Three girls form Delhi, five nights under the stars

The icy water from the stream sliced through my feet, as a million stars twinkled above and, in the silence, I could hear crickets and a million other nocturnal creatures creating a symphony, which, at that moment, seemed specially created for me. In the far distance, illuminated only by the brilliance of the stars and about a dozen fireflies displaying their fire, seeking out potential mates, I could make out the silhouette of the Himalayas. I stopped to take it all in. I breathed in deep. It was past midnight, I was out alone with just a flashlight for company. At that moment, it seemed like a surreal dream. One I knew I would not be able to recount once I got out of it. One of those moments where nothing seemed to be of relevance, outside of the realm you are already in.
I had left New Delhi a week back, but it seemed to be light years away from me. Just three twenty something girls, out on an adventure. The plan was to attend a music festival that was supposed to take place in Ladakh in the July of 2012, but, when that stood cancelled, we three girls decided we would go ahead and make the trip anyway. Somewhere along the way, we lost track of what we were “supposed” to be doing, and ended up losing ourselves. It came as a shock to my 20 year old self that I could do just sit by the river and chat with a 70 year old Ladakhi woman before being invited by her for tea, get waylaid by the dazzling stars in the night sky on my way to look for a place to stay the night, eat cakes at a café before it even opened for business.. Yes, I was on an adventure, but not the kind we had set out to have. We created our own special moments by forgetting about what we had set out to do.