A journey to the Island……
Huh….I just can’t decide from where to start….as it is always difficult to pen down and describe the memories of the most beautiful days ….in my case unplanned trips have always proved hit shows….and this was not an exception ..except one thing the planner was different and much capable…..people who know me very well might be wandering who can be the one except Sardar…when its not me ….
Well I met him in Manchester at our onsite … Samarth…my best friend from then…..actually we had a new group altogether…a group of travel freaks and me as always..the highest degree forcing a new travel schedule every weekend….but now we just needed to ask for a travel plan and it was ready no headaches for me…starting from finding the destination to planning the trip ...it was all Sam’s business, contributed by Chauhan the confident Pilot …..Me and PS..now just used to pack our bags and follow….
we completed many treks together…..by together I mean …Sam, PS, Thakur (Chauhan) and me the other members kept changing in every trip, and this time Hemant was the one with us.
FEBRUARY…2008
It was Friday 5:00PM in the office 2 hours before we had our most awaited weekend and I was sitting in the office…Sam used to sit on the desk facing me and always kept sending teasers …I don’t know how he always managed to had time to eat…tease and Enjoy…I am also in the same category…but those days were really stressful and since two weekends we had no outdoor plans due to bad weather conditions …which made the time worse….
Obediently following my order …to plan something this weekend…. he searched many options and as evident all the places had poor weather conditions, no sun and high wind speed.
finally only Isle of Wight was the place he found which was forecasted as sunny and planning to go there in such a short time was next to impossible ,(by short time I mean 2 -3 hours ….and after that weekend will start)….
My obstinate mind as always could not judge feasibility of the plan ….when it is determined to go, so he made fun of me understanding the complications involved in planning such a long distant trip….but when he found me indomitable… he asked me to leave for home firmly and instructed me that he will let me know the updates on phone…..
when I was on my way back home….I received his call informing that we had to leave at 8:00pm…. without wasting a moment I called PS asked her to pack the bags and inform Hemant, no doubt she has always proved a very good companion to me… without any ifs and buts she followed the command and we were at station in an hour.
The suffering begins now…… for whole night we kept on changing different modes of transport at different places….never slept for a moment and I was cursing Sam for such a hectic and bad plan….
One African lady in the Bus (resembling much to a chimpanzee) was carrying her baby at the back in bag and he was continuously crying….Chauhan ….as usual started his humorous commentary on both ….hee hee hee I have that video with me ha haaa haa ha ahaa another stuff to roll yourself in laughter…
Anyway we reached Portsmouth next day morning from where we were to catch Ferry for the Island….
I can’t explain the heights of excitement I had at that time…. when we saw the place and the ferry….wow… it was huge and accommodating… .very welcoming..we took the front seat and area was almost empty because most of the crowd was on upper deck….. we enjoyed the sea view from glass and the nonstop commentary of two interesting clowns we had with us haa ha haa ha ha haa
The open area of the deck was so much inviting that we wanted to experience the wind and the sea view from the front, but it wasn’t allowed….I was very much unhappy about it and started complaining to Sam…which proved fruitful and he requested the Incharge to allow us on the deck and let us click some shots with the excuse presented to him that we were travelers from India and have never witnessed such amazing sight and we would be more than just grateful if he allows us to have this experience.
As most of the English people he turned out to be a humble man and all of us were on the deck with our cameras…..the wind speed was terrific….you can well realize from the photos…..
Did I forget to mention it was our first trip in Car in UK and we were too much delighted about it.
We first wanted to reach our hostel dump our bags and get ready since we haven’t slept last night all carried a disheveled look, it took more than an hour in such a small Island barely populated to find that hostel located in a remote area….though we enjoyed the ride and the roads…..but I can’t resist mentioning the struggle boys were doing to reach the place I could bet no one else other than them could have found that……. Sam and Chauhan…continued their unimportant humorous chatter, which made the environment light otherwise we would have panicked at that moment.
We kept pausing in between at every beautiful sight and as usual the number of shots already crossed 100.
To our great disappointment the weather was not at all sunny as predicted by BBC and it was raining which annoyed us more….however as always we the high spirited people maintained our full fledged smile When we got clicked and inspite of a chilling weather me and PS never wore any jackets as it would have spoiled our photos and guys never lost an opportunity to pull our legs on this tough show of ours….lol
The day was chilling, appealing and memorable however I was not able to stop my mind to leave worrying about the time running out as we had to leave another day and this time was really not enough to enjoy and explore this Beautiful Island.
All day we sang in the car enjoyed the rides with Thakur as our confident Pilot... made plans for further trips to be carried out in a hired car..(this trip laid foundation for the most memorable trip of our life in Caravan to Scotland….that travelogue I will write soon….)
we praised the splendid island and as usual I was busy making videos while singing songs ….these videos have added more to my rich memory collection altogether and I simply watch them every month to relive those wonderful moments again……. J
Finally we reached our hostel and all my pain and fatigue disappeared after entering the cottage. It was a small cozy, aesthetically organized cottage we spent some time in the living room and finally left for our room.
we had booked a mixed dorm of six although we were five so whole room was ours…..I wanted to sleep so that we can get up early and leave for sightseeing but with all these excitement filled unexhausted packages my plan was nothing more than a dream …..lol….
Hemant have got some beer so was few pegs down …and everyone knows man can be a tremendous source of energy and chatter once they are high….. so he opened many secrets of CBS that day, which included a few embarrassing moments for me and PS however Thakur being the only Non TCSer enjoyed it fully and captured everything in video as well……….the first censored video of our England trip was created that night which contained all the leg pulling stuff and secrets of CBS colleagues…lol can call it ‘CBS Stripped’ hee hee hee he hee……..
Next day I got ready in time and when these boys were grooming themselves and getting ready…..I went out for a walk…the surrounding area was fabulous….planted with beautiful spring flowers , I walked to a nearby church and it again had something spectacular about it.
Hemant and Sam joined me soon and Sam was neatly dressed up like a school going disciplined boy with hair well combed ….lol we finally left for the mission ‘EXPLORE THE ISLAND’,
Just a few KMs ride and we were witnessing a stunning view so spell bounding ….which can’t be described in words……WOW was the word that fell first out of my mouth and eyes were even more surprised as they were the most blessed organ that time…
It felt like life has evolved in the purest form here….we just walked up to the cliff and the view was amazing then climbed down this hill near to some limestone hills where the water was white …instead of blue as most of the part in this sea…..
We were busy in our never ending photo shoot as ever and no doubts this place had to offer a lot to the photography....the group pic came out to be great.....and as ever are added to most memorable momentos...
I was not ready to leave those splendid views until I came back to senses and realized that we have to Discover more beauty here….at ISLE OF WIGHT… now the drive was no less than a ride to nature’s lap …with every path…leading to a different assortment of heaven…..
We spotted a music band from a distance shooting at one of the most pleasing sight of the island…
And the excitement raised to many degrees higher as we could not wait or the car to stop and rush to the band…..as soon as the car was parked …we all were racing to the place where band was performing……and it was a full-fledged shoot going on…..we received a warm welcome as we arrived the Place running....... and they showed their greatest possible amiability by including us for a few minutes in the video….it was a terrific feeling you are in a beautiful island with a handsome lot of singers…
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It was totally a dream…..we never missed any chance to shoot some pics with them.
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The famous dialogue from Thakur came out……” In ladkiyon ka mamla sahi hai inhe ek driver or navigator chahiye thaa jo hum hain (sam and Thakur) or photographer ki kami thi toh inhone yeh bhai pakad liyaa(Hemant)”…ended with a huge laughter from Thakur and Sam…..and we could not stop a naughty and embarrassed smile to appear on our faces……
from then a whole new…chapter of BHAI was added to our Manchester Episode…we started treating Hemant like our Bro and he in turn respected us as elder sisters and fought with others for our dignity……..Me and PS were happy with this new relation and enjoyed the company of a caring brother in the trip along with two naughty personalities……
Some family photographs were taken ……with our new brother ….lol…
It was totally a dream…..we never missed any chance to shoot some pics with them.
we left for our personal photo shoot around the place…..PS and me as usual running and posing like excited teenage gals….while the boys were reduced to mere photographers and none of them lost any opportunity to mention it again and again pin pointing at our selfishness hee he ehe heee…
The famous dialogue from Thakur came out……” In ladkiyon ka mamla sahi hai inhe ek driver or navigator chahiye thaa jo hum hain (sam and Thakur) or photographer ki kami thi toh inhone yeh bhai pakad liyaa(Hemant)”…ended with a huge laughter from Thakur and Sam…..and we could not stop a naughty and embarrassed smile to appear on our faces……
from then a whole new…chapter of BHAI was added to our Manchester Episode…we started treating Hemant like our Bro and he in turn respected us as elder sisters and fought with others for our dignity……..Me and PS were happy with this new relation and enjoyed the company of a caring brother in the trip along with two naughty personalities……
Some family photographs were taken ……with our new brother ….lol…
We left for a very famous beach nearby and the all shiny blue sea can be seen there….the color and clarity was irresistible ….and we could not stop ourselves jumping in to the waves touching the shore…the water was freezing but our enthusiasm…..lead us to play with that…got to click some…life time memories there….while I also got some scenes to improve my Photography skills……
Sam was standing at a distance from the beach enjoying the sight while we played with waves…he kept on
making a video with some nonsense commentary which should be labeled as strictly ‘A’ content…. :)
We returned with an ice-cream in hand ….enjoyed the beach view from the distance and then left….
The day was coming to an end and so did our…Fun filled trip…..at last we went to a farm…entered it illegitimately …as if we were the owners … again did our favorite job of shooting and left.
Returned the Car to the agency, the handsome English boy resembling some Hollywood Actor drove us to the station and…I stole glances of him unintentionally…..very unlike me… staring guys…I am always busy in my own world….but I was so helpless that guy was so handsome….I felt like dating him…….leave this topic as I still feel the same……lol….I wish I could have clicked him……But still you can see his eyes….they are in the rear view mirror….. J
We boarded our trains which were like toy trains in India a cute couple with a lovely baby was sitting with us…we talked to them …..discussed the trip and finally…we were away from this strikingly wonderful place………..
We again took a ferry and reached Portsmouth by 9:00 in the night and day light was still there we were…starving and due to lack of restaurants which can offer suitable food for Indian tastes we entered one Chinese restaurant on Sam’s suggestion……huhh I can’t forget that horrible taste of soup…which was like boiled ‘moong ki daal’….and Sam enjoyed it like a very tasty meal………I suppose there is definitely some problem with his taste buds….
Well we left for Manchester in National Express…. again a hectic trip with many changes …. but no doubt the trip was worth the pain….considering the time provided to plan it was simply superb…… I never appreciated….the boys as much as they deserved for their remarkable work and pleasurable company
But in our heart me and PS knew we can’t pay these debts we owed them a lot…… they have contributed the best moments of our lives………
But in our heart me and PS knew we can’t pay these debts we owed them a lot…… they have contributed the best moments of our lives………
P.S - Isle of Wight is regarded as one of the 10 Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty in UK.
The Isle of Wight is an English island and a county, located 3-5 miles (5–8 km) from the south coast of the mainland, in the English Channel. It is separated from mainland England by the Solent and is situated south of the county of Hampshire. The island is known for its outstanding natural beauty, its world-famous sailing based at Cowes, and its holiday resorts — which have been popular since Victorian times as a holiday destination.
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