INCOMPLETE ACQUAINTANCE

Just walking on the road, in a train or a bus you meet some unknown people with whom knowingly or unknowingly you start sharing your life. Such acquaintances always make their mark in your life and stay there as a sweet or bitter memory.

While going through some pages of her life, she realized the same. She understood what that small talk meant to her when she met someone just by coincidence on that rainy day.

As usual she was going to her work, all by herself, her mind busy in making her agenda for the day. On the way she met her colleague, who was also heading the same way. They shared the umbrella but in a way, for those thirty minutes they shared their life, which neither one of them realized.

This became a regular thing for both of them. While going for the work whoever reached the bus stop earlier would wait for the other or while going back home one of them would wait for other. They never told each other or neither did they understand why were they doing this but in a way it was making them happy.

Like they always say “If it makes you happy, no one has the right to question you why?”

In back of her mind, she had an idea where this thing was going but in a way she was scared to name this amazing relation they both shared.

Because it is always good to leave some relations unnamed or some questions unanswered. Knowing everything is not good, some things are best left unsaid.

That day while coming back home, she didn’t see him on the station. All the way back home, she tried convincing herself and her heart that he would have been busy in some work. Her mind stopped thinking about him, but it was her heart which couldn’t stop itself from going back to the same point again and again. That night she realised that why is she acting like a teenager. All of a sudden she realized about that strong force which was pulling her towards him.

But it came like a blow to her that she got her responsibilities to fulfil and even he got his goals. But after all she was a girl, being practical is not always an easy job. For her throughout her life, it was always brain over heart. This was the first time it was heart over mind situation for her.

When she came to this city, she had her goals clear. This city has made her so strong that she completely forgot that she was a girl and even she got a right to go out and ask for her happiness. And now she knew that giving your happiness a priority is never wrong.

In a way she was becoming the girl she was then, all because of him and his warmth.

Next day she woke up, feeling all fresh. She walked to the mirror and saw herself. She never saw herself that way, the way she was seeing herself today. She kept on asking herself, ‘Is it a new beginning or just a new turn in my life?’

While walking towards the station, today for the first time, work agendas weren’t on her mind. She was actually struggling for the words to speak to him. There he was standing on the other side of the platform. He didn’t look the way he used to look every day. Today he looked confused, disturbed and tired. When she saw him, she ran towards him. But he didn’t greet her in the way he used to always do. There was something disturbing about his behaviour today. When he looked at her, his eyes had some sort of sadness which only she was able to read.

Even he knew what sort of relation they were sharing since these many days. It was just that even he was equally scared to name the relation.

She wasn’t aware that next few moments were going to be the hardest moments of her life.

The man who taught her to live a life for herself, who taught her to ask for her happiness without any fear, who taught her to love again was naming their relation a mistake. 

"The only mistake we human beings always do is we give a particular person the right to make us happy, to make us feel loved and even to hurt us at the same moment."

Without saying anything further, she just turned back and smiled to herself that how stupid she was to fall in love. While going back she had this little hope that he will call her from behind, but he didn’t. She left from that station and never returned back, keeping her love for him locked in her heart forever.

After 10 years, now when she looks back to that incident she feels like the real her is still standing at the station waiting for him…

UNFORGETTABLE !!!

HAMPI, at first when we all heard this name and came to know that we are going for study tour, all eyes had different kind of spark in them, all minds wondering about what’s it going to be like. Everyone started googling about the place, started sharing links, videos and everything that they got, on fb. And not to forget the amount of shopping everyone did.

The excitement was at its extreme point when “THE D-DAY” arrived. I had lots of train trips before but I knew this one was going to be a lot different. Going from S6 to S10, not sitting at a place even for few hours, gossiping, discussing about every stupid thing. No one slept even for few hours, there was so much of enthusiasm in everyone.

DAY1

It wasn’t a real great day. Just went around the place and explored it. My first reaction was, “Oh, this place just have stones and big boulders, what are we gonna study here.” At hotel, everyone was waiting for the night. Everyone had their own plans. Some planned to have a simple night out in their rooms, some went for night walks and some other was busy with their own “STUFF”!!

DAY2

From this day we were going to start the actual exploration of Hampi. As instructed, everyone was ready with their sketch books, note pads, etc, etc. The guide was saying something about the place, the history, and the monuments around. Some were listening; some were just too busy in photography. One peculiar thing that caught my eyes was different kind of arrangement in stones. When you see them, you really can’t figure out whether these stones are standing in that way on their own or somebody did that. “Oye Daru!!” I heard a voice from behind. I saw Gayathri calling me from not so far away. Then we all went all the way down to Virupaksha Temple. The moment I saw its hugeness, I was dumbstruck for sometime. It was almost lunch time by the time we completed exploring that area and we were left on our own to find a good place for lunch. Well to find a good place for lunch was a real tough job that day. Generally, there is no specialty about Hampi in cuisine. You get all kind of food in here; Italian, Chinese, and south Indian or what ever you ask for. The funny thing was we even saw a hotel serving momos, but didn’t risk tasting it!!!!

Next target on list was Vithalla Temple. This temple is actually famous for its “Musical pillars”. It was almost evening by the time we reached there. So unfortunately we couldn’t listen to musical pillars. But the guide showed a special thing, on one of the pillars of temple. It had a small carving which represented 3 things, a monkey jumping from one wall to another, a frog and a mother monkey helping a baby monkey to climb up.

Since it was getting dark, professors decided to call off the day. Everyone was looking tired at the time when they got in the bus, but when we reached hotel, suddenly everyone’s spirit was back. That night some people announced that Vinay is gonna tell some ghost stories to everyone. But we decided to be ghosts ourselves and scare everyone else and we actually succeeded in scaring some people. Thanks to Mahesh, Enid and some other people.

DAY3

From today we were left on our own to go around and explore every place and decide how we are going to do the work. So last night we decided to rent a cycle and that thing came to me as nightmare because I didn’t know how to cycle at all.

So at morning we all went to shops to rent cycles and on the way back to hotel I had to walk that 4kms stretch. But that time I noticed something that I didn’t feel like I’m at some other place, there was something about Hampi that made me felt homely over there.

Everyone left the hotel with their cycles and I was left alone, but I think that was real good thing for me. Today was completely my day. I started from Virupaksha, roamed around the place, did some sketching and it was already afternoon. So I decided to go to some hotel and have food. Fortunately, I found Anu, Sherin and Sajita there and when I told that I don’t have a cycle, Sherin started to jump beside because even she didn’t know how to cycle. So I thought of mixing up with these gals.

At evening I thought that today’s day wasn’t real exciting but didn’t know that a bad cat fight was coming our way at night. Well that night was really a controversial one. Many people had misconception about many people which were cleared later on.

DAY4

Keeping in my mind that even today I have to travel alone and on my own way I got ready, but thankfully Anisha thought of hiring a Luna and finally I got some relief. We both then started of from Vithalla temple and there joined everyone. Today we all were like that we will get to hear “THE MUSICAL PILLARS”. But we couldn’t because they were closed for renovations. People taking care of that place told us that they have been already damaged earlier while showing and playing for everyone. So now they chose to better shut it down. Since it was already breakfast time, I, Anisha, Gayathri and Unmesh planned to eat in a café at the back of the temple but we couldn’t find that place. But instead landed up at some river side so we thought of crossing the river and find a café on the other side of shore. The boat that we traveled in were not the regular ones but was in a ‘tokri’ shape.

When we reached on the other side it was totally different atmosphere from Hampi. It was simply like a small village. We found a small courtyard in which a family of four used to run a small café. But the food we had over there was the yummiest breakfast I ever had.

Then again we came back Hampi, and again started with roaming and discovering new things about the place. Again in afternoon, where to have lunch was a big question. And “MANGO TREE” was the ultimate answer. This place had the perfect atmosphere you require for peace of mind after a long dusty day or just to have the food. The landscape that you can get to see is simple awesome.

After that Darshan planned that we all will go to Tenali Rama’s Mandapa. And again the “gang of bikers” set off to a new place. Well this place is on a high mountain tip and bit difficult to find. But much to our disappointment we couldn’t succeed in finding that place and thought of giving it a try again tomorrow.

DAY5

Today was our last day in Hampi, so today’s aim was to have fun, fun and just FUN. Again we started from hotel to find Tenali Rama’s Mandapa. We found the correct way but to reach there was difficult because there was no perfect way to reach up till there. We had to make our way through bushes and wild plants. Finally we all reached there and when we reached we saw the whole Hampi and the view was simply beautiful. But we couldn’t go to the actual Mandapa because it was on a big stone.

Since it was the last day, we don’t want to leave any place unseen. So after lunch we all bikers set off for a bear sanctuary which was around 15kms away from the hotel. But by the time we reached there it started to get dark and bikes had very little petrol left. So we all dropped the idea of going inside the sanctuary. While coming back, I heard Mahesh and Kritika shouting something from behind but couldn’t really make it out. After sometime I felt that something was wrong with the bike. I told Siddharth to stop the bike and when I got down to see what’s wrong, “BOOM” it was a puncture. Well actually puncture didn’t scare me, what scared me was the isolated area. That place didn’t have anything around and not even network coverage in mobiles. I was completely clueless that how are we gonna make it to hotel. But then I saw Kritika and Nidhi coming back from other side. The moment I saw them I almost ran to them and hugged. Out of a gang of 10-12 bikers, only four of us were left. We all somehow made it to the nearby puncture repair shop. After getting it repaired, we all finally set off for hotel and around 7:30 we all reached hotel.

That day was actually the most unforgettable day for me. Day was fun as well as scary!!!

Since it was the last day we all planned for a night out but everyone was so tired that hardly anyone was awake after 1am.

Morning 7:30 sharp we all settled in bus to go towards our next destination “Bijapur”.

But out of all places, the most memorable one was HAMPI, for everyone. The best part of the tour was Photography, Late night walks, Ghost pranks, Luna rides, Fun and frolic and not to forget everyone’s favorite, “THE MANGO TREE RESTAURANT”!!!

As this was my first trip without my family, HAMPI will always remain the most memorable place for me!!!