[TRIP] DHARAMSALA-DALHOUSIE DAY1

It is said : better late than never.. so though I am only few months late, but still going by the thought I am posting this blog :)
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"Happiness isn't something you experience; it's something you remember."

After loads of planning, finally the day came when we had to leave for our trip to Dharamsala. Everything was in place & we all were set to leave. After a nice dinner, we were waiting for the cab, which was supposed to come around 12:00 in the night. Luckily cab was on time & with all enthusiasm we boarded the cab. All bye byes & good lucks were done & then to our utter disappointment, cab didn't start :(( It subdued our enthusiasm and we planned to wait for another cab, which was scheduled to come within an hour. Finally an hour's wait lasted for 4 hour's when the same cab turned up at 5 in the morning. Though it was a big relief to Anuj, who could complete his serene sleep, but poor other's, who I guess had a bad time stretching legs here & there. After lot of confusion, whether to take this cab or not, we decided to take risk & move ahead. This is what I would say "Man proposes god disposes"….. Sambit I know ur reaction!! We tried our level best to start our journey in the night to save some good 4-6 hours, but god wanted otherwise & we left in the same cab, with same driver in the morning, instead of night..... and surprisingly there was no problem with cab.

We made a move around 5:20 A.M from Lippika’s place to Anuj's place to pick up Sambit & Anuj. On one hand we were bit sad that we have wasted 4-6 hours & on the other hand, happiness on Anuj's face of completing an uninterrupted sleep was worth noticing. After a nice tea at Anuj's place, it was time again to say bye & finally make a move for our final destination. Thank god! this time it was final bye bye and cab didn’t gave any surprises J !! But, oh god! These girls always leave some work or the other for the last minute...... Shweta & Lippika were short of money, so we had to halt in-between at the ATM and soon after that we were on the roads for a great trip ahead.

Little fun, some gossip, some teasing, some humor & lots of sms jokes courtesy Anuj’s mobile kept our journey lively!! With Anuj around one can never miss naughty humor. It was around 8:30A.M.when we reached our breakfast destination at Havelli in Karnal. Thanks to Dipali for suggesting such a nice place. It was an old Havelli turned into a typical Punjabi restaurant. Interiors & Exteriors were very well done and gave a feel of a traditional village life. Even in the early hours of the day, Shweta was too keen to for shopping, so while others kept themselves busy enjoying the place, Lippika & Shweta were off for shopping...... so what if they were just doing window shopping!! But, I guess guys only pretend that they hate shopping, as, while Amit was busy planning with Aayush; Sambit & Anuj too joined the girls for shopping..... I mean window shopping. Sambit was glad to see her two old girlfriends there….. in the form of figurine!! And so photo session was obvious…… A well, two beautiful women with Sambit in between……. I hope Anuj will give rest to his witty mind, as no pun is intended here.

Well, all were set for some great food and actually relished the Punjabi food there. While everyone was busy enjoying their feast, no one become aware that Shweta-Aayush love story had started!! Thank God! Later in the trip, everyone realized, otherwise poor Shweta and Aayush!! (Aayush is Amit-Alpana’s 1.5yr old son J )

And then we were back on the wheels. This time sitting arrangement changed somewhat & card lovers settled themselves at the back. While Lippika & Anuj as always stayed aloof from cards, Alpana a big card lover had to stay away from playing because of Aayush….. baby sitting u see J God knows what game these guys were playing; with the level of noise one could well imagine some tug of war going at the back. And in the whole episode, best part was that though Alpana was not playing, but she never missed a chance to cheer up Amit, or shout for him in his win!

Game of cards gave way to long lasting antakshri with Sambit, Lippika & Anuj in one team & happy family I mean Shweta, Amit, Alpana & Aayush (Of course) in another. There was a big tussle going on to search songs on “K” “H” & “G”. Winning team was obvious, with Lippika in their team, Sambit & Anuj too got flavor of victory J But, I would be doing complete injustice for not giving Shweta her due credit for singing really marvelous songs….. Especially old and rare nos.

Slowly it was getting hot & we were getting somewhat tired of long journey. And now it was time for break, lunch break. After having lunch at some roadside Dhaba in hoshirpur (Punjab), we started again for our final destination.

Here the roads were not so good but we were able to drive at the steady speed so as to reach height before sunset. But, it was far impossible. Slowly, the sun was going down and our energy levels too. Though we covered major distance in evening but still by the time we reached height, it was past seven. Since Dharamsala did not have anything to see we directly headed to Mcleodganj. McLeod Ganj is 13kms from Dharamsala and it has the monastery and palace of His Holiness Dalai Lama.

By around 9:30P.M. we got settled in the hotel. There was no time to relax, so within minutes we all got ready and straight away rushed to have great tibetan food!! It was a nice restaurant & food too was awesome. The menu carefully catered to both Indian and Chinese cuisine, and we savored the delicacies of both worlds. Weather was cool , and steaming hot Momo’s ……..ah! no comparison with Delhi stuff!! Well, on the whole it was a fairly substantial dinner.

We all were too tired to even talk any further, and so it was for siesta. As per our plan, we decided to go for a walk and visit to church next morning. With anticipation of great morning ahead we went to sleep.

DAY2 : COMING SOON.. promise this time it will not take months to come :)