Day 1.
When my parents and I left for the trip, we just had 3 things: the ticket to travel to the destination, the booking of the hotel to stay in and a few places in mind where we intended to go with no information beyond what GoogleMaps told me. We neither had a solid plan for the trip nor the return ticket. All we had was the feeling that we need to leave our current state and have some time out of the place we have been in for a few years. We needed a little getaway.
So in the morning at 7 am, we reached the hotel room but since the official check-in time had to be 10 AM, we had to talk the owner in for an early booking. We got the room, ordered tea and sat down for a while. What next? We got ready for the day, whatever that would bring to us. I dressed up in my blue straight-leg denim with a short kurti with chikankari embroidery on it. I rarely wear makeup in my daily life but this time, I knew I had to do it! I made the front french braids and tied it into a pony at the back. I applied some eyelines and kajal and my Red-tinted lip balm. I also got my jhumkas in my ear.Taking the side sling bag for minor stuff we might need ahead, we got out of our hotel room and started walking on the street. We had to reach the Somnath Temple, the grand temple this place is famous for. We walked for a while, absorbing a little about what kind of shops are there, which restaurants are available, where the ATMs are , where we could find transportation service for our unplanned trip. The sun was bright. We ate some poha ( and I loved it, I'll have it again with the other branches of this franchise) from a stall and then hailed an Autorikshaw for the Somnath temple. The ride was from narrow and curvy roads along the deck of boats in and out of water. It was a sight I wasn't expecting ! So many boats left me in awe.
We reached the temple, and walked to the entrance. Once inside, we had to search if there were any entry tickets, where to enter the main temple area, and since there were just a few things that were allowed to be taken inside, where were we supposed to keep the rest of our stuff. It took us 30 mins approx to search into the chaos and no one was giving a straight answer. I started getting frustrated by walking without knowing where we were heading to exactly , in the scorching sun. Once we found the storage rooms, we handed over the stuff, paid and walked ahead, back into the temple.
We got an entry and kept moving with the queue of people ahead of us. Since it was the weekend, a considerable number of people had been visiting the temple. The place was bustling with people of all ages excited to be visiting. We kept moving forward and reached the place dedication to keep your footwear. Since one is not supposed to be wearing any footwear in the temple, we took it off. The floor was very hot to step on. It was almost 12pm on the clock then. My feet were burning. There were a few photographers who were taking photos of the people getting in the temple and promised to give a quality and laminated photo of memory once the people came out of the temple. My mother wanted to have a family picture taken in front of the temple. Me and my father gave in. We weren't very comfortable standing with our feet burning for a photograph. Now that I look at the photograph, it feels worthy of the minor pain. We visited the temple from inside and it was grand, really captivating to look at. Beautiful. Magnificeient.
We kept walking with the queue, prayed for wellbeing , thanked for everything we have had in our life and kept walking. We soothed our heat-laiden selves by the view of the endless water by the side of the temples. I couldn't click the picture as mobile phones weren't allowed inside the main temple area.
We walked further in the ground around the temple. It had a small museum with the sculptures showing the glimpse of events in the story of Lord Shiva. On walking further, being careful to avoid the hotter grounds and stones, we went to get the Prasad and headed out of the main Temple gate. We started walking faster and faster to reach our footwear place and get relieved of the heat our feet were absorbing . We met the photographer who had taken our photo, paid him and got our beautiful piece of memory. I could have posed better, I feel !
We got out, took our stuff from the storage area, had an ice-cream ( it was still very hot weather) and again, walked a little , our eyes not leaving the shops to see if we could buy something as a memory for a visit to this place. My mom agreed on a sling bag, with black base and colorful embroidered peacock on it, with the sling having all of the rainbow colors as well.
We hailed another autorikshaw back to our hotel as it was time to lunch and we didn't have any other place to visit. On our way back to the hotel, the Autorickshaw driver started a conversation with my parents. He said he could take us to 2 different famous places there and tell us about the reason they are famous and at last drop us at the Chowpaty. I found the idea very convincing. His pricing was something very standard , plus he was there as a guide. We reached our hotel and assured him that we would give him a call on our plans. We actually called him at 4 pm for our further trip.
We entered the hotel, had something to eat and took a nap. We were tired and we still had to visit! .
Around 4, we got ready and were off again to explore. The rickshaw driver took us to 2 different places, both being temples and as promised, dropped us off at the Chowpati. What I didn't see coming was, the whole thing was over in about 1 hour and here we were, around 5:30 pm, with sun still shining bright on our heads, with very few people in site, the street food vendors just arriving and settling into work, there was nothing much we can do there.
Then we walked a little , getting close to the water but it wasn't advised to get in the water, given the quality of mud there. There were a few boats and ships in sight. It held my fancy. The sun made the water shine. We clicked some pictures, enjoyed some time of nothingness , absorbed the beauty and sound of water and came out.
We had some samosa and pani puri and came back to the hotel.
We talked and thought about the next day. We didn’t have any plans. Shall we wait here for another day or shall we book return tickets and get back to our jobs. One thing that kept us there was the hotel was booked for 2 days. I didn't want to leave anytime before that.
Time for dinner and again, we started walking on the street. Of course the food could have been ordered in the room itself, but we chose to go out. We went to a restaurant nearby and ordered Dosa and Uttapam, for the 3 of us. The dosa and uttapam that we received was bigger than we thought. We just couldn't finish it. When the waiter came asking if we needed anything else, we couldn't suppress our laughter saying, we can't finish what we already have. The waiter agreed to get the remaining food packed. We paid the bills, collected our parcel and walked back. We walked a little longer to get the food digested. I even had a Kulfi on our walk. Tasty and fulfilling!
We reached a hotel, saw a movie on the phone while lying on the bed and dozed off.
That was it for day 1!
Day 2.
We woke up and started with our daily chores of getting ready. Since the hotel we were staying at was just in front of the bus stand, my dad walked to the bus stand and enquired for a bus that could take us to the zoo and then, he returned with the information and some delicious breakfast. He said the bus would probably leave around 12 pm. I looked at the clock. It was barely 9 am then. We had our breakfast in the hotel room, asked for tea and did something that was important- Book return tickets for tomorrow! The tickets were booked for the next morning at 10 am which would leave us at home by around the same night 8 pm.
We still had some time to kill. My father took his laptop and had a meeting to be conducted for his work. Meanwhile, my mom and I decided to visit a dress store in the walking distance and buy something from there. I got a pretty maroon short kurti with golden prints on it. I feel a little obsessed with Kurtis these days ! My mother got a dress material for herself. We had a nimbu pani on our way back home. It was still 11 am. My mom chose to have a nap whereas I tried on the new kurti and when it worked, changed into my clothes for the day for the further trip.
At 11:45 , we left the room and went to the bus stand for our bus. It was almost a 2 hour journey to the destination but as things often come with surprises, this one did too. We got off the bus at a turn where we had to go to the left side and dropped us, the bus left on the right-turning road ! Where were we supposed to go now? Here we are , standing in the middle of the highway. We had to go somewhere right? My parents started talking with the locals, figuring out our next plan. They said we could get a ride till the zoo but that would open around 3:30 pm, we still had some time to kill. The locals mentioned a restaurant within walking distance, so we walked there and had our meal and passed some time talking and relaxing. When we finished, we got up, paid and left. We started walking to the destination which was supposed to be far enough which won't be met while walking. We stopped at a dhaba ( it looked fancy with all the typical-village aesthetics ) and talked to the owner. He said he could call his Rickshaw-driver friend and get us to the destination. He cited the price. It felt a little expensive but coming as far as this, there couldn't have been a u-turn taken. We agreed and waited at the dhaba for the driver to come in. It had some really fancy stuff to have pictures with but I was exhausted. I wasn't interested in pictures at all. I wanted to reach where we were supposed to reach. Finally the driver came and we moved forward with the journey. It was indeed a long way which wasn't supposed to be traveled on foot. The plan was, once we had visited the zoo, the same rickshaw driver would drop us at the nearest bus stop from where we would catch a bus to our place, our hotel. The zoo was fun too. What surprised me was, on the contrary to the empty roads we had encountered outside, the zoo, its ticket counter and the canteen were bustling with crowds. It felt all packed. Where did they come here from ? Is there any other better way to get here as well?. The zoo was enjoyable and I had yet another ice cream. Once it was all experience, we had begun our journey to return to the hotel, and call it luck or something else, our return journey was carried out on the very same bus which dropped us in the middle of the road! It could have been obvious that this particular route was covered by this bus but it did come as a surprise as I recognised the conductor. I guess she did recognise it as well. At first I was angry but later I guess I was fine with it. There was no other or better way things could have turned out.
So it was 7 pm and we came back to the hotel with some snacks to eat. We ordered yet another tea from the hotel manager. But this time, he forgot to send it. The manager met us while we were heading out for the day’s dinner and apologized for it.Got Caught up in the things, he said. It was alright, we said.
For dinner, we went to the same place we went the day before but I was damn sure I wasn't ordering dosa or uttapam there. My parents ordered just one uttapam and a bowl of hakka noodles. I loved the noodles and this time, we did finish the meal.
We took another long stroll in the streets recounting our time in this little yet peaceful place, enjoying our time away from our usual time and realising the fact that times like these help better bonding within family, even if you are living under the same roof for years. At night, I sat by the sliding window in the hotel room and watched what normal life of people living there would be like. For the most part, I kept glancing at buses arriving and departing at the bus depot and the passengers conversing with the rickshaw walas.
Since we had a train to catch the next morning , we had to sleep on time and so we did.
It was a beautiful experience and reliving it while writing it down made me love it even more.
See you next time !
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