Thimphu - Madarihat

13 April 2011

Today was a historic day. This was Gyan's day, whole and soul. We all owe lots of hearty laughs to him. They say laughing is healthy. If thats the case, then we were the fittest people on earth on this day. As were few others.

Nilu and Doley woke up early to book bus tickets to Phuentsholing. Nilu reasoned, and we all agreed, that Versas weree uncomfortable on hilly roads. A bus would be more comfortable. It actually turned out to be, even more so as it was a Toyota Coaster. Our bus was to depart at 11 AM. But we all faked the departure time to be 9 AM so that we could get ready on time. Gyan and Dutta were not too pleased when they found it out. As we went to the restaurant for breakfast, the guys ordered, what else, pork. Pork chowmein. I ordered aloo parathas. When the guys asked the manager to repeat the order, he came out apologingly and said that they had run out of pork. I had always known and somewhat experienced my mates' appetite for pork, but had not realised the extremity of it.

With our backpacks on, we reached the bus stop with half an hour to spare. This was spent buying churpis, solidified yak milk, and just loitering around. Doley utilized this time to take spy shots of "Buums". As we walked around, some of the taxi drivers thought we had just arrived and started to sing Punjabi songs, "Bole Tara Rara" to attract us. Amusing sight. By 10:45 AM, the coaster was full. So the driver just drove off. In Bhutan, they have a policy of no standing passengers.

The driver was having some trouble with one of the front tyres. So, he stopped at a workshop nearby. At the workshop, we saw a girl fixing a puncture on a tube. Women's Liberation at its finest. Lots to be learnt for our pansies here.

The driver was splendid. We could hear the tyres screeching as he was negotiating the curves. We dare not ride our motorcycles at that speed on these roads. For lunch, we stopped at a roadside restaurant. Mutton, Beef and Pork rice were ordered. The meat was awesomely cooked. We were left licking our fingers.

Now, let me tell you about the first record smasher by Gyan. We had a good conversation with another passenger in the bus, Sonam Sir. He was a teacher and had explored India, and even the world, extensively. He gave us plenty of information. He even invited us to visit him at his hometown Bhumthang where he would treat us for free. His statement, "There's no other country like India", takes the trophy. During the journey, he even played Creed's Six Feet, earning more respect. I wanted to copy a couple of Jongkha songs from his phone. He handed over his Samsung phone to me. Gyan owns a Samsung as well. As I was unable to transfer the songs, Gyan took over. He copied some 5-odd songs from Sonam Sir's phone. Then I took Gyan's phone to copy them in mine. As I finished, I put on my handsfree to enjoy the songs. What turned on was a shocker. They were some itsy-bitsy English numbers. I turned to Gyan.

"How many songs did you copy?"

Answer: 6-7.

"Anyone of them in Jongkha?"

Answer: No.

Wails of laughter followed. We owe such landmark moments to Gyan. Even the bus driver was trying to control his laughter. But the biggest moment was still to come.

As we reached Phuentsholing, the weather got quite warm. We crossed the border into our own country. Car horns greeted us. Welcome to India. But we still love it, dont we? We took a taxi to Madarihat. This driver was also a racer. He was driving as if his Omni was a 4X4. He dropped us at the IOC guest house in no time.

The news was not welcome. The guest house had to entertain a few cops on election duty. That left with only one room for five of us. We didnt mind. We all crashed out on the floor. This time, we opened the Courier. In between all the leg-pulling, time was moving towards our most memorable moment.

Gyan has a dirty habit of leaving a portion of his last peg. We had been quite fed up with this for quite some time. He doesnt even give a reason for it. So when we figured out that this was going to be the last peg, we didnt offer any to Gyan. He had finished his earlier peg by now so there was none to be wasted. Usually, we dont like to refuse people drinks, but he had to be taught a lesson. Slowly, his frustration began to climb. Now it had reached the breaking point. As we were about to finish our pegs, he got up in a confident manner. That was the first mistake. Then, he reached into a bag and took out a whiskey bottle. Second mistake. Now he began to mock us, "You think I'm an arse?". Third mistake. He began to shake the bottle in front of us repeating the same line. Fourth mistake. Now Nilu stepped out from the bathroom and saw what was going on. He knew exactly what was going to happen. He just calmly said to me, "Be ready for the shock on Gyan's face". As Gyan started to pour himself a peg, he realized that it was the trophy bottle Nilu had packed from the day before in his bag. Empty. Now, he was red faced, with embarassment. The rest of us were also red faced, with hilarious guffaws. Till date we don't remember how much time passed before we were able to get back to normal. I'm almost breaking down again as I write this.

The only drawback of such landmark moments is that any future moment has to live up to at least half that level so that we can enjoy a good laugh. Also, it can be broken by only the same person. It hasn't happened till now.