On the Road Again...

After a week in Amritsar we head to Shimla. Shimla being a mountain top Hill Station is hard to imagine starting the trip in an "air conditioned" coach with sweat forming at the backs of my knees. Five hours for the mountains to prove that they really do exist. Leaving Amritsar was perfect. Param Jit would not let us go without tea and a pastry flaked dunker (not the official name). We drank the tea standing feeling half obliged and half grateful to have some home town love running through our system. This was a big departure from a week of relaxing with friends, having everything figured out for us and over all feeling as cushiony as we could imagine in India. Amar Jit and I discussed that their living room clock was a half an hour off and that the bus was leaving in ten minutes time as we shuffled into the early morning light. We were already five minutes late from the suggested time to calmly find our seat at the back of the bus. Instead we waited five more minutes while Amar Jit and Param Jit argued if it would take 10 or 3 minutes to drive to the bus. Param Jit seemed to win as we departed the house with three minutes to go. We arrived to the bus stop, handed over our nicely packed bags to the young man who threw them under the bus and we hurriedly walked past all the other patiently waiting passengers. Steve assured me not to worry as one more sorry chap won the prize of last man on the bus. A moment before we boarded, Param Jit gave me a huge hug and whispered God Bless. And moments before that he said, "see only three minutes!" A perfect good bye.