The Ride

I, like many other wives, am very much in love with my husband and like to be a true companion in all his endeavors. We have movie dates, play dates, shopping dates, cooking dates, dinner and lunch dates and of course travel dates (to office, to malls, grocery stores etc etc).There are times when I do not let him go anywhere and do anything alone. (ahh….. that explains a lot of things) But then let’s not talk about my possessive or satellite behavior here. Like I give him company in almost everything he does, when he decided to take the scary roller coaster ride in a fair in Dusseldorf, I couldn’t say no. I wanted to be a part of stories and discussions about the rides he would have with friends too. (I guess I need help with my omnipresence)

From the looks of it, it looked like a good cute ride with images from the world of circus. How scary can clowns and acrobats be anyways. After adorning the ‘ah it’s cool for me’ amour, I followed my husband to the ride. We sat and for a final security check a guy came. He pushed our seatbelt or lifesaver whatever it is called to ensure it was tight and firm. We were sitting with a bag which was pretty full. No, food is not the only thing we carry when we step out of home; the bag also had water bottle (water is pretty expensive in Germany), our raincoats (yes it pretty much can rain anytime in Germany), comb and some makeup (hair and makeup can be spoilt anytime in any part of the world). Because of the bag the seatbelt was not exploited to its full use but then how could we part away from our dear bag. We decided to take it along with us on the ride.

The ride started. Our screaming started. It was speed and spins. We screamed and enjoyed. And then……………. It started to spin and speed up further. I clutched my husband’s hand and he kept reminding me ‘Hold the seatbelt bar tightly’. If we fall now, I thought, we would forever be remembered as people who kept the safety of a bag before their own. What a sacrifice it would be!!!!!!!!

The torture of spinning and rotating didn’t end soon. We stopped screaming now. I was reciting the name of all Gods I knew and it turns out I knew a lot of them. I started to recall any news item which reported someone’s death on a roller coaster. Nothing came to my mind and of course the worst I thought wouldn’t happen because it had happened to no one ever. I closed my eyes and submitted myself to destiny. After some 45675534 minutes, the ride stopped. In some people’s watch it was just 5 minutes.

I got down and the seatbelt man came to me and asked ‘are you ok?’ I couldn’t see his face clearly but I tried to smile and said ‘ya’. My legs were shivering and everything was still moving for me. We sat down and my stomach was churning and I felt nauseous. These were the side effects of course but then the worst had passed. The ride was over.

I thanked gravity owing to which we are not able to experience the ongoing rotation and revolution of the earth all the time. I thanked the absence of cameras around otherwise I would have had very embarrassing photos while on ride. (Disneyland should read this. We had some really embarrassing ones there) and finally I thanked that fact that the fair was ending the next day and so would our trip to this scary land.

There is something however very interesting which happens to you when you feel you are going to die. Call it the influence from numerous movies and novels, but your life and important people start flashing in front of your eyes like a movie scene. You start realizing how valuable life is and that so many incomplete things are awaiting your time and attention. This feeling stays with you for few minutes ofcourse and then the obvious happens. You take out your phone and either start updating your status or sharing photos on Instagram. I had a different reaction to all this however. I puked and puked and puked……….. luckily near a tree. As I said it pretty much can rain anytime in Germany

 

Jai Mata Di !!!!!!!!!!

<6AM alarm beeps>

Husband: Good morning

Me: <rubbing eyes> Good morning

Husband: Jai Mata Di

Me: <yawning> Jai Mata Di

That is how most of the days begin for me. I am not overtly religious but saying ' Jai Mata Di' is almost a ritual and a placeholder of 'hello' since I got married into the Chhabra family (now my family :D ) . Soon after we returned to India after a year long exile in the United Kingdom immediately after marriage (Yes i call that an exile and at times kaale paani ki saza too but that is another story all together) ,we decided to go on our first family vacation. Names like Agra, Kerela, Andaman, Goa popped up but the eternal love for mountains and 'Mata ka bulava' won over beaches and Breakfast in bed. I suppose we Indians feel so guilty about a vacation that we often camouflage the luxury of it by going to a religious place.

7th March 2017

We started our journey from Indore to Jammu via Delhi. Talking about the layover in Delhi: I guess I have spent more time on Delhi airport waiting for the next connecting flight than all of my airport journeys put together. In India if you have to travel from a non metro to another non metro city, marking attendance at the Indira Gandhi International Airport is a must. I suggest one should take a train in all possible cases. Surprisingly this way you'll save time, energy and a lot of money : no I'm not talking about the fare difference but the overpriced eating one does at airport restaurants and the unnecessary shopping to pass time.

As obvious as it sounds, we reached Jammu after adding some extra pounds to our bodies and luggage. With so many men in uniform around, it seemed like we were some VIPs . But then everyone is a VIP there. The airport is under severe security all the time. We had to travel to Katra from Jammu so we went to the taxi stand. While my husband and father in law started to speak at the taxi stand, I realized that jammu was indeed an extension of Punjab.

Everyone was conversing in Punjabi and i was deriving the little meaning I could. At times I wonder how a small state like Punjab encroached into the whole world with its language and food. As if Punjab, Canada and Delhi weren't enough, Jammu's national language was Punjabi too. Our driver uncle started the engine and said “bolo Jai mata Di'. We recited in unison and began or journey to katra. The whole journey was dominated by bhakti songs on the car stereo and conversations in Punjabi. My mother in law made sure she translated the conversations to me while she hummed along the bhakti songs. To me it was more of a guessing game so as to which bollywood song the tune resembled to. ' Maa murade poori karde halwa baatungi' to me was ' mera babu chail chabela' etc etc. I felt like an alien who had just landed on the planet trying to learn the ways and language of the people around. I vowed to mug up all the songs and learn to converse in Punjabi. (Its been a month since this incident and i am still on E0 level)

Owing to the early morning flight and the chilly weather, really soon we were hungry and craving for a hot meal. Our driver uncle assured us of an unforgettable chai and pakoras in a few miles. We stopped at the dhaba/restaurant and were served hot chai and paneer pakodas with garlic chutney. It tasted blissful and that is the least i can say to desribe the feeling. My mother in law decoded the ingredients of the chutney but tasting it and also taught me why these pakoras tasted different from the regular pakoras. The technique was double deep frying ofcourse. She made sure I got it right so much so that I can replicate the same when his son craves for it. Mothers and their love for feeding their children is no more an astonishment to me. Having witnessed it for nearly three decades now, I have stopped questioning the rationale and reason behind it.

After the hearty meal we reached our hotel and crashed into our rooms promising each other to get ready by 6:30 so as to begin our march to the mountain top by 7AM. With veterans by my side, (my FIL and MIL have visited vaishno devi for about 40 times and my husband was mostly marking his silver jubilee trip this time) I was assured that we will start by 7AM and be back by 5PM to the most.

8^th March 2017

We were late but by Indian standards very much on time. It was just 7:30 AM. We started our journey and husband dearest declared that he will go by the stairs because that's what he has been doing “everytime”. My FIL and MIL started the walk and we started climbing the stairs. Those stairs could easily give inferiority complex to the hurdles in a hurdle race. I was panting for breath and calling out at my husband to slow down. I was counting the number of stairs and assuring myself that only few hundreds are more to go and that the inclined path had horses and their waste and that this path was at least clean and safe................ I had numerous motivational thoughts in my mind. We stopped occasionally for nimbu paani to charge us up. The fight however was not with just the fatigue but also the numerous primates around. So there were monkeys, langoors, horses at some instance and very huge sheep. We finally reached the point where we had to submit our luggage and begin the final 500 meter journey to the main bhavan. 

A distance of 500 meter can easily be covered in 5 minutes or even lesser if Usain Bolt targets for the same but for us it was a whole hour and a half. The weather behaved against the predictions of accuweather and it started raining followed by hailstorms. We were not prepared for the weather mentally or physically. With any attempts made to proceed, we were stopped by the snow and the rain. We stepped barefoot on the snow, covered our heads with hands to avoid the snow and rain and had numerous coffee breaks in the mere 500 m distance. With numerous attempts, we however reached inside the cave. The nanoseconds of darshan and our presence there however made up for all the hard work and turbulence we went through. It was totally worth it!!!!!!

We began our descent. We stopped at a restaurant on the way and ate the most fabulous kadi chawal, chole bhature, rajma chawal............... and basically everything that was on the menu. While the ascent was full of skepticism, inadequacy and tiredness the descent was full of content, abundance and yes much more tiredness. We reached the hotel by 7PM. Photos were exchanged, calls to relatives were made, the day was talked about and a hearty dinner was hogged.

Starting then to around a week I couldn't feel my legs while i was sitting and felt only the pain while walking. Every time i climbed on or off stairs, I uttered ' Jai Mata Di'. I guess that's how the Goddess blesses you and makes sure that you FEEL the trip in every corner of your body days after the trip ends.