Wandering Soul

We lose ourselves in things we love and find ourselves there, too. The left hand sticks out in thumbs up gesture; I thought I had completely lost my mind to do this after walking against the cold wind at Lakshman Jhulla and trying to hitch a hike at 8:30 am. I walked some more towards bus stop, but realised that bus-stop was very far and the rickshaws are not allowed beyond a certain point. I managed to hitch a hike halfway but the man had to go in another direction. I started walking again, I always try to travel light but this time my caring mother made me pack woolens, which I didn’t remember to wear until now. I was heading to my camp which was 35 km from Rishikesh at the place called Kaudiyala, the camp manager explained me the direction and how to reach there a day prior, all I had to do was to take any bus from Tapovan to Kaudiyala. The camp which was almost full when I called them up to check if I could get a place from 29 th to 31 st , now was full of silence, there was

In solitude there is hearing. Speak to your soul, listen to your heart. Sometimes in absence of noise we find answers. But has anyone ever heard pin drop silence? The sound of the cold places without any fan or A/C? No, not the wind, just silence. That’s what I slept to last night and woke up next morning trying to figure out where was I and what was I doing here all alone with a vacant bunk bed staring back at me. For a moment I thought I was dreaming, but the cold weather and temple bells got me on my feet and straight to the window. The view was just overwhelming, the gongs of bells in different temples, green clad mountains echoing the bell rings back at you and the majestic unhurried river Ganga flowing from one end to another. I decided to take a better view of this scene and darted to terrace, that’s when I realised it was very windy and I was not in proper layers to resist it but I was swayed by the beauty and persisted for next 5 minutes. After not so hot shower I wa

Delhi sounds so dreadful to my ears when I first decide to go Rishikesh via Delhi. The 2012 incident still lingers somewhere in my mind and I am very apprehensive about travelling solo to the North of India. Ain't no cure to wanderlust and off I go to Rishikesh with single aim of jumping from the 83 meters. For past one month I have tried to imagine myself on the edge of the bungee platform and simulated the thoughts, rush and butterflies. Waiting for Agust Kranti to arrive Borivali, I was hoping my compartment to be young blood and not typical uncles, aunties or families who don't talk to you and give you wide stare when you tell them that you are travelling solo and otherwise staring back at you with their blank faces. It seemed like force wanted to repay for giving me outrageous time all around 2016. My bogie was buzzing with young blood and my compartment had a group travelling to Manali for some yjhd scenes and a young guy who happened to be belonging to Rishikesh.

Mushrooms – sounds like the usual fungi which we fondly eat as a pizza topping. But does that perception change when I add the word Magic before Mushrooms? Magic Mushrooms – psilocybin mushrooms also known as psychedelic mushrooms, I would say “THE MUST TRY” at Gili islands, yes they have psychedelic effect that kicks in 30-40 minutes after inducing the “Mushroom Shake”, the ingredients typically include tiny ready to screw you magic mushrooms(10-11 buds), huge pieces of pineapple, jaggery, sugar, soda and the Indonesian bhang is ready! The guy at the Sunset Bar offered us this drink on the night of arrival but we refused as we had to dive the next day, but we resolved that we would try this on the last night at Gili’s. The last night arrived and we were pretty much exhausted after the late afternoon dive, we were one beer down to get rid of tiredness hitting us hard and decided on ditching the diver’s Chinese dinner. I was almost freaking out reading the symptoms and effects of it,

As a child I was never really fond of darkness and that feeling didn’t change over all these years of growing up. So when I was asked to do a Night dive for the first time it did send some shivers down my spine. I could hardly think of what people can see in a night dive apart from very hard to spot nocturnal fishes. I still remember having checked my torch multiple times before gearing up or descending, but night diving with group of 5 was reassuring and that too 4 guys was boost to my uncertain thoughts of getting lost in darkness or inability to see much in darkness. So when Instructor asked me if I would like to go on a “UV Night Dive” with him, it was a prompt yes, I was not thinking beyond the word “Ultraviolet”, but soon “Night Dive “ followed and my euphoric balloon bursts.  My previous night dive was not bad at all, but it wasn’t inviting as well, it was just a one short dive to overcome fear for darkness and feel the adventure of it.  The pretentious me didn’t want to p

Have you ever forgotten to close curtains of your window either when you were too drunk or too lost to close them? I did, usually I wouldn’t prefer the sunrays flashing hot into my eyes on a Sunday morning especially after working tirelessly entire week. But that morning came as a surprise, it were the same sunrays that shone in my eyes and instead of going all mad about it I was wide awake as if that was the best sunrise ever, could be the vacation high, or I was really appreciating the fact that I didn’t need an alarm to wake up. It was late afternoon when we reached Gili T, we had nothing much to do other than looking for place to stay, renting bicycles and grab some beer. The first two were taken care of, now we were looking for a perfect spot to spend the evening at and what could have been better than a place called Sunset Bar that serves you Beer while you drool in the beauty of sunset at an island. It was the perfect place to be with not many people around, enjoying the