A Trip I’ll Never Forget
It is a thing for
North-Eastern folks now to fly out to the south of India whenever we need
serious medical opinions. My family is one of them. In 2014, when dad was
having a bad year with his hyperthyroidism, we decided it was time to make a
trip down to Chennai. The objective: get dad checked up and discover the South.
In December that year,
we started this journey from our hometown Golaghat and travelled 190 km by bus to
the nearest airport at Dibrugarh. We flew from Dibrugarh in an Indigo Airlines plane to Kolkata where our connecting flight to Chennai was waiting. In the
second plane, we were joined by two other families who had the same objective
as us. When we landed on the south soil, we were welcomed at the airport by a
lovely Assamese couple who we had only contacted once before. They had arranged
everything for us --- cabs, hotel rooms and a doctor’s appointment at Apollo Hospital.
They weren’t agents though and didn’t charge us anything. They were good
people.
The first two days were
spent running around Apollo’s premises. The doctor told us that it would take
him around three days to provide a final report and we decided to use that time
to travel around. The first thing we visited was Arignar Anna Zoological Park and we
had a very good time there. I even touched a brave deer that walked up to
humans. We also visited the Chennai State Museum. I loved the rare collections
and the history that the museum showed me.
Day 4 of our time at Chennai was beach day. We visited two beaches that
day – Golden Beach and Marina Beach. Golden Beach was the first one we went to.
I was super excited to go near to the sea and feel the salty air as I had never
been to a beach before. We also went to the VGP Universal Kingdom Amusement Park
that lay adjacent to Golden Beach. After having a great time at the amusement
park, we went to Marina Beach. Marina Beach had the longest stretch of sand
that I have ever seen and it was filled with people.
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| I got chased down by a T-Rex at the museum |
We were walking around on the beach when two guys approached us and
enquired if we would like to take pictures with a white horse. Mom said ‘Why
not?’ and another guy brought in a beautiful white horse near us. They also had
a photographer with a big DSLR camera, who offered to take our photos and print
them for a minimal charge. I, mom and dad took turns riding onto the horse’s
saddle and had our photographs taken.
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| That's mom. Staring at the white horse |
Day 6 was spent entirely on the hotel and the next morning we boarded a
train to home. The thing that makes this trip so special is the way we
returned. We went there sad and tensed but when we came back --- we were
totally happy human beings.
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