A walk to remember (and I’m not referring to Nicholas Spark’s book)

How many times do we actually walk somewhere? I don’t… as I’m used to getting up on a bus or rickshaw as soon as I know where I’m heading. Guwahati does not advocate walking on the roads as people can fall anywhere, anytime as there are so many potholes. Still, on Monday, when me and my friend had some business at Lakhtokia… we decided to walk.

You will always find me in a group of threesome, as Momo, Nilc and I always roam around town together (Universal truth!). That day, though, Nilc had to be someplace else so it was just Momo and I. The time would be around 12 o’clock (yes, it was noon and we were outside… why? Don’t ask) and the sun was firing hot rays at us, while we were trying to hide under my umbrella. And then the decision was made to go to Lakhtokia… we could’ve taken a direct bus there, we could even have divided our route and taken various other vehicles present for human transport (which also provides human harassment from time to time)… but we didn’t. Shocked? Don’t be… the sun didn’t do any damage to our brains. We’re perfectly fine, thank you! And I know what Nilu would’ve said if she had been there, ‘Pagol niki?’ But then there wouldn’t have been such a journey and neither this blog.

We started walking and soon overtook the bus which had wheezed past us sometime ago. There was a lot of traffic and it sure was a good thing we decided to walk instead of melting inside the bus, which feels like a hot oven during the summer days. Soon, we were zigzagging our way through the footpath, jumping past open holes and maneuvering our way through the crowd. We passed many stalls selling local chips and eatables, paan stands, grocery shops. Our mouths did water when we passed Baskin N’ Robbins (but as we were on a tight budget, we merely went on with a heavy heart), we passed the Ullubari flyover and decided to go by the B.Barooah college route, we walked on and on and I removed my shades, I was sweating a lot and it had become difficult to see. The college had just got over, so we again had to watch our step amongst the students coming out of the college gate and filling the pavements on both sides of the road. We didn’t stop and marched on till we reached the beginning of the over bridge, there we could hold no more and bought two Cornettos to satiate our taste buds. It was deliciously yummy and it made us regain whatever calories we had just lost.

After seeing the last bit of ice-cream going down our throats, we crossed the over bridge and then crossed Ambari and finally made our way to our destination. Walking is a very good exercise… so whenever life gives you the chance, take it... as we did!