My Apologies for a supreme delay in posting the last 2 days of my travelogue ; however I'd like to mention that I was unwell in the 1st half of Day 3 and then the next 2 days went ahead in a jiffy . Before we realised we were in Amritsar; we have already reached Mumbai and here I'm pondering over what happened in the last two days; thus bringing more smiles to my face. So here it is.........
Since the girls had wound up late night chit chatting , they planned to get up late in the morning. As I had slept off early the previous night , I woke up early morning at my usual time. Uma was fast asleep so I decided to make minimal noise so as to not invite the wrath of Madam X. The best thing to do in such a case was to read a book . Therefore I did so for another hour or more until Uma woke up and with it started our distinct chatter. I wasn't keeping so well since morning as my headache had started to build up. I had already thrown up once in the morning . Nevertheless ; I ignored it and thought that I might feel better with some hot tea on a chilly morning. However the tea worsened my condition and I threw up once more feeling a lot more unwell and acidic. By then the girls were almost ready to leave. I decided to pass the breakfast and Durgiana Temple visit and take rest since I wanted to visit the Attari Wagah Border in the second half at any cost. Thanks to Juilee who gave me the right medicines promptly and Uma who ordered me the perfect khichadi , I was feeling much better and raring to go. I even wrote Day 2 memoir till the time girls came back to pick me up. What are friends for; the food and the medicines is one element however what really matters is when they pull your leg and make the mood light instead of sympathysing , you forget what had happened to you in the first place.
The girls came to pick me up in the 2nd half as it was our time to visit the Attari Border. The border is approx 30 kms away from the main city. It is much chilly there than the city. Thanks to Uma , we had a VIP pass booked for us. Special gratitude to Supriya Khadilkar for all the arrangements she made for an effortless entry. To begin with ; I was extremely intimidated watching both the flags from a distance and slowly as we proceeded towards the stadium , we could see the road , the army and the audience at the other side of the border. I have met several Pakistanis and interacted with them in a foreign country , however to see a Pakistan border and Pakistanis from about 300 metres was little overwhelming. The Retreat Ceremony is a flags down ceremony during sunset for both the countries and there is a lot of entertainment as a build up to the ceremony. Some found it entertaining , some found it frivolous . I will abstain from giving any opinion on this platform so an to not put across any biases in people's mind. As soon the ceremony got over , we proceeded to a miniature Punjab like set created few kms away from Attari called Sadda Punjab. It is the place where you need to keep atleast 4-5 hours to cover the entire 12 acres of campus. The entry ticket includes visiting all attractions, fun rides, games and a buffet meal. The small pockets where they give you a taste of Punjab like the Fulkari weaving, or the folk dances and especially the Punjabi delicacies are worth a visit. A mini meal of Sarson da Saag and Makke di Roti with goond and Makkhan will take you into trance. The rest of the time and place was quite fun filled especially with Uma try to speak to the locals in fake Punjabi accent and insisting for Gajar Halwa to a vendor who sold Chole Matthari Chaat. That was when the three of us slyly withdrew ourselves from there, disowning her. After full satisfying four -five hours and battling with thick fog on the highway (I remember chanting Hanuman Chalisa rapidly) we reached our hotel safely. Exhausted we called it a day.
Day 4 began very early with an agenda to witness the sunrise at The Golden Temple. Panting away, we reached there at sunrise , however the thick fog had covered the sunrays and we were unlucky this time. Nevertheless the atmosphere out there early morning with kirtans playing in the background and fog covering the premise was like a picture straight from a movie. I havent seen a devotional place or a temple as clean and disciplined as this. More so the Seva done by thousands of devotees in various departments is par excellence. After the temple visit, the biggest challenge we faced , was almost like a fear hovering around us , was about how to fit that shopping in our bags. After a futile attempt to fit all of it in the bag the previous night , we decided to buy an extra bag today. So we headed to the market to buy that extra bag that would go as our cabin baggage. And alas we managed to find those bags early morning. Now that we had an extra bag , we shopped for few more things. Women I tell. I was loving every bit of it; because I knew that with Nimish around, I wouldn't be able to buy even half of what I had shopped. With just about an hour to leave for the airport , we rushed to our hotel and repacked our bags. Phew .....That was quite a feat. Finally came the time to check out and bid aideu to the one of the most warm and hospitable cities I have come across.
These four days created memories for each one of that would last for a lifetime. However all of us were also looking forward to meet our near and dear ones back in Mumbai. The early morning tiffins for the lil ones, our own morning walks, work and family routime awaited us. That is when I realised that inorder to value Routine , such getaways are a must. Finally they are getaways and you need to come back to your core and be ground by routine to value those Getaways. Think about it.
Signing off for now and wish to see you soon.
Since the girls had wound up late night chit chatting , they planned to get up late in the morning. As I had slept off early the previous night , I woke up early morning at my usual time. Uma was fast asleep so I decided to make minimal noise so as to not invite the wrath of Madam X. The best thing to do in such a case was to read a book . Therefore I did so for another hour or more until Uma woke up and with it started our distinct chatter. I wasn't keeping so well since morning as my headache had started to build up. I had already thrown up once in the morning . Nevertheless ; I ignored it and thought that I might feel better with some hot tea on a chilly morning. However the tea worsened my condition and I threw up once more feeling a lot more unwell and acidic. By then the girls were almost ready to leave. I decided to pass the breakfast and Durgiana Temple visit and take rest since I wanted to visit the Attari Wagah Border in the second half at any cost. Thanks to Juilee who gave me the right medicines promptly and Uma who ordered me the perfect khichadi , I was feeling much better and raring to go. I even wrote Day 2 memoir till the time girls came back to pick me up. What are friends for; the food and the medicines is one element however what really matters is when they pull your leg and make the mood light instead of sympathysing , you forget what had happened to you in the first place.
The girls came to pick me up in the 2nd half as it was our time to visit the Attari Border. The border is approx 30 kms away from the main city. It is much chilly there than the city. Thanks to Uma , we had a VIP pass booked for us. Special gratitude to Supriya Khadilkar for all the arrangements she made for an effortless entry. To begin with ; I was extremely intimidated watching both the flags from a distance and slowly as we proceeded towards the stadium , we could see the road , the army and the audience at the other side of the border. I have met several Pakistanis and interacted with them in a foreign country , however to see a Pakistan border and Pakistanis from about 300 metres was little overwhelming. The Retreat Ceremony is a flags down ceremony during sunset for both the countries and there is a lot of entertainment as a build up to the ceremony. Some found it entertaining , some found it frivolous . I will abstain from giving any opinion on this platform so an to not put across any biases in people's mind. As soon the ceremony got over , we proceeded to a miniature Punjab like set created few kms away from Attari called Sadda Punjab. It is the place where you need to keep atleast 4-5 hours to cover the entire 12 acres of campus. The entry ticket includes visiting all attractions, fun rides, games and a buffet meal. The small pockets where they give you a taste of Punjab like the Fulkari weaving, or the folk dances and especially the Punjabi delicacies are worth a visit. A mini meal of Sarson da Saag and Makke di Roti with goond and Makkhan will take you into trance. The rest of the time and place was quite fun filled especially with Uma try to speak to the locals in fake Punjabi accent and insisting for Gajar Halwa to a vendor who sold Chole Matthari Chaat. That was when the three of us slyly withdrew ourselves from there, disowning her. After full satisfying four -five hours and battling with thick fog on the highway (I remember chanting Hanuman Chalisa rapidly) we reached our hotel safely. Exhausted we called it a day.
Day 4 began very early with an agenda to witness the sunrise at The Golden Temple. Panting away, we reached there at sunrise , however the thick fog had covered the sunrays and we were unlucky this time. Nevertheless the atmosphere out there early morning with kirtans playing in the background and fog covering the premise was like a picture straight from a movie. I havent seen a devotional place or a temple as clean and disciplined as this. More so the Seva done by thousands of devotees in various departments is par excellence. After the temple visit, the biggest challenge we faced , was almost like a fear hovering around us , was about how to fit that shopping in our bags. After a futile attempt to fit all of it in the bag the previous night , we decided to buy an extra bag today. So we headed to the market to buy that extra bag that would go as our cabin baggage. And alas we managed to find those bags early morning. Now that we had an extra bag , we shopped for few more things. Women I tell. I was loving every bit of it; because I knew that with Nimish around, I wouldn't be able to buy even half of what I had shopped. With just about an hour to leave for the airport , we rushed to our hotel and repacked our bags. Phew .....That was quite a feat. Finally came the time to check out and bid aideu to the one of the most warm and hospitable cities I have come across.
These four days created memories for each one of that would last for a lifetime. However all of us were also looking forward to meet our near and dear ones back in Mumbai. The early morning tiffins for the lil ones, our own morning walks, work and family routime awaited us. That is when I realised that inorder to value Routine , such getaways are a must. Finally they are getaways and you need to come back to your core and be ground by routine to value those Getaways. Think about it.
Signing off for now and wish to see you soon.
