Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011

Winter holidays started with Christmas. I love Christmas because of obvious reasons. So I went with maa to GIP to show her what I wanted. And then when I woke up the next morning, Santa had left that exact same toy on my bed! Along with the toy, Santa also gave me a report card this time. I got number of stars but there were a few areas where i need to improve. Hopefully, I'll get good stars for those points the next time around.

After Christmas, I went on a holiday trip with dadaji, dadiji, bua, maa and

papa. We flew to Guwahati and then hired a car to travel around different places. The driver, Bishal was very knowledgeable about local places. I and bua would settle in the last row and i would usually sleep while traveling from one place to another.

First we went to Atanu uncle's place in Guwahati where I made two new friends - Anwesha and Anushka. I had a good time there with both - we even exchanged our rings. Hopefully, i'll see them again.



We then drove to Shillong. It is an amazingly beautiful place with large number of Churches and water falls. We also went to Cherrapunji - its the place that records highest rainfall in the world. We also went to this cave place and I loved it.

After spending two days in Shillong, we drove to Kaziranga. It was a long drive from shillong and we reached kaziranga in the evening. I of course slept during most of the journey. We stayed at this resort with Assamese style huts in the middle of a tea garden. The first evening was spent relaxing and enjoying Assamese food. The sun sets early but the night sky was very clear - something you would never find in Delhi. We spent the evening enjoying Assamese food and staring at the clear sky by the bon fire.

Next morning, we woke up early for elephant safari. I actually woke up without much effort - i wonder why that doesn't happen when i wake up for school. The elephant is a majestic animal and so were the numerous rhinos we saw. My elephant's name was mamoni. I've been to elephant safaris before too and i always wonder why the ride is always so smooth. Even though the forest has huge bumps, the elephant always manages it very well. And my papa can't even ride smoothly on Delhi roads that has only minor bumps as compared to those in the forest. The elephant probably has natural shock absorbers that a car doesn't. Or papa needs to learn how to drive.

We then had a good breakfast and went off for another safari, this time in an open jeep. I loved the trip but there were not too many rhinos out there. We did manage to see many new aquatic birds as well as tortoises lazing around and sun bathing.

This was my third visit to a forest reserve. I've been too Bandipur and Corbett before. But somehow, I've never been able to see a Tiger. I was hoping i'd be able to see it this time but was disappointed yet again. I've started thinking that all those stories of tigers are imaginary.

The highlight of the day was the Assamese folk dance Bihu in the evening. Some local artistes from neighboring villages performed the dance.

Bihu is a very different experience especially if you are a Delhi/Bhangra types and makes you wonder at the amazing cultural diversity in India. We also bought lots of tea from the tea gardens here.

Next morning, we started our trip back to Guwahati. While in Guwahati, I and papa decided to stay back in the hotel and unwind. While everyone else went out to shop, I stayed with papa, watched a Harry Potter movie, slept and did general Aish.

Finally, as with all other good trips, this too ended today and we flew back to Delhi.

Here's wishing everyone a happy and prosperous New Year