CLIMB EVERY MOUNTAIN & FOLLOW EVERY STREAM

Our Incredible India has so much to offer us that we hardly have to go out of our country for exploring new vistas for adventure and fun. Mother Nature in her incessant love for her children, has given the vast green lands, plains, mountains and valleys that are so mystical, magical and spell-binding in her beauty, the forests, deserts, lakes, rivers, lagoons and long beaches, et all. What more can we ask for?? The only ‘mantra’ is to rejuvenate your exhausted mind and body, by turning to any one of these assorted destinations Mother Nature has gifted us, when, you want to break loose from those hectic life-styles in the cities



We as a family have travelled together, the maximum while we were staying in New Delhi. During the mid-term vacation, my sons and wife visited me along with her mother and brother, sister-in-law and their small son. My in-laws came down to Hyderabad from Thiruvananthapuram and collectively they all boarded the A.P Super Fast Express for New Delhi.



As usual, I was very much engrossed with my refrigeration project and so could not do any justice by taking them for site seeing around our Capital. I arranged for a driver named Fanta, who used to take them wherever they wanted to go. When one is thoroughly exhausted with grinding work hours, it is good to squeeze out some time away, from the monotonous life-style, by taking a small break in between, escaping to places that balm one’s senses!! I too decided that. Moreover, I wanted to spend some quality time with my folks, who had come all the way to be with me at least for some time. As my mother-in-law badly wanted to see the holy places of Rishikesh and Haridwar and due to the non-availability of Fanta, the trustworthy Sikh driver, I went along with them in our Contessa car.



We had to adjust a little with more number of folks in the car, but I swear we all had a memorable drive. Unlike in other trips, which we four used to take up at nights, here we started off from New Delhi, very early in the morning. We went through Meerut - Muzzafarnagar to Haridwar.



We were transformed into a state of ecstasy and spiritual reverence, as our bare feet touched the soil of the renounced Holy Place of the Hindus --- Haridwar. One may get lost in the chaos of the busy frenzied actions and rituals of the jostling devotees from all corners of India and the saffron-clad sanyasis, who throng the ghats, for a holy dip in the mighty Ganges (River Ganga, who the Hindus worship as a Goddess, who washes away all sins and liberates them from the cycle of birth and death) that flows gracefully in between the ghats. People were bathing in the pristine water, unmindful of the strong under-current. I got into the water and was taken off my cool, as the water was unbearably cold even for a person like me who can withstand extreme cold as compared to heat. To play a prank on the rest, I didn’t tell them about my experience with the cold water. My Mother-in-law got into the water and she almost shrieked !! The rest got a cue and they had to muster enough courage before plunging into the Holy Ganges, that was at almost freezing temperature and just couldn’t control sending out squeals !! But surprisingly once you are in, you don’t feel liking coming out. Since the current was strong enough to wash you away, there were long iron chains attached to the poles at the ghat for support. After changing the wet clothes at the small covered spaces provided , we went around to the nearby Goddess temple and we purchased a whole lot of lip-smacking pickles and murabaas, (chillies, mangoes, gooseberries, lime, lemon and what not) trinkets and the likes along with some small cans for collecting the Holy Ganges Water for my religious relatives. It is a scientifically proven fact that though Ganges looks so polluted by the filth and grime, the stored water you collect from her, remains so pure even after years together!!!



We went back to the parking lot where we had left our car, took rickshaws to get a feel of it. We thoroughly were enjoying all these little things in life that go unnoticed in the otherwise hectic life-style one leads in the cities. From there we went to the holy Shrine of Manasi Ma located at a hillock nearby, by means of a rope-car. My son Sandy had to be cajoled, as he was fascinated by the snake-charmer who garlanded him with a heavy python, that he badly wanted to bring back home as a pet by paying for it!!



After coming back to the foothill, we felt terribly hungry and the ladies badly needed a place for ablution. We could not find any decent place around, so, enroute to the next destination point Rishikesh, we encountered upon a roadside dhaba, which comes out as a relief spot for the travellers. This joint seemed to be busy with pilgrims shunting between Haridwar and Rishikesh. As our hunger got out of control, we ate whatever was hot, fresh and readily available, like people who were starving for ages. It was well over 3.30pm! By the time we reached Rishikesh it was nearing dusk. We went to the Shrine of the Lord Shiva to have a darshan of the mighty presiding deity, after washing our feet at the Paramarth ghat, where the three rivers Alagananda, Mandakini and Saraswathi flow through so calmly in a blissful Sangam (union). We were surprised to feel the warm water, which was in contrast to the chill water of river Ganga. From here we went to the Laxman Jhula, the hanging bridge across the Sangam.



We drove down to Dehradun from where we had bought some confectionery items, which that place is famous for. We had our dinner from a hotel where the ambience made us sway in with the melodious numbers from the live-ghazal singing show going on, while the dinner was served. Having come so close to Mussoorie, my temptation to drive further on was uncontrollable. So I proceeded to Mussoorie. My ever-ready wife and kids were supporting me to carry on with the drive into the mountains, but it was a tough time for us to tackle my mother-in-law, as she was satisfied with Haridwar and Rishikesh and wanted to reach back to New Delhi. It was around 9.00 pm, by then and I wanted a clear opinion as to whether the Mussoorie trip was on or not, since opportunities don’t come quite often. We pulled up the car at the roadside and there was a big clash of opinions between the mother and children about either going back to Delhi or proceed to Mussoorie ?? Finally we pretended to agree to her decision and asked her to sleep off peacefully behind. Since my M-I-L didn’t have much trust in me due to my past track-records, my B-I-L Suresh took the wheels to satisfy her and took a full round turn. In that pitch darkness, no one other than me knew which way he turned. Thus my M-I-L due to the day’s fatigue dozed off. Suresh being an ace driver, scaled through those sharp turns uphill very smoothly and so I too relaxed adjacent to the driver’s seat. Finally, as we reached Mussoorie at the middle of the night, we woke up everyone behind to alight. My M-I-L was flabbergasted, but now that the majority won the vote, she just kept quiet and threw all her ego to the blowing gusty, chill wind of the mountains. Now getting rooms at that part of the night was a big question mark, with the ladies and the children as most of the hotels had shut. Along with Suresh, I went and knocked at the gates of many a hotel. Most of them were full. My M-I-L was very sceptical about the whole hunt. So we went around trying until we found one place, where it was okay for a night’s stay. We woke up the man, who was in deep slumber and was too lazy to get up from his sleep. Being at the brink of loosing control, I almost shouted at him to wake up and answer as to whether he had a vacant room in his hotel. The man came to his senses and put on the tube lights and took out his register and asked, “Kithna”? (How many?). We were most relieved to hear that he had many rooms available. A little while ago, Suresh and myself were thinking of sleeping inside the car if incase only one single room was available for the ladies and children for managing that night alone. We took two rooms - one for the ladies and the little one and for the males. Then handing out the room keys, he vanished from there…maybe to catch up with his lost sleep! We readily got into the rooms and found that not even a jug of water was kept! Suresh’s son was only 2-3 years and was feeling so hungry that he kept crying for bottled milk, which got over while climbing uphill. Suresh’s wife Shyama, along with my wife Geeta went to the kitchen to find out if they had atleast some hot water to mix up the spray milk powder. The water that we carried had turned so chilled naturally, that the child was refusing to take a sip of it. Near the kitchen a young man was snoring away. He was least interested to attend to the ladies’ request. Finally, they fetched a vessel and some water and prepared the hot water themselves!! That was some experience, I swear! The little boy guzzled the full bottle in a jiffy and slept off. The tired and exhausted adults followed suit.



The sound from the doorbell woke us up the next day morning. My eyes were half shut as I scrambled to open the door. There stood the women folk ready to go for the sight –seeing!! I asked my wife to take her mother and Shyama to nearby shopping mall, while we men got ready to catch up with them. After the morning ablutions, we went in search of them after taking tea from a small teashop, as the tea served at the hotel we stayed in was lousy. There was no sign of the womenfolk in the nearby places. Finally we spotted them coming out of one shop and getting into the next !! It’s true that it’s said Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus ! Already the bags they were carrying indicated they already have ransacked half a dozen shops by then. These bags were stuffed in the boot of the car and we went to a small restaurant to have some breakfast after which we strolled for enjoying the visual beauty of the place around. The sunlight played hide and seek while we could feel the mist passing through us one after the other and all of a sudden the complete atmosphere changed. The heavy mists and cool wind blurred the vision. Luckily, we were wearing some warm clothing. It started snowing all of a sudden that lasted for hardly 5 minutes. All the people there behaved like kids with excitement .We were no better. After all these fun and frolic, we returned to the hotel room, packed up our luggage and checked out.



Leaving behind such lovely experiences with fond memories, we bid farewell to the beautiful mountains of Mussoorie. The next stop we took was at Dehradun to buy some more confectioneries, had tea and snacks from a hotel and left for New Delhi where we reached around noon the next day.

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Looking back today, my M-I-L muses at the trips to these places, which she says would never have been possible, if not for the spirit of the travel bug that had got into my DNA right from my childhood days, when I have seen my Dad, a 2nd World War veteran and later a Director in the G.S.I drive down along with the family to far-off destinations………… !!