Walking on a sine wave

87.27 miles, 190,243 steps and 6 days later I made it to my destination of Santiago from O Pedrouzo on this rainy day at 11.15 am on Aug 28th. What a sense of accomplishment and gratification!

This verse from my favorite movie Zindagi Na milegi Dobara summarizes my state of mind as I stand in the square in front of the cathedral-

Pighle neelam sa behta ye sama,
Neeli neeli si khamoshiyan,
Na kahin hai zameen na kahin aasmaan,
Sarsaraati hui tehniyaan pattiyaan,
Keh raheen hai bas ek tum ho yahan,
Bas main hoon,
Meri saansein hain aur meri dhadkanein,
Aisi gehraiyaan, aisi tanhaiyaan,
Aur main… sirf main.
Apne hone par mujhko yakeen aa gaya

I first read about the Camino in a book by one of my favorite authors – Paulo Coelho almost 2 decades ago. A fleeting thought passed through my mind of someday walking the camino which was then forgotten. A few years later when I was pregnant with my son, I saw the movie – The Way and it resonated with me. The thought turned into an idea and it kept germinating. Life went on and while I never forgot about it, it didn’t become a priority. Then came the global pandemic and I started going on walks daily. The idea of walking the camino became a calling and decided I had to walk the Camino. The chance finally came this year and as I write this post after finishing the Camino, I can say that it was truly the transformational journey I imagined it to be.