Thursday, July 23, 2015

Hakone Romance Express


It was raining in bangalore. Stuck in a traffic jam with radio glaring a song from Ek Villain. My daughter was humming the song, one of her favourites and in the midst of all the traffic chaos the lyrics were kinda soothing, What is it about music and it transcends you into a different time,  mind wavers back in memories chooses where one can associate this feeling to and lo behold I feel as though lyrics/words in the song have a direct association with my past, isnt this what I felt exactly when in hakone....

Jise zindagi dhoondh rahi hai
Kya ye woh makaam mera hai
Yahaan chain se bas ruk jaaun
Kyun dil ye mujhe kehta hai
Jazbaat naye se mile hain
Jaane kya asar ye huaa hai
Ik aas mili phir mujhko
Jo qubool kisi ne kiya hai

hmm those were the times

 A few friends decided on a late friday evening to head out to hakone. We had heard a lot about this place and planning fell on my plate as always. Like it always happens a lot of them dropped out at the nth minute, giving some one or the other crazy reason. Crazy are the ways of life, love beckons when you least suspect it to. Finally it was just the two of us left.  

      As always I guess I was the earlier of the two, reached Shinjuku and walked up to the times square. I thought I would call her. I hardly knew her, I was hoping we could just call this off, maybe plan it some other time. Then I remembered my friends words, she was leaving back to India soon for her wedding and had always planned to do the trip to hakone. She had looked forward to it from the day she landed in Japan. She had always wanted to experience the onsen. She had spoken on length on the health benefits of hot springs and how this trip was an opportunity for her to experience it first hand. My friend was like look I know I am putting you in a spot, but just take her around, not fair that we kill someone's wish just because we suddenly got busy or had other priorities come up and moreover you are free this weekend, why don't you just go out and have fun.
      
      Then after a while she appeared like a whiff of fresh air. Wearing a blue capri with a white sleeveless top, hair tied in a bun with the small strands of hair falling out of the broach. Her face was so cute, the hair tied up let one look at the long neck and gave a glimpse of the skin unseen and usually hidden behind her long hair. There was something classy about her, it was just not the dress, she had accessorised pretty well.  She was wearing circular earrings, seemed like steel but guessed it was different, platinum maybe but definitely not silver.  She was wearing a Tag Heuer, blue adidas sport shoes with ankle length socks. A stole to go with the casualness. An ipod tucked in her jeans and earphones stuck in one of her ears.   She was on the phone and seemed hysterically angry at something. 

    I had an inkling that she had no clue that everyone had bailed out, guess they were informing her of that now. I could sense that anger in her face and disillusionment on what seemed like a well thought out plan falling apart.

In the moment all I could do was stand there sheepishly and grin. I had no clue on what was round the corner. I was hoping she would come and say lets drop it and we can go our way home.
    
     She came near the Takashimaya Times Square entrance and she was equally at loss of words. Everyone has dropped out and I guess its just the both of us she said, I said yeah I know. She went on cursing her luck and how its all about Murphy's law and this was it. At some time during the conversation, I couldn't help but look at her face, so cute yet now holding back tears. Gosh poor thing I thought, then in the back of my mind I started thinking what do I stand to lose, just a weekend trip, why not talk her into still going.

     She was very persuasive, I said lets just have a coffee and talk it over. Over the coffee, we started talking and one conversation led to another. Sitting there I could smell the nice perfume, is it Christian Dior, smelled a lot flowery. I was trying to figure out which it might be while talking her into going for the trip. Finally I said, so what do you say, lets go enjoy hakone and let our friends die with jealousy. She just giggled and said lets do it.
   
    We boarded the romance express from tokyo. It was a limited express and to my surprise it was full. Had not thought that hakone would be such a wanton destination over the weekend. The romance car was luxurious compared to the standard express trains. It had wide windows and comfy seating. So for once we were not complaining. It was a good one and a half hour travel to hakone from shinjuku. After we started from shinjuku, she felt like having something to drink and I was not patient enough to wait for the steward to place the order, so we walked to the car having the cafe and bought our drinks. She was a souvenir person and she picked up a key chain in the form of VSE. I had done enough homework before booking the tickets and had reserved an observation deck seat 
The observation deck seat was awesome. Journey was peaceful still we started talking and like always with both of us being argumentative, there was no dearth of situations where other people in the train gave us a smirk and ensured we went silent and shut our mouth. 
        It is very difficult to keep two chatterboxes silent. In no time we were back giggling and gossiping about nonsensical things. The subjects kept changing and I was amazed as to how we waded through seamlessly on a lot of topics, agreeing on some disagreeing on more. Yet each one of us trying to hold onto our forte on the various conversations, not ready to give up on our stance.

We finally arrived at hakone and got out of the train. She saw that it was a dead end and said, I am curious as to how they will shunt the train out and reverse it for the folks who will board the train. She asked me if the train will travel with the folks turning backwards. I said just wait and see its a secret what they do. She said tell na, I want to know how they would manage it. I said no you need to wait and check it out yourself.
         There was a schoolgirl kind of glee in her face as she was waiting to check what would happen and slowly the seats began to turn and face the opposite side. I could sense from her face a sense of surprise of bewilderment as that was not something she had expected. Its so nice to feel that innocent smile on a cherubic face, something that wants one to try and do something, try to surprise a loved one, just to smile ourselves as a result.

            She asked me so Som, what's the idea, you are my guide for next two days, what have you planned for us. Thats when she noticed a few kids having softee's. She asked me can we buy one. While we were gorging on the ice cream I said my favorite however, was the sweet potato ice cream. It’s made with murasaki-imo, which give it a nice purple color. It’s deliciously sweet and mellow, and unlike anything I’ve ever tried before. She said can we find that here, I said I had tried that in kamakura and was not sure if it would be available here. Next time she said she would visit kamakura and try that ice cream. Sweet potato ice cream thats a first she said. With a naughty smile she asked if I were messing with her and if there really was a sweet potato ice cream which is that too purple in colour. I couldnt help but smile and say that its the truth. She said sweet potato was one of her favourite vegetables, her granny used to cook great sweet potato cooked and then marinated in curds. Her granny would surely love the idea of a sweet potato ice cream.

The route we had to cover was as below 

(Hakone 3)-->9:01 Hakone-Yumoto 9:15--(Bus route D, or B which runs every 15 minutes on weekdays, every 10 minutes on weekends)-->9:50 Moto Hakoneko (Moto Hakone Pier) 10:10--(Pirate Boat, runs every 30 minutes.)-->10:35 Togendai --(ropeway 8 minutes, runs every minute.)--> Owakudani (Get around the hot spring, and eat the black egg.)--(ropeway 8 minutes)-->Sounzan 13:00--(Cable Car, runs 3 times an hour.)-->13:09 Gora 13:23--(Hakone Tozan Railway, runs every 15 minutes.)-->14:07 Hakone-Yumoto 14:18--(Hakone 24)


I had bought the hakone pass for both of us, we got out from the station and took a bus ride till the pier. She was loving all the views of greenery and was busy clicking pictures. We reached the hakone machi pier. On the way I was checking with her if she likes art and museums and history etc. She seemed to love the old, she was fascinated to hear that there was an old stone paved road which was centuries old. They had just reconstructed it to old glory
   As we walked under the shadows on that cedar lined stone/pebble paved road we were like mesmerised by the natural beauty around us. It was like being one with nature, there was a complete silence and we could hear the other breathe.
There while the sun skirted through the leaves of the trees, I was just busy ogling at her beautiful face which turned golden at the touch of sun's rays and darkish brown in the absence of it. It was a while we had been walking and I am sure in her excitement she had forgotten that she was hungry. Moment I opened the protein bars from the bag she made a go for it.  I was left with watching her finish hers in gusto and a little later she apologetically asked sorry did you have one yourself....

All the walking took a toll on us, we were very hungry and before the next leg of the trip wanted to eat something. 
She preferred to have some Italian pasta for lunch. So we wandered around the ashi lake in search of an italian place. Once we found a nice italian place, next question was what to order. The guy had a japanese/english menu and  I ordered for two spaghetti in tomato sauce without prawns and meat in my broken japanese. ( ebi nashi de, nikko nashi de futatsu). I asked her if she wanted to have any wine to go with it. She said she doesnt take alcohol. Though I knew she was lying, I just chuckled at her response. She pestered me as to why I had a snigh smirk, when she said she doesnt want alcohol. I had to explain that being an authentic italian place, I had no doubt that the tomato's basil etc would first be cooked in red wine and once the alcohol has evaporated it would be mixed with boiled spaghetti and served. She couldn't believe my words, she wanted to confirm with the owner. One of their folks who knew a bit of english acted as a translator and explained that to get the right flavor, the tomatoes and other stuff would be simmered in red wine.
        I really loved having the last laugh. She was though not yet entirely convinced, She still tried to prove me wrong saying this doesnt happen in all the italian restaurants. I didnt want to argue further on the subject. 
We started talking on movies and books, two subjects which lead from one to another and ensure losing track of time.


After the heavy lunch we walked to the pier. I bought the first class fee tickets and waited for our turn to board the pirate ship. Lake ashi stood in front of us in its pristine glory. I was feeling cold standing on the pier with the cold winds blowing from the lake. It was cloudy and it seemed like there might be a downpour anytime soon. She was standing there shivering and wore a jacket when I insisted she make herself warm. 
    The Vasa is modeled after the Vasa warship built by King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, called “the Lion of the North” for making Sweden a great military power in the first half of the 17th century, and features elaborate sculptures and carvings.
We spent some time touring the ship and looking at the stain glass windows and stuff. We took a lot of pictures with the pirate statues. We were like engulfed in fog for a while, we couldn't even see a few metres ahead. After a while slowly the fog began to clear and we were able to watch the torii gates. After a while I got a glimpse of Mt Fuji, a view so spectacular that its cherished in the memories forever. How majestically Mt Fuji towers over the lake ashi and the scenery is second to none. She asked me what is it about Mt Fuji, you surely seem enamoured by it all the time and can never have enough of it. 
       Hmm I said, Mt Fuji san has been the witness of my life, though he was himself is a result of disruption, he has been my rock of gibraltar in a distant place like tokyo. He has always stood there and has been an inspiration for me to hold my head high in an alien land. I have seen him in my times of stress, my times of misery, my times of happiness, my good times, my bad times during morning and night and in all seasons. He is a representation of a beauty known only by my mind. So he fascinates me I said.


 After that we turned our sights on a young american couple who were standing near the bow and trying the titanic posture. That got us talking on titanic, story of rose and how this posture comes at a point in the movie where at the height of pleasure they face death.  While we were chatting on the inane, the food and the travel on the ship had a nauseating effect on my friend. I asked her to just think of something else and maybe take a nap. While half asleep she just rested her head on my shoulders and it was a different feeling, very touching at the same time very nice

Dil Ki Maange
Thodi Thi Kam 
Har Dua Bhi 
Thodi Maddham 
Tune Kaandhe Pe 
Sar Jhukaya Jab 
Jaise Dargah Pe 
Baandhe Daage Tab 

Bina Maange Hi 
Mill Gaya Hai Sab 
Meherbaan Hua Hua 
Meherbaan Hua Hua 


When she woke up I had a big grin on my face, she asked me what and tell me what you are thinking. I told her about a joke I remembered from Readers Digest. I used to like their columns Laughter the best medicine and Humour in Uniform etc. One of the jokes from RD was that a young couple fall asleep in a boring class in college. The girl says sorry later on, but the guy comes back with a good repartee saying " Though we slept together I still admire you". My friend never got the joke and I was looking like a guy who cracked a very bad joke.

The thirty minute travel on the pirate ship was done in no time. Once we got out of the ship and started walking towards the cable car, there was a sudden downpour and both of us were drenched. Rain somehow manages to sneak in all the time in Japan I was telling her,and we were talking of our favourite rain based songs as we boarded the cable car 

I vouched my favourites would be  

chham chham karataa saawan booando ke baan chalaaye
satarangee barsaaton men jab tanman bheegaa jaae
pyaar mein nahaane ko, doob hee jaane ko
dil meraa tadpaaye, khwaab jagaa jaaye
aisaa koi saathi ho, aisaa koi premi ho
pyaas dil kee bujhaa jaaye
neele neele ambar par

or 

 Rimjhim gire sawan, sulag sulag jaaye mann
 Bhige aaj iss mausam me, lagee kaisee yeh agan

 Kaise dekhe sapne nayan, sulag sulag jaaye mann
 Bhige aaj iss mausam me, lagee kaisee yeh agan
 Rimjhim gire sawan

 Haye kare abb kya jatan, sulag sulag jaye mann
 Bhige aaj iss mausam me, lagee kaisee yeh agan


She termed my choice as pretty classical ones and not inline with the latest ones. I said come on I didn't say something like 
Pyaar hua iqraar hua or ek ladki bheeji bhaagi si for that matter.

Her favourites were Yeh saazish hein boondon ki and Barso re Megha


In our conversation we had already reached the stop for the visitor center and hence we got down near Owakudani to have a close look at the hot springs. While we were walking towards the visitor center, the smell from the sulphur vents reminded me of h2s vapours from the chemistry lab days. All her questions looking at the sulphur vents were more on if Mt Fuji is still an active volcano and how was it on top of Mt Fuji, are there sulphur vents there too. What is the chance that there might be an eruption where we are going etc.  


I was talking to her about the black egg which is hard boiled in the hot spring. In no time the egg turns black when boiled.      Kuro-tamago "black egg"— a local specialty of eggs hard-boiled in the hot springs. The boiled eggs are black in colour and smell of sulphur. Consuming the eggs is said to increase longevity and eating one egg is supposed to add seven years to your life. A local there said one can eat up to two and a half for up to seventeen and a half years, but dont eat more than two and a half eggs as it  is highly unadvised.
          She was laughing at this and said lets try and eat 3 eggs and check it out ourselves. What can happen, lest we die atleast we die in such a beautiful place. I said with the underlying sulphur taste I was finding hard to eat one, guess eating three would be death by itself.

At Souzen we boarded the cable car for the slopy ride to Gora station. The travel down the slope was fun and we were like kids loving the journey.

The last bit of the loop was the Hakone Tozan railway, Japan's only mountain railway. Halfway up the line there are switchbacks, where the driver and the conductor change shifts and the train switch to reverse travel direction. It is a special experience that can be enjoyed only with the Hakone Tozan Train.
     There we met an american with his japanese wife and kids.He was very knowledgeable and we started talking on all sorts of different things. He explained how this mountain train was unique and in some places they had to use water on the rails to reduce the friction and something equally good could only be found in Switzerland. He also mentioned that these coaches were close to the ones we would find in Switzerland.
        He was a very talkative guy and then he started advising me on how we need to marry across race and how its good. He gave his own example and how everyone needs to think good for the world and experiment that way. 
I was being courteous and said yeah yeah just to keep him happy and keep the conversation going. All the while I forgot completely about my friend and when I turned back to talk to her, I could find her simmering in disagreement. It was as though I had caused some discomfort or stepped on a wrong subject. It took all my knowledge and literally saying sorry before she was back to normal again.   I was only trying to find out what caused so much angst in her, slowly after a while she asked me. Why don't you stand up for your beliefs. Why are you wanting to be the goody two shoes. Why do you have to take the nonsense on mixing races and why agree with him. I said I was being sweet to him. She retorted saying being sweet becomes a habit  and will end up so bad that sometimes you cannot get over it and you will let your life be ruined because you don't know how not to be sweet.

She had a point I agree, I was like impressed that she remembered the children's story. It was a long time since someone had used the phrase. But again old habits die hard, need to take her perspective too I felt.  


It was evening by the time we returned to Hakone and checked into our hotel. I said we will meet after she has had her onsen visit. Anyways I had been to onsen before and the onsen was open for guys in the morning and ladies in the evening. She was looking forward to it and was excited about it. I did tell her its just a public bath and the water is too damn hot. Follow the instructions and you should be fine I knew very well that same water would anyways come in the shower too.


The Fujiya hotel had a lot of history. It was one of the oldest hotels and people who had stayed there before included Charlie Chaplin, Helen keller, John Lennon etc. I simply loved the old feel about it. 

After a while she came by and said come lets go and find something to eat, the onsen bath was very tiring as you said and water was too damn hot. She asked if she was looking different after the onsen bath. I only chuckled and said no, you are pretty much the same person as before.  But god was she looking nice and beautiful, her hair was left free, she was wearing a light yellow wrap around and a blue top going with it, she was holding a clutch purse and was looking like an ethereal beauty. The freshness was infectious, she really did know to dress to have an impact.
When she asked what was the plan for the evening, my mind was singing

Matalbi ho ja zara matlabi
Duniya ki sunta hai kyun
Khud ki bhi sun le kabhi

Kuch baat ghalat bhi ho jaaye
Kuch der ye dil bhi kho jaaye
Befikar dhadkane, iss tarah se chale
Shor goonje yahaan se wahaan

Sooraj dooba hai yaaron
Do ghoont nashe ke maaro
Raste bhula do saare gharbaar ke

     Our hotel had a great bar with live music, we managed to get in just before the happy hours closed.
She was quite a head turner I must say, I could see folks ogling at her, her dressing would be bold from back in India standards. Yet she had the confidence to carry it off.
I tried the original victoria cocktail which is basically a champagne with sugar cube at the bottom of the glass. It has a scent of vanilla and felt really nice with all the fizz with bubbles, she preferred to have a dry martini.

For dinner we went to the french restaurant in Fujiya and loved the food there. My friend tried the Consomme soup which according to the chef is cooked for three days. I was not a meat person so gave that a go by. She wanted to show off her french skills and tried to find some vegetarian stuff for me, after a while she said gosh guess you will have to settle for some bread and salad as there is absolutely nothing for a vegetarian here. Its all mostly meat and mouth watering stuff for a non veggie at that. While we were talking I couldnt help but notice how she used to push her hair behind her ears whilst drinking soup, the beautiful long fingers where adept at tucking in the hair all the time. Somehow guess due to the conditioner or natural bounce the hair kept getting on her cheek. While waiting for my food, she was playing with her thin necklace and asking me in detail on what food I like and if I knew that I would hardly get veggie stuff here why didn't I think of a different place for dinner etc.  Guess that must have been one of my longest dinners, it was pretty late by the time we called in the night and headed to bed. 

We woke up pretty late in the morning and had breakfast in the hotel. Agenda anyways was to visit the premium outlet mall in Gotemba. My friend was more curious and what to buy and the whole conversation during breakfast was if there would be enough time. For shopping there is never enough time is there...

Once we reached Gotemba, my friend was completely lost looking at the different brands who had their outlets there.She was making a long list of outlets she cannot afford to miss.  There were approximately two hundred odd premium outlets and some of them were tax free too, making it a place to buy stuff. She was an avid shopper and she kept moving from one outlet to another, checking out everything under the sun. Trying things which she felt would be nice. She had an eye for the good stuff and had an inkling on what would look good nice on her. Not everyone has that idea on what might look good on them. It was fun shopping with her. I had anyways planned earlier on the stuff I wanted to pick up. GAP used to be my favourite during those days. Timberland came a close second. If all my shopping took maximum twenty minutes. My friend spent the whole afternoon window shopping and trying stuff. She picked up stuff which were different and nice. Guess shopping needs a lot of patience. 


Around late noon we were completely tired, I found a haagen daaz in the mall and settled down to have my favourite ice cream. We had anyways missed our lunch and I reminded her that maybe its time to rethink and reprioritize on what we need to checkout as it would get late for the train ride back home. One thing we both wanted to do was visit the Godiva outlet, I simply love their chocolates, can never have enough of them. Love for chocolates I guess had permeated from childhood. Just the sight of chocolates induces craving, one can have a chocolate at any time of the day. My friend was like a big chocolate lover. So she didnt even think twice when I said I need some chocolate to end the day. She still felt some Meiji chocolates were bigger on her list


We started back to shinjuku and the return trip was more in talking about what we covered, how good hakone was, what we really loved, we kind of broke down every aspect of the trip and discussed it thread bare.

She was excited that we travelled by romance express then took a bus ride, then the ship ride, followed by rope way and then cable car. Complete with mountain train and then bus ride back to hotel. What else could one ask for in a given day.

I wanted to say goodbye in Shinjuku and go to my apartment. She was still in a mood to extend the weekend. 
Night was still young and hearts were singing

Aa raat bhar.. aa raat bhar..
Jaayein na ghar.. jaayein na ghar..
Hai saath tu.. Kya hai fikar
Jaayein na ghar.. aa raat bhar

Jaayein jahaan jahaan jahaan dil kare
Jaane kahaan kahaan kahaan phir mile
Iss raat mein beete umar, saari umar
Aa raat bhar, jaayein na ghar


Let us have dinner together at least she said. We were not able to decide on where to go, both of us preferred home cooked food.  Finally ended up at her flat with the onus of cooking on me.

The moment I entered the flat I was in awe, it was speckless and it was as though it was readied up by some housekeeping staff to welcome the resident.

Japanese mansions are that way small but the attention to detail is very good. In the small mansion you will find all the necessary aspects well taken care of. If one thing I wanted to emulate the Japanese badly it was in the space management.  In a small flat there was AC, a balcony, a study/dining table. A cooking area, a washing machine, a wardrode, a TV with casette player, A bathroom with shower and a bath tub. A queen sized bed and a dressing area.
Before visiting Japan I had never appreciated space management so much or application of technology in daily needs
I was telling my friend earlier that even the lift buttons here work only when heat is transferred from the body. They wouldnt work if I used a wallet or a coin to push them.

There in a corner on her dressing table I saw the box of Christian Dior Addict 2.  I was impressed and my ego felt a high saying good I came pretty close on the perfume at least.

As I started on preparing the onion/potato dal curry, she played songs from her ipod

You're Still The One"

(When I first saw you, I saw love.
And the first time you touched me, I felt love.
And after all this time, you're still the one I love.)

Looks like we made it
Look how far we've come, my baby
We mighta took the long way
We knew we'd get there someday ......

You're still the one I run to
The one that I belong to
You're still the one I want for life
(you're still the one)
You're still the one that I love
The only one I dream of
You're still the one I kiss good night

I'm so glad we made it

Look how far we've come, my baby


Shania twain, how could I forget and I kept talking saying how I liked Shania twain more than the song for that matter.
She suddenly was lost in thought, she was thinking hard and trying to find split ends in her hair while I was busy cooking.
Then all of a sudden asked me "Do you believe in love", how would you identify if you were in love.

This was a deep subject, I didn't know what to respond when this topic came up
I said it starts with attraction for me, it's an unexplainable feeling I feel for a person. It is not something I can express in words, its just that a sight of that person brings on emotions in me, makes me breathe heavier, makes me find opportunities to be with her. Makes me want her, protect her, guide her and accept her as she is.
I could go on all night on the aspect but that for starters is what I feel about it.

We had our dinner whilst watching a tamil movie and When I went to wash my hands I couldn't help but notice there were two soaps , one lifebuoy and one cinthol.
She saw me looking at it and asked smilingly, curious why two of them or why those two. I only smiled saying yes.
She said her dad used lifebuoy to wash his hands and he used cinthol otherwise. So the smell of these two always reminded her of her dad. Hence she made it a point to carry them with her, just to have that feel of her dad being around wherever she went.  I could only nod in agreement and recognise her sensitivity. 

It was finally time to leave, she said thanks for a lifetime of memories and bid good bye.


While walking towards the railway station. With a heavy heart, thinking of the how fast the weekend passed. Heart still here but mind already was strategizing on how to handle things at work.

Once at the railway station, it seemed as though the train was taking forever to arrive.

Mind was only thinking if should I have taken it forward. But sense prevailed as I didn't want to allow myself to be someone’s option. I deserved someone who values my true worth.  My world remains intact because I saw and calculated the risk of failure. I knew what I was getting myself into and built my reality around that knowledge. 

Back in the car my daughter was finishing singing along 

Main parinda besabar
Tha uda jo darbadar
Koi mujhko yun mila hai
Jaise banjarey ko ghar
Naye mausam ki sehar
Yaa sard mein dopahar
Koi mujhko yun mila hai
Jaise banjarey ko ghar

Koi mujhko yun mila hai
Jaise banjare ko ghar
Jaise banjare ko ghar..
Jaise banjare ko ghar...
Jaise banjare ko ghar....

Guess that summed up what ghar was all about and in a way my life.....