“Hello bhaiya, aap Snow Line Homestay se bol rahe hain?” (Hello brother, are you speaking from Snow Line Homestay?)
“Haan! Main Snow Line Homestay se Rakesh bol raha hoon.” (Yes, I am Rakesh speaking from Snow Line Homestay).
“Bhaiya, main apke homestay me 2019 October me aya tha. Kya abhi room mil jayega or kya price rahega?” (Brother, I stayed at your homestay in October 2019. Is there a room available, and what’s the rent?)
“Haan, room mil jayega apko. Aap to purane guest hain. Aap aa ja, koi dikkat nahi.” (Yes, there is a room available. You are an old guest, so don’t worry. You just come.)
When I decided to revisit Shangarh, the very first thing I did was to call the same homestay where I stayed back in Oct 2019 and ask if I could get a room. And this was the first time I did something like this, I mean I kind of almost booked a room which I don’t remember doing in the past. I usually go to the place and then look around. This trip was a trip down memory lane, so I wanted to retrace the same paths and live the same moments. Though when I visited Shangarh the first time, I first visited one more homestay which was near to the Devta Ground but I skipped it and kept on hiking to the top. And then I lost the way and called Rakesh bhaiya several times. Finally, he had to come and pick me up in his car. So generous. You can read that in my blog here.
After a nearly 14-15 hours journey from Delhi, when I got down from the cab at Shangarh, I took a deep breath. The smell of pine woods was so refreshing, the songs of birds mixed with the melody of water cascades erupting from every corner you see were soul-soothing. I navigated my path to the homestay passing through the meadows and the narrow way covered with lots of shrubs (bicchu buti).
