7th April, 2008

The alarm buzzed at 7 am & I was wondering Oh god not again. But then it hit me, wait a sec I was in Sikkim & I didn’t have to be in front of a computer keying in random engine serial numbers. Not today – today was meant for excitement. After a sumptuous breakfast at 9.30 am we were aboard our Scorpio with Ramesh (who was all looking bashing for the day) & started our day’s travel. The flavor for the day was the Tsomgo Lake which was the highlight of Gangtok. Another thing which has to be mentioned over here is the fact that Tsomgo happens to be one of those areas where required the Inner Line Permit to make a foray into. Luckily for us, Baichung had this covered & we were through the army check post after showing our documents. The Army is seen through this area, since ahead of Tsomgo happens to be the Nathula Pass which forms the border to India & China.

Initially Nathula was also a part of our plan, but due to the ongoing China-Tibet conflict, we decided not to take the chance to get stuck in an ACCIDENTAL crossfire. Anyway once we started our ascent after the check post, we ran through an amazing scenic route. The roads were cut on the mountain sides & even though they were a little bumpy in patches, all praise should be given to the Border Road Organization (BRO) who was responsible for these roads.

At a village called Kyongnosale, we halted to click some snaps along a beautiful waterfall. Since it was a tiny tourist spot, there were plenty of tea stalls (we were on a high octane tea diet these days). But another point that has to be highlighted over here is how the people over here have been quite sensible enough in trying to make their tourist spots clean to the core. Everywhere you halt you can see a dustbin at your disposal. But again it is left to the common bloke to follow up by dumping his/her trash in this.

Once our Scorpio pulled into the make shift parking lot in Tsomgo, we all were left gaping at the scene that was there in front of us. Ok so we have seen snow before & lakes too & they have been beautiful too, but yet this one did make us still go OOOOOOHHHH. At 12,400 ft above sea level, & frozen partially Tsomgo Lake was worth every single bump we drove over the way. Surrounded with shops on a side & so many yak ride hawkers, the lake & the snow mountain behind it could beckon anyone with ease. So we made Panda climb a yak (we got some gear like a boot & jacket for Panda & gloves for all of us from one of Ramesh’s contact’s shop) & started off to the snow mountain. Along the way we saw many folks slip on the snow & as far as I was concerned once again I misjudged the cold & was left clattering my teeth at times.

After playing in the snow, getting our butts chilled & even making a makeshift snowman, we decided it was time that we get back to some good old mud before ending up frost bitten & numb. Once we returned to Shop 15, we returned the gears & feasted ourselves on some delicious mommus. After stuffing ourselves to the hilt we decided to get back to our abode on Gangtok. So at 2.15 pm we started our descent & with the exception of a light doze of dizziness for Panda, we made it back within an hour.

After taking some nice rest, we decided to do some city touring in the evening & around 7.30 pm we got off to MG Market. This market is supposed to be the most happening market in Gangtok & I figured out more than that after our foray into one or two shops here. The stuff here is like shit expensive & some of the brands they have at display I haven’t seen then even in Hyderabad. But that apart my opinion still remains the same, if you want to do shopping, Gangtok is not the place for that. After doing all the window shopping (Panda managed to walk through a market for the first time without purchasing anything & all credit was to the great Vineet) we decided to have a final tummy refill & got into one of the restaurants on the same market road. On the way we bumped into Baichung & confirmed our next day’s plans too.

After dinner we walked back to the lodge (the walk sure got our food all digested) & decided to hit bed by like 8.30 pm (though we did at only 10 pm). To sum it up, the day was an absolute cracker & if things were headed in the same league, then boy oh boy we sure had something on our hands. I know I definitely can be such an extravagant bloke at times. Time to hit the sack.

6th April, 2008

In my 27 years of existence, in which I must have started my train journey sessions like from the age of 17 or so, never has once a train pulled into the scheduled station on the dot. So it wasn’t weird for me to get mighty impressed when the Darjeeling Mail pulled into NJP station on the dot at 8 am like it was scheduled too. Oh I forgot, this was our second day & today our entire tour itinerary was going to shape up for final. Only problem was to catch hold of the driver that Baichung had promised would be at NJP holding a WELCOME ASHISH board.

One more tragedy (later to be found as a blessing in disguise) that occurred to us was that both mine & Vineet’s mobile connectivity flew out of the window as soon as we stepped into NJP. Panda was the only one who was mobile now & we thanked the heavens for that. After some rounds of searching here & there we finally met up with Ramesh – our chaperone (pronounced as Romesh) & the black Scorpio which was enlisted for our entire trip. Once we started off for Gangtok (which is 4 hours from NJP) we passed through a forest in the military camp of Sevoke. The fragrance that came from this forest was just pure seduction (it was supposed to come from the Lotus flowers that had been growing in the lake within the forest).

The route to Gangtok was filled with curves & breathtaking scenes (it happens to be alongside the river Tista). The panoramic view came to a halt for a while when we entered Rangpo (the entry port of Sikkim) at 11.30 am. From there till 12.30 pm (when we had our first glimpse of Gangtok) there was a trickle of drizzle & a steady decline in the temperature too. Finally we checked into the Pandim lodge (an economical & scenic lodge). Once I & Vineet freshened up, we decided to do some locale study (Panda was taking her sweet time in freshening up).

Our little walk took us through steep alleys & more curvy roads. What I came to find out was that all the Sikkemese folks were in possession of some well built physique (the babes were like MUWAAH) & pretty soon I figured out their secret too. The damn roads & walkways are so freaking steep that it had not only me panting for breath but the usually unmoved Vineet too breathless. Being the lazy bum that I am my next stop was my bed in the room. Soon Baichung came over took us to a nearby Flower show, where Panda & Vineet went by their ways exploring the flora at display. During this while I & Baichung sat down & worked our itinerary accordingly. After some while of nodding left & right we finally arrived at a conclusive plan. After all these days of cutting & writing FINALLY we had a PLAN.

Then we headed off to a view point in the form of Ganesh Tok (Tok happens to mean Hill). On our way back Vineet was handed the steering wheel & was mighty delighted in doing some Mountain Driving after all (he had completely ruled out his chances of driving in the mountains before this). Once back to the room, we paid of 10 grand as an advance payment to Baichung & resumed our card game (Panda was getting thrashed left & right).

We had asked our lodging people (who had a cute restaurant on their balcony) to leave some dinner for us, & then we embarked on the only slight blemish of the entire day. Panda had bought a pub dress & was yearning to shake a leg in one of the local pubs. So after doing all the necessary enquiries we three braved the cold (which we found out was quite chilly) & walked to the nearest Pub. Once we reached Escape (spelled as Xcape) we shelled out 400 bucks (cos there was an entry charge of 200 Rupees per head & none for ladies), & went in with great expectations. And then what came across not only sank our hearts, it even made our knees go weak. The pub was a neat place, but the crowd was all men & for them the only source of excitement just entered in the form of Panda. So for all pub aspirants heading to Gangtok, one word of advice, keep the pubbing reserved for your big towns. Off we scurried back for our room & within 30 minutes or so all of us were Zzzzing our ways to glory. In short it was quite a nice way to start off. One day gone & 6 more left. Not bad!!!

5th April, 2008

After a night of frustrations, packing, unpacking & repacking the day of reckoning had finally arrived (ok so it is a little exaggerated). At around 1 am I somehow managed to wake up from my slumber remembering that I was supposed to book a cab to the airport for the next day (a special note of thanks has to be mentioned to Panda darling over here). Once I was all set with the cab, I decided to get some wink of sleep.

Next day by 7.30 am we were all ready (Panda had come over to our place & we had decided to go over together) & the cab was also waiting outside. Ever since the new airport had opened in Hyderabad, there has been much of a hullabaloo over its distance (a little over 40 km from our place) & the time it takes to reach there. So we had planned to avert any delays & decided to start a tad early for our flight which was scheduled at around 11 am. Today was a different day – everything was just going to happen real early & we got our first omen for this in the form of next to zero traffic on the roads of Hyderabad. The net result – we were like 2 hours early & ended up checking out the new airport.

Now for all the guys out there, here’s a little tip, next time you guys want to ogle, the airport is a haven. There were like too many oomph out there which we usually never get to see on an ordinary day in our town. So I & Vineet were having a feast out there. Panda even ran into one of her juniors whose name she did have a little trouble in recollecting. We sure were growing old.

At 10.55 am our flight started off to Kolkata. The day was bloody well & the next omen was when we were the first ones to board the flight. What a way to get started. After a small cameo in Vizag, our Deccan flight (WOW, Deccan sure has come a long way since the old days – Hats off to Mallya), we touched down in Kolkata at 2.20 pm. Our next travel was at 10.55 pm from Sealdah & we had like ample time on our hands to kill.

So off we trotted in the search of some nice retreat in Sealdah (we had already checked in our luggage at the cloak room). And man even if Kolkata is like cramped up & the roads are narrower than any of the other metros in India, it had its essence. Over here what blew me was the variety of snacks that was at offer even in the small lanes. I was left drooling at most of the outlets & we all were pumped up getting a tummy refill. Then we headed off to a nearby park from wherein Panda & Vineet were kicked out because they didn’t have any kids.

Well then it was proper wastage of time on our part (we checked out a swimming pool; park, got stuck in the rain, checked out shoes for like forever to evade the rain & ended up in the station around 3 hours before our train was scheduled to depart) & eventually after ages we finally boarded the train. At 10.05 pm our train pulled out of the station & after an hour or so all of us were snoring our ways to glory. In short it was a waste of a day, but we had better stuff waiting for us. And thus the curtains fell down on day 1 of our rollercoaster ride.

What Goes Around Comes Around

It was half past ten in the night before our scheduled departure to Kolkata, & lightning had struck not once but twice. Suzy whom I had tried with loads of persuasion to continue with our trip was the first casualty. It seemed like there was absolutely no way that he was getting leave & the new work that had somehow managed to fall into his lap right at the death of time, just couldn’t be done without his presence. Initially we even tried to compromise on trying to get him to do the Sikkim part of our circuit. But that too fell out & we were down to 4 people. I could even sense how saddened he was when he had called up to break the news to me. This did blow me out too, because we were the chaps who had cooked up this thing in a way.

If that was not enough to have gutted me, the next bolt of lightning struck me in the form of Marella. Well if it was work which had played the spoil sport in one case, here it was health. Marella got pretty sick like 2 days before the D-day, & was in no condition to do a week long trip. She tried her best in sticking along to give Pandu some company as a girl, but then we didn’t want her to have a horror trip & finally we had to pull the plug on her too.

Call it a cruel twist of fate or just a simple rendition of What Goes Around Comes Around (I had too pulled out of an earlier plan with my friends), but whatever you say, at around 12 hours before we were supposed to be in a plane on the perfect vacation, we were already down by 2 people & looming at the fear of an oversized budget too. My personal feelings were a mixture of being freaking pissed off & frustrated. But then some things are just bound to go awry. With exactly these thoughts I went ahead to pack the rest of my stuff.

Maps, Hiccups & Hope

If you ask me what has been the major breakthrough in the last decade, then in addition to the upcoming fast food joints I would say GOOGLE MAP has been a revelation. It’s like the miser’s perfect tool to get set for traveling & I was not going to change anything in this aspect.

Once we had zeroed in on our targets, all we had to do was key in the names & voila our rough map was also set!!!! And after spending 5 years in an engineering services company, to make something ordinary look like extraordinary was like nothing new. Add in a few glosses here, colors there & the final output ends up appeasing. Another of those signs of your job’s influence on your life, but hey I am not going to start a complaint box here & digress from the main theme.

Another hiccup that given a slight jolt for us was the ongoing Indo-China tensions, that had sparked off rumors of the Inner Line Permit (these are required to go into certain areas in Sikkim) not being granted anymore. If these rumors had been true then our Sikkim part of the trip would have very well been quite dull, since many areas including the Yumthang Valley & Lake Chhanggu were supposed to be accessible with these Inner Line Permits.

But once again Baichung, had put to rest these rumors, and had taken the responsibility of getting these permits for us. He had even volunteered to get our return tickets from NJP to Kolkata booked. One thing was definitely sure, Baichung sure picking up impression points amongst us. But yeah we were also worried on whether the currency value was going to hit the ceiling or what.

To aggravate things, there was a possible casualty of Suzy not able to make it for the trip. The bugger was dumped with some major work that was supposed to get into production & all those blah. Well half of them sounded gibberish to me. But some emotional blackmail, few death threats on Panda's part & I guess a couple of strong beers did wear off the little resistance that was there in him. For crying out loud, we slog out all year & work out our butts, but when we decide to take like one tiny week to just chill, that is the only time people want to offload work. And I definitely don’t want to give this blog a PG-13 rating by writing down here what sentiments I have at this time.
So there I was, 2 days away from getting on a plane with 4 of my friends, & all I was hoping were for things to go at least 75 percent close to the way I had planned it to go (though secretly I was harboring a cent percent result). Coffee was going to flow & cigarettes were going to get burned in abundance over these 48 hours - that I was bloody sure of!!!

The Plan

Well it had been like a month nearly since I had laid my plans on project Sikkim. The only thing that was confirmed till date was the air tickets & the number of people who were boarding the flights with me. Other than that we didn’t have a plan (only a rough outline of a plan was available) neither did we have any tickets from Kolkata towards Gangtok nor an inkling of a clue as in where we would be put up. So after weeks of smoking more cigarettes & sleeping & continuing with my ever so beautiful routine, it clicked like Archimedes’ Eureka theory (except for the nudity of course) & I thought of hooking up with some travel agent.

Contrary to urban legends, not all travel agents are people who sponge you out from all your wealth & make even a small trek sound like a walk in Himalaya. Well for our luck I ran into one Mr. Baichung Bhutia (I added the bhutia tag just because it was more snazzy & famous too). I offered him my rough outline & after weeks of speculation & calls flying here & there he came out with an itinerary that had covered me & my troupe from the time we alighted at New Jalpaigudi till the penultimate day when we were supposed to board from the same station.

He even offered me a Scorpio to cover us through the entire travel. So far so good - and the best part was that it wasn’t that expensive. And considering the fact that this was my first time in planning a trip of this proportion (well I did do some small plans earlier which were miniature versions of the Titanic going down), the final outcome was pretty neat, at least to the naked eye. So all left now was for the D-Day & for the ensuing weeks which would put our scheduled plan to the test. Till then I was having more than just my fingers crossed.

The Ensemble

Team work has been a way of life for most of us, being the fact that we have been working in teams, groups & blah. So it wasn’t outrageous when I decided to rope in some blokes/babes to form a team for this outing. Here’s a small gist of my troupe who would be entertaining me for the coming days.

Vineet Kumar a.k.a Chottu (he’s 6 feet 2inches tall). The ladies’ man & the perfect gentleman - Other than the fact that we joined our company at the same time we have been project mates, roomies & a lot more (reading between the lines is left for you people). After doing some string of international traveling Chottu was pretty much bugged up that he had not emulated his international feats back in India. So when he came to know about this trip thing, he was all game for it. The only fear I had was that at the end he would get his call of duty (onsite call) & would have had to been a last minute omission from the plan. So I am still keeping my fingers crossed.

Prakash Mathew a.k.a Suzy (don’t ask me how). Suzy & I go way back to college. He had been my junior in Chennai & then when he got his present job in Hyderabad, we were re-acquainted. Booze is one of the factors that have bound us from our college days, & so it was going to be again. Suzy was there in the initial plan which I had conveniently backed out from & somehow managed to pry him away from it (though no effort was required for this). Suzy was also longing for a long trip from his hectic schedule (he’s still shocked over the 1 week leave we are supposed to be taking), & had no so hesitation in nodding for this. Throw in the ultimate seductive of free booze & bang we were on.

Anukulya Panda a.k.a The Panda (no whatsoever resemblance however). This self proclaimed dusky beauty is one hell of an entertainer. Ever since I struck a rapport with her in the office, there has never been much of a dull moment. She can be outrageously funny & irritating with panache. Usually goes on blabbering gibberish half the time, but there have been times when she’s shown that she is a gem of a darling. Had been whining about doing a long trip for like ages, & so when the opportunity came, all I had to do was knock at her door. And with her nod I confirmed that out trip was so going to be animated!

Yajushi Marella a.k.a Shrinky (had majored in psychology). The only surprise package in the trip – with everyone else I had like a 95 percent assurance that they would be all game for the Gangtok expedition. But with Shrinky, I did have a major doubt. I met her through a common friend way back, and had just got to know her real well over the last year or so. She’s been dubbed as Ms. Smiley in Orkut & is one of those workaholics. So when she said that I was supposed to meet her mom to convince her that she would get back in one piece I did have my doubts. But all of those were laid to rest precisely 24 hours after I had met Shrinky & her mom, when she send over her sanctioned leave letter.

Finally coming to me, I think you all must have pictured a vivid image of me from the last chapter. As always it has been in my case, this time round too I am the black sheep of the group. But yeah come to think of it, I did manage to group up some really different characters with an urge for some fun, relaxation & just maybe some sightseeing after all. Hopefully over the entire week, the only team leaders we get to see would be the ones that herd over a flock of domesticated animals.