talk about adverntures...

adventures... ha!!! when my aunt first told me about Devprayag - the place where Bhagirathi and Alaknanda join to form the Ganga; i formed the mental image of some flat land and we are on the river banks. then started our journey to Devprayag, which lies enroute to Bhadrinath. it was a proper hilly terrain ride with bends and views (n some sick stops ;) ). the river below snaking through... the hills were completely covered and greeeeen.the road was bumpy and bad. finally after around 5 hrs we reached Devprayag.

Devprayag is a small village situated on both sides of the river. the village is on the hill sides with houses close to each other one on top of the other, as if to shelter each other from the cold and the weather elements. the road goes through one level and to reach any other place you have to walk and climb steep high steps ( unacceptable if normal standards of rise of stairs are considered). there is a cable bridge that connects the two sides over the river Bhagirathi. there are a couple of temples there... but one is at the confluence point. you can go down to the river and at the triangular point you can wash your feet, take a bath or what ever else. the small temple there gives "aarti" to the river every morning and evening. so this is Devprayag.

now our adventure. we got rooms on the opposite side of the confluence which gives us the vintage view of the whole thing. we then crossed over the bridge to go to the other side. halfway through a strong wind started blowing... on the other side we had to walk have blinded by all the dust that was getting into our eyes. the roadside shops pulled their shutters low. we walked down the steep steps to the confluence, and the water was freezing... by the time we got there heavy clouds started comin up and the whole climate was aweeeeeeeesomeeee.... absolutely perfect! at the side where Bhagirathi comes there were some fish; dad and brothers tried to catch them by luring them closer with fish food. didn't work.

by the time we started back it started raining. we were right at the middle of the bridge when it started beatin down on us. my brother and i stood there for a while enjoying the wind, the bridge rockin and the rain... the Bhagirathi flows with more force and thunder, and it was right below us. we reached the rooms to find that there was no electricity. we survived on candle light. the moon was also heavenly... walked up for a paratha dinner. he actually cuts this hugeee slice of amul butter and puts it on your paratha. you have to smear it all over. but even yet it is a big slice.

next morning we could clearly see the confluence. the muddy Alaknanda and the clear green Bhagirathi. after a breakfast of some more parathas we started back... fresh and ready for rafting. 15kms frm Devpryag our car broke down, right next to a road side shop. the driver hitched a ride back to get a "mistri" while we waited. an hour later though we got a lift from a bus and travelled 20kms to Byasi standing. once at Byasi we found this guy who said he will organise our rafting but that we needed to go 6kms to that point. we had lunch and waited for the drive he was to arrange. it ended up being a pick up truck from the camp.

we drove down to the camp, us kids behind with the luggage and the elders stuffed in. it was an interesting ride. then we had to walk down to the river, through a steep path. the sand was white and shiny, with boulders at the riverside. we sat playin in the rocks till we started rafting. the rafting was damn fun. though i would prefer the rafting in the Beas river any day, this one had its charms too. in the placid and calm stretches he let us get into the river and drift along, he allowed us to do that at one rapid also. that was FUN! the rowing was fun then, but isn't now! (my arms and my palms ache :( )

when we reached the camp we camp to know that our car was fine and could be trace. so again we started off... hungry and waitin to hit the bed. 6 kms from Rishikesh our car broke down again. same trouble, something to do with the axle. we sat there on the roadside. me on a small drum kind of thing filled with concrete, some kind of road barrier. i was looking down to the river, to my right was Rishikesh, the famous Lakshman jhula faintly visible, and the moon was rising to my right, my back to the road. just sat there for around 45mins i think. enjoying the romance of the situation. the moon climbed higher, almost full and a reddish tint around it. Rishikesh began to light up with the reflections in the river and then evening aarti to the river Ganges. ah it was wonderful. the faint thunder of the river down below, the honking of the cars, and the family talking all around me.

we were picked up by another car of the same taxi service, which happened to be in Rishikesh. the wonderful thing was that he was with an army brigadier then, so had a red lamp on the car top. he brought us home to Roorkee in record time, whooshing across continuously, running in and out through the heavvvvvvy traffic, taking by passes and what not... whew we were finally home at 9:45pm. me ready to crash with no energy to go out for dinner, ended up with a mango dinner :P .

so that was it... i know it is a long story. it was an interesting one. would i want to go though it again? yeah, indeed!!! my India is the only country where there are temples for rivers, and which get special services everyday. it is the same country that sinks all its sins in them, and pollutes them with all our excess discharges. it is in this same country that an Arkapalli exists, poor with lack of water to achieve anything; and then there is a Devprayag with so much water that they don't know what to do with it, and are still poor. oh there is so much work to be done here. my INDIA... there is so much to it. so many things to see and discover and understand. this place never ceases to amaze and mesmerise. my INDIA greatest!

bharat darshan

my mom calls my Arkapalli visits my Bharat darshan. well in many ways it is the most apt thing to call it. every time i go i end up seeing new angles to things. i had gone to Arkapalli last weekend to attend a marriage there. on the way to Arkapalli Anurag and i were talking and he said " I'm just thinking about how funny things are. you sit and think about your room. how it should be what all you should have; i think that if i only have a room to myself its enough. a person in these areas would think if i only had a proper room for my whole family." I've always always wondered who makes these differences? who decides who gets what and who lives how? if we are all the same... then how come such not-so-subtle and distinct differences exist?

the wedding... well it was an interesting event, as with everything else in India, the ceremony was different from the various wedding ceremonies i have seen so far. nothing ever occurs in t he same way throughout India. we couldn't have lunch there. the crowd was... my friends decided that they couldn't stand it all. for us... it was an alien atmosphere. things are so different there. so different from the world we are used to. why does life become cruder as you go down the social ladder? lives become cruder, their worlds go cruder.

then on the way back... we had to travel a stretch through a 7 seater auto. another girl and i were sitting at the rear facing the back. there were some people on bikes who kept following us for a while (i slept off soon and so didn't know how long!). what is it with men? is this all there is to their field of view? no, I'm not blaming them all. but every now and then i come across some specimen, or some incident and i cant help but... scream out at the whole lot! get a life!!!

there was more to our journey that day. we caught a bus at kalwakurthi. as the bus started entering the depot people ran to it and hung from its windows to reserve a seat by throwing kerchiefs in. hot and hungry and sleepy we got in and found seats and sat down. at the next stop all of us were woken up the crowd that got in. for a long time there was non stop bickering and shouting. then there was this one lady who kept pushing into my friend's seat and then kept glaring at her throughout the journey. people always grudge other people their comfort. seems like the biggest failing of human life.

things... are confusing to me as always... i try to analyze ever scene in the film of my life and end up confused and disoriented. reading a lot of Richard Bach now. and his school of thought is very very comforting for me... all i can say is "life is an illusion". everything is illusions. its just how you decide to play it.

"The world
is your exercise-book, the pages
on which you do your sums.
Its not reality,
although you can express reality
there if you wish.
You are also
free to write nonsense,
or lies, or to tear
the pages."

-ILLUSIONS
Richard Bach

acads...

i spoke to a school teacher of mine today. Mrs. Jayashree... the moment you look at her you know that that is what you want to be when you grow up. the amount of grace, beauty and kindness she portrays is unexplainable. she has been one of the major influences in my life. she was the one who first commended my writing skills. so of course i wont ever forget that. many a times we would stop her in the corridor and begin a conversation that would cover all topics from politics, history, poetry and what not... thank you Mrs.Jayashree for all that you have brought into my life! they dont make teachers like her anymore. its the old school... and oh so valuable! i pity the new generation for their loss... i really do.

i have also spent some time with a schoolmate of mine. she was a kid then, 4th class, when i passed out of school. she told me that my school now had an iit foundation course and students were being forced to join it. i felt awful. i was thinking that my school will forever remain those old world heavens. but the grind has crossed the convent walls also. will they never leave? i myself went to a foundation course. i don't regret it, but that wasn't in school. school was our learning paradise. in St.Ann's i grew as a person, all around, all sectors. the acads never pressurized me. i studied and played at the same time. i understand that as time goes on the stress starts acting on younger and younger kids. its stupid! I'm sure no one who has been through this grind will ever recommend it to someone else.

then again... i am of the group that believes in all round development. i believe in reading books, developing arts, wasting time over extra curriculars... i think at the end of the day these matter. not just your acad excellence... yes acads matter. they definitely do. but not to the extent of forgetting everything else. marks never made sense to me( okay i confess was near the top at school... never worked with that aim though). which was perhaps why i never made it into an IIT. i still believe in studying at my pace, on my terms. i study and understand things my way. i cant survive in a corporate college and get lost in the crowd.

i don't see why our new generation, our brilliant new minds should be sent through this torture. i know loads of students who have gone through the grind, and they hate every bit of it. they promise themselves that never again! but it just doesn't happen... this damn society will get to them. it will... no matter what! what is it that it wants in the end? there are loads of the best minds in our country who are squashed in this game and end up in death. suicides in IITs. suicides, everywhere, anywhere, during exams. does it make sense? LIFE... to be thrown off for a mark sheet? shame on you society! it is you just you who is driving us crazy! we cant keep up to your expectations. give us some breathing space. some space to live...

in 'the bridge across forever' richard bach says "anyone desperate enough for suicide should be desperate enough for creative extremes to solve problems: elope at midnight, stow away on the boat to New Zealand and start over, do what they always wanted to do but were afraid to try." all you pals who wanna give up on life... please think about for a moment. is it worth it? its your life buddy... no matter what the others say and expect. you are the mastery of your destiny. what ever the problem... it will be okay... you can work it out. even if all seems lost today... there is another tomorrow. please think about it. failure isn't the end of the world. it could always mean a new beginning and you have to be able to make that new start...