I was walking across barren landscapes under the scorching sun. My throat was parched, so I took out my water bottle from by backpack, only to find it empty. I put it back disappointed and began walking again, putting one foot after another like a practiced routine. Until I was walking no more.
As I lay there among the dusty sand dunes my vision started going dark, until there was not even a speck of light remaining. Suddenly, an orange glow came racing towards me and filled my vision. A moment later I was staring at the picture frame bathed in the orange light emitted by the room heater. We had checked into the hotel just last night and so I was a little unsettled waking up from my dreams in this unfamiliar room. My cousin Prince was still asleep, the bathroom lights were on indicating that my other cousin Nevi was in there. I took a sip of water from the bottle as I realized I was thirsty. Its really strange how your mind manipulates you to act as it wants by controlling your dreams. Well, put a fellow in some life threatening situation in his dreams and he is sure to wake up.
I pulled out my phone and checked the time, 6.30 am. FINALLY! my mind screamed, I could watch the sunrise. For the last couple of days spent in Nainital and a solitary one in Jim Corbett National Park, I had promised myself every night that yes tomorrow would be the day I would be gazing towards the sunrise in these mountaineous terrains. But as habbit is, I slept in every day, exhausted from day tripping and long drives. That is, until today morning. I quickly put on my slippers, tiptoed across the room and opened the curtains, when I saw white. PURE WHITE.
I screamed as loudly as I could, awestruck. A second later, Nevi came shooting out of the bathroom like a bullet and Prince lay awake in bed confused about why Nevi and I were jumping about like idiots, like we were under a trance. But in a way he was right, cause we were truly hypnotized by that blanket of snow painting the world white. The sun shone down on it making it look like the whole town was covered in millions of glittering diamonds.
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| The view from our room's window |
Just a night before, while dragging my trolley bag in the narrow, dirty, wet and crowded lanes of this place, I couldn't understand why people were so fascinated by this quaint town. I couldn't understand how writers like Ruskin Bond get ideas in such a place. Especially, after being mesmerized by the lovely streets and lakes of Nainital and experiencing the quiet calm of Corbett NP, Mussoorie just didn't seem to be a worthy competitor. Just how wrong I was. As I stood there taking in the snowy town perched above the vast Dehradun valley, I kind of understood why this place was called the Queen of the Hills.
We woke up our cousins Teju and Guddi sleeping in the other room, quickly got ready and headed downstairs for building snowman, engaging in swowfights and taking a ton of instagram worthy photos.
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| Snowman built by Nevi and Teju |
Later, while munching on our breakfast of hot,buttery Parathas, Nevi joked about how she heard me scream "Padla" in Marathi and was so scared that someone had fallen down that she came bolting out right away (I was saying "snow padla" refering to the snowfall which she half heard). All of us been born and brought up in Mumbai and having never travelled to North India(excepting Nevi) experienced a totally different feeling that day. A feeling of being in an ethereal world which we will come to associate with Mussoorie for all our lives.
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| Me looking over the Doon valley |
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