A Trip to Remember!

 

Hey Folks!

Do you all have a "place," meaning a destination that you go to when you are stressed, sad, happy, or when emotions are all over the place? I don't particularly mean that you travel all the way to that place (oh, come on! We ain't that rich), but when you just close your eyes, the place and people that you found there just come to you like a teaser of a movie. I never had something like this up until now, and I never thought I would have something like that ever in my life. 

As everyone knows, my friends are my world, and it just feels so right when I am with them! I've been wanting to go on a girl trip for a long time, but nothing has ever worked out in my favor. But, finally, we got our asses up and were determined as ever to go on a trip and make it memorable so that no other trip will ever beat this, and voila! We did that. Shilpa and I have been friends for the past 7 years, and she's my family and my go to Panda baby! A trip with her and my other Panda (Kruthi, this is you) was always a dream. Kruthi became a mommy panda now and couldn't make it, but Shilpa and I, having been done with our chaotic work and never-ending deadlines, decided to make it happen!

Rooms were reserved, tickets were purchased, and we were ready to embark on the journey to Varkala, which I would refer to as my forever Jannat (Heaven, yes, it is!). 

From the time Shilpa was set to board the bus, I had an intense gut feeling that we were never going to make it on time, and my shitty gut was right. The bus was late. At a loss of options, we missed the train, all the other trains were canceled, and we hit rock bottom. After a series of stupid decisions, we did finally reach Varkala, just before a cloudy sunset. 

Can a stranger's smile warm you up? I would say yes! Ren, the owner of the most beautiful cafe, “ Cafe Sarwaa”, I've ever visited and the place where I stayed, greeted me with a smile so heartwarming that you instantly liked him with all your heart, and yes, talking about him... probably won't fit in here because of how much patience he had to deal with a crackhead of a guest like me. 

Seeing the endless beauty of a sun-kissed sea and beach was enough to jolt us back into our trip mode from our nearly dismantled brain. We dashed to the beach, embraced it, and then paused to take in its splendor. 

We explored the place for a little while, had dinner with live music, and took a stroll to the north cliff. Ren always said Varkala has a Goa vibe, with everything calm and subtle at South Cliff (where we stayed) and up and running with a killer vibe at North Cliff (just like the ravishing deck of North Goa). It was one of the best nights' sleep I'd had in a long time, thanks to the soothing sound of waves crashing. 

The next morning was no better; we planned an extensive kayaking trip over the mangroves, and we woke up to a heavy drizzle, fearing that we would not even get the refund; we canceled. But not even the rain could dampen our spirits, and we went to the beach high, which turned Shlips into a complete rogue with the waves.

Shilpa's high lasted only for a while, for the next four hours, she was in a deep slumber. And me, in an instant, I became a solo traveler, looking for people to keep me engaged. The cafe had a charm in itself defined by the people and the tourists, and it gave me immense fun to gaze at each of them and try to conspire their spirits into me. 

By dusk, after a lot of mutterings and mumblings, I finally got her up from the bed and pushed her out to our favorite spot, a granite bench that overlooked the sea. It was surreal, we caught up on each other's lives, the things that were too hard to catch up on over a phone call. And once we were out of things to ponder, there came the highlight of the trip! Okay, Tushar, do you really require so much hype? 

Tushar is an aspiring writer and has come to Varkala with an ardent desire to finish his book, which has Varkala as its backdrop. He was an interesting man and gave us so many perspectives that we never even thought about.

And with that, the next morning we bid goodbye to the two most wonderful days of our lives.

A place resonates not just with the beauty but the kind of people we find there and probably we find ourselves much better through it.

I know I haven't been quite consistent with my blogs, but yeah, life catches up to us and we forget what we love!

Tata-uh!

Regards,