A Splendid Soliloquy

If there's on thing that travelling has taught me, it's that it truly expands the mind and fills the gap. And the Shimla sojourn only strengthened my belief in this thought. As soon as I stepped down from the bus and felt a sudden dip of 15 degree Celsius, saw the sight of the beautiful Himalayas around, of the pretty local heading to the Bazaar, smelled the lovely smell emitting from the hole-in-the-wall tea shop, and felt the excitement of the unknown yet stimulating experiences that the next fours days that this city had for me - I knew that this trip was going to help me learn more things than my weeks of static city life would.

So the day started off with checking into the quaintest hotel I've ever been to - perched on top of a hill with a 360 degree view of the city around, and the warmest of the staff. 'Twas one of the very few places which nurtured the introvert in me.

The emptiness of the hotel reminded me of the song Hotel California, except that it wasn't on a dark desert highway, and that I could check-out anytime I like, AND leave. Ha! Anyway, the manager recommended me to start for a nearby village called Kufri right away, where I could buy myself warm clothing, and check out the shops in local style - while riding a horse.

I now headed to the biggest and the prettiest bazaar around Himachal - Mall Road. The bazaar was unlike any other Indian local bazaars - thin crowd, clean and beautiful street, joyous and well-dressed people, interesting conversations. Here is where I happen to strike up a conversation with a beautiful local girl. We had a passing eye-contact for a few times at a bakery, and hit it off from there. Our conversations ranged from feminism, to travel, to our favorite movie - Before Sunrise. We then went to a concert by a Pakistani band which was held as a part of celebrations of 150 years of Shimla as Summer capital of India. The songs reminded me of my Pakistani roots, and made me long for visiting it sometime. And then we kissed. But being hopeless romantics, we parted ways without exchanging any contact information, thinking that our connection would wear off if we did.

I then happened to meet an English couple where were travelling India on work (wow!) while trying to catch a cab post curfew hours (8 PM!). I now believe in a stranger's ability to affect your life, beautifully so.