LEH chal mujhe kahin door!

It's Gotta be Maldives! Umm….Or may be Thailand?? You kidding… right? Lets try Malaysia-Singapore! Listen, its decided…Europe it is! Switzerland…wot about Italy..even Turkey would be interesting… Hey..Let’s go to Spain..will meet Tauji there as well...!  

Thus went our holiday conversations..for days..weeks..and months..without any decision! And Mr. V was totally ready to give up on the holiday idea…coz yours truly was at her indecisive and confused best! 

I just could not decide what I wanted…beach or mountains..group tour or individual…self planned or through some tour operator…and so on! After those never ending deliberations we finally arrived at one Glimpses of  Europe Tour. The discussions with an executive from one of the leading tour operators started and we requested him to lock it for us…V & G started dreaming about their romantic Europe sojourn with Background music of Chandni.. :D]

लेकिन  भगवन  की  मर्ज़ी  कुछ  और  थी !

The exec- Ma’am- The tour you were asking for is full.

G- But you has already booked it for us right?

The exec- Yes ma’am..but the server was down...package is very popular..next dates are in June...Blah blah... Blah blah...Blah blah...!!

His words stopped making sense to me..all I could understand was that after all that planning the holiday jinx was back! I was crushed and Mr V was angry! “It’s all because of your indecisiveness..!” I had nothing to counter him! It was true..! :(

I promised him I will book a better holiday for him within a week !

And the cosmos had already started conspiring to make my wish come true..

That evening I got a call from my friend Maj Chhotu, one of my closest and oldest friends from school. He has been posted at the Siachen for some time ..but now he is back from the glacier and joined his unit at the base.

And so we chatted… Life..work..when r u coming home..Y don’t u guys come here!...and Woaahh! Eureka..!

Visiting Ladakh had always been on my wishlist since my childhood days when i had  watched one random feature on Ladakh on Doordarshan. Every year I would get notification that some friend or an acquaintance had visited Leh. I would go through the amazing pictures uploaded by them on Facebook yearning to click some myself!

This had to be my chance!

I had got my promised Holiday destination! IT HAS TO BE LADAKH!

Mr V was not exactly impressed!

V–“I was there last year! And I didn’t enjoy!”

G- “Dude – u went there in peak winter..it was not even proper Ladakh..u were much beyond.. that too when it was -34..u were not supposed to enjoy..that was work…you didn’t even explore around! This will be different…Plus, we will be together! (Fluttering the eyelashes!)

And Mr V melted!

Maj Chhotu was summoned again! His only reaction- cool! Just get your tickets done..leave the rest to me!

Wot! Is that it? You see, the researcher in me was a tad disappointed! Remember the Goa trip…I had spent hours browsing through pages on Goa ..devouring every single review of hotels in Goa.. places to visit places to eat..!

And here I had been asked to go and chill while the Indian Army took the controls of planning and executing my vacation!

By the next evening our leaves were approved…our tickets were done and  I had received a detailed itinerary of our Ladakh trip… with bonus instructions on what to wear, things we need to carry, precautions to take...

and not to forget…a beautiful snap of the Pangong Tso clicked by Maj!

THIS WAS HAPPENING!

But not so easy! Next  day a bombshell dropped on our heads! Mr. V got to know that he is required to travel down to Pune for some troubleshooting! Was the jinx back in action!

भगवान मदद  करो !

और  भगवन  ने  हमारी  सुन  ली !  Mr. V managed to come back one day before we took our flight! By that time super efficient (or should I say excited) Ms G had packed in all the woollens, socks, thermals, goggles, medicines and SUNBLOCK LOTION (SPF 50+)!

So here goes..we are all set to invade the land of  high passes!

Yalgaar Ho!