As a child, like most middle-class Indian couples, my parents and my siblings used to go for a mandatory summer vacation every year. Most of the times it was at my Nani’s place in Kolkata, but occasionally when my father used to get LTC we ventured out in other places.
We visited few places in India over the years, but somewhere I had a deep desire to visit Shimla in Himachal Pradesh. Every year I would suggest my parents to take a vacation to Shimla, but for some reason or the other it never happened. Soon, we grew up and those vacations became less.
Years later, I got married to a Bengali man, who like me was born and brought up outside Bengal. I spent most of my life in Gujarat and he was born and brought up in Himachal Pradesh. Post marriage we were in Mumbai. Back then, my husband worked with a PSU Bank and two years later got a promotion. As per the rules, he had to go for a rural posting. Since he was considered to be a Himachal domicile, he got his rural posting in Dharamsala.
It was like a dream for me! All I wanted was to visit Shimla for a vacation as a child and here I was going to spend some years in Himachal! Soon, we landed in the beautiful Dharamsala. We bought our first car there. Since my husband is passionate about driving and knew Himachal inside out, we went to a lot of places in Himachal just like that! We would simply take off in the evenings or on holidays with our then 2-year-old son. My husband took me to the interiors of Himachal where there was untouched and mesmerizing beauty. Soon my husband got transferred to Mandi and we visited Kullu Manali often. I still remember how we impulsively went to Rohtang Pass and that’s when I cherished my first snowfall.
My childhood dream was only to visit Shimla and here I got married to a man with whom I had some beautiful memories of Himachal Pradesh. Himachal still is close to my heart and we took a road trip from Mumbai to Himachal with our children three years ago.
Dreams can come true; you simply don’t know when and how! So, never give up, keep dreaming!
Life and its different shades 