Chandigarh, apart from being famous for a well-planned and laid-out city also boasts of two man-made things - The Rock Garden & the Sukhna Lake. They both are about 2 kms apart on the same road. Calling it a lake is misnomer; like Lake Michigan it is huge except that there are no waves. It also has a bridge built across and you can't see shore-to-shore.
Coming back to the story, the rock garden was coming to an end and after waterfalls the path lead to an open ground that crowded and was like a fair. Swings, sweet-meat sellers, soveignier sellers etc. Kids were not interested, feet were aching with all that walking and climbing stairs up and down and the tummy was growling. We were there for almost 1-1/2 hrs. Now was the time to proceed to the wedding party. In about 15 mins we reached the hotel, freshened ourselves in the washroom and proceeded to the venue. There was "chela" with his better-half by his side on the dias and had a funny ear-to-ear grin plastered across his face. Seemed very happy and on top of the world. I glanced at my wife of 23 years and shook my head sadly sideways. Wanted to tell him - Son, you dunno what you are getting into and there nothing to be elated about. Didn't have the heart to say this.
We all went up on the dias to greet the happy couple and after congratulating and blessing them handed over a small token of our love to them that we had carried from Gurgaon. I hope they have liked it and found useful too.
We came down and sat with other guests. With the corner of my eye I spied Pankaj talking to one elderly gent and pointing towards us. He turned out to be his father who greeted us and ensured that we were comfortable. The drinks and snacks were served and were in good supply and after a while the lunch was served. We all had our lunch and washed it down with some very crispy delicious 'jalebis' with rabari. I'm sure my sugar levels would've gone for a six...
After exchanging pleasantries we took leave from Pankaj & his wife and then proceeded towards Sukhna Lake. It was 3 pm and we wanted to head back by 5 pm. Sukhna was crowded since it was Sunday and there was a huge que for buying tickets for boating. We deferred that and generally admired the surroundings.
The lake has an abundance of ducks of myriad types. People feeding them dirty the surroundings with strewn plastic wrappers of various eatables. Lays, Bingos, peanuts and many other things are fed to the ducks. When are we going to learn....
Prologue
After Sukhna it was time to leave. As soon as the Scorpio was eased out of the parking, I discovered that one end of the road was closed as it was 5 pm. I found that it is closed everyday at the same time. The reason, known to Administration. So had to take the same way back out of the city. This closing of road, I feel is by design - a pact between the housewives, the shopkeepers of Sector 17 and the Administration. You've to go past Sector-17 which is best known market of C'garh.
And before I could even fathom, the Scorpio was safely ensconed in the market's parking slot. So, after about an hour of roaming around and pocket lightened by 5K we returned. But wait, the saga doesn't end here. Like a jilted lover, who on a rebound goes and marries his/her neighbour who initially never was in the crosshairs, I walked into the Woodlands showroom and spent 2.5K to shod my feet..
Did somebody say that Woodlands have a bigger and better showroom in Delhi/NCR? Well, I didn't hear.
Finally, we left Chandigarh at 6 pm. The fog was settling in and was getting denser. Apart from this the drive again was uneventful. We again stopped at that karnal midpoint, refreshed and reached GGN at midnight after being stuck for more than an hour at Delhi's entrypoint....When is this traffic mess going to improve?