Sikkim

Feels painful to remember those moments that my friends gave me (painful since I miss them). But happy memories should not be remembered.. they should be relived.... relived with friends forever.

Planning underway....

My friends think that I am much too obedient to my parents for my age. Or may be they think I act like one. Nevertheless it did take me some courage to seek permission for the Sikkim trip. And my father relied heavily on my friends for my safety and all. Well, I don't remember whose idea it was but what an idea Sirjee. It took us no time to hook onto it... no.. Baffna had his own plans (someone remind me what were they). Sippy was glued to his semi-functional PC (later he was to rely upon other people's PCs too) and Mahata was fully motivated to make Shayri proud by cracking IIMs. Hence he needed to stay back to watch more formula ones and IMDBs. Our beloved Marli was positively excited and even I borrowed with much pain someone's rucksack. My father dictated me a long list of items to take to Sikkim (well he has a heavy mountaineering experience). I would suggest others post their comments on their own preparations as well. I will continue. So it was on one eventful day that we got to Krishna Air travels (a small kiosk between Azad and Nehru which people mostly use for taxi bookings and railways tickets... we were also not planning to use airways). We had felt the need to keep a track of our expenditures very early on and it was Shashvat who took it upon himself to manage the accounts (I don't know how he is studying engineering and I am doing accountancy here). We made arrangements and couldn't wait to get going.

Resuming after 6 and a half years...

1. Shakkin - The bad luck charm

It was probably our first time travelling on our own - what else could explain the bad luck charm we seemed to carry right from the start. The charm accompanied us right from the start. It was there when Shashvat and Rahul got left on the platform and had to board on a different bogey. It was there when Marli couldn't contain it.

That was funny. I don't know which station it was - probably, Mecheda. Marli would later go on to take keen interest in risk management in his professional career. Well, that struggle with finding a toilet on that long platform might have been his first test in risk management as well. There were too many uncertainties involved - how long the train would halt, how far the toilet would be, which direction should he have gone to, would he get another train in time. We would never know what different thoughts crossed Marli's head. It wasn't a big deal though. We had to wait only 15-20 minutes for Marli to meet up with us at Howrah.

What really baked our noodles though was the Shakkin charm's particular effect on Paul da. Nothing seemed to be going right for him. Paul da might have thought it was not a big deal to smoke inside a railway cabin; at least not near the toilet. The policeman didn't think so. Paul da took a real test of Marli's persuasive skills and Shashvat's charming smile. I don't know what deal they struck with the policeman but Paul da seemed to be fine eventually. Well, not for long. A cool part and probably most memorable part of our Sikkim trip was our homestay in Lachung. There was a lot of snow and we would need special boots to walk in it. Unfortunately, there were no boots that would fit Paul da. There was a smaller pair, but either it was for inside the home or belonged to a different gender. Whatever it was, Paul da was in for a series of mis-steps, literally. We lost count of how many times Paul da slipped on snow that day. Well, we were there for him, that's what friends are for :)

It might seem that Avik da and I were particularly immune to this Shakkin charm. I seemed to be more than prepared for the trip compared to the rest of us. While others had to buy extras, I already had my gloves, extra socks, fur cap and what not; all packed neatly in the backpack I borrowed from Nagender. Halu macha raha hai, Chhuara and Marli remarked quite often on the trip.

As to the sincerity of those remarks; well, anybody's guess ;)

2. Noodle Soup

It was a nice cozy shop on the approach road towards Gangtok and the landlady seemed to know exactly what we needed - soupy noodles. Sikkimese like soupy noodles. I have seen this predilection in Southeast Asia as well. Our first experience was right after we had our first experience of river rafting. Or may be just before that. I absolutely liked that first encounter with those soupy noodles.

Over the course of next few days, we had it countless times I think. There were other firsts for me as well, pepperoni pizza for dinner, doughnuts for breakfast. I will always miss that nice combo of Gyathuk/Thenthuk and Bacardi Breezer in a cozy little restaurant on the main street of Gangtok, another first! And those Save Tibet posters everywhere!

3. Marli's fight

Every travel experience comes with its fair share of bittersweet memories. Our botched trip to Changu's lake was one such experience. Apparently, the travel company had known about closed roads; tourists had been returning from mid-way for quite sometime now. Yet, they charged us full amount, didn't inform us that we would have to return mid-way, and to make it worse, refused to refund our money. I was standing outside their shop, looking at the passersby, wondering how they were so fashionable, why this city was so beautiful and so on. I was more irked by the fact that while I was trying to make sense of why I couldn't live in this city, there was a non-Sikkimese person (probably, North Indian), speaking perfectly nice Sikkimese, very much a part of this city, good-looking as well, who also happened to be the owner of this little shop. That he had done us grave injustice somehow had slipped my mind. Probably, that's why I was a Halu.

Well, Marli was not going to let them get away with it. He found an able company in Shashvat; together they took the fight to the police station; who summoned the lady who was irking us. She refunded our money; yes sir, she did. Respect - complete respect was what I felt for the police system of Sikkim and how they seemed to care extra hard for their tourists. I could hear Arpit's and Shashvat's jubilant cries of triumph (or did I imagine that?) while I still contemplated the goodness of the police system.

4. Snow fight

Another fight that comes to my mind is our snow-throwing contest with the Sikkimese girls in Lachung. But, hey, you would be thinking, of course, everyone remembers events involving girls, and that too when you are a young lad wit raging hormones. Well, not to disappoint you, but this memory is not special because of the girls, though I still feel that was cool :) It was Avik da's "Le bahinchod" comment that was even funkier. I mean, you can call guys bahinchod when having a go at them. But girls? That too, sweet pretty Sikkimese girls, the nectar of the valley? Crazy, right? Yeah, that's what we all thought while laughing our hearts out then and then later. A little context for the innocent readers. It happened, when we were taking a nice cool stroll on a road. These girls thought it would be cool to hit us from the road above us, you know mountainous areas, roads can be above you. Thereafter, it becomes hazy, somehow we were facing each other and throwing snow at each other and those girls were bursting with mirth like pearls of ocean. And we were definitely grinning like fools... Well, the party came to an end, when the girls' mother - or aunt or both as I am sure all the girls weren't hers - chose to appear on the scene, looked at them sternly, then said something sternly at them, then stared at us, after that the girls disappeared. I know, raging hormones on the other side too, at least that's what I would believe. It would make me feel that we were cool hunky guys who looked adorable to those sweet pretty girls. We were not feeling sad though, we had Avik's "Le Bahinchod" to munch over :P

5. Small snippets
1. Taking a stroll in Gangtok on our first night - we were returning to our hotel, it had gotten really late, when we were suddenly approached by a shady guy (who still looked harmless) who offered to take us to some disc. "You know girls, you guys can have fun :)" I think, we bought the doughnuts after that. We declined of course.
2. First encounter with snow - when we had almost reached La Chung. We had been seeing it for sometime on distant trees and mountain top while approaching the place. But, here it was, lying right on the road, on the trees, waiting for us to pick it up and make it into a ball and try throwing it for the first time. That look of wonder that we all had, simply amazing.
3. Meeting small Sikkimese children - right before when we happened upon snow, well a couple hours back. There was a TV there, we took a loo break, India was playing some team. And there were these really cute children, small eyes, chubby cheeks :)
4. Marli's camera and Saaya songs - Our road trip was characteized by nice mountain views, Teesta on every turn, lush alpine forests, snow in the heights, waterfalls here and there. We shared the vehicle with another group who was apparently led by an over-enthusiastic guy who was coming for the second time. I was always scared that it would be me who would play that role when we ever repeat that trip? Anyways, our trip was characterized by two more things, Saaya songs, which were actually nice though, added to the feel - and Marli's digi-cam, Marli could be quite stingy or quite gracious about his camera depending on his mood. Depending on his mood, I could lay my fingers on it to snap some clicks of my own. Marli used to take a lot of snaps in the night mode, that was my first camera training, take pictures in night mode, at least till I got a camera of my own.

There are other things I would like you guys to contribute to, I am tired of writing so much.

1. Seeing Kanchenjunga with rising sun in the morning
2. Danny's beer - which I was made to drink 
3. No network connection
4. Hillary vs Obama debate
5. Not able to bathe or wash bum in the morning due to freezing cold water
6. Morning excursion with Shashvat - Yoga on snow in Lachung
7. Night excursion with Avik - meeting a family; sharing a nice time with them
8. Ears full of air when returning due to changing altitude - La Chung to Gangtok
9. Rafting experience
10. Nighttime stroll in Gangtok
11. Morning tea in Gangtok, near the busstop

And add any that I missed. I don't know how to enable sharing on this, but will figure out.