LIFE OF AN ARMY PERSON'S DAUGHTER

As mentioned in our previous post, this and the  next few posts would focus on our grandfather's visit in Jaisalmer.  On our grandfather's arrival our father got leave from office to give him a tour of Jaisalmer. We decided to begin the tour with a nice meal at our favourite restaurant, Desert Boy's Dhani. The restaurant was famous for its Rajasthani dishes and candle light dinners (I believe it still is) which were served in an open roof garden. Our grandfather was unfamiliar with the dishes we ordered, since he was used to common, plain dishes, he'd never had something like Mushroom Masala. After a hearty meal, when the bill arrived our grandfather was awestruck by the amount. As our father began counting the notes to pay the bill, our grandfather couldn't take off his eyes from the notes, add to it the surprise when father gave the additional tip. That was the moment when grandfather blew up saying "Tum bachcho ko akal hi nahi hai ki paise kaha kharch kart...

Once again it was time for us to move to our new posting. An Army serviceman can't be at a particular location for more than three years. Until now for over nine years, our posting had mostly been in hilly regions with cool weather. Our next posting was in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan.  We were picked from an ice mountain and thrown into hell fire in the month of May .  Hell fire  is the only word in my vocabulary I feel fitting to describe the climatic conditions of Jaisalmer. For those who were brought up in cold hilly regions, this place really doesn't fit right with their health. That's exactly how we were. The travel was long and tedious, we had to travel via two trains to reach Jaisalmer.                                        Jaisalmer Fort   We hadn't been allotted our quarters yet therefore, we began living on rent in civil area in Indira Colony. For the first tim...

 With the changing of seasons, winter arrived. Winter in Thimphu is no laughing matter. The cold is enough to make ice-creams of someone's blood. It is difficult to survive without proper heating at home. There was not a single day during this season when we didn't find the water in our taps frozen along with the drainage. For early risers it is literally hell, so we always made sure that we rise after 9 o' clock something so that we don't have to heat the pipes for washing ourselves.                                                            A Snowy Day                    A snowy day never meant a holiday for our father, on the contrary it was just another day with blood freezing cold and knee deep snow.                      ...