And the alarm rang at 3:00 am, though I knew I would not sleep the whole night “Day-dreaming” of “MY Dream Trip” I had kept alarm anyways just in case to wake me up on time so that I would not miss my bus to the airport.!
I had quit my 5 year old corporate job, and decided to embark on this journey. As I had earlier mentioned I always had dreamt of travelling with no plan, absolute unplanned trip, and so I had only booked flight from Bangalore to Delhi, rest left to the days to come..!
A Girl travelling Solo Unplanned is still seen as a difficult thing to do in India due to obvious reasons, but trust me the excitement it gives is worth the risk. There is a thrill in the unknown, not knowing where you are headed, making decisions in the spur of the moment and landing up in magical places..! I was completely with an open mind, ready for all the pleasant and unpleasant surprises this trip would throw at me..!
My backpack (Lets call him Guddu from now) seemed as excited as me to get out of the house, the clock on the wall ticked 4:00 and it was time for me and Guddu to leave, my excitement bid bye to the house and its members in a minute and I started looking for an auto, we Bangaloreans know how difficult it is to find autos, the bus stand was only 2 kms away from my place and it was early morning, they had all reasons to not come. The uncertainties of an unplanned trip started right here, I was left with only one option, walking to majestic bus stand, I walked with Guddu all the way day dreaming of the Himalayas, found a Volvo bus which would start at 5:00 am, I thought this is perfect and boarded that bus. I was so very happy to see the empty streets of Bangalore, we all know the traffic of our city, as it was early morning and the hustle bustle of the city had not yet started, bus driver drove the bus in all the josh singing and enjoying the drive, and we all reached the airport in just 50 minutes..!
All excited I went into the airport, checked in Guddu. I could see a long long queue in the security check, I wonder why we humans do not have wings instead of legs, we could have skipped all these when we travel, harsh reality I had to wait for an hour for the security clearance, I was walking towards the entry gates, I could hear, “This is the final boarding call for Ms.Chaitra travelling to Delhi on flight number 6E-2228. I paced up my speed, I was the last one to board, the bus was waiting for me, the other 5 people in the bus gave a cold stare at me, I wanted to tell them It was not my mistake of humans not having wings.! :p Anyways I felt privileged for being the last one to board, all eyes at me..! Yes this is how my journey started, I told myself wait for more surprises to hit..!
Maybe the pilot was in a good mood, the flight had a very smooth take off, the visuals I saw after that was surreal, the plane was zooming on the sea of clouds, I just felt like jumping out of the flight and grabbing one of those cloud masses..! I said myself, calm down girl..! We flew 2000 plus kms in 2 hours and finally time to land, this time pilot’s mood had changed maybe, the landing was too scary..!
Finally I was in Delhi, very near to my fantasy land. Picked up guddu from the luggage belt, I knew I should go to Himalayas, had a very vague idea about the further path.! As I had done Kashmir & Ladakh in full and was not intending to step into north east yet, I was left with either Himachal Pradesh or Uttarakhand, I had chosen Himachal Pradesh..! I found a nice seat in one corner to sit and decide the further path.
I had three to four weeks with a minimal budget, and had vaguely one state to explore.. I decided to start with Shimla. I was at the Old Delhi Railway station in the next one hour. After a few enquires got to know there is a night train from Delhi to Kalka and I could further take toy train from Kalka to Shimla. I left my Guddu to take a nap in the cloak room and started roaming around the streets of Delhi, travelling in Delhi metro, rickshaws and tut-tuks is an experience in itself, taking in the charm of Jaama masjid, exploring the colorful narrow streets of Chandni chowk, never realized how the time passed. It was evening, I had to head back for the train, and then my tummy started calling out for food, I made my way to the paratewale galli, people around were talking that this is Virat Kohli’s favorite place to eat..! But I didn’t expect Kohli to come that day as I was excited about my own journey..! 😛
Reached railway station, picked up guddu, and the train arrived, typical Indian train, it was filled to brim..! As this was unplanned I could not make a reservation, the general compartments did not even have space for a small puppy, it was jam packed..! Now what to do Chaitra, get into the reserved compartment I told myself, This compartment was no less crowded, I made way through the infinite number of people trying to get in, made myself a small place on the foot board of the train, yes there was no other place left..!
Train started to move, I was holding guddu tightly and was slightly dozing off and the tadaaaaa a thunder storm woke me up from my slumber.. Yes it was lightning and thundering. Never even in my dreams had I thought I would experience such moments, yes it was like a fairy tale to watch those lightning striking the sky from a moving train sitting on the foot board..! Those were the most gorgeous lightning I have ever seen in my life., pitch black sky and those beautiful white electric lines striking .. A night journey worth to remember..!
Next day morning around 04:00 hrs the train reached Chandigarh, and all the people except for a handful got down, finally got a proper seat to sit for another 2 hours. I was half asleep, somewhere after 20 minutes or so it started to move and again halted after ten minutes, a guy came into the compartment and switched off the power supply, me and the other 6 people in the compartment were puzzled at this and asked him why he was doing so, and the answer he gave, “Arey aa compartment toh yaha kaat gaya, baaki train Kalka chal gaya, Roj aisa hee hota hey”.. I was like what the hell just happened, I had no idea that compartments would get divided like this in middle. I asked the same guy what to do now, he asked me to get down and walk to the Chandigarh railway station and take the next train to Kalka..! Such a bad day I thought, and walked to the station half asleep..! The next train arrived and to my luck it was more crowded than the previous one, why is India so much populated I asked myself, with no answer I got into the train, became one among the infinite passengers in the train.!
Finally the train came to a screeching halt at Kalka, I liked the Kalka station, it was a small pretty and clean railway station with European architecture..! Enquiry counter was empty, I waited there and understood that the next toy train (Kalka-Shimla Himalayan Queen) was at 12:30 hrs, bought myself a general ticket and further waited for the train to arrive..!
Kalka-Shimla toy train journey is an experience in itself, it was a pretty little toy train with big windows, the general compartment was full as usual, I waited for the train to move and got into the reserved compartment and sat on the foot board again..! This was a very small compartment with some 50 odd seats and all the of it was occupied.. I silently sat on the foot board, there were two other travelers (lost souls like me) in the compartment standing and they were looking at me amazed.. What connected us was the “Paper Boat” juice we all had in our hands 😍 We instantly became friends for the journey..
The UNESCO World Heritage listed train started to chug up the hills leaving behind many picture perfect landscapes and the smoke of the coal, first sightings of the Himalayan foothills made me shout out with joy..! The sheer beauty of the ~ 100 km stretch will leave you wanting for more - total of 103 tunnels, 864 bridges, and 919 curves, the sharpest being 48⁰, all serve the 2’6” track connecting the summer capital to the plains below..! It is a celebration of slow travel indeed. Hours passed by as the gentle rocking of the coaches took me into time immemorial..! Me and my two newly found friends were shouting inside every single tunnel, as the tunnel echoed our voices, the silence just after that, the water that dribbled inside the tunnels, the bridges that passed, the constant sight of the hills etched a permanent memory in my heart..!
The Train was delayed by an hour, it reached Shimla at 6:30 pm and guess what I had to catch the bus from Shimla to Reckong Peo at 6:30 pm (Yes forgot to say this earlier, I had decided to enter the Majestic Spiti Valley from Shimla and had booked a ticket to Reckong Peo online in the afternoon) I had to run from the railway station, thankfully I had the HRTC Enquiry number to which I called and confirmed that the bus was late by ten minutes. Finally boarded the bus, And yet again I could see the entire population here, as I had a reservation I got a seat to sit..! I understood that Himachal buses, especially in the Spiti Valley stretch are extremely crowded, as there will be only one bus to a particular place in a day, and all the locals depend on this one bus for their daily commutes between the villages. So I told myself – for the rest of the trip, come to the bus stand early, stand in the queue and take the ticket so that there is a chance of getting a seat to sit..! As the bus started, slowly I slipped into a dreamy sleep as the Bus made its way up the Himalayas..!
To Be Continued.....................
I had quit my 5 year old corporate job, and decided to embark on this journey. As I had earlier mentioned I always had dreamt of travelling with no plan, absolute unplanned trip, and so I had only booked flight from Bangalore to Delhi, rest left to the days to come..!
A Girl travelling Solo Unplanned is still seen as a difficult thing to do in India due to obvious reasons, but trust me the excitement it gives is worth the risk. There is a thrill in the unknown, not knowing where you are headed, making decisions in the spur of the moment and landing up in magical places..! I was completely with an open mind, ready for all the pleasant and unpleasant surprises this trip would throw at me..!
My backpack (Lets call him Guddu from now) seemed as excited as me to get out of the house, the clock on the wall ticked 4:00 and it was time for me and Guddu to leave, my excitement bid bye to the house and its members in a minute and I started looking for an auto, we Bangaloreans know how difficult it is to find autos, the bus stand was only 2 kms away from my place and it was early morning, they had all reasons to not come. The uncertainties of an unplanned trip started right here, I was left with only one option, walking to majestic bus stand, I walked with Guddu all the way day dreaming of the Himalayas, found a Volvo bus which would start at 5:00 am, I thought this is perfect and boarded that bus. I was so very happy to see the empty streets of Bangalore, we all know the traffic of our city, as it was early morning and the hustle bustle of the city had not yet started, bus driver drove the bus in all the josh singing and enjoying the drive, and we all reached the airport in just 50 minutes..!
All excited I went into the airport, checked in Guddu. I could see a long long queue in the security check, I wonder why we humans do not have wings instead of legs, we could have skipped all these when we travel, harsh reality I had to wait for an hour for the security clearance, I was walking towards the entry gates, I could hear, “This is the final boarding call for Ms.Chaitra travelling to Delhi on flight number 6E-2228. I paced up my speed, I was the last one to board, the bus was waiting for me, the other 5 people in the bus gave a cold stare at me, I wanted to tell them It was not my mistake of humans not having wings.! :p Anyways I felt privileged for being the last one to board, all eyes at me..! Yes this is how my journey started, I told myself wait for more surprises to hit..!
Maybe the pilot was in a good mood, the flight had a very smooth take off, the visuals I saw after that was surreal, the plane was zooming on the sea of clouds, I just felt like jumping out of the flight and grabbing one of those cloud masses..! I said myself, calm down girl..! We flew 2000 plus kms in 2 hours and finally time to land, this time pilot’s mood had changed maybe, the landing was too scary..!
 |
| The Magical Sight from the flight window.! |
I had three to four weeks with a minimal budget, and had vaguely one state to explore.. I decided to start with Shimla. I was at the Old Delhi Railway station in the next one hour. After a few enquires got to know there is a night train from Delhi to Kalka and I could further take toy train from Kalka to Shimla. I left my Guddu to take a nap in the cloak room and started roaming around the streets of Delhi, travelling in Delhi metro, rickshaws and tut-tuks is an experience in itself, taking in the charm of Jaama masjid, exploring the colorful narrow streets of Chandni chowk, never realized how the time passed. It was evening, I had to head back for the train, and then my tummy started calling out for food, I made my way to the paratewale galli, people around were talking that this is Virat Kohli’s favorite place to eat..! But I didn’t expect Kohli to come that day as I was excited about my own journey..! 😛
 |
| Lovely sight of the Masjid |
 |
| Colorful displays of Chandini Chowk |
Next day morning around 04:00 hrs the train reached Chandigarh, and all the people except for a handful got down, finally got a proper seat to sit for another 2 hours. I was half asleep, somewhere after 20 minutes or so it started to move and again halted after ten minutes, a guy came into the compartment and switched off the power supply, me and the other 6 people in the compartment were puzzled at this and asked him why he was doing so, and the answer he gave, “Arey aa compartment toh yaha kaat gaya, baaki train Kalka chal gaya, Roj aisa hee hota hey”.. I was like what the hell just happened, I had no idea that compartments would get divided like this in middle. I asked the same guy what to do now, he asked me to get down and walk to the Chandigarh railway station and take the next train to Kalka..! Such a bad day I thought, and walked to the station half asleep..! The next train arrived and to my luck it was more crowded than the previous one, why is India so much populated I asked myself, with no answer I got into the train, became one among the infinite passengers in the train.!
Finally the train came to a screeching halt at Kalka, I liked the Kalka station, it was a small pretty and clean railway station with European architecture..! Enquiry counter was empty, I waited there and understood that the next toy train (Kalka-Shimla Himalayan Queen) was at 12:30 hrs, bought myself a general ticket and further waited for the train to arrive..!
Kalka-Shimla toy train journey is an experience in itself, it was a pretty little toy train with big windows, the general compartment was full as usual, I waited for the train to move and got into the reserved compartment and sat on the foot board again..! This was a very small compartment with some 50 odd seats and all the of it was occupied.. I silently sat on the foot board, there were two other travelers (lost souls like me) in the compartment standing and they were looking at me amazed.. What connected us was the “Paper Boat” juice we all had in our hands 😍 We instantly became friends for the journey..
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| Paper Boat in Train.! |
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| The curves.! |
To Be Continued.....................
Really nice....I wish I be the Guddu
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