Writing about past holiday or vacation trips is so nostalgic, no? Especially when you have had some of the best
moments of your life in that trip and for me it was no different. Now Before i start sharing about that one trip and get into nostalgia let me point out that there are many aspects one has to keep in
mind and one of the most important is “less budget” when it comes to going on a trip in college time. I had one such trip during last
days of my college life and just before our final exams ( yes you read it
right :) )
Let me share it from beginning on how it was planned to how it panned out. It was in April of 2009, our last year in college in Lucknow when we 9 friends planned for a trip before exam and before we get separated. We planned for short 2 days trip to Uttrakhand which was about 400 KMs from Lucknow. We had planned to view Purnagiri temple and some other hill areas nearby and while returning to Lucknow we had planned to see nearby places if time permitted. We hired an Inova car that was good enough for 9 of us and started the journey from Lucknow taking all friends on-board one by one. As few of us were not staying with family, rest of the friends brought some food that would be used if needed and with playing some religious songs in car we started the journey in dark summer night of April.
Let me share it from beginning on how it was planned to how it panned out. It was in April of 2009, our last year in college in Lucknow when we 9 friends planned for a trip before exam and before we get separated. We planned for short 2 days trip to Uttrakhand which was about 400 KMs from Lucknow. We had planned to view Purnagiri temple and some other hill areas nearby and while returning to Lucknow we had planned to see nearby places if time permitted. We hired an Inova car that was good enough for 9 of us and started the journey from Lucknow taking all friends on-board one by one. As few of us were not staying with family, rest of the friends brought some food that would be used if needed and with playing some religious songs in car we started the journey in dark summer night of April.
We started the journey from within the city at around 10 PM and after 1 hour we were on highway but just to meet some massive traffic jam because of heavy trucks. In hot summer it was getting intolerable to sit in car just to see it crawling but as it was our first and may be last trip we didn’t feel much bothered. As few of our friends were smokers, very soon we halted for some tea and smoke to relieve ourselves. After few kilometers the highway was clear and the cool wind kissing our face made us immensely comfortable. Travelling in dark in night with moon on top and cool wind blowing was one hell of a bliss feeling.
We reached to base of Purnagiri Hill next day morning and fell in aww of the scenes around that was full of greenery, clean fountain water and sky without sunshine. The April season was not the best season to go there as it does rain many times because of it being hill area and it was no surprise for us. We decided to go to other side of base of hill with Car and driving slowly over slops and overflowing water we reached that side. It was around 10 AM and after breakfast we decided to go up for temple visit, the main place for our trip. It was about 10 KMs round ways full of stones and full of water over flowing from small fountains. We made it to top with more than 10 stoppages and got spent good time there as crowd was less. We spent around 6-7 hours there relaxing and viewing the scenery and trust be it was nothing less than feeling of bliss.
We decided to leave from there in night time only so that we can beat morning traffic and see some other places. As we were still on top of hill we started to come down in evening around 7 PM in dark with help of torch lights and sticks.I can still not forget the horror and feeling adrenaline rush of those 4-5 hrs. We managed to come down safely and after some rest and food left from the place.We were on highway back again but just to see our trouble time getting started with Car. Tyre got flat more than 6 times and with no service around we had to mange it somehow which consumed all of our time. Each time tyre got flat, one person had to go with Driver to make it repair while rest of us lied on roads or went into near by farm land and villages.It made the trip bit awkward but as friends were around it turned out to be more fun. In night time we reached our home full tired and busted into bed within no time.
I am planning one more trip to same place with new/old friends just to relive memory of those days, this time probably with Domestic Airlines as I am staying in Bangalore and distance is too much to travel by train.
