I recently made a trip to the north of India after a prolonged conundrum of hesitation. In my mind, I always wanted to make this trip to Parvati valley in Himachal Pradesh in the North of India but never actually made the trip. Then about three weeks ago, I suddenly got the urge to just ditch everything and leave. I checked the train timings and the train to Delhi was in three hours, so I quickly packed my bags and left.
After a long and scenic train journey, I arrived in Delhi and hopped on a bus in the evening to Bhunter, Himachal Pradesh. The overnight journey was a bit of a bumpy ride up the mountain but luckily I had my music. I got off at Bhunter in the morning and took a local bus further into the mountainous region and digested the panoramic views of the breathtaking valley. I could feel the might and heavenly vibrations of the Parvati river and it kept calling out to me. It was just something in the air, a feeling of succinct completeness, I knew there was something special about this trip immediately – that was the vibration being cast to me.
I got off at a local tea stall where the bus briefly stopped because I was too tired of sitting on uncomfortable buses for such a prolonged period of time and decided to walk the rest of the way till I found a place to stay. I walked about 3-5 km by foot just staring in amazement at the ineffable mountains and the flawless Parvati river. The walk was beautiful, and I was at complete peace and in harmony with my surroundings. I walked on till I came across a quaint little hillside town called Jari and found a decent place to stay on a hillock on the high road that I had taken. I booked a room which was cozy enough and went about the town to buy supplies.
Then out of the blue came the cosmic connection. It was her. Miss instant crush – speaking, comforting, healing. We connected once again. She was surprised, so was I, and then the eye-opening conversations began. I had my music and supplies – coffee, cigarettes, juice, food, beverages etc. And we began to talk, in complete oneness. We began to re-discover what was lost and what was left unsaid. We were afraid we would lose our connection so we spoke through the day and night and our conversations were magnetic and mesmerising. I couldn’t get her image out of my mind and I sang a few songs for her too. I probably should have stayed off social media but like the buffoon that I am sometimes, I posted quite a bit and others got wind of it, which sort of dampened the mood.
But we persevered, I stayed 4 or 5 nights in Jari and explored the area surrounding it. It was pretty scenic especially from my room where I could see the spanning mountain range. The local folk celebrated a grand festival for the last two days I was there and I had conversations with the bed and breakfast owner as well and expressed my willingness to lease some land in the area and set up a holiday home in the future.
She would wake me up every morning and I loved that. We figured a workable solution for the time difference and went on speaking, in perfect union. I bid farewell to Jari and thought of going on a trek to Kheerganga but the locals told me to avoid it because of the crowd and lack of facilities high up there. Nevertheless, I embarked on a bus journey to a town from where I was supposed to go to Kheerganga but on my way there about 10 km from Jari something caught my eye – It was a wooden bridge over the Parvati river. The river had been calling out to me and I even told her how much I wanted to go down to the river. Then I took a split-second decision, much like my mind on the football pitch, to just hop off the damn bus and go to that spot. The bus driver halted the bus and I jumped off.
I made my way down to the river and sat there for a couple of hours and recorded a few songs for her. Then I walked up to the bridge and was surprised to find the most innocuously placed campsite just across the bridge. I ordered some pizza and scoped the area and immediately took the call stay there for a while. Little did I know that I would love the vibrations from that place so much that I would end up staying there for 10 days.
It was all about us from the moment I put my bags in my tent, just me and her and our beautiful minds and souls connecting, revealing, understanding and comprehending. I would tell her tales of my life and how much I had to overcome to find peace and her. I told her of how I always thought about her but I was too much of a mess to meet her when she was in Bombay. I would look to the star-lit skies filled with shooting stars and describe to her what it looked like. Strangely though the moon did not reveal itself for a prolonged number of days and only shone on one evening just for a few hours. We began to connect deeply and it was unerringly dreamy – a wonderous reverie of love.
We spoke of theories, of knowledge, of love, of how we longed for each other, of what we wanted of each other, of the plans we had, of the moments we wished to spend together, we even meditated and saw into each other’s minds which was magnificent, peaceful and revealing. The 10 days would go by in a blur, with music, food, drinks and our gentle souls propagating their desire to be together despite everything. I would sit by the river and tell her of how scenic it was, sang a few songs and I promised to bring her to the exact same place as well.
I made a few friends some Israeli, German, French, English and Indian and shared my music channel with them. The shack owner Mr.Naveen let me DJ for those 10 days and it was perfect. We got addicted to each other and I promised I would never disappear again. She breathed in me. She sprang me back to life. She healed me. In what was a cosmic connection of love by a holy river in the ancient mountains of India.
All that’s left now is for her to come halfway. I wait, in hope of her letter to me and I hope and dream of better days by her side.
Syd Barrett probably messed up the water heater at his childhood home and he writes, “Mum was very cross. She hit me. I cried” We’ve all been hit at some time by our parents and those memories stay with you. Syd was a kid just like all of us and one with hopes, dreams and ambitions.
