Flying Solo

“Alone??? Have you lost your mind???” My boss was looking at me incredulously.

“You will get bored out of your wits!” A friend told me.

“So, I hear you are off to the Himalayas?” My aunt asked sarcastically.

“Hope you have got your kamandal with you?” Were my cousin’s encouraging words.

“Madam, what will you do here alone for so many days?” Even the resort manager was shocked. 

I grinned at most of these reactions, reveling in the confusion I was causing in people’s minds. I didn’t care what anyone thought. I had made up my mind. The Bull, had decided. I was going on a week’s vacation – all alone.

It had started off as a group plan, but people gradually started backing off. I desperately needed a vacation, it was long due. Also, I felt the timing was perfect…I was in a transition phase on the work front, and this break would give me time to relax and get rejuvenated for the new beginning I am so looking forward to.

So when I realized others will ditch me at the last minute (as usual), I decided to plan for a solo trip. Once the idea occurred to me, its appeal kept increasing with every passing moment. Alone, I would be free to do what I want, not worrying about taking the group along. I didn’t want to do much on this vacation, just stay indoors, enjoy peace at a place close to nature, read, and write. Moreover, a lot has been happening in life lately, and being alone would give me an opportunity to absorb everything, and introspect, without interruptions. A vacation alone sounded like the perfect thing.

My parents were a little worried. Who goes on a vacation alone? And that too, akeli ladki?! Is everything alright? Has their daughter gone insane, like their son claims? Well…none of this, I assured them. I just want sometime by myself, that’s all. And as for insanity, between my brother and me, it will be him first, obviously.

Anyway, the place I chose was Lansdowne, primarily because it is easy to reach from Delhi, I had loved it when I visited it last year, got a good deal in the resort I wanted to stay in, and the fact that it does not have proper mobile network coverage. Yes, that’s the level of peace I was looking for.

So, I packed more books than clothes, laptop, notebooks, and was off for my first ever – solo vacation.

Today is my last day in Lansdowne…I leave by the night train. The last 6 days, in one word, have been AWESOME. I was able to do all that I had planned. Read, wrote, slept, had tea while looking at the mountains, took a walk in the hills, enjoyed the rains. I was also able to successfully avoid what I did not want to do: receive or make phone calls, read/post Facebook status updates, check mails – on Outlook or otherwise. A very successful vacation indeed.

By the time I post this on my blog, I will be back in Delhi. My heart has mixed feelings about leaving. One part of me does not want to go. It feels that it will really miss the lazy lamhe spent here, looking over the beautiful hills and valleys, sipping tea. But there is another part, which is kind of missing all the drama in life. The cribbing, the fighting, the laughing, the crying, the talking, the Facebooking. It’s ironical, how I came looking for a getaway from all of this, and am leaving eager to get back to the same old life! I want my phone to ring, to talk to my friends, to get up in the morning and go to work! This is a side effect of the vacation I had not imagined in the wildest of my dreams. Weird life!

Oh, by the way, it’s 6 PM, and is getting foggy outside in Lansdowne. I am going to go and catch the last few glimpses of the beautiful scenery from my room’s balcony. I know I will do this again…the solo vacation, when I get really tired of the drama again. And as it turns out, such a vacation will not only rejuvenate me, it will also remind me how much I love the drama, after all! That’s not such a bad deal, is it?