Charminar is more, evidently. A bus ride proves as much. A bus ride through narrow galis and old streets.

A short walk through a market of ‘Choodis‘, ‘Ittar‘ and ‘Surma‘.

The climb above a steep circular staircase.

The view from a ‘Jharokha‘. And then, Charminar is more. Much more.

It was mostly an adventure. Not particularly misguided. Two girls. A lot of patience. A lot of buses and tickets.

The touristy things aside, what with photos, a water bottle and a backpack, it was surprising how ok it was to just get out of a place to decide to get somewhere. Really. Maybe it is all about putting one foot in front of the other till you reach where you are trying to get. Or, as in our case,its about hailing bus after bus, boarding and alighting, till you reach.

There was “Shiva from Bangalore”. The guard who loved us. And there was the man who thought we had excellent Hindi and so must be from Punjab. Sorry Shiva, we should have bought pearls from ‘Sri Noormal and Pearls”. But, in mark of your respect, we didn’t buy them from the white board “Noormal and Sons” either. Aren’t you proud? You excellent photographer and wonderful man. Thank you for a good feeling in the pit of my stomach. The world is not about to end, after all.

That was it. Not really. It was much more.

But, go see it, won’t you? And tell Shiva that I said Hi.

There should be a witty one-liner about how many single girls make an ‘alones’.

That ire aside, my trip to Vaishno Devi with the sister was a lot of fun.

It was incredibly spontaneous, just the way i like it. No extended planning. No on-line research about the location. No tickets to be booked. Just packed our individual backpacks and we were off, just like that.

Lal Quila was the place we got our bus, after a short (unplanned) rickshaw ride into oblivion. And then there was the ‘Bhaiyaji‘, very intent on securing the attention of my attractive sister. Alas, he got the message pretty fast for an idiot. There were other morons in various fluorescent colors, but were soon dispatched with ‘saadi ghoori‘, all thanks to the Rokhe genes.

The bus ride had some sexed out bhangra on ‘Superchor’ and the movie ‘ Dulhan hum le jaynege‘, a witness to Sallu’s awesomeness, no doubt. ‘Munda kamaal’ to hai, by gawds!

Reaching there, we stuffed ourselves silly…and then some more. The climb begins. And continue. And continues. From Ardhkwari to Sanjhi Chhatt, through Hathi Mattha. Honey is pretty motivating when she wants to be…and i am excellent at securing breaks. After all the ‘vishram sthalls‘ are there for a reason. There is a lot of coolios on the way and i wonder if the place has been featured somewhere as the ”place to be”. We wonder at the burden on the beasts on the way. Whats with those fat asses on khacchars leering at the women who are walking their way up? And I feel bad for the animals… at least when they are not flicking their tails at me and making me slip on their faeces.

We reach up there. Take a shower in the glacial water, very cool. Darshan happens, before which we do our own renditions of the common prayers. My agnostic status, notwithstanding… sometimes the situation calls for a brief departure from one’s lack of beliefs.

And the sleeping arrangements need no elucidation. Lets say, we found space, we lay down and avoided all further discussion on the subject. Which served us well. Sleep was not far away and dawn was beautiful with

the wonder of white light. There was a man bathing right next to me while i tried to do the adequate number of brush strokes on my teeth. Weird.

The loos definitely deserve a special mention. I am reminded of them every time i say my favourite word. Which is the universal equivalent of faeces. People have been doing their business everywhere but at the specific geographical location created for it, i do not understand why. Entertaining, in an awkward sort of way.

The trip back was uneventful but comfortable. Sleep was quick and just.

Highlights of trip:

Lots of sister bonding, Sights of cool boys, Lots of ‘outside’ food, awesome trek, fitness check in the real world, amazing living conditions.

Funs tha, ab aur kya kahen? Aur woh bhi ‘alones’!

Travel-log of a wanderlust junkie. And lusty junkie.

Tra lila.