“When the wind calls, you know, that somewhere in the mountains, it has found the answers that you were looking for. The pull of the horizon overcomes the inertia of reason…And you just have to go.”
Standing amidst the tall mountains , infused with green
colour of life and vegetation , and the soothing air as I breathe in , I find
myself in the center of my life circle , realizing the very importance of my
being..
Thanks to the gadhwal gentleman who escorted me to the
Rishikesh bus stand , a quarter mile walk on the descending road with people
coming early to their workplaces in the chilling morning @ 6:15 am. As I enter
inside the bus stand I take a deep breath and thank myself and my friends for
catapulting me to this unplanned solo trip. As I am standing here in the middle
of the bus stand , trying to figure out what should be my next step , find a local
bus to Kanatal , take a lift , or hire a personal cab. A local bus to kanatal
is eliminated from the choices as I enquired and got to know that no such bus
exists , taking a lift in the early morning to a place so remote 30 KMs from Rishikesh is again not a possible option as not many people go to that place. Hiring
a personal cab to the camp location is too expensive for a solo traveller and
restricts my journey to the camp…
Finding myself in such a situation is the first challenge I am
supposed to conquer to keep this journey going. After wandering at the bus stop
for about 20 minutes , I see a man tall , middle aged with a nice moustache and
wearing a faded white shirt and a black trouser , opening up his shop which had
a hoarding that said “cabs and bikes on rent”. Yesss this is the thing destined
for me. I went straight up to that man and like all the pahadi people , that man
with a ground to earth attitude and in a very polite manner greeted me with a good
morning and made me sit inside the shop , and went straight to the nearby tea
stall to order two strong ginger tea. As I wait inside his shop , I can see the
various maps and pictures of the picturesque locations and the treks in the
uttarakhand. I stood up and went straight to an old map that showed the road
route and trek route to the four holy shrines (badrinath , kedarnath , gangotri
, yamnotri ) from rishikesh . looking at their inception point , I find a
common place named Joshimath , looking down I find a place named Devprayag and I
can easily recapitulate a chapter tought in the hindi subject in 9th
grade , which told about the holy Sangam.
Then returned that man , the owner of the shop with tea and
sat and asked me about my requirements, knowing the unfeasible prices of a car
rental and also my hunger for an adrenalin rush , I enquired about hiring a
bike and after having a small conversation about the culture and people of
uttarakhand , I negotiated for the price of a bike and to my surprise , he was
ready to give me the bike on a fairly affordable rent , so I hired the bike for
two days not knowing the places where I will be heading to but with a
certainity in my subconscious mind that I am definitely going on a long ride. After
waiting for another 20 minutes and getting all the formalities done , I find
outside his shop a stunning black Royal Enfield Thunderbird with a 500 cc
engine. I was happy beyond measures and till this time I am not able to believe
that I finally came for this solo trip. Well, the reason for this is..
Let me take you to a little flashback..
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