truth being, i was a little scared too, thinking how it would work out. but i wanted to do this trek. and on my own. i was so fed up with depending on other people for stuff like train booking, hotel booking, trek booking and all such random stuff.....i wanted to get out there on my own.
probably it is not a huge deal for poeple my age/less to do this kind of stuff on their own, especially guys. now, i myself would consider this a sexist statement.....(ofcourse no gender discrimination)...hehe....but its the truth, we live more sheltered lives than men. thats a reality. dont know how that happens....but it does and so....finally the rebel soul inside me burst out screaming and urged me to take up this trip and do stuff on my own, no matter how the experience would turn out to be.
i was like. ok. things that could go wrong....? stupid trekmates? trekking alone? train crash? bombing? falling off the mountain cliff? returning back from base camp? a sad trip? stranded in some random city with no further plan? lewd comments from people who see that a single girl is travelling alone and asking for directions? delhi unsafe for single women? hell yeah. so this and other dark pictures flashed in my mind....so what the hell. i was going, and was going. that was the bottomline.
so. inside the delhi garibrath express....with a pre-booked ticket....and on way to delhi. things were planned. ruchira was informed, she was going to be there, and she had arranged an easy-cab to pick me up at the station.
random guys in my coach stared at me....i was doing my best to cover the anxious face of the first-time-alone traveller, and calmly sipped my tea and water and looked out the train window, trying best to not attract any attention and blend into the crowd. 18 hours long train journey....slept well in the middle of which, at 1 am....the FIRST HITCH came up...!!!! the guy i had planned to meet in chandigarh, who was basically my trekmate with whom the entire trek plan was done upto base camp, CALLED UP AND CANCELLED!
i froze in my seat. the guy had a genuine reason no doubt but i was....stranded! i was like....what am i doing in a train speeding to delhi at 1 am with my further plan bombed?!?!?!!!
thats when i called DH...another of my trekmates, i barely knew him yet had talked over the phone a couple of times...he seemed reliable and fun! and yeah....for this day and the coming few days, i was going to find out that he was, infact, all of that and more.
he made it happen. he got my ticket done, overnight....in the same bus with him and his other friends...safe to say i was overwhelmed and relieved. he refused to accept any thank-you's ...and acted as if it were no big deal and he'd do it for anyone ! but it was a big deal for me, after reading my situation anyone can appreciate that.
so finally i slept a bit in the train after reassurance of my booked ticket by DH....and finally his ordering me to "stop worrying now and sleep till you arrive at delhi!!"
easy-cabs people sent me the driver's phone number 45 minuted before train arrival. 15 minutes later the driver called up and told me where he'd be standing. i got off the train and looked around, lost, confirming 7 times that this was the correct station (had confirmed other 7-8 times from the window before getting out) (hehe...the things people do ! :P )
yeah found the driver, got in the easy cab, directly took me to meet my best friend of 3rd-grade-school.....ruchira sen. another story in itself....meeting her after so long....we used to wait for each other at the school gate to go to class together...did i mention that i wrote poetry for her when she had left school and read it out to her crying? she cried and hugged me. in front of the class and teacher? and our best friendship was kind of a legend in my school?.....okay so that being said. met her and soumyadeep.....a very nice guy, fun, caring and from what i could see, they're totally meant to be together....i was so happy....
suddenly i felt like an adult, meeting my bestie in a faraway city, travelling on my own....i felt good. this is what i wanted to do. we ordered in some lunch.....her place was nice, cozy, decorated in the "ruchira way" it had the "ruchira feel" in it...didnt look like a typicalbachelor guy's den. hehe
i wanted a feel of delhi metro. so the time came to leave, i freshened up for the last time (coz, duhh, on the trek there are no luxurious facilities for a hot water bathe, much less in a proper washroom )... she and i took off....for the DELHI METRO.
amazing...somehow. the hustle and bustle that goes on underground. foreigners, indians, creepy people, families....alll hang out in delhi's belly...literally....a hub of activity under the ground. i watched the procedure of getting a ticket....read the metro-map. a first timer cant do anything okay?! need to know all the metro stations, need to know from where would our destination be more convenient to reach. basically. without ruchira, if i had to use the delhi metro myself, i'd have to do a lot of groundwork on google maps before i procure an actual metro ticket.
those things are bloody fast.....within minutes a metro stopped by, doors slid open and we got on into the female compartment. according to ruchy, there would be less rush in there. we didnt get a seat though.
people inside range from sexy babes to nerds reading books to the typical ones with headphones in their ears who couldnt care less whats going on around them.
very organised. stations were announced every 3-4 minutes.....the side on which doors would open, blue line, green line, station name flashing etc...well, safe to say that if i KNOW which station i am going to, then it would be easy, even as a first timer...:) damn organised and smoothly running. very swift. wonder why people take buses/cabs atall.
i am thinking. if the metro rail arrives in vadodara....other means of transport will be obsolete and wherever i want to go, i'd reach in 2 minutes. because vadodara is really tiny. uhh......thats why they're not getting the metro here! wonder if mr.modi might want to go through my blog one day and getting the metro to vadodara would be another one of his miraculous feats :) :)
SIGH. so the destination arrived soon....and HARI greeted me first...waved enthusiastically and we finally met. hari and shiva....two of a kind. never met people like them before! all that later. this is still the first-day-description ! and then.....DH. felt like we all were destined to be at THAT place at THAT time together in some magical way...(and im not talking about the bus ticket being booked) . it felt perfect. like the journey was about to begin...and i was looking forward to it....with hari, shiva and dh. the perfect group....
ruchy and me had a last icecream together....and she left....and with her, left all the familiar stuff around me. after that moment, i was on my own, NO past, NO old buddies, NO old experiences and NO familiar stuff.
the adventure truely began...as i said a bittersweet goodbye to ruchy....wanted so much more time with her....so many things to do with her. another story in itself....
but the himalayas were waiting....and i got on the bus with my gang.
xoxo
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