It took me a few minutes to register that this was the “modern” road wink and it was directed at me …. The man in question could have been my son or was atleast 15 years younger than me and he blinked his bike’s headlights on an empty road at 8.30 am when Krishnan, mom and I were out for a walk. I was wearing a polo neck “thick” non revealing t.shirt and 3/4ths :(:(. I didn’t invite the attention and it didn’t make me feel good.
At the next turn, an auto nearly rode mom and me over and even after he saw mom was not a little girl. I shouted at him saying “can’t you see and what’s the big hurry” and the moron just laughed – dumb me, expecting good behaviour … After 35 days of having men look at my face while talking, the sudden shift to having many men look below my neck while talking or I walked by, confirmed the fact that we had left the true “Dev Bhumi” Himachal and have come down not just in altitude but attitude as well :(.
Yesterday at 12.30 just as we crossed Nahan, we got an archway that announced “Thanks for your visit. Do come again to Himachal”. Since April 10th till May 13th, it was 33 days of truly being in heaven and amidst nice, genuine, simple Himachali people. The only thing bad in Himachal were the roads and yes, Amit was right about not trusting the pahari with distances…:):) they will tell you it’s just nearby when it’s actually 5 kms away !. We reached Dehradun around 1.30 pm and all three of us really felt sad.
Himachal Pradesh has got our hearts, with not just its natural beauty, but the warmth and genuine-ness of its people. Now, we need to remember the ways of the modern world and that’s just sad. Not looking forward to it much.