They say you can be friends if you like similar things, have similar tastes and have similar goals in life but exceptions always exist (the only thing I remember from class 11 chemistry). Destiny brought these two Chomus in my life and we three had zero similarities except for one- Love for traveling. I met these bitches during my first job and trust me they are nowhere close to the perception I had for them on day one (Sunder and Sushil). Sunder maybe but definitely not Sushil
It all started when my poor foodie soul was looking for some company to eat snacks during office hours. Since I was just a few days old in the office so I didn’t know many people. Maybe we used to greet each other with fake smiles each morning but you just don’t run into such people and say “kuch khane chale?” This question is meant for a set of people who are very close to your heart.
Juggling here and there for a while my stomach took full control over my practical thoughts and I just dropped her a message- “Do you want to join me for snacks? That day we did not have any snacks though, instead, we had an entire main course. We went to almost every other shop that read ‘it’s open’ and got a bite there.
This was how I met Akanksha who is a big foodie and cracks jokes on how fucked up our lives are. Let me tell you she is an engineer by qualification so her life has to be fucked up and her jokes have to funny. So, from that day onwards we used to chill around in office eating tons of junk and discussing office politics. Oh!meanwhile if we found the time we used to work too. Ya, we used to, Okay?
It had been a couple of months when the second chomu, Medha joined us. On her first day at the office, all my colleagues had their eyes on her. Well, that was too obvious as a sunder Kanya had joined us who made all heads turn when she walked around. I remember explaining her stuff about the job on her first day and then for the next few months we spent crying over what are we exactly doing with our lives. ._.
When days got converted into months and office frustration increased many folds we decided to escape to our love- ‘Mountains’ We planned a trip to Dharamshala, my hometown.
It was May 17th when my girls landed in Dharamshala and the fun began. As soon as they reached me and maa welcomed them with lots of love and respect. Love? maybe but respect was missing from my end (hahaha!! Only If you get it)
After discussing all the office gossips for good 2 hours we got ready to visit our first place Aghanjar Shiva temple in Khaniyara valley. It has always been one of my favorite places and I thought of introducing it to my friends as well.
We reached the destination somewhere around noon and started exploring the place. This temple is surrounded by beautiful mountains and a gushing waterfall that runs down snowy mountains. We did a parikrama of the temple and then went to the ice-cold water. We froze, we literally did. Our denim shorts and cotton t-shirts were not helping us to withstand the cold weather but to feel the chilling water and cool breeze we went inside and cherished each other’s smiling faces.
No place is worth visiting if you haven’t tasted some food out there, Right? We went to Sitaram uncle who has been serving mouth-watering Chai and pakodas in Khaniyara valley for the past 20 years. Trust me they were Yum!
While we were heading back home, we found a beautiful ground with Lavender trees. It was love at first sight kind of feeling. We decided to jump across the fence and went near the trees. The fragrance of lavender was quite comforting. We decided to head back by walking a few miles experiencing the beautiful nature.
I dragged Akanksha the whole way by telling her “bas 10-minute aur,bas aa gaya”
Meanwhile, it started to rain so we had to push ourselves to a cafe named Bakes and Brews. We changed our drenched clothes and had some good warm drinks and cheese omelet.
To avoid the heavy rain and thunderstorms outside we decided to board a cab immediately after leaving the cafe. That’s when the funniest part of the trip happened. My clumsy friend, Akanksha dropped her phone in the cab.
We applied all our Sherlock skills to get that phone back. We checked the CCTV footage, examined roundabout 400 cabs and spoke to almost every driver our eyes could see but everything in vain.
Dejected and hungry we came back home. Maa served us with hot and spicy Kashmiri food which had Aal yakhin, camn,dumaallo, beans, and some rice. Without having any second thoughts we ran into bed and had a sound sleep till morning.
The next day we started fresh and went to Indru Nag, a small plateau located at the hilltop which is used by paragliders as a launching pad for a joy ride of 15-20 minutes. The altitude of the site is close to 1500 meters and it offers a short but beautiful flight over the beautiful city of Dharamshala. While I and Akanksha were all set to abort the mission, Medha was super confident and excited about the same. I still remember the beautiful view and chills I had during my flight. It was one hell of an experience!
Next, we went to Naddi viewpoint which is 3km from Mcleodganj. The driver dropped us at the taxi stand and next, I could see giant mountains which left my mouth wide open and I felt like being on some other planet. We walked a bit seeing Tourists and yoga trainers flock the tea shops and shacks scattered around the place. We finally reached the sahaja yoga meditation center where an old uncle taught us meditation for good 10-15 minutes. It was a peaceful experience and we felt relaxed, unlike Akanksha who was feeling sleepy throughout the process.
I told ya, visiting a place without tasting the food is useless so we had veg maggie and munch to satisfy our hunger and then left for our next destination St. John in the Wilderness church which was all quiet and calm till we entered and then it was all giggles and screams. We were strolling around to capture scenes and both my girls were relaxed until I told them we are in the middle of a graveyard. No, No they did not freak out instead they started reading the tombstones carefully and started thinking what would our tombstone look like? Crazy, aren’t they?
After having Chai with extra sugar we went to German Bakery, one of the oldest bakeries in Mcleodganj. It has excellent ambiance with good music. The food was excellent but the desert was average.
With filled stomach and happy faces, we went to Bhagsu Nag which has an ancient temple and a 20-meter long waterfall. We walked and walked and walked through the trees and finally reached the top where we could feel water drops striking our faces even though we were at a good distance from the waterfall.
On our way back we went to Shiva Cafe which is quite famous for its hippie culture and lip-smacking food. The vibes spoke everything else about that place. We ordered Chai (obviously) some fries and a chocolate shake. It was a blissful evening with chai, sutta (missing) and yaari.
On our way back we were short of cash still my dear friends did good shopping for themselves. Finally, the ended on a good note and we drove off to home where maa once again served us with homemade Kashmiri food.
The next day was the day. It was a day we were to hike for Triund. Medha got early dressed up and was trying to wake up snoring Akanksha and me the poor broken and almost dead soul. After lots of effort, we woke up and dragged ourselves to the car. Dad drove us to Mcleodganj and we booked a cab from there to gullu. We had filled our stomach with food and bags with some snacks and water. We started at 9:12 am and planned to reach the top by 11:00 am. A nice plan?, I thought internally. Medha was like, “We will kill it, bro”. Akanksha, least interested and was praying she should make it to the hilltop.
After a short while, Akanksha ran short of breath and wasn’t able to walk. I and Medha tried our level best to push her both with words and even physically (haha!) but still, she was struggling a lot. So I and Medha raced to the top while Akanksha was moving slowly where she found a group of 3 boys who helped her scale the heights. Ya, we left her all alone with some guys hoping she will be safe with them. You see she found some great friends and a wonderful company on the way. Bitch! didn’t even thank us for that.
It took us (Me and Medha) 4 hours to reach the top. Well, Akanksha took an additional 2 hours to reach the same place. I reached the top with legs shivering and mouth running dry. As soon as I saw the tents, I realized we have made it and the very next moment I laid on the ground with my back touching the grass and my eyes facing the sky, clear blue sky with a tinge of clouds. I can’t pen down the feeling I had when I felt the chilling breeze or when I saw big snowy mountains or when I saw Akanksha dragging herself along with 3 other boys towards the base camp.
We had found new friends, friends who saved our friend and brought her safe to the top. We were officially gang members of the Gucci gang 🙂 The boys were sheer fun. They were so full of life that I forgot all my problems for a while. They made us laugh like anything. Finally, we had Rajma Chawal and Maggie in the chilling weather with some lit people and headed back home.
On our way back we had a tough time. Akanksha had fallen, I had a minor foot injury. While Medha was like, “come on bro we can do this!” trust me ye ladki pura pura trek material hai.
On our way back it was getting dark and the only option we had was to run. Well, Akanksha never seemed interested in the idea of running so she continued with her same speed. We finally reached gullu with almost broken legs and a happy face. We took our cab and drove back home.
Whaaaat a trip, whaaaaaaaaat a trip it was. I have been living in Dharamshala for the past 20 years but never had the mountains been so pretty, weather so amazing and food so yummy because it’s not about the place, it never was, It’s always about the people you visit them along with.
Until next stay healthy and keep planning trips with your gang. You never know which set of people you might bump into. What set of memories you might make? Maybe you’ll be the next Shriya, writing her first travelogue. By the way, this makes me wonder who will be your Akanksha and Medha?
Shriiiii 