Perhaps it was the nature of my dad’s job that planted the seed of travel early in life. He was serving Border Security Force and I hardly remember staying in one place for more than 3-5 years. We were always on the move. For most part of his tenure we were in J&K and that’s why I love the state so much. I have some very good friends there. The people are warm, friendly and helpful. Once I sneaked out some 40 km away from the campus for a game of cricket and my parents thought I have been kidnapped! Sadly, that was the time when militancy was rearing its head and hence the fear of kidnapping.

Tungnath

For a brief period we were in West Bengal and I had hard time adjusting to mosquitoes there. Language was another issue, hardly anybody knew Hindi. My brother and sister were miserable in school. The school has imposed fine on speaking Hindi and Bengali, and poor kids had no idea about English. I relished hogging on to rosgullas there, and cannot forget kheer made of kajoor gur (jaggery made of date palm). The best part, by the time we left Bengal, I had picked some words of Bengali like –bhaalo, daarun, tumar na ki… J

Such is the diversity of India. No matter where you go, there is something to learn, enjoy, laugh, and to talk about. GhoomIndiaGhoom is an excuse to share my thoughts on travel and other things that excite and incite the rebel in me.

I can be reached at indiaghoom at gmail.com