The shoes are wet and soggy and I take a moment before taking them off. I get a little depressed thinking that there is not much activity to do.There is a movie going in the television which Rajdeep is watching.I instead, head to the shower and when I return, get the feeling that the air conditioner has really worked. The room is cooler and comfortable.
It has been an excellent journey so far.
I donot feel hungry, but its been quite sometime that we had the breakfast. We order a couple of beers and Chicken Pakodas as starters.
The beers and pakodas arrive and the waiter asks “Sir, please check whether they are cool”, referring to the beers.
I touch and feel that they are very cold.
“Okay”, I say.
The waiter opens the bottle and lays down the mugs.
We say cheers and I take swig at the beer. I feel it go down the throat.Very cold.
We sample the pakodas with a fork and the hot and cold combine to give a burning sensation in the stomach.
We order for a light Chinese lunch on Rajdeep’s suggestion. Egg Chowmein and Chicken Manchurian. The beer has worked up the apetite pretty well. The initial feeling of depression, which I had on just entering the room is gone. I flip the TV channels and laze around for sometime.
It has been an excellent journey so far.I think again.
The food is full of flavour and vigour and very spicy. It knocked out the drowsiness that the beer had created. We finish up the lunch and then smoke a cigarette and then ride up to the beach.
After a few minutes the spectacle glasses that I am wearing become foggy from the atomised waves that lash on the shore. The sea breeze blows me humid whereas I watch the waves that continuously build up and break down time and again. After a couple of hours, when the moon is up in the sky and a light drizzle starts to follow, we decide to quit the beach for a bar.
There is a light music playing and the bar is well nigh empty.We order a couple of vodka and chat . During all this conversation, I remember a cloudy evening in Gangtok and feel happy.It was much like this day.
My wife and me had spent a good deal walking from the hotel, around 3 kms away and reached the mall. The walk had left us very hungry and we went to a restaurant, seated on the first floor, beside the large windows from where we could watch the street below. People were seated on the benches, underneath the largely decorated lamps. There was a thick cloud cover and all of a sudden it started to blow cold and then there was a mist shrouding the entire place and then as if from no where it started to rain. The street, which was bustling with activity just a while back was now empty. And I remember the momos,chili chicken and vodka that we had could not have been more tastier. Later, after the rain stopped, we took a long walk, spent a few moments standing beside the cold railings watching the valley below caught in the thick mist. We finished off the packet of crunchy popcorn that the wife had bought and then we walked down the paved road to reach the hotel again.
We talk for long about lot of stories and then leave for our hotel.The streets are vacant now and from here I can listen to the roar of the waves and gradually as we ride in the opposite direction, the roar fades away.
A fatigue has developed as I lie down on the bed and it is not before long that I go to sleep.
