It was on a sticky boring Saturday that my colleague read out a mail about a tour in the north-east part of our country. Maybe it was the heat radiating from mother earth or maybe it was the fact that I hadn’t been on a tour for the past five years, but I was hooked. My friend Bindi and I decided to do us a favor and go on this trip.
I will confess that it was the last time I read that mail or the chain mails that were sent our way in hordes in the next two months. Therefore, I was blissfully unaware of the places that we were to visit or the people that I was going to be with. At that time a much needed break from the monotony called my life, some peace and a few known faces were more than enough for me to get excited and board the plane from Mumbai to Guwahati. Who knew that this journey will mark the beginning of some beautiful relationships and sear my memory with images unforgettable?
12th April, 8 A.M: I reached Mumbai airport with a brand new headphones of a new china phone dangling from my neck and a backpack killing my shoulders. I was standing outside when Bindi and her friend Mitali joined me. All three of us went inside and were greeted by a pair of twins called Dipti and Preeti. (If not for their names I would have been extremely shocked to see them use the loo with a girls face on it). There was also a middle aged uncle called Vachlekar who joined our party.
Speculating if the security guys will ask Deepti and Preeti to join the mens queue, we got our boarding passes and were on our way to Guwahati. The flight was not unique in anyway. However, the fact that the air hostess in her gelled hair looked like a bad version of TinTin made it a memorable one. After taking my luggage and becoming a caricature of a dwarf, I was all set to face the sweltering city of Guwahati.
However, we were forced to become a search party as Dhwani’s brother Shreyas, whom none knew and who boarded the flight from Kolkatta was to travel with us to the city. I decided to be the guardian of our luggage.
It was while I was simply staring around, when my eyes fell on this guy standing on the other side of the glass panel. A rather good looking chap. Curiously, he was also staring back at me. I, of course being the writer that I am started thinking of all the possible angles that I can construct with that one carless but somehow warm moment that passed between us. While I was busy with my would-be-story, Mitali started waving at the same person. Surprised, I looked up and heard Dipti telling Bindi that he was Shreyas, Dhwani’s brother. Now I really looked at him and saw some flattering similarities. Interesting, I thought.
Adding another male in our group which was at the risk of looking like an all girl gang, we sat in a supposedly AC bus that took us to our destination, Hotel Tibet. Yes, you can laugh away to glory. I did the same myself.
Luckily the Airport is in the outskirts of Guwahati and the ride upto the main city is long and not all stained by pollution. In fact the landscape is quite a view with all its long lazy pastures and houses the kind that we used to draw as kids. A slanting roof, one beautiful garden and a small temple right outside, with wooden fencing done in that exact same crisscross manner.
However, once we neared the city, it felt like these houses were being stripped off their beauty. The houses in this part looked more like ghetto with just walls. The beauty of those pastures was encroached upon by the newly painted buildings demanding development. The air was corrupted by too many vehicles and hoardings. Guwahati was in one word disappointing. Simply because it did not appreciate the beauty that it had and marred it by applying too much of concrete make-up.
I will confess that it was the last time I read that mail or the chain mails that were sent our way in hordes in the next two months. Therefore, I was blissfully unaware of the places that we were to visit or the people that I was going to be with. At that time a much needed break from the monotony called my life, some peace and a few known faces were more than enough for me to get excited and board the plane from Mumbai to Guwahati. Who knew that this journey will mark the beginning of some beautiful relationships and sear my memory with images unforgettable?
12th April, 8 A.M: I reached Mumbai airport with a brand new headphones of a new china phone dangling from my neck and a backpack killing my shoulders. I was standing outside when Bindi and her friend Mitali joined me. All three of us went inside and were greeted by a pair of twins called Dipti and Preeti. (If not for their names I would have been extremely shocked to see them use the loo with a girls face on it). There was also a middle aged uncle called Vachlekar who joined our party.
Speculating if the security guys will ask Deepti and Preeti to join the mens queue, we got our boarding passes and were on our way to Guwahati. The flight was not unique in anyway. However, the fact that the air hostess in her gelled hair looked like a bad version of TinTin made it a memorable one. After taking my luggage and becoming a caricature of a dwarf, I was all set to face the sweltering city of Guwahati.
However, we were forced to become a search party as Dhwani’s brother Shreyas, whom none knew and who boarded the flight from Kolkatta was to travel with us to the city. I decided to be the guardian of our luggage.
It was while I was simply staring around, when my eyes fell on this guy standing on the other side of the glass panel. A rather good looking chap. Curiously, he was also staring back at me. I, of course being the writer that I am started thinking of all the possible angles that I can construct with that one carless but somehow warm moment that passed between us. While I was busy with my would-be-story, Mitali started waving at the same person. Surprised, I looked up and heard Dipti telling Bindi that he was Shreyas, Dhwani’s brother. Now I really looked at him and saw some flattering similarities. Interesting, I thought.
Adding another male in our group which was at the risk of looking like an all girl gang, we sat in a supposedly AC bus that took us to our destination, Hotel Tibet. Yes, you can laugh away to glory. I did the same myself.
Luckily the Airport is in the outskirts of Guwahati and the ride upto the main city is long and not all stained by pollution. In fact the landscape is quite a view with all its long lazy pastures and houses the kind that we used to draw as kids. A slanting roof, one beautiful garden and a small temple right outside, with wooden fencing done in that exact same crisscross manner.
However, once we neared the city, it felt like these houses were being stripped off their beauty. The houses in this part looked more like ghetto with just walls. The beauty of those pastures was encroached upon by the newly painted buildings demanding development. The air was corrupted by too many vehicles and hoardings. Guwahati was in one word disappointing. Simply because it did not appreciate the beauty that it had and marred it by applying too much of concrete make-up.
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