The Best Worst Thing!
They say that ‘’All that begins well, ends well’’. The Best Worst Thing! Life somehow had a crazy way of proving this wrong for me on 24th of November, 2017. Check-ins, Baggage drops and security checks – Airports are messy and they over-do everything. Security is important but it usually gets on my nerves. I was pretty anxious about the whole trip as I it was a solo trip plus it was Delhi.
Hindi thoda thoda malum hai *strong south Indian accent*
It was 5AM and I took a metro and reached Paharganj. The auto rickshaw men came towards me like how my pet goldfishes Calvin and Cuddles come towards me when they know I am going to feed them. I finally got into a auto rickshaw, I could not explain the rickshaw driver the location so I was guiding him by using Google maps. Halfway en route to my backpacker hostel, my phone got switched off. It had 40 % charge on it but it just went off. I had no clue about the location nor did I have it noted down to explain the auto rickshaw guy.
My power bank died in my last trek and I assumed that I would be able to manage without one in this trip. Lesson 1 – Never assume.
My face started to feel numb because it was too cold. I saw a medical college on the way and I asked the auto driver to drop me there.It is usually safer in front of colleges, I thought so. It was around 6 – 7 AM and the sun rays peeped in-between the tree branches. It was such a lovely morning. I am not a morning person, I have not woken up early for ages. Nevertheless, My day did not start well. On the positive side, I was getting a good dose of Vitamin D.
I realized that I had a spare phone but it was buried deep inside my bag, the risk of me getting robbed is higher when I start taking all the things out of the bag. I saw two students hurriedly memorizing something, I think they had an exam that day and they had come to college early. I went and spoke to them and told them about my plight, they let me in their college and I started charging my phone.
It felt safe in there. Students memorizing everything in the last minute, a hit of nostalgia. I remembered my engineering days when I used to walk to my exam hall with my friends, that moment feels like I have the capacity to finish learning the subject in the last 30 minutes. I have studied the most in the last 30 minutes before the exam than I have in the whole semester. True story.
I walked out of the college and took another auto rickshaw to the hostel where I was supposed to check in . The location in Google maps does not even exist and it was really hard for me to explain this to the rickshaw driver, I tried speaking in Hindi but the rickshaw driver just gave up on me. I told him to drop me somewhere in the middle of the city where I will have some café or hotel to check in. I do not blame him though. How can he take me to the destination when I do not even know where I am going ?
I was in Connaught place, Delhi. I loved the architecture of the place, I was just waiting for some café to open to so that I can just sit for some time and think where to go next. Damn, there were a hell lot of pigeons. A CCD finally opened and I was the first customer of the day. I spent another hour in the café, I had my train to Agra at 2 PM.I thought I will just go see the red fort and go to the railway station directly. I reached the fort, exploring around the fort for a while and clicking pictures.
Sometimes when I visit a place, I want all the people to just disappear for a while so that I can enjoy the place fully. I felt the same way when I was in Agra witnessing the beautiful Taj. I know it sounds silly but I am pretty sure everyone feels like that at some point.
After few hours of walking around with 15-17 kg of weight, my shoulder felt dead and I just wanted to go somewhere and just sleep, I had not slept in the flight too. I really really wanted to sleep. I reached the railway station lounge and I had a deep sense of relief that I will just have a hot shower and have a good lunch and board my train to Agra. Well, LIFE happened again. It turns out that I am in the wrong railway station and the details were not updated in my ticket. I had to go to a different railway station, If I do not leave now, I will miss the train.
I took an auto rickshaw, I did not even bargain or negotiate.He fleeced me. I just wanted to board my train.I reached the railway station. Another long queue for getting the platform ticket, I had to rush to the platform. I was too late for my train already. I was too tired to walk but I ran that day. Something told me that I am going to be okay if I just board the train. I tripped on the stairs because of my luggage weight. Lesson 2 – Never run with your luggage on the stairs
The people around me tried to help me get up, I refused their help. I don’t know why, I had this extreme arrogance, I did not want anyone to help me. Sometimes, you get that strength from somewhere out of the blue, when your energy is fully drained but the sudden rush to do something, I had that when I got up. I boarded the train. A deep sigh. A sense of relief.
So this is how my 8 day solo trip started. From the moment I reached Agra, things got amazing again. The next 7 days felt like I did not want them to end. I never wanted to go to Rishikesh, It was not in my itinerary. In fact, I don’t even know anything about Rishikesh before I met a traveler in Agra. He told me about Rishikesh. My itinerary was different, I had my train back to Delhi and then go to Kasol from Delhi.After all that mess that happened in Delhi, I did not want to go to Delhi again.That night, I booked my bus to Rishikesh and I had the best time in Rishikesh.
Funny how bad things lead you to better things. And, that is how ‘’ All that begins well ends well’ proved so wrong in my life. If I did not have a bad day in Delhi, I would have never gone to Rishikesh. I am glad I went to Rishikesh. It was serendipity.
Written By Cynthia Joseph (+91 8884738199)
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