It’s vacation time, remember when we were kids our parents used to take us somewhere during June-July and after coming back we used to miss the place and slowly we used to come BACK to LIFE.
Well I still remember it was 2 A.M in the morning and I was not able to sleep, twisting and turning in my bed I was only thinking about my upcoming trip to Valley. I had to wake up at 4 to pick my friend from Railway station; he was coming from Jammu just to join us. Despite trying hard I barely managed to get my eyes of. His train arrived at 4.30 and we were back home at 5. We still had 45 minutes, as our Cab was scheduled to arrive at 5.45. We grab a cup of tea and do some chit chatting, Cab arrived at 6.15 and after picking Ankur and Rahul we started our journey, journey to Rishikesh and Mussoorie.
Till two days back I always had a grudge to no one but myself that in spite of born and brought up in Saharanpur I have never been to Dehradoon and Mussoorie. As soon as I returned home from Bangalore I had one thing in my mind that these vacations I have to visit these two places, I don’t know if I was so adamant or it was sheer desperation that I was ready to visit these places alone also (May be I wouldn’t have done this, still this thought touched my mind once). Few days back I had a routine visit to my school friend Rahul where plan was finalized, and after initial set of differences about places Rishikesh and Mussoorie were stamped, we contacted Lucky (school friend) and he agreed. Bingo I was so happy, we all agreed to back a cab down there so that we would be at our ease. We booked the Cab and just one day before I came to know that Ankur is also in Saharanpur. In no time he was persuaded to join us.
We even hadn’t started and clouds surrounded us, followed by tornado and rain. We felt cheated and started thinking about options as Rafting appeared impossible in that conditions. It was 10 in the morning and we were at Haridwar, it was still raining, we called some people in Rishikesh and got confirm news that Rafts are going up and we can do rafting though from Brahmpuri (10 Km stretch) only.
We felt relived, if not delighted, as something is always better than nothing. I also knew that my friends have never done rafting before so they will enjoy the most be it from Brahmpuri or Shivpuri. After breaking our fast we reached Rishikesh around 11 and after initial enquiries and bar gaining we finalized a deal with Exotic Himalayas for Rs 350 per person (if we are only 4 people) or Rs 300 per person (if they manage to get any more client). Fortunately they didn’t managed to get any client and we started at 1.30 from Brahmpuri. It was a repeat for me still I was enjoying each and every notch of rafting as someone has said, “human heart is pleased more with company than places and things”. We crossed three rapids in between, jumped from 30 ft high cliff, and guides also flipped our Raft upside down in between, this was certainly amazing with Rahul and Lucky stuck under the Raft, Ankur and me were far away from Raft in mid of Ganga, Ankur feared initially but he quickly realized that he can’t drown with life jacket, he quickly gain his senses and started to feel the water and People around and on Lakshman Jhula were thinking as some incident has happened. We ended our rafting at Lakshman Jhula.
It was 4.30 by then and without wasting any more time we quickly started for Mussoorie, in between we had snacks at KFC – Dehradoon. We reached Mussoorie at 7 in the evening and sooner we realized that all the Hotels were jam-packed, we managed to get a decent enough room by 8.30. We roamed at Mall Road; truly speaking I didn’t like it much. It was over crowded, I had a different picture of Hill Stations in my mind where there are less people and more trees, where people come far away from intricacies of life to relax, where people prefer silence and it is only nature that talks and only wind that shouts, where people feel the weather and leave themselves free, where people do not plan any activities for enjoyment still they feel occupied. Anyways we got our dinner packed and left for room around 11. It felt good to be in that room, I loved the fool moon night and I loved the way clouds were encompassing that moon, it was a like a turf going on and on between dark clouds and lovely moon light. I cannot say who was defeated but certainly I felt winner. However icing on the cake was the view from our balcony, we could see entire valley and Dehradoon looked mesmerizing in lights. It was like seating in a private auditorium and musicians playing for you. I felt trapped in the beauty and listened the silence till 3 in the morning.
Next morning we wake up at 8 and without wasting the time on bathing etc we left the Hotel and had quick breakfast. We planned to visit Gun Hill by trolley but there was 3 hours waiting time for that. We dropped the plan and started for Campty Water Fall at 1 in afternoon. Just 2 kms away from destination we were stuck in jam, nearly 800 vehicles were already parked in and around Campty fall area. We left the cab and started to walk. We reached Campty, put our camera and cell phones in Locker and went below the fall.
I was un-reactive for initial 5 minutes then I realized that I do not like it; there were around 300 people in the small pool meant only for 50 people. No later than 10 minutes I left the pool, I took the camera out and took some shots of my friends who said they were enjoying there. Still I cannot fathom that fact. We left Campty around 3 and were back to Mussoorie at 4 in evening, just at that time clouds started to cover Mussoorie, needless to say that view was breathtaking. We had lunch there, and I was bewildered once more to feel the clouds around me. Finally we left Mussoorie around 8 in evening I was at home at 11.30 seating with MOM with a cup of tea. I just went in the balcony and listened a motorbike whistling. That was the time when I realized that I am BACK to so call LIFE.
