The days that were
The Precursor (The year of passing out my 11th standard. Year 1999):
I had had my maiden "alone" travelling trip to my hometown, last year. This year demanded something more from me. This was the same year that Rahul bhaiyya had completed his 12th and out of the blue we decided to visit Purnagiri. The plan was set, and the five of us completed the trip on the full moon of May. We came back with loads of knowledge from the trip, which would come handy in the year to come.
The days that were (The year of passing out 12th standard. Year 2000):
Last year we had made the voyage to Purnagiri under the supervision of Bhaiyya log. This was our year, our time, our entrance into the world of adults. Who had thought I would resent it so much now. Maybe those who we were, all of us share that resentment.
Still those were the days and Santosh and I were learned ones from the experiences of the year before. And the gang became larger and larger. It started with Santosh, Deepak and I, but then "Raahi milte gaye aur kaarwaan banta gaya". The end result was a gang of no less than 20 guys. And we were the one's who were supervising, this time. The gang got loaded with members ranging from Standard 8th passouts to the eldest, us the 12th passouts and the otherwise.
The plan: We would start after 15th May, when the Purnagiri fair would have ended. The crowd would have left and there would only be a calm left behind. We would travel by train in the day and reach during nightfall. Then wait till it got dark and start the climb. We would carry torches and reach the temple at the summit by morning prayer time. Then we will descend and return back home.
But plans of the days gone by, were just that. Plans.
The day arrived. We had all set out with enthusiasm from Bukhara. The name still brings the sweet memories of the days that were. The days, of endless Football. Of Football with people like Mr Hambrum who could kick the ball so hard that if you got in the way, it hurt like a bomb exploded inside you. The days of Batallion movement, when the old armory keeper, who maintained that he was not more than 40 years old (maybe he took the idea of being a Jawaan too literally), taught us the ways to climb a rope. The days when we first saw empty grenade casings inside the Batallion armory which was made separately in a makeshift tin shed. The days when the Jawaans would play volleyball with us and hit smashes aimed right at you, which actually smashed either in the body or on our arms. Applauses galore when we could defend those smashes… Seems like I am digressing from the point…
Well, where were we? Ok, the day had arrived and we were all packed. The days were of passing out from school and we were all parsimonious. The trek started from home itself. We decided to travel on foot, through the fields, following the railway tracks to the railway station. The idea saved a lot of money but we ended up at railway station just 10 minutes before the departure time of the train. But, abundance always pays. We jostled through the crowd and stood at the head of the queue. "Jawaani ka josh" and no one messed with 20 rugged guys. And we were on the train.
The train travel was breathtaking as the general class always is.
We reached Tanakpur by evening and ended up roaming in Tanakpur market itself, way past 2200 hrs. Then we took a bus to the last stop to Purnagiri. The bus was as full as it can be, and it was our favorite Swaraj Mazda. The big window, sans it's glass pane was like a gaping hole in the night as the bus travelled in the dark towards an unknown destination. And we reached.
We stared climbing at 0000 hrs, and against our calculations, we had incorrectly chosen the no moon night this time. The way was pitch black and all the light we had was that of distant or occasional shops which were wrapping up their things after the fair. The hill road was deserted. Seeing this, one of us had the idea to leave the wider, to-be-vehicle-trail and take up the old walking trail which was narrower, steeper with a staircase kind of structure but shorter. We all agreed!
Surprisingly, and it's a surprise today not then, we reached the temple in 3.5 hrs only. A climb of more than 12 Kms, in darkness, in 3 hrs. God only knows what we did but we found ourselves exhausted but happily on top of the mountain, long before the morning prayer time. And when the prayers started it was as if we were the chief guests. I had been to Purnagiri but never before that I had spent that much time in the temple at the summit, the policemen always shoved you away during fair time. (Once again I had same experience one year later, when I went with my parents and family after one of my cousin's marriage).
Then started the journey home. This time we didn't even take the walking trail. We made our ways ourselves and climbed almost literally down the mountains through whatever trails we could find.
But on reaching back to Tanakpur, was it the journey home? No. Someone on the way up had picked up a pamphlet about the Purnagiri temple and the necessity of visiting Brahmadev in Nepal. Well off we went to Nepal. Again on foot.
Still with all the plans going to the dogs, we reached home on the second day's night, as decided…
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