It was midnight, when my roommate, restless with his insomnia, woke me up from my amusing dream, and asked me eagerly to pick up the things I want for my journey. I asked him, in my drowsy voice where are we going to which he answered, Hunza.
I thought of it as another of his lame jokes, and tried to go down on the bed, but he literally kicked me up, and with great anguish he asked me whether I want to go or not. I tried calming him down, but he was assertive that if we want to go, we have to leave right away.
I got up, went to my closet, and started picking up the essential things. While I was packing – by packing I mean throwing everything in my rucksack – I was trying to recall what happened in the night before I hit the bed. I kept on recalling, but nothing came to my mind.
‘My girlfriend preps way quicker than you packing your bag’, he yelled while standing with the bag on his shoulder. I stood up, closed my rucksack, lifted it up, and started walking towards the door. ‘What are we going to have in breakfast? he asked while locking the front door. ‘Are you even listening to me?’ he yelled. I stopped, turned towards him, and smilingly replied, ‘It’s your plan, you tell me.’ I knew this answer will ignite him for sure, and it did, as he just shrugged his shoulders, unlocked the car, threw his bag on the backseat, and took the driving seat.
I just kept on watching his every move. He started the engine, closed the door, buckled up his seatbelt, and started the music player. ‘Our first stopover would be at Kiwai.’ he said while trying to heat up the car engine. I put my rucksack on the backseat, closed the backdoor, and hoped in on the front seat.
Our unplanned journey started. I knew he won’t say a word now before reaching Hunza, and I won’t have to say anything either.
For the next few hours, we hardly spoke a word. He was focused on his driving while I had kept my eyes on the moving images outside the window. We had our breakfast right beside the water stream of Kiwai, and moved forward without wasting much time.
We switched roles after breakfast, as I took the driving seat while he sat on the passenger seat. I turned up the volume, and our journey to Hunza continued.
‘What happens if we don’t reach Hunza?, he asked. For a moment I lost my focus from the road, as I know that my friend can be everything but a pessimist. ‘I don’t want to go’, he said. I cursed myself for not understanding what he meant before.
‘Stoppppp’, he yelled, and I complied.
Just as I stopped the car, he instantly stepped out. The car engine kept running for a few moments before he stepped back inside the car. ‘We’re going to Rama.’ I nodded silently, and resumed the journey. It was a magical ride. We hardly spoke for the next few hours. We took breaks for tea and snacks, and switched driving roles while the sun continued to descend.
It was almost three hours after the sunset when we reached Rama Meadows. It was all quiet and dark in the little settlement. It seemed like everyone in the town had already slept. We picked up a spot, and fixed up our camp. In spite of the quietness, I could hear. There was no noise whatsoever just music of the landscape.
Just a night ago, I never thought I would be spending the next night somewhere so surreal. Yet here I was. It was all unplanned yet it was so amazing. Life, in its entirety, is more or less the same. Unplanned yet amazing!