On our own in Chandigarh
A holiday is a holiday, whether planned, unplanned or even jinxed for that matter. I took one such trip with my friend to Chandigarh, which just didn’t seem to be happening since the very inception. A trip that was conceived as a surprise visit by four friends to one of our close friends finally turned out to be a different adventure altogether.
Eventually after lot of bad omens Shweta and me still decided to take the plunge and boarded the Shatabdi from Delhi to Chandigarh, just to keep the plan and the spirit alive.
When friends changed the plan family came handy in form of a cousin who arranged the accommodation for us at a DRDO guesthouse.
So, there we were on the roads of the most well planned city of the country, Chandigarh without an escort or a map. But in the era of cell phones, one doesn’t feel alone any way. We had only one day in hand, so we decided to cover the main parts of Chandigarh. We were told that if one comes to Chandigarh, one couldn’t miss the Rock Garden, the Sukhna Lake and the 17-sector market. So, we started our trip with an auto to Rock garden. The weather wasn’t favourable at all but we didn’t have a choice. Covered with sunblock and JLO glasses we ventured out. My Punjabi language skills came handy when we bargained for the auto fare. There we went around Nek Chand’s creative wonder, which is far from being well maintained. More of a lover’s nest than anything else, with couples cuddling in the corners in the sweltering heat. But we went around every corner admiring the figurines made out of broken tiles, earthen pots and even toilet seats. The best part was the area with long swings hanging from large pillars. Suddenly I heard one amongst a bunch of Punjabi boys checking us out exclaiming, “Arrey yaar mainu ni pata si ki sheher vich Preity Zinta aayi hoyi hai.” Thanks to my Pahari features. We pretended not to have understood and moved on from the scene to avoid any confrontations.
Our next destination was the Sukhna Lake where we climbed an iron staircase and sat on the top of it for a better view of the man made lake. The weather had changed and become very pleasant. It could have rained any moment, but we didn’t move from our place. The water, the rush of tourists and the regular joggers had crowded the place but still the serenity of the water had a smoothening effect on the environs. We sat munching chana zor garam and peanuts admiring the scenic view for sometime. The little munchies made us hungrier and we indulged in cold coffee and sandwiches. But what we were looking forward to was a typical Punjabi non-vegetarian dinner complete with tandoori chicken and keema parantha et al. But being new to the city, the problem was to find a good restaurant. We thought of an idea to find out a nice restaurant. We stood in one corner of the market observing people and we decided that we’ll ask a guy or a girl or some happy Punjabi family about the best non-vegetarian eatery in town. I spotted a young couple coming out of a fancy store. I popped the question. “Excuse me. Can you please suggest us a good restaurant. We are new in the city and want to eat some good tandoori chicken.” The couple smiled and said in unison, “Ghazal and Mehfil are ideal for good non-veg fare. And they are just round the corner.” And they gave us the instructions to reach our destination. We thanked the couple and eagerly moved towards their pointed direction. In no time we were outside the fancy restaurants which luckily were next to each other. While I was wondering which one to go to, there was something else going on my friend’s mind. “Yaar ye dono to bar cum restaurants hain, I don’t think it will be safe for two girls to eat at this hour at such a place,” said Shweta with genuine concern. Though I saw nothing wrong with them, I thought of leaving the idea if she wasn't comfortable and what we had for dinner that night was masala dosa at Saagar Ratna. Quite disappointing, not the dosa but the feeling of not being able to eat Punjabi chicken in Chandigarh.
However, God had planned something for us. I got a call from an old school friend who was by chance in Chandigarh and we decided to catch up after so many years. And he promised to drop us at the railway station after lunch. Guess where did we go for lunch? Mehfil in 17 sector. We told him the entire story and he said, “Come on guys. What do you think people will do at a bar cum restaurant? It’s a family kind of place. You should have eaten here.” Any which way but we got to eat our tandoori chicken and keema with butter naan before leaving Chandigarh.
Hence ended another sweet little trip and we are yet to plan another one. Thank god we made it work. And thanks di and jiju for making arrangements at the last moment.
Note: Instead of elaborate details it’s the spirit that makes a plan work.
Hence ended another sweet little trip and we are yet to plan another one. Thank god we made it work. And thanks di and jiju for making arrangements at the last moment.
Note: Instead of elaborate details it’s the spirit that makes a plan work.
