Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri Campus
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Into the forest
Sep 20th
It was very unexpected that I would be asked by my friend to go with him for a trip into the forest near his place. It all happened very fast that without thinking about it I told him that I would go with him. Today I will tell you about that day.
I had to take a bike which was with a friend of my friend. To take that bike from him we had to go to his home.
A trip to his house was itself an adventure! Two guys on a bike, through narrow roads which at some places have fences and concrete barricades to protect the travelers from falling into the deep canyons on both sides and some places just bamboo poles. And in these roads I saw the steepest climbs and hardest descents. I found out why my friend had his bike’s break problem fixed!
By 2.45 PM we reached that guy’s home. But he wasn’t there. His mother told us he went to the deep forest with some guys who used to be in the college with him. They had gone to visit a temple in the forest. Also he took their jeep and asked his mother to give me the bike’s key when we arrive there. So I took the key, thanked her for the fruit juice she gave us and began the journey back.
Anyway, when we got out from there my friend asked me if I would like to go for a trip into the forest. And with out any hesitation, I accorded with him. And we began to climb the mountain on our bikes.
The start-up check
First we had to check if we had enough fuel to make the climb and to come back. We decided to switch of the bikes and ride on neutral while making the descent, as long as possible so that we could save some fuel. There are no petrol bunks in that area and to refill the tanks we would have to come back to the town area which is about 50 KMs from where we were then.
We also decided if his bike runs out of petrol we would use some petrol in my bike. We were safe as long as my bike runs on the main tank. We had to be pretty much sure about that as my friend’s bike drinks up petrol twice the rate than mine.
The Climb – Stage 1
Since we knew they went to a temple and in the forest there are not much temples, we could find the way by asking the people who were there in the first junction we saw. They clearly told us about the steep climbs that are to come and the possibility of seeing an elephant in the way.
For some length the road was tarred and though broke at most of the stretch was comfortable compared to the rest of the way. And then came the steeper climbs. And the inroad? Please imagine this, you are walking on stone paved road. And the stones are floating on water! It was almost the same.
We had to be extra careful on the rocks. There were no barricades to prevent us from getting thrown from the edge! And every now and then me and my friend felt like we were losing control on our bikes! But we kept on going as we both love adventure.
This is the maximum I could snap while on the bike. I had to have both my hands on the handle for the bike to be stable. And that is my friend on his bike, in the distance. Also I took this picture while descending.
A Temple
There were many side roads from the main one. There are nobody in the jungle to ask for directions. We continued on our way trusting our instincts and we looked for tyre marks of the jeep. It was the tyre markings which helped us to decide on which way to move, when we reached a 3-way joint. And we saw it – A Temple.
This temple is of Lord Shiva. There is also a place where the people keep betel leaves and areca nuts for the mountain god, for its help in finding way in and way out, with out any problems. It is believed, if a person gets into the forest with out giving offerings to the mountain God will have a hard time inside the forest.
There they were, the guy whom we went to meet and his friends, with the Jeep. We decided to travel on the Jeep for the rest of the stretch as we were not sure about how far we would be able to ride on the bikes with the available fuel. We had to save the fuel for the trip back, at least until we could refill.
The Climb – Stage 2
So we got into the jeep with the rest of the guys and continued on the trip. The road was much better than the stretch we climbed. We were told that some people had cleared the road with a proclainer. My friend kept watch in anticipation to find an animal. We expected to see elephants or deer or wild buffalo. But with no luck. So we decided to go on with climbing the mountain.
By ‘climbing the mountain’ I don’t mean that there were only climbs. The road was twisting with sharp turns and quicksands where the tyres could get stuck and if not careful even we could get caught in that.
The boys got on top of the jeep so that they could have a better view of the woods. I still can’t make out how they managed to hold on while we were having a rough time traveling through that road.
On Foot
Finally, we reached a point from where the jeep could not be used. The road had mounts of mud and sand in the road which were formed by the JCB which passed earlier some day through there. So, we left the jeep and began to trek. We trekked for almost 5 Kms. We were looking for a small river which we had heard about.
The Leeches
While we were walking we noticed some things crawling on our feet. We took a closer look and saw the leeches: scores of them! We ran from there to a log we found lying on the side and sitting on it we began to remove the leeches. As we were removing the leeches one by one, more of them began to climb. We decided to move till we found solid ground or rocks, to get rid of leeches.
It is very hard to see where the leeches have bitten or where they found room. When they bite you, they inject some kind of a local anesthetic which numbs the portion and they begin to fill themselves with the blood oozing from the tiny wound. We won’t notice it unless we look for it. So, we thoroughly checked our body so that later we wont have to find a leech bulging with blood!
Gradually we lost our hope in finding the stream. We couldn’t hear the stream. Anyway, we kept on walking, with the leeches on our feet.
The Stream
After a hike for about 3 hours we found the stream, or a skeleton of a stream. With only a little amount of water in puddles, we identified it as a stream by the rock pattern. Its dried up. Also we found some remains of burnt logs which might have been used in the process of making arack! We climbed the rocks and continued to walk along the stream.
After sometime we got tired and decided to head back. We couldn’t see any animals and it was almost dark. We thought it would be best if head back as we haven’t taken any precautionary measures against rain or animals as it was a completely unexpected trip.
The Descent
Climbing a mountain is much easier compared to the descent, through a steep slope, with stones rolling under your bike’s tyres. We couldn’t idle the engine and descent on neutral gear as we needed to employ the ‘engine break’ to keep the bike on the road, rather than fly down the slope! But once the rocky slopes were over we could continue our downward journey on neutral gear.
I was not able to take pictures of rocky slopes through which we traveled, because as I said earlier I needed my two hands to hold my bike on track, and I was hoping if I had two more hands!
We were very excited to have made this trip on our bikes. We were very tired. I was fighting hard for breath after the climb back on foot. While climbing back I was running as I didn’t want much of those leeches to get on to my feet!
Even though we were tired, in the end of the day, we were happy! After all, I got a story to tell!
[This post is from my own blog notesfrommrlazy.blogspot.com and was posted there on 04 – 03 – 2010.]
I blog @ notesfrommrlazy.blogspot.com
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A Story
Sep 18th
Warning: Somewhat long post. If you yawn mid way, just leave the page and please don’t do any more damage to your precious brain.
Prologue
The stare was unbearable. For every second he kept wondering, “What could it be that she is so serious about?” When it reached its threshold he muttered, “Tell me whatever it is that you want to share and stop staring at me like you are seeing me for the first time. I mean, for Goodness’ sake, just say something than trying to fill the air with frustration.”
It was only then that he saw her lips were trembling.
The Story
He noticed her on the first day at school. Just transferred to the school for “Plus One” he had not much friends there. He felt like he is all alone in the world as almost all other students formerly studied in the same school and were engaged in chatting with each other, but him. He knew he was stuck with this dumb fellow, who he knew from the tuition centre, for some days before the other students took him as one among them.
“Be damned,” he thought, “the day I decided to join this place. Almost everyone here has a distinction in S.S.L.C and they are choosing friends based on that. What am I going to do? Being a high-first class holder I might end up among the bottom dwellers. I should have taken into consideration mom’s suggestion to join for commerce in another school. Well, that school is definitely better than this place.” And so went his thoughts.
However, by the end of the day he found out his fears were just the creations of his mind. He found some very good friends. Also, to his relief, he came to know that only a small fraction of the students are above the 500 marks limit and by the end of the day they were in a group and were discussing future strategies (?) .
Now we shall see some things about the girl. She, the most beautiful and popular girl in the class, also didn’t belong to the ‘high achievers’ group. But she had the charm which made her the most popular girl. She was very kind to everyone. She had almost all the characteristics of a perfect heroine. But she haven’t learned classical dance and can’t sing [What a relief, eh?].
Anyways, he noticed her on the first day itself. [Yes, you guessed it. Also please gimme some credit as I said this in the first sentence itself.] He noticed her because of her qualities. He thought that she looked like a butterfly in that outfit. [She wore something like what Alice used in the story ‘Alice in Wonderland’ (?). Hmm…]
It will be too obvious if I say he went to her on the first day itself to be friends. Yeah, I know that you people are very clever to understand that. But… They didn’t even talk to each other till two weeks later. Not even a ‘hi’ or ‘hello’ or ‘good morning’ or ‘good afternoon’ and neither a ‘good evening’ was exchanged between them.
As I said, it was on a Monday that he felt someone scratching his shoulder. He was surprised to see it was her, his queen in dreams, scratching his shoulder for him. Nope, she was just calling him. Blame her fingernails.
“Hi”. The ice melted with a single, single syllable word from her mouth. Then they became really good friends and that too very fast. Nobody understood what was happening between them. Even those two persons, who got very close to each other in a very few days, didn’t really understand what has happened between them. Was it just good chemistry? (Physics? Geography? Logic? Anything? Whatever?) Or was it love? She cannot answer that question, still.
Though it remained a mystery for others and her, he was very much sure that its love. ‘The divine intervention of God’, ‘the nature’s conspiracy to unite two like beings’, so on and so forth. He began giving meanings to it. Of course it’s not just him who began to scratch the surface. His friends began to think out loud when he was around about the possibilities for her falling in love with him, about how she came to him for friendship, about they being so close to each other in a very short period. Their findings began to acquire the form of a research thesis. It seemed he would personally vouch for them if he was asked for the purpose of awarding doctorates to his friends. Dr. So and so with a doctorate in ‘Detecting love patterns’ sounds great, right?
He openly criticized his friends for giving other meanings for a holy relation of friendship, though he secretly congratulated them for pointing out the things he never noticed about her and her behavior around him. And thus one day he decided to tell her about the love he has for her and he decided to disclose this fact when they were alone after the school hours. [They are two and how can they be alone? This is a practical question asked by many people. So I asked the same, not because am dumb. Mind you.]
Anyways, as a pre-condition satisfying statement, he began to buy chocolates for her on an everyday basis. Slowly he increased the number of chocolates per day so that at one point the count reached 20. Well, he had considerable allowance of pocket money and was an expert in nicking Rs. 100 notes from his dad’s pocket. Though it would’ve been better for her to each so many chocolates daily as it could help her in gaining some weight, the thought of her becoming fat made him to force the D-day sooner. [He wouldn’t accept that his dad warned him about the increase in number of missing currency notes from dad’s pocket. Whatever. Duh!]
So the day came. The day he decided to express his love towards her. The day he would remember throughout the rest of his life. The day, which made him a wonderful man.
Evening. Him and her – alone in class room. He – sweating profusely. She – wondering why he soaked his hanky in sweat and thinking when he is going to put it down.
After 10 minutes of absolute silence, she asked him, “What happened to you? Why are you sweating and shaking? Is it fever or anything?”
No answer except for a blank look and even more sweating.
“Well, if you are not going to tell me what is happening to you I would like to tell you something which I had been wanting to tell you for quite some time”, she said.
Now it was she who had a blank look and life less stare. He was startled but the sudden development. He knew in his mind that she struck the chord and the same music is sounding in her heart. He looked at her and said in a sound lower than mumbling, “You can tell me anything. You know that, don’t you?” and he waited for her to speak.
But there was no response from her. This time he looked at her and saw that she was staring at him. “Eh? What is happening here? Staring competition?”
The stare was unbearable. For every second he kept wondering, “What could it be that she is so serious about?” When uneasiness reached its threshold he muttered, “Tell me whatever it is that you want to share and stop staring at me like you are seeing me for the first time. I mean, for goodness’ sake, just say something than trying to fill the air with frustration.”
It was only then that he saw her lips were trembling.
“Am sorry”
Two words. Just two words from her mouth and he was flapping like never before. He thought he would need a bed sheet to wipe his sweat on his face and tears which suddenly rolled out from his eyes. His thoughts, which sounded like, “Ahem, she is going to cry and fall onto my lap saying ‘I love you’. Yes, it’s definitely going to happen. How lucky am I? ”, changed to, “What in the world is she going to tell me now?”
“Why are you sorry? What are you sorry for?”
Wow, I think we should appreciate him for at least asking this than trying to run away.
And her reply was, “I love someone. He is not a student here. He is doing his degree in Chemistry. I am really sorry not telling you about him till now.”
*Sob sob* – “Ah yes, the tear drama has started. Gotta find a bucket to collect those tears.”
“What? Chemistry? Girl, I am an aspiring Computer Scientist. What do you need a chemist for? To mix your child’s baby food?” and such were the questions which came up in his mind but he carefully avoided asking them. Anyways, he was eventually told the other guy’s name and whereabouts.
“So, what was it that you wanted to tell me?”
“Eh? Oh my God. Please help me out.” Then it suddenly struck him. He said, “Thank God. I was about to tell you a similar story. You know what? I came to this school as a girl, who I like, is studying in this school.”
“Is it?” Her astonishment could be read straight from her eyes.
“Oh yeah. I got admission in a better school, but I decided to come and join here so that I can see her every day.” Then he went on to describe the girl and her features. But she couldn’t identify the girl even after him telling her the name and batch. He thought, “How can you find her when there is no such girl in this whole school! Idiot!”
She went home that day with a lot lesser weighing heart as that weight got completely transferred to his heart with a lot more adding to self contempt and desperation. He went home with his held hanging low with the weight of his thoughts about how he was swept off his footing by the tide of truth. Then he found the gem which lay hidden under all this rubble.
“Never ever even think you understand a girl before she says you understand her.”
Epilogue
After some days…
“Why is she crying, dude?”
“I don’t know.”
“Aren’t you going to wait with her today?”
“Me? Nope. I gotta run. I have to get to the health club. See you. Bye. Take care.”
[Disclaimer: I took these incidents from my life and changed some things and added some twists and turns. No movie scripts are used as references, and if you have any doubt watch every Malayalam movie till date and verify your doubts.]
I blog at:
http://notesfrommrlazy.blogspot.com
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