Journey- Part 1

Resting on a comfy rocking chair in the balcony of Hotel Green Valley in Kasol , he could hear the sound of the Parvati river flowing through the valley. This was one of the most scintillating sights he had ever witnessed. At the front were the behemoth Himalayan peaks, whose grandeur completely overwhelmed the shear existence of mankind. 

A cool breeze was flowing carrying along with it a mystifying aroma of the hills.

The clear night sky was full of stars  shining like small diamonds which made the whole experience too good to be true.

Gazing at this surreal view, he had completely lost the track of time. 

He started to think about the mountains. He had read that mountains were formed by the movement of tectonic plates under the surface of Earth. But that was it. Just the origin. 

Any scientist in any language could not explain the feeling of bliss that he was currently experiencing. 

There were several mysteries in this world which had yet to unravel.

But what made human beings special was their constant quest to demystify these secrets. 

His thoughts circled back to his life.

In front of these behemoth mountains, he realised  how small his world was and how self centred had he been. The choices which he made in his small materialistic world would make almost negligible difference in the larger scheme of things.

In that chilly night , a realisation dawned on him. It was at that particular moment when he decided to embark upon a journey. A journey in which he would live life as he wanted to. He would no longer try to follow the ideal path. Off-roading is tough but surely much more fun.

Zipping up the chain of his jacket, he recalled the words of his idol ,"There are only two things that matter the most - The origin and the existence." It was indeed true.

Figuring out the former part was easy. He owed every shred of his living soul to his parents. They were financially very 
stable but he had to make sure to give them enough time as 
his responsibilities kept on growing.

The difficult part was of course in the existence. Superficially he was doing pretty well. Parties , dates , vacations he was having it all. But a thorn from the past still stung as an indefinite lack of completeness. Due to his foolish attitude years ago, he could not confess what he felt only once for someone who was too far away now. This always went on and on in his subconscious mind. 

Deep down he knew , there was this sense of vacuum hidden under the layers. 

He had transformed himself into a socially unawkward introvert and pretended to be expressive and mingle with people. But the vacuum was still there.

There was only one way to find out. 

He could message her instantly, but what if after all these years, she didn't even recognise him. That would hurt his self confidence which he had built all along. The idea of Sending a Hi directly to someone whom you have met years ago was not giving him positive thoughts.

Gazing at the stars, it was as if god himself  was telling him what to do. 

The decision was made. 

He would wait.

Wait till her birthday.

And wish her. 

If she does reply anything other than a formal Thank You, means that she does remember him and the talks could begin.

That night passed. 

And several others too. 

But he didn't forget anything. The learnings in Kasol were deeply ingrained in his mind.

It was Wednesday. He was having his dinner and planning to complete his long due assignments when something  struck him. 


TODAY WAS THE DAY.  How the hell could he not recall this in the morning itself. Now he had very little time left.


But he would somehow manage.  Better to be late than sorry.

He gave a lot of thought into  what to send. Every letter,  every word 

he typed would carry  the weight of his long lost love through the years.
But for now , he had to settle on a simple  Happy Birthday Message. 

He duly waited till the message was delivered and then read. 

His  heart skipped a beat when the screen flashed 

Typing.........


(To be continued)