When Adventure Came Calling!!

We came out of the boring lecture at around 7:30 PM when I heard the murmurs of classes being suspended for the 3 days in the week. Few facts came to my mind quickly: Next day was Republic day and then three days classes are suspended and the next day after that I don’t have any classes. That meant a total of five days. I suddenly told my friend-“ we are not wasting next five days here in campus”. He agreed. We quickly went to the room of a third friend and told him that we are going for a trip now. He asked- “where?”. I said anywhere. Then I thought it would be impossible to get train reservations. So we decided to go anywhere via bus where we can spend our next five days. We decided to go to Shimla-Manali and packed our bags in next 10 minutes. And then we marched off to what I would call rest of my life as one of the best trips.

Day 1: One of my friends, who is from Chandigarh, accompanied us or say guided us till Chandigarh. We reached his home at 5 in the morning and were expecting to go straight to his room where we will sleep for an hour or so. But to our astonishment, Uncle and Aunty were both there ready to give us a grand welcome. And for the first time in my life, I ate “Pani-Puri”, “Gaajar ka halwa” and “Chaat” at that hour of the day. But Auntyji was not done yet. We were then offered delicious buttery-paranthas with curd and of course love. But isn’t that the very reason the almighty made Moms and Aunties of the world?? After our tummies filled, we went to Kalka station and took the toy-train to Shimla. It took 6.5 hours to reach Shimla via beautiful scenery, 102 tunnels and more than 30 bridges. What a journey it was!!

Day 2: This day was dedicated to Shimla. We went to a place called “Kufri” which was around 15kms up on the hill and on the way we passed through the green valley. And here at kufri, for the first time in my life, I did horse riding!! The place is good but we didn’t find any snow there. So did some photography, visited the “Naag” temple and came down and went straight to “Jakhu” temple of lord Hanuman. Rest of the evening was spent on the famous Mall Road of Shimla, We roamed up and down and I spent few bucks on shopping.

Day 3: We scheduled this whole day for our journey to Manali. My friend, from Chandigarh, had advised us not to eat too much when going to Manali from Shimla but who can resist the temptation of eating hot-paranthas on a chilly morning? We ate as much as we can. And then we had an argument with the travel agent and worst part, I think he did this to take his revenge, was that he gave us the rear seats. Curvy roads, paranthas and rear seats were too much for me and I gave up and vomited. Twice. There is nothing much to see on the way, though the roads remind you of “Behti hawa sa” song from 3 Idiots. We reached Manali at 8 in the evening, had our dinner and slept in our room. Worst day of the trip I must say.

Day 4: We woke up to a breezy morning with the expectation of seeing the snow covered mountains, which were the biggest reason for us going to this trip, on our way to Rohtang pass. Our driver stopped at a shop where the track suits, skiing equipments, shoes and other things were on offer which you “must” take while going to Rohtang pass. I smelled the driver-shopkeeper nexus. We decided to take only track suits with the shoes. The problem with people like me who have spent their life in the plain regions is that we get super excited when we see anything like snow covered mountains or sea-beaches. Though the latter was out of question here but a thin-white lining on the top of a mountain was more than enough to excite us. We were told that Rohtang pass is blocked and we will be allowed to go till the snow point where we can play snow games. We were extra happy for this proposition alone but what awaited us was the unexpected. Yes, totally unexpected. One of my friends told me to see outside the window to confirm it’s really snow or something else. And guess what? It was snowing. As we went further, it started snowing heavily. And then we saw vehicles coming back as there was the danger of getting stuck in the snow. This was pretty strange for us as we were familiar with getting stuck in traffic-jam only. But getting stuck in snow-storm? Our driver said that we should return immediately if we don’t want to get rescued by the army. This was getting excited. You read/hear this language only in news. But this was reality. And we were on the cloud number nine!! We had already moved 25 kms up from Manali when we decided to go back. The return journey took around 8 hours and gave us the experience of lifetime. According to our driver, tourists are very lucky if they witness snow fall. We were indeed very lucky on that day. We enjoyed like kids there. There were fears of getting stuck and our Car falling from the hill, which it almost did once. But as I said, we were lucky. Best day of the trip. Or any trip ever I went to. Or maybe, will go to.

Day 5: This day was just a time pass and reserved for local Manali sight seeing. We went to Hadimba temple, Tibetan Monastery and Vashishtha Temple (famous for sulphur bath). We also heard that 2 cars did skid yesterday but luckily no casualty was reported. In the evening, we took the bus to Delhi.

The best part about this journey was that it was totally unplanned and as Pandeyji said “Life’s best when it is unplanned”. So true for this trip. And many other things in life. It was indeed a trip to remember our lifetime. Few pics of Day 4 are attached below:

What an Idiot!!

I became a proud fan of that tall-six feet-heavy-voiced man when I was...hmm...ah...forget it. I don’t even remember my age when I started following the superstar of the millennium. It was a custom to discuss his movies at every get together I had been to during my childhood. And why only childhood. Even today!! No one can ever equate the power that “Shahenshah of Bollywood” command over the audience. But this piece is not about him. Its about someone else who is slowly and steadily reaching the heights which cannot be termed anything other than greatness.

I was 5 or 6 when I started singing my favorite song of that time at every other occasion: be it at school or at home. The song was “Papa kehte hai...” from the latest bollywood blockbuster called QSQT. It was filmed on a debutante who defied all the norms of being a “hero” of any hindi movie. He was labelled, as usual, a chocolate hero who will (or should) do only romantic movies. Which he did for next few years. Some of them successful, others not. And that was the time when Indian audience saw the rise of many other “chocolate” heroes as well.

After doing some routine dancing-around-the-trees-with-the-heroine movies, he came in a movie where he enacted the role of a school boy. Now that was different. I mean it was ok for us (the audience) to see a college-going hero. But a school boy? Anyway, I liked the movie because it had a sports theme. And more so because he played the role of a boy who didn’t like to study. Just like many of us. Movie was JJWS. I was waiting for his next “different” flick.

Two years later, he delivered a comedy movie which, today, is considered to be a cult movie. I liked it so much that I started saying that I’m now a fan of two heroes. The movie was AAA.

Since then, I’ve become his admirer from being just a fan. I’m not his admirer because he has delivered many hits. But I’m his admirer because he has always challenged (and changed) the rules of the game for better. He was the one who did movies differently. He started the concept of doing only “one movie at a time” in bollywood. And he started doing this at a time when others were indulged in signing movies just to encash on their recent successful movie.

He has always given priority to perfection over mediocrity. Some of his movies bombed at the box office but the sincere effort was always palpable. His movies, though not always, have been full of messages as well. Be it about friendship (DCH), fighting the mighty for justice (Lagaan), patriotism (Sarfarosh and RDB), being understanding parents (TZP), reforming higher education(3I) etc. Sometimes he did different things and sometimes he just did the same things differently (remember Ghajini?). And he has delivered most of the times what was promised. Entertainment. Sometimes enlightenment as well.

Its rare and heartening to see that someone in a position that he is in, prefers to tread a different path altogether. He does not bore you with selling 20 products. Neither does he dance at a wedding party for money. Nor does he come on page 3 every month inaugurating something or the other.

Recently I read a story about another “superstar” charging 40 lakhs to release a book. And then I also read that my superstar agreed to release a book of an author on one condition. Only if he likes it. And charges? Nil.

That is why we like you Mr. Aamir Khan. The Perfectionist. An idiot. And I wish you keep entertaining us the way you have so far. And may the next generation get the membership of your fan club in legacy.

-From a Junior idiot to a senior idiot