Surprises...good surprises

It came as a pleasant shock when the husband told me that we were taking off to Agra the next day! You know for one, my husband is not really into travelling and definitely not into spur-of-the-moment plans. He is a very careful spender. The kind who saves for a rainy day and me, well...let's just say, i am not the careful spender that he is, though I am sure he wishes I would be. so when he suddenly told me that we needed to take off for a weekend holiday, i was pleasantly taken aback.

I realise that with time now, that we are the proverbial DINK (Double Income No Kids- for the uninitiated), who have reasonably good paychecks, live on our own and don't have to think twice about packing our bags and leaving for a holiday. There have been times when I have moaned to the Lord about not blessing us with children. He chides me, when I complain and tells me to bask in His love for me and to wait on Him.

And sure enough, I love the way God packs a blessing into everything. its like you open your tiffin during lunch at school, to realise dismally that its the same ol' BBJ (bread-butter-jam), that you've begun to detest but then Amma has also packed a bar of KitKat and that's what makes you look forward to finishing your BBJ and then relish the chocolate. (did you get the comparison??)

So on friday night after dinner at 10:30, we sat to surf the Net to look at the various weekend getaway options available. i just love the premise on which the Internet is built - Sharing! If used well, I think it is such an amazing tool which teaches us that it is only in Sharing that we Grow. it is quite the opposite of the idea that says- Don't let the other person know your skills, for fear that he might take it. The Internet strongly believes that No one can take away your mind from you. that's yours, yours alone and no one can steal that from you.

Anyway the Internet gave us 'too' many options. Jaipur, Agra, Nainital, Mussourie, Manali etc...etc, so we decided to 'disconnect' and zeroed in on Agra. Since he would do all the driving, it was better to chose a closer place. that done, we called up our friendly neighbourhood Malayalee tour operator, who promptly suggested to us a hotel of our 'type'.

The most pleased about our trip was our maid, my all-in-one, dependable Razia, who must have been praying to Allah for a 'holiday'. Her otherwise solemn face, lit up like the thousand bulbs on Rajpath in Dilli around Beating-the Retreat, when she heard about her unexpected holiday. 'Apna honeymoon enjay karo', she said cattily, to which my husband seemed visibly surprised at the use of the terms 'honeymoon' and 'enjoy' by Razia. Razia is actually pretty good with English terms, almost leading me to believe that she has a fetish for the language. I have often heard her use English terms with great ease, not even stopping to check if they were appropriate. She doesn't show the same regard for Malayalam and is kind of 'embarassed of the language. But whatever language she speaks, she is an angel.

I suspect this entire trip was Razia's doing. Her life reminds me of the lines from the Alchemist - when you want something really badly (read: holiday), the entire universe conspires to help you achieve it. Speaking of which, I strongly suspect that she must have wanted a break on Sunday and would have not wanted to ask me but would have wanted it desperately anyway.

God bless her, thanks to her...I got to see the Taj...More on the trip in my next post!