As we were crossing the lake, my parents started to walk down the memory lane. Maa said, “See, Didi, when we came here for the first time it was not so developed. Do you remember Raka’s Dad?” She never calls my father by his name. Probably their generation is the last generation to maintain this old custom. He replied, ” Now it has completely changed. In 1992, there was the only boating facility for the tourists. You were so afraid to boat Rinti.” Ma replied, “Huh.”
They were being so nostalgic. And I was deaf. Lost in the world of melodies, I was looking at the full-bloomed trees standing in the cricks of the hill. Once I dreamt that I hugging my soulmate under a cherry tree in full bloom. As it was a dream of early morning, I hope that someday it will come true.
Maa kept telling her honeymoon story as we were going towards our destination.
“Back then, people went to Guwahati first by train and then by the road they accessed to Shillong. You know Didi, that was a turmoil era. Terrorism was on the rise in North East India. There was an atmosphere of hatred against the Bengalis here. But we were young and unaware of the situation. So we bought the ticket and that was my train journey. You can’t imagine how agile her father was. He was getting off the train at each platform and I was terrified. What if he misses the train?” Dad mildly protested, “It was not like that.” My mother continued ignoring him, “We travelled to Shillong by a bus from Shiliguri. He booked a honeymoon suite for us already in Hotel Peak.”
I asked, “How much did it cost?” With a smile, Maa replied, “Only 350 bucks.”
I screamed, “Holy crap within 350 you got a complete suit? And after 26 years you are paying 2500 bucks for one room.” My uncle smiled and said, “We have not included the meals yet.”
By then our car had already reached in the city. It was a crowded city. People were fashionable. Hoardings for the festival were displayed all over the city. The main ground for the festival was chosen to be the Polo Ground. Dad said, “O God! It has changed so much.” After some time we reached our hotel. To be honest, I loved the location of it. It was situated in a small serene locality. The rooms were big and airy and the building was super clean. As for lunch, our driver took us to a nearby resto-bar. And yeah, the food was super tasty.
Moonstruck 
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