"EVERY YEAR, WE WILL HAVE AT LEAST TWO HONEYMOONS; ONE WITH FAMILY, ONE WITHOUT THEM!"
Lataa
Saberwal and Sanjeev Seth had a clandestine wedding ceremony this year
in January. But they have been so busy shooting for their soap Yeh
Rishta Kya Kehlata Hain that the couple didn't even get time to go on
their honeymoon. After almost 10 months, they finally managed to do so
and they can't stop gushing about their experiences.
We spoke
to an excited Lataa who said, "Sanjeev and I got married in January,
but we took our honeymoon trip just three weeks back! Actually, we went
on a short holiday immediately after our marriage to Goa. But that was
very small, and the one this time was our 'longer' honeymoon. Since
both of us are extremely fond of travelling, we had decided almost four
months back to take this trip. We took leaves at that time itself from
our production houses. We had to tell them way in advance, as in a
daily, taking ten days off from work is a long time."
The couple
wanted to explore different places. "I had never been to Kashmir and
Leh Ladakh. These were some of the places we really wanted to visit.
Basically, we wanted to go to some place, which was adventurous. Many a
times, with family we cannot go to places like these. So the two of us
had decided to try and cover all the adventurous places together."
She
continues excitedly, "First we went to Kashmir, where we saw places
like Gulmarg amongst many others. We were staying in a houseboat there
and it was a lovely experience. They say Kashmir is like jannat; it
really is heaven! We saw all the Mughal Gardens there and even visited
the Pari Mahal.
We saw each and every place there. In fact, we
went up a mountain, a place called Baisaran in Pahalgam, where there is
no road and there are only rocky hills! I was screaming throughout the
way as we rode on horses. When we reached the top of the mountain,
there was this place called Mini Switzerland. It was really good. But
the way to the top was very scary."
While they stayed in Kashmir
for three days, the next three-four days they were in Leh Ladakh. "I
must mention; it is a completely different world. It is a very rocky
place but it is also very spiritual, because of the Buddhist culture.
We saw some very interesting places there. We went to the highest
motorable road in the world. It is above 18,000 feet. It is called the
Khardungla Pass.
Then
we went to this magnetic road. There is this hill called the Magnetic
Hill in front of it and you just have to park your car there. You don't
have to start the ignition but the hill will pull your car
automatically and you have to just sit in it. I was clapping, as I
couldn't believe that the car was moving on its own! And then we saw
the Pangong Lake, which is very famous as 25 per cent of it is in India
and the rest is in China. It has dark blue water which I have never
seen before, not even in any swimming pool. We just couldn't believe
it. We also visited a lot of Buddhist monasteries and saw how the monks
live and pray there. Finally, our last stop was Delhi, where we had
just a two-day stay."
Many people have this notion, that Kashmir
is an unsafe place, due to the terror attacks. When asked if these
thoughts ever crossed their mind, Lataa says, "Sanjeev and I believe in
a different kind of thinking. If anything bad has to happen, it can
happen anywhere, even at home. For example, who could have thought that
the attacks could have happened at the Taj hotel in Mumbai?
That
way, there is no safe place. We went for our honeymoon with a positive
mind. In fact, the locals there treat the tourists so well and they
were requesting us to tell people here that there is nothing to worry
or fear about in Kashmir. Which is a fact, because we were in Kashmir
during Eid and people were celebrating the festival like they would in
any other place. They wanted us to spread the word."