Thirty Fifth Wedding Anniversary

This year on 20 May 2019, I celebrated the foundation of that lifelong relationship called marriage. It had happened on 20th May 1984. It has been an eventful journey of love, fights, adjustments, empowerment and balancing. Like everybody else, I had no idea of what comes along with getting married.

Even after staying and sharing life together for 35 years, we have kept our individualities and independence. Both the boys are busy and hopefully happy with their lives and we are leading a relaxing retired life. I enjoy the slow paced life in hot Ahmedabad, the commercial capital of Gujarat. I have changed myself from being a fast-paced active professional to being non-professional and doing things which I could not do earlier. This let me be at peace with myself. I enjoy watching the fast paced world from the gallery.

To celebrate the day of reckoning, we planned a vacation which is going to be different and will cater to our kind of vacation. Earlier due to time constraints, we used to handover every planning to travel agencies and follow the routines they had set. In these kinds of vacations, one has to visit some places which are not of interest but have to go with the flow. This time, we took charge and curated a vacation that caters to our interests of historical places, natural beauty, and relaxation. We ignored the routine tourist spots like sunrise and sunset points, few religious places and city shopping centers. We planned for a vacation at Mcleodganj, which was on the radar since the last two decades.

A recently started flight by Spicejet from Ahmedabad to Dharamshala (Gaggal Airport) prompted us to finalize this location. The layover at Jaipur was longer while going but we took it in our stride as this is the best option available on the dates, we planned to travel.

We boarded the night flight on 17th May. The flight was delayed by almost 2 hours from Ahmedabad but we were not worried as our next connecting flight was in the early hours of 18th. We reached Jaipur at midnight only to find that the airport is closed as there are no domestic night flights from Jaipur. The airport lounge was also nonfunctional for the last few months. This was not updated on the website. We thought of spending the night at the lounge while booking for this flight. It would have been very convenient. Anyway, it was not there at all.

No restaurants or even tea – coffee outlets were open at that time. My idea of eating a pyaaz kachori or bedmi poori from LMB ( Laxmi Mithai Bhandar) were dashed. The only option available was a restaurant “Saptagiri” outside the airport, which remains open throughout the night. But being a transit passenger, if we get out of the airport, we will not be allowed to enter before 4 am, when the people for morning flights start pouring in. We contacted the Spicejet office and who also spoke to CISF security personnel to let us in as we are transit passengers. We passed through the exit gate of the airport to check into that restaurant thinking about some tasty Rajasthani local foods.

Our luggage was not booked for both the flights, as ours was the last flight of the day and the next flight is on the next day. As I have mentioned earlier that Jaipur airport is closed at night for domestic flights. This was the explanation given by Spicejet.

The restaurant was in the basement and there was no lift. Going down with luggage was an exercise, we never wanted to carry. It was decided that one of us will stay with luggage and other will get down and bring whatever looks fine. RB went down and appeared with two huge samosas and tea. The samosas were very “healthy” and served as a full meal. They were delicious and my favourite snack.

We entered the airport after showing our boarding passes for the morning flight and Ids to the CISF personnel on the gate, whom Spicejet official had spoken. There were few more passengers like us who were settled in the small sitting corner on the ground floor of the airport. We also joined the tribe. Many were sleeping while sitting. I also tried to sleep by extending my legs to the seats opposite to mine by pulling them closure, thus making a comfortable sitting.

The airport was closed for flights but there were fast paced activities all around. Large scale cleaning was going on, airline offices were working and repairs and renovations were going on as Jaipur airport is being upgraded. Just in front of us, welding was going on. With so much action around, I was the only one who is not sleeping.

The airport authorities should have put some recliners for transit passengers, who are forced to spend the night sleeping on the chairs in the wake of no lounges available. Anyway, as they say, time never stands still for anyone, this night also passed by. Around 3.30 am, passengers for morning flights have started pouring in. We also freshen up and waited for the luggage screening to start. It started at around 4 am. In another 30 minutes, we have done security checks for our next flight to Dharamshala, before the crowd swell. The flight was to take off 6.30 am. Before boarding, we had our coffee and muffins while waiting at gate IA, so that we can survive till we reach our homestay for breakfast. On time boarding and on time take off. We landed at 9 am at Dharamshala

We hired a taxi from a prepaid taxi service booth to our destination. Since tourism is a big industry here, the drivers, cabbies and all other associated with the tourism industry are well trained in soft skills. The driver who took us to Shatobari Greens, past Mcleodganj was a great conversationalist. Since I am afraid of speed on hills and I told him as we sat down, he drove us at a very controlled speed throughout the drive of 1 hour. He found out from our conversation that we love the greenery and nature and took routes which have tea gardens, jungles and avoided traffic wherever he can. The drive was very enjoyable. Unlike other hill stations, this side of HP has taken good care of their forests.

We reached Shatobari Greens by 10.30 am. This homestay is run by a retired government official and his wife. The property is in the forest area and 6 km away from main Mcleodganj. There are no markets and no civilization around. We planned our stay in this homestay, which is away from the hustle and bustle of the city and surrounded by pure nature. It’s so blissful to be woken up by chirping birds.

We have planned this trip rather differently. We kept only two days to see museums, monasteries, Kangra Fort, and Masroor rock temple. On other days, we planned our outings for leisure walking around the forest and villages and enjoy nature. The local temples, sunrise and sunset points, and Triund trekking were not on our platter.

We had masala tea with light snacks in our room. The room on the first floor is very spacious with two balconies. It has a small kitchenette well equipped with gas stove, fridge, electric kettle, and basic utensils. The big room has a nicely furnished bedroom and dining room. The property is rather new and has very positive vibes. I fell in love with it the moment, we entered. They are not keen to serve meals, though on our insistence they served us basic home food of dal, sabzi, roti, without any dessert. Breakfast was stuffed paranthas. Other options for breakfast were toast and sandwiches. They do not have many options. Homemade food is a blessing while on vacation. I hope, they may add more varieties as there are not any options to eat except self-cooking, which many like me may not want to do on vacations. We had stocked seasonal fruits, cucumber, tomatoes along with some cakes, biscuits, namkeens, cup noodles, bread and butter for in between meals munching.

After freshening up, we went out to explore the surroundings. The majestic Dhauladhar range is visible all around. The thick jungle, chirping of birds and fragrance of greenery… it was an awesome outing. RB was experimenting with his photography and trying new settings in his camera. I lied down on the stones placed around the roads and was mesmerised by the purity of nature around. It was as if time has stopped. The stillness has it’s own language. I have not seen such azure blue sky since quite some time now. Ahmedabad is a polluted and dusty city.

After spending a good time, we started back. The coming back was tough as it was all climb yet enjoyable. We had good sleep after all this exercise and woke up only in the evening. The next day was election day in this part of the country. We planned to go to local monasteries and museums. As Mcleodganj is home to Dalai Lama, the Tibetan influence is visible all around. It has been almost 5 decades and the Tibetans and the local population are well adjusted.

Common street view in Dharamshala/ Mcleodganj.

The monks are seen all around in the city. Tourists very often ask them to click a picture with them and it appeared that they are very much used to it. They happily become part of the moment with a smile. They get huge support from international communities. Our drivers told us that these monks are running some of the most expensive hotels, restaurants, and clubs here. Their financial status is very visible

We had hired a cab and started at 10 in the morning. This day, we visited the famous Dalai Lama temple, Norbulingka institute, war museum, tea estates, highest cricket stadium of India and Naddi. Bhagsu Temple and waterfall were given a miss. It was a day well spent. More on these in separate posts. The election was peaceful and on many polling booths, there were ques. Our driver had cast his vote before coming to pick us. Such stories are proof that our democracy is maturing. A glimpse of our visit

20th May was kept for a walking trail to Dal lake, which is 4 km from our homestay. A small lake, surrounded by forest and an old Mahadev temple is a peaceful serene stopover. It took us 1.5 hours using the short cuts as told by local people. This small lake is the hidden gem.

After spending a good time there, we came back by evening by an auto-rickshaw. The next day was marked to explore our heritage. We were to go to Kangra valley to visit Kangra fort, state museum, and Masroor Rock temple. I will write separate posts on these. It was such a pleasure to get acquainted with our glorious past. I wonder, why we were not given the richness of our culture and traditions in our history classes? These should be made a part of local studies to expose new generations to their glorious past.

22nd May was again kept for “on foot outings”. It was local hiking and trekking and photography at our own pace. After having a sumptuous breakfast of mixed veg stuffed paranthas we walked out around 10.30 am. Wandering aimlessly is great fun, which I guess, I have last done long back during carefree childhood years. We explored the local surroundings. There was a ridge nearby with a great view. Conversations at small tea stalls, lunch at the home of a jawan, who is serving in the Indian army and attended a local wedding on our way back were some of the highlights of this unplanned day.

23rd May – The day of Lok Sabha election results and the day we were to start our return journey. Our flight was at 11.30 am and we were to reach the airport by 10 am. Our cab came at 9 am and by this time, many trends were available. It was an exciting day. Thanks to Jio, we remained connected to the world. The layover at Jaipur was of 4 hours. By the time, we boarded the plane at 5 pm, results/trends have clearly projected the new government.

It all ended happily. As they say, all’s well that ends well. So true for our vacation and the Lok sabha results !!