The month of December is always special. There is a festive atmosphere everywhere. The weather is pleasant. No pressure at office.
I decided to make this December a special one. Our organization has a core leave structure. I took this oppurtunity to have a great holiday. Many people prefer to spend the entire duration to spend at one place. I thought otherwise; to spend my holidays at different places, each place might as well be highly contrasting to each other.
My trip started on 10 December 2011. Calcutta was my first destination. It was my brother's marriage. It was a cullinary treat out there, with all Bengali delicacies.
Calcutta is also famous for its street food and street markets. I decided to take a day off to roam around in downtown Calcutta, a placed called Esplanade. The footpaths offered great varieties of food such as momos, kati rolls, noodles etc. Roaming on the streets can give you an essence of what city hiking is. I indulged in momos and did some shopping as well.
My next destination was Ranchi, my hometown. The first foray into cooler climes. I love winters. I love to feel the cold winds, the half baked sun and the taste of a winter coffee. But I was eager to go to much cooler climes. Three days went by. The wait was long.
17 December 2011: I took a flight to Delhi. The journey from Ranchi to Delhi was beautiful. It was because e of the view of the snow capped Himalayas that was visible from the window. The map in front of my seat indicated that the aircraft was flying very close to the Himalayas. And since it was dusk, the rays from the sun made the peaks appear golden in color. How nice it would have been if I could use my phone inside the plane. I could have taken pictures.
I went to Dehradun for one day. The train was wading through densely foggy areas. The visiblity was less than 20 meters. It was beautiful. That evening, in the cold weather was great, spending time with a close friend, boozing on rum. Dehradun was as beautiful as ever.
22 December 2011: The D day has come. I along with a friend started our journey towards our final destination... Manali!
We reached Chandigarh and took a cab to Manali. The road to Manali is long, with several instances of ascents and descents. The route becomes particularly good once you reach Mandi. The road starts meandering along the banks of Beas. The valley is huge, and provides spectacular views of snow capped peaks. We reached Manali in the evening. It was dark, with nothing visible in the horizon.
Morning, i went to the hotel terrace... and it was just awesome. I had been yearning to see snow closely, and my wishes came true that day. Even though Manali didn't have much snow, slightly higher reaches had traces of it. That day we decided to go for rafting. Though the distance was very small, just about 7 kms, it was fun, and such fun that all apprehensions regarding a certain amount of risk in it faded away.
The next day we went to Gulaba, about 2 hours from Manali. I had always been fantasizing climbing a slope covered with snow. Here I felt like a kid, climbing on the slope with great difficulty, and then sliding down. My limbs got numb. A bonfire, along with a cup of hot tea was the next thing in my fantasy... and whoosh!!! it became a reality. I can admit, these moments were some of the best moments in my life.
Manali has a decent Mall road, though it is not as good as the one in Shimla. Shopping in these type of markets provides much better fun, as compared to the same in malls. And in these markets, you can buy a range of stuff, from local handicrafts to Chinese electronics, from handicrafts to beautiful to jewelry, and ofcourse, the best local made wine!!! I indulged in heavy duty shopping. It's in these type of markets that you realize that the real pleasure of shopping lies in buying gifts for people you really care about.
These three days in Manali went like a swift breeze. I wished to continuing staying there, but had to leave. My trip to the north of India was culminated by a city hiking trip of the beautiful Chandigarh. The following day, i.e. on 27th December I returned to Bangalore.
I had a rainbow in my heart. Tears were raining because I had to leave the snow covered climes in such a short time, but the sun shone because I had been looking forward to something really nice, in the following weekend, my maiden trip to south Kerala. I joined my office that week, and surprisingly I had some work in store. I didn't get much chance to unpack, because of the impending trip, just a couple of days later.
Our Kerala trip plan was sightly in disarray because of a cyclone that was supposed to strike the east coast. Though we were going to the west coast, seas are known to behave strangely. We had our fingers crossed. We were really fortunate to get a clean weather out there.
I was thinking, what a contrasting month it had been. One day I am dancing on the beach in south India, and just a week earlier I was dancing on the snow in north India. India is indeed a land of contrasting geographies.
The best place in this trip was Varkala. it has India's only cliff beach. I indulged in sea food. It is the best thing you can do while you are on a beach... isn't it!? :)
We had a nice new year celebration. We returned on the 3rd January 2012.
Traveling can be the best way of spending your time. It is here when you see new places, get to know people better and have moments that you can cherish throughout your life. I am proud to belong to a country with such topological diversity. If I think to see my country first, before going abroad, then I don't think I will ever go
abroad... :)
