My Way, On The Highway...

It was that time, that time to head back to where I grew up, Yamuna Nagar....

We set out on a foggy winter morning, this January, from Delhi. The fog lifted, thankfully, by the time we were crossing the Delhi-Haryana border.

In no time we were in Haryana - wide open expanse of farmlands, on both sides of National Highway 1, with upcoming developments at regular intervals - motels, restaurants, dhabas, factories and what not....

We stopped by for breakfast at this dhaba called Star Dhaba....

Oh God! The Baristas and the Subways and the Baskin Robbins of the world won't spare us here also...

But for me, dhaba food is all about parathas and makhan!

On the way to Yamuna Nagar, we stopped by at Karnal's National Dairy Research Institute.....

We always used to stop by here to pick up the amazing cheddar cheese they used to make....

That was one of the thrills of my childhood - having NDRI's cheese!

And we headed to the Milk Parlour where NDRI's merchandise is retailed....

The weather was awesome with a biting nip in the air....

And the Sun rays streaming through the canopies of the trees around us and the birds chirping made the atmosphere magical....

How wonderful is my Haryana!

How much I miss the days that I spent here....

Just as we were moving out of NDRI, my FlightRadar24 phone app scanned a few cross-continental flights right above us.... There was a Turkish Airlines Boeing 777 headed to Singapore from Istanbul at flight level 360 - from up there, this place would have looked like paradise.... green, neat and inviting!

We set course for Yamuna Nagar - this is where I spent a large of my childhood and early teens...

We got off the National Highway 1, turned right on too State Highway 7 towards Indri and Ladwa from where we were to get onto State Highway 6 towards Yamuna Nagar....

Just after getting on to State Highway 7, my parents suggested we stop at a basmati miller's factory outlet - I had this rice before and it was pretty good...

The outlet itself was a bit shabby, but who cared as long as the product was good...

White rice, brown rice, fragrant rice - all from my land of milk and honey, Haryana!

All this would travel back with us to our homes in Mumbai, Delhi and Beijing - the sweet aroma of Haryana's basmati will waft around in alien lands!

And we continued on with our journey through the narrow State Highway 7 - with green fields around us on both sides and leisurely pace of village life all around us, it was as though I was transported back in time to days when I used to travel between Chandigarh and Yamuna Nagar or between Delhi and Yamuna Nagar - it did seem that little had changed on these roads.... but a lot had changed in our lives, quite a lot!