10/12/2020
Few more moments from the journey called life. Hope you like it!!
A friend, daughter, wife, mom, traveller, professional, fighter, daughter-in-law & a driver – different shades of me.
I have a small family of me, my husband and a son, in addition both our moms (my mom and my mother-in-law) live with us in Mumbai.
As a little girl I always loved traveling and spending time with my family. Never knew when got into driving, but there was this zeal to grow up asap and drive my own car one day. There were times when I felt like running away from everyone and got solace while driving and other times just for fun with friends and loved ones.
Born and brought-up in Delhi, I am a proud Delhite. With friends and family to die for and attitude to just take over the whole world.
This is the part of my story from 1981 till 2001 (School / College..)
Since we were kids (me & my brother), we used to travel across India at-least 3 times in a year.
Main places visited: It will generally be across India anywhere from Shimla, Mussoorie, Haridwar (every year), Dehradun, an annual trip to Vaishnu devi in Jammu, Kashmir, Mumbai, Orissa (Jaganath Puri), Bangalore, Agra (Taj mahal), Mumbai, Nanitaal (Corbet National Park), Chandigarh, Amritsar (Golden Temple), etc
Always ready to explore new places and connect with people. I believe in a philosophy of “Live and Let Live” and its one life so let’s live it fully.
My dad was a foodie and so am I, we would try local delicacies and enjoy the location. As a kid, I loved the Har ki Pauri in Haridwar, Sulphur shower in Dehradun, Maal road in Shimla & Manali. It was fun. As we used to travel in big groups (courtesy my dad’s official travel committee), they will cook the food on the way so that we can get fresh breakfast, Lunch and Dinner, no matter where we used to halt.
A story which I can remember and can share is of Kufri (it’s a place near Shimla) which is generally snow filled during winters. I remember my first experience of snow and playing with snow balls. We were almost frozen and as it was far so my dad booked horses for us (me & my little brother). It was a terrifying experience as it was difficult for the horse to balance and I almost fell once while it was trying to take a turn. Thinking about it now we really were out there and exploring new places year after year and making wonderful memories.
My first ever Airplane experience was when my school planned a day tour to Gwalior (Pink City) from Delhi. It was just a 15 mins flight but as it was my first one so will always be special with my best friend at that time (Deepti Malik). I might be just 9yrs old (1990).
1998 to 2001 (College life) – Not too many trips but one special excursion trip will always be in my special memories. So, I was a Biology student and we used to collect specimen of plants, ferns, insects, etc.. from different places. In second year, we went to Nanitaal (a hill station around 280kms from Delhi) with all my classmates and friends for 4days. Loved the place and we really enjoyed the most as Nanitaal has lot of offer; from weather to greenery to mountains to guest houses build on the hills. There were those sweet moments with friends where you fight and then again make up, I forgot my bag (which had camera) in the guest house with lot of stairs and no one was ready to go and get it as it was on top of the hill and was steep. At that time a friend helped despite of our silly differences at that time, these times of need and friendship make you understand your true friends.
2001-2007: By this time I got my own car (Swift in 2005) and also started working but lost my dad and brother in the journey called life.
Main places visited: Jaipur, Alwar, Mussoorie, Chennai, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Shivpuri, Rishikesh, Dehradun, Haridwar, Shimla, Pondichery.
Not sure about the exact moment when driving became my passion, but it was always a way to liberate and when I met my husband we both connected the most for our love to travel. Even though he likes the mountains and I am a Sea baby but we could manage those small differences and agreed to get the best of both the worlds.
This will be further continued with some special stories which are important part of my life…
