My First Solo Trip

By S S Mallik

 My First Solo Trip. 

Imagine a guy who didn’t know how to view Google maps, and who is a turned introvert, and  who probably forgot how to raid a bike, and who is so lazy that his maid stops coming to his  room complaining that that this one of worst maintained rooms in the PG – FYI-(I am not  judging her for that- I mean you ask the most ancient animal (COCKROACH) who is also one of  our roommates now. 

One day, this guy decides that he wants to go on a trip, and that too a “SOLO TRIP”. Wow! This  is one of the best friction stories I have heard after Harry potter. But, like Harry succeeded in  getting a life, friends and Hogwarts, I succeeded in completing the trip. Now coming to my trip  experience – Don’t worry- I am not going to bore you with all the budgets, food, places and  people- I Just want to share some of the moments, a heartless guy like me, felt. 

To be honest, I had never called a hotel reception before, to book a room. And the only  word that the reception guy understood was ROOM. As an elder Tamilian, he is not  comfortable in English, and he doesn’t want to speak in Hindi (thanks to modern  politics). But after an awkward conversation of 5min, he understood that I want a room  on Saturday, and I understood that calling a reception is not that hard. 

My first day was not that bad, I freshened up in the room, and I took the bus and  started my journey to ISHA Foundation. One thing I noticed about the bus boards in  Coimbatore is that they all are in Tamil, not a single word of English or any other  language. See! I like and respect my language too, but I don’t want a guy from my  neighboring state to circle around the bus station for 3 times, to look for an English  word called “ISHA”. 

Finally I reached ISHA Foundation, and went to see the Shiva’s statue with the help of a  bullock cart, and it felt like I was reliving the 80's for 10 min. The moment was finally  fulfilled, I saw “the largest bust sculpture in the world” and it felt so enlightened and  divine, and I felt like a spark thundering in my eyes- (I am joking guys, I didn’t feel  anything, thanks to all the social media platforms and all the people who has already  shared the videos and images of the statue in every possible angles). But, I am not going  to lie, it felt good, as I am the only person in that area who is watching Shiva with eyes,  while everybody else were watching with their camera lenses. I don’t understand this  one thing, if you want to see something or someone, and you travel a lot to come here,  watch it with your eyes. If you want to watch it through a lens, you could just type  “ISHA FOUNDATION, COIMBATORE", and you will get all the images. I literally saw a girl  there, and I really felt like if it is not the largest statue in the world, she would stand  beside it, pout her lips near Shiva, and do the victory symbol with her hands. I mean  seriously guys, please stop doing this!!! 

Sorry I bored you with this discussion; See I am a little old school here.

But I finally find a place for old schools’ like me “The DHYANALINGA”, it was like a  pyramid, but in a globe shape, and it had a Shiva Lingam in the middle, and it was  surrounded with small little cave like things, where you can sit and meditate. It was so  peaceful, but as Darwin theory says, like we all came from monkeys, I too had a monkey  mind. For every 2min, my thoughts were going from beautiful girl images to office to  friends to what are the things I am doing to what are the things I should do, to all the  parallel words that I created like marvel movies with all the possible outcomes. My  meditation was a mess guys, but I didn’t give up. I completed my visit there, with a  successful and uninterrupted meditation of 20min; believe me when I say it was a record  for a guy like me. I spent a good time in the SURYA KUND (a small lake-like thing where  only men can take dips to clear their sins, and feminist, don’t do parades now, there is  another place called CHANDRA KHUND for women as well). I felt if had visited that  places with my friends or some people I know , I could have wrote a letter to the ISHA  Foundation stating to refill the water, as now the KHUND is polluted with their sins.  Please guys, learn some ethics from me. 

I completed my first day with the laser show on Shiva’s statue. I heard too many good  reviews about that, but I felt it was ok. Don’t cancel on me on this, but it was like an old  south Indian movie, it has its mass moments and okayish screenplay. The next day, I  again visited ISHA in the morning, and after that I went to a waterfall named  “SIRUVANI”, and according to Google, it is the second tastiest water in the world. I don’t  completely believe in Google now, as every time I search with my symptoms, this search  engine always tells me that I have cancer. 

Anyway, the falls was around 17 km from ISHA; and the area was very peaceful. There  are buses which take you from the entrance to the falls, as no other vehicles are allowed  there, and then you have to trek for around 1 km to finally reach the falls. 

For the first half, I sat on the shore of that lake and was watching people. I saw fathers  teaching their sons and daughters how to swim (a boy was so frightening while learning  the swimming, and was looking at his father like the “THE NORTH REMEMBERS (for  people who don’t know GOT, he was just saying to his father with his eyes, that I will not  forget this until I become an adult”). I saw mothers sitting near the shore and watching  their sons and daughters play in the falls, and feeling so happy that it was actually them  who were taking dips in that water- Laughing whenever her child would sparkle water  on them, and also getting tensed whenever they would slip while playing. I saw a newly  married couple who were having a half-boiled romance. I saw a group of friends who  were trying to do all kinds of gymnastics in the water, even though the guard was  whistling at them every now and then (I Just said to myself “AGE”). After seeing them, I  miss my friends and cousins group there, in the falls (Don’t get emotional on this 

sentence, all I was trying to say is there should be someone to look after the bags, while  you are chilling in the water, right??). 

I even saw a boy and girl (Lovers may be), where the girl is acting shy as she is afraid of  water and she can’t touch the water due to some curse. While the guy is acting like he is  caring, and is holding her hand, and slowly taking her near the falls. For all other people  

near that falls, this pampering show felt like cute Romance (but all I was thinking in my  head was “PUSH her bro, push her hard into the water”). Don’t judge me, I am not a  psycho, I just don’t understand this Romance, and holding hands thing. 

Finally after some time, I changed my clothes and started to shiver in the water. I felt  out of all 5 “PANCHABOOTHALU”, water is the most powerful element. As I saw Men  become boys, women become girls, and senior citizens become toddlers, and children  creating a new world for themselves, while playing in that water. This element is so  powerful that no one around it was sad. According to the Hindu mythology, I heard that  some waters have power to remove your sins. At that point of time, I thought our  translators have done a mistake, and instead of problems they have entered sins. It felt  like that water is removing your problems, and it was flowing back to the big ocean. I  stood near the falls while the water was hitting me hard, and after 20 mins of playing, I  really felt dizzy. I even made my way into the carving of a mountain where I saw others  as the water flow was acting as screen between me and them. The guards were whistling  as it is not recommend to stay after 4pm in that place, so everyone started to leave. 

With that whistle, my time near that falls was also completed. I almost forgot to tell you  guys, I lost my slippers there near that falls, and to be honest I don’t even remember  where I kept them in the first place. According to the south Indian beliefs, if you lose  your slipper it means that you have lost your misfortune, and you can start a new life  without miseries, problems and setbacks. So, the next 2 hours my life was free from  misfortunes, but later I bought it again for 200 rupees, and the story continues. As there  was some time before I could board the bus, I just roamed the streets of Coimbatore  like a lost soul, calling everyone I know and telling them the story of my first solo trip  (Like the actress Asin did in the movie Ghazini). 

I finally boarded the bus, and slept like a child, and I am pretty sure that my snoring had  bothered my co- passenger. 

Everyone goes on a solo trip to enlighten themselves, to change themselves. HEY!!! Even  I changed, but that was for only 24 hours 40 min and 8 sec. After that, the same story of  every man – problems, anxiety, and strictly following an undisciplined routine, Job, 

movies and stuff. I am not completely saying that this is a waste of time and money.  Because whenever I face a problem, the only thing that comes to my mind is “you did a  solo trip bro, you can pass this too”. I don’t know how many days it will motivate me,  but it is a good feeling for now. 

So, thanks for reading, and I really hope this is not my last solo trip, and the journey  continues.

By S S Mallik