“I understand that they have came here to learn Yoga and Indian Spirituality; but besides that what they exactly do? Rest of the day or remaining of their stay? How about the cost of living, earning etc. how do they manage?”She was so full of questions, perplexed looking around at all these ashrams and their inhabitants- specially non-Indians. I, on the other hand, was making all possible efforts to answer her stream of questions.

This is my first memory of my first trip together with my mother to the Devbhoomi of Indians – Uttarakhand. While the magnificent, ancient Ganga flowed by, we were relaxing on a deserted ghat save some sleeping sadhu, taking our surroundings in. This being the first time my mother going to Rishikesh, she was curious to know about all these foreign residents of this holy city. Well, let’s just say I tried my best to quell her curiosity and I might have been successful because she didn’t have these questions when we returned to Rishikesh few years later.

Well, let’s get back to our first trip once more. For Maa, the lasting memory of Rishikesh is always going to be the Ganga Aarti on the ghats. She admired those young pupils reciting ancient words, people chanting of shlokas but what impressed her most is calming effect this collective experience brings to the mind.

A day later, she attended a similar Ganga Aarti at Haridwar too. But this was all too emotional experience for her, as the person who described it was no more with her but his memories surrounded her and their daughter (me).

Besides the temples, my reasons for bringing to Uttarakhand was to introduce her to the majestic, awesome beauty of the Himalayas. For that we moved eastwards to Ranikhet. But not before a single night halt at Nainital.

And did she loved the famed destination of Naini Lake? , oh yes!! I always knew that Maa is an ardent fan of classic Hindi cinema, but I was astonished by her recounting movies after movies which were shot in precisely this location. The hotel we stayed in was a big surprise to her, as being one of the oldest establishment around; some of those silver screen stars might have surely walked on these very paths.

Whenever I think of that day; I have so many memories of Maa reciting old Hindi songs, looking over the Naini Lake glistening in the late afternoon light and going for a stroll on the way from the Naina Devi Temple in the chilly winter evening.

The last stop for our journey was Ranikhet. One look over the garden of the heritage hotel and she was awestruck with those ice capped peaks of eastern Himalayas.

We literally spent our waking hours in that garden; either enjoying the sumptuous breakfasts and lunches or just sitting in the grass engrossed in our individual books.

Ranikhet is the place where we found banks with the most picturesque views, me and Maa both agreed on this. The walk around the town was most remarkable for her as she could see the Cantonment areas up close; the ardent admirer that she is of our armed forces, Maa was pleased to see this area.

Needless to say we returned home with a promise to follow this with many more trips in the future. And, yes we kept that promise. Despite the efforts on her health, Maa has always been enthusiastic about our following trips to Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and New Delhi.

But the lasting image of that first trip to Uttarakhand was my Maa saying “Goodbye, till we meet again!” to the Himalayas while leaving Ranikhet, with a Namastey and heartfelt smile. Oh, how I waited for that smile for 8 long years and cherished it in my heart ever since.

Whatever the ‘new normal’ be and whenever that happens, me and Maa will surely be returning to the mountains.