I can never get enough of the dusty ravines of the Chambal Valley. Since my first ever visit to this untouched corner of India over a decade ago, my fascination has not lessened any. Given a chance and time, I return with unfailing regularity to soak in the untamed magnificence of the terrain.
This one time, I had more than just a “soak”; in fact, I had a mighty drench! A car breakdown short of the pontoon bridge at sleepy Pinahaat had meant some amount of waiting for repair or recovery. Tired from the bumpy ride and shrouded in fine dust, I decided to walk down to the river less than a kilometre away to wash up.
As I approached the river front, the distinct splatter of falling water became audible; then visible, as I walked under what I assumed was a bridge. Turns out it was the waterworks and the overspill was creating a massive, very welcoming ‘waterfall’. You know where this is going, don’t you?
I furtively looked around for a blind spot from those crossing the bridge, and found an old structure to be the perfect foil for what I hoped would not be too public an ablution. Laying down my daypack inside the abandoned edifice, I quickly changed into a handy pair of shorts and T, and darted under the water spill.
It was delightful! Once the initial, and very physical, shock of the water beating down on me from an indeterminate height receded, that is. I don’t recollect how long I pranced around under the spill; but it certainly had me experience the awesomeness of simply being.
Puneetinder Kaur Sidhu, travel enthusiast and the author of Adrift: A junket junkie in Europe is the youngest of four siblings born into an aristocratic family of Punjab. Dogged in her resistance to conform, and with parental pressure easing sufficiently over the years, she had plenty of freedom of choice. And she chose travel.
She was born in Shimla, and spent her formative years at their home, Windsor Terrace, in Kasumpti while schooling at Convent of Jesus & Mary, Chelsea. The irrepressible wanderlust in her found her changing vocations midstream and she joined Singapore International Airlines to give wing to her passion. She has travelled extensively in Asia, North America, Australia, Europe, South Africa and SE Asia; simultaneously exploring the charms within India.
When she is not travelling, she is writing about it. Over the past decade or so, she has created an impressive writing repertoire for herself: as a columnist with Hindustan Times, as a book reviewer for The Tribune and as a contributor to travel magazines in India and overseas. Her work-in-progress, the documenting of colonial heritage along the Old Hindustan-Tibet Road, is an outcome of her long-standing romance with the Himalayas.
