Recently I attended a comic stand-up show. The
guy was from Delhi and was talking about the Mumbai Delhi comparisons.
He was very happy when he heard Mumbaikars making
it to the news with the antics pulled up on the opening with the Atul Setu
bridge. This happiness however was short-lived as within a few days a Delhite
made it to news for slapping a pilot on a flight.
He gave up and said Delhi being Delhi making it
to the news always for the wrong reasons, he was happy to call himself a Mumbaikar,
having his base setup here for a few years now. The audience had a good laugh over
it.
Tu jaanta nahi mera baap kaun hain?" tag
line sums up everything when describing the people from the north.
The ones from the North of India don't really
earn themselves a good name when it comes to traveling.
What I did not knew that I would be encountering
one such Gandu on my Ladakh trip.
It was the second last day of the trip when we
had reached Tso Moriri and had settled in a tent camp setup near a flowing
river.
The tent allocated to me was to be shared with
two other people which would include this Gandu (who was also traveling solo)
& another guy. The bed was to be shared by the two of us & the third
guy who was to sleep on the ground with the mattress spread out.
We had reached early in the evening and had our
get together & fun.
I think it was around 10 pm we had dinner and I decided
to go to sleep.
The tent was completely empty. I had my riding gloves,
balaclava, sun glasses kept on a small stool like table.
With the river flowing just next to our tent
& drop in temperature, it was shivering cold. I had put on my winter
jacket, winter gloves & woollen cap and tucked myself in the blanket. My
duffel bag type luggage was just next to the bed which was open a bit.
Lights were put out.
I don't remember when I had fallen asleep, when I
heard someone laughing.
I had tucked myself completely inside my blanket
and could not make sense of it in my sleep. Again I heard someone laughing.
This time I was sure it was a girl’s laugh and moved
my blanket to see her laughing.
There were three girls in the room. One next to
me on the mattress that laid next to my side of the bed. Another sitting on the
other side of the bed and the one laughing was standing at end of my bed along
with the Gandu.
I was trying to make sense of what was happening.
It occurred to me that the Gandu invited these girls to have some fun in our
tent post-midnight. Apparently there were other girls too but they left.
I woke up and told them that since I am trying to
get some sleep, please go to some other tent and continue their entertainment.
The next thing I know the girl who was laughing
& high on drinks crawled on the bed towards me, asking me to move to some
other tent & sleep there.
This girl by the way is a married women who had
come to this trip with her friend who is getting married and wanted to have a
friend’s trip together before she takes the plunge. That friend is the one that
was sitting on the other side of the bed.
I looked around and no one seem to budge or even
make an effort to understand my predicament of trying to get some sleep.
Seeing that no one is ready to go, I tell Gandu
to please move to some other tent so that I can sleep. The smile on his face
had disappeared.
“This tent does not only belongs to you, it
belongs to the other two also” chides the girl sitting on the other side of the
bed. This girl who has a law degree, working in corporate sector & about to
get married.
Seriously is that what the argument will be? You
think common sense would be common, but no its not.
If someone is sleeping in a shared room in the middle
of the night, its common sense/etiquette that one should have their fun
someplace else. Nope that was not going to happen here.
I was a bit taken aback to hear what she said. Thankfully
the owner of the travel agency who organized this trip, a punjabi guy in his
twenties entered the tent just then with bottle of alcohol in his hands.
I told him of my situation and very swiftly he
told them that we move to another tent. I thanked him as they started leaving.
The girl on the other side of the bed was the
last one to leave. She switched off the only light in the tent as she walked
away. As she did that, I told her to switch it back as I saw my stuff lying on
the ground.
My sun glasses, balaclava, gloves, etc. were
lying exactly where I would have probably put my foot down when getting off the
bed. The ones that I had kept on the table.
Before I could recover from that, I saw one of my
travel pouches lying over my legs. I was startled as I never keep it outside
and it always stays in the luggage
Speaking of my luggage, as my eyes searched for
it, it was not there. It was moved all the way at the opposite end next to a
dust bin. My duffle bag zipper was open more than it should have…
That got me riled up like anything. I was pretty
okay with the way the situation ended but seeing my stuff the way it had moved
around was not acceptable to me.
When it comes to handling other people’s
items/stuff, I always make sure that they are kept in a way I would keep mine
but not everyone think alike.
The sleep was literally gone now as I seethe with
anger on how adults can behave like this. I was making my attempts to sleep but
my mind was already in an overdrive mode.
I knew I needed to have a conversation with the
Gandu in the morning.
The night went on a slow mode as I started having
conversation with myself. Sleep was on its way to leave me even as I kept my
eyes closed.
If that was not enough, I could hear alarm
ringing from the cell phone of the third room mate who made his presence felt.
The alarm went on for 3-4 times and finally he got up and left the tent so that
he could watch the sun rise.
Does not matter that other people are sleeping or
tying to sleep. Sleep had left me all along and the only thing that I could do
was get off the bed. It was 6 am in the morning.
I saw the Gandu lost in his sleep while I was the
one who was made to suffer.
I decided to freshen up. No, I did not took a
bath the water was too cold. By the time I came out of the wash room, I saw the
third guy sitting on the mattress.
We had a small chat & I informed him about
the situation that took place last night. I told him about my things being
misplaced, luggage moved and wanted to ask the Gandu about it.
I moved out of my tent as sitting there would
only make things worse. I waited for him to wake up so that I could confront
him. I believe he heard me talking with the third guy and somehow avoided me
completely once he got up as he kept moving in & out of tent.
I entered the tent and finally found him inside.
I asked him about last night & my things being misplaced. There are some
privileged assholes who believe they do no wrong or have the audacity to even
taken a stand for it. He was one of them.
Listening to what I said, the only problem he had
was with my tone. Seriously, how do you expect me to act? That too I was only
asking him.
In a matter of few mins, all the MC, BC were
spurted out and then he says he does not know. States the room does not belong
to you alone. When I asked him about my luggage being moved next to a dust bin.
He justified it saying there was no space for the mattress.
This guy wears specs & apparently he still
cannot see. There was enough space to keep the mattress as it was and perhaps
he also forgot to see that the bed was hollow from the bottom.
If space was a constraint, it could have been
simply moved below it. Keeping next to dust bin is certainly not acceptable.
As we were having an exchange of words, this guy
threatens to beat me up. I told him to try and do that and I will show what I
am. He looks at the entrance of the tent & I look at him and called him
Gandu.
Soon, there was a shift in his eye movement as
they went downwards and I saw the whole guys of our group rushing into our tent
to ensure that we don’t end up beating each other up.
I told everyone what had happened in the night
and all. Listening to me, they asked me that its better you move out of the
tent and come with us. The good thing while all this was happening the Gandu
was standing on one side and rest all of them were standing alongside with me.
This was the last day of our ride and we were
going back to Leh. I moved my luggage to another tent.
Definitely not the kind of situation one would
like to end up that almost ruins the whole trip.
Thankfully, I had people around me who understood
my dilemma & supported me. One of the good things that happened was the
girl who had climbed on my bed apologized to me for her behavior. No one else
did!!
I decided to speak to the organizer of this
trip and guess what, he brushes asides the whole situation stating we will
never let anything happen to you. I expected more than again what can be
expected from him given his own shenanigans led to this kind of situation. That
would require another post to explain.
The third girl sitting on the mattress was sister of this organizer and even she choose not to move that night.
One of the things that I did not understood was
the girls’ response that night, not willing to go. I always thought they are
more wiser than men and know better. Nope, they are not.
We reached Leh that day and I was allocated the
whole room to myself.
This was my first trip to Ladakh and had so many wonderful
experiences & memories and sadly this was going to be one bad remembrance.
We had a bonfire that night post dinner and as the night was
getting darker, I looked at the watch and it was time to call it a night.
Hugged all the guys and bid them goodbye, not knowing if I will be able to meet
with them in the morning while I catch my flight back to home.
It just made me realize that even though I was on
my own, there were people around me who made me feel at home.
