Day 14: A Bittersweet Goodbye
Written by: Varsha Voruganti
Whenever the topic of the farewell day was brought up during camp, there was always a bittersweet feeling. Following our fun all-nighter that we pulled on the last day of camp thanks to the wonderful iced coffee Sredevi Aunty made for all of us, as usual, the bell rang at 5 am. We all went to take our last morning shower and went to spend time at the mandir afterwards. The feeling in the mandir was very bittersweet because I knew that this was the last time I would be sitting next to all the geckos for a while but at the same time I was reflecting on everything I learned in these past two weeks.
After arati I just wanted to walk around Haritachala and remember all the memories. So I started making a big lap around Haritachala… and then all of a sudden… I ran into Smaran. Smaran tells me that the aunties are making fresh, tasty poori. I get excited and walk to the kitchen and the smell of the pooris makes me so hungry. As usual, we all take our peetas and enjoy our meal together. A gecko realized that this was going to be our last meal together for a while and one by one, tears started falling down all of our faces. Then it really hit me that I’m literally leaving in an hour. I didn’t want to leave, I just wanted to stay there forever and not go back to reality.
During breakfast, Pradeep uncle came into the kitchen with the iconic phone bucket with all of our phones in it. When I got my phone, I didn’t even want to turn it on because it felt weird. I just knew that the moment I would turn it on, I would go back into reality.
All of a sudden, our parents started appearing to pick us up. This is when we all noticed that our time here was actually over. We all headed over to GTR where multiple vehicles were waiting for us. We handed the volunteers the thank you cards we made for them and then my aunt came, telling me that it was time to go. I was one of the first ones to leave which made me really sad. With tears falling down our faces, we all did a big group hug, not wanting to let each other go. I slowly got in the car and everyone started waving with love when the car was driving away. Whenever I looked back, the geckos weren’t stopping to wave. I realized that I’m slowly going back to reality feeling very bittersweet about everything. I would do everything to go back.
— Before we even knew it, we were on our way—saying a heartfelt goodbye to Haritachala. But for many of us, it’s just a "see you soon," as we plan to meet again in Shirdi for Guru Purnima.