The Himalayas

After spending the entire year at home with my two daughters and widowed mother, I decided to visit the hills during the summer vacation. I love to visit the majestic Himalayas. Away from this city life, above the clouds, I find peace and happiness. So, it was all set. This time we were going to Arunachal Pradesh, a state far away in the north eastern part of India.

I have two daughters. The younger one is almost 5 years old and the older one is 12. Both of them have turned out to be really good kids. As a single mother, worrying about whether I am being able to give my children enough time is like a part time job for me. I am mostly out of my house for work. So, my mother has taken up the responsibility to stay at home and look after them.

The tickets were booked and the whole itinerary was set. We will be landing in Guwahati and from there, we will take a car to reach the hills. On our way, we will be taking a halt at the cottages in Tejpur. Tejpur is a beautiful place in north eastern India, of historical significance. Locals have a lot of stories to tell about this place. My elder daughter is a hodophile and the most excited in the lot.

Well, Tejpur is really beautiful. It is exactly like what we have heard about it. A secluded place, near the Himalayas is what I need right now. Our cottage was surrounded by a beautiful garden, filled with colourful flowers and big trees. You could hear the chirping of different birds from the mountains far away and the cool breeze blowing through my hair felt amazing.

After some time, the staff at the cottage served us our lunch. We ordered a plain Indian meal consisting of rice, daal (a staple dish in Indian cuisine), veggies and curd. A plain meal like this is ideal when you are travelling. The food was delicious. The cooking team did an amazing job. After filling up our hungry tummies, we decided to start our journey towards the hills again. Our next stoppage was Tenga, where we were going to spend our night.

It was almost 2 pm now, when we reached Bhalukpong. Bhalukpong is a small town, located in the west Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh. It is here, from where the hills start. My daughters' faces lit up on the sight of hills. We could see the Kameng River flowing on the left side of the road. The view was breathtakingly beautiful. A photograph wouldn't do justice to this view. But the sun was going down by this time and it was a matter of concern for us, since driving in the dark across the hills is not a good option.

As we had expected, a thick fog was surrounding the area near Tenga. It was an one-way, hilly, narrow road but two vehicles were squeezing into it anyway. The situation was scary. The fog was so thick that I couldn't even see the huge truck which was coming from the opposite side, towards us. I froze for the moment. I was sure that we are probably going down, along with the truck. My mother started chanting prayers and in that particular moment, images of all the 330 million hindu deities flashed before my eyes.

When I opened my eyes, I realised that we were long past the truck situation and was stuck in traffic. The fog was still there but seeing so many cars boosted my mental strength. Our car started to move like a sloth, following the trail left behind by the car ahead of us. Finally after what it felt like to be almost a year, we drove past the fog and reached our bungalow. We were all tired and sleepy. The staff served our dinner as soon as we freshened up. It was really cold. We were almost 6500 ft. above the sea level. The feeling was great.

After having our dinner, we went off to sleep. Next day, we had to wake up early in the morning and set off for Tawang. As I closed my eyes, I started thinking about my life till now. It has been a roller coaster ride. I have spent almost 40 years of my life and faced so many things alone. As a high school girl, I used to be so shy and curious. That's when I met my husband. We connected and fell in love with each other instantly. His face was the most handsome in the world, for me.

The early years of our marriage used to be so fun. We both loved to travel and visited so many places together. He was my favourite travel partner. I still remember the time when he screamed out how much he loves me from one of the view points in Shimla. It was so filmy but I loved it. When we had our first daughter, he was overjoyed. He took care of her so much. In fact, when my elder daughter Rianna, started talking, her first word was "Baba" (familiar word for father in south Asia).

I woke up from my deep slumber as the sunlight fell right on my face. It was a wonderful feeling. I got up from my bed and stood by the floor-to-ceiling window in my room to get a better view of the outside. Yesterday, I did not notice the stream flowing beside our bungalow. It glistened up as the sunlight fell on it. I took a deep breath. Then, heard a knock on my door. It was my mother. She was furious to see me, still in my night clothes.

"Why haven't you changed, yet? We are about to leave within 45 minutes."

I was about to argue when my eyes fell on the clock. I was awfully late. Without replying back, I hurriedly went to take a shower.

Tawang awaits us.