Dear Ma and Baba, wish you both a very happy marriage anniversary.A lot and lot of love.Be happy always (includes me too).
Your only son.
Month: December 2018
Holidays begin and Going on a bus ride- Part-4
The next day morning, the breakfast was poached omelettes with garlic bread. There was an executive chef for breakfast meals and he was good at his job. Soon after breakfast we all got ready and went for a visit to the local museum.
The museum was old, nearly seventy five years ago a rich man had given money for this museum. The kings who had control over this state once upon a time, their swords and old artefacts were on display.
A bajra (a type of pearl millet) field was nearby our hotel,so we went there and had sarso-da-saag and maakke di roti with jaggery for lunch.
After lunch, we proceeded towards the area where we had gone for the jungle tour. The place was full of tall pineferous trees.Taking a tour guide with us we decided to proceed inwards in the jungle, as it was beautiful place for exploring nature, spotting wild animals and meeting with tribal people.
The area surrounding the main forest was a sort of semi-forest and the roads were not proper.The car ride felt more like a camel ride, the roads were so treacherous. While going in towards the forest, we met with three tribal men. Each one of them smiled broadly at us and when we asked their permission to click their photographs, they happily agreed. I clicked their photos and that seemed to be a cause of happiness for them as they started laughing. One of them asked me to send the photographs to them also, but I explained to them that it was a mobile phone through which I had clicked the pictures and I couldn’t send them the pictures until and unless they had a mobile phone. Hearing this they started laughing even more. One of them had removed his shirt and was using it to carry small lumber pellets and the three of them were carrying big stacks of cut lumber wood.
Our tour guide explained to us that they were carrying small wood pieces to be used as firewood for cooking in their homes. The tribal men showed us that their homes were seven steps downwards in a nearby small village. The tour guide told us that the men were going to the main market to sell some of their collected pellets and after having finished their work, they would have their lunch. The tribal men showed us their lunch which consisted of thick rotis, sattu, onions and vegetables. We thanked them for their hospitality and they too thanked us and went on their way forward to the market. We didn’t go too far in the jungle as our tour guide informed us that their might be thugs in the jungle, so we turned our car and returned to the hotel.
I will continue the rest of the narration tomorrow.
Adios!
Holidays Begin and Going for a Bus Ride-Part-3
The tour of the jungle in an enclosed and protected bus began. Every one had been strictly advised not to use their cameras, if they spotted any animal. The first hundred meters, all were very quiet. Pin drop silence which children maintain in classes was very much active in the bus. No one spoke. All were anticipating that a lion or a tiger might be nearby and the situation might get scary, though we were in an enclosed bus, the conductor took his business seriously and was looking at each and everything with such strictness and vigilance that I felt he was the man who was suited for the job.
It was completely a jungle but the bus driver knew where he was going. The bus came to halt and an antelope was seen after two minutes. The bus slowly went ahead. Two deers were sprinting and they vanished from our sight. After that the bus moved nearly two hundred metres in a slow speed but to no avail, not a single fierce animal was seen. We were feeling a bit sad that we couldn’t spot any lion and tiger.
With the bus moving at snail’s speed we kept moving at snail’s speed, we had lost all hope of seeing any big animal. The conductor spoke-“this is the last section of the tour. We are entering the lion’s enclosure.If luck is with us then you can see a lion or two. If the whole herd is visible then we all are truly blessed and lucky.”
The lion’s enclosure covered a very big area, but the bus only went through the outskirts. Seeing or spotting a lion was like watching a cricket match from the top of a building which was hundred meters away from a cricket stadium. The enclosure was thick with dense vegetation. Very very slowly the bus came to a halt and lo! straight ahead infront of us at a distance of nearly eight metres, a male lion with a huge mane was sitting.
Seeing him, we(ma, baba and me) were filled with awe. I had goosebumps all over my hand. A lion is the king of the jungle and seeing such a one is a privilege, an honour and a brilliant destiny, which very few get. Believe maybe one person in two hundred to five hundred people get an opportunity to see a lion who is not in a cage. The ratio may even farther widespread. I felt as if I had met a King of some country.
We were strictly prohibited from taking any pictures but the memory is still fresh in my mind. All the children in the bus got very excited. Each and everyone were trying to see the lion as best he or she could. We strained our necks too see if there were anyother lions, who could be seen but only that big male lion was visible. The lion slowly stretched his legs and placed his heads in between them. He saw the bus once, but he didn’t even appear bothered about us. I felt as if it was regular for him to see tourists watching him from a small bus.
The conductor was standing at the door holding a door’s rod. Given the size and strength of the lion, the I felt as if the bus was very tiny and in my heart appreciated the fact that he was a courageous and brave man
The bus brought us back to the main gate of the jungle. We bought few souvenirs from a gift shop and got into the hotel bus.
On the way back I fell asleep on ma’s shoulder and all three of us indeed had fallen asleep as the journey to the jungle was an exciting and memorable one.
When we reached our hotel, I saw that nearly everyone had fallen asleep.
At five o’clock in the evening, we stretched ourselves a bit and had a beautiful tea made with jasmine and chamomile tea leaves in the hotel’s open restaurant and watched the sun set.
Such beautiful experiences are really rare.
The other part of the journey will be narrated by me tomorrow.
Adios!
Holidays begin and going for a bus ride- Part-2
The next day we went to a tea estate. You had to pay a twenty-five rupees entry fees. The whole area concerning the estate was very big and one could tour inside for hours. There were beautiful tracks cut in the estate so that one could walk on lane. After spending nearly forty-five minutes walking, we went to the tea shop there and bought four different varieties of tea, out of which only one stood out and it was rose flavoured.
While coming out of the estate, we saw two flamingos and four begonia trees.
The nearby jungle tour which our trek guide was repeatedly requesting us to visit, was planned at about 12:30pm. We had our lunch at twelve pm.
For lunch, dal bati churma ( a famous Rajasthani dish) was prepared with onions and farsan and with it veg jeera rice, spicy korma and dal hundo was made. For people who didn’t eat rice, small chapatis and rotis were made. Having the buttermilk during and after the lunch made our hearts dance with happiness, joy and enjoyment. There is nothing like a fresh glass of buttermilk garnished with coriander and chillies and bit of an essence of jeera (cumin) powder.The restaurant manager told us that they had an another variety of buttermilk which was made with the essence of rose and saffron and brought three glasses for us. We had that buttermilk too and it was brilliant but the original buttermilk with jeera powder was and is the best.
Now the tour to the jungle began. It was about a two hour journey from the hotel and in the bus our trek guide was also present. We asked him-“yesterday, you told us that the jungle is nearby, when it is a two hour journey. Please explain.”
His reply was-“Actually, long before, nearly more than a century ago, this whole area was a jungle. Our forefathers were the original inhabitants of this place and they would tell us that there were wild elephants and tigers in this jungle but now the area and animals in the jungle have reduced”.
Hearing his explanation we understood the matter.
We reached the outer boundary of the jungle and from there we would have to get into a bus which was enclosed and protected with strong iron grills.
Before getting into the jungle tour bus, we had some sweetmeats and a mango vanilla ice cream each.
Then began our enclosed, protected jungle tour. The bus conductor told us not click any photographs of any animals. ESPECIALLY LIONS AND TIGERS.
Do you want to know if we had seen any tigers or lions or not, then wait for tomorrow, as I will narrate and write about it tomorrow.
Adios!
Holidays Begin and Going for a Bus Ride.
Life is a big holiday. It is such a prolonging version of vacations that we miss out the fun that the big guys nearly and always have. They are always in their mojo and whatsoever may come nothing can poke and change them. So, simply to get a change and to be in good fresh air (which doesn’t exist anymore), we have decided to go on a trip.
The bags are ready, tiffins have been packed in air tight tiffin boxes and our tickets to holidays are ready. We are going to a place, where there is fresh air, the hotels are modest, not too extravagant and the prices are not steep. Food is moderately priced and the best thing is you can play any outdoor game whenever you want, be it football, cricket, badminton, etc.
The destination for which the tickets have been booked is nearly a half a day journey by bus or an eight hour journey by train.
Simply imagining the fun that I would have, my sports shoes are doing Zumba by themselves and my storybooks are super excited themselves. Ma has made three sorts of tiffins to be had on our way to that place and everything which exists is humming –“hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm,holiday,holiday,holidays.”
It feels as if with us, our things too would enjoy the holidays.
The bus is a luxury bus. But there is nothing “ooh-aah” about it. Only, you can stretch your legs a bit if you want and the bus looks grand.
I have taken two apples in my pocket in case I get extra hungry on the way and we are now simply waiting for the journey to start. Once the bus starts it will make a stop only after two hours and you can’t attend nature’s call in between a bus journey.B y the way, who wants to even have nature calling, while you are in a bus? Once you have settled down nicely in your hotel room, then nature can call as much as it wants (limited edition only).
The big engine of the bus has started doing-“grrr,grrr and grrr”, signalling that it is hungry for a road trip and the trip begins.
We have just crossed the first hundred miles of our journey and that means nearly half of our journey. The bus did stop twice in between and no, we didn’t attend nature’s call as the nature didn’t come calling. Ma bought me a gems chocolate packet and a pack of salted peanuts and buttered croissants from a vendor who was selling his wares on the bus (when the bus had stopped).
Now the last leg of the journey is coming to an end and within five minutes we would reach our destination and the hotel people would have sent a cab over at the bus station for us and soon we would be taking a hot water bath and a medium sized nap to break all the tiredness of our journey.
Next day, when the Sun was looking baby sized, we went for a trek on the nearby hills and it was fun. The trek guide himself was trembling and seizing anything to which he could hold himself too. He had a big trouble keeping his feet steady on the hills and often would request us that if we would like to go for an enclosed bus tour in a nearby jungle.
We came back to the hotel at around two o’clock in the afternoon and went straight for lunch.
The food which we had the day before in the bus was excellent.The bus ride was so bumpy, but the food which Ma had prepared was so beautiful, that it helped me keep myself in me during the whole journey.
She had prepared three items, which were-Hakka noodles, buttered sandwiches with mind blowing stuffing and vegetable fried rice with pakodas. It felt as if the long journey was simply created so that I ( we) could enjoy the food prepared by her, thoroughly and throughout the time which the bus took to reach its goal.
The lunch which we had was good, but not superb. The dal tadka was excellent and the buttered naan was done nicely. The rest of the food was good.
In the evening we had tea and samosa. After that we went for a little walk and before sunset we had visited a beautiful garden and the smell of the flowers over there made my mind hum and belt out a few evergreen melodies. In times like these, one needs to sit down on a bench and simply take the scenery in. The more you take it in, the more you can sustain yourself.
The dusk had spread its wings all over the sky and our friend the Sun had already gone and it was time for us to go back to our hotel room. The walk back to our hotel room was a bit slow as the garden had a beautiful effect on us and we strolled at a slow pace, leisurely.
Such are the beautiful things which are like small pebbles in God’s collection of pebbles.
The rest of the journey, I would narrate tomorrow.
Adios!
Before You Travel. 