Day 3 of our honeymoon trip. That day was still vividly clear to me. Indeed! How can I forget such a trip to Kufri peak in Shimla?
Excited on what we are going to experience, we woke up early, got ready and rode to the entrance to Kufri peak. "One can reach the peak only through a horse ride", we heard a guide offering his service to us.
We booked a ride, rented two rain coats as the guide warned us about the impending weather at the peak and were waiting for the horse owner to bring the horses from their stable (which is nothing but the edge of the road).
"Black horse looks good. I always wanted to ride a black horse", my husband was telling me. While we were waiting, a small boy, who must be sitting in Class Six or Seven, was walking two donkeys towards us.
"See how thoughtful they are? To have a carefree ride, they are providing donkey service to carry our luggages to the peak!", I exclaimed.
"But we don't have any luggage to carry", my husband replied.
As the boy and his donkeys approached us, I told him that we have kept our luggages in our car. Confused, he said, "Ok, now please climb on my horses!"
I was worried if we could still make the trip as it already started drizzling all of a sudden, which is not uncommon at this part of the world. Nevertheless, we started our trip eagerly to have a view from the peak.
We booked a ride, rented two rain coats as the guide warned us about the impending weather at the peak and were waiting for the horse owner to bring the horses from their stable (which is nothing but the edge of the road).
"Black horse looks good. I always wanted to ride a black horse", my husband was telling me. While we were waiting, a small boy, who must be sitting in Class Six or Seven, was walking two donkeys towards us.
"See how thoughtful they are? To have a carefree ride, they are providing donkey service to carry our luggages to the peak!", I exclaimed.
"But we don't have any luggage to carry", my husband replied.
As the boy and his donkeys approached us, I told him that we have kept our luggages in our car. Confused, he said, "Ok, now please climb on my horses!"
I was worried if we could still make the trip as it already started drizzling all of a sudden, which is not uncommon at this part of the world. Nevertheless, we started our trip eagerly to have a view from the peak.
The path to the peak was completely muddy, which together with rain made it inaccessible by walk. With no footpath along, one has to trust their horse for a safe onward and return journey.
Trust, we did. Did we have a choice?
Trust, we did. Did we have a choice?
When you expect something not to happen, Murphy always conspires to make it happen! The donkey (oops! its a horse!) that was carrying me must have been really hungry for it never walked on the path, but instead took me to the edge where it slops downhill, whenever it spots anything that appears green to it.
Add to it the fact that my horse was in competition with my hubby's! When my horse (see? I'm not calling it a donkey any more!) moves to the edge, my hubby's horse takes advantage to go past mine. This is enough to infuriate my horse to go back on track.
At one point, my horse climbed a boulder as it spotted a lone grass. One slip, my horse would have taken me to an "upward" journey! Thanks to Jam's horse which was trying to take advantage of the situation, my horse gave up on its mission to pluck the lone grass and focussed on getting back on track. But it was already on the boulder and did not want to waste time retracing its step!
Knowing what's going to happen, I firmly gripped my horse rope and hugged it tightly. Thud, it jumped down pushing me forward. It was a miracle that I did not fall down on that muddy path!
"Hoooooooo", I heard the horse boy shouting to tease me how I yelled at his horse in fear. "Come to my state. I will tie you up in our auto rickshaw and repeat the same thing", I muttered under my breath.
"Do you want to go for another ride?", he asked us after our return.
"Not on your donkey", we replied in unison.
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