Most memorable journey.

It was the january of 2005.We planned a trip to Masourie as it was the last Semester of My Msc and probably the last chance to go with friends.
We arrived in Dehradun by train.The guys that were supposed to meet us Gairola and Nayan were absent.When we called them they told us they had assumed the train would be late and had not turned up.
Hum...............
Well we waited at the station .It was the start of some mad adventures.
Gairola arrived and took us to his uncles home and then we went off to see Buddha temple.It was great and all right except when Nayan sat on the seat of The high priest to get photographed and the normally silent Buudhist monks threatened to beat us..................

We took a hotel room and brought the drinks.It was my first time that i tasted alcohol and i didnt remember anything except that i had a great sleep.
In the morning the guys were angry with me.It seems i had occupied the largest portion of bed and blankets and had kicked any body trying to encroach my territory.
Sorry guys you made me try it...............

The bus that was supposed to come at regular intervals was late............

We reached mussorie and were told that we will be spending the night at a temple dharamshala quite far away.First we roamed around mussorie. We spent some time at the Lal bahadur Shastri Academy for IAS officers.Some of the groups had dreams...............

Then the madness started.

Depending on our Local well informed guides we were told that Surkhanda devi was the place, Natural beauty,Himalayas and free accomodation in Dharamsala.
We took a jeep to half way up to dhanaulti .Then we walked...............
It seemed after walking 5-6 Kms and if u add all the kms walked from Mussorie (15 at least )that we were still 15 - 20 kms away from destination.Evening was setting in and maneaters were assumed to be quite near...................
It was biting cold with snow fall the previous day.Luckily a truck gave us a ride to the base of temple.The temple was still 4-5 kms straight up.................

Off we went and just managed to reach the temple at darkness.We asked for the dharamshala and were laughed at by the temple people.There were only 2 bare rooms no beds no lights no heaters no food..................
Our guides looked a bit lost........
However soon we got 3-4 blankets per person and lit a fire.
For food we begged the temple people who gave us ingredients for Khichri and cooker.Bt the problem was water.We asked some army men guarding a tower fr water.They offered us liquor..............Somehow we gt a bucket full all fr us........
Well we ate and the food just disaapeared due to exhaustion and cold.
We retired for the night fully clothed .The door was a hilly style with a sankel .Before lying down we had closed it by inserting the axe used to chop wood fr fire.Wise........

Well if its a temperature of around zero, lying on a bare cement floor is not the most comfortable.The problem was should we lay the blankets down or cover ourselves as there were not enough fr both.We huddled together the five of us.
Suddenly in night we heard a scratching sound as if some animal was trying to force the door in..........................

What followed was a the greatest night of my life.We were afraid and having no option we poked fun on each other.Still none had the courage to go and check.The guys in corner were most vulnerable or so it seemed.It was crazy laughing afraid ..........

The morning arrived and the count was still five.On the door there were some marks.Of paws who knows?..........................

That visit also confirmed to me that taking sanyas was not that easy.The temple priest was standing bare foot while even with thick socks i was praying fr the pooja to be over.More than my spiritual longing , bodily comforts were more demanding.

When we reached mussorie we were as allways, short of money and Mussorie was a tourist city quite expensive.We followed nepali labourers to a cheap restaurant favourited by them.We ate so fast that the poor owner was nt able to cook fr us.We ate everything he had including at the end rotis with pickles...............

And we still had money to return to dehradun.We went to reservation counter and were in line.One guy had gone to take money out from ATM while the clerk was threating to cancell our tickets if we didnt payed and the people in line were getting in mood to thrash us........

In the train there were lady cops .Quite beauttifull and although i tried to warn the guys ,

Police wali honey sey pehley wo bhi ek ladki hai dost.Unkey bhi arman hain , unki bhi kuch bhawnayein hain.............
Quite right they were.