And miles to go before…….(Silver Jubilee Blog!)

 After the engineering semester exams are over, it's a tradition(in Mumbai) that at least for once you have to visit Marine drive with your college friends. So to keep up the tradition we decided to go and after coming to consensus that we will directly go to Girgaav Chaupati and will see the drive from the bus window, cause who will walk that long path. So first of all we gathered our group of friends, in college this is a task especially after the last semester exam it's an even difficult task. Then got into multiple rickshaws and went to Kurla station. From there we took a fast train to CSMT, got down at the UNESCO World Heritage Site that is CSMT station, and walked the platform like we were on Mission Mumbai. The station is an architectural gem in all its beauty and grandeur. We came out and took a bus which would drop us at Chaupati. So the guides among us were sleeping at the back of the bus and novices saw the Arabian sea and thought that Chaupati is here and we all got down thinking we've reached, and in a minute the guides realized we got down at the Nariman Point which is at the other end of Chaupati but by that time the bus was already gone.

 

It wasn't a happy realization at all, we all kept a 2 min silence for our decisions and actions. And then crossed the road and stood at Nariman Point and then to overcome the wrong decision we convinced ourselves that lets click pictures as luckily no one was there, otherwise there are so many people that it is almost impossible to click a picture without someone in the backdrop. Well that was because it was a summer afternoon, we then clicked pictures, walked a bit then again clicked pictures. One of the pictures we clicked that day was the one where we sat facing towards the sea and our bags facing the camera. It was clicked so that when we look at that picture after a couple of years we will be reminded of our college bags!

 

Well in some time we were done with clicking all sorts of photos and now the only question was how far is Chaupati, so our guides were now our psychologists as they said it's not too far, just some more walk and we would be there, and we did believe them. Then after walking almost half the drive we saw Naturals and you can't overlook that on a scorching summer day  while walking alongside the drive, so we all crossed the extremely busy road and grabbed our favorite flavors. But somehow tender coconut always hits the right spot. Back to our walk,  we now thought let's focus on how enjoyable this walk is instead of complaining, because we think only we are walking but the Arabian sea is walking along with us, in all its beauty and charm it flows untiringly everyday, every week and every year, for so many centuries! Then a friend suggested that we should sit a while with eyes closed and listen to the sound of the sea, and trust me it was the most soothing music I have ever heard, the vehicle voices fade, the public noises subside and only the sound of the sea is perceived. It still echoes in my ears when I recall that day!

 

After all this we were still walking, and every time we asked how far is Chaupati the answer was just a kilometer or just 10 min and by now we came to know that this was more of psychology than the real distance. We walked and walked and walked and that day the only poet I was reminded of was Robert Frost and his poem 'Stopping by the woods on a Snowy Evening' where at the end he says "and there are miles to go before I sleep", actually unending miles to go before we reach Chaupati. And then finally after walking half of afternoon and full of evening we reached the Girgaav Chaupati and felt " Safar khoobsurat hai manzil se bhi'' as the Chaupati was filled with enthusiastic kids swimming in the sea and their parents waiting for them on the shore.

 

But that day I realized, some journeys are really more beautiful than the destination itself, and this one where we walked alongside the Arabian Sea will always be part of my core college memories. And also just like that long walk you and me, we have come quite far as well. Yes it's been 2 years of Blogging today, 2 years of me writing and 2 years of you all reading the blogs and showering your love on it. So in any case reading more was a part of your resolution please pat your backs, as it's been 2 years since you are reading! So congratulations to all my dear 'READER's'. And this is just the 25th Blog and as Robert Frost says,

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,   

But I have promises to keep,   

And miles to go before I sleep,   

And miles to go before I sleep.

And I have to write many more blogs before I sleep!

 

Happy Reading,

 

Siddhi Bhosale.