So, it all went like this-
The Hustle
It was a sunny day when we left our house to go to the New Delhi Railway Station (NDLS). My mother had packed many chocolates for me and my sister and my brother who lived in Rudrapur. We took an e – rickshaw to the Metro Station. We issued 4 tickets for the airport line and caught a lift to go underground. We boarded the train to NDLS and talked a lot. When we reached, we entered a lift to go up. We had to go to platform no.16. We reached the platform by 4:30 pm. There was a train already on the platform but it was not for us to board so we waited until the train left. By 5:45 pm our train came and we boarded it. We had seats 31,32,33 as well as 34 too. The seats were in a line. A whole row of two seats on one side and the other. Luckily our seats were together and opposite to each other. The train stopped at the station for quite some time before we started moving toward our destination.
Start of the Journey
When we started to move, it already was evening. I ate a few chocolates and played for some time on my mother’s phone to prevent boredom but it was short lived. The officials announced that the train would reach Rudrapur in 4 hours. The train was supposed to go to Kathgodam but our stop came in between. The train was slow and I couldn’t believe that the train would reach in 4 hours. There was a baby who was roaming in our bogie. She was about a year old. Her parents were sitting on the third last seat. She came to our seat and sat on my mother’s lap. This happened many times. We also had a year-old baby in front of us. We played with her for some time. My sister found a boy who was 5 years old. I was relieved that we found someone to play with. Soon we started to talk then play then color. After some time, he asked me to make a paper plane for him so I made him one. Soon my sister also asked for one and I made another for her and that was my biggest mistake, my sister started to fly the plane in the bogey! When a few minutes passed the boy also started flying the planes, so what did I do? I couldn’t sit in one place and watch, so I made myself a plane and flew it. The first time I flew the plane, it hit an elderly lady who was sleeping in the eye! She woke up and I apologized. There were a few people who were young like in their teens or so threw the planes back at us. My mother tugged my sleeve and made a sign to sit down. I sat down but I started talking with the parents of the boy and watched a cricket match. We stopped frequently until we reached our destination. It took us 6 hours to reach Rudrapur. The leg space was so small that I had to curl into a ball to sit on my seat. When we exited the train, I felt that I had Iron legs and felt stiff. I hugged my uncle (mamu) and the train left. We got into his car (Ertiga) and we left to go to his house. It took us an hour to reach his house and the best part was that the Radisson Blu hotel was just beside his house.
The Meeting
When we entered the house, the first person I saw was my brother like friend, his mother and his grandmother. We had our dinner and slept as it was a long journey. I slept with my brother in his room. We talked for a long time before we slept. The next day we saw a hell lot of fog outside in the morning. My mother gave me a surprise that we were going to an 11th century temple in Almora. It took us more than 5 hours to reach there! Me and my friend had the same personalities. We had the same taste for songs, food, cars etc. I loved my friend so much. We had a lot of fun along the way.
The 2nd journey
When we entered Uttrakhand we saw a well paved road but as it was cold me and my friend Guddu both wore our pheran (the Kashmiri folk dress) and started talking again. We saw a new road which was cut from the mountain recently and had a stream flowing next to it. The view was natural! We drove at speeds of 90 Kmph on the roads. The roads were very smooth so we drove with ease. Before we started our climb, we saw restaurants and many hotels. We saw a fork road so we asked the locals where to go, they said, “turn right and then left” and we did what they said. On the way we saw a lake which was beautiful in the season with people boating and talking by the banks. Opposite to the lake we saw a farm with two super small fields! When we were half way there, we decided to stop and eat lunch. After having our lunch my friend said, “Ate vakth hum KFC me chicken hot wings khaenge” (or for English), “When we are on the way back home we will eat chicken hot wings at KFC”. Our destination was still far but we caught up with time. While we were on the road we stopped several times. But I really had to say it was awesome as we saw the Himalayan peaks from a far distance, the peaks looked blue and the natural beauty had amazed us beyond our limitations. When we reached there we saw our resort nestled in the huge mountains like a baby. When we reached there it was night fall.
The Adventure
We checked in at the resort and our stay was in the highest villa there. There were even names for the villas! Ours was Rajarambha. Once we entered the room, it was like this-
The whole villa had wooden furnishing, steep and narrow steps to the upper room, a TV, two beds, a bathroom, an almirah with a mirror.
And the bathroom was like this-
There was a water heater which had touch controls, a sink with black marble edges, two taps (one for hot and the other for cold water) and a pot.
The villa was the dream villa I had imagined. Well as for me and my friend, we removed our socks and ran to the upper room and claimed it was ours and it was like this-
The ceiling was low but enough for us to stand up in full height, and there were four windows with small curtains, a low-lying bed, two power ports and a side table.
We all slept by 11 o’clock in the night.
The next morning, we woke up and yearned our parents that we could go cycling. They agreed at once. We went out and asked for cycles. We found them out on the porch. We all geared up except for my mother and sister. My mother didn’t know how to cycle and for my sister, they didn’t have a cycle that small. We sat on our cycles and rode almost 500 meters from the hotel. So, we basically rode a kilometer. When we came back we freshened up, had our breakfast and left for the Jageshwar temple. The temple was amidst a forest. My mama told me that there were at least 1100 small and big temples combined. There were a lot of monkeys there and we saw one take the Prasad right out of one’s hand so we had to be careful. We had to remove our shoes before entering the temple. The ground not feeling anything. We went to see Shiva first then Lakshmi. We didn’t see more temples. We saw fires and immediately rushed to them to warm our feet, hands and heads. When we came out we bought some souvenirs and the best part, we ate phadi Maggie! And then we were off to see Golu devta (basically my mom and dad only went inside the temple). Legend says that whoever writes a wish to Golu devta, his wish will surely come true. When they came back, we were off to go home. It was nightfall when we reached a café called the Mud café and we had a great time there. I drank Nutella milk and me and my friend listened to the songs of our own choice in the speakers. There was a guitarist who played the old and famous songs like- Rimjhim gire saavan by Kishore Kumar etc. On the way I caught a fever and had to rest. By the time we entered Rudrapur, it was all foggy. The fog was ultra-thick but luckily there was a bus in front of us with glow in the dark tape. Soon enough we found our way home.
The Way Back
We stayed there for another day two days. On the night of the second day me and my friend got the dart guns we both wanted and we all had a lot of fun. The next day we left for the train station. Our train was at 4:05 pm and only this time the train arrived just on time. Me and my friend hugged each other said our goodbyes and boarded the train. This train was spacious and big too. We had bread sticks with butter. By the time we were half way there my sister had started the barter system for chocolates in our bogey. She started roaming in the bogey asking if anybody wanted chocolates and some people took them. She told them to eat the chocolates and they did. After some time, she asked, “Mujhe ab mere chocolates vaps de do” (or in English), “Give me my chocolates back.” And they were confused as they didn’t have any chocolates. Most people repaid their debt and some didn’t. When we reached home, it already was dark.
And that’s my trip to Rudrapur
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