going,going…Gone

OK so the TATA’s have finally made up their minds –to bid adieu to the hostile terrain of singur. I saw the first rollout of machinery on huge trucks and felt like its big wheels were crushing all my hopes, prayers and earnest wishes for them to stay on – for the hundreds who need to earn a living, for the dwindling image of West Bengal and for poor old CM Bhattacharya’s sake. For every proactive step that he takes, a defiant and over-zealous CPM politburo and a recalcitrant leader by the name of Mamata di (if only she had an ounce of ‘mamata’ (compassion) left in her) crush all his hopes and condemn his efforts; so much so, that the poor old man is left fuming helplessly and ends up saying an unpalatable ‘sorry’ for even daring to speak up. So much for living in a democracy!!

The hills beckoned again...

The hills beckoned once again, and this time it was Mukteshwar. I had visited Mukteshwar about 5 years back, and was expecting it to have been ravaged by commercialisation like a la Nainital. But lo! The undulating greens, the rustling trees swathed the hills like it has been forever. The rains played spoilt sport and dashed all our hopes of trekking through the narrow pathways garlanding the hills – we were caught up indoors, either reading, listening to music, chatting or playing with my niece. And once the sun shone bright on the hills and the happy rainbow smiled from a corner, we were up and about – packed our umbrellas and water bottles in the blink of an eye and literally ran out of the hotel to savour every moment. The shiv-mandir, chauthi jaali and the view from the PWD bungalow were all part of this itinerary….by the end of it we were thirsty and somewhat hungry too, and were lucky to find a shabby roadside tea stall. I was kind of hesistant about the quality of tea that would be served in this scruffy little place…. but minutes later a man and his wife, sexagenarians both, walked upto us with happy faces and served the most amazing masaala chai I have had in years. We made ourselves comfortable on the roadside milestones and makeshift stone seats, while sipping tea and listening to stories of their life and living in these ardous hills…somewhat amazed at their tenacity and touched by their joi-de-vivre.