That Tea Break!

It was a chilly night. Well, not exactly chilly, I was kind of shaking~ shivering from cold. It was extremely cold, what else was I expecting in the month of December in around Delhi. I had a lot of clothes on though, a lot. I had a woolen inner wear to begin with followed by a shirt and I had myself wrapped warmly in a hoodie which was further covered by another jacket. A pair of gloves, a muffler around my neck and mouth, a bandanna on my head and I was wearing a helmet. Yes, I was on a bike all by myself a few kilometers away from the pink city of India, Jaipur!

Not able to withstand the cold, I took a break from the journey to reach Jaipur in a roadside restaurant (Dhaba) - a highway restaurant sort of thing which is open 24/7 but is not exactly a 24/7.

Shivering and shaking, my teeth clenching, I got down from the bike and dragged myself to the bonfire sort of thing that the dhaba waalas normally have, to keep themselves warm. People had surrounded the fire warming themselves up, I reached up and stood alongside them so as not to disturb them but still receive the heat from the fire. I couldn't help but stand shaking and my jaws moving involuntarily due to cold. One of the guys, the truck driver looked up at me and smiled- in return I smiled and he looked towards my ride. Well, I smiled further knowing whats coming next. A little nod with a smile and he made a gap to accommodate me in the circle around the fire. Still shaking I calmly tried to sit down but my legs didn't allow that, they were kind of freezing, so my legs refused any movement.

"Bring a chair for him!" said the random guy who had smiled earlier and also gave me the prized possession of being in the inner circle of fire although they already had quite a number of people tightly forming the circle, a few sitting on the chairs.
A guy from the circle stood up, quietly and quickly fetched a chair, all the while I watched. He was a guy, of what I could sense - he was in his early 20s and a waiter/helper at the dhaba. I smiled at him and sat on the chair still not able to utter a word and nodded my head which was responded warmly by a smile. It's beautiful that smiles speak a thousand words, expresses a lot of feelings. Expressions are the silent mode of communication and that is something I utterly love. Warming up myself, I slowly removed my gloves, one hand after the other and heated up in the fire rubbing the palms against each other. I looked around the circle, saw the men around but, I don't remember the exact number of people around. I was so cold.

"Alone! On a bike?" said a men amongst them. I looked up and around, located the man who spoke and I nodded smiling "Yeah! Going to Jaipur! How far is it yet?"
"Umm.." He looked around the other guys, and said "Around 40Kms" Nodding I pushed my sleeves a bit up and looked at my watch, "Its 11:30 PM" mumbling to myself. "About an hour, I guess!" said the man. I let out a chuckle and looked at him, "If I can ride that far, in this cold!" I said shivering.
He smiled along "So, where are you headed to?" was my query to him.
"Jaipur!" was what he mumbled. A slight nod and further small talks which revealed that he drives truck carrying goods to and fro from Jaipur.

The people around, saw my horrible condition of shivering not getting under control in-spite of being around the fire for -I don't know how long! Then one of the other guys amongst them spoke up. "If you're to take my advice, you should stay the night around somewhere and head for the remaining journey the next day!" A guy appeared with few paper cups filled with tea and gave to the men and I quickly picked up one smiling at them hoping that'd not be a problem as I was so cold. The first sip of the tea, I could feel the warmth of it from my tongue passing on slowly to my throat and to the stomach as I gulped it down. Enjoying the feel, I closed my eyes and took another sip breathing calmly, feeling better. As I opened my eyes, I looked around and said "I don't know about staying, I feel like I should get back to Jaipur as soon as possible"
The guy didn't say anything for a few moments, sipped his tea calmly, a few of the drivers pulled out their bidis and lit them blowing the smoke. Smiling, I reached for my pockets and pulled out a cigarette myself, putting my hand forward for the matchbox, I took another sip of the tea. The cup of tea was half almost already, I've had been taking longer sips is what I realized then. I lit my cigarette and blew the smoke facing up and feeling the warmth. As time went on warming myself up, I could feel my legs were still cold. Rubbing my hands on my legs after finishing tea and cigarette, I pushed my legs further closer to the fire where accidentally, my shoes went too close to the fire which later I realized was burnt a little from around the sole.
After warming myself for I don't know how long, I stood up and went to pay for the tea and I could actually feel the cold again. Quietly, scurrying back to the fire I took a seat on the chair again.

Taking the seat back around the fire, I saw a few people had left too for their journeys. I couldn't bear the cold, So I kept myself glued to that chair. The guy who advised me to stay back came and took his seat, third chair on the right.
"So, where's the hotel or a guest house nearby? I can't sleep in this open dhaba!" I turned to face him and calmly made my statement before I reached into my pockets to grab a cigarette.
"You can sleep here, if you want! This place isn't mine, but I can arrange that! It'll not be cold!" He said assuring me of the fact, that the arrangements will be satisfactory. But I wasn't so sure about doing that, So I kind of focused more on finding a room to keep myself warm and sleep comfortably.
"Around 10kms from here, you'll find a hotel with rooms. That's a good place to have a roof on this freezing night" came the reply, which made me realise that this guy was well informed of around the place and isn't exactly a driver, So he must be working around somewhere nearby. That was my conclusion of him. A few more minutes of small random talks, blowing away the last drag of the cigarette, I stood up and shook hands with him ~ walked to my ride, my bike, stretching my arms and legs a little, to keep myself warm.
Unbuckling my bag from the back, I pulled out a trouser, wore it above my jeans to avoid the cold air to pass through my legs. Carefully and quickly, after tugging the bag back and getting ready for the journey ahead, I wrapped myself tightly in the mufler, wore my bandana and gloves with the helmet on top and started my bike.
Slowly and gradually, I moved a bit forward and bid farewell to the guys around. I hit the road with a slower speed as I felt the cold breeze pass along. Eyes on the road ~ I started shifting the gears as the speed increased and after an unknown time period of being on the road, freezing again!

The Paradise

Tosh - A paradise!

That was my second visit to the paradise - A paradise for me. "TOSH"

Oh! what do I say about this place, I get goosebumps and a smile brightens up my face with wet eyes every time - every single time I think about this tiny little village on the hill tops of Himachal Pradesh. I love this place, it seriously is a paradise.

The ice-clad mountain at one end, densely forested mountain at the other, a river flowing adjacent with the amazing sound of the flow- the real music to the ears, the cool calm breeze, the chilly weather, genuine - honest - friendly - helping - supportive - ever smiling people. I may lose my memory, forget every tiny detail but I can never forget this place - Tosh!

I've been to places but never like this one.

The journey to Tosh itself is an immensely pleasurable one - the hilly road with potholes, a fair part of the roads are just graveled, hills on one side - valley on the other.

We reached Tosh around late noon, got off the vehicle and a broad smile on our face. We looked at each other, smiling gladly and I turned to face the mountains, the pretty little wooden houses and the sound of the breeze.

Taking our first step towards the village, I carefully lodged my bag on my back and started walking towards the rusted, chirped, worn out bridge with a tiny river stream flowing below it. Standing there for a moment - I captured the view in my eyes, looked at both the ends of the river and started walking again. The river had huge huge stones around the bridge and a little of garbage. Well, the commercialization had begun, the human existence was revealing, the ignorant people have reached this far! I wondered and shrugged smiling at the kids playing around. The bridge is immediately followed by a flight of stairs downwards, where a man had lodged cartons of food supplies on his back and was on his way to the village. I took a few quick steps towards him and saved a carton from falling off his back. I did feel like a savior, maybe that was something I would eat later in the village. Call me selfish for thinking that, but atleast I helped and the thought of eating came later on my mind. A few smiles and tiny talks with the man and we started towards the cafe we had been previously. The man was walking along, so we chose to stay behind him in case the carton seems to fall again, we'd help. (Yes! It didn't occur to me then, that maybe I could lift the carton myself but maybe I had my hands full, I don't remember). A few attempts at helping and he detoured from our path. A small goodbye with gestures and movements, we walked towards the cafe like we walk that path everyday.

I knew the paths so well, I myself was amused - and yes, I was leading my herd. Looking around the wooden houses, greeting the people we walked the tiny paths and steps, taking turns, we could see our destination house. A quick run on the flight of stairs and I was there, turning behind I saw my friends busy with the puppies playing around. I didn't bother them and stood watching a while when I couldn't hold myself and I quickly pranced to the spot around the cafe.

Yeah, THE SPOT! That spot, that spot gives me goosebumps. The beauty of that spot is hard to put into words. That spot is mine. Well, technically it can accommodate quite a number of people and people love it but again, that's my spot. You're welcome to share, only if you can keep shut or have a whispering conversation. The spot is a huge stone on the edge of the hill, a careless moment and you'll be gone for good. But the beauty of it, the beauty is mesmerizing, the view is breath-taking. A view of the tiny wooden houses beaming with bright different colors. The houses are so wonderfully aligned it seems like a lot of effort has been put into to make it look so amazing from a distance. Turn your head to the right and you'll see the huge mountain ranges, a larger part covered with thick trees and fine pathways visible from the distance, a further right and the ice-top mountains, the sun shining brightly behind those giant mountains - heating up the chilly place with cold and calm breeze, which reaches to your spine giving you chills and shivers. The moment you feel this and close your eyes, you'll be positively filled with the perfect music of the river flowing down the valley. That's my spot, where you can feel everything. The calmness, the beauty, the heat of the sun, the chilly breeze, the musical notes of the calm river striking up the large rocks, the flowing music - I,  I go speechless, I honestly have no words to describe that feeling, I don't want to look for the perfect word when I know how it feels like, when I have experienced such an amazing out of the world place.The spot is my favorite, the spot is my paradise. That's the spot when I actually came up with the feeling of paradise. Maybe, this is what paradise feels like, maybe this is the paradise.

Well, my friends came after their fun with those puppies and pulled me out of my thoughts, inviting me inside the cafe as they went in. Taking a final deep breath, I took a good view of the village, the mountains and I stood up to walk into the cafe. That was definitely not the last time I'd be sitting and taking the feel of paradise. I smiled and walked in, I'm here for fucking twenty four hours! It'll be fun.

Pre-first munch

Pre-first munch.

Everybody has to start somewhere, here he was- preparing for his first ever munch..

Worried and feeling awkward, a bit uncomfortable he walked up to the munch venue, dressed carelessly.

Well, he even wasn't sure if he's to be in his formal attire or the casual approach or the semi- formal clothes or the usual him. Nevertheless, without loitering much thoughts on it, he focused himself on mustering up the courage to reach the venue - dressed  without much pondering more on it, picked up one of his casual shirt and a jeans to tag along. His mind wandering about how things will be, what will it be. At a point even backing out mentally. But by then he had already decided to attend the munch, so sticking to it, he was on his way, on his way to the first munch.

The travel time wasn't easy on him either. It played its toll on him. He could see the people around but couldn't notice them, a cloud of thoughts blinded his vision. All his thoughts cornered and circling only around the munch. Just to escape out of the random half-baked stories and thoughts of his own, he raised his head up, looked around - started reading the advertisements one after the another around the train. A fan of creative advertisements and an admirer, he did wonder for a little while but that didn't help him either for the longer run.
Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes, put up a genuine smile on his face - all the while facing up the roof of the train, smiling wider this time he opened his eyes and winked at the roof.
A guy who loves solace, smiled gladly as he pulled out his earphones from his bag, the bagpack he usually tags along wherever possible. Quickly connecting it to his phone, he played his favorite playlist.
Music - that was his escape route, that has always been best and trusted route for him, yet he forgot it.
Smiling cheekily at himself, when the first beat of one of his favorite song reached his ears, he mumbled  "I should have thought of you earlier!" and he got drifted to his own virtual world or may be the real real world, who knows!

Busy with his musical moves and lip- syncs, his eyes landed on the display of the train- which mentioned it was the station where he's to get off. "Well, that was quick!'' he mumbled smiling and walked towards the door. As the train came to halt, he stepped out of the station, working on his way out to put back his earphones back into his bagpack. A treasure was waiting for him in his bag, his favorite candy. "Things are getting better, now!'' he thinks and hungrily gulps down the candy.
Stepping out of the train station he looks for an auto-rickshaw to drag his to the venue. A few mins of nagging and bargaining, he lands up a fair deal. Atleast that's what he thought - "This is a fair deal!" Staring at  the cityscapes and the rush of the vehicles. As usual he struck up a conversation with the driver passing his time and looking around, the driver guides him about the locality. The soft pausing talks continue but as a matter of fact, these talks wouldn't interest all - that's what he thinks.
Gladly paying for the fair deal he thought he struck, he looks around for his venue. As guided by the driver, he picks up a path to the market of the locality, looking at the hoardings and advertisments, he sees up the venue. The place where he's supposed to be.