I had the entire week off from work and was contemplating where I should go on a vacation. Due to my relatively small budget, I was constrained to traveling within India. However, that did not bother me one bit as I have always thought that I am blessed to be born in a country like India where, it would take more than a lifetime to visit all the beautiful places and holiday destinations. Right from sunny beaches to snow clad mountains, India has everything to offer. Hence we call it a subcontinent, and I can not think of any other country which offers one so much diversity and choice. However, this time I did not want to go to the standard places like Mussorie and Shimla, not that these places are not beautiful and breathtaking, but being a Delhi boy, I have been to these places more than once. I wanted to make the most of the time I had off and go to a very unconventional place. Hence I decided to check out the north eastern part of our country.
We tend to normally neglect that part of India and never really consider going there, however, I spoke to a few friends of mine who had been to places like Gangtok and Darjeeling and they told me not to think twice and just go there. Hence I looked up a couple of travel websites and finally made a decision to go to Gangtok which was the capital of Sikkim. To my surprise there were tons of places to see and places to visit. I booked my tickets from New Delhi to Bagdogra airport, which was the closest airport to Gangtok. It was a 2 hour flight and then from Bagdogra airport to Gangtok was another 124 km, which would take over 2 hours. I booked the 11am flight for the next day and could not wait for the day to pass. I packed my bags and all the things I would need on my stay. There were various resorts in Gangtok of which I picked the one which looked the best. After my room was booked and payment made, I was at peace.
I called up my friend Dhruv to tell him about the details and what time we would be leaving etc. He was as excited as I was, and when I told him that of all the resorts in Gangtok I had short listed and booked one, he paused in disbelief, as I am by far the lazy one and would normally pass on all these jobs to other friends. As I tried to sleep, all I could think about was the beautiful lush green landscapes I was going to be surrounded by for the next one week and the very new part of India that I was going to see, a part which I never gave much thought in the past.
Martin Wynn
