Dear Readers: I Need Your Help To Find The Man Who Created Magic In My Life

( words)
*For representational purpose only.
I saw him. He saw me. And I guess, magic happened after that…

I am a south Indian in my mid-twenties. I think he is a north Indian. I was on a pilgrimage at that time. We had completed three-quarters of our Chardham Yatra. We were 90 people in all. 15 of our relatives were a part of this yatra.

We had completed three dhams – Yamunotri, Gangotri and Kedarnath. We were leaving for Pipalkoti. We had stayed in Kedarnath for a couple of days. We had then taken a bus from Guptakashi and had reached Pipalkoti in the night. We started our journey again at 4.30 a.m. the next day. We were soon on our way to Badrinath. It was almost a three-hour journey from Pipalkoti. We stopped in a place called Pandukeshwar near Badrinath. There had been a landslide recently and we had to wait till the roads were cleared. The roads were not cleared even by late afternoon so we decided to stay in Pandukeshwar itself. 

We looked out for a decent place to stay in Pandukeshwar. We kept our bags in the room and decided to go out and buy umbrellas and raincoats from the nearby shops. It had started raining now. My cousin sister, my sister and I took a helper along with us and started walking along the street. We looked into random shops and asked them if they sold raincoats and umbrellas.

We were standing outside a hotel and discussing where we should go next with our helper. I didn’t know that the plot next to the hotel lead to a series of steps which went downhill.

So I was surprised to see a guy appearing from there. I realized that these steps lead to a temple. Another guy followed him. He was wearing a yellow T-shirt.  When he saw me talking with the helper, he almost lost his footing on the steep steps.

I was shocked when I saw him losing his balance like that. I knew he would have a nasty fall if he missed a step.

He was momentarily paralysed when he saw my shocked expression. He was finding it difficult to regain his balance now and I was now truly shocked and scared about his safety.

I was really very relieved when I saw him regain his balance. He now started walking towards me. I was a bundle of nerves now.

So I just continued to talk to our helper. I told him that we really needed to buy some raincoats. I knew that in case there was a landslide again the next day, we would have to walk for 2- 3 km in the rain.

The guy was listening to our dialogue very carefully. My heart was thumping rapidly. I experienced a completely new feeling when I saw him. I would not even call this a spark. It was magic.

His friend too was standing next to him now. My sister saw them and then called out to me. We went searching for umbrellas and raincoats again in other shops. It was a small place so we didn’t get anything. While returning, I saw him having some tea on the other side of the road. He was standing just opposite the steps now.

He seemed to have a blank look on his face again. I could sense that he was staring at me.

We left for Badrinath at 9 a.m. the next day. We had to wait for the roads to be cleared again. We hired a Bolero but driver could not go ahead so he just parked the car on the bridge and asked us to wait. I was sitting in the backseat of the car with other tourists. I was busy talking with them when I saw him on a bike. His friend too was with him. He was standing near the place where tourists who were interested in walking to Badrinath started their journey. But that day no one wanted to take the risk of walking to Badrinath.

I wanted to get down from the car because I did not want to miss a chance of seeing him again.

But I assumed that he too would wait in the parking lot and would head towards Badrinath once the road cleared. I saw them both come back again. They stood on the bridge for a few seconds. I noticed that he was wearing the same yellow T-shirt and grey knee-length denim shorts today too. I opened the door and got down from the car.

But within a few seconds, he left with our driver on his bike. He had not yet seen me. I guessed that they had all gone to have their breakfast.

I somehow knew he had come in search of me. I knew he had heard me tell our helper that we would be walking to Badrinath in case there was another landslide. Maybe he had gone to the start point of the walking track with the hope of finding me there.

I was very disappointed now. Our driver returned after about an hour. All of us shouted at him for leaving us like that. The driver took us back to the parking lot where all our other relatives and tourists were waiting. He left us there and told us that he would not take us to Badrinath. Before I could even ask him for a reason, he went away with those two guys. Did he actually know them? Or were they just giving him a lift? The roads were finally cleared after a while. After visiting the Badrinath temple, we left for Pipalkoti.

I felt as if I had lost someone who was very precious to me.

I told the helper of our trip to inquire about him in the hotel where we first met him. The staff of the hotel refused to reveal any information. We were not too sure if he had really stayed there that day. In all probability, he may have just visited the temple and taken a shortcut via the steps to Badrinath.

When I returned home, I first created an account on Instagram. I didn’t know anything about him. But I searched for him in all the photos that were tagged as #Pandukeshwar, #Badrinath, #Govindghat, # Joshimath etc. But my efforts were futile.

Share This Story

You Might Also Like...