Deep in Dhermi
Part-1
“Do you feel the vibe?” how often have we all asked this question at various moments in our lives. Now what is that vibe? I’m no philosopher but would love to share my thoughts and understanding about my vibe. Yeah yeah! I know I just started cliché but I sense that at least a few will end up following this series. I will describe my vibe with some experiences in my life that made me sense a vibe rather feel the vibe and trust me my life has been a rollercoaster till now and I wish it continues to be.
A couple of years ago, there was this time when I was also a victim to the machinic madness that our human race has evolved into until a day when I said to myself, I have to get out of this rut and probably take a dip in the Greek waters. Oh! There was another prerequisite that my trip had to be planned around a musical event and that too of my favourite music label Anjuna. That’s my thing, the place where I will find my vibe wherever that’s going to happen. I believed this had to be the way of our universe because I think of this and the following week pops in an e-mail notification from Anjunadeep (the music label) with the subject line: Explorations lineup and location revealed with the following video link on it.
Now I can sense that all of you who watched the video felt a tingle of excitement the way I did. I thought I was destined to be there and started planning for the trip. I bought the tickets before they were sold out. The first best thing that happened was Anjuna provided the options of accommodation to book along with the festival entry ticket was a boon. Meanwhile, a colleague of mine also got excited and wanted to tag along so we booked the festival tickets together. The next was flights and visas. I went full throttle and did some research on some places I could visit in Europe around Dhermi, Albania. Spoilt for choices and Amsterdam was on top of the list again because I was there once before and that would be super fun again. It took me time but I finally chose Greece over Croatia due to my fascination towards Greek history and culture. Also, I had to enter one of the Schengen countries before I could set my foot in Albania due to the visa rules.
Through the various travels in my life, I learnt that no matter how much you plan your solo trip, the journey will be filled with unplanned experiences and surprises. So, I booked my flights with a layover in Cairo through Egypt Airlines. Few days after the dreaded wait for my Schengen visa, I was all set to take off, first to Athens, followed by two nights each at Santorini and Mykonos, the party island of Greece. On my return I would spend another couple of nights at Corfu, another island in Greece. The day arrived and I felt I had wings, ready to take off, just to be blown away by the infamous cyclone Vayu that hit the state of Gujarat and parts of Maharashtra, India including Mumbai. I was determined to reach the airport and wait through whatever the outcome would be based on the circumstances because when it rains in Mumbai, you have to get those rafts and floats ready on the streets and watersports would be organized in the middle of the streets. What do you think happened? Did I reach the airport in time? Will leave this bit for the next one.
...To be continued