of disease a year back. I was trying to click some snaps from my phone before he said 'Babu us wakhat hame 20 hajaar ki zaroorat thi maa ko bachane ke liye par hamare kheto ki fasal kharab ho gayee.. Bichari apne pote(grandson) ka mu dekhe bina hi mar gayee'. I had bought this phone exactly a year back nd it costed me exactly 20K!
One fairly oldish man was visiting his beloved god for the fourth occasion, this time he was sure that he would be able to muster the remaining 12.5 thousand rupees he needed to pay off the agriculture loan nd wont let it extend for another year. I lost 12.5K last friday in poker!
The youngest of the lot had quite a few stories as well. One reminded me of Slumdog Millionaire.. His name is Pawan nd he travels int he train everyday from Paanipat to Ambala nd back, cleaning the garbage that we civilized people thrown on the floor. He does this cuz his sister is too young to work, his mother works on the field nd he doesnt know who his father is or was. By default he is the man of the house now nd is very proud of making a daily average of Rs 100. He is 7 !! I will be 27 in one months time nd I blow Rs 100 on my smokes everyday!
Three of them didnt know their birthdates but the rest 5, including myself, are born in the month of July!
After the daaru nd bidi session was over, I cudnt help but feel the luckiest among this crowd. I looked arnd nd everyone was in snoring away to glory, maybe dreaming of a perfect world. I, on the other hand, I cudnt sleep at all. Am I really that lucky? Maybe.. Maybe not!
Traveling in train can be quite an experience, if taken in the right spirit. I didnt! Nd hence every passing second was pissing me off! We werent even halfway to our destination nd I was ready to get off, cudnt handle these stupid co-passengers!
Three magazines, one pack ciggarettes nd few rounds of cards later, we were ready for dinner. Btw mum's a fabulous cook nd I can bet on my life that noone can make a better non veg dish than her. So I forgot everything nd served myself a big fat mutton piece. Mr. n Mrs. Jignesh Shah were really ticked off at the sight of me digging into the once alive creature! To be honest I was really tempted to offer them some.. Maybe tmrw I will! Hehe
It was time to get back to my third grade second class seat. Its strange how the whole look of a train changes when u walk from a 'sophisticated' airconditioned surroundings to a 'down grade' second class envionment. I mean how dare the Gujju family offer me theplas nd khakras when barely 10 minutes back two from the same culture were trying to give me a heart attack!
I was kept awake by the little monster's cries.. I think he was trying to communicate with his buddies left behind in Bombay! I wud love to know whr was he getting the energy to take his screams higher every ten seconds!
Heres an idea, why dont we make a car that runs purely on babyscreams? I mean we 'Indians' are producing these little rascals by the dozens, so why not make some use of em in the bargain? I hope no chinese hakka noodle is reading this.. Back off!
After changing my seat for the convinience of my co-passengers, I finally found one middle birth to sleep. I think I got an hours shut eye before someones laughter woke me up. This was different you know, full hearted laugh which always ended with a sad sigh! Took a peek towards the toilet area nd found 4 middle aged men having a merry time with handful of bidi's nd desi daaru. I stood there for a bit, had one ciggie before offering one to the laughing dude, he looked like a story teller. Sitting in the middle with, now, 6people surrounding him. 'Dhanyawaad baabu.. Ab aap harari bidi lo.. Specially Manali se laaye hai.. Kadwi nahi lagegi aapko' How cud I not try it after this explanation? Soon I gave my entire cigg packet in exchange of the gold leave bidi's nd within no time I was sharing the 'homemade' daaru as well. You must try this combination, with the exact bunch of people, at this exact time, in this exact train! Oops.. You cant! Suckers.. Hehe
These guys never run out of stories nd they have one for practically anything nd everything! Some you may doubt, some may leave u speechless nd then some which will make u roll on the floor laughing ur guts out!
One dude was traveling to Vaishano Devi cuz his mother wanted to visit the god herself, but she died of some kind of disease a year back. I was trying to click some snaps from my phone before he said 'Babu us wakhat hame 20 hajaar ki zaroorat thi maa ko bachane ke liye par hamare kheto ki fasal kharab ho gayee.. Bichari apne pote(grandson) ka mu dekhe bina hi mar gayee'. I had bought this phone exactly a year back nd it costed me exactly 20K!
One fairly oldish man was visiting his beloved god for the fourth occasion, this time he was sure that he would be able to muster the remaining 12.5 thousand rupees he needed to pay off the agriculture loan nd wont let it extend for another year. I lost 12.5K last friday in poker!
The youngest of the lot had quite a few stories as well. One reminded me of Slumdog Millionaire.. His name is Pawan nd he travels int he train everyday from Paanipat to Ambala nd back, cleaning the garbage that we civilized people thrown on the floor. He does this cuz his sister is too young to work, his mother works on the field nd he doesnt know who his father is or was. By default he is the man of the house now nd is very proud of making a daily average of Rs 100. He is 7 !! I will be 27 in one months time nd I blow Rs 100 on my smokes everyday!
Three of them didnt know their birthdates but the rest 5, including myself, are born in the month of July!
After the daaru nd bidi session was over, I cudnt help but feel the luckiest among this crowd. I looked arnd nd everyone was in snoring away to glory, maybe dreaming of a perfect world. I, on the other hand, I cudnt sleep at all. Am I really that lucky? Maybe.. Maybe not!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Journey the the heavens! Or so I thought..
The post below is Vish's(dowggie's) writing. Am just posting his travelogues till his journey ends.
The day finally came, today we make a trip to visit the one of the most elusive yet highly worshipped Hindu gods. They say 'chalo bulawa aaya hai, maata ne bulaya hai' nd even before one can finish this line, someone else will throw a dice specifying, rather forcing the fact that you can not visit her untill she wants! I used to wonder on the latter statement but as I sit in this train, which takes 30 hours to reach, I have more than accepted that its the fact and no one can do anything about it!
Little background on this trip. We visited the temple around 12yrs back in a group of 20 odd relatives from all parts of India. This time again, everyone was suppose to go plus some more. As it turns out, after 3 months of planning, its only ma, pa and me who are traveling and rest all are stuck with some or the other 'unavoidable' reasons. This justifies the loooong train journy cuz it would have been fun had everyone joined in. Not so much fun now! I found out little too late, somewhat like a mouse after biting the cheese placed nicely in the trap!
Coming back to the present day... The alarm went off at 0630 hrs (that's 6 30 in the morning you morons). Took me precisely 10 seconds to get outta my bed - not cuz I wanted to, but cuz I cud sense dad standing within a feet of me! Morning tea wasn't required cuz I was up and about like a watch dog, strange how dad's method of waking me up still works even after finishing school over a decade ago! Moms constant comments didn't phase me as I went about packing my bags while brushing my teeth. Yea, I am multi tasking! Nd Yea, I pack just before I leave! An hour later we were on our way to the station, I dun remember when I stopped replying to dads questions.. Maybe when he asked me why I needed the laptop! If only you knew dad, If only!
So here we were, standing the borivali station at 0810hrs (that's 8 10 am, idiots!) And mom had a sudden attack of realization! I would have have chosen other words, but cmon guys, shez my mum! She said 'kitni bheed haina bombay main.. Dekho saari local trains full hai itni subah bhi'. I know it wasn't anything major and nothing more than just an effort for small talk. But cmon mum - I expected better! Something like taking a flight straight to Jammu or at least till Delhi! Ignoring her comment I asked dad about the total travel time. He looked at mum and said we'll reach tomorrow.. No exact number, no approx time either. The mouse just kept coming close n closer to the trap!
Train arrives and we all take our seats, dad still cribbing bout the laptop and mum checking out everyone in the neighbouring births. Its as if I have tattooed it in my destiny that 'I shall have at least one constantly crying infant and one ridiculously old couple'. Today the old couple turned out to be gujrati's, lets call them Mr. N Mrs Jignesh Shah (FYI I find them the most obnoxious and senseless travelers) and the baby, aka baby monster, belonged to a punjabi family, aka Kapoors (This should be fun!).
The journey begins and with it the hauling of the BM. I think he needed something to drink. How dumb! Whats the point of crying son, just tell dad u want whisky on the rocks, looks the Kapoor Sr starts his drinking session with a morning cup of tequila shot! Jr dude kept crying even after gulping down a gallon of milk and some. I wonder why is it illegal to slap these lil maniacs to shut em up! Cmon wouldn't u beat the hell outta your dog if it kept barking no matter what u tried? I would!
Anyways, once the train catches some momentum, Dad hands me my ticket and asks me to go and get it signed by the TC. Quite surprising! Why? I'll tell you! When three people are traveling, u don't need to individually get the ticket checked. He goes on 'Oh yea, we couldn't get u in the same compartment.. Ur reservation is in the seventh bogey from here. Its in second class' Ladies n gentlemen, That's how u trap a Mouse! So like an obedient kid, after almost half hour of shelling from both sides, I make my way to find my authorized seat! I finally reach the compartment after crossing 5 ac, 1 cooking and one stinking second class bogey. Guess what! Another fucking hauling monster, this time belonging to a joint family of 9 - all Mr and Mrs jignesh shah's! I waited for the TC for bout 45minutes, hungry for food and cigarettes! I thought I looked decent enough to pass as just another passenger but for some reason these idiots kept staring at me! Only comparison that I can think of would be the way everyone looked at Paulomi in roadies! The only difference - This is Hell down under, within, all around me!
Whats worse you ask? Its only 1200hrs - only 4 fucking hours have passed!!!
The day finally came, today we make a trip to visit the one of the most elusive yet highly worshipped Hindu gods. They say 'chalo bulawa aaya hai, maata ne bulaya hai' nd even before one can finish this line, someone else will throw a dice specifying, rather forcing the fact that you can not visit her untill she wants! I used to wonder on the latter statement but as I sit in this train, which takes 30 hours to reach, I have more than accepted that its the fact and no one can do anything about it!
Little background on this trip. We visited the temple around 12yrs back in a group of 20 odd relatives from all parts of India. This time again, everyone was suppose to go plus some more. As it turns out, after 3 months of planning, its only ma, pa and me who are traveling and rest all are stuck with some or the other 'unavoidable' reasons. This justifies the loooong train journy cuz it would have been fun had everyone joined in. Not so much fun now! I found out little too late, somewhat like a mouse after biting the cheese placed nicely in the trap!
Coming back to the present day... The alarm went off at 0630 hrs (that's 6 30 in the morning you morons). Took me precisely 10 seconds to get outta my bed - not cuz I wanted to, but cuz I cud sense dad standing within a feet of me! Morning tea wasn't required cuz I was up and about like a watch dog, strange how dad's method of waking me up still works even after finishing school over a decade ago! Moms constant comments didn't phase me as I went about packing my bags while brushing my teeth. Yea, I am multi tasking! Nd Yea, I pack just before I leave! An hour later we were on our way to the station, I dun remember when I stopped replying to dads questions.. Maybe when he asked me why I needed the laptop! If only you knew dad, If only!
So here we were, standing the borivali station at 0810hrs (that's 8 10 am, idiots!) And mom had a sudden attack of realization! I would have have chosen other words, but cmon guys, shez my mum! She said 'kitni bheed haina bombay main.. Dekho saari local trains full hai itni subah bhi'. I know it wasn't anything major and nothing more than just an effort for small talk. But cmon mum - I expected better! Something like taking a flight straight to Jammu or at least till Delhi! Ignoring her comment I asked dad about the total travel time. He looked at mum and said we'll reach tomorrow.. No exact number, no approx time either. The mouse just kept coming close n closer to the trap!
Train arrives and we all take our seats, dad still cribbing bout the laptop and mum checking out everyone in the neighbouring births. Its as if I have tattooed it in my destiny that 'I shall have at least one constantly crying infant and one ridiculously old couple'. Today the old couple turned out to be gujrati's, lets call them Mr. N Mrs Jignesh Shah (FYI I find them the most obnoxious and senseless travelers) and the baby, aka baby monster, belonged to a punjabi family, aka Kapoors (This should be fun!).
The journey begins and with it the hauling of the BM. I think he needed something to drink. How dumb! Whats the point of crying son, just tell dad u want whisky on the rocks, looks the Kapoor Sr starts his drinking session with a morning cup of tequila shot! Jr dude kept crying even after gulping down a gallon of milk and some. I wonder why is it illegal to slap these lil maniacs to shut em up! Cmon wouldn't u beat the hell outta your dog if it kept barking no matter what u tried? I would!
Anyways, once the train catches some momentum, Dad hands me my ticket and asks me to go and get it signed by the TC. Quite surprising! Why? I'll tell you! When three people are traveling, u don't need to individually get the ticket checked. He goes on 'Oh yea, we couldn't get u in the same compartment.. Ur reservation is in the seventh bogey from here. Its in second class' Ladies n gentlemen, That's how u trap a Mouse! So like an obedient kid, after almost half hour of shelling from both sides, I make my way to find my authorized seat! I finally reach the compartment after crossing 5 ac, 1 cooking and one stinking second class bogey. Guess what! Another fucking hauling monster, this time belonging to a joint family of 9 - all Mr and Mrs jignesh shah's! I waited for the TC for bout 45minutes, hungry for food and cigarettes! I thought I looked decent enough to pass as just another passenger but for some reason these idiots kept staring at me! Only comparison that I can think of would be the way everyone looked at Paulomi in roadies! The only difference - This is Hell down under, within, all around me!
Whats worse you ask? Its only 1200hrs - only 4 fucking hours have passed!!!
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