THE DEPARTURE, NOV-2012

Departures have a special feeling associated with them, in everyone’s life. That moment when we stand on a crowded platform, amidst tense and chaos, as that long train moves slowly taking away our loved ones forever; that moment when our close to the heart person disintegrates away into the departure area of an airport; that moment when our love breaks and we walk in opposite directions; that moment when we leave our loving office, where we worked for a decade, for the last time; that moment when we leave the hostel room shared for years with the best of our friends and; that moment when our parents breathe their last on our laps. All these influence to an extent that we keep thinking about them till we breathe our last, no matter which way ever life takes us. The path may be new, the destination may be new, the passengers may be new, the agenda may be new but; the past follows like a demon and gives us occasional shivers. Nevertheless, we pursue a travel the outcome of which is never known until that moment it occurs and it’s this specialty which gives the essence to life. Likewise, I never knew what the outcome of 2012 would be when the seductive monsoon winds hit the western coast of Indian mainland 6 months back. Strongly influenced by the electrifying results of 2010 and 2011 I was gearing up for 4 months of “out of the world” fun only to end up in utter disappointment and, a broken heart. 2012 was a terrible year in terms of rainfall receipts, and it officially could be declared the monsoon fared below average this year. Regions that would traditionally be ravaged by the rains wore a quaint look with no disruption to normal life; rivers that would rage with phenomenal hydro power flowed like gentle streams with no impact on life or property; wildlife that hasten into protective confines with the onset of monsoon didn’t have a reason to fear this year and above anything else; the mighty Western Ghats were rendered lifeless with this life line being cut by Mr. God after two successive years of bounty. I travelled through regular “heavy weights” (high rainfall receiving regions) for the last 6 months and each one of them closed the doors on my face with unbelievable levels of deficiency. I felt like the world was doomed to be extinct and returned back from each of the destinations with a heavy heart and fear reflecting eyes. But this shouldn’t be a reason for me to ignore her when she was departing the mainland for the last time in 2012. To offer my thanks for whatever little donation she wrote off, I drove with friends Murali (Mr. Wolf), Mahindra (Mr. Tinku), Prakash (Mr. Eagle) and Hari to Ubbalamadugu in southern Andhra Pradesh as this is one place that manifests her glory when she’s in the dying phases. Ironically, Ubbalamadugu had the highest levels of water I had ever witnessed in the past 3 years and this only complicated my understanding of nature. Nevertheless, I didn’t question and enjoyed the ambience with the new set of visitors to this region of punishing terrain and rewarding views. As always I reached the major falls set high up in the gorge and looked with awe the mind boggling drop of silver like sheet of incredibly clean water (Photos 2 and 25). I stood in absolute loneliness, as a sudden downpour kicked-off, and understood all I could do now is to wait in dormancy for the next 6 months as the fearsome Indian summer sets in and heats the land to pull in her again, for yet another edition of eye moistening romance, travel, discovery and nostalgia…and the next time around I hope, she wouldn’t let me down…