Next Time 'Dudhsagar'

It was nature telling me 'The route you are trying, does not exist anymore'. I had come this far, 4 hours into the forest and the pinnacle was so near yet so far. I had to abandon it

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It all began 6 hours back, when the YPR-VASCO express came to a screeching halt early in the morning. I was to go to Madgaon which was still 45 minutes away and to a hotel that allowed check in only at 2 pm

BUT

Seeing the morning tea 🍵  stall at Kulem station, serving it hot in this windy rainy gloomy  monsoon morning, I picked my luggage and got down at the station. Had 2 cups of railway Chai. I thought I will ask the station master when the next passenger train to Madgaon was  since my train had just left. He said it was at 2 pm. I thought I had enough time to walk into the forest besides the railway station to find the base of the Dudhsagar Waterfall.

This hike was interesting since it was along a railway track and one had to walk on the side of the tracks on the pebbles. The locals would power their way in their bikes on the thin little patch of mud/between the pebbles on the side of the 👣.

It used to rain on and off, and you could feel the freshness in the air, as the trees around reflect its shade of green.

I took a diversion from Sonalium station, on the sloping mud path into the forest, trying to find the base. I could hear the waterfall's loud noise in the distance. The more I walked, the sound seemed louder. The excitement was around witnessing this force of nature dropping down from a height and of course finding a spot to capture it.

As I neared the spot, I noticed that a little wooden bridge that was connecting the spot to the waterfall had been severed off by the gushing flow of water. There was a rushing torrent of water threatening with every move, that chose to warn humans to stay away.

I had a long stare at this point, visualizing ways in which I could possibly cross it. In none of the simulations, could I see myself crossing this place where the water was probably shoulder deep and with that force. I told Dudhsagar, 'Next time' and turned my back on a trip that was 4 hours and 20,000 steps. The pain of repeating the 20,000 steps with no expectation to look forward was heavy. The forest had won the battle. I was to come back next year. I had to win the war!

#Goa #Dudhsagar #Monsoon