It was a long awaited weekend because I was finally escaping the scrouching heat of Patiala and the dreadful week long classes. My roommates- Abhinav, Manpreet and Varinder and I decided to go on a short vacation to Solan where Abhinav's father was posted. Come thursday and there we were with our bags on our backs and on our way to the bus stand. The next day was a holiday, much to our delight, which meant an extra holiday. As soon as we reached the bus stand we noticed that the place was flooded with people. Walking without bumping into someone was unavoidable. We were standing near the point where the bus was expected to come, but when it did come, the ferocity with which people approached it made me go weak on my knees. Manpreet and Varinder nearly got into the bus but I called them back. I knew I would have been left alone because getting into such a crowded bus was impossible for me. After waiting for nearly twenty minutes much to everybody's dismay we finally fought our way into the bus. Yes, fought our way! You can't get anything done here without fighting and getting into the bus for some people is a question of "life or death " you see!!!
Well after travelling for an hour and quarter we reached Chandigarh. Abhinav's father had sent his driver to collect us from Chandigarh and take us to Solan. As soon as we got into the car a relief spread over me. I was finally leaving the torturous and depressing Patiala ! As we left Chandigarh behind the mountains started erupting up infront of us. Although Chandigarh is at the foothills which meant that one could see the mountains easily on a clear day but even Chandigarh's getting clouded by a heavy blanket of dust and smoke these days. As we moved on I felt cool air tapping at my cheek and I felt a calmness I sought for all these days.I closed my eyes to hold on to that feeling a little longer. As we chatted our way to Solan I hardly felt the nausea which usually paralyses me when I travel to mountains. I am aeronausiphobic !!!
As soon as we reached Abhinav's place we got a hearty welcome from her mother and father who were awaiting our arrival at the doorstep. Abhinav had forewarned us of her elder brother whose sole motivate in life according to her was to insult and mock her!!!! I surmised we could very well be his targets too. Dinner was wonderful. Aunty had made a curry of mushroom which Uncle had brought from his office. Abhinav's dad was the director in the Mushroom Research Centre situated in Solan which meant unlimited supply of mushroom year long !!!! We had our dinner and then had a feast of ice-creams. I have the habit of eating ice-cream with coke, so by the time we finished I was lying down on my back with such a heavy stomach that I wasn't even able to get up. It took an enormous effort to get up from the chair and go to the bedroom to sleep. We dozed off as soon as our bodies touched the bed and drifted into our dreamworlds. I am generally an early riser as compared to my friends who delight in sleeping till twelve or sometimes even two in the afternoon. I get up by eight or nine. But the next day the murmering from the kitchen stirred me from my sleep at seven in the morning and I sluggishly rubbed off my eyes and took a look outside. I couldn't see much as the curtains were drawn. So I got up from the bed and went out. I met Uncle and Aunty in the kitchen and bestowed them with a sleepy good morning and cleaned myself up. Uncle and Aunty had told me the night before that the famous "TOY TRAIN" of Shimla goes down the railway line adjacent to their home. So I hurried and got ready to see my first Toy train of the day. I was pretty excited and now that I sit back and think about it I assume I must 've been jumping up and down when Uncle took me to see it because even times after that when the train passed by Uncle used to give me a specutative look to catch a glimpes if I was rushing outside to watch it again.As I hurried back to the room to narrate what I had seen to my friends they somnelently nodded and drifted off to sleep again.
The next few hours were a blur as we went to the Mushroom Centre to see the variety of mushrooms developed and the technology used to do so. Abhinav's brother accompanied us to the centre where he was reduced to a photographer!!! Courtesy to the four erratic teenager girls who to him must have seemed like were just set loose from some retard centre !!!!! We wanted to click pictures of the mushrooms and with the mushrooms, of the flowers and with the flowers!!!! Our requests were never ending and he politely obliged to our wierd and nerve-cracking requests until he could take it no more and bellowed us to follow him home. Lunch is always a delight at home. Especially for hostellers who eat to live. I solely belong to this category of people although my friends are somewhere on the peripheral. In the afternoon uncle and aunty took us to an university which was a mesmerising and enchanting place. The serenity and tranquility of the place shocked me. It's soothing effect relaxed my senses and it felt heavenly. We roamed around the place while uncle and aunty stayed behind at the VC's place and chatted with him. ( Uncle was a friend of the VC of the university and thats why free access or else getting into such universities without prior permission is rather challenging.) As we roamed around and started chatting, all of us agreed to one point that living here for four years would be really monotonous and frustrating at times. We were so used to the noise and obstreperosity of city life that the very thought of silence scared and tormented us. As we looked around I stopped at a place which oversaw a large area beneath revealing spans of untamed wildness. It was consoling to find places still untouched by human civilization. As the time for us to go back home approached we found ourselves admiring and plotting to have the VC's house. It was a beautiful place to dwell and have parties!!! On our way back we made a little stop at the market which was flocked by people in large numbers. We bought a variety of ice-creams....another after dinner ice-cream extravaganza!!!!
The next day was full of fun and frolic as we planned to travel on the toy train. As none of us had ever boarded a toy train so it was a thrill for all of us. Aunty accompanied us this time. The train we were supposed to board had five coaches!!!! If one could find space to set a foot in the train- it was an achievement. We elbowed our way into a coach which was already so full that it seemed like an overeaten glutton ready to throw out at any moment. The train journey was rather fascinating amidst the crowd and songs which the people were singing. As we got down the train rain started pouring in heavy drops and hit us like bullets. We ran and found shelter beneath the roof which was held up by four posts and which according to them was the station. As the intensity of the rain thinned we walked our way to the place where the car was supposed to recieve us. By the time we reached the main road which seemed to be 200 steps above the station, we were high on our breath. As we waited for the car to come a very funny incident happened. The one which I called the " Audacious eve-teasing." I was standing by the side of the stairs of a shop when I felt something tugging my hair. I didn't have to turn back to see what it was for my friends were frantically screaming at the top of their lungs that there was a monkey on my head !!!! I took a step ahead and shoved it off. Thats when I realised even monkeys had taken a fancy on me!!!! For the next few hours I was the jest. As we reached home after lunch at a hotel we collapsed into our beds and slept. By the time we got up it was late in the evening and not in the mood to eat out again. So we ate whatever was supposed to be served in the evening and called it a night. But sleep eluded us and we ended up watching a movie and then chatting till wee hours of the morning.
We were supposed to go back next morning and as I got up I realised I was going to miss these three days of my life and cherish it till the end of my life. I went upstairs to the terrace to bid a final goodbye to the mountains and the clouds rolling by. My heart ached as I thought of going back to the obstreperous city life again. I looked into the mountains for a long time hoping that I could imprint its image on my mind forever.....like the wonderful memories of this trip imprinted on my mind.
