This was a purely adventurous trip let’s say. I wanted a weekend getaway far from my regular corporate routine, so I booked a stay for the weekend at Zostel Kolad, a moderately populated area surrounded by forests situated on the outskirts of Mumbai.
So the thrill started right on Friday morning when I went to my office wearing a heavy backpack. But my colleagues weren’t surprised of course you know why. They know I’m a lunatic for unknown places. I left office and boarded my A/C sleeper bus to Kolad around 10ish at night. I felt so calm and relaxed after so long you know. I journaled and talked to my friends sharing my excitement with them girls.
I reached Kolad at 2 in the morning and I had to walk 45 minutes to the Zostel’s location as per the Google maps under heavy rain and no streetlights. There were few stray dogs except for which the entire road was completely empty and to be honest, extremely scary. It was just me and my phone’s flashlight against the ghosts lol. It was then I remembered- the Zostel Kolad lies at the other end of the riverside and the boats work only at 8 in the morning. Wow cool. I can’t even charge my phone.
What next? I sat on the roadside and slept resting on my backpack. I don’t think it’s quite a common sight to find a young woman in her 20s sleeping o n the roadside pavement with gold jewelry on. My fear asked me to remove my jewelry. So I obeyed silently. After a while at around 4:30 someone came with an umbrella and seemed quite taken back finding me all alone there in a deserted place like Kolad. He lead me to the boat shed where I slept for couple of hours on a sofa till the boat guy from Zostel came and woke me up. He took me to the stay which is a fairly beautiful property surrounded by water. It’s only accessible by boat. That too from 8am to 5pm.
My bed in the deluxe mixed dorm was so so so comfy I slept for hours there. Also they have a good cafe and I ate my heart out. It’s literally a therapy to journal sipping your garam lemon tea when it’s pouring outside. The food at the cafe is masth not gonna lie. I met a lot of people, talked to plenty of them and shared and heard different experiences and opinions- it was enriching. People took me through perspectives I could never even think about. Also the weather is so cozy and sitting in a circle with so many random people with different life experiences slowly sipping your bitter magnum when rain plays the background music feels like heaven. I feel the “Zostel culture” is so unique. There’s zero space for judgements and everyone has that mutual respect for each other. They appreciate others the way they are. For example I have Afro cornrows hair and instead of shaming me like an average Indian man, the people here complimented my looks and personality. And trust me even though it’s a very minimal gesture, some words touched my heart.
Night was fun with all of us having beer and whiskey-on the rocks and sharing ghost stories. There was a stand up comedy show but the jokes were pathetic and I had to laugh just to not make the guy feel sad. Then came the highlight- the live jamming session in the courtyard where a bunch of talented young men sang their hearts out and we danced till we couldn’t breathe. It’s so beautiful when strangers come together to whistle at your moves and support each other and dance together- teaching all Bollywood hook steps to one another. There was a lady in her 40s whom I admired a lot. She was extremely wise and told me this “You’re not late Neha. There’s nothing called as being late. You protect your energy and follow your heart. Life will follow.” And that touched my soul. I was quite high so I decided to go to sleep before my tantrums begin. No drunk embarrassments during solo trips.
Woke up at 7 and went with another set of strangers to Kundalika riverside which is around 37 kms away from our stay for the white water rafting. Man let me tell you it was a hell of an experience. I don’t know swimming. But I really wanted to feel the adrenaline and I simply went for it. After instruction classes I was clubbed with a team of 9 people to fill in the count of 10 and we started after wearing all the safety gears.
The river was quite aggressive and there were spots named Butterfly, Johnny Walker etc (I know the names are absurd and random as if someone just messed around with them). These points were extremely risky and it was quite tricky to navigate the raft through the tides of the river. The waves were strong and our raft was swaying crazily which almost got me thinking that it’ll collapse. Luckily it didn’t. There was a gentle breeze followed by rain when we did some raft activities like standing over the raft posing for photos, splashing water over each other with our helmets, and the best part- jumping into the 20ft deep water!!!!!
Yes I did jump into the water fully trusting my safety jacket and the tour guide. Man there’s this saying in Hindi that goes “Darr ke aage jeet hei”, which means victory lies beyond the fear. It was a liberating experience man. I was floating, with no ground under me. It’s me, the sun , the water and the forests. And inner peace and silence. What more do I need? My heart was full. After crossing all the risky areas we played around with water and finally reached the shore. My mates from Zostel were waiting for me. All of us were wet from top to bottom. We had a hot elaichi chai from a nearby shop, which the Mumbaikars refer to as Tapri. And reached back to Zostel.
I changed and had another lemon tea from the cafe while journaling my 2D/1N experience at Kolad in my personal diary. I’ll never forget these moments. Lot of eye opening stories to drown my thoughts in.
I’m waiting in the common room because I had to check out at 10 in the morning. My bus is at around midnight to Mumbai. I have time left.
Neha Vyas Blogs 