As I packed my bags four days before my departure from Bangalore, thinking of the beauty Tamil Nadu was going to unfold before me, I had nothing planned. It’s very unlikely for me to not have everything on a sheet before I head anywhere. Partly anxious and excited, I let myself be full of mixed emotions, go with the flow and wait for what was to come. As thrilling as this sounds, the part of me that needs to know the whereabouts all the time, couldn’t help but make an event outline in my head.
My initial plan was to reach Coimbatore bus station at 6 AM, attend Isha Mahashivratri (core purpose of this trip) and hitchhike to Koidaikanal, which is roughly 200 kms from the city. That shouldn’t be tough! I thought to myself. 200 kms shouldn’t be hard to achieve safely, many travellers might head to Kodai from Isha after the event, I will start walking with my backpack and keep trying till I get a gypsy full of good pilgrims, will connect to them throughout the way and share as many stories as I can and be dropped at Kodaikanal with my heart full, might as well continue the adventure with them!? All these and many other not so good thoughts struck me as I was leaving home. Of course, I knew I was being unreasonable. Everything looks seamless in our imaginations, especially adventure, which clearly is far away from reality. Although, I want you to know, not planning was definitely a good decision, what happened was much better than what I had expected. This might come out as cliché, unplanned journeys are the best and should be tried at least once by any kind of traveller. Doesn’t matter if you seek luxury or rawness of adventures, go for it at least once!
What makes me say the above? You will understand (hopefully) by the end of this journey. I will skip through the whole event of Mahashivratri and my experiences on this pilgrimage, which needs another article altogether for you to feel what I did. Moving on to the next morning, I had close to nil energy left in me after what I can safely call the best night of my existence, I was with a stranger I met amidst a crowd of nearly 4 lakh pilgrims, had not slept for two nights straight , was in desperate need of some rest and got a message from my best friend who already arrived to Palani and was waiting for me! I was late, as not expected.
I was planning on continuing my trip at Kodaikanal tagging along with my best friend from school, who needed this break probably more than I did. My initial plan was to meet her directly at Kodaikanal and I would hitchhike my way from Coimbatore. Before I continue, let’s talk a bit more about the hitchhiking culture in India here, shall we? This is not Europe! This is India, which is vastly infamous for its crowd and we all have been brought up to not trust strangers entirely. India is a beautiful land, with its vivid culture, immense diversity and a million other beautiful things in terms of culture and stories. But it is not considered the safest place to be at. Being a young and fierce solo woman, you cannot expect kind and unconditional rides to anywhere appearing in front of you from nowhere. With my current state, both physical and emotional, I could not imagine sticking to my plan and putting in the efforts it required. The city was nothing like I imagined, in fact, nothing was like I imagined. There was no lone road that I was walking on, showing a thump up, waiting for a gypsy heading to my destination. I was late, exhausted, lost and sleep deprived, surrounded by a usual city crowd and complex building of any Indian city. No, it was not like they show in the movies nor it was any European rural road to nowhere.
The stranger I was with was kind enough to accompany me till another bus stand from where I could get on a bus to Palani. After asking around for a while, we could find no direct bus to palani. I had to change two busses and honestly, was not ready for a break-up journey. Before I could decide, a bus was leaving from the station that could kick start this journey without me overthinking about it. So, I bid goodbye to the stranger and we decided to meet in Bangalore once I was back. He made his way to Bangalore and I was too tired to get overwhelmed. I bought the ticket, plugged in my earphones and slept for a good 1/1.5 hours. More like passed out. I woke up to the views of windmills outside my window and completely unaware of where I was. Sent my live location to my friend who was eagerly waiting for me and possibly loosing patience. I realised I was dehydrated and asked the conductor where we were and how far the next bus stop might be, so I could get a bottle of water. A package of salted watermelons and some road trip songs on Spotify helped me calm a lot more than I expected. Another half hour passed by and I was getting comfortable with the unknown. I eventually reached Palani, partially asleep but good enough to walk and we made our way to Kodaikanal, hopping on to another bus.
I did not hitchhike, changed more busses than I thought, the heat was killing me, did not share stories with strangers on route, listened to the music and looked out of the window for the most part. Despite all of this, it was all worth it. The melon, the views and the breeze practically slapping my face, the trying to communicate with fellow passengers without knowing the local language and asking the conductor every half an hour if I had reached my stop, amazing music on the go, the landscapes and excitement of not knowing where the heck I was!
Let’s fast forward to the part where I did get to hitch a ride. Having spent a beautiful time with my friend, it was time for her to head back home and for me to continue this never ending, unplanned journey. She and my mother did ask me to get back home since I did not have a plan yet, but I wanted more of this trip, had no idea what, but I did. Got a feeling it was not over yet and something was yet to be experienced. Always, always, listen to your gut. If I had got on the bus with her that evening, I wouldn’t be writing this article.
There was no time for goodbyes as she almost missed her bus. We waved and failed at an attempt to hug, she ran towards her bus and I turned back to head to Vattakanal. I have travelled solo in the past, be it going to Mumbai for my internship where my family resides or to Kerala to meet my best friend from school, but never have I before been all alone in a place far away from home, without any purpose but to travel and have experiences I am not yet aware of. Never have I stood all alone on a completely foreign land, to simply be soaked in wild adventure and head on aimlessly. I could try and write about what it exactly felt like in that instant, but I won’t. Go, experience it for yourself. That second you stand alone, without a plan, without any expectations of the future, no one on earth knowing where your geographical presence is and feeling the wanderlust so deep within; you might just want to cry happy tears. Completely free to do whatever it is you want, anticipating what the next moment might bring.
I went to a hippie store nearby looking for a music bowl. It had all sorts of baggy clothes, beads, leather bags and journals, crystals and incense. I wanted a music bowl for quite a while to help me with my meditations, did not know I would land up at the coolest store with the most joyous and interesting shopkeeper I have come across. Will keep his story and my experience for another time. Got my first music bowl and began walking in the direction of a lesser known hippie town. I had my backpack, heavier by now because of all the extra stuff I collected and cluttered clothes that were once arranged, a cotton sling bag my friend gifted me the previous evening, my camera bag and this music bowl handy. It was 5 PM by now and sun sets pretty early in the mountains. The wind was getting cooler so I took my shawl on. As I progressed, my network fluctuated. I could no longer listen to the song I was listening to on loop and vibed to. There was no one to talk to. I had to just be, with myself, surrounded by lush trees from both ends, walking at the same pace on a road which was lone as the desert and not another being on sight. Hitching a ride was still on my mid. So what if I could not pursue it as initially planned? I was still on the road! I could hitch a ride. Even if the distance from Kodaikanal to Vatta is only about 6 kms. It didn’t matter at this point. An experience I craved for so long, could happen for real, and soon. Quarter way through, vehicles started passing by. Most of them were heading to the opposite direction and for the ones heading in my direction, I was too afraid to take that first step. Hitchhiking appears very fancy, all those wanderlust posts we come across on Instagram boost up our expectations, have you never dreamed of a Europe backpacking trip where you hitchhike throughout the continent? I doubt that. Every vehicle that passed by, was taking this dream farther away from me. The sun was setting and I was getting closer to my destination. I was completely avoiding closed vehicles; the scooters were too fast for me to notice and stop. I was judging each ride that passed by, the people on it, how they looked at this lonely colourful hipster looking young woman who almost also looks homeless by now, how some of them made unnecessary cheer and noise and disrupted this wilderness calm, how many of them couldn’t stop staring even after the vehicle went way past me, all of this was considered and noted in my mind book and I had to choose one quick! You cannot be this picky at this point. You should definitely consider your safety but no adventure comes in your comfort zone.
There was an old man who was the only one walking this road apart from me, this might sound weird but we developed a connection in no time without exchanging a word. He was walking at a distance ahead of me and sometimes way behind. I was playing Shiv tandav stotram on my phone which was already loaded, so I didn’t need mobile network. Also, I was not yet completely over the mahashivratri night. As I write this, I still am not! He might have heard that and was curious. How was I not playing rock n’ roll or some wanderlust Bollywood playlist? Older generation gets curious if people from this generation participate in anything that is not pop culture, especially if it is religious or spiritual. We also passed by a small Shiva shrine by the road, what are the chances! He kept turning around and I too at moments kept checking on him. This was surprisingly not creepy, in other situations I might have found an old man turning around to check on me very uncomfortable or unsafe, this was not. In fact, I too was hoping to find him in sight when I turned. I was not seeking safeguarding or a conversation, it was just beautiful the way it was, it almost felt like we were pilgrims, listening to the tandava stotram and heading towards the same journey. At one point he made his way to a curved road, heading in another direction, I kept walking, I looked back to see if he were still there, he looked back too, this happened a few times until we were finally continuing our own routes. It felt almost sad to see him go uphill on that road and slowly disappearing out of my sight. I bid him goodbye through my heart and I hope he did too. I will never know who he was or where he was heading, but he will always be remembered as a fellow nomad who shared my silences through the mountains and wild roads.
I continued walking and playing my music bowl. I sat on a roadside concrete bench to take some rest. Clicked some pictures and horrible selfies in my attempt to cover the empty road behind me in a shot. Further ahead, I found a middle-aged man walking the other way, I gathered some courage and managed to ask him to click a picture of me. We didn’t share a common language and he did not quite know how to click a picture on the phone. As I instructed him about the operations of my phone, he kindly agreed to take up the task. I went and stood awkwardly at the side of the road, not knowing how to pose. Took my phone back and realised I had given it to him on video mode! He shot a video of me awkwardly placing myself in the frame. I embarrassingly asked him to stop as he had started moving on, explained and he was ready for another shot. The final picture came out blurry but will always be a testament to my poor picture gathering skills while travelling solo. Should have listened to vloggers and carried a tripod! I thanked him and since I had managed to socialise this bit, I stopped the next passing scooter to ask if they could give me a ride. Unfortunately, they were not heading to vattakanal. I am certain they were not lying but they did smile at this newly born hitchhiker who was awkward and trying too hard to be humble and hide her anxiety.
After one failed attempt, I was surprisingly confident. A while later I asked another man who was on his bike. He too was not going to vattakanal but was kind enough to let me hop on his bike and offered to drop me off at a place from where I could walk and reach the place quickly. I was sceptical to be dropped off at any other point but my hostel, but I did get on. He tried to communicate in English as much as he could and I tried to hide the overexcitement of my first hitchhike! I clicked some pictures, he asked me for my number which I somehow dodged without being rude to the man who was kind enough to offer me a ride in a detour, we spoke a little and before I knew, I reached the junction of Vattakanal road. I humbly thanked him and he probably left in a partial disappointment of not getting my contact and maybe also content of a new experience to his mundane evening/day. That was it!? A short ride to vattakanal road junction after walking almost 90 percent of the total distance? Yes. And I am completely content and equally excited about it till date. We might have not shared crazy stories on a six-hour journey, but this was enough for me to know that I successfully overcame the ego challenge of hitchhiking and managed to even get one. This might have not saved me up some bucks, which is the main reason for people to hitch a ride, but it did fill me up with adrenalin and now I have something to write about for those reading this.
I treated myself with a sample chocolate I had saved in my pocket from that Kodaikanal chocolate store and promised myself a heavy Israeli platter as soon as I would touch down Altaf’s café. At the entrance junction of Vatta, a police inspector stopped me. Suspicious, he asked for my identity, my profession/work, where I was coming from and where I was heading at. I answered all his questions and maybe managed to drown his suspicion of weather or not was I carrying any “magic mushrooms”. That is what hippies or tourists visiting this mountain town do right? He was right at his part and I certainly was not carrying anything illegal. Which definitely saved me from anxiety and fear and more than anything, getting inside a cell.
It was dark by now, the deep blue sky turned into pitch black in no time and I could hear a waterfall by the left side of this road, crickets chirping and approaching footsteps of a group of men (drunk to my guess). I turned on my mobile torch and quickened my pace. In some time, I could finally see the still houses of vattakanal and hear the silence of this village. I reached Altaf’s.