Hathras to Hong Kong in 21 Years
I don’t exactly remember when the last time I went for a Bromantic trip (a term coined to amplify brotherly love 🙂 ha! I immediately fell in love with the term “Bromance” when I first heard it off Facebook (another benefit of safe social networking, thanks to all my wise FB contributors and to the nutty ones too…lol) Yeah, I guess it was summer of 1993 or so… that was the last time when two of us (the Baswan brothers) got out on a solo road trip. That was to a small town 230 kilometers northwest of Delhi and I guess we went there to resolve my brother’s astrological mystery looming over his fate as we didn’t know his exact time of birth. We were hoping to get some clue from the super-efficient Hathras Munciple administration (that was wishful thinking at its best ha!)
Another compelling reason for me was to taste the super delicious Hathras Rabri (a type of condensed milk custard) and my granny’s handmade meals that I used to relish ah! started drooling already thinking of that yummy aloo gobhi with poori and halwa! God bless Granny for creating those neural pathways that taste is still safely registered at some hexadecimal address in my memory. It is actually a bit crazy to compare the two cities and by far there is no correlation between the two, apart from the only two cities in the world I had made a solo leisure trip with my brother as of now. Later one is actually one of the greatest countries in the south of China whereas the former is just some small town of western UP (India). The only importance in the present is it’s my brother’s place of birth.
To me, that bus journey from South Hong Kong Island to Hong Kong Central was no different from Delhi to Hathras. Probably because I had the same company that no other person can give in this world. That is why they say the relationship is the best thing to cherish forever, this reminds me of famous lines from Fast and furious 7 paying tribute to Paul Walker…
[last lines]
Dominic Toretto: [remembering the time he had with Brian] I used to say I live my life a quarter mile at a time and I think that’s why we were brothers – because you did too. No matter where you are, whether it’s a quarter mile away or halfway across the world. The most important thing in life will always be the people in this room, right here, right now. Salute mi familia. You’ll always be with me. And you’ll always be my brother…
Coming back to Hong Kong, after some painful cross border experience (actually maybe second worse, worst was Shalu losing her passport in Thailand) this time we were travelling from Shenzen to Hong Kong and for the first time in my life I crossed over from one country to another on foot. Just cross the bridge from Shenzen to Hong Kong and you are in a different nation wolla!
We took a train to Hong Kong Central and first thing I noticed on the way out was Coca-Cola hoarding at Hong Kong Central just like at Kings Cross in Sydney. That reminded me Coca Cola had set up their first factory in Hathras ending 26 years of political exile from India and we got to drink one straight from the fresh red crates during our first solo trip to Hathras 21 years ago. It was probably one of the first Coke bottles on the first-day coke relaunched and guess what? It was served in Coke’s trademark 250 ml bottle. I felt pretty swish (didn’t know much about coke at that time) but I just had it as my brother was keen on tasting it and I tell you he wasn’t wrong.
We thought that was an accomplishment! it was probably the first Coke bottle of my life lol… Although we got used to Thumbs Up much popular alternative to Coke in India till date. I quickly gathered my focus back to finding our hotel coach pick-up point at Hong Kong Central it was bloody confusing and we frantically ran from one exit to another finally making it. Once again we came back to the same spot the big Coke hoarding except this time we chose to have some beer instead… bloody grownup kids I tell you 🙂
Originally Posted On May 23, 2015, By Arvind J Baswan