Nostalgic summer vacation....

May 15^th to July 15^th was the time I used to wait for when I was in school. That was the summer vacation of my school.2 months freedom and holidays! My young siblings too used to be equally excited about the most awaited freedom of two months! Though the summer temperature in my hometown Dehradun never crossed 35 degrees, we often used to chill out at nearby places around Dehradun.

Sahastradhara, Lachhiwala, Rishikesh, Haridwar are few beautiful popular picnic spots at a few hours distance from Doon. We kids used to plan for the outings excitedly and pack our fancy sunshades, caps, camera, ball, Frisbee and what not. Mom used to make our favourite Rajma or Choley for Lunch, and Dad, on our popular demand used to bring cold drinks crates. The summer heat, the rising temperature, the fatigue, all used to vanish in seconds when we had the rivers in sight! And my happy family used to take a dip in the cool rivers together. Splashing water at each other, trying to learn swimming from my parents, teasing, shouting, trekking in the green valleys, refusing to come out of the waterfalls, capturing the scenic beauty of the valleys in our cameras, longing to stay there for some more time, Parents and Kids behaving alike  …Ah! I wish I could bring back the past. These are the special moments which summer vacations have given me .I can never forget the charm of those places which we used to visit each year and return home with the promise of visiting next year again during summers.

My dad is a businessman. People often think that only businessmen can spare time for their families while servicemen can’t. However I don’t think so. We used to freak out only during weekends and so is the similarity for servicemen..Times have changed, workloads have increased (so has the temperature). I am a working professional myself and I am constrained by time. My brother who is a college going boy now, cribs on his short summer vacations. Dad is also bogged by the increasing workload of his business. Yet, summers are special for us. We still eagerly look forward for an outing in Mussorie or Dhanaulti.

Once in 2007, we missed our train on the day of departure and had to wait on Nizamuddin platform for 6 more hours for the next train. The train journey of 22 long hours from Delhi to Nagpur was extremely tiring, I swear. But my happy family tried to cheer up the environment with songs and jokes while my gadget freak brother made us play  games. I enjoyed the view from the train window. The train leaving behind the farms, rivers, forests, pastures, villages were just mesmerizing. Maasi’s sweet home, my wonderful cousins, the spicy dishes of Nagpur, the lovely picnic places made it a rocking summer vacation.  It was the best summer vacation we had- a lovely reunion with my Maasi’s family after 10 years. My newly wed Bhabhi and I gelled like house on fire. Who can forget the sevpoori and sengdaana chutney. I fell in love with the  Maharashtran dishes. The temples and forts of Nagpur are a never forgetting experience for me. My cousins, maasi, mausaji, mom dad, bro and I celebrated our togetherness with an in-house dance party. Surprisingly I saw my bro dancing for the first time! Pastries, ice-creams, soft drinks(that too neat) chilled the warm night. My cousins used to chit chat with me till late night and showed me the wonderful city of oranges NAGPUR during the day time.

Nagpur remains warm throughout the year, but such a vacation dosen’t happen every day. Anything for such a wonderful reunion and a memorable summer vacation. My first visit to Nagpur will always be close to my heart. Yes, summers still have the charm and I plan to go to Manali very soon. Workload has nothing to do with the much awaited summer vacation and let go all the worries for some time.

Feeling nostalgic now!!

Riskesh adventure

“Mountain Dew cannot help me overcome my fear ”! I thought, standing atop twenty feet cliff above water. According to the sources, the river bed was eighty feet deep. Rahul, my team mate, who had jumped in before me, screamed from the river asking me to dive in. The thought of scaling hundred feet, scared me to hell and I stood unmoved staring at others who took less than five seconds to jump into the shimmering green water of the river. I wasn’t there to promote Mountain Dew or any adventure movie. I was there on an adventure trip to Rishikesh with a group of twenty. While river rafting was so much fun and thrilling, cliff jumping was equally scary.

Ready for the punge

On the white sand

I had visited Rishikesh many times with my family since childhood.(The perks of birth place Uttarakhand) However, this was the first adventure trip I had dared for. At last, my dream of white water rafting materialized. I have never been scared of water despite not knowing swimming. But trust me, when I boarded the raft wearing a helmet and safety jacket, I started feeling butterflies in my stomach. Our 20-something instructor, Rana, made us learn the commands to follow while rafting. Coordination is the most important thing while rowing and one should not panic even if he falls off the raft or gets caught in a rapid (That’s what the river currents are called). Wall, double trouble, center danger, roller coaster, golf course – These are the names of the rapids which we went through, in the 21 km stretch, with roller coaster& golf course being the riskiest and highest rapids.

Rana asked us to jump and I took less than a second to jump into ice cold water. Swimming with the current along the raft, is an out of the world experience. I was more than happy to enjoy the adventure.

Thankfully, our raft didn’t flip over, unlike our neighbor raft, which threw people in a rapid after losing control & coordination. No casualties reported of course (No body drowns because of the safety jackets you are made to wear). When a rapid hits the raft and inclines it at 45 degree, you either feel scared or excited. I felt something else. The roaring high waves lashing against our raft, reminded me of Samudra Manthan and I felt like a descendant of Bear Grylls. (Though I know I don’t even match to one-tenth of his skills, but imagination has no bounds you see! Hehe!)   The excitement and the thrill concentrated in my stomach somewhere and “Aawesomee!!”, I screamed my lungs out. The view was breathtaking with the waves trying to engulf us. We braved all the rapids and carried home a lifetime memorable experience.

My left thumb and shoulder are now in pain due to aggressive continuous rowing. I looked at my body bruises later at night during bonfire.

Skillful rafting however didn’t give me the courage for cliff jumping. I regret not overcoming that fear though being the only girl to volunteer at the 20 feet cliff. Darr k aagey jeet hai? Well I guess yes.