Sikkim

I wish I could stop thinking,stop procrastinating,stop running to do routine errands,stop chasing never ending deadlines and for once above all stop slipping into a half awake sleep after snoozing my alarm several times every morning.Oh yeah!you get me right.I want to stop everything right where it is,whatever it is and however important it is.This was my state last year when I called my husband up and asked him if we could spare some time to get away from this frenzy,crazy place.What I heard then was enough to send me dancing down an alley for hours together.He had planning that himself and was about to suggest that to me as an option to celebrate our first anniversary.Oh!happy me!

 We attacked the Internet like hungry animals,explored several options and after a lot of brainstorming we settled down on Temi(a place in Sikkim),owing to its visual appeal and excellent promise of good weather.Temi is a small town,just a 2 hour drive from Gangtok,mainly known for its tea gardens(the only one in Sikkim,the majority being in West Bengal).So,the necessary reservations were made,bags were packed and off we went,two bagpackers,on an expedition to hills,talking,laughing,pulling each other's legs,enjoying every bit of it.We were supposed to go to New Jalpaiguri and take a taxi from there to Temi.It was kind of 5to 6 hour drive from there.As we started our road trip,within the first hour we realized that we'll be travelling all along the River Teesta.Oh what a feeling it was..that of being a river's companion.After 3 hours of the drive however we were a little disappointed.The sun was still hard on us and the humidity,to our utter dismay,was terrible.When we started the 6th hour of the drive,however,things started rolling on an unimaginable speed,suddenly the road became all the more spiral,the temperatures lowered down drastically and it seemed as if we were ascending into the clouds.

  As we drove down the gates of Cherry Resort   ( that's the place where we stayed ) , we were in a state of complete bliss.We were received by the resort staff.They helped us to wrap up our check in process quickly and soon after we were shown our room.I ran out to the balcony in anticipation and was completely swept off my feet.This resort,where we stayed was a Sikkim government enterprise constructed in the middle of  tea gardens of Temi.Our balcony overlooked the tea gardens.So when I ran out to the balcony,I was mooned over by stretches and stretches and stretches of tea plantations.On the other side was a tiny village hamlet,families of whom worked on the tea plantations.Our next hour was spent in freshening up,grabbing a bite and sipping our evening tea.The evening we spent outdoors in laps of nature.

The weather was so so awesome that I can't stress the beauty enough.Our senses were satisfied and our emptiness disappeared.In short we were overwhelmed by the beauty,the silence,the cool air on our skin and the soft grass beneath our feet.Later,after eating dinner,we watched a show on the television and slipped into a deep slumber,the one which I had not known for months.The next morning we were woken up by a knock on our door,which was the announcement of our breakfast.I dragged my sleepy self out of the bed and into the balcony.My heart was jumping up and down,up and down and I had to literally stop myself from tipping over with all the happiness in the world.Aah..what a morning!!I wish I was treated to more such mornings in my life.Carefully I  stepped back into the room(as I had just recovered from a lower limb fracture). We brushed our teeth and sat down (in the balcony of course!)  with our morning tea and talked for a long time.This is the most wonderful thing I experience whilst on a vacation,more time with my husband.We can sit down and talk without a care in the world.No looking at the watch every few minutes,no phone calls to attend to,no access to the social networking.We can sit and talk with absolutely nothing at the back or the front of our minds.So we did.Later after treating myself to a warm shower,I sat down to another cup of tea.It was a cold day.It was drizzling outside so we stayed indoors.I spent a lazy afternoon like a lazy kitten,occasionally browsing through newspapers,magazines,television watching,talking etc. Gaurav was high with his action movies which I will never understand.How can you want to see an aggressive movie admist such calm and peace.The reason he very innocently puts is that this is the time when he can catch up on all of his downloaded unseen stuff for which time couldn't be spared otherwise.Okay,okay reason accepted.Carry on.That was what I would say and drift back peacefully to my magazine. As the rains finally settled down by evening,we stepped outdoors again.                                                                                                              

 Gaurav made good friends with a hotel staff and we chatted with him for a little while.He belonged to the tiny village hamlet,on the other side of the resort,of which I talked about before.Most of their families were involved in working on the plantations.The children attend the morning school and help their mothers in the afternoon with the plantation thing.Mountain life is tough,he told us.They have to travel a lot to pool in eatables like vegetables,fruits etc.The supplies and varieties are very limited.I remembered the first time when we sat in the restaurant and were handed over the menu,Gaurav had simply asked,without even glancing at the menu,as to what was available.Later he told me that he had already guessed that food is going to be a problem in this place so he knew ordering by choice is not going to be possible at all.As the night descended we headed back to our room.We spent our time reading something together and soon fell in deep sleep.Next morning,our breakfast arrived and the hotel staff with whom we had talked to,the evening before,pointed out the peaks of Kanchenjunga to us.The clouds had parted and the peaks were dazzling in the golden rays of the sun.The moment was far too beautiful to be described aptly. 
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It was a beautiful day with no prospects of rain.Enthusiastically,we planned to visit the village nearby.We walked through the tea gardens to reach it.It was a small,quiet place.
We could see smoke coming out of all thatched huts.It was just an hour before lunch time and all the ladies were busy cooking delicious food as they waited for their children to come back from school.I really like the idea of a simple lifestyle.Owning a small home where all family members "actually" share a life.There is no such concept of  "personal space".All the family members have to share a small one.Come to think of a city life,even the children have their own rooms and their parents have to talk to them on social network..!! As we were roaming around,we saw a group of men gossiping over a game of cards.After a little while,we decided to return back.As we came out of the village area,we saw four bubbly girls hip-hopping towards the plantation area.They had harpers and a basket over their heads.We caught hold of them hoping to chat with them a little.One of them was really talkative.Her name was Pavitra.She told us that they come to work in the plantations everyday after school.She was a boisterous little girl talking a lot.Soon they ran off after posing for some pictures.From a distance we saw them playing,singing and cutting weeds.We loved it and stood there for a long time


It was late evening already.We felt a little dissappointed as the time had come to say goodbye to this wonderful place.We went back to our room and set things in order to travel to Gangtok the next day.The next morning we left for Gangtok.It was a 2 hour drive and the drive through the hills,I must say,was mindblowing.The spiral roads with woods and clouds all around was heavenly.We had a hard luck though as we were not blessed with good weather that day.It was rainy and dark.Sightseeing on a day like this could be miserable.In the afternoon we were fortunate to have some sunshine which we utilised by visiting a monastery and hanging out at famous M.G. road.We shopped a lot and returned back to our room elated.We made the necessary arrangements for our travel back home next day.
                   We had mixed feelings as we started our journey back home.We knew we would miss this peaceful place a lot.But we were eager to go back to our home and resume our work with fresh enthusiasm and good memories.I was really happy that we could spare some time for a vacation.It helped us to take our minds off routine errands.