beep beep - beep beep - beep beep - beep beep - beep beep
beep beep - beep beep - beep beep - beep beep - beep beep
"huh...", sleepy as ever he lifts his head off his pillow.
The day goes by.
Abigail and Po have finally packed their luggage and are ready to leave on a mystical journey through the amazing landscapes of north India all the way to a valley, frozen between hills on all sides, yet as soft as dew drops on grass in early winter mornings. They were to travel at night, so the they didn't see much since they were mostly sleeping, but they got to the valley at 4:30 am sharp! Chinoor was their tour guide, he never left their side. Maybe once at the bus station, but that was ok, since Abigail and Po weren't screaming.
The night travel was quite amazing. Although Po would not have been able to make it without a certain Thankar's help. Abigail and I can't be certain whether Po passed out or was happily asleep, since we didn't wake him up to ask. The bus was, as usual, a Government of India Transport Vehicle which makes use of the best suspension systems accross the world over! unfortunately the roads on these heavily trafficked areas have many, if there be such a word, bucket-holes.
The threesome sat together and Po got the window seat. We were seated right behind the worst set of seats on the bus. It was good fun discussing the pros and cons of sitting on the worst seats in the bus. A bar partly blocked entry into the set of seats that was called the worst set of seats. It was called so, since the door was at such a location that if any naughty boy were to 'chuck' a stone (or rock for that matter) towards the bus, it would enter at high speed through the door and develop a certain trajectory that would take it through the empty lane in the middle and right into the worst seats on the bus. We however were sitting right behing this set of seats and were saved since if there was a naughty boy who did 'chuck' a stone at the bus aimed at us, it would merely hit the window. In such a case there are only two possibilities. Firstly, the stone bounces off the window and all of us makes faces at the kid! or the glass breaks and a quilt of shattered glass covers the three of us and we sleep till morning without much trouble since it was a bit cold and a small quilt would have helped.
Lucky for us, it was nighttime and little naughty boys aren't allowed on the streets after ten. We then attempted to sleep. Chinoor using all his yogic knowledge puts his hands on his bag and his head on his hands. Abigail didn't want to lie down, niether did he want to lean on anyone, so he tried sleeping sitting straight. Po had his head on the window. Now lets thank Thankar!
Some days back Chinoor had borrowed Po's cap cause a close friend of Po's and Chinoor's thought that he looked good in it. Chinoor, never wanting to let go of a good looking opportunity took to the cap instantly! Unfortunately for him and Po, the cap was borrowed by a certain somebody who... well... lts just say didn't give it back and Chinoor wasn't really in a position to go up to her and say, "Just for that gimme my cap!!"
Thankar! we all love you! He lent his cap to Po, it was red in colour. I say was since it truly was... but no longer is. Maroon maybe, red - nope. The potholes on the road were very entertaining and it actually looked like we were nodding our heads to some rap song. Po was seen with his head in a smooth beat, moving up and down and even giving a little style with the cap when all of a sudden we see him go 'BANG' with the window!! It was stunning! I jump forward to see what company the glass was!! ... not! Chinoor and Abigail looked at each other and thought - he's either a heavy sleeper or just got knocked out.
Its funny how Abigail and Chinoor started thinking alike and even saying things at the exact same time. I actually had a little free time so I did myself some probability. Considering that the common set of words in Abigail's and Chinoor's vocab is the little oxford's dictionary - it would be 45,000 words. The probability of him saying one word of those 45,000 is obviously 2.2E-5 and the same goes for me choosing exactly one word. The probability of us choosing the same word is a whopping 4.8E-10 !!!!!!!!!!!! don't worry... it makes no sense to me too.
The next morning while we were crossing some forest, Chinoor wakes up Abigail and tells him, "Home is near, wake up! and tell Po to wake up!"
Abigail wails,"huh? here? already? where are we?"
"It's here... just get up!"
The bus is stopped at a place called chandrabani bus stand. We get off and they forget chinoors bag inside. Abigail runs in to rescue the bag and jumps out a few seconds before the conductor shouts in the local language, "is there anything else?"
"no no.. thank you", replies one of the three
We walk over to the house and Chinoors dad, who was awake all night waiting for his son to get back shouts, "He's here!! he's here!! he's home!!"
Abigail and Po are introduced and are rechristened ABCD.
We go and sleep some more, Po somehow feels he needs some sleep too. Chinoor's Granddad had to get a cataract operation done so he was in town. Lucky for Abigail and Po the car was to their disposal as long as they dropped and picked up Chinoor's Granddad to and from the Hospital! The first day began with a light serving of what I like to call 'FOOD'! Abigail and Po were stuffed after three measly paranthas! Po loved the mango pickle. Chinoor showed his hidden talent, eating everything down to the last bit, still not gaining any weight and also still feeling hungry.
We drove straight to the eye clinic and dropped off Chinoor's mom and his mom's dad... hehe... his Granddad. From the three drove off to see Doon School, from the outside. Then through CP towards Astle Hall. They visited Ellora's while Chinoor had some work in the bank. Kumar Sweet Shop, the kulfi faluda there was just too good. Chaat Gali had gol gappa's which weren't really appreciated by Abigail, but anyways... after which we played a game of pool and no, not swimming. We met up with Chinoor's mom at the other clinic where he was told it would take another hour of probably more. This was the perfect opportunity to visit Rajpur Road! on our way we tanked up the fuel and ourselves too at The Yeti restaurant. The view was all the two tourists could care about. Deer Park was an ok place, it had an dustbin the shape of an elephant. We actually got to see deer's! which is quite a rare sight at that place, but anyways... moving on we came back home since Granddad needed some things from home and his operation was surprisingly scheduled on the same day! The plan was that the three of us would come home, relax a bit and then drive back and then see what happens. Dad however thought differently, he took the car and left the three of us home. This is when most of the grand tour of the house happened. It was then clearly defined that Abigail is the heaviest among the three. The see-saw, as already hinted, was always on Abigails side. There was one thing that they found the most, as they would call it, 'trippy'. There was a staircase that led to the roof at the end of which there is a door. It doesn't have walls on the sides nor does it have a roof on top, just a door. Also they found a cieling fan in one of the bathroom's which was again termed wierd, but anyways... We made dinner comprising of bhindi, french fries, gobi paranthas, mushroom soup, chapathis, salad, rice, etc. It was good. We watched... ok fine they watched Kill Bill 2 on the comp while chinoor slept off. It was good too.
The next day we again had to drop off my Granddad at the clinic and take him back too, so we did that, and visited the IMA and the Forest Research Institute. It was there decided that Po and I are to buy FRI and convert it to our homes, or atleast send an architect here to take ideas for our houses to be. Abigail thought we were idiots.
We went home and then visited the Budha Mandir and the World Peace Stupa. I think its better left up to Abigail and Po to explain how they liked it. Lunch was at home, mom cooked so it had to be awesome. We left for Robbers Cave!
The way there was in itself quite interesting. Dad had some work in the bank again and I was the perfect ginni pig. So I had to take a detour through the wrong end of town. Since chinoor was visiting this place after about a year or so, he didn't exactly remember the way there, but he had a very clear vague idea! They did end up in the wrong place, but that was ok since now Chinoor knew exacty where to go!
Around 4pm, a green car, a deserted road and a sign board on the left. The ground was flat everywhere, but the left road was like a plunge into the forest. We turned left, the cemented road which now looked like a mutilated cemented road just lay there. It looked like it hadn't been used much by vehicles, just people and animals. The road itself wasn't too wide - it was a scary way down. We zig-zagged down the side of the hill, not knowing if there would be any traffic from the other side. On one side was the hill and the other the cliff, it was a road that took you down, slower or faster, you decide. Once on the plain we all took a deep sigh and went through bushes that were covering the road. On the side we spotted an open air swimming pool too! It was funky! The road took us towards a river that appeared to have little water. Chinoor parked the car infront of a tree, making it seem like he banged straight into it. Seriously, he parked it like that. He did not hit the tree.
We took our bag and put on our shorts and walked on with courage and Abigail put his foot in the water "ooohhh.... its cold!!!!", he yelped. We managed to reach the start of the cave. The whole river was supplied by water through this cave, so the seemingly little water now seems quite a bit since the cave was about five to six feet wide. We walked in, Chinoor led the way, Abigail grasped Po's hand and vice versa. For all those having read Tin Tin, this according to Po, was a lot like one of the caves depicted there!! Since we were in a hurry rock climbing wasn't really a very open option. We reached a spot where going any further was very difficult since we would have to either climb a waterfall or jump over it. Both seemed impossible cause all the other two wanted to do was get on a rock and roll!!! and thats what they did. It was good fun sitting on top of a rock stuck between the walls right above a waterfall!
On our way out I told the guys to hurry up since it was getting dark and I wanted to say jaguars, but I said bats. Surprisingly that helped a lot since Abigail turned out to be VERY scared of bats! we exited quite fast and actually ended up having close encounters with a lot of bats. It was fun.
Chinoor lost the way back but didn't say anything... but that was ok, He ended up getting on a road he knew and brought everyone home. Dinner was deadly again. After that there wasn't much to do, so we went to the roof and stared at the stars. Sleep was on its way and I got most of my share that night. The next day they left for Dharamshala.
Chinoor got bored and wrote this... hehe...
