There comes a point in time for almost everyone of us, or atleast those of us who acknowledge it, a need to break free, to escape from the humdrum and torture of monotony.
"It should not be denied... that being footloose has always exhilarated us. It is associated in our minds with escape from history and oppression and law and irksome obligations, with absolute freedom, and the road has always led West." - Wallace Stegner
Combine this spirit of footloose with desperation to the point of being driven to the wall, and what do you get? The long repressed desire to break free, suddenly erupts violently, and the native with a sudden surge of courage launches out into the unknown, throwing to the winds, all forms of safety, security and plan! And a true blue backpacker's born...
Unfortunately, i wouldn't dare qualify as a true blue backpacker, except for the fact that my life was contained in two rucksacks!
My breakfree journey had the semblance of plan and strategy and prior reservations, atleast for the first part of the trip! Beginners should be allowed a small measure of lenience in this regard :)
And so, on the eve of Diwali when the whole world (read all those people who love being at home and socializing with fellow homo sapiens!) was celebrating, my journey began on a quiet note.
The railhead at Dadar, Mumbai conveniently forgot to list my train among the expected trains for the evening. As a result, i thought i had time excess on hand, until a glance at a platform visible to the corner of the eye revealed my train sitting squat as do all trains!
My seat was located in a colourful, rather explosive location! I was surrounded by a bunch of pre-teens twelve-ish or something less who knew nothing about law, order and discipline!
To add to the confusion was a generous dollop of love and affection from concerned parents. Tearful goodbyes, kisses, knick knacks, sweets, colas and a whole lot more kept criss crossing the place. These kids were apparently headed for a 6 day picnic in the wild. The way their parents were fussing o'er 'em seemed as if they were headed for war!
The kids were only too smart and knew only too well how to have fun. Would it make a significant difference to the situation if i mentioned that the kids were all GUJJU? Certainly it did to me! Allow your imagination to run wilder than a fox in a chicken coop and picture 10+ li'l (or not so li'l) tots jumping, running, swinging, wallowing and engaging in all forms of gymnastics alongwith a lot more that can't be penned down
Sleep was a bit of an issue for me. By virtue of default and the roll of the die with genetics, i was born 5'11 in a family where men rarely grew higher than 5'6! Height meant longer legs and a side upper seat could accomodate only so much, which meant my legs poked out pretty rudely at the person who was at the next side upper seat, who in this case was a tot! Mercifully, the kid didn't think of tickling this BigFoot's feet in the wee of the night as a sport, and so...
Morning ten thirty-ish presented a very different landscape. Tall trees covered the place as far as the eye could see and a slight chill in the air felt perfect. My destination, a place with a funny name (Londa) had pulled in! An athletic guy wearing spectacles was waiting in a white Tata Indica to take me to the camp. This is what i had to look for at the station, and the description fit to a tee.
"It should not be denied... that being footloose has always exhilarated us. It is associated in our minds with escape from history and oppression and law and irksome obligations, with absolute freedom, and the road has always led West." - Wallace Stegner
Combine this spirit of footloose with desperation to the point of being driven to the wall, and what do you get? The long repressed desire to break free, suddenly erupts violently, and the native with a sudden surge of courage launches out into the unknown, throwing to the winds, all forms of safety, security and plan! And a true blue backpacker's born...
Unfortunately, i wouldn't dare qualify as a true blue backpacker, except for the fact that my life was contained in two rucksacks!
My breakfree journey had the semblance of plan and strategy and prior reservations, atleast for the first part of the trip! Beginners should be allowed a small measure of lenience in this regard :)
And so, on the eve of Diwali when the whole world (read all those people who love being at home and socializing with fellow homo sapiens!) was celebrating, my journey began on a quiet note.
The railhead at Dadar, Mumbai conveniently forgot to list my train among the expected trains for the evening. As a result, i thought i had time excess on hand, until a glance at a platform visible to the corner of the eye revealed my train sitting squat as do all trains!
My seat was located in a colourful, rather explosive location! I was surrounded by a bunch of pre-teens twelve-ish or something less who knew nothing about law, order and discipline!
To add to the confusion was a generous dollop of love and affection from concerned parents. Tearful goodbyes, kisses, knick knacks, sweets, colas and a whole lot more kept criss crossing the place. These kids were apparently headed for a 6 day picnic in the wild. The way their parents were fussing o'er 'em seemed as if they were headed for war!
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| Ready for action sir! |
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| Don't i deserve a break?? |
Sleep was a bit of an issue for me. By virtue of default and the roll of the die with genetics, i was born 5'11 in a family where men rarely grew higher than 5'6! Height meant longer legs and a side upper seat could accomodate only so much, which meant my legs poked out pretty rudely at the person who was at the next side upper seat, who in this case was a tot! Mercifully, the kid didn't think of tickling this BigFoot's feet in the wee of the night as a sport, and so...
Morning ten thirty-ish presented a very different landscape. Tall trees covered the place as far as the eye could see and a slight chill in the air felt perfect. My destination, a place with a funny name (Londa) had pulled in! An athletic guy wearing spectacles was waiting in a white Tata Indica to take me to the camp. This is what i had to look for at the station, and the description fit to a tee.
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| Yee Haw! |
Now what? The journey begins...
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