The Paradise

Tosh - A paradise!

That was my second visit to the paradise - A paradise for me. "TOSH"

Oh! what do I say about this place, I get goosebumps and a smile brightens up my face with wet eyes every time - every single time I think about this tiny little village on the hill tops of Himachal Pradesh. I love this place, it seriously is a paradise.

The ice-clad mountain at one end, densely forested mountain at the other, a river flowing adjacent with the amazing sound of the flow- the real music to the ears, the cool calm breeze, the chilly weather, genuine - honest - friendly - helping - supportive - ever smiling people. I may lose my memory, forget every tiny detail but I can never forget this place - Tosh!

I've been to places but never like this one.

The journey to Tosh itself is an immensely pleasurable one - the hilly road with potholes, a fair part of the roads are just graveled, hills on one side - valley on the other.

We reached Tosh around late noon, got off the vehicle and a broad smile on our face. We looked at each other, smiling gladly and I turned to face the mountains, the pretty little wooden houses and the sound of the breeze.

Taking our first step towards the village, I carefully lodged my bag on my back and started walking towards the rusted, chirped, worn out bridge with a tiny river stream flowing below it. Standing there for a moment - I captured the view in my eyes, looked at both the ends of the river and started walking again. The river had huge huge stones around the bridge and a little of garbage. Well, the commercialization had begun, the human existence was revealing, the ignorant people have reached this far! I wondered and shrugged smiling at the kids playing around. The bridge is immediately followed by a flight of stairs downwards, where a man had lodged cartons of food supplies on his back and was on his way to the village. I took a few quick steps towards him and saved a carton from falling off his back. I did feel like a savior, maybe that was something I would eat later in the village. Call me selfish for thinking that, but atleast I helped and the thought of eating came later on my mind. A few smiles and tiny talks with the man and we started towards the cafe we had been previously. The man was walking along, so we chose to stay behind him in case the carton seems to fall again, we'd help. (Yes! It didn't occur to me then, that maybe I could lift the carton myself but maybe I had my hands full, I don't remember). A few attempts at helping and he detoured from our path. A small goodbye with gestures and movements, we walked towards the cafe like we walk that path everyday.

I knew the paths so well, I myself was amused - and yes, I was leading my herd. Looking around the wooden houses, greeting the people we walked the tiny paths and steps, taking turns, we could see our destination house. A quick run on the flight of stairs and I was there, turning behind I saw my friends busy with the puppies playing around. I didn't bother them and stood watching a while when I couldn't hold myself and I quickly pranced to the spot around the cafe.

Yeah, THE SPOT! That spot, that spot gives me goosebumps. The beauty of that spot is hard to put into words. That spot is mine. Well, technically it can accommodate quite a number of people and people love it but again, that's my spot. You're welcome to share, only if you can keep shut or have a whispering conversation. The spot is a huge stone on the edge of the hill, a careless moment and you'll be gone for good. But the beauty of it, the beauty is mesmerizing, the view is breath-taking. A view of the tiny wooden houses beaming with bright different colors. The houses are so wonderfully aligned it seems like a lot of effort has been put into to make it look so amazing from a distance. Turn your head to the right and you'll see the huge mountain ranges, a larger part covered with thick trees and fine pathways visible from the distance, a further right and the ice-top mountains, the sun shining brightly behind those giant mountains - heating up the chilly place with cold and calm breeze, which reaches to your spine giving you chills and shivers. The moment you feel this and close your eyes, you'll be positively filled with the perfect music of the river flowing down the valley. That's my spot, where you can feel everything. The calmness, the beauty, the heat of the sun, the chilly breeze, the musical notes of the calm river striking up the large rocks, the flowing music - I,  I go speechless, I honestly have no words to describe that feeling, I don't want to look for the perfect word when I know how it feels like, when I have experienced such an amazing out of the world place.The spot is my favorite, the spot is my paradise. That's the spot when I actually came up with the feeling of paradise. Maybe, this is what paradise feels like, maybe this is the paradise.

Well, my friends came after their fun with those puppies and pulled me out of my thoughts, inviting me inside the cafe as they went in. Taking a final deep breath, I took a good view of the village, the mountains and I stood up to walk into the cafe. That was definitely not the last time I'd be sitting and taking the feel of paradise. I smiled and walked in, I'm here for fucking twenty four hours! It'll be fun.

Pre-first munch

Pre-first munch.

Everybody has to start somewhere, here he was- preparing for his first ever munch..

Worried and feeling awkward, a bit uncomfortable he walked up to the munch venue, dressed carelessly.

Well, he even wasn't sure if he's to be in his formal attire or the casual approach or the semi- formal clothes or the usual him. Nevertheless, without loitering much thoughts on it, he focused himself on mustering up the courage to reach the venue - dressed  without much pondering more on it, picked up one of his casual shirt and a jeans to tag along. His mind wandering about how things will be, what will it be. At a point even backing out mentally. But by then he had already decided to attend the munch, so sticking to it, he was on his way, on his way to the first munch.

The travel time wasn't easy on him either. It played its toll on him. He could see the people around but couldn't notice them, a cloud of thoughts blinded his vision. All his thoughts cornered and circling only around the munch. Just to escape out of the random half-baked stories and thoughts of his own, he raised his head up, looked around - started reading the advertisements one after the another around the train. A fan of creative advertisements and an admirer, he did wonder for a little while but that didn't help him either for the longer run.
Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes, put up a genuine smile on his face - all the while facing up the roof of the train, smiling wider this time he opened his eyes and winked at the roof.
A guy who loves solace, smiled gladly as he pulled out his earphones from his bag, the bagpack he usually tags along wherever possible. Quickly connecting it to his phone, he played his favorite playlist.
Music - that was his escape route, that has always been best and trusted route for him, yet he forgot it.
Smiling cheekily at himself, when the first beat of one of his favorite song reached his ears, he mumbled  "I should have thought of you earlier!" and he got drifted to his own virtual world or may be the real real world, who knows!

Busy with his musical moves and lip- syncs, his eyes landed on the display of the train- which mentioned it was the station where he's to get off. "Well, that was quick!'' he mumbled smiling and walked towards the door. As the train came to halt, he stepped out of the station, working on his way out to put back his earphones back into his bagpack. A treasure was waiting for him in his bag, his favorite candy. "Things are getting better, now!'' he thinks and hungrily gulps down the candy.
Stepping out of the train station he looks for an auto-rickshaw to drag his to the venue. A few mins of nagging and bargaining, he lands up a fair deal. Atleast that's what he thought - "This is a fair deal!" Staring at  the cityscapes and the rush of the vehicles. As usual he struck up a conversation with the driver passing his time and looking around, the driver guides him about the locality. The soft pausing talks continue but as a matter of fact, these talks wouldn't interest all - that's what he thinks.
Gladly paying for the fair deal he thought he struck, he looks around for his venue. As guided by the driver, he picks up a path to the market of the locality, looking at the hoardings and advertisments, he sees up the venue. The place where he's supposed to be.