Blogchatter Half Marathon : Was It time To Say Bye Already?

Was it time to say bye already?

We woke up lazily in the morning as it was the travel day back to our locations. Since the trek ended, everyone felt overwhelmed and satisfied to complete the challenge they gave to themselves. 

Meanwhile, Shreya, Sapna, and I got ready, and Sejal slept a little more. We tried to wake her, but she did not rise until Shreya and Sapna shouted, "Spider." There was a giant spider on the wall above Sejal's bed. Half-conscious, she glimpsed what the fuss was about and awakened hysterically when she noticed that spider.

Tanvi came to check if we were ready and informed us about breakfast. All of us were reluctant to climb stairs, either to get water or to enquire what was on the breakfast menu. Sapna took over this and found it was Chola Bhatura, and we simultaneously decided to skip breakfast and halt on the way to grab a bite.

We started our journey at about 7:15 a.m. after collecting our certificates for the trek to Valley of Flowers from the Himalayan Hikers team. After 2 hours, we stopped for breakfast. Everyone was so hungry that we kept on ordering one item after another. From Dosa to bun toast, we tried every delicacy of that small restaurant on the way.

With our tummies full, we boarded the traveler again, and the journey continued. I tried to sleep to avoid motion sickness but could not sleep for long. I started scrolling Instagram. After all, there was a network on my phone after six days. I realized the critical situation and chaos happening in the country due to the Kolkata incident. And I could not resist writing a poem addressing the women's conditioning in our nation. Everyone was busy chit-chatting and playing games, so distracting them, I asked them if I wrote something and if they would listen to it. And kind fellows, they allowed me to recite my poem and listened keenly, appreciating my take on it.

After that, we played games and sang songs. It was time for lunch, so we stopped at a restaurant. We enquired about the time required to lay the dinner on the table as we had a poor experience when we were coming. Knowing it would take only 20-25 minutes, we sat. The waiter brought us the dishes, and we relished the lunch. On the back side of that restaurant, we also noticed an ape. I know that's not special, but for a few of us, it was, as they saw for the first time.

And the journey began again. I forgot to mention we were heading to Rishikesh. Sejal, Amish, Shreya, and I canceled our trip back home that evening and decided to stay overnight in Rishikesh to spend more time with everyone. Bored of sitting, we started dancing. When we were coming to Govindghat, I missed taking a picture by putting my head out of the window and enjoying the cool breeze straight on my face, refreshing my soul. So, all of us started taking pictures and shot videos. 

After taking pictures, we started dancing again. As we were nearing Rishikesh, it started raining. It was time to experience rain out of the window. Another queue started to shoot video with rain and a cool breeze out of the window. Sejal was reluctant to do that and insisted that she wanted to enjoy the view from inside until we pushed her to experience it once, and there she felt cheerful, leaning her head out of the window in the rain.

We reached Tapovan at 5 p.m. after all the fun on the bus. After looking for a place to stay overnight, we dumped our bags in the hostel and rushed to Triveni Ghat to experience Ganga Aarti. We made it in time, and the best part was to witness the glory of prayer from close. Once Aarti got over, the musician group started playing a hymn, and we all danced our hearts out to devotional songs. It was one of the best moments of the trip.

It was time for cafe hopping. We head back to Tapovan to try delicacies at Beatles and Tat Cafes. We tried a giant burger at the Beatles, cold coffee, mocktails, and honey chili potato. In Tat, we spent less time and only had white sauce pasta. The view from the back side of both the cafes was magnificent.

After dinner, we headed to Sai Ghat to witness night scenes, i.e., jamming sessions. We sat near River Ganga, where two groups sang songs and played guitar and beatbox. We spent 2-3 hours there till the jamming got over. From listening to music to sitting silently, looking at the river Ganga, and not accepting the trip was over. We hoped to have more time or maybe more days to wander in nature.

The police came to Sai Ghat to disperse the crowd by 1 a.m., and we returned to our hostel. It was time for farewell as Neha and Nikita were leaving for their stay. All of us hugged each other. Tanvi, Shreya, Sapna, Amish, Sejal, and I went to our stay and decided to chit-chat for a while. In the beginning, I promised to recite the opening poem of my upcoming book, so I took the opportunity and did that. I was sure I did it poorly, and no one could relate, but they cheered for me.

Sejal slept, and the rest of us started dancing again. Sapna went to her hostel after sometime in the hope of joining back after a while, but she could not make it, and we slept as Sejal, Shreya, and I had to depart early in the morning.

The next morning, we started early and left for the bus stand by 6 a.m., bidding bye to Tanvi and Amish (Sapna could not join us in the morning). Luckily, Sejal and I boarded our bus as we reached the station, and Shreya got the bus to her destination. It was Raksha Bandhan, so UTC offered free bus service for females in Uttarakhand. Sejal and I traveled, paying half the fair, and Shreya traveled for free.

Sejal and I reached earlier than we anticipated. I had to leave for my brother's place, so Sejal and I separated. Sejal left for the airport but changed her mind and decided to explore Delhi till evening.

This trip has been a lot of fun and offered us insightful learnings. If you have not read previous blogs, here's the link to the first blog to start reading from the beginning.

This post is a part of #BlogchatterHalfMarathon