TANGENT TO RISHIKESH-18

Life, I guess, is a big circle. If we look at it carefully, it has many circles- One spiritual, one emotional, one economical, one social. So, basically, life is a culmination of concentric circles, with our mind at the centre. Sometimes we need a tangent. A tangent, by definition is a line which just touches the circle from out side at a point. When I look at it, we are usually so busy with life that we need a tangent to get out and see where we are.

I was chatting on facebook and suddenly I found this old friend. I asked him his whereabouts and he said in a sudden reply, that he was at Rishikesh. I was in a circle or loop called 'LIFE'. I wanted to take a tangent. I wanted to see the things which I always had desired to be with. As an instinctive reaction, I asked him, "Can I join him?"
I am sure Negi (my friend) would have been surprised a bit, because that was quite an unwelcome response I gave him. We had not met in a couple of years and this was a good space-time to catch up. Rishikesh is green with mountains and has this spiritual being, because of the river Ganga. He told me to back-pack to his bunk-bed hostel, and he gave me the address. I just got up running to pack my clothes for an indefinite, unpredictable trip to the beautiful place. I had been to this place 4 times before, but it is one of those places, where the more you stay there, the more you like it.

Rishikesh is known for a nice blend of temples or religion on one side and rafting or adventure on the other. I did not know what was my plan. I just booked my night's bus ticket on the internet and I left for the eleven o'clock, which would supposedly drop me to the town at 6 a.m.
I somehow slept off in the bus! I was loving the unpredictability of the trip. A night's bus journey was what would take me from the 'Dirty' Delhi air to the 'divine and green Rishikesh breeze. The bus dropped me at Lakshman Jhoola and I had no clue whether I should take an auto or not. So I went with the latter.
With my back-pack, I walked. I kept asking the older chaiwalas, the address. They guided me. I realised that I don't need to rush through the process and chill. So, I sat at one of the stalls and had chai. WIth a perfect mix of milk, tea leaves and sugar, it was amazing.
I resumed my walk and very soon I was at the destination: 'LIVE FREE HOSTEL'. I met Negi and realised that everyone was asleep on their bunk beds. As I saw so many bodies sleeping in peace, I felt at ease. No one was getting late. No one was missing the train, it was a nice, cosy vacation for different people from different nationalities. I took off my bag, washed my feet and got into the blanket and slept off!

After we grabbed our breakfast, we left for a waterfall which was unknown to both of us. It was a long trek which we enjoyed. But what I liked in this trek was that we could never see the waterfall. This was making me curious. Though we could hear the water from a distance, but at the end, through the jungle, we reached the destination. It was a lovely waterfall, forcing us to drop our bags and ump off in it.
My friend and me spent good enough time with each other. We spoke so much about our lives, our struggles, our happiness. Our older memories came back at this beautiful place. And the best part was that there was nothing stopping us from chatting.
Once in a while we would get out and chat with new faces. They were interesting too. We made new acquaintances and roamed around the town.

The tangent showed me how trapped I am in life. I needed to take more tangents in life and travel, unconditionally. There are so many places and people I have to see and learn. I like getting away from 'Homo Sapiens' and just be alone.

This is definitely one tangent which showed me things. I loved the 'Ganga' aarti and made it a point that I did not miss it.
Thanks to my bunk bed, in this tangent, I read, wrote and majorly slept a lot!

A refreshed Namaste!