The trip to Uttarakand.
Been thinking about doing this for a long time. A mere instagram post cannot sum the memories that we made in uttarakhand; a trip worth documenting so that I can relish these memories for life. Human beings when they enter their adulthood spend 90 percent of their time catering to responsibilities of job,family and themselves and that 9 percent goes down in spending time with family,your spouse and kids. The 1 percent that remains is spent in solitude with yourself wherein you reminisce all the memories that you made along the way and all the future endeavours you are to embark on. For that one percent this trip was worth going on.
1. Embarking on the quest
Youth has its own bliss to it with absolute health, little money and an extremely hopeful and enthusiastic mind. This trip was my introduction to a carefree youth. I have never travelled anywhere without my family so the notion of convincing them to let me scared me but since I am a strict parents badmash kid type of kid. I started with editing the spam message of the trip and edited the DJ party to “yoga sessions”, Pool party to “Temple retreat” and so on and so forth. After careful consideration my parents allowed me to go on the trip.
2. Train to intellectualism and beyond.
My heart was pounding when I packed the bag and stacked it in the rickshaw felt like I was leaving my house for a job. I cried on my mom’s lap a night before cause I am fucking baby. As much as I want to conquer the world and do things beyond my capabilities and explore, I have cold feets every time I am about to do something but that never stopped me from doing it and such experiences which scared me turned out to be the best memories of my life. Firstly my seat was completely separated from that of my friends and so for the first 2 hours i was looking out of the window and crying cause i was scared to sit in a train without them. They came around and we had food together with the usual chitter chatter. The magic of the night started around 12 AM when everyone was fast asleep around and there was harsh,sacchi,dishank,shubham and me wide awake. And then Shubham started with his stories and the stories piled up with me, harsh and dishank adding to the conversation. We discussed the theories of science, mahabharata, jainism, ghost stories and myths from the quietest corner of India's rural womb. A moment came when Shubham was narrating a story about Mira and I started crying. This is what moments are made of , people,stories ,the beam of light from the passing by stations and sharing blankets. One of the very highlights was Harsh and sacchi cheering me up throughout the journey and pushing around a 10kg bag from G15 to G2 with Dishank.
3. Jim Corbett and meeting god and walking through heaven.
The bus journey was fun on the way to corbett. One thing about the whole trip was there was not a single place with bad food along with the beautiful terrains of Uttarakhand with cold and jittery wind blowing. The first night of stay was euphoric to be precise, moments that needed solitude were disturbed by ding dong rings and moments that needed friends had none in them. It was drop dead cold in Corbett so everyone sat down for a whiskey roundtable. Smoker friends left the room after and Kaustubh who doesn't drink or smoke was left behind with me. I was four peg down and in that moment missed my friend Shaheen dearly to a point I started crying and Kaustubh pacified me with his listener and caring demeanour. And then me and Kaustubh went for a walk, we sat on this Jhula and I went on and on and Kaustubh nodded his head and conversed. Something about Kaustubh is when he is in a crowd he seems mean but in one on one conversations he makes you feel heard and his presence is known. After a little heart to heart conversation we went into this garden and I saw this canopy of leaves and light passing through it. There was fog all around and I could hear Dishank's voice in the distance having fun with his friends. I had this epiphany that I saw god (I was drunk obviously but this felt warm and real) and I bowed down and prayed with my hands folded and made kaustubh to do the same and then ninad, mayuri, raunak came along and I made everyone pray. I was stumbling around and then saw this gate which apparently my drunk mind made into heaven's gate. I peeked into it and I swear to go it was the scariest and most beautiful heaven I had seen; foggy and with trees dancing and animals crying in the distance. Kaustubh nodded everything I said and peeked into heaven too and he did not make me shut up and then dishank came along. I took him to pray and he got really scared of heaven and asked me to come with him. Corbett safari was a terrifying experience. The cold was brutal but conversing with the locals and having Pahadon ki maggi was an experience I could devour. Special mention to miru for playing such good songs and pavithra for her ‘uff main hypnotise kar dungi’ wale expressions.
4. Susu tales and Shirley’s motherly warmth
Let's start with the fact that I drink a lot of water and I get susu very often during travelling. Some of the funniest memories of me on this trip are around this. I am a person who constantly needs a woman's presence for my sanity to be intact.And for the trip Shirley catered to this need. I appreciated Shirley's fashion sense before but was rather fascinated by the way she takes care of herself and how organised she is with her things. I was searching for a mother in the herd and found one. I ran up to her when I needed my blush to be applied. In Corbett she took me for susu because i was too drunk to do susu alone just like how my mummy takes me to susu when i am scared.We also ran up the mountains of mussoorie to find a spot to pee. She waited for me when I had to potty real bad and even brought me medicine. Special mention to male mummy Ajay with his caring persona. These two pacified me when I had an anxiety attack in Nainital and took me to bed. Introverts intrigue me on a different level, at times I would find Shirley sitting in a corner observing/judging people like a rich aunt and doing makeup all alone in the front of the mirror and it was just soothing to see it. Reason being she often said anything and stayed quiet filming, buying rich coffee and sleeping for the most part of it but she said a lot through her actions very few seem to observe. Introverts are really fascinating, aren't they?
5. The sleepless nights of Nainital and the legend of 213.
Nainital was the best spot for me from the whole trip. I guess we stayed there for 2 days but it felt like an eternity. It became home of freedom for each student and boy the fun we had in those rooms, in those warm alleys and the beautiful infrastructure. Looking around I found people doing whatever the fudge they wanted to. With drunken boys and girls roaming around playing games and talking absolutely rubbish. The best part was being half drunk and roaming in the building with siddesh, hadi and dishank. Me and siddesh had this cigar pact we smoked every night but the bitch ditched me on the last night. Siddhesh, hadi, Tamnay feel like a warm hug of friends its just felt good sitting around them and doing absolutely rubbish things. I am surprisingly really good at playing pool. It was 2 in the night and me, Siddesh,ninad, and Hadi started playing pool,kaustubh and dishank joined later.Nainital was not good because of just its landscape but these memories, cigar with Urankar, late night life crisis solving session with hadi, listening to nusrat ji after wine, having a panic attack, Ajay taking a beat from me while calming me down, the dance , the adorable moments with dishank, akash massaging my head like a lil brother after a hangover, watching Mayuri and Raunak absolutely in love with each other. And visiting the Room 213 at midnight to see the hype around it. Room 213 was just a room with all the Nasha you would think of and people made it a legend and it was amusing tbh. One night I even saw aman Digpal running around shirtless with peeps behind holding flashlights for some money. People made Nainital beautiful and it has a piece of my heart forever.
6. River rafting and the womb of ganga
Yes we went river rafting and yes we came out alive and unharmed. It was the most terrifying and the most exhilarating moment of my life. Even though I was about to drown(I had life saver on but lemme be dramatic) mayuri’s hair saved me. Mayuri fell down and the wave took me above her. She is strong at heart unlike me.Mayuri proudly instructed the boat calls like a true spostsperson she is. She didnt even got scared after the drowning incident and was making sure whtehr I was doing okay or not. Love this woman tbh. Imagine a kid who was protected all her life doing such an adventure and is about to die in the first attempt already. My mum gasped when I told her about it. Urankar and Kaustubh here shielded me like papa bears when I started crying after the mishap. Nevertheless It was a moment of a lifetime, the proud ganga flowing beneath us, the waves engulfing us, the landscape of rishikesh, the riverside maggi on the rock underneath the warm sun and the chant of ganga Maiyya ki jai filled the heart with an overwhelming amount of emotions. Life is all about these emotions of letting go of your fears and jumping into such deepshit only to find it to be the most beautiful experience of your life.
7. Ganga aarti
God and I have a special relationship. I can't explain it to you. But I believe in god very very dearly and I know god protects me from things beyond my control. I dont keep a count about how many times i prayed for the well being of my family, friends and that special person to god. Reaching the banks of Ganga I truly felt a divine connection with the water. I smiled at the sight of akash dressed like a hindu sangh leader after taking a dip in ganga, I adored moment when a kid put tikka on Urankars head and he looked at him dearly only to give him 100 rupees for a 5 rupee tikka, I relished the moment I went bangles shopping in haridwar and finally the most memorable would be offering praying at har ki Pauri at the glimpse of the post sunset sky and the sweet cold water of ganga swaying my feet. One memory was finding this quiet Ghat at midnight when our bus made a stop at trimurti hotel. Me and Dishank went for a walk and this dog started showing us the way to the Ghat when Dishank asked him in marathi , ‘‘chal amhala ganga dakhau re’’. It was surreal ,we went to the ghat and this dog started panicking and in his own way asked us to leave the place because it was very empty and I felt it was scary but D shrugged it off saying the dog was just afraid. Adding a dash of horror we headed to mussoorie.
8. Mussoorie and the godly promise
Mussoorie was nothing but mesmerising. This one place took my heart away. It felt like a calling. I wanted to visit this specific place there but couldn't due to time constraints.Nevertheless this place has the most beautiful warm cafes and eateries. The momos we ate tasted too good to be true and the sip of hot chocolate blessed my soul. The night at Mussoorie was a bit sad. I had tanmay with me when I left the crowd and sat alone at the reception. We talked about life in the realest sense. He put some sense into me. Quite frankly I was genuinely overwhelmed by the amount of Nasha people around us were consuming and some ugly emotions. When I sent Tanmay away I sat there contemplating and straightening my mind out for all the future possibilities and my self worth. Dishank came after and we sat in silence. The next morning we left for Delhi but before that I made a promise to God to return to that one place with more wisdom, more self respect, more knowledge and independence and a genuine sense of winning in the coming two years.
9. The last Hug
We started our journey back to Delhi and were quite tired tbh. On our way back I drank a bit of rum because Delhi was very cold , talked about sikhism with Arshdeep and then on the way listened to Amir khan's Satyamev Jayate and desh mere song on loop feeling like the main character exploring the country. The highways looked cinematic, the passing by trees, the face of the night drivers and India at large is an infinite pool of beauty and surprise. This journey was filled with recollecting all those memories and reliving them in my head one by one and storing them in my memory bank. The train journey was like rave party, people went beyond their limits, it was a surprise for me that no one got arrested, people might have felt the sadness at the end of the trip and wanted to live this freedom as much as they wanted engulfing the night in vaping, drinking, smoking, dancing and vandalising. Meanwhile me and akash took a corner dabba and danced on bhojpuri songs while Kaustubh, shirley and Arsh watched us in amusement. Late at night I got really sick and was taken care of by D. The next morning we reached Bandra. After taking goodbye pictures people hugged out the feeling and went home with new friends, new personalities, new realisations, hobbies and new experiences. All these people I made memories with will go on with their lives one day so will I but these moments will always stay in my happy place. Reach beyond your limits, it's a beautiful place I tell you.
1. Embarking on the quest
Youth has its own bliss to it with absolute health, little money and an extremely hopeful and enthusiastic mind. This trip was my introduction to a carefree youth. I have never travelled anywhere without my family so the notion of convincing them to let me scared me but since I am a strict parents badmash kid type of kid. I started with editing the spam message of the trip and edited the DJ party to “yoga sessions”, Pool party to “Temple retreat” and so on and so forth. After careful consideration my parents allowed me to go on the trip.
2. Train to intellectualism and beyond.
My heart was pounding when I packed the bag and stacked it in the rickshaw felt like I was leaving my house for a job. I cried on my mom’s lap a night before cause I am fucking baby. As much as I want to conquer the world and do things beyond my capabilities and explore, I have cold feets every time I am about to do something but that never stopped me from doing it and such experiences which scared me turned out to be the best memories of my life. Firstly my seat was completely separated from that of my friends and so for the first 2 hours i was looking out of the window and crying cause i was scared to sit in a train without them. They came around and we had food together with the usual chitter chatter. The magic of the night started around 12 AM when everyone was fast asleep around and there was harsh,sacchi,dishank,shubham and me wide awake. And then Shubham started with his stories and the stories piled up with me, harsh and dishank adding to the conversation. We discussed the theories of science, mahabharata, jainism, ghost stories and myths from the quietest corner of India's rural womb. A moment came when Shubham was narrating a story about Mira and I started crying. This is what moments are made of , people,stories ,the beam of light from the passing by stations and sharing blankets. One of the very highlights was Harsh and sacchi cheering me up throughout the journey and pushing around a 10kg bag from G15 to G2 with Dishank.
3. Jim Corbett and meeting god and walking through heaven.
The bus journey was fun on the way to corbett. One thing about the whole trip was there was not a single place with bad food along with the beautiful terrains of Uttarakhand with cold and jittery wind blowing. The first night of stay was euphoric to be precise, moments that needed solitude were disturbed by ding dong rings and moments that needed friends had none in them. It was drop dead cold in Corbett so everyone sat down for a whiskey roundtable. Smoker friends left the room after and Kaustubh who doesn't drink or smoke was left behind with me. I was four peg down and in that moment missed my friend Shaheen dearly to a point I started crying and Kaustubh pacified me with his listener and caring demeanour. And then me and Kaustubh went for a walk, we sat on this Jhula and I went on and on and Kaustubh nodded his head and conversed. Something about Kaustubh is when he is in a crowd he seems mean but in one on one conversations he makes you feel heard and his presence is known. After a little heart to heart conversation we went into this garden and I saw this canopy of leaves and light passing through it. There was fog all around and I could hear Dishank's voice in the distance having fun with his friends. I had this epiphany that I saw god (I was drunk obviously but this felt warm and real) and I bowed down and prayed with my hands folded and made kaustubh to do the same and then ninad, mayuri, raunak came along and I made everyone pray. I was stumbling around and then saw this gate which apparently my drunk mind made into heaven's gate. I peeked into it and I swear to go it was the scariest and most beautiful heaven I had seen; foggy and with trees dancing and animals crying in the distance. Kaustubh nodded everything I said and peeked into heaven too and he did not make me shut up and then dishank came along. I took him to pray and he got really scared of heaven and asked me to come with him. Corbett safari was a terrifying experience. The cold was brutal but conversing with the locals and having Pahadon ki maggi was an experience I could devour. Special mention to miru for playing such good songs and pavithra for her ‘uff main hypnotise kar dungi’ wale expressions.
4. Susu tales and Shirley’s motherly warmth
Let's start with the fact that I drink a lot of water and I get susu very often during travelling. Some of the funniest memories of me on this trip are around this. I am a person who constantly needs a woman's presence for my sanity to be intact.And for the trip Shirley catered to this need. I appreciated Shirley's fashion sense before but was rather fascinated by the way she takes care of herself and how organised she is with her things. I was searching for a mother in the herd and found one. I ran up to her when I needed my blush to be applied. In Corbett she took me for susu because i was too drunk to do susu alone just like how my mummy takes me to susu when i am scared.We also ran up the mountains of mussoorie to find a spot to pee. She waited for me when I had to potty real bad and even brought me medicine. Special mention to male mummy Ajay with his caring persona. These two pacified me when I had an anxiety attack in Nainital and took me to bed. Introverts intrigue me on a different level, at times I would find Shirley sitting in a corner observing/judging people like a rich aunt and doing makeup all alone in the front of the mirror and it was just soothing to see it. Reason being she often said anything and stayed quiet filming, buying rich coffee and sleeping for the most part of it but she said a lot through her actions very few seem to observe. Introverts are really fascinating, aren't they?
5. The sleepless nights of Nainital and the legend of 213.
Nainital was the best spot for me from the whole trip. I guess we stayed there for 2 days but it felt like an eternity. It became home of freedom for each student and boy the fun we had in those rooms, in those warm alleys and the beautiful infrastructure. Looking around I found people doing whatever the fudge they wanted to. With drunken boys and girls roaming around playing games and talking absolutely rubbish. The best part was being half drunk and roaming in the building with siddesh, hadi and dishank. Me and siddesh had this cigar pact we smoked every night but the bitch ditched me on the last night. Siddhesh, hadi, Tamnay feel like a warm hug of friends its just felt good sitting around them and doing absolutely rubbish things. I am surprisingly really good at playing pool. It was 2 in the night and me, Siddesh,ninad, and Hadi started playing pool,kaustubh and dishank joined later.Nainital was not good because of just its landscape but these memories, cigar with Urankar, late night life crisis solving session with hadi, listening to nusrat ji after wine, having a panic attack, Ajay taking a beat from me while calming me down, the dance , the adorable moments with dishank, akash massaging my head like a lil brother after a hangover, watching Mayuri and Raunak absolutely in love with each other. And visiting the Room 213 at midnight to see the hype around it. Room 213 was just a room with all the Nasha you would think of and people made it a legend and it was amusing tbh. One night I even saw aman Digpal running around shirtless with peeps behind holding flashlights for some money. People made Nainital beautiful and it has a piece of my heart forever.
6. River rafting and the womb of ganga
Yes we went river rafting and yes we came out alive and unharmed. It was the most terrifying and the most exhilarating moment of my life. Even though I was about to drown(I had life saver on but lemme be dramatic) mayuri’s hair saved me. Mayuri fell down and the wave took me above her. She is strong at heart unlike me.Mayuri proudly instructed the boat calls like a true spostsperson she is. She didnt even got scared after the drowning incident and was making sure whtehr I was doing okay or not. Love this woman tbh. Imagine a kid who was protected all her life doing such an adventure and is about to die in the first attempt already. My mum gasped when I told her about it. Urankar and Kaustubh here shielded me like papa bears when I started crying after the mishap. Nevertheless It was a moment of a lifetime, the proud ganga flowing beneath us, the waves engulfing us, the landscape of rishikesh, the riverside maggi on the rock underneath the warm sun and the chant of ganga Maiyya ki jai filled the heart with an overwhelming amount of emotions. Life is all about these emotions of letting go of your fears and jumping into such deepshit only to find it to be the most beautiful experience of your life.
7. Ganga aarti
God and I have a special relationship. I can't explain it to you. But I believe in god very very dearly and I know god protects me from things beyond my control. I dont keep a count about how many times i prayed for the well being of my family, friends and that special person to god. Reaching the banks of Ganga I truly felt a divine connection with the water. I smiled at the sight of akash dressed like a hindu sangh leader after taking a dip in ganga, I adored moment when a kid put tikka on Urankars head and he looked at him dearly only to give him 100 rupees for a 5 rupee tikka, I relished the moment I went bangles shopping in haridwar and finally the most memorable would be offering praying at har ki Pauri at the glimpse of the post sunset sky and the sweet cold water of ganga swaying my feet. One memory was finding this quiet Ghat at midnight when our bus made a stop at trimurti hotel. Me and Dishank went for a walk and this dog started showing us the way to the Ghat when Dishank asked him in marathi , ‘‘chal amhala ganga dakhau re’’. It was surreal ,we went to the ghat and this dog started panicking and in his own way asked us to leave the place because it was very empty and I felt it was scary but D shrugged it off saying the dog was just afraid. Adding a dash of horror we headed to mussoorie.
8. Mussoorie and the godly promise
Mussoorie was nothing but mesmerising. This one place took my heart away. It felt like a calling. I wanted to visit this specific place there but couldn't due to time constraints.Nevertheless this place has the most beautiful warm cafes and eateries. The momos we ate tasted too good to be true and the sip of hot chocolate blessed my soul. The night at Mussoorie was a bit sad. I had tanmay with me when I left the crowd and sat alone at the reception. We talked about life in the realest sense. He put some sense into me. Quite frankly I was genuinely overwhelmed by the amount of Nasha people around us were consuming and some ugly emotions. When I sent Tanmay away I sat there contemplating and straightening my mind out for all the future possibilities and my self worth. Dishank came after and we sat in silence. The next morning we left for Delhi but before that I made a promise to God to return to that one place with more wisdom, more self respect, more knowledge and independence and a genuine sense of winning in the coming two years.
9. The last Hug
We started our journey back to Delhi and were quite tired tbh. On our way back I drank a bit of rum because Delhi was very cold , talked about sikhism with Arshdeep and then on the way listened to Amir khan's Satyamev Jayate and desh mere song on loop feeling like the main character exploring the country. The highways looked cinematic, the passing by trees, the face of the night drivers and India at large is an infinite pool of beauty and surprise. This journey was filled with recollecting all those memories and reliving them in my head one by one and storing them in my memory bank. The train journey was like rave party, people went beyond their limits, it was a surprise for me that no one got arrested, people might have felt the sadness at the end of the trip and wanted to live this freedom as much as they wanted engulfing the night in vaping, drinking, smoking, dancing and vandalising. Meanwhile me and akash took a corner dabba and danced on bhojpuri songs while Kaustubh, shirley and Arsh watched us in amusement. Late at night I got really sick and was taken care of by D. The next morning we reached Bandra. After taking goodbye pictures people hugged out the feeling and went home with new friends, new personalities, new realisations, hobbies and new experiences. All these people I made memories with will go on with their lives one day so will I but these moments will always stay in my happy place. Reach beyond your limits, it's a beautiful place I tell you.
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