Chandrayaan - Day 1

Before the memory fades away, when each minute of the trip is right in front of my eyes, let me finally start this blog on my (our) Chandrayaan trip (do I need to translate it? ;)). After considering all the possible places, we finally decided to go for the unexplored North East part of India & the one which struck in mind was a week-long trip to Darjeeling & Sikkim. We had booked our package tour thru Darjeeling travel for 7N-8D which covered Darjeeling, Pelling, Gangtok & Kalimpong, starting 11th Feb. The onward flight tickets were booked a month earlier thru Jet Airways  & return by Kingfisher. Bagdogra is the closest airport to Darjeeling, & we had to change flight at Kolkata both ways.

On 11th, we arrived at Bagdogra at around 1:30 PM & our cab was ready to take us to Darjeeling. We had carried huge jackets, as we had heard that the weather would be chilled. But, at Bagdogra, the weather was so hot that we cursed having got the jackets with us as it was very heavy to carry & it was like a tail. We passed thru the dense forests along the way & finally began ascending the hills. As we ascended higher, the weather got colder. We finally arrived at Mirik at around 4:30 PM and first went to a restaurant to have lunch. We both were the only humans not wearing a jacket in such a cold weather. The outside temperature was 8 degrees. We had hot parathas & went back to the cab. The driver took us to Mirik lake, also called Sumendu lake which was close by. The sheer calmness of the lake in this cold weather was awesome.

Mirik is situated close to Nepal border and is a very famous tourist spot enroute Darjeeling. One could go boating in this lake, but since it was already 5:30 PM, it was closed. Later got to know that boating was available only till 5 PM. The climate was very pleasant and we enjoyed our first spot.

Next, he drove us to Nepal border, called Pashupatinath Border, which was around 30 mins drive from Mirik on the curved hilly roads. We just stepped on Nepal's soil and returned, as it was already time up & no further people could go thru. For Nepal, one doesn't need a visa :) There were only 2-3 security personnel & a long wooden rod as a gate which separated India and Nepal.
 

We then headed to Darjeeling. It had already got dark at around 6:30 PM and the visibility on road was very poor. We had clearance of hardly 10 ft! The mist had engulfed us and our jackets were put to use. The driver was very experienced & drove very carefully as we kept our hands locked.

We could finally see some light as we entered Darjeeling. There was a small narrow gauge railway track which came from somewhere & joined us all the way. We could see some crowd, and city centre neared. There was a Big Bazaar & other popular branded stores on way to our hotel. We finally reached our hotel - Crystal Palace at around 8 PM & checked into our room. As it was very cold, we thought of getting a heater to our room. But on hearing the per night price of the heater (Rs. 150), we ditched the idea. We ordered roti and curry for dinner & slept off. For the next day, the driver had already informed us to be ready by 9:30 AM for a day tour of Darjeeling.

My wedding invite... My style...

Missed call

Tring.

I got a missed call yesterday in the bus from my friend. I wasn't sure what it meant to me. Was it that I had to call him back, or he just rang my number by mistake - how should I make out? I just ignored.

Tring.

Again a missed call a few minutes later by him. I was confused. Now, does that mean that I need to call him back? If that was the case, why can't he call me up if he wanted to talk to me? Or lest, he could have just messaged me saying I need to call him back telling any reason (low currency, may be?). I again ignored.

I don’t know, I get irritated when I get such missed calls. If the missed call is predefined, like - "Give me a missed call when you start/reach", this sounds fine. Or, if I'm held up with other things & so couldn't take the call, or I haven't heard the cell buzz and there’s a missed call, this is also acceptable, and I call back them immediately once I check. Or, if the missed call is from the predefined group of missed call givers, like Dad, who has life time validity & so never bothers to recharge - I call them back. But when everything is right, and I get a missed call - weird!

Anyone there with me..?

Status update...

A warm welcome. To our whole family.

The garland.
The first rose.
A simple grand decorated stage.
Shavige & kesari baths.
The puja.
The gifts.
Flashes & the flash light.
Innumerous poses.
A pleasant surprise.
The ring exchange.
A couple of blessings.
A thousand hand shakes.
A special lunch.

I got engaged ! :-)

Gone are the days

Gone are the days, when I used to wake up lazily and decide to go to college or not. Now, I don’t have much of a choice.

Gone are the days, when the school bus used to wait for me to board. Now, I miss the office bus almost every day.

Gone are the days, when I used to decide which period to bunk and calculate 75% attendance. Now, I'm sitting and calculating 9:15 mins average.

Gone are the days, when I sat and burnt the midnight oil. Now, it’s either bench or slogging day in day out.

Gone are the days, when I studied hard and got good scores and appreciations. Now, how much ever good work I do, managers find fault.

Gone are the days, when I used to check the marks and ranks of others. Now, it’s with the peer group and many would have the same rank, which they call the CRR, which can’t be checked.

Gone are the days, when I used to pay college fees and bunk classes. Now, it’s the opposite.

Gone are those days... will I ever get them back?

To all those who are.... Love is....

1.To All Those Who Are...........SINGLE

Love is like a butterfly . The more you chase it , the more it eludes you. But if you just let it fly, it will come to you when you least expect it. Love can make you happy but often it hurts , but love's only special when you give it to someone who is really worth it. So take your time and choose the best.

2.To All Those Who Are............NOT SO SINGLE

Love isn't about becoming somebody else's "perfect person." It's about finding someone who helps you become the best person you can be. Never say "I love you" if you don't care. Never talk about feelings if they aren't there. Never touch a life if you mean to break a heart . Never look in the eye when all you do is lie. The cruelest thing a guy can do to a girl is to let her fall in love when he doesn't intend to catch her fall and it works both ways...

3.To All Those Who Are............MARRIED

Love is not about "it's your fault", but "I'm sorry." Not "where are you", but "I'm right here." Not "how could you", but "I understand." Not "I wish you were", but "I'm thankful you are."

4.To All Those Who Are............ENGAGED

The true measure of compatibility is not the years spent together but how good you are for each other.

5.To All Those Who Are............HEARTBROKEN

Heartbreaks last as long as you want and cut as deep as you allow them to go. The challenge is not how to survive heartbreaks but to learn from them.

6.To All Those Who Are............NAIVE

How to be in love: Fall but don't stumble, be consistent but not too persistent, share and never be unfair, understand and try not to demand, and get hurt but never keep the pain.

7.To All Those Who Are............POSSESSIVE

It breaks your heart to see the one you love happy with someone else but it's more painful to know that the one you love is unhappy with you.

8.To All Those Who Are............AFRAID TO CONFESS

Love hurts when you break up with someone. It hurts even more when someone breaks up with you. But love hurts the most when the person you love has no idea how you feel.

9.To All Those Who Are............STILL HOLDING ON

A sad thing about life is when you meet someone and fall in love, only to find out in the end that it was never meant to be and that you have wasted years on someone who wasn't worth it. If he isn't worth it now he's not going to be worth it a year or 10 years from now. Let go.....

Source: Mail

Love & Like

There were 2 friends - Love and Like. Love loved Like, but Like liked Love.

When Like was in front of Love, its heart beated faster. When Love was in front of Like, it felt happy.

When Like was in front of Love, winter seemed like spring for Love. When Love was in front of Like, winter was just beautiful winter for Like.

When Love looked into Like's eyes, it blushed. When Like looked into Love's eyes, it smiled.

When Like was in front of Love, Love couldn't say everything that was on its mind. But when Love was in front of Like, it could.

When Like was in front of Love, Love used to get shy. When Love was in front of Like, Like used to be itself.

For Love, Like used to come to its mind every 2 minutes.

Love couldn't look straight into Like's eyes, but Like always smiled into the eyes of Love.

When Like cried, Love too cried. But when Love cried, Like comforted.

The feeling of love starts from the eye.

And the feeling of like starts from the ear.

So if you stop liking a person you used to like,

All you need to do is cover your ears.

But if you try to close your eyes,

Love turns into a drop of tear and remains in your heart forever after.

When Someone Loves you, you don’t realize it. When you realize it, its too late. You always love the one who leaves you & leave the one who loves you.