I, the Wanderer

 "So bro, mera to trip spontaneous hi hota hai. Mazaa aata h. Kayi baar toss karke decide karta hu kaha jaana h. Kya fayda agar journey k baare mein sab pehle se hi pata ho?" I kept mumbling Gyaan to a blank faced Raman, who I bet would be wondering why he was there. My lectures are usually boring, I admit. But here was a person not known to me, being preached on about various things that had happened earlier in the day, and why I wasnt really angry. We never knew the word 'spontaneous' would be the summary of the Kerala trip. Let me rewind. "Cab nai mil rahi" "Acha ho gayi hai" "Heloo bhaiya" "Han aap ajao" "Kitni der" "Han bahar khade hai" These are precious words from Chirag, a friend destiny chose for me, not me. A vegetarian by nature, the only thing he has ever eaten is my modesty, whether I am with people or alone. Not even one hour has ever passed that he had not taken away my peace, whenever h...

 I have personally felt that its not really that attractive without the sun when you are at the mountains during the monsoons, because the sunset, sunrise and the colours that they bring to the landscape is just mesmerizing. However, if you love the foreplay and the climax that the clouds bring to the whole scenario, I don't think there's a better time to see the mountains (minus the snow) except when it rains.  Here's a little glimpse of the recent road trip to Ranipokhari, Marchula and Manila, lesser known towns in Uttarakhand that Rajat, Raju Bhaiya and I toured in a Chevrolet Beat. That car is a serious fun to zip around the mountains and it definitely befits all photographs. Reason #1 : You call it heaven or you call it cotton spread all around you, but I bet you cant take your eyes off because the scenes change every DAMN second. Road to Manila Reason #2  :  Streams flow everywhere, cutting down small paths through the mountains and onto the roads...

The Cat, The Bath and The Food   Once inside our place of stay, we settled ourselves a little by relaxing our not-at-all tired bodies. A new place means you are looking for new things, and that implies tiredness is at its lowest. The sun was pretty warm anyway. We paid our rent in advance as per their policy (900 Rs/night for 3 people, not bad!!) and started with Dart games, paranthas and tea. Some moments later, I got a chance to meet this beautiful feline who was quite a badass in terms of attitude when we wished to play with her, but transformed to a little meeky squeeky cat  when she found us having food. It felt like she was always hungry. She could sniff food from anywhere and came calling with her meow meow, conveying modestly that she wants a piece of it. She was a gem, and pricked my thighs with her sharp claws!!  The chess board at Sukha's is quite huge and fun to play on. On the verge of defeating Ganesh, who knew nothing about the game, Rajat too...

Pushkar , some 400 kms away from Delhi, is a small buzzy temple-filled town in Rajasthan with a handful of population (well, on a rise). The city is surrounded by Aravalli Hills and is known for its lake that resides right in the middle of it. One will find more tourists from abroad than Indians, Firstly, because Rajasthan has always been one big attraction due to its culture and nomadic appearance. Secondly, weed might be another reason. Well, let's go on... It was, as usual, a trip based on instincts. No plan & no intention of having a plan either. My friend told me he is leaving for Pushkar, I proposed to join in and after a few mins I received an email regarding bus ticket confirmation. Two days later, I found myself boarding a sleeper bus (1st time for me) from IFFCO Chowk, Gurgaon and snored for the rest of our overnight journey. The bus takes around 8-9 hours to reach Pushkar from Gurgaon via NH8 or the Delhi-Jaipur Highway. 8 o' clock in the morning &...

The Lord is watching  Waking up has always been a pain, especially if this ‘activity’ has to be undertaken in winters. The very first day when we arrived at Dehradun needn’t be wasted in sleep, as laziness, I feel, is the biggest conqueror of all. It can defy all norms, all rules, all stigmas, all cravings, every little thing that exists in and around you, because it largely effects your brain more than your body. If something happens to capture your brain, it needn’t capture you anywhere else. Just like Love (heart in this case) As soon as we dropped our bags at Satish’s cousin, we called up his friend Hemu, who happens to be out of touch since an year now. He is one big example of man’s self-inflicted laziness. He never took to jobs, wasted time and money in sitting idle because parents were financing him with their love (money) and now realizing he has nothing else to do to survive in these times, he is looking out for work. Satish and I went back to Dehradun bus sto...

 Right now, it's really difficult for me to find the right words to write everything that I did in this trip. Come to think of it, I am barely able to remember how the journey began. There are some flashes though, like that bike ride while going upwards and coming down from Dhanaulti , that shiny red Honda CBR , a few sceneries of mountains, trees, brown color and the first sighting of snow. Don't wonder why. This trip began on a cold night of 24th January 2014 and ended on 27th January 2014. Today is September 13 , 2014! All smiles amidst some fog  Today, I feel as if my whole life has been spent in office. Probably the worst time I remember is the time when i came back from this trip and was summoned for back to back P owerpoint Presentations , that I started loosing track of my own life. February and March were spent in such a depressive state that haunts me till date. There were no ideas coming out of my brain, it kind of felt stuck, restricted and more or less pun...