people in the post:
Me
Tasneem - my best friend since school days
Khozem - tasneem's brother
Tasneem's Parents
Nani - tasneem's nani
Masi - tasneem's masi
Aftaab, Zameer, Misba - tasneem's cousins
Aftaab's parents
Tahani - Aftaab's girlfriend
29th April : We left for delhi by August Kranti Express
30th April : We reached Delhi at about 12 pm and went to our hotel. We had lunch and later we rested for a while. Next day we were supposed to leave for Nainital. That day we slept at 1 am as Tahani and I were talking.
1st May : We couldn't leave for Nainital as there was some diesel problem. Therefore we had to extend our stay at Delhi. Spend the day in general. Evening was a trip to Pallika Market. Night was again the time for long talks. Aftaab, Khozem, Tasneem, Zameer, Tahani and me got talking andslept at 3 am.
2nd May : We left for Nainital at last. It was a tiring bus ride. We had excellent lunch at some dhaba on the way. We reached Nainital at night. (i remember this ride to nainital at night.. the mountains looked so serene and silent.. and the higher we climbed the closer the stars came.. it felt as if the stars are there to b touched n stolen.. i felt that if i extended my hand up higher i would grab one of them just for myself.. was beautiful) We stayed in some hotel which was not worth a mention.
3rd May : We had breakfast and took a proper look at Nainital. It was breathtaking. We then shifted to another hotel and had lunch there. In the evening we took a stroll at the mall. (the market in nainital is generally referred to as mall.. nothing like what we have now.. more like roadside stalls.. ) We then went to the nepali market.
4th May : We went boating. Aftaab, Tahani, Misba and Tasneems parents were in one boat. The second one had Khozem, Tasneem, Zameer and me. The third one had Aftaab's parents, masi and nani. Aftaab's dad was the funniest of the lot. In the middle of the ride he got up and started acting as a film director. He started calling Aftab as the hero and Tahani as the heroine. Since we were all in the game, we acted as if we had gone there for a shoot. People actually started believing us. (aftaab anyway looked like some bollywood actor.. height above 6 ft and looks of a greek god.. tahani was the pretty one too.. so it was easy to believe..) We then tried the ropeway. But it was a boring ride as the weather was foggy and we couldn't see the sights. After the ride, we youngsters decided to go horseriding. The way was dangerous. But the view was beautiful. (aftaab and zameer are trained horse riders.. they were the one who actually taught me how to ride.. my passion for horse riding started because of them.. i loved watching them ride a stallion and gallop away in the mists of matheran)
5th May : We went to Bhimtal and Sat Tal. Boating again. On the way back our bus had a technical glitch. We got off the bus and started playing kiddie games. Orange is a lemon, ringa ringa roses and a few dance moves. Taneem, Tahani and I went to the market later in the evening and had icecream.
6th May : We stayed at the hotel that day. Evening we went to the market and purchased candles and some other trinkets. Bags were then packed as we planned to leave the next day.
7th May : We left for Kousani passing Almora. There were not many hotels there. We stayed at the Government hotel. We could hardly see anything then as there was a fire in the forest. I went for a stroll with Aftaab's mom. It was a beautiful place.
8th May : The morning was fresh, and as we got out of the room we could see the Himalayas right at our doorstep. It was a fantastic sight. Uncle, Tahani and I went for a long walk in the mountains. It was a lovely walk. Later in the day we had ragda pattice. In the evening it started raining. The view of the Himalayan snow capped mountains with rain pouring outside our hotel was amazing. Our last evening there and we got to see such a lovely sight. Bliss.
9th May : Next morning we went for a walk again. (i am generally a mountain person.. and love to take long walks.. dad loved it.. n now i love it too) Later we left for Corbett. We did not have too many days left. So we just decided to spend the night at Corbett. We booked ourselves in at Claridge's. It was a lovely place, situated on the banks of the Kosi river. The mango trees were superb there with the mangoes dangling right to the ground. Our room was beautiful too. We had dinner at their restaurant. We were shown a wild life documentary.
ps : when we reached the hotel, we were told not to get out of our rooms at night as there were leopards moving about freely. Tahani was so scared she did not let us open our doors and windows. Did not even let us step into the terrace!
10th May : We got up early. Went to the river. It was a beautiful sight. White pebbles surrounded the banks. The river was clean and sparkling. We dipped our legs in the cool water. Spent sometime there and then went for breakfast. After breakfast we went to the river again. Spent sometime there. After that we had to go pack our bags for the return trip to Delhi. Tahani and Zameer played table tennis. We played a few other games. Then we watched the shooting of 'Namaste India'. After lunch we left for Delhi. Our bus broke down again! We had to wait for a long time and reached Delhi pretty late. We checked into our hotel again for the night.
11th May : We shopped all day through. I did not like anything. It was also very hot. Then in the evening we left for the station, awaiting our Rajdhani.
12th May : Reached Mumbai. Back home after a lovely trip.
cheers!
(i remember a few other parts of the trip.. we used to play teen patti where zameer was my partner.. n we generally won.. i also remember zameer as he only ate potatoes.. he wanted potatoes in every thing he had.. and then once during some lunch zameer and I got into a chilli eating competition.. and we kept eating raw green spicy chillies all through the meal.. we stopped when his dad yelled at us.. and then i remember one of the road trip where we all youngsters got onto the bus carrier and started dancing.. tasneem's dad got into rajesh khanna mode and jumped on the ladder and started singing some songs.. i remember getting down from the bus on our way to corbett and aftaab showing off his biology skills.. he kept showing us the 'touch me not ' plants... and i was so impressed.. i can never recognize plants!... and i remember how the whole family had a migraine problem.. and i was the official masseur of the group.. jisko bhi headache ho.. neha ko bulao... :p)
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