A PEEKABOO WITH MOUNTAINS

“We’re taking a Vacation!” These very words fill the air in the room with excitement and anticipation. One forgets one’s real-world and gets into dream-world; wondering the potential fun, new experiences, the differences, breaking the monotony and so on to come.

Ever since the survival for everyday has gotten us all enslaved to monotony, we all crave for vacations–they’re like income, either in installments or lump sum; we love them.

Vacations, these days, include taking a small or big trip out of station with all our kith and kin, either visiting the tourist destination or exploring the various geographies across the globe in search of peace, love, happiness or all!

My last encounter was with the mighty Himalayan ranges, where I came across the might and light of these ranges. It went from being brown to green to snow white and growing from being small to big, to huge and finally to ridiculously humongous!

One often, whilst looking out of a window of a moving car, ends up playing PEEKABOO with these mountains which tend to hide behind either the trees or one another.  

I going deeper and higher in these ranges was directly proportional to the falling of temperature way below zero degrees and to the increase in number of layers of sweaters I got myself in.

As we travel and advance towards the early traces of snow or the snow advances towards us and that the FIRST glimpse of the snow that can be actually touched and felt and not just admired for lying on the top of the peaks is beyond words. The chills of mixed emotion that set into motion with the chilly breeze kissing your face and a ball of snow in palms for your pal to take will definitely make one forget one's own wedding.

And if fate has it, one would be fortunate enough to dance under a snowfall letting those soft, smooth, sliver of ice glide through or stay. The first glimpse is no less than the first love; following the same excitement for both and making a permanent room in your mind palace.

The most enthralling and delightful experience of all is to see the advancing snow. It is always bliss when seeking for snow, travelling in a car, going up-hill to finally see it around you, spattered, on the branches and leaves of the trees, on the sides of the road, on the roofs of houses, shops; gradually, with the gaining altitude the concentration of the snow increases from appearing as white-speckles to growing into a full white meadow. The green and the brown patches being filled with white, soft snow reversing the whole mechanism with now just a few green or brown speckles on a sheet of white.

Apart from this transition of brown-green-white and warm-cold, it’s a feeling of victory and achievement. As it is not every day that one can break one’s mundane work and kiss the ecstasy of vacationing.

It’s a tête-à-tête with nature that will last forever. 

The Gen- Z

“Nuclear family” is the new way of living; at least in the always-forward-on-copying-blindly-from-the-west India. It, indeed, is a rare occasion when a whole family gathers and spends the evening peacefully without grappling. It is a rare, isn’t it?

On the trailing end of Diwali comes the auspicious day of Bhai-Duj; a day, much like Raksha Bandhan,  where a brother swears for the protection of his sister/s and sister/s ripping him off of his bank account.

Ours being a big family, we had a get-together, with all agreeing on a decided venue; performed all the ceremonies and then followed our year old tradition: Partying!

The simplicity of the day being the children, YES! The Gen-Z, of our family, ranging from 3 years old to 13 years old.  All my nieces!  

When, post the ceremony, we all, mostly the siblings, gathered around the table, obviously, for the alcohol’s and good old days’ sake. An altogether different party had started inside one of the bedrooms: The Party of the Gen-Z!

My nieces, all from the different parts of Mumbai, seldom meeting each other, gelled-in like they were the best of friends – Chuddi-buddies; a few recently being able to walk, talk and chill without continuous support/crying for their parents; leaving their parents some respite.

When the party on our side opened the bottles for the first round, the voices of the Team Gen-Z rose, after an exchange of general greetings and gifts.

We taking down the first round; they chattering about the vacation. We with no enthusiasm, waiting for the alcohol to kick some enthusiasm within us; they were already at the pinnacle of the enthusiasm. And voices, of course!

Second round, got us talking; they already into different sets of team and with a ready plan, only waiting to execute. We got to card games – money based gambling. They resorted to power-based card games: Doraemon trading cards, Pokemon…

The rounds went on and so did the clamoring inside the bedrooms. Their games kept changing and so did the level of eclectic noises keep changing. They played from Horror games, to adventurous games, to accessorizing dolls or setting up a kitchen set to chasing each other madly … The last game they ended on was everyone’s childhood special – Hide & Seek.

 Where we were onto alcohol, to make us ‘siblings’ chit-chat, and like each other, at least for one evening, those young and fresh minded, with less or no fights got into accepting each other the way they were and in a way showing us to how to make friends or how to live a life.

No egos, No pride.

Well, in the end, a family that drinks together dances together.

A last round for the evening was yet to be played before the dinner was served. Both the groups got together and danced on the Bollywood’s dancing-numbers. It was nothing but delightful to see everyone heaving, jiggling, jumping with so much energy and seeing those children dance is a sight for which anyone would give away a 1000days without a second thought. Thus, ending the whole ceremony on a happy note.

Happy Diwali!

Let’s Sneak-Out

“Yay! Finally the exams are over… come down guys.” This was the common dialogue running through the lobbies and the passages of our societies when we were in class 6^th, 7^th, 8^th, 9^th, or 10^th. “Tonight we won’t sleep. Hell, YEAH!"

Let's Sneak Out, Play!

Normally, back then, in the late ‘90s and early 2000, we were maniacs; like what a crab is to water and holes, we were to Cricket or playing. On a slightest window, we all had sneaked out from our parental monitoring just to be with our friends and hit a few balls. We were no different.

Adolescent got us friends for life; those imbecile groups of boys and girls incessantly vying and thousands of unsaid protocols to be followed, which we worshiped reverently. Coming up with codes which only the group would understand and even worse was the tagging of a name. A name tagged once, was tagged for eternity. Nonetheless, the adolescent was playful with every excuse for getting down, to be madly in love in an one sided love affair, attending schools and tuitions post school; bunking classes to go take a match, or to watch a movie, or to end a skirmish, or the most dreadful one, to take a girl out.  A thrill for the chase made life jubilant.

Now, the tables have turned, times have changed, whenever an exam ends, we hit to the nearest bar and get our drunk-brains out. Ranting about the miserable life, the upturns, the lost love, the broken-hearts, the cheats, pretending to be happy, dancing until we crash in beds and not waking-up before midday.  

A miracle took place, when we, just after the exams, unanimously agreed onto going out to play. Cricket!  

Cricket!? It won’t be wrong or far-stretched to say that none of us had played for a really long time. In the daily survival for the mundane, we had lost the definition of fun, enjoyment, excitement. Playing for an hour meant endless fun followed by two days’ of body ache. Body Ache?

Challenge accepted!

Location was set: a friend’s society with our pitch – a concrete based. Superb Bounce!

Without much dilly-dallying, after our exams, we headed for the location. We began and lasted for nearly 150 minutes with everyone going out of breath. Panting!

We are not the best players, none of us, but we definitely are a fun to watch and play with. We ran at our pace; panted more than the covered miles; the jiggling protruding bellies and asses; the fight over water much to one’s delight. No meaningless drunk nights and dancing in the clubs could give you that what a fatso friend (Vinit Shah) of yours, running like a Rhino, between the wickets just to be on a safer side.   

For a brighter side, how much fun would it be to first get drunk, all of us, and then make that fatso run?

Evil, I’m!