7th August 2013
If
there was one thing I really wished as a girl was to get a husband who likes to
travel and see places. God heard me just fine. M loves to travel. He is up for
it anytime. Of course his 2nd wife travels along every single time:
His camera. In our upcoming Ooty trip, even their illegitimate child is tagging
along: a rented 50mm lens.
As a
growing up kid, travelling meant going to Kerala during monsoons. Back in those
days, we used to catch a train. It used to be a long excruciating 48 hours
journey in 2nd class. Today when I think about it, I give myself a
pat on the back. I swear, my kids are spoilt. A traveled by air when he was 28
days old. While I sat in my first flight when I was 23.
The
journey to Kerala sucked big time. The train would smell of food, sweat and hot
wave all the time. On top of it, my mother who was a cleanliness freak, used to
bathe me every single day in the train. Imagine a 6 year old and a 30 year old in a
small toilet with people banging from outside asking to open the damn door. I
completely remember when once when we came out, a guy said: “Is this a place to
take a bath?” And my mother replied, well not so nicely: “My child was feeling
very hot. So I bathed her. What’s your problem!?”
And
then there was the trip we took to Haridwar, Rishikesh, Dehradun and Nainital.
Yeah, all at once. Package…sighhhhh. How much ever I rack my brains, I cannot
find words to describe that trip. A feeling of irritation + satiation + crap
was left etched in my mind for almost forever.
The chaotic
bus travel… all the puking by people around me and lack of toilet and therefore
toilet everywhere….yikesss! As if this wasn’t enough, the extremely bored
guide-cum-conductor of the bus was shouting: “See, everyone…on the left the
mountains that you see is Dehradun and the on the right is Nainital.” There it
was! I saw the magnificent hill stations. Bravo!
I
love my parents, but they never were travelers. I understood that pretty young.
I know my mom reads my blog sometimes…so Amma, again…I love a lot!
Like they
say, sometimes certain events in childhood remain glued in the mind. This one did
too. So when M and I met each for the first time, my only 2 questions were: Do
you like to eat out? Do you like to travel?
My friends
asked “What??? Did you not ask him about his career, financial status and whether
he drank, smoked, had girlfriends and whether you will be in a nuclear family
or joint?” And I said: “No” (Ofcourse in my heart I felt rather idiotic.)
Anyway,
his answer surprised me. He said, “I was hoping you liked both. Because I do.”
I was left thinking, “Aaaah, now that’s a match made from heaven.”
We traveled
till the kids came along. And then it underwent a sabbatical. About 3 years
back, we decided that we will do atleast one memorable travel every year. It
could be nearby place too. But it has to be the mother-of-all-awesome. We have
been able to keep it up.
I
sincerely save every month for a lovely annual trip. The other day my friend
asked me, “Are you saving this seriously for your children?” I said, “This is
also for children. Else they will have memories like mine.”
So I
leave for Ooty tomorrow morning. The next 4 days’ posts will be from the haseen
vadiyaan.
A and
N are excited. A’s best friend who had recently relocated to Malaysia is also joining
us, with his family. So, Adios. I gotta pack.