A trip to the Great Smokies

Just got back from my long weekend trip to the Smoky mountains, after a much needed R & R. The place is just picture perfect with endless mountains, lush green forests, and little creeks and big waterfalls hiding at the most unexpected places, waiting to be discovered. The Smoky Mountains National Park is located near the border of Tennessee and North Carolina, a10-12 hr drive from Chicago. Might sound a little bit far just to see a few mountains, but let me assure you that its completely worth it, and more. In fact, this was my second trip to the place.

We managed to get in some white water rafting on the Upper Pigeon river, which has around 70 rapids, including four Class 4 rapids. For the uninitiated, rapids in whiter water rafting are classified according to their difficulty level (based on a bunch of factors like water level, velocity, type of current etc.) and Class 4 is as good as it gets for amateurs. I've done this before in West Virginia, Colorado, and ofcourse, the Smokies. So I could probably call myself an 'experienced' rafter now. More than the thrill, I enjoyed the breath-taking scenery along the way.

The Abrams falls hiking trail in Cades Cove is probably the most popular and touristy hiking trail in Smokies. So ofcourse we had to do it. Its a 5 mile round trip and can be challenging if you're not prepared. The best part is at the end of the trail when you encounter the breath-taking, you guessed it right, Abrams falls. While everyone was just enjoying the falls from afar and taking pictures and such, we decided to venture in and take a mind-numbing brain-freezing shower under the falls. We also drove up to Clingmans Dome, the highest point in the Smokies to watch the sunset. As the Sun falls beyond the horizon, the layers of mountains turn a brilliant blue, giving them the name Blue Mountains.

I've decided that desis are the most boisterous travellers anywhere, beating out camera-toting Japanese, noisy drunken English and Irish men and a variety of other stereotypes. Everywhere I went, desis easily outnumbered the natives. But the problem is we always seem to travel in a 10-15 strong group. And when we're in a group, our collective desibel level increases exponentially. When we were standing in the observation tower on top of Clingmans Dome, waiting for the sunset, immersing in the beauty of the surrounding mountains and enjoying the hushed silence, there showed up a huge Gujarati gang that must have numbered around 12+ with an equal men/women ratio. They started chattering very loudly in a mix of Gujju, Hindi and some sort of accented English I couldn't quite place. And the whole scene was reduced from being a celebration of nature to Dandiya Raaz night. I wouldn't have been very surprised if they had brought out a boom box, formed a circle and started spanking each other with dandiya sticks. I really felt sorry for the other travellers. What would have been their fondest memory of their vacation was quickly turning out to be their worst nightmare.

Lest people think I'm anti-Hindi, anti-North India or something like that, I have bigger grudges against some of the Tamil gangs that showed up everywhere we went. Whether we ventured to shower in the falls or moved to a lonely rock in the wading pool to lie down, they seemed to be following us everywhere, and crowded around us. The men were dressed in jeans and pants and full hand shirts. They must've gotten up that morning with intentions of going to work, then changed their minds and decided to do the Abrams falls hiking trail instead. The women did not fare much better either. Let me reiterate this here - pink pajamas DO NOT suit south Indian women. And no, its NOT cute either if you're out of your teens.

I know I sound like a snob here, which is really not my intention. I'm sure I've been obnoxious before when I went with my gang, talked noisily in Tamil at public places and generally did not give a damn what other travellers/vacationers thought. But when I see it now from the point of view of a dispassionate observer/traveller, I don't feel so proud of our travelling etiquettes. I think there should be a limit on the maximum number of people allowed to travel in a desi group, especially Tamil, Golt and Gujjus. Maybe one day in the distant future, our men will not come rafting with sneakers and socks, our women will let go of pink pajamas and our hordes of travelling gangs might actually try to be more considerate of other travellers.