Travelogue part II

This gets posted above part I but you can scroll down can't you? :)

I left you stranded at Darjeeling last time.

"Let's move" said my dad at 9.00 AM. We had half an hour to have food before the taxi came to whisk us off to sikkim. Or rather was scheduled to come. It took an hour more than was expected of it and gave us ample time to finish our food. SOmething really funny happened then. My dad was waiting for the driver to come whilst me and mum went to our room for a fresher. The driver had not recognised my dad and vice versa. Quite understandable given the fact that they had not met previously. So naturally when he came up 5 minutes later with our suitcases in his hands my dad was shocked and almost ran after him! After a quick recap and a few laughs we headed to sikkim.

The roads which led to gangtok were as if they had been taken out from a postcard. Excellent places for photography and a quiet evening stroll with dad/mom/boisterous little kids/grandpa with walking stick/your girl/your guy/or with your dog at your heels with the slightest of drizzles and strands of mist floating about. I loved every moment of it. There were rhyming slogans on the road sides too. The ones against fast-driving.
"Around my bends,
Drive slowly my friends!". (for example) My poor memory does me in.

On the way there was this wonderful place which you might have seen in the album (Next time onwards nithya!!)...The two different colored rivers. One coming from Nepal and the other from SIkkim. Both mix and then join the yamuna before entering bangladesh. What a sight! The tista river followed us around, hugging the road wherever we went occasionally shadowed by a few bridges. This river has West bengal on side and sikkim on the other!


The remaining half day was as normal as normal can be. Except that we met one of Dad's colleagues in gangtok, had a bit to eat and them walked through the mist, my dad, talking about work here and there, my mom window shopping, me, just looking around and humming a tune to myself and occasionally pointing out stuff my mum missed!

There is this strange rule in gangtok. At four thirty many sirens placed at equal distances along the road wail. The reason- No cars should be parked on the side of the road to make oom for the people to walk! Awesome eh?

The next day broke(Is this right?) Gangtok beckoned to us. There were round about 9 to 10 spots to visit. About three of them were monasteries. So Nothing extra special about them. We went to a botanical garden, a flower show, a handicrafts expo(Hand made paper caught my eye. I was forced to pry them away from them), a waterfall which you can see in the album. It is called the Bakthang falls. Another different name. Talking about different names there was this bridge. I could not take a photo because we passed it in a flash. It was "Tarkhola" bridge. Significant or just another coincidence?

There we were shepherded by another guy "Aman" that's the smart driver guy talking to my dad in the album. It was fun watching dad and his broken tamil and the driver talking slowly for his benefit. My dad has this habit of using past tense for every sentence!!(He is way good for a beginner though! Son no let dad down you see! :) ). Some sentences just turn out really funny. Ah.. sweet memories.


The remainder of the day was spent at home watching french open finals! It was disappointing to see Federer lose though he virtually gifted the match on a platter to Nadal. A disappointing end to a great run. NExt day I woke up with a start realising what was going to happen. We drove to the river TIsta. This river is famous for a lot of things. Its reunion with Rangeet, Its friendship with the road, and its White waters. The very same rapids in which I was to go rafting! The first time of my life!. Man it was awesome! The water was Chilling to the bone! I had to row. My dad too had to row. Three little guys aided us. Guys smaller than me. They were Sandeep, sunny and purna. We taught them our cries of Yelelo ailasa!! And they taught us their various methods. These people had rafting as a job. How cool is that??I nicked a few stones from the banks. They were beautiful. One was green in color!


A few hours later, we were headed back to calcutta. The place where it all started. On the train back we met two couples. It was a great experience. We were supposed to be in AS2. We got into what we thought was AS2. The couples there were also to be in AS2. The train Driver(Or what do you call him???) had parked the train a tad wrongly. So we had to shift from AS 3 to AS2 . Those two couples too. They had been to bhutan for the vacation. Listening to them rant about their vacation was great! Each man shared tales with his wife giving the apt nods and chuckles at the appropriate places. All of them were above 55. Life does begin at 60 dunnit?? :)

We reached calcutta. With the many tales of bhutan and their lives ringing in my ears I made the walk back out on the platform.

Calcutta had never been hotter.

to be continued....