Sequence of Events that Precede the Trip

 

They say “Jiska bulawa aata ahi wahi Vaishno Devi jata hai!” Well, how do I say this but apparently Mata consented to send the much awaited bulawa very very reluctantly. But persistence pays!

 

A trip that was initially planned to have taken place in December 2008 finally took place on February 19, 2009, not without lots of drama though…

 

There were going to be four pious devotees who were supposed to have taken the pilgrimage—Rajiv, Preeti, Asha, and yours truly. However, in the end, Mr Rajiv chickened out of this moment that would well have been the highlight of his single life; the man was going to accompany three single and at the risk of sounding immodest very attractive young ladies…alone! Alas, it was not meant to be.

 

Kahani poori filmi hai. The plot unfolds below…

 

Rajiv told his parents rather proudly that he was going to be a knight in shining armor to not one, not two, but three ladies. I don’t think his parents reacted to the news as enthusiastically as he had imagined. For effect, let me add this was the proverbial ‘silence before the storm’…or in this case ‘the tornado.’

 

Preeti told her very anxious parents that a strong, dependable, man was “chaperoning” the three damsels to save them from any potential distress ;) Her parents gave permission rather unwillingly.

 

I sort of remembered to forget to mention that somebody called Rajiv was also accompanying us to the trip when my slightly conservative, a tad over protective, and a little over imaginative father enquired about my companions. My ever hopeful father agreed to let us take the pilgrimage in the hope that it may bring about the desired result of finding a suitable son-in-law for his only daughter!

 

This is where the famed Divine Intervention occurs!

 

One day before the departure of the train, Rajiv’s parents expressed their indignation at the thought of their son accompanying three women. All hell broke loose…and the poor guy decided that he could not go…L

 

Preeti, my cousin gave her parents this piece of news exactly two hours before the train to Jammu was scheduled to leave. Her parents could not bring themselves to agree to send their little girl (quite literally) to go out alone in the concrete jungle called Jammu without you guessed it-a strong guy who’d fight the big bad wolves for the delicate ladies.

 

Preeti’s mom came and expressed her fear of letting the girls go unescorted in front of my parents. My father had no clue what she was talking about when she said that the three girls will be going alone. He said but that had been the case all along…and then my aunt dropped the bomb…she told my father that the guy who was supposed to accompany us would not be coming along. And because it was really unsafe for us without him, Preeti would also not go. One look at my father and I was sure that the explosion would occur any moment. What would be the punishment for a tiny slip like that after all? I was racking my brains silently for any plausible story that I could tell…

 

In the end, I came up with a story that puts me to shame…quite literally…I’ve always believed that I am a great story teller…and my creativity just betrayed me at that moment. I told my father, that guy was never going to come. He told us he may come. And my father bought it…I mean what was happening here. J

 

But unfortunately, with my cousin backing out, my father was positive that his delicate darling daughter could not manage with just another tiny tot for company…well you can’t blame him…I mean he doesn’t know what a dynamite that little package is!

 

Everything had blown apart. Asha had left for the railway station by then. I dreaded calling her to tell her that the trip was off. Have you met her? Hell hath no fury like Asha scorned! Well, I mustered the courage and finally called her. As expected, she declared she was going to go ahead by herself. What was I thinking….I told my father that…Surprise surprise he was still listening to me. J My father still clung to the hope of his son-in-law and was worried that Asha may carry out her threat. He told my uncle (Preeti’s father) that he was going to drop me at the station after all.

 

Preeti lay in a pool of tears because her parents refused to give her permission to go. Preeti threw a temper tantrum infront of her parents to show them how wronged she felt by pulling out all her clothes from the travel bag.

 

Amidst all this drama, the clock showed that it was 45 minutes before the train to Jammu left. It takes about 35 minutes to reach the railway station from my place. Upon seeing us leave and tired of Preeti’s tragedy queen act, my uncle told my father that even Preeti could go.

 

As soon as she heard that, she spent only a few more moments to sob one final time for effect…and then went about pushing everything into her travel bag. 35 minutes left for the train to leave…We made a dash…My father made it to the railway station in record time (The tana maroing he subjected Preeti and me to seemed to help him drive faster.)

 

At 9:35 the train finally left for jammu. Oh by the way, my father double actually triple- checked that there was no guy like creature in our vicinity! Also, he stayed at the station till the train left, just to be sure you see!