Part-1 ::: Love story of the
Hills.
-Som
Hills and hillocks, mountains and monkeys were the place where I
have sown the seeds of my beautiful love story. It was the beginning of winter;
nevertheless, leaves were still falling and people called it, the end of
autumn. One cannot imagine the autumn season of the hills; especially dating into
the woods with melody chirping birds and counting the falling of leaves
casually. We were too privileged to be part of its devotees to share our love
story along with the falling of leaves and making funny jokes with jumping
monkeys from one branch to another. Of course, this beautiful nature doesn't
mind our feelings of ever first date with special ones. Yeah, the Himalayan
mountain ranges are high and our love story is deep too. Between this high and
deep, I found my true love story of hills.
Dharamsala is a beautiful hill station in Himachal Pradesh,
where His Holiness the Dalai Lama resides. He has been living here since 1959
when he was forced to escape into exile after the brutal suppression by the
Chinese force in Tibet. These beautiful hills have been blessed by him since
then. I sincerely recommend to all the people around the world that you should
try to visit this beautiful place at least once in a life if you have not been
there so far. I can definitely say that this place is one of the best pieces of
paradise on this planet where you’ll find true peace of mind if I’m not
exaggerating.
It was a fourth-year semester break of my Engineering days. I had
been very excited about the journey of hills after a long time back isolated
from my peer communities. I have planned some mountain hiking camps with
homies. At times, I never knew that I'd met my beautiful soulmate, who was
waiting for me somewhere thousands of miles to start my beautiful love story
in these holy hills, even if we had never known the existence of each other before of it on this
planet. My journey was quite long and tough from the southeast to the north,
which was from my college to Dharamsala, the holy hill station. I took a train
from Chhattisgarh to New Delhi. To my surprise, we have a huge different climate
footing in India from one state to another state, where Chhattisgarh was very hot
at the time when I was catching the train but Delhi was too cold on the same
night. It was around 24 hours of the journey and that night was too cold. I still
remember the cold breeze beats my flesh into bones. The wide, wild wind and
whistle of majestic train speed deeply sucked the blood of grandmother’s
ears who was sleeping next to my cabin couch.
Fortunately! My little brown Kashmiri shawl was good in condition from the next morning, since it must have suffered throughout the
night by pulling here and there with my legs and hands to cover any piece of
body parts to beat from this cold night. It seems like winter has been rocking
only on the north side, not even the southeast, which was a few hours from where
I used to stay. When I arrived to New Delhi in the following morning. My mind was in a state
of dilemma to think about Dharamsala’s weather too, the hill station. Which was
still a one-night journey from the bus as well known to many Tibetans if you
ask. Finally, I reached my destination after a pretty long journey and the Dharamsala weather was awesome too at the time.
It was a great feeling and a sleepless night on nights with my
homies and friends who were not seen for many years. On top of that, I was very
excited about our trekking plans, though it was a really short trip but loaded
with hectic schedules. The next morning, I woke up just like any other weekday and
checked my cell phone with half-opened eyes. I had received a notice from our lead
organizer regarding the final gathering in the camp trekking at that evening
with a detailed hotel address. Of course! That was what I was waiting for and
coming here from a long way. I just woke up with a fresh mind and started
packing for the mountain camp with full excitement. Of course, I was making
sure to pack my small tent which I should use on top of the mountain where no
hotels around was another reason to go for trekking to explore new
experiences.
That evening, we all were gathered at a hotel and we had a
pretty high number of students like my age and many elders as well. Soon after,
we started our introduction part from one by one. It goes on like any other
intro we do when we meet new faces. All of a sudden, my attention was drawn out
when it turned to her part in the intro, even though I have never seen her before.
But it was just an attention and I focused more on the event details. We have
planned so many events followed by an introduction and it looks like exactly
what I was waiting for so far and eagerly to move forward.
It was around a week program and we became closer as days went
by, though we were not courage enough to talk by face to face, but 'that' my
first attention keeps my eyes on her wherever she goes and whatever she does.
Even I was hiking her silently without her notice in many times besides our
group activities and games we have played within teams. Maybe it’s all about
saying “Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder” In fact, most boys are weak to
express their feelings and I too fall into that same bracket.
Our trekking ends with thousands of beautiful memories and
sharing our knowledge as any other educational camps do. A day came to say
goodbye to each other. It was the last day when we decided to have a short
official date in a beautiful café near the main temple at Dhasa, Mcleod Ganj.
The place is well known as “Little Lhasa'' because of His Holiness the Dalai
Lama resides and its large population of Tibetans and the Tibetan Government in
exile is headquartered. For the international reader’s information, Lhasa is the
capital city of Tibet and literally translates to “Place of Gods” in Tibet,
where the Potala Palace is located, the winter palace of His Holiness the Dalai
Lama.
Of course! We were blessed and privileged too, to be met in
this holy place for the very first time. It was 3:30 pm in the afternoon and I
was ready to leave for my first date. I went to our date spot half an
hour before, in my best dress to wait for her, at least I could give a little
impression as we try to do during our important interviews.
For a moment, I was preoccupied with many thoughts that played
like hiding and seeking in my mind. I don’t know why I was a little apprehensive.
Maybe love was in the air or overwhelmed with excitement. When I entered the
café, I just pulled out a newspaper from the small rack in front of my chair to
make myself chill. But I could not concentrate on the newspaper either. There
was a special kind of excitement in me which shook me a bit at times. I
don’t know what kind of fear it was. I was still there holding a newspaper in
my hands, but my eyes were not on the words. They were looking for something
else, rather someone else. I was looking at every person who passed by and
peering at the crowd standing outside which was visible through the café glass
wall.
By the time, it was 4:00 pm in the afternoon, which was what we
have decided on our dating. I could almost see her blushing face.
Obviously, her state of mind was no different from mine. And how could it be?
When two people, who were in love with each other and decided to have a date
for the first time. Finally, about to see her, I was anxious, shivering and my heart
was beating fast. Every feminine voice from the crowd seemed to be hers. Of
course! I was trying to behave as if I was relaxed and cool.
And there she was!! With the most appropriate and simple dress
as she usually wears. She was looking beautiful even not wearing her make-up
dress. Her smile at a distance seems to override my senses and chilled the
hesitation in me as well as in her. Her long hair was untied that fell open her
eyes with a gust of wind while walking. Her left hand moved across her face to
glue her hair behind her right ear, and the glittering diamond earring spoke
to me with its shining at a distance.
She was charismatic and mesmerized with her very simple nature.
I can say that life doesn’t have to be perfect for love to be extraordinary. I
wasn’t able to take my eyes off her. Rather, I wanted to gaze at her from top to
bottom, very slowly which I actually did. Soon after she entered the café house
where I was standing. “Hey,” I said and offered my right hand for a shake and
she responded too with a smile in such an elegant way.
The waiters came and asked for the orders with their
best expressions, but I lost my consciousness in the air and was not ready to
decide on my orders. While she replied to the waiter, please Ooi ....Coffee, the
cappuccino with a smile, and it was the best choice at the moment as well. I
felt thanks to the waiter who was helping me to take her order. Else I was not
even sure about its spelling.
The worst part was my order where nothing comes
to my mind. The waiter smiled at me and asked me, what do you want, Sir with
respect. All of a sudden, I heard that Ginger Honey Lemon Tea is a very
famous taste in a town and it was also the top fashioned light drink for the
people who were living around these hills. It was very famous
and became uniform in the minds of every person who were living in Dhasa as well, maybe
it's ginger which gives the warmness and helps in the digestion of the body at
a hill station. But I simply like its name, especially the honey part, which
sounds beautiful. So I replied to the waiter for Ginger Honey Lemon Tea with full
confidence to make sure that it helps me to give some personality in front
of her, though I never knew the reason why people were ordering it.
Soon after, the order was on the table and our conversation goes like we were practicing how to maintain the pin-drop silence in a cafe. Yeah! I was expecting the same and forgot everything that I was supposed to
say at a moment. Even I don’t remember the taste of ginger honey lemon tea at the end.
We had limited time and 30mins went like a few seconds and her friend was
waiting for her at a distance.
But all I could tell her at the end was “Don’t be too
hurry to jump into any relationship, be awaited and time will decide” because
I felt insecure as she was young and innocent. So love might happen at any
time. At the same time, it’s her first love and I won't let her fall deep
with me without knowing each other further. So I pretend to give her more time
to decide on her first love…
To be continued
in Part-II and Part-III ...Stay tuned...😍😍😍
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