Day 1 (21st Oct 04): Long journey from Delhi to Jammu.

Woke up at 3-30 am to get ready as we had to leave by 4-30 (dad’s very strict when it comes to schedules – my manager at Talisma isn’t much different either and largely consituted my dreams that night I remember!) in our qualis for the long road-journey from Delhi to Jammu. And for the trip we were joined by the Kapoors (Kapoor uncle, dad’s collegue at IBP, and family – aunty n daughter) – so it was six of us. As per plans we were all ready by 4-15 am and in high spirits. That’s when dad took out the Handicam and after he was done with the 5 of us, he focussed on the driver, “Aur ye hain humaare driver Anand Singh, aur ab humaaaree jaan inkey haathhon mein hai” – and only later did we realise that it was more than just a statement !! Set off in no time, and before I could realise it was all my manager again for the next 2 hours. Finally reached Karnal (Haryana) Lake at around 7. Beautiful Tourist complex next to serene lake. Had a quick breakfast there and entered Punjab in sometime. The highways here was so damn beautiful – covered on both side with tall trees – refreshingly different from the one you find in Karnataka (forget about West Bengal). They were smooth as butter and little did we know that our Qualis was cruising at a 100 kmph. Found time to SMS some frnz back in Bangalore – the balle balle one .. remember? Time was right to take out the 5.+1 book, and in sometime we crossed Ludhiyana and reached Jullundhar, where we halted at a dhaba to have lunch. Next to it was an IBP petrol pump, and as we told the dealer (owner) about our visit to Kashmir, he sounded a little concerned – but that’s pretty normal I guess! Left shortly; all along I’d been sitting in the middle row, it was time to switch places as I now rested legs full stretched on the back-seat, half into 5.+1 and the other half capturing the beautiful roads of Punjab and its surroundings on our handicam. Soon we were through Pathankot and crossed the Punjab-JK border, and off went the Airtel signal. Jammu wasn’t too far from there and by 7 we’d covered a good 620 km to reach our JKTDC lodge in Jammu. We all got freshened up and left for a breif visit to the famous Jammu temple (which was packed with tight security, both outside and inside). Was kinda ok. As we were all tired decided not to search for good hotel, and hence decided to dine at the nearest dhaba, and boy, were the paranthas lovely! The JKTDC was so to say infested with bengalis - Around 20 families! Its the Pujas season in their part of the world and hence long hols. And seriously what better than kashmir!