Looking forward to...

I am looking forward to my holiday. From someone who travelled all 12 months in a year as a child to a few odd trips today (that too, if I am lucky), I have definitely NOT come a long way.

In spite of telling ourselves we need to take off every 3 months to retain our sanity, it has not really worked that way. So besides having a damn good reason to attribute the senile and quirky behaviour to, we have not gathered too many holiday stories! More work, yes. More money, no. The ratio is never proportionate.

I shouldn't complain. I had taken off for 3 weeks a couple of months back. But it was without the hubby. For the first time in our married lives, we were whispering 'good night' over the phone. It wasn't fun.

Now, what makes it special is having the hubby alongside. One of those rare long holidays. Together. Somehow, the same place visited with different people can evoke different feelings. Whenever I went anywhere, I always promised myself to come back. In time. With the man in my life. And today there is a whole lot piled up to do together, to see together, to experience together.

They come to me in flashes. A little surrealistic. Too quick but clear. And I know we have to be there. Some time.

Watching the full orange moon rise through the trees in the tea gardens and wishing time stood still.

On a moonlit night, sitting on the little stair in the house where I grew up. A million stars all around and fireflies dancing. It's a magical feeling.

Talking a walk by the pond and watching the silvery moonlight reflected in the watch as little silver fish play around.

Driving back in the night, from a full day of fun in the village. Moonlight on my face as I drift in and out of a blissful state of being.

Climbing the steep road in a little village near Shimla, singing aloud and keeping warm.

Being the only people (8 of us) watching a late night show in a little place near Meerut, and wondering what was the film about.

Waiting at midnight for the milk cake to be made in some place near the station in Allahabad and having the first lot.

Waking up to the first day of snow in Kulu. And hurrying back to Shimla as the snow increased steadily and made it difficult to drive back.

Sitting around a bonfire in Solan on some new year's eve and feeling melancholy amidst friends.

Waking before dawn to admire the sunrise at Mt. Abu and feeling a vital part of me missing.

Walking along the beach against a crimson sky, on a lonely evening in Chennai... the mood is difficult to express.

Watching movies at the theatres in every place I visit. Lying about my age when caught on the adult films.

Inpulsively, sitting on a cycle rickshaw and going off to see the town in Mathura, when the train made an unexpected halt of 4 hours. Needless to say, I never made it back on time and missed the train.

Watching in facination the spot where Rani Padmini committed Jauhar and slipping into a mystical bygone era.

Sandunes in the deserts in Rajasthan. Buying water and being thankful for it.

Little villages, full of romance, each telling a story.

Yeah, all these flash and clash in the mind. And I am hoping to get through a teenie weenie bit of this pile, this time.