Mountains or beaches? I can safely say that my parents prefer mountains over beaches because all our holidays and summer breaks were spent doing road trips to various Himalayan destinations. Every summer holiday we used to bundle into their 1971 Fiat at 6am and be on our way to the mountains! Shimla, Mussorie, Nanital, Ghorakhal, Almora, Mukteshwar, Tehri, Kasauli, Kausani and various other hill stations. I still recall the excitement and chaos of the morning as my dad used to be ready and pacing near the car telling everyone to hurry up as we struggled to do the morning routines. The early morning warm milk to help us poop before the long road trip was a classic and somehow never helped! The thought of dirty toilets on the way or sitting in the fields to poop was enough for me to gulp a full glass of warm milk and then keep trying for 15-20 minutes with no success. ‘Nahi hui!’ used to be the most dreaded phrase for my parents and I can relate to it now when I have my own un-pooped kid on a road trip! Why is it that rest of the days it works like clockwork but on these special days it goes on strike? Uff!
‘No time now!! Get into the car’ and off we were towards the mountains early in the morning on empty roads and street lights yet to be switched off. There was always a target to cross Meerut, Modi Nagar, Muzafarnagar, etc by a certain time and only after that we would make any stops.
My favourite part of these road trips was the stop at the ‘milk bars’. No, not for the poop break, well .. that too but mainly because I loved the cold coffee and the ilaichi milk they used to serve in those cute small glass bottles! I don’t see any of these milk bars anymore! Now it’s just bars without any milk and desi sharaab ka theka! My second favorite part of the journey was always my dad’s excited announcement ‘Woh dekho mountains!!’ (There, look at the mountains!). Oh! That used to make us jump from the back seat to peer from the windscreen ahead towards the direction he would be pointing. Where where ?? I always struggled with the first sighting and my brother always saw them first! He would point with his finger and draw the outline of the mountains for me to see clearly just like many things in life which were pointed out by him for me to see clearly! Wow!! There they are! Mountains!! There used to be this silent excitement in the car from then on as we stared at the mountains and watched them become bigger and bigger.
My least favourite part was when we actually hit the mountains. Ugh!! ?? I must have received a gold medal of motion sickness in my childhood. No matter how much I was told to stare at the far away peaks or look straight on the road, I secretly looked at everything and everywhere because the sights were just so beautiful and then baarffff! I’d throw up and there would be utter chaos! My brother screaming – roko roko yeh ulti kar raha hai (Stop the car stop the car, he is throwing up!) and before I knew it I would get a tight slap from my mother which was customary when we did anything unpleasant! ‘Bata nahi sakte kya??’ (Can’t you tell beforehand?) she would scold and and then I would be folded on the side of the road throwing up while everyone watched me in disgust.
It was horrible but I used to wait for this to happen because strangely, after it was over, I used to feel perfectly fine! I would be happy and smiling after this while everyone else would be disgusted and discussing why they bring me for these trips and should they leave me behind at the tea stall? They never left me, thankfully! and I was slowly trained (with slaps) to give advance warning of any movements in my stomach! As I grew older, I was introduced to ‘Avomine’ tablets which changed my mountain experience and I never threw up again! I still carry them today in my medicine kit just in case I need to go up a mountain …suddenly! ?
We never stayed in any fancy hotels except that one in Shimla where Gandhi had also stayed and I was fascinated by that discovery. I need to ask my parents about that memory. Apart from that hotel, I actually don’t have any memory of where we stayed! Strange! Was it at fancy Hotels? Guest houses? People’s houses?? Where the hell did we stay? The only memories I have are of the time I spent with family. The walks we had, the wild berries we hunted for, the time spent early morning looking through binoculars and trying to identify the snow-peaks and their names – nanda devi is a name that suddenly popped up as I was typing this. The mist and the early morning cold breeze as we wore our jackets and marvelled at the amazing sights and crisp fresh air. The mountain treks looking for temples and waterfalls and of course … Aalu Poori or Aalu Parathas! That’s all I remember. Not the hotels and any comforts or discomforts! That really makes me wonder about the time and effort we spend on finding good hotels today thinking about our kid’s comfort!
There is something extremely tranquil and serene about sunsets in the mountains. Of course, sunset in Goa has its own charm but there is something very special about sunset on a mountain. One evening, I stood at the edge of our hotel’s garden and looked down into the valley as the sun was setting and was transported back in time. Yes, a lot has changed with so much commercialisation and construction but somehow, as night fell, it all seemed the same again. The same silence and stillness and the various sights and sounds that can only be associated with mountains.
Sound of silence on a mountain. Very loud jhingurs (crickets), a few night birds, some animal calls especially monkeys, a distant temple bell which always sounds so beautiful in the stillness of the night, the sound of a car far away on the other mountain as you watch it’s lights appearing and disappearing across every bend, a dog barking somewhere and pitch darkness where there were snow-peaks some hours ago. The silence encourages you to close your eyes and listen to all the sounds. Meditate. Made me think of Shiva.. Roaming around somewhere on the snow-peaks I was looking at a while ago. Must be cold out there in just a loin cloth!
We went to Kasauli recently and I have no idea if my son, who is Autistic, will relate to or remember or connect with the trip years from today or if he’ll ever be able express such thoughts and memories. I like to believe that he feels exactly like every other child does on such road trips. He might not be able to express it in words today but I just know that he’s loving it like every child does. The thrill on his face, his giggles and his laughter give it away! I know he’s enjoying himself and the new places he’s seeing. I made it a point to show him the first sight of the mountains from the car also!
I don’t know if he heard me when I was so excitedly pointing towards the mountains but I like to believe that he sees, registered and knows everything and one day when science has advanced enough to reach his level and can understand him, he will tell people about this road trip to the mountains. The road trip where he was so excited with the view from the room that he walked into a glass door in his excitement to go to the balcony! Got a bump on his head! I hope he’ll be able to tell about the beautiful garden with pine trees where he climbed the ledge and gave everyone a heart attack as he was all set to jump down from the ledge till my friend caught him at the nick of time! ? I hope he will remember how he befriended a cat for the first time and squeezed the cat’s neck till he scratched him! I’m sure he’ll remember the walk in the rain under an umbrella with mommy because he couldn’t stop grinning at that time! The tasty butter chicken at night and the early morning scare from the big monkey jumping on the roof! His trip to Chail Palace where they shot scenes for the movie ‘3 Idiots’ and his relaxation time on a rocking chair holding is favourite blanket and enjoying the view or…stimming!
My comfort comes from the fact that when my parents were doing all these things with us, they were not fussed or focused on creating memorable moments for us. They were simply enjoying themselves and enjoying their time with us. Similarly, I just want to enjoy this moment…this day, this minute with him and hope that along the way we’re creating beautiful memories for him which he’ll cherish as years go by. Memories that will make him smile every time he sees ..mountains.
