The body clock, as they call it, is actually pretty unpredictable ironically. Anxiety, Excitement, Dopamine Overdose, and Infatuation are a few factors that induce lag or rush in your daily life. During this lag phase, we experience something called Brain fog.

Pleasant or Unpleasant, but without changes, the mind doesn't grow symmetrically. So these are also change-inducing factors, which might conclude that a little fog(unpolluted) from time to time is not bad. All that is needed to get through it is a little courage and also some fear.

Signing up for Rishikesh did in fact take both.

The ashram, was essentially a collection of vibrations and chilly air. With humming sounds, which when multiplied leave a chilling effect on the body. If you actually listen as you hum, for that moment, everything else evaporates out of your mind. Playback to the time when you sang in a choir, performed synchronized notes with your school band, maybe voiced out over a song, hopefully, then you should realize exactly what I mean.

Imagine stepping out after the morning routine and experiencing this effect as you pass across a garden with green all around, then through a small alley glancing at gurukul students having satvik breakfast in an open room. There's another end of the alley, which is yellow and brown with autumn leaves. While you walk, from behind, you hear the river again.

To this day, I still miss that feeling of walking while breathing in every inch of my surroundings without a single distraction. My mind is definitely, still hungover from those 7 days, which would be the longest one in history, spanning over 4 years.

My rafting experience over the turbulent water was normal, just how others felt, maybe with a little more fear since I can hardly swim. Something way better was crossing the river in an old cracking motorboat with 15 bags and 20 other humans. As it swung with the river waves and kicks from the motor, we got a different level of adrenaline rush while sitting on our bags.

The bus, as most was running late. After placing my luggage at the back when it arrived, I headed straight up to reserve a seat for myself. Surprisingly, there was not even a single seat empty for me to chill for the ride. Here I was, a little disappointed on why I decided to cancel my pre-booked Volvo to travel with a group from the course, and about the uncomfortable rear seat that gets bumpy on the road.

Until, someone sitting on the seat near the window got up and asked me if I was planning on sleeping for the journey, cause they were not, as a group hoping to enjoy travel. Up to now, I was not sure whether I wanted to sleep for the duration of our travel, but now I was, "definitely not" I informed. Yes, it was her, the conversation for that moment lasted a few seconds and this time the contact was naturally intentional.

"I imagined you to be a 25-year-old software engineer", I got told during one of our very exciting conversations. This was a first, meeting a new person yet feeling so naturally inclined to just keep talking. A few others introduced themselves and I got to know there was this group that traveled from Delhi and met each other, also, on the bus.

It is not a story of infatuation as you might be thinking, but one of potential friendship and growth through mere interactions with some newly knowns, majorly one. To be introduced to an aspect of the world where you never imagined yourself, yet it excites you instantaneously. Having never really been that excited to do something since mathematics lectures in school, it is something I am still dearly thankful for.

The ride was in fact bumpy, but with induced fun, as we crossed towns after towns.

Reaching back home, I already had another journey planned for myself, and this time I was the one designing it. If I recall, those were the most mentally pleasing and efficient 7 days and 6 hours of my life yet. That paved the way for the coming 3 years.

I met my new friend another day at an unplanned evening time, in the most unusual of places where I found her sitting in the audience stand for the lawn tennis practice area reading a book. Even though I was nervous about the meeting, it did not stay when I actually did, 2 months after the course. Like most young people, conversations were pretty much limited to texts before this and they still are.

For the next 2 hours, walking across the Siri fort sports complex, noticing the energetic environment all around, we discussed her life in Bangalore, about my aspirations for new targets in my career. Having never really been to the swimming pool area as we couldn't illegally enter the golf course after many tries, I was pretty impressed. The badminton courts were as usual full of people, as we admired the skill of older people playing with that effort.

There are some people in everyone's life, who, upon meeting impart a certain level of wisdom and knowledge through different mindsets with cultural experiences. You too, for someone, might be that person. But we do forget to be that person with other people.

Personality, in my opinion, is not an individual's characteristic. It is the combined effort of that particular conversation. What we, think of as our own personality is just a mediocre representation of ourselves we present in front of others. It is one of the most difficult things to change especially with social media judging us in every moment of our lives these days.

Luckily, I think I was able to change a bit, thankful to someone I had spent only 8 hours of my life with.