My Travelogues - Part I

Just Another Journey
24 Dec, 2009

6PM: With my backpack ready, I boarded the cycle rickshaw for Chetan’s home. As I reached, I realised that Chetan has yet not arrived from work and obviously there is no news of Praveen either, going absolutely against what was decided. Shweta and Nitin were calling more frequently now as the time passes by. And I am feeling the heat because I was the one who had asked them to be ready early in the evening so as to avoid a lot of late night drive.

8PM: Still no news of the two guys and it seems that Shikha had not even packed yet. I was only wondering how much delay before we start.

I struggled to see India/Srilanka match in between Aunty’s channel hopping from one serial to another. Glad to see her back in full fitness post the operation.

Chetan just called, says he is at Britannia Chowk.

8:30PM: Chetan arrives and we call the driver, the guy who is supposed to drive all night and ensure our safe arrival in the city of Manali. The driver says he is stuck in Gurgaon, which means further delay from our or rather my scheduled time of departure. I watch some more television, surf the internet for some time, drink another cold drink with no fizz and also eat dinner. Now this last part was very disappointing because one reason why we (I mean I) wanted to start early was to stop at Murthal and have dinner there. But now with stomach full, chances of stopping at Murthal are slim.

Still no news of Praveen.

9:45PM: Praveen finally arrives but not before the drama straight out of a Bollywood teen romantic movies.
“Come out and receive me”, Praveen calls and instructs Chetan.
“I will go and get him”, I volunteered to face the suspicious eyes of big brother and two cute kids. “Yes bhaiya, we will have dinner, spend the night at Chetan’s place and set sail in the early hours of the morning only”, we are good at bluffing, after all we are lancercoolgang.

10:00PM: Praveen, Chetan, Shikha and I board our innova car and thus began the journey. Praveen still cannot believe that we are actually going to Manali and more so we are going together. We stop to buy some drinks and head towards Rohini to pick up Nitin and Shweta.
More drama was waiting to unfold as we reach Shweta’s place. Though Nitin arrived smoothly, we waited for some half n hour outside Shweta’s home, but no sign of her. First to come was Shweta’s brother and the only question he asked was, “where is Harshita?’. Now, I do not remember who but someone said she was not even supposed to come. Shocked! he said that Shweta told her that even she was going. And then he left.

We waited more. No sign of Shweta still. As the suspense was not beginning to end, Chetan said, “May be she is not coming now”. I was still hopeful though, lancercoolgang cannot be jinxed. I mean, this is our first trip together and it had to go on by hook or by crook. Even if we have to kidnap Shweta, we would still do it.

Finally I see Shweta coming down the stairs with her entire family and everyone was carrying at least one bag. I was wondering if she plans to return with us or not. As soon as she hit the last step, she gave out an expression of shock, something which we were least expecting. “Where the hell is Harshita?” The only thought that crossed our mind was she too had bluffed about the presence of another girl on the trip and so like true lancercoolgang, we played along. Chetan was obviously our best bet to play such bouncers.

“Oh actually Uncle! Harshita has to urgently attend one of the official conference in Bangalore and unfortunately her boss cancelled her vacation because of which she could not make this trip.”

No one noticed but I was laughing my heart out and with Praveen by my side, we were only wondering when we would start.

11:00PM: All izz well. Truly, I believe in it all the more now. With everything settled in, we finally started the long journey towards Manali. We had to drive the entire night and then half of the day tomorrow to reach Manali. The route was
Delhi – Murthal – Karnal – Bilaspur – Kullu – Manali

11:45PM: Our first stop – Murthal. Few pictures by the car, one parantha each and one ice cream for Shweta, the loo session, tea for the driver and we begin again. Ready for the non-stop drive through the wonderful night. The moon was out in full glory, stars were shining brightly, smooth road ahead, one car, six friends – what a life.

My i-pod sings along, " Yaaron, dosti badi hi haseen hai, ye na ho to kya fir ye zindagi hai"