We left Jageshwar the next day around 5a.m. for Delhi and reached Almora in an hour or two. Buses stopped at a Hotel for breakfast and some fellows purchased Kumaon’s favorite Bal Mithai. Our next stop would be Kathgodam and we reached there around 11A.M.  While descending the hills after almost 21 days I felt sad and knew what to expect: The routine; same days and nights.

So we reached Delhi on day 22 and 26 (including the day of arrival) overall, by 8p.m. and were immediately handed over our Certificates and if you are a government employee your leaves are free as it’s certified by the IMF and you are entitled for special casual leave clearly stated on the certificate.

Fellows are in a hurry as soon as we reached Gujrati Samaj Sadan. The same fellows who were so close for those 25 days or so didn’t have time to say Good Bye. Some got flights to catch and others got trains. I was puzzled that they even didn’t take a day’s margin. What about if the weather had gone rough or this is the way things work in life; it’s terribly busy...

There was some stuff that we left at Sadan before leaving and that was to be collected by depositing some fee. So all in all it becomes quite hectic as soon as you alight from the bus; first collect your stuff and then reach the dormitory at the third floor to receive your certificates, take out your belongings from the store in case you have deposited any, rearrange your stuff and then say goodbye to fellows in all that chaos.

So I bid adieu to fellow Yatris including Vaibhav and Priyanshu. The former is leaving with Shastriji and taking him to his home at Kurukshetra. Over a period of this Yatra both developed a very unique and lovely friendship. This unique friendship is also developed among our group; Priyanshu, Mukesh Guptaji, Vivek, me and Mr. K.K. Soni. Priyanshu is from Gurgaon so we accompanied him to the nearest Metro Station and that left Mr. K.K. Soni, Vivek, Guptaji, Arvind, me and few others at the Sadan for that night. I luckily got reservation on the next day train to Lucknow, Guptaji and Vivek were to catch flights for Lucknow and Banglore, Mr. Soni had reservation in Malwa Express to Indore and Arvind wouldn’t go before sending everybody off; he is from different world, a gem of a person.

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Thus it completes our Yatra. It was the journey of a lifetime and I met some really great and interesting individuals. I had never felt so much in peace throughout my life even several days after the Yatra. The one thing that I learnt is no matter how fit you are, it’s the faith that drives you and takes you where even your fitness fails. Here I saw some fit and strong trekkers struggled while lesser fits completed easily without pain. So always have faith in him and the rest will be taken care.  

Finally, when life gets tough: travel: see and see more and never ignore the call, it has to be answered. .....Go out and you will feel relaxed.

So thanks for going through this long and tiring narrative. I apologize for sloppy writing.

 & Keep travelling…

‘There is always more for your eyes to see and your soul to experience …

 

                         ॐ नम: शिवाय ।   हर – हर महादेव ।।