VAITARNA DIARIES

It has been 2 years that I saw the movie “Into the Wild” and I was so impacted by the story that I always wished I did something similar, MINUS COMING BACK HOME ALIVE. People who know the real me are aware that I’m a person in search.… search for some answers, the questions to which I’m still not yet fully aware of….the purpose of my life….may be enlightenment….knowledge….thrill….danger or adrenaline rush. I follow no set rules and I do what I feel is morally and ethically right….

Happiness is not something one can keep, but one can only pursuit it….and here I was doing just that, on a trip being alone, away from home for the first time in my life….a chance to be a real free spirit.

The following is the day by day HIGHLIGHTED account of the most awesome time I have ever had till now :-

Day 1 – Chose to stand on the foot board instead of sitting inside the already packed jeep during the 16 kms trip from Khardi to Vaitarna feeling the cool breeze on my face as we traveled “on a road built on potholes and cow dung”, in the garb of nature.

On reaching the quarters, explored the 20 doors and windows till I zeroed in my would be room…spent a good 45 minutes to throw away the broken bed, mattresses, newspapers….remove spider webs, shift my bed….everything set and soon my presidential suite was ready….looked beautiful with my limited resources…Evening was spent studying, listening to some good music, meditation and planning out things I would be doing there…

Day 2 – 6.30 AM, set out on foot, alone to explore the neighboring places…didn’t know where I was headed to but I continued to walk…after all the fun is in exploring the untraveled roads…I walked further away from our quarters and soon I could see the Modak Sagar dam….I couldn’t control my instinct and I ran as fast as I could towards it…I was mesmerized by the sheer beauty around me….the beautiful rocky river bed through the mountains on one side….birds chirping….flying, trying out their stunts right below my eyes…the river on the other side, the sun rising from behind the mountains….I had never seen anything so beautiful….I ran across the dam, arms outstretched, eyes closed….it did feel I was flying…..that high was followed by an hour long chitchatting with the local policemen who let me hold on to their rifles….bullets….it sure was fun.

I continued wandering to the nearby forest….ate wild ‘ ber ’, tamarind…chased butterflies…swung from a banyan tree…helped a wood cutter with his work…looking forward to the days ahead.

Day 3 – Day began with the planned health regime over the dam, but climbing down 200 stairs to the foot of the dam made it so special…the rocks, the river, the slide of the dam so up close…couldn’t believe I was here…I had never thought I would be having so much fun, all by myself.

For the first time in my life, I realized how beautiful an echo can be….sounds great when it gets reflected from 3-4 directions of the surrounding mountains. Evening was spent playing cricket…teen patti with the poker chips along 😉 and eating stomach full of everything we could get our hands on from the canteen…

Day 4 – Today, the week long festival ‘ saptah’ ended…In 4 days itself, I feel attached to the villagers who now identify me as their doctor…Also, we had been having lunch and dinner (dal bhat and potato vegetable – everyday to be precise) at the temple everyday sitting on the floor with 200 villagers in the ‘pangat’…

Today, I decided to serve them first instead of eating before….The satisfaction in doing that was immense….the regards for me in their eyes rose even more….I can never forget that smile on their faces.

Evening, played with 2 cute little stray dog puppies, right outside the community health center. Now, working on scripts for 2 street plays, one on ‘Diseases caused by Mosquitoes’ and the other on ‘Effects of illiteracy and women education’……It really takes so little to be happy.

Day 5 AND THE DAYS AHEAD – The exploration and the wandering is over now. The day begins with jogging, exercising and meditation on the dam surrounded by the beautiful scenery and nature in full bloom for company…get fresh, breakfast at a small local canteen (serves only tea, vada pav and missal pav) and then, off to work…Evening is spent studying, plating cricket, cards, listening to music and of course talking NON SENSE for hours…The first taste of hostel life had simply been awesome.

BACK HOME NOW FOR 3 DAYS (3 weeks of posting remaining) – The days spent in Vaitarna have been a beautiful learning experience for me. I have already got what I had set out to achieve…peace….motivation….satisfaction…love…calmness…I really have ‘rediscovered’ myself ‘again’ (grammatical error by purpose).

I DON’T KNOW HOW MANY PEOPLE WOULD EVEN COME DOWN TO THESE LAST FEW LINES…..AFTER ALL THE DEFINITION OF ‘ TRUE HAPPINESS ‘ IS DIFFERENT FOR EACH OF US…..NEVERTHELESS, THROUGH THIS POST, I HAVE DONE MY BIT ON WHAT I TRULY BELIEVE IN –

“HAPPINESS ONLY REAL WHEN SHARED” – INTO THE WILD.

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