By The River Side....


The day began on a somber note.. After i was through with my daily ablutions I picked up the copy of TOI that the newspaper wala had slid through the door of my room while I was sleeping. It being a Sunday today, I straight away went to the favourite page of mine... MIND OVER MATTER its called. A beautiful quotation said everything that I have been trying to explain to people all this while. Its by WM Lewis and it goes as follows:-
" The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it"
How true!!! Most of us are always invlolved in building our future and be successful and forget about our present. This obviously got me on a high because feelings like this are hard to express and when someone does it so beautifully you obviously enjoy it.
Soon, I looked at the watch and it was 11 30 already. Dudani and I had made plans to go to the riverside early in the morning. Even though it was no longer 'early' I thought to myself , it still was morning. Moreover, Dudani, who had gone to Cal a day before had returned late in the night only because we had to go to the 'river side'. And hence a couple of phone calls later, we were on the road.
I must admit that neither me nor Dudani knew the name of the river. WE had just a faint idea where it was because I had been there once with Seniors before.
After crossing Garden Inn we were on the National Higway. And boy, the bike zooming on the Highway gets you on a high! I guess thats the reason they named it as the HIGH-way!!
We weren't sure where the river was so we asked the local inhabitants about the 'nadi'... We had to take a 'kaccha rasta' through a village. If Highway was an experience , the village road was another one. The sight of a kid running after our bike chaising us in ecstasy was a sight i'll probably never forget. Being from Northern part of the country and never having seen poverty of this magnitutde I was moved. One of the things which KGP has given me is definitely the expansion in my horizon and outlook towards life. I have become more compassionate to say the least. But more about that later( In another blog... This blog is about the trip!)
After negotiating the tricky village roads we reached our destination. It is tough to describe how it looked like. I can use the cliched terms like serene, beautiful, peaceful, ecstatic but none of them quite describe the feeling that we got. But I'll make an attempt nonetheless.
In north the rivers flow fast cause its the place where they originate. This one was a pleasant change for me. It was slow, serene, green, with cold water. Me and Dudani played with the riverwater for a while. Then, moments were spent in silence , reflecting upon ...lots of things actually. Moments such as those are hard to come by these days in our busy lives and were definitely cherished!!
Then Dudani started talking to one of the local farmers... About what all crops he grew.. Why the water in the river was less.. The name of the village( Krishna Nagar)... and all silly questions that he is so very capable of coming up with!!
After having washed his face in the cool water of the river Dudani decided that it was time to go back. We called up Reshmi and told her what we were upto!
After exchanging our expert comments about the site we decided to return with a promise to come back for a longer time and with our group of friends. The explorer in us was thrilled to the core.
After having deply engrossed in the college life especially after the First year this came as a very pleasant break. The experience was a spiritually and mentally refreshing. The resolves about what I gotta do in life are stronger than ever. I am confident of my aims and aspirations... You can wonder what correlation this has to our trip.. But only I know!
And Dudani, well if there is something that KGP has given me and that I'll never forget, its my friends and Dudani tops the list. When I look at him I someday think what would life be without him. Then I think kuch to kar hi lengey. On second thoughts kya karengey yaar!