To Valley of Flowers

Dec 2006: I was reading "Snow Country" by Kawabata and was taken into the white world of star-lit heaven. Suddenly, and inexplicably, I felt embraced by the mysterious charm of hills, its rivers, its air, and above all, that strange cold magic that seeps through your skin and makes you its own. Ah, the faint memories of my previous visit to Manali came before my eyes and enchanted my heart. Finally, compelled by the desire and in a state of drunken ecstasy, I called up Akshaya, "Let's go to Manali." As it happens, he said "yes". Sanket, after his usual bridal protest, conceded too. And in the very month, we were on the hills of majestic Himalayas.

Aug 2007: "No" is an unacceptable word between two sensitive individuals, unless one of them is a lady and other out of sense! So I promptly said "yes" when Akshaya asked me to "rekindle the fire" in Valley of Flowers. Don't read between the lines, that just meant to patch up things between old friends who were not in talking terms. As it happens, within 2-3 days tickets were booked and the stage is now set for the big game - the trek to the land of thousand fairies. Wait for 10 days and then we'll get to see the snaps of the valley at avalokan. And these 10 days will be kept forever in the book of our memories, like flowers. Amen.