The drudgeries of life
Friday, August 28, 2009
The Dream Trip: Day 1 - The Pilgrims' Progress!
The day finally arrived! 10th of August, 2009... better remembered as Day 1!
Our plan was to hit Manali by dinner time, which meant taking off from IMT at 5 AM.
Given that everyone had hit the sack at around 3 AM (Sid didn't sleep at all!), it was fascinating to watch everyone up and ready to go before 5 AM! (If only the lectures motivated us this much...)
Clicked a few initial snaps, and walked in the slight drizzle that had just started. The driver with his Innova met us at the gate. Stuffed our luggage in the dickey and a portion of the back seat... 6 people in one Innova fit in just right! As soon as we huddled in, it started pouring outside... what a start :)
All (minus Rusti) set to go
It took a little bit of time to sink in that we were finally off! That's when the bakar started, accompanied by old songs on the radio and devouring of some yummy biscuits!
At this point I'd like to mention that the villain of this journey was none other than our driver... let's refer to him as Guru henceforth! He'll feature prominently in the upcoming posts!
Today, on plain and empty roads, he was so slow that even cycle fellas kept overtaking us at times :x
We reached Karnal at around 8:30 AM. Had a sumptuous breakfast comprising bread omelette, aloo pyaaz paranthas, tea et al!
Breakfast at Karnal
Drove non-stop till 11 AM and refueled the gaddi at Chandigarh... from there till we hit the hills, Guru exhibited his talents at driving the car so slow that neither did it move much nor did it's ignition get cutoff! Grrr
At 2 PM, well behind the planned schedule, we hit the hills! And suddenly Guru came alive!! The way he maneuvered the vehicle deftly around the sharp bends and put his foot down on the accelerator (actually!), it was almost as if he was back on home ground!
Chandu, Sid and Randy illustrating how we kept the car moving before the hills :P
As was bound to happen, Manish and, surprisingly, Rusti fell sick... nausea does get the better of you up here!
Stopped by the road to give them some relief, and saw this magnificent scene:
At around 5 PM, we stopped at Mandi - a homely little town - while Manish and Rusti took a breather! Surprisingly, a photography session in the rustic surroundings made Manish forget his squeamishness in a jiffy :P
Beautiful Mandi!
But as is apparent in the following pic, Rusti's (R) suffering was evident from his tum itna jo muskura rahe ho smile:
Had a later than late lunch at Mandi... Paranthas, Rice + Dal Makhni and lime juice!
After this halt, things got better: We picked up speed, and could afford to stop at places for some photography! One such place was this "hanging" bridge:
We hit Manali by 9 PM... pretty good considering our slow start!
We had got rooms booked in advance at Hotel Kenilworth International - a luxury hotel at the end of Mall Road - so checked in to our Executive Suites (Hell yeah! The holiday home system rocks, and the off season helps a lot).
Chandu, Randy and I in one of our suites! B)
Dined at one of the numerous eat outs on Mall Road. We hadn't expected much of a crowd in late August, and we weren't disappointed! Window-shopped a bit before heading back...
Returned to our suites, bathed in steaming hot water and slept like a log!
A weary yet happy lot before turning in for the day
Tomorrow is when the actual journey begins... we were told that our destination for Day 2, Sarchu was bang in the middle of nowhere! Woohoo!
Next up (on Thursday, Jan 7):
The Dream Trip: Day 2 - Knockin' on Heaven's Door!
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Labels: Day 1, Dream Trip, Guru, Karnal, Leh, Mall Road, Manali, Mandi, Vacation
22 Comments:
hahaha.....i remember Manish saying at 11am ..."bhaiya jaldi karo...aaj hi pahuchna hai"... n the driver...."aareyy guru ....bas 3-4 ghante pahucha doonga".....when even the cycles were moving faster than us:)
aarey yeh somalia also started his trip with his shorts:).....just a puzzle for every1...try to spot a photo where Randy is not showing the 32 teeths
LoL! Yep, I remember that so distinctly!
It being our first day, we didn't know Guruji so well that we could scream at him... that soon changed!
The 3-4 ghante me manali pahuncha dunga statement was a Guru-classic :D
LoL! Somalia saala hai kahaan? Always in shorts and with 32 teeth on display :D
And Rusti baba's classic antics coming up in later posts :P
refeuling the car......i guess there should be a seperate blog on this ...protagonist being Manish who was handling the accounts:)
Damn there is so much to write about... I write one line, and there are so many classic incidents associated with them :)
I guess this is the place to discuss them all! :D
Like the driver falling asleep initially, manish's vomiting episodes (putting his finger down his throat to induce the puking :p), rusti's first instances of "meri bhi lo na" (in terms of photographs of course :p), etc
That was some dialogue man.....saala lunch tak manali pahuncha raha tha....:)....He was thinking of hiring a jet from chandigarh i guess.....There was no other way...:)
and what about my Episodes be....Only once I stopped the car on entire trip......:)
@ amit.....That stopping of car at every petrol filling station...and the discussions we had when Guru moved out everytime are still fresh in my mind....ha ha...Jo bhi ho guru made this trip quite interesting.....:)
i remember running up to the stream before our unofficial stop for lunch..along with chandu..man wat a run up to the stream .and there mobile cam stopped taking photos ..while chandu kept posing...and ofcourse ggguru slow drive and comparisons with Rajbir...
Nice description Steve. Carry it on.
Some raconteur our Steve is :)
Waise 'm njoyin these comments 4m u 6 as much,if not more,than the blog itself :)
Awesome Steve,U almost are taking us along the trip...
@Manish
Haha seriously be! With the pace he was driving and the claims he was making, he kept us in suspense :D He was like a true villain without whom no movie is complete ;)
Ok, added a bit of mirch masala in the prev comment abt ur episode(s)... mixed up events with our Manali trip earlier :D
@Sid
Yeah I remember how you guys raced down those steps... Manish and I got bored half way down and started taking pics :D Oooh!
The comparisons with Rajbir... that got Guruuu maddd! :D
@Dhrub
Thanks be!
@Alekho
Thanks man :) My intention is to take you guys on a virtual tour... good to know you feel that way ;)
I had to prod these guys to comment... normally the "Comments" section is where all the real fun is!
@Steve gud work dude...was waiting eagerly for the blog to be up. Ya even I distinctly remember how slow Guru was driving on the awesome highway leading up to the hills. As if jus preparing to race on the hills. And this was Guru's characteristic throughout the trip. Even on hills when there was no traffic he wud drive slow ...as soon as he saw some vehicles he wud become schumi as if he needed some motivation to drive
Soooooooo.........here comes Rusty now........Beware ......of "RUSTANLYSIS"
RUSTIPEDIA......salaaam saaab:)
@sid
yeah....the stream was so cold n fast...shud had taken a camera thr
Welcome Rusti baba! We missed you :)
Hell yeah! How he overtook other vehicles on the hills, F1-ishtyle :D
@Manish, Chandu
Yep, Rustipedia is here! :D
What about the songs yaar !!! Guru had only one CD : "Love AAj Kal" and we seemed to enjoy that too ... repeating it again and again ... One goood result is that whenever "Love Aaj kal" Songs play any where a strong and sweet array of memories breeze through my Mind :) Then the heart invariably says " Once in a life time Trip Man !!! "
yes u are right Randy.....whenever "Yeh Dooriyan" or "Ajj Din Chadeya" is played anywhere we go back to those days.....:)......and what about many MP3s we purchased during the trip...I remember the one in which they had raped Atif's songs.....:)
@Randy
Seriously man! I remember that we vowed never to listen to "Love Aajkal" songs after the trip :D
Great point! The brand association and recall are unparalleled :P
@Manish
haha Those MP3s soon became boring too... "Bebo main bebo" was one of the fav songs ;)
Oh shit! That Atif cd was a big let down :(
Will play that rape Atif cd in the next party :P
@Alekhya
It's real bad... Atif fans are bound to commit suicide by the droves if they hear it :P
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