Tuesday 31 July 2007

Yeh Dosti...

Hargobind and I have a very special relationship with our cousins – they are not only our family (where we have no choice), but our friends (where we do). When we were younger our circles were different – during our school holidays we would all head to our grandparents home in Ulu Yam, where the boys rolled about in the mud and severed the heads of their action figures, while the girls sat beautifully in their dresses and held intelligent conversation (oh alright, that’s a mild exaggeration :p). However as the years are going by the boundaries are crumbling and our two sides have pretty much merged :).
...
all of us in the cable car
back L-R: Manmeet, Tarsem, Hargobind and Manpreet
front L-R: Sharan and me

...

The last few years have been hectic with all of us finishing school and pursuing higher education all over the place… so we treasure our moments together all the more. Usually we end up bumming either in Ulu Yam or in one of our homes, but his time we decided to give our poor parents and grandparents a break and head elsewhere. We finally settled on Langkawi – it’s a beautiful island off the northwest coast of Malaysia and Hargobind is in flying school there so he knows his way around.

We timed it for when our 2 Penangite cousins would be in town: there is the soon-to-be-dentist Manmeet (Manipal), and the following-the-family-steps accounting student Trishvin (Auckland). Trishvin ditched Langkawi for a road trip around South Island (to be honest any of us would have done the same!) and so we missed her this time round – but there was still more than enough noise with the rest of the crew.

The theme song of our trip was Yeh Dosti (from the movie Sholay – it is a cute and cheesy song about everlasting friendship and never breaking apart), which we randomly started singing in the car one day and then couldn’t stop. It just seemed appropriate somehow :)

Here are some pictures from that weekend.

randomness by the beach

our car was too small for us so we had a strict, fixed seating plan without which the doors wouldn't shut! Manmeet calls it the BPS: Bum Positioning System :p

an unexpected bout of twee-ness: with my brother Hargobind

Manmeet and Manpreet terrorising the hermit crabs

Tarsem and Hargobind on the top of the world :)

pretty pretty, eh?

a sisterly moment with Sharan and Manmeet on the hammock-that-hit-the-ground

lounging in our gorgeous bungalow by the beach

at the cable car viewing platform, filming the sequel to Don

Shah Rukh Khan: Manpreet Kaur, badmash: Tarsem Singh, bimbo girlfriend: Manmeet Kaur, oblivious indian bystander: Hargobind Singh

we had gone up just before sunset, it had been a rainy evening and the sun was slowly breaking through the clouds as we were about to leave

the girls on the wave-breaker

As it turned out, the weekend that we chose happened to be the one just before my birthday, and the cheeky lot planned a little surprise dinner and cake to celebrate. What they did not plan, however, was being serenaded by the owner (Dasch) with a guitar until the wee hours of the morning while singing along to Simon and Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, old Hindi sings, random hotchpotch, and of course, many repeats of ‘Yeh Dosti’!

Thanks guys, it was a great way to celebrate my birthday and I really had a fantabulous evening :)

On the wall of our Ulu Yam house hangs an old pictureframe with a faded saying: The family that prays together, stays together. In Ulu Yam, it is practically a law for us to do our Japji first thing in the morning, and in the evening the entire family sits in a circle for Rehraas. Thats the way we've all been brought up by our Nanaji, and whenever we are together (even if its not at Ulu Yam), the training is so ingrained in us that we keep to that tradition.

And so here we are, doing our Nitnem by the beach. (Manpreet has her arm around 'Manmeet' while I'm holding up the letter 'M' to show that she was there :)

It is my theory that the force that keeps us together is all that fresh milk Naniji forces down our throats in Ulu Yam :)

The one picture I wish I had is of our last few moments in Langkawi, where we were all standing on the jetty, panting for breath, waiting for the ferry to turn back because we were late and it had left without us! We had a sound telling-off from the lady on duty, which we endured with sheepish looks and many 'sorrys' :)

Sharan, Manmeet, Tarsem, Hargobind, Manpreet: I had a great time, here's to all that Ulu Yam Da Duddh and the family that stays together :)

3 comments:

Gurumustuk Singh said...

Harkiren...nice pics. *sigh* I wish I was there on the beach relaxing with you guys. Looks like you had fun. One of these days when Charanjeet is a bit older I'll actually have a chance to relax on a vacation hahaha!

I didn't know you had a brother either. You have a great family :)

Harkiren Kaur said...

It did turn out to be a lot more fun than we could have anticipated.. and hanging out with the family is always a good laugh!

Be careful what you wish for though: I hear children are all the more charming when they are toddling about - they become more and more difficult as the years go by.

I know this because I speak from my own experience - of my own childhood! :)

Hargobind Khalsa said...

i am never forgetting that experience. time stood still during those 2 days. thank you for coming all the way up there.

the silent force