You know what! there are times in life when you look back and wonder wow! how was it that I was able to do that. I was reading one of those quotes and feel its pertinent to mention it, "you seldom remember nights when you slept enough".
Such was my state, a night spent woken up tickles my memories and begs to be penned. As I look out of the window, I see plenty of cars passing me by just like the times that only finds a sweet spot in my memory. My memory is starting to fade of that time of that trip of that time I remember as India-2011.
I was so psyched to be attending my cousins wedding in Jammu, I had just finished my exams at the Indian Institute of Management and had just begun discovering facets of life I did not know existed. Fully packed with stuff that would last me a month, for trip that was going to be epic, I showed up at the IGI airport for a flight from Delhi to Jammu. I took the blackberry out of my pocket, "blackberry" needs a special mention here as it captured some the best moments for me in its not so great camera, and called my Uncle that he should come and pick me up from Jammu airport in an hour and turned my phone off. I had been in india for about 2 months now and was well accustomed to the culture and things-to-do and things-not-to-do. Because of my over-preparedness, I had decided not to print the Boarding Pass but rather have the ticketing agents do it for me. I knew it was a dumb idea to begin with but lack of time and procrastination were at the pinnacle of my decision-making process. As I reached the counter, I was greeted by a beautiful smile of the airline agent, I looked at her lips, which were tastefully decorated with bright red lipstick. I had heard earlier that Mr. Malya (Chairman of Now almost Bankrupt Kingfisher Airlines) hand picks the agents and the crew and I was much in appreciation of his decision to do the same. He was by far doing a better job hand-picking the staff than actually spending time in running a successful enterprise. "How may I help you Sir" sounded like an angel begging to grant me a wish and I wanted to wish for so much, but for now, my only wish was to get my boarding pass printed. I extended my "Canadian" passport in hopes to impress the agent and hear some ooo's and AAAAH's, instead all I heard was, "Sir you do not have a ticket in the plane today". I smiled back, (this is not the normal response I give) and said, WTH..... (well it had hit me by now). I booked the ticket, I had a confirmation on my email, and to top it all up I had paid a huge sum of money for it. The agent tried different permutations and combinations of my name only to finally give up and say, "sorry sir, we cannot help you." I was furious and I pulled out my Blackberry to show her that I indeed have a confirmation. After looking at the confirmation number, she replied back again with a bigger smile and said, "Sir this ticket is for next year, ONLY. In India, you seldom do things because of a rational reason, like adding an "Only" at the end of each sentence. Why did you book so far in advance? I cant send you on this plane 1 whole year in advance". Almost instantaneously, I took my "Rohit's-Book of Shame" out to document this happening. I had mixed emotions right now for I had just looked like a complete idiot in front of probably the hottest girl I had seen in a few months, more importantly, it was my Cousins wedding the next day and my only option at this point was to Board a BUS which would get me to my destination in time for their wedding anniversary. I tried to look at a few avenues to get to where I needed to be and my only resort at this point was to catch a train late at night where there are no "train hostesses". Even if there were any, sadly or not, they would have been picked by our Honb. Railway Minister at the time, Mr. Lalu P. Yadav. Big Smiles and lets end that there.
An 8 hour ride in an Indian train can be very hip and happenning because you make friends and enjoy your time doing random things. My luck was such that I was put in a 1st class cabin with 2 old people who were highly concerned that a lit bulb in the cabin would ruin their scheduled 9pm sleep. Sonner than later the train arrived Jammu. Now Jammu is pretty hip and happening, not because of its great night life, but because it has the highest number of insurgents per ca-pita in India. Jammu n Kashmir was once coined by some poet to be "Heaven on Earth" well, I am not sure if he meant it literally or figuratively because you could easily be killed and it would be No-Big-Deal.
The preparations started early morning for my Cousins engagement party and it was the first time in 10 years I had seen all my relatives at the same place all at once. It can be an overwhelming experience for us Indians show our love my pulling cheeks and kissing cheeks without worrying if we have brushed our teeth or no! Well, its family i guess, I told myself and wondered if I brought my facewash with me or no. Soon after all the customary hugging, kissing, bowing and smiling, we started getting ready. All this trip, I had imagined how important of a person I would be for I had come from a foreign land and perhaps I would get 5 start treatment for being me. Well, you guessed it, with my luck nothing as such happened and I was charged with the responsibility to ensure I arrange for morning food for everyone. Now, there is a reason why I say Morning Food and not Breakfast. Breakfast in North American or most western cultures is bread, toast, hash brown or corn flakes or something light. Us Indians have no such concept, for us it is probably the biggest meal of the day, with paranthas and chole bhature etc. you see the reoccurring theme of food? Yes, we punjabis know one thing best and that is Eating.
Well the rest of the day was spent ensuring that the festivities ran as expected with little or no time to eat or check out other girls from the grooms side. My intentions are always wise and pure, its just that time is seldom on my side and yet again it wasnt. Well, I thought it was the other party's loss as they missed an opportunity to have ME.
I was joined by Akhil next morning as we had plans to visit Vaishno Devi, considered to be one of the purest places per Hindu Scriptures, it was a 20km hike on a mountain to the Temple. It was quiet an exhilarating and breathtaking experience to witness what I did. For a moment, I had a feeling I was close to God. As we ascended the mountains, it got cold and chilly but the Hot Coffee from the various Cafe's on the way sometimes supplemented with 'dhaba tea' kept the blood flowing and reminded me of the time when I had visited this Temple with my parents many many years ago. Reminded of a time when prayers to God were for a bigger birthday present than for bigger things in life. We visited the temple early morning with my own requests and requests of others who had sent their "Hello" to God via me, some of who had never visited yet longed to be there. On our way down, there were many questions that my Mind asked off me, Many that I answered in a quick second and many that are still unanswered. In the quest of those answers and to ask more questions, I kept marching ahead only with a promise to return someday to fulfill my end of the bargain some day.
With memories so fresh, I can still feel that cool breeze against my face, every emotion that I felt and every breath I took. A memory of time etched ever so permanently in my memory that I smile when I think how life has changed since. All what could be and all that has been. Well, they say that everything happens for a reason and reasons you seldom find. I have stopped searching for the more I search, the more I am lost, lost searching for an answer that begs a question, lost searching for a question with many answers.....
________________
Signing off - a lost traveller
Such was my state, a night spent woken up tickles my memories and begs to be penned. As I look out of the window, I see plenty of cars passing me by just like the times that only finds a sweet spot in my memory. My memory is starting to fade of that time of that trip of that time I remember as India-2011.
I was so psyched to be attending my cousins wedding in Jammu, I had just finished my exams at the Indian Institute of Management and had just begun discovering facets of life I did not know existed. Fully packed with stuff that would last me a month, for trip that was going to be epic, I showed up at the IGI airport for a flight from Delhi to Jammu. I took the blackberry out of my pocket, "blackberry" needs a special mention here as it captured some the best moments for me in its not so great camera, and called my Uncle that he should come and pick me up from Jammu airport in an hour and turned my phone off. I had been in india for about 2 months now and was well accustomed to the culture and things-to-do and things-not-to-do. Because of my over-preparedness, I had decided not to print the Boarding Pass but rather have the ticketing agents do it for me. I knew it was a dumb idea to begin with but lack of time and procrastination were at the pinnacle of my decision-making process. As I reached the counter, I was greeted by a beautiful smile of the airline agent, I looked at her lips, which were tastefully decorated with bright red lipstick. I had heard earlier that Mr. Malya (Chairman of Now almost Bankrupt Kingfisher Airlines) hand picks the agents and the crew and I was much in appreciation of his decision to do the same. He was by far doing a better job hand-picking the staff than actually spending time in running a successful enterprise. "How may I help you Sir" sounded like an angel begging to grant me a wish and I wanted to wish for so much, but for now, my only wish was to get my boarding pass printed. I extended my "Canadian" passport in hopes to impress the agent and hear some ooo's and AAAAH's, instead all I heard was, "Sir you do not have a ticket in the plane today". I smiled back, (this is not the normal response I give) and said, WTH..... (well it had hit me by now). I booked the ticket, I had a confirmation on my email, and to top it all up I had paid a huge sum of money for it. The agent tried different permutations and combinations of my name only to finally give up and say, "sorry sir, we cannot help you." I was furious and I pulled out my Blackberry to show her that I indeed have a confirmation. After looking at the confirmation number, she replied back again with a bigger smile and said, "Sir this ticket is for next year, ONLY. In India, you seldom do things because of a rational reason, like adding an "Only" at the end of each sentence. Why did you book so far in advance? I cant send you on this plane 1 whole year in advance". Almost instantaneously, I took my "Rohit's-Book of Shame" out to document this happening. I had mixed emotions right now for I had just looked like a complete idiot in front of probably the hottest girl I had seen in a few months, more importantly, it was my Cousins wedding the next day and my only option at this point was to Board a BUS which would get me to my destination in time for their wedding anniversary. I tried to look at a few avenues to get to where I needed to be and my only resort at this point was to catch a train late at night where there are no "train hostesses". Even if there were any, sadly or not, they would have been picked by our Honb. Railway Minister at the time, Mr. Lalu P. Yadav. Big Smiles and lets end that there.
An 8 hour ride in an Indian train can be very hip and happenning because you make friends and enjoy your time doing random things. My luck was such that I was put in a 1st class cabin with 2 old people who were highly concerned that a lit bulb in the cabin would ruin their scheduled 9pm sleep. Sonner than later the train arrived Jammu. Now Jammu is pretty hip and happening, not because of its great night life, but because it has the highest number of insurgents per ca-pita in India. Jammu n Kashmir was once coined by some poet to be "Heaven on Earth" well, I am not sure if he meant it literally or figuratively because you could easily be killed and it would be No-Big-Deal.
The preparations started early morning for my Cousins engagement party and it was the first time in 10 years I had seen all my relatives at the same place all at once. It can be an overwhelming experience for us Indians show our love my pulling cheeks and kissing cheeks without worrying if we have brushed our teeth or no! Well, its family i guess, I told myself and wondered if I brought my facewash with me or no. Soon after all the customary hugging, kissing, bowing and smiling, we started getting ready. All this trip, I had imagined how important of a person I would be for I had come from a foreign land and perhaps I would get 5 start treatment for being me. Well, you guessed it, with my luck nothing as such happened and I was charged with the responsibility to ensure I arrange for morning food for everyone. Now, there is a reason why I say Morning Food and not Breakfast. Breakfast in North American or most western cultures is bread, toast, hash brown or corn flakes or something light. Us Indians have no such concept, for us it is probably the biggest meal of the day, with paranthas and chole bhature etc. you see the reoccurring theme of food? Yes, we punjabis know one thing best and that is Eating.
Well the rest of the day was spent ensuring that the festivities ran as expected with little or no time to eat or check out other girls from the grooms side. My intentions are always wise and pure, its just that time is seldom on my side and yet again it wasnt. Well, I thought it was the other party's loss as they missed an opportunity to have ME.
I was joined by Akhil next morning as we had plans to visit Vaishno Devi, considered to be one of the purest places per Hindu Scriptures, it was a 20km hike on a mountain to the Temple. It was quiet an exhilarating and breathtaking experience to witness what I did. For a moment, I had a feeling I was close to God. As we ascended the mountains, it got cold and chilly but the Hot Coffee from the various Cafe's on the way sometimes supplemented with 'dhaba tea' kept the blood flowing and reminded me of the time when I had visited this Temple with my parents many many years ago. Reminded of a time when prayers to God were for a bigger birthday present than for bigger things in life. We visited the temple early morning with my own requests and requests of others who had sent their "Hello" to God via me, some of who had never visited yet longed to be there. On our way down, there were many questions that my Mind asked off me, Many that I answered in a quick second and many that are still unanswered. In the quest of those answers and to ask more questions, I kept marching ahead only with a promise to return someday to fulfill my end of the bargain some day.
With memories so fresh, I can still feel that cool breeze against my face, every emotion that I felt and every breath I took. A memory of time etched ever so permanently in my memory that I smile when I think how life has changed since. All what could be and all that has been. Well, they say that everything happens for a reason and reasons you seldom find. I have stopped searching for the more I search, the more I am lost, lost searching for an answer that begs a question, lost searching for a question with many answers.....
________________
Signing off - a lost traveller
So much changed with time, but the sweet memories of a past once lived will always remain. Hold on to that; that moment, that smile, that memory, all evidence of a journey well etched. A traveller will always be lost. But remember, one who asks questions will never lose his way.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment Anonymous; things have definitely changed but what has remained is the person and the "thought". the "one second thought".
ReplyDeleteQuestions are many with answers that seldom leave a taste one wants and a memory one wishes to keep.
Thanks for the reply and enjoying the read!