Yogesh Sarkar
Administrator
Just when you feel everything has finally become clear to you and you have had a vision and you now know exactly what it is you want in your life. Life comes up with another twist, which makes you question whether your dream can actually come true, and without that dream, your vision seems incomplete, in fact it seems worthless. Even though you want that vision to come true at any cost, yet not in this manner, not without the dream you had and not without the dream you wanted.
While you can make your vision come true if you work really hard in order to make this new twist just an extra bit of effort, needing you to slow down in certain areas of your life, while pushing hard in others. But it involves clipping of wings, at least for a short while. Provided everything goes the way you wish for it to go, but that rarely happens. While you can gladly give up your own wings for eternity if the need be, you cannot even dream of clipping someone else’s wings, even for a short while.
So you instead you try to divert your attention on a short term target, which you can hope to achieve if you act selfishly for a shortwhile. To fly few more times, before hanging up your wings for what might be a long duration with a handful of flights. Eventually leading to either the flights you really wanted to have or the longest one of your life, depending on how your life turns up.
In the end all you can do is not to give up on your dream, rather let it fly, even if it means living in the memory of your dream and vision for the rest of your life, always hoping and wondering, how it might have been...
Delhi to Dharchula and Darchula
Day I was supposed to take the longest bus ride of my life, began on a bad note. Headache since morning and what felt like acid in stomach, disprin and eno didn’t help, but I packed my bag nonetheless and headed for ISBT Anand Vihar.
Cab driver I got was a jolly fellow from UP and once he started telling me his stories of his childhood and cab driving days in UP, my headache somewhat vanished and he managed to put me in a cheerful mood.
Once at ISBT, I thanked Deepak for the ride and for telling me his stories and walked into Uttarakhand stand. Last bus on the left hand side was heading for Dharchula and I quickly boarded it, only to find seats already taken and once again I got the last seat before the bench. With my back still hurting from last 2 trips, I knew this was going to be a long journey. Gulping down half a liter of limca helped my stomach calm down a bit and we eventually started at around 4:30pm and I was soon made aware of the bouncy stiff suspension of the bus. All I could do at that point was drown myself in songs to take my mind off of back pain, headache and an empty stomach, which was now begging for food.
Thankfully bus driver decided to stop the bus en route for tea and I got a breadpakoda and tea from there (nothing much else was available) and my stomach stopped growling for a while. Soon the bus started, minus the conductor! Turns out bus driver had left the conductor behind at the tea stall. By the time bus driver realized this, we were already a few kilometers ahead. Thankfully bus for Munsiyari was still at the tea stall, when we had left. Driver stopped the bus and waited for bus and his conductor to arrive and a few minutes later, they did. All of us got a good hearty laugh out of it and it was time to be on our way.
Next stop was at Shivam Tourist Dhaba (yes that annoying place all UP and UTC standard buses stop at) and I ate a paratha there and was feeling much better. But it was now time to get lost in thoughts and as the bus started, I did just that.
Ramnagar to Rudrapur, easily the bumpiest section of the entire trip and one which I was now doing for 6th time, came and went. Leaving my back in pain and now seemingly 10% bumpier with water in the craters. Thankfully there was no rain, so progress was good.
By the time we reached Haldwani, we got the news that there has been a landslide between Haldwani and Almora and bus would have to take longer route via Ramgarh and that it will cost us Rs. 50 more. 4 buses (ours, Munisyari, Gangolihaat and another) started from Haldwani at the same time, choosing to drive in formation through alternate route, which seemed a little more technical than normal one. Stopping often to check road status from oncoming traffic and to chat with each other. At one of the hairpin bends, bus right ahead of us, almost overshot it and was about to fall into oblivion, before it stopped.
Drive was getting interesting, passengers irate due to increased time and fare and some even a little bit scared.
By sunrise we were back on track and after a quick change of drivers before Almora, we were heading towards Dharchula, not entire sure if the route was open.
At the same time, I was thinking about my life and what it might have been had I too decide to stick to a job and go through what now seems like a conventional life. It would have surely been different; maybe I would have been happier that way, still exploring the world during my offs and weekends. Maybe I would have even met the same set of people I know now or maybe not. Maybe this would be one of the regrets I take to my deathbed or maybe it is just a momentary disillusionment that will soon fade away.
Whatever it was, it did eventually gave way to other thoughts as I sat down for breakfast at Seraghat, followed by tea at Thal.
Photography in the meanwhile wasn't that frequent but I did get couple of good shots and I even got a seat in front at Thal.
From Thal couple of families boarded, one with a 4 month old daughter, mother and father. While second family too had a similar aged daughter, mother of the child was being accompanied by her father and neither seemed that caring for the child. On the other hand, in case of first family, the way father was trying to comfort his little girl during the twisty and at times bouncy ride, was really heartwarming.
After crossing Didihat I found out from the conductor that the bus will first go to Dharchula and spend the night there, next day it will start from there for Pithoragarh, while the bus which had reached Dharchula yesterday, would come back from Pithoragarh today and it will start at 7am from Dharchula for Delhi.
Now there are times in our life when we begin a fast; sometime to pray for the wellbeing of someone, sometime to protest, sometime to please gods, sometime to punish ourselves, sometime to see what our limits are and sometime to meditate. Just after 12pm, I decided to take one as well. Deciding to skip water and food, because although I have lived a day or so without food, I have never done the same without water (warning, this can lead to severe dehydration and shouldn’t be attempted).
From Ocala the final push for Dharchula began and landscape started to change quite drastically and we started climbing down rapidly.
Beyond Askot, there was no Vodafone network and no data connectivity on BSNL. However despite that and bad roads, our journey was swift as the driver seemed to love driving fast downhill and made the entire journey seem like a rollercoaster ride.
Thanks to this, we managed to reach Dharchula at around 3:30pm, an hour ahead of schedule, even though we had taken a longer route!
I checked into Hotel Yash and got a double bed room on the second floor for Rs. 500.
After an hour or so in the room, relaxing, I decided to go out. First to an ATM to withdraw cash and then towards the bridge to Nepal and Darchula, to entire into a foreign land, without visa or passport
. Sadly no photography was allowed of or on the bridge, so I had to just cross it on foot, go to the Nepali side and take photos of Dharchula. After a little bit of exploration, I came back to Indian side, having visited the first foreign country in my life .
Dharchula, India.
Darchula, Nepal (as photographed from bus next day).
The only major difference between Dharchula and Darchula I could spot was, girls in Dharchula were prettier.
After walking for a little more than an hour, I came back to my room. There was still no data, so I decide to rest a little bit, contemplate, write and move in and out of sleep. Eventually at around 10:30pm, I decided to finally turn in for sleep with still no darn data!
Click here to read the next part ->
While you can make your vision come true if you work really hard in order to make this new twist just an extra bit of effort, needing you to slow down in certain areas of your life, while pushing hard in others. But it involves clipping of wings, at least for a short while. Provided everything goes the way you wish for it to go, but that rarely happens. While you can gladly give up your own wings for eternity if the need be, you cannot even dream of clipping someone else’s wings, even for a short while.
So you instead you try to divert your attention on a short term target, which you can hope to achieve if you act selfishly for a shortwhile. To fly few more times, before hanging up your wings for what might be a long duration with a handful of flights. Eventually leading to either the flights you really wanted to have or the longest one of your life, depending on how your life turns up.
In the end all you can do is not to give up on your dream, rather let it fly, even if it means living in the memory of your dream and vision for the rest of your life, always hoping and wondering, how it might have been...
Delhi to Dharchula and Darchula
Day I was supposed to take the longest bus ride of my life, began on a bad note. Headache since morning and what felt like acid in stomach, disprin and eno didn’t help, but I packed my bag nonetheless and headed for ISBT Anand Vihar.
Cab driver I got was a jolly fellow from UP and once he started telling me his stories of his childhood and cab driving days in UP, my headache somewhat vanished and he managed to put me in a cheerful mood.
Once at ISBT, I thanked Deepak for the ride and for telling me his stories and walked into Uttarakhand stand. Last bus on the left hand side was heading for Dharchula and I quickly boarded it, only to find seats already taken and once again I got the last seat before the bench. With my back still hurting from last 2 trips, I knew this was going to be a long journey. Gulping down half a liter of limca helped my stomach calm down a bit and we eventually started at around 4:30pm and I was soon made aware of the bouncy stiff suspension of the bus. All I could do at that point was drown myself in songs to take my mind off of back pain, headache and an empty stomach, which was now begging for food.
Thankfully bus driver decided to stop the bus en route for tea and I got a breadpakoda and tea from there (nothing much else was available) and my stomach stopped growling for a while. Soon the bus started, minus the conductor! Turns out bus driver had left the conductor behind at the tea stall. By the time bus driver realized this, we were already a few kilometers ahead. Thankfully bus for Munsiyari was still at the tea stall, when we had left. Driver stopped the bus and waited for bus and his conductor to arrive and a few minutes later, they did. All of us got a good hearty laugh out of it and it was time to be on our way.
Next stop was at Shivam Tourist Dhaba (yes that annoying place all UP and UTC standard buses stop at) and I ate a paratha there and was feeling much better. But it was now time to get lost in thoughts and as the bus started, I did just that.
Ramnagar to Rudrapur, easily the bumpiest section of the entire trip and one which I was now doing for 6th time, came and went. Leaving my back in pain and now seemingly 10% bumpier with water in the craters. Thankfully there was no rain, so progress was good.
By the time we reached Haldwani, we got the news that there has been a landslide between Haldwani and Almora and bus would have to take longer route via Ramgarh and that it will cost us Rs. 50 more. 4 buses (ours, Munisyari, Gangolihaat and another) started from Haldwani at the same time, choosing to drive in formation through alternate route, which seemed a little more technical than normal one. Stopping often to check road status from oncoming traffic and to chat with each other. At one of the hairpin bends, bus right ahead of us, almost overshot it and was about to fall into oblivion, before it stopped.
Drive was getting interesting, passengers irate due to increased time and fare and some even a little bit scared.
By sunrise we were back on track and after a quick change of drivers before Almora, we were heading towards Dharchula, not entire sure if the route was open.
At the same time, I was thinking about my life and what it might have been had I too decide to stick to a job and go through what now seems like a conventional life. It would have surely been different; maybe I would have been happier that way, still exploring the world during my offs and weekends. Maybe I would have even met the same set of people I know now or maybe not. Maybe this would be one of the regrets I take to my deathbed or maybe it is just a momentary disillusionment that will soon fade away.
Whatever it was, it did eventually gave way to other thoughts as I sat down for breakfast at Seraghat, followed by tea at Thal.
Photography in the meanwhile wasn't that frequent but I did get couple of good shots and I even got a seat in front at Thal.
From Thal couple of families boarded, one with a 4 month old daughter, mother and father. While second family too had a similar aged daughter, mother of the child was being accompanied by her father and neither seemed that caring for the child. On the other hand, in case of first family, the way father was trying to comfort his little girl during the twisty and at times bouncy ride, was really heartwarming.
After crossing Didihat I found out from the conductor that the bus will first go to Dharchula and spend the night there, next day it will start from there for Pithoragarh, while the bus which had reached Dharchula yesterday, would come back from Pithoragarh today and it will start at 7am from Dharchula for Delhi.
Now there are times in our life when we begin a fast; sometime to pray for the wellbeing of someone, sometime to protest, sometime to please gods, sometime to punish ourselves, sometime to see what our limits are and sometime to meditate. Just after 12pm, I decided to take one as well. Deciding to skip water and food, because although I have lived a day or so without food, I have never done the same without water (warning, this can lead to severe dehydration and shouldn’t be attempted).
From Ocala the final push for Dharchula began and landscape started to change quite drastically and we started climbing down rapidly.
Beyond Askot, there was no Vodafone network and no data connectivity on BSNL. However despite that and bad roads, our journey was swift as the driver seemed to love driving fast downhill and made the entire journey seem like a rollercoaster ride.
Thanks to this, we managed to reach Dharchula at around 3:30pm, an hour ahead of schedule, even though we had taken a longer route!
I checked into Hotel Yash and got a double bed room on the second floor for Rs. 500.
After an hour or so in the room, relaxing, I decided to go out. First to an ATM to withdraw cash and then towards the bridge to Nepal and Darchula, to entire into a foreign land, without visa or passport
. Sadly no photography was allowed of or on the bridge, so I had to just cross it on foot, go to the Nepali side and take photos of Dharchula. After a little bit of exploration, I came back to Indian side, having visited the first foreign country in my life .Dharchula, India.
Darchula, Nepal (as photographed from bus next day).
The only major difference between Dharchula and Darchula I could spot was, girls in Dharchula were prettier
.After walking for a little more than an hour, I came back to my room. There was still no data, so I decide to rest a little bit, contemplate, write and move in and out of sleep. Eventually at around 10:30pm, I decided to finally turn in for sleep with still no darn data!
Click here to read the next part ->
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