ARRIVAL IN BHUTAN..

In this second post of the LIFE OF AN ARMY PERSON'S DAUGHTER, we'll be continuing from where we left.

We began our journey to our new posting, The Embassy of India in Bhutan, with excitement and anticipation of new experiences and lots of transport changes. 

 "Thimphu from the top of the National Memorial Chorten" by markhorrell is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

                      

Our first destination was Pathankot. The mode of travel was a metre gauge train. For those who don't know about this train let me brief you a little, it is a basically kind of a small sized train, locally known as chhuk-chhuk train, used highly for transportation in Himachal Pradesh.

"KSR - Rounding a Curve" by Mike Legend is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

From Pathankot we took a train for Delhi. We were to board our train, Guwahati Express, to our next destination in the eastern part of India, namely New Alipurduar. Upon reaching New Alipurduar, we took a bus, an Army bus to be exact, to Jaigaon. 

"File:Bhutan Gate-Jaigaon (CJF 8321).jpg" by Christopher J. Fynn is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0

Jaigaon is a small town on the border of India and Bhutan. Due to the open border you can shop here with currency of both the nations. I still remember buying toys and candies using the Bhutanese Ngultrum and Indian Rupees, a few coins of each. 

We spent the first few months in a rented accommodation, since the quarters hadn't been allotted yet. Our father was actually posted on deputation in GREF in the Embassy of India to Bhutan, Thimphu. After setting us up in the rented accommodations, he set out to report to the Embassy for duty. Since there was no schooling facility in Thimphu for Hindi-speaking people, the rest of the family was to remain in Jaigaon and father was to work at the Embassy.

After a few months we were allotted our quarters, actually a makeshift barrack which had been turned to family accommodation. The walls were made up of tin with plaster on them. Almost looked like it could fall with a kick. In my whole life I never believed that a quarter can have a bathroom twice as big as the bedrooms, well that quarter brutally shattered that belief. 

The quarter had quite a big problem of mole rats. Many a times we used to find the mole rats sleeping with us in our blankets. After a few such occurrences we became accustomed to them, won't be wrong to say they were kind of our dearest neighbours, sharing food and accommodation with them. 

We were admitted to Kendriya Vidyalaya, Hasimara, just like all the Defence pupils in the surrounding two or three towns. It was a 25km long drive from home in a Dhai Ton. 

For those who didn't understand what I meant by Dhai Ton, let me brief you on it a little, it is actually a truck mostly used for transporting supplies and goods in the Army, and also modified as a bus to pick and drop children from school, these can be found in front of every Kendriya Vidyalaya in the country. 

In this dhai ton, all the children were stuffed. Even then travelling and sleeping on your friends shoulder with some other friend on your own, creating a chain till the end of the seat was a fun experience. The only person who was never happy with this arrangement was the person sitting at the front who never got any sleep on the long travel back to home. Whenever the bus hit a speed breaker, on top of hitting his or her head every time against the wall on which he or she was trying to sleep, this was the person everyone was swearing at.

After many such mornings and evenings finally our holidays arrived. We set out to meet our father after at least five months. Our mode of travel was a very old bus, which was actually quite a tough one.  Looking at its age no one could have imagined it to be able to climb the steep roads on the Himalayas.

As we moved up the hills and mountains on the twisting-turning road (thank god none of the passengers vomited), after a few kilometres we could see the clear sky and the clouds BELOW US. The clouds were hiding the view and the deep valleys from our sight, but we could feel it in the air the height we had reached. At such a height breathing becomes quite a pain, so better avoid moving in the bus if you don't want to be struck by asphyxia or throw the bus down the deep valleys of Himalayas. 

The road was wide enough for just a single vehicle. We had heard that if the bus falls down the cliff it won't be possible to recover the bus or any of the passengers. No one was going to survive anyway after falling from that height.

During the trip, there was a single canteen on the whole route the bus used to halt at. From here one can get a clear, beautiful view of the mountains, valleys and the treacherous road they just came through. Drinking tea or coffee with some snacks in this cold weather was a treat in itself. Not many can ever go on such a picnic no matter how much they spend on the travel agencies.

It used to take more than eight hours to reach Thimphu in those days, so of course we were not at all delighted when a landslide at Jhumja stopped us in the midst of our travel. We were stranded for several hours in blood freezing cold and the mountains with a severe lack of oxygen. 

When we finally began our travel once again in the evening and nearing sunset, everyone was afraid that the bus could go down the cliff any moment with a slightest mistake. In this old, ragged bus we were travelling endangering our lives, and the cold is never too comforting in such a situation.

Oh! I almost forgot about the great, big, large rock which was bound by nets to prevent it from falling on the vehicles. And just right below the rock the road was the narrowest ever we had yet encountered during our travel. To me it seemed like it was waiting for the right moment to fall on us. Every time we travelled in the next holidays, this was the place we were most afraid of. 

Because of this long journey in the cold and lack of oxygen, my brother lost consciousness and completed the rest of our trip in his sleep. After two or three hours from leaving we finally reached Thimphu.

One of the soldiers noticed my brother and realized instantly that he had fainted because of the cold and lack of oxygen, he was just six years old at that time so he couldn't really bear the extreme conditions. 

The soldier heated him in front of the fire for one and a half hours until he regained consciousness. Our father arrived to pick us up after we had finished our meal. 

TO BE CONTINUED............