The road to Sikkim

was laden with laziness, procrastination and breaking the illusory comfort zone. (Is it really breaking it if you do something you like?) At times I need triggers. It had been 1.5 years since I had taken any break (read real vacation) at work. For that matter break of any kind. So I decided to go to a 10-day trek in the Eastern Himalayas in May!I registered for the Goechala trek in early March. After much deliberation and calculating travel time and costs etc, I decided to book flight tickets to and from Siliguri. It would save me some energy and hassle of negotiating Kolkatta or Delhi traffic. I did the flight bookings in late March. I also started focussing on strength training along with regular running. After what I had read about Goechala and my previous Himalayan trek experience, I knew I could not take this lightly. So from March to mid-April I was well focused on the trek. I made a list of things and kept the trek backpack ready. The only thing I required was a pair of trek pants and few other small items.Due to some personal emergencies, I had to shift my focus elsewhere and I literally forgot about the upcoming trek by April end. My wake up call came on 3rd May a day before I was to leave, as by then things at home had settled down and taken care of. In a rush, I did last minute medicine and food shopping. I had so many ideas about how I wanted to plan my daily nutrition but I had very little time to implement them. Very (un)like me I decided to trust the universe and whatnot and said to myself, let's do all this remaining shopping in Siliguri (I was to spend a night there). With this easy breezy (seemingly!) attitude I did the final final packing. The backpack was slightly on the heavier side despite taking the least amount of clothing. Again I left the re-packing decision for the base camp, if time and resources permitted. Went to sleep exhausted and anxious. after finishing and taking care of most office work on the night of 3rd May. By then I was feeling like why was I even going on this vacation.On 4th morning, between my booking an uber and uber allotting me a cab, some dark sorcery happened and my cab arrived 15 minutes late! I had done web check-in, but this last-minute rush meant I would have to hustle through the airport formalities. I know Hindi movies have upped your standards of drama, but to me not reaching the airport in time is panic-worthy. The cab driver understood my situation and drove as fast as he could without driving on anyone. We reached in time (4 minutes to check-in counter closure) and I found myself profusely thanking him and running inside, simultaneously. (He also got a much deserved 5-star rating later).As I put my bag for security screening (it's a thing at Indian airports), my heart drooped at the sight of the long queue at the check-in counter. Why were so many families traveling out of Pune so early in the morning on a weekday! As I dragged my bag from the security screening a familiar looking face walked towards me and said 'Madam, come to this side and get in line here' (as he said this he literally opened a closed counter for me and asked me to go inside). Then he started asking me 'do you still work at *****? I left 2 years ago. Is the office still at the old place?' I was trying to locate this heaven-sent angel who had saved me a lot of time and anxiety. But I wasn't going to let my absent-minded brain win, so I kept on answering the questions with ease and calm as if I remembered him. (I really wish I at least knew his name*). He then said 'ok madam, my duty hours are over, I'll go now.' Even before I could say a proper thank you and tell him how his small gesture (even if it meant breaking rules :D) had helped me, he had vanished. Thinking about his kind act I happily did the rest of the formalities and boarded my flight. My heart somehow knew this was going to be a great trip! The anxiety from earlier night about embarking on this so-called vacation was fading away.*He was a facilities staff member at my office. I remember seeing him at the water counter every morning when I used to go there to fill my water bottle. I wish I had spoken to him more during that time, except for the cursory nods or smiles.