Went for a 10-day vacation to Mussoorie and Shimla in the western Himalayas. The travelling included two flights, three train journeys and two taxi journeys. Which changed to two train and three taxi journeys unexpectedly on the penultimate lap due to our train being delayed by 6 hours thanks to the Gujjar agitation! There was no way we could avoid that, as we HAD to be in New Delhi by evening for a late evening flight back home.
Avoided most crowded city areas (except when absolutely unavoidable) and took many long walks through forested areas. The woods were quiet and cool, with many wonderful views enroute. We saw many snow covered peaks in the far distance- names like Kedarnath Badrinath which have only been heard of earlier. Even A managed the long treks. The longest we walked in a day was well over 16 kms, all uphill-and-downhill. "Aai, why did the British have to build all their towns on hills with such winding roads?" Often when we would be winded by steep uphill gradients, we would pause, catch our breath, have a swig of water, and set a reachable goal in the distance-"We'll walk till that tree covered with red flowers." That was how the two of us covered quite a lot of territory. (I really need to get that exercise schedule going ASAP. It was enjoyable, nevertheless! The husband, of course, had no fitness issues, being a regular exerciser.)
Of course, we talked a lot about the historical aspects of the places we passed through and visited, with a lot of input from the Outlook Traveller books that we kept refering to. These are wonderful for nuggets of local history and folklore. For these were places where many a war had been fought, with references in the Mahabharatha, Ramayana, Mughal history, and of course the Raj.
Santa delivered on Christmas day, much to A's delight. We missed snow, though, as we had wonderfully clear blue skies all throughout our stay, and there were just a few clouds to be seen on our last day there. Every day we would check the weather for chances of precipitation, and would be disappointed. As if to rub it in, it snowed heavily on the day we were back home, and it was all over the news channels and newspapers. The silver lining was that we didn't get stranded there, as were many tourists who were still there. All roads and trains were non-functional for the next few days.
We also missed meeting Ruskin Bond, something that both A and I were looking forward to at Mussoorie. He was in Bhubaneshwar at that time, and reached Mussoorie quite late in the evening on our last day there. A had made two handwritten and decorated copies of a couple of stories she had written, so that she could gift one to Ruskin Bond and get one autographed from him. Ah, well, some other time. I know Mr Bond was there at a Pratham book event at Mumbai last year and at the the Bookaroo at New Delhi, and will be at the forthcoming Jaipur Literary Festival. Hope we can have something at Bangalore so that we can catch him here. Are you guys at Pratham books, Tulika books, Penguin books, Rupa publications, etc, and the like reading this?
So vacations over, we are back to our normal routine. It was certainly a welcome break, one that I needed. The best aspect of the 'break' was that I did not have to worry about cleaning and cooking for a whole of 10 days, and had some fabulous stuff to eat everywhere we went. The dahi (yogurt) and paneer we had out there was to kill for. Although I'm now scared of getting on to the weighing scales and find out my net gain. I hope some got lost in all those uphill walks!
10 comments:
Sounds awesome S. And A is SUCH a trooper!
And oh yes tell me baout the paneer and dahi up north!
Wow! What a simply lovely vacation! Good luck the the Ruskin Bond meeting for the next time!
@Chox: A would in fact egg me on to walk when I would give up. She's certainly in much better shape than I am. Never got breathless. Her only grouse was tired legs/feet.
Re the food. Now that I think back, the dahi was not taken as just an accompaniment, but as a dish in itself. On some days we had one plate of dahi per head!
@Starry: Yes, it was quite rejuvenating. And I really hope we get to meet Mr Bond some time. He is a living legend for us.
Sounds like an awesome vacation.
Yes, it was a good break.
Sounds like a lovely vacation.
Snow is something that people who have not lived with idolize. A couple of days of it and it quickly grows old. Still, remember the khushi the first time....threw it, played in it. And when I had to scrape it off car in formal office going western wear, cried in it as well! :-D
You're right, Sangi. Snow does seem like a fantasy to most people who haven't lived with it. When in the US, we were in a place where it rarely, if ever, snowed even in winter even if temps dropped to freezing levels- not much precipitation. So we would read up weather forecasts for holidays, and travel to nearby places where it would snow. I remember the first time I saw it. It had fallen overnight, and early in the morning, there was a fairytale world outside. That was long before A was born, though.
She has lived with snow for many months in the UK, but has no memory of it, as she was too young to remember it now. I would wish for her first encounter with it to be just as magical as mine was.:)
Have experienced a blizzard too, so I know what you mean re disenchantment.:)
i belong to the fascinated and yet to feel snow category...
sounds like a brilliant vacation- pics on mail pl
@Art: Coming up after I've worked out how to operate the new digital camera bought in honour of this trip. And how to download them to the laptop. You know me- hopeless in these matters!:)
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