Sunday, September 16, 2007

HP Trip – Day 1

We flew from HYD-Delhi. This is Sai’s first ever flight and she said “it is just like a big bus” and it was. Air travel has become so common in India; I remember reading somewhere that India and China will have worst air traffic in the coming years. NJ’s family picked us up and her DH (dear husband) drove us around Gurugaon and finally to their home. SV, NJ’s husband did his masters at the same time we were in our B.Arch, so we were talking about old times, meanwhile Deepu – NJ’s son got really bored. We had Pizza, played cards (KM card playing crash course begun) and head off to Sarojini Nagar Market. After living in U.S. for long, personal space is something I take it for granted or feels it is my birth right. I only realize it is a myth when I enter markets like Sarojini nagar. I avoid many shopping centers and temples for the same reasons. We did have lot of fun other than my people phobia. From there we drove to India Gate and I was surprised to see so many people. I have always seen India Gate in movies with no people except the filmi folks jogging etc. Relying on Airborne, I did have the yummy roadside 'bhel'. NJ’s family drove us off to a metro station. Delhi metros are no less to Europe metros. It was amazing to see how fast you can get to from point A to point B without traffic. Finally we landed at Old Delhi station and boarded our much awaiting train “Jammu Mail” that will take us to Pathankot (Chakkibank). The weather in Delhi was very humid and sticky, I was so glad to get into the moving train. Due to jet lag and the entire shopping gala, I dozed off very early, whereas Sai and KM kept chatting for long hours.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Anticipation…

Lot of planning and scheduling went into our HP (Himachal Pradesh) trip. I called up Sai one day and asked her if she would be interested in 3-4 day trip to some where we have never been. Sai and I have been to most of the south and northern India during our Architectural tours in college. She suggested “Dharamsala” over the phone and my mind got fixated on it. Did all the research on how to get there and what to see around. Meanwhile we asked NJ, Chakri and KM if they would be interested in joining us. NJ had visitors, KM agreed and Chakri had to drop out in the last minute. I booked flight tickets (very cheap if you book ahead) from HYD- Delhi and train tickets from Delhi- Chakki Bank (Pathankot). I did this booking with the help of my brother and his friend. We cannot use international credit cards anymore for booking online tickets. I am impressed with the online services how I booked all my tickets from here (U.S.). Sai and KM are in charge of lodging. Sai, KM and I are very excited about the trip; we told everyone that we could possibly tell. Sneak preview of HP trip... details coming up.



Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Chalo Bharath….

Packed my bags just a day before the Independence Day and was waiting impatiently for my Sis to arrive to give me a ride to the airport. Early morning Aug 15th while I was getting Chotu ready for daycare -
Mom: Chotu, pay attention to me, you are getting late, I will be late...
Chotu: I wish you could miss your flight...
Mom: What! Why do you say that?
Chotu: So you don’t have to go to India.
After all that planning, now the lil guy throws a curse on me and my sister has not yet left her house when I called she was still “leaving right now” and hung up on me as usual. For some reason I believed in “Bal Vaak Brham Vaak” some corner of my heart, so took the wheel from my Sis and landed two hours early at the airport. Took out the entire extra luggage and handed it to her and checked in very early just to prove Chotu wrong. Off to a three week vacation away from everything (work, kids, DH and everything…). Everyone was envious of the idea. Of course had to answer zillion times to everyone how I could leave DH alone with the kids and go on vacation.