cloud number 9....

a 9 day holiday
started inauspiciously
i was supposed to go home, to my beloved delhi, evening of 11th april, friday. but since monday i had been battling with fever that touched 103, cough and a cold that acted like my nuice was an open sluice gate. hardly spent 4 hours in office combined from wednesday to friday, though i did go on 2 meetings.
friday afternoon, my meru cab didnt show up for 40 minutes, so i took a normal cab, defeating the attempt to travel in some comfort away from the dust, humidity and associated strains, and getting very late in the process.
to top it all, once in the cab i found out the flight was an hour late.

anyway, all worth it on getting home. aditi and mom were at the airport. got home i think around 10. went for coffee at ccd, mega mall post dinner.

12th, saturday, nani and pannu arrived. i was, however, in a bad mood for reasons i cant remember now. met dipu and suhail around 2 opposite privat hospital, and we went in suhail's car to ambi mall. had lunch there at a pizza hut. the waitress smiled at the size of our order! murarka joined us there, taking a cab from the airport. it was a surprise to everyone but me, and suhail and dipu seemed quite pleased (btw he had missed his morning flight, and took a later one). we took him to the food court to eat, loitered about a bit and went home, me being dropped by suhail. murarka and dips were staying with him. at home, i got ready, wore my suit, got into the i10, realized it was out of fuel, waited for mom to get home, grew irritable again, took the optra, and went to essex farms for shek/shef's engagement.

reached there around 715, and the 2 chief guests hadnt reached. suhail, dipu, murli and ruchi were playing a game of bowling. i went to watch. sho and shilpa joined us.
the engagement went off well...met shek and shef's parents, met up with paritosh, karan, nia and zakir, and met some of shek's college buddies like pandu, nijhara, nishant, sharmaji, etc. unfortunately, the whole affair was dry and vegetarian, but good fun nevertheless, with a dance floor also. both s and s were looking very nice for once!!
everyone gradually went home. pari, dips, suhail, murli and i went to saket in 3 cars, and hung out at the ccd ther (after checking out some club also). finally i left around 1:15 and got home at 2

sunday murli landed up at home, after realizing he had confused am and pm. hung out with him, went to nath and had bfast of aloo parathas. he murli went to meet suhail, hitching a ride with aditi n ekta who went to janpath. i had a fairly quiet day otherwise. went to nirvana, saw the place. i quite like the colony. evening we ventured out to roam around galleria, but landed up at the club. they were having some baisakhi evening with a dj, floor and some dance performances. ekta joined us there after dance. turned out to be a nice evening after all. though my belt caused a huge prob!!!

monday was also a quiet day. mom got some medical tests done. in the evening, we watched 'khuda kay liye' at europa, metropolitan. we being aditi, pannu, nani, papa and i.

tuesday i met up with mohini at megha. met mohini at venky to collect our degree certificate. i didnt get mine, in line with my luck. we bumped into kk sir, who recognized us and was very happy to see us. so happy that he left the exam room he was invigilating and came out, literally with open arms. it was nice. then we roamed around a bit, went to the canteen, ate some stuff. went from there to khan market. ate at big chill. megha joined us there. also roamed around some shops, went to ccd, from where megha made a hasty exit. mohini also left around 515. then i went to ihc, went to eatopia and had a muddy fudge. mom came around 6, and we went home. think this was the evening we watched evan almighty on my comp on a cd

wednesday, as usual, i cant remember. was a plain day. chinni mausi and viraj arrived. venkat mausa's bags arrived. my kotak card arrived. in the evening around 5 i left in the i10 for gk2, where around 645 at the costa coffee i met nidhi rastogi. after 6 years. she looks good. spent slightly under 2 hours with her (in the course also meeting shivanti after same time gap). was also nice seeing the marketplace i used to frequent as a child. then went to bluebells to pick up ekta, the confusionmaster. got scolded by mom in the process. got home by 10. dinner was downstairs, where some chinese had been ordered in. had that and some ice cream.

thursday, 17th, was the day of doctors. mom bunked office and took chinni mausi and viraj to some 3-4 docs, and did some of her medical stuff as well. in the evening, we all went to phase 1. i went to khurana for a worn filling. then walked over to marwah's, where mom, mausi, nani, pannu and viraj were. then we drove to plaza. met aditi there, did some shopping for the trip, and went to mgf mall. aditi, pannu and viraj did some bowling at amoeba. everyone window shopped a bit. i had a tart. got home, had dinner, packed and everyone slept. end of day 6.

friday, 18th. woke at 445, got ready and left for the station by 535, only 5 minutes late, a record i think. we went in 2 cars, the optra with ratan and a cab. reached by about 610. caught the dehradun shatabdi at 650, with nani, pannu, viru, chinni mausi, ekta and papa on one end of the train, and me, ekta, mom, venkat mausa and anjali mami on the other. we were served tea and breakfast. i slept a bit. we had a 20 minute halt at saharanpur. reached haridwar dot on time. had a big van there to pick us up, along with a couple of foreigners (gabriel and son from canada and san diego). reached the camp, pooped, around 1:15. we were initiated by amon (or amen, or eymond, or aymon, god knows), an englishman. we settled into our tents, numbered 19-24 (ekta and i took 21), had lunch, and took off for the first round of rafting at 3. ps it was nice to meet vijay and ram again. on day 1 it was only us 5 kids, mom, mausi and mami. and the 2 canadians. we went in a pickup to their guest house. there we bumped into bathwal and his group from accenture. i got a crush on a female in that group. then after sitting there for a while and having a rooh afza based drink, we went to the raft site. our group (including canadians) split into 2 rafts with me getting the weak one with pannu, viru, mami and the free riding mausi. had a good session. on the biggest rapid, called 3 blind mice, one of the accenture rafts overturned. we did a nice rescue job. and felt important also!! i also stood on the edge of my raft while santosh squirmed it side to side. didn't fall off!! reached camp and hung around. the evening, once it darkened, was spent around a bonfire with the vodka we had carried, some sandpiper beer, and lots of singing. we heard the barking deer. had dinner, sat on the sands, and slept off i think by around 10:15. maddeningly early, but there was nothing else to do!! everyone had slept off and there was no electricity.

saturday i woke at around quarter to 8. basically a 9.5 hour sleep. hugely unheard of from me. and it was so quiet outside i thought i must be the first up. but turns out all the adults were awake, and i was the first of the kids. had had a good sleep, though the funny owl making that twicking noise had woken me in between. anyway, had some chai, and some small breakfast of bread jam. 930 we started rafting, after the new joinees got a small briefing. papa joined in this time. and somehow the accenture laden rafts also appeared! after stopping to collect a first aid kit, we set off. we started off on the 'good morning' rapid, followed by a dip in the water. other rapids included 'return to sender', 'rollercoaster', 'tee off', 'golf course', and 'clubhouse'. after this the course became easier. so at this point we took on the tots and elderly. nani and mausa joined here. we went on another rapid, 'initiation', and did a good bit of body surfing. then we came upon a 7 metre high outcropping of rock, of which people were jumping into the river. it was very crowded. determined to conquer my fear, i got in queue. after 10 minutes, my turn came. partly to keep the line moving, and mostly to avoid a change of heart, i jumped quite fast. think i closed my eyes somewhere on the way. it felt like a forever drop. damn scary. and i fell and sank a long way before resurfacing. later i learnt i had made a good jump. viru, pannu and aditi also jumped. then we were on our way again. went over 'double trouble', and we were done!!! at the landing point, we had lots of chana jor garam by a hawker, after nani borrowed money from a fellow camp mate to buy it! went back to camp in our pickup. got to know that a school friend of shobhit mohan's ws also there.

at camp we had a nice lunch and then lazed around. 3pm we crossed the river to go rappelling. exceptions were nani papa ekta and mausa. we went in 2 lots on the little raft. once there, we wore the harness and climbed up 80 feet along a precarious path, clutching a rope for support. i was near a state of panic, even once i reached the top. i went down after pannu and viru. scared the crap out of me as usual. but i managed. the others came after that. viru went twice. then, i was in no mood to attempt the 10 foot climb down to the raft, so i jumped into the river again. still scared me, even from half the previous height.
once back at camp, we had chai again, and then went kayaking. i likes this more for the fact that i was solely in command. but it was way more strenuous. especially as we were asked to go upriver, if anywhere. the kayak went off course easily. everyone tried their hand at this activity at least. it was good fun.

then back to camp, and we had 3 games of volleyball. in the process we made friends with mayank, prasad, jiji and their son avinash. mami had some unfortunate falls, so she was out of the game. ekta was out for all practical purposes. it was good fun. then another evening around the bonfire. more people singing. more drinks. dinner again. after dinner, everyone slept earlyish. only ekta and i were walking around chatting. still we slept by 1030.

sunday. last day. i had mom wake me at 645, so i could appreciate the morning, sunrise behind mountains and cool weather. woke and had chai, though not too much as i was trying to not create pressure. the other kids were woken in another 15 odd minutes. after that, we still had a long time till the rafting began. so we went to the volleyball court, and mom and i played baddi on it for 5-7 minutes. it was nice doing that. had been a long time ago when we used to do that. then mom got tired, so everyone took turns playing, including mami, mausi, nani, pannu, viraj, aditi and ekta. we then had a very tasty breakfast of puri aloo. i had like 5-6 puris.

then we set off again at 9:30. this time, there were fewer people, and thus only 2 rafts. i was now with mom, aditi, mayank, prasad and jiji. we took the same course as the previous day, same rapids, except we navigated the hardling, ie the toughest, most turbulent path along the rapids. it was really good fun. we reached the pickup point fairly early this time, where nani joined us. mausa didnt. set off again. bodysurfed again. i almost came under 2 rafts simultaneously. it was fun. dived off the cliff again. this time it was nearly empty. think it's coz we were earlier. only aditi and i jumped this time. she went first. didn't inspire a lot of confidence in me either, as when she splashed, the buckle of her helmet broke and the helmet came off. still, jump went ok. i was more scared. still felt like a forever fall.
we completed the couse, where mausa was waiting and clicking away. he also had lots of soft drinks and the cash to buy a lot of chana jor garam. then we took off in the pickup. dropped mayank along the way and went back to camp. at camp, we 5 cousins climbed atop a fallen tree and had pics clicked. then 3 of us, including me and mami (i forget who was 3rd) did a little more kayaking. i really enjoyed it. went further upstream than before. after that, it was lunch (fish cutlets and rice), packing, and leaving. we had a cuppa tea, said our goodbyes, and left around 3.

we took the same van we had while coming, and went on the 1 and a quarter hour drive to haridwar. i dozed a bit on the way. on reaching there, we walked to the immersion area. nani and mami were in a rickshaw. there were just walked around the shops. had some kulfi, lassi, samosa. ekta and aditi made some purchases. we bought those sugar balls. some dipped their feet in the ganga. then we left. reached the station around 5:15. we stood around. checked our weights on those 1 rupee machines. ribbed mausi about her '78' kilos. i turned out to be 70 on this. i dont know how accurate they are, but i remember being 61 on a similar machine in chakki bank, mar 2007. so thats good progress.
the train came at 6:08, dot on time. we were all in the same coach this time. it was a quiet ride home, and we were served soup and dinner. reached delhi at 10:45. got home by around 11:45, same optra and cab. i was in the qualis this time, with papa, mausa, mausi and aditi. we watched a bit of the rishikesh video, i packed, and slept by around 1:30.

woke at 4 the next morning, went to the airport with ekta and mom, and caught the 5:45 air deccan flight to bombay. end of a lovely holiday, and onset of the depression!! i love delhi...