YAHAN ULTI GANGA BEHTI HAI: THE STORY OF A UNIQUE GIRL- PROLOGUE

 

YAHAN ULTI GANGA BEHTI HAI: THE STORY OF A UNIQUE GIRL

PROLOGUE

Uttarakhand mei, in some panchveli gaon, hamari ganga nadi behti hai, jahan yeh kahavat perfect fit hoti hai- yaha aadhe kilometre tak such mooch mei ulti ganga behti hai. Yahan kai shraddhalu vyakti har saal dubki lagane bhi aate hain. Other than river Narmada, this is the only part of Ganga river in India which flows in the opposite direction. So, it’s quite a place of tourist attraction here. Me, my elder sister and my parents, from a tours and travels company went for a small vacation in Uttarakhand and nearby places. Others were busy taking pictures, posing, eating, diving; but I was engrossed in deep thoughts. I thought it resembled me. Kaise duniya ki reetiyon se alag is nadi mei himmat hai ulti disha mei behne ki. Ise fikar nahi hai ki log kya kahenge, mujhe post karne vaale social media ke friends kya sochenge, panchi, ped kya kahenge, nadiyan kya sochengi, ise bas behna hai, bina kisi dar ke, apni hi masti mei, selflessly, effortlessly. Meri life bhi toh utli disha mei hi jaa rahi hai, logon ki soch, stereotypical attitudes ko cheerti hui. Par mujhe kyon itna farak padta hai?

Suddenly then, in between the sound of the busy crowds and my deeply engrossed thoughts, I heard my mom shouting, “Chalo Dhara, get in the bus. We are getting late.” And just like that, my thoughts shut abruptly. That day, our bus was also a little crowded, because the tours and travels people had collaborated with other tours people and so there were more people sitting in. But somehow, I managed to get a lone, window seat. I was watching that river passing past by me. Watching that I was about to pull out my earphones and listen to peaceful songs and slowly drift to sleep. But then, aaj tak mere saath kabhi kuch seedha nahi hua hai, toh ab kaise hoga? It is never straight; a young boy sat next to me and said, “Hi”. I also said, “hi” and sat back to my comfortable position again. But he did not stop there. To my annoyance, he continued talking,

“My name is Neev. And yours?”

“I am Dhara”, I said without even looking at him.

“Dhara? Means earth, and I am Neev, means the base, foundation.”

…

“I am from Mumbai, and you?”

“Mera bio-data jaan na hai kya? Sorry. Not interested in you.” Oh, I wanted to say this to him, instead, keeping my ‘SANSKAAAAR’ in mind, I politely said, “Mumbai.”

“You know Uttarakhand, the people over there, are so kind. Aaj kal milte kaha hain aise log?”

Now this catched my sight. People are so mean in urban areas compared to those in villages. And now my arguing instinct just kicked in. I don’t know why, but I never learnt to let go. I tried, but I couldn’t. So I said,

“But people like us, the tourists, never leave a chance to spoil things and fool such innocent people.”

Neev said here, “you know that you sound so rude and uninterested?”

“I think then, you should take it.” I said with a smirk.

“No yaar, this is so boring. We have to travel a long way and my battery just went off. Ugh, how could I forget to charge my phone?”

…

A while later, he again said, cutting in the silence, “you seem like you were in a deep thought. Would you mind sharing it with me?”

Finally I surrendered and answered truthfully, because honestly I was also getting bored listening to the same songs where sleep wasn’t entering. So to cut the time, I also got engaged with him in the conversation and said, “yeh jagah aur kahavat mere liye perfect baithti hai- yaha ulti ganaga behti hai. Kyunki meri life mei is nadi ki tarah sab ulta hi hota hai. Don’t know why koi mujhe samajhta hi nahi, yaa main kisi ko samajh nahi paati.”

“Go on, batao toh sahi. Shayad koi… samajh jaaye” said Neev.

I rolled my eyes. “Kuch galat mat samajh lena boss. My parents are in this bus only.”

Neev said, “Don’t worry, kuch galat nahi karunga. Na hi bolunga. And also, I have a girlfriend. Its just that, mere age ki sirf tum mujhe yahan dikhi so… tum batao na, tum aisi bhi kya alag ho?”

“Whoa…. So much in one stretch? You’re just like my mom. Ok, will take that. But this might take long time.”

“Jaldi kisko hai?”

I smiled and started to tell my story.