Apr 16, 2009

Wanderlust!



I wanna go on a holiday to Ulan Bator. Ask me what place is it? Tis the capital of Mongolia and I have sat for half an hour checking out pictures of Mongolia and reading up on where to go stay, what to do, what to eat, the places to visit, the drop dead gorgeus scenery. I really wanna go. I wanna see the shamans and witness a shamanic ritual. Sigh! If only one had the monies. I even found out the price of the tickets and it only costs 70,000 something for a round trip. In college I use to want to visit Tibet and I still do. Maybe cos I spent 2 years in Gangtok as a child and went to school with Lepchas( people of Tibetean Buddhist origins). One of them was called Dorji and use to be my favouritest friend to play with after school. They made the most amazing momos and thuppa and I got a taste for their food at the age of 6 and I still die for momos any city, every city I go to.
I was thinking about the number of houses I have lived in the 25 years of my life and gosh the number baffled me too. Can you imagine that I have inhabited 22 houses? So I sat and counted how many cities, how many houses and 12 of those are all thanks to Dad and the Indian army starting from Dehradun, Jodhpur, Gangtok, Pathankot( small town in the north of Punjab) and Calcutta. Then there were 6 different abodes for the 5 years spent in Pune. Oh my God some of them I dread to imagine. After college a place in Chennai, one in Delhi ( I miss, I miss the house) and two in Bangalore. Yes 22 houses I could have called home. I wonder how many more am I gonna have and how many more places am I gonna visit. But I have always been India bound. I wanna get out and visit Russia, Mongolia, Tibet, Turkey ( Sigh!! Istanbul), Mexico, Peru and the whole wide world. I envy globe trotters really! I have only ever been an India Trotter. Hmphhhhh!
I never grew up in that one house you can call home where you spent most of your childhood and I always envied people who had that cos for me it was such a luxury and we shifted every two years the first 10 years of my life and I hated it. Now in retrospect I realise that the very essence of this gypsy like existence was instilled in me since the time I was born and I actually start getting an itch to get out a particular city after a particular time period. As a child we had a truckload of boxes and trunks whereever we went and those were used as makeshift dewans and tables, carefully concealed under drapes ofcourse. The tin trunks use to have my Dad's name engraved on them in white saying Col XYZ , _____ regiment, shifting from ____ to _____. Even the sight of them would disturb me cos it meant a new school, making new friends and catching up with school work.
Last week when I was home and Mum sent me to Fort William to the pay the bill at the Club everything made me upset cos it reminded me of Dad and the life he gave us. I passed the Golf Course and it reminded me of the days he'd be off playing golf at 3 in the afternoon and come back at 5: 30 all sweaty, happy and high on life. I see the huge fauji trucks and I remember my whole school life when I went to school in them and how embarassed I'd be when I got a little older cos they looked like mobile zoos complete with the cage and us monkeys inside.
Yup this wanderlust too is my father's legacy...
And even if you were in some prison, the walls of which let none of the sounds of the world come to your senses - would you not then still have your childhood, that precious, kingly possession, that treasure-house of memories?

13 comments:

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Pesto Sauce said...

Hey! Your life is very similar to mine thouh 22 houses in 25 years is tough to beat

Keshi said...

very nostalgic post Utopia! I loved it.

I hv moved from place to place, made a home in many a new places but I know my home lives in my heart...not within 4 concrete walls.


**And even if you were in some prison, the walls of which let none of the sounds of the world come to your senses - would you not then still have your childhood, that precious, kingly possession, that treasure-house of memories?

Profound! I simply love it. Is it one of ur own quotes? WOW!

Keshi.

SMM said...

Oh I remember the caged buses and how exciting it used to be for the civilian crowd and not at all exciting for us?

Do you also remember the pranks played in the same bus? The time we poured water over that tall guy after making this full story about doing an experiment for our Psychology paper or the time we were doing face reading and got paint over all our faces :P

Utopia said...

Hahah! Yes I do Sup.I even remember the faces we made at those silly boys sitting across and how we always invariably got into a fight with them. Sigh!

Keshi that quote is not my own. My apologies I should have specified.

Pesto Sauce yes I know 22 houses in 25 years is a lil hard to beat and pray tell me why does my life sound similar to yours?

Unknown said...

Nice post.I love nostalgia:-)
My mum had a life similar to yours and I've heard from her about things u mentioned...Shifting every two years...new places..new schools...And the sight of trunks giving phobia!

Chronicler said...

i've lived in the same house 21 years of my life... and I so want to move out... although i have my beautiful childhood memories associated wiht the house... but i guess we need to move out... or I guess I need to move into a new city... i so want to...

Keshi said...

hey its alright :) n tnxx!

Keshi.

Unknown said...

22 houses in 25 years is a record indeed.

And Ulan Bator sounds like a cool place to be in. Loved the last quote.

Gypsy Couple said...

brilliant last line .. 22 houses ..!! dats a large no. indeed. Btw I share the travel bug too as also the momo cravings.. though I was in gangtok for only a short trip ..

Renovatio said...

Butt see.

There's a light and the end of the tunnel of houses.

Sam said...

Hi!! How are you doing? Dropping by after a long hiatus from blogs. Well, childhood memories can never be taken away from us. So, the answer to your question is yes!! I agree with you on the globe trotter thing. the itching gets to me if I stay somewhere for too long. change drives me to excellence. oh n am right after u with 17 houses (homes) in 25 years of existence. :)

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