Hmm… Some things just make you fall in love with them, the first time you look at them…sometimes even before that. Probably my “relationship” with Punjab had some sub-conscious threads already in place. Punjabi and Bengali are probably the two cultural vistas that I have adored the most…for no palpable reason whatsoever..at least none that I can trace back! But thats how it has been… Anyways, coming back to the point… The Punjab Saga… I just couldnt help but archive this visit that I am sure will remain etched in my memory for a long long time to come.
Last month and a half have been calamitous, Jammu is burning and so is Kashmir… singeing a place like Udhampur in its flames. Not being the kind of person who likes being in a cage that this place had become due to the curfew and all! I literally jumped when RP’s marriage invitation and his call came… I am not too sure if I would have made it had it not been my altered state of mind, bogged by the curfew… stretching the leash to break free and have a whiff of fresh air. Travelling in India can be a dangerous thing these days…in times of religious and casteist zealotry, you never know when and where the situation will snowball into something intolerable. But then some risks are worth taking…
Ha! So much for the build up to a small quarter of a day journey… but then sometimes its so difficult to make others understand how minuscule things can mean so much for someone when they might pass off as downright insignificant for others. . like the unbridled joy this trip gave me… Reaching Ludhiana was fun, seeing people other than patients and doctors after a long time, even the train journey was as exciting as it would have been when I boarded the train for the first time some quarter century back! BSG and his Dad were there right at the station when the train reached at arnd 1130(fortunately on time!!!) The Senior Gill is a man full of life… much more than Junior! It was an experience in itself, meeting the warmest couple and the most cordial set of a Dad n Mom I have ever met… They had prepared for me as if I was some long lost son coming after an aeon! So, after a bowl full of tasty chicken and sausages, and a couple of pegs of Vat69 later, I hardly even felt tired. (My brain was far too occupied with my overbrimming stomach to even notice the fatigue of the journey!) So… that was that… the first night! We slept off early to get on with the drive to Amritsar the next day! Comfortably numb… Raring to fly!!
To be able to get up at 10 in the morning is one luxury which I can give anything for and when it is followed by some astonishing Aloo Paranthas and Lassi, I dunno if anything else can be closer to heaven. Goodness me, I was sure that the 5 odd kgs that I had managed to offload after a month of running, and playing and cutting down on diet, was back for revenge. Nevertheless, we managed to get on road for our trip to Amritsar. The drive was an equally lovely experience… Punjab’s coutryside with its lush greenery, horizon to horizon fields and some astonishingly beautiful belles roaming round the place. Whoa man.. it actually was beautiful! After three hours on the road…passing through Phagwara, Jullundur and Beas, we managed to reach Amritsar( The Pond of Divine Nectar, as the name means!!!) Pankaj Rai, an old colleague from college was our host, and surprisingly and quite contrary to his reputation as a Shylock, he helped us as much as anyone could have. After a short rest, we set off for our first destination… the Wagah Border!
… contd..
