Gangtok : Final chapter

The city of Gangtok is built on a sloping valley. So the roads, houses, etc are at different levels, and walking about even for half a kilometer is quite a herculean task, especially for those who have not exercised in years. (I don’t come in that category :P ). Its said, that if truly want to experience the magic and charm of a place, go on walking tours. And Gangtok perhaps is one of the best places for that. The lush greenery around, billowing clouds, picturesque little houses with tiled roofs and porcelain doll like skin of girls there….the entire scene reminds oneself of those exotic picture post cards of Switzerland. We got the opportunity to visit a monastery for Lamas. It’s a residential school for kids, who take up the life a monk/lama. We saw cute little kids in maroon gowns prancing about happily, expressing their eagerness and curiosity to mingle with the tourists. One of the kids came up to us, with a bag of chocolates and said is a sing-song voice, “Happy birthday!” We were pleasantly surprised, not knowing why is he wishing us!? To our puzzled looks, he responded again, “Me happy birthday!” Then we realized, it was HIS birthday, and he was offering chocolates to us! Such a little boy, with such a big heart! Gangtok is perhaps one of the cleanest cities around. With hardly a scrap of garbage to be seen around, it’s a pleasure to go on hiking trips on hills. Waterfalls are in abundance and the water is sparkling clean, you can drink straight out of it. We also got the chance to visit the Indo-Chinese border and shook hands with a Chinese soldier too! It was nice to see the Indian and Chinese soldiers talking animatedly with each other, cracking jokes and readily agreeing for photos. They were not in any kind of hurry and engaged the motley group of tourists in long winding conversations, narrating about their family back home, next vacation there and in general their lifestyle out there at 10,000 ft from sea level. It gave us a fresh new perspective about life and made us ponder over our own life and its meaning. And how insignificant is the daily humdrum of our existence. Office-home-office-mall-home-office again. What is the value-add that we as individuals are bringing in to the nation? Other than voting, ofcourse. (Which I don’t think, anybody from my generation, does!) Ok, enough of these Sunday afternoon musings.. Take care.