Two young blood. we were both from a different place, culture, caste, education, speaking different languages but we were united by one thing called LOVE. We got to know each other through a mutual friend in a party. Later while chatting, we found a common interest which was the love for chess. We loved playing chess with each other every other day since then. Playing chess made us grow closer to each other. I used to purposefully lose games to bring enthusiasm in her so that she played more and more games. I started loving her more with each day.
One fine day I had some urgent work near her college. I finished my work mid afternoon and called her over the phone. Her phone was out of network area. How can I forget, her hostel place is still a virgin of mobile towers. She told me once that her hostel mates used to climb windows to get a network. After trying for one hour, at last, the call got connected. We made a plan to meet at the nearest restaurant. Both of us met in the restaurant to have tea. I was thinking about more ways to meet her. I knew about her liking towards trekking. That was one of the other things that we had in common. Suddenly, I remembered a place nearby I read about and told her about that place- Konajekallu. It was around 8km from her college in Moodbidri.
We decided to go there and reached the place at 4 pm. We could see three huge rocks on the top of a hill. As we were adventurous, we decided to reach the top of the highest rock. It seemed like the route to the cliff was not as easy as we thought. We were wondering about which path to take. Our target was to reach top and back by 7 pm. The path was kind of sloppy curves and it was wet as if it had rained in the afternoon. The route was in midst of a dense rain forest. We could hear chirping sounds of birds, sounds of insects and some unrecognized sounds. We even spotted some unrecognized creatures. But we subdued all our fears to reach our destination. Walking on those slippery hills in the midst of dense forest and with the entire struggle, we reached the bottom of the rock. The bottom of the rock had a cave temple of Lord Shiva. This temple was a miracle of nature. It looked so extraordinary. We prayed and sat there for a while. The scene was serene with full of greenery, fog all around and breeze of cool air. This made us feel like it was heaven up there. We could call it the nature untouched.
The top of the rock was few feet above from the bottom. So we decided to climb it up. While enjoying the moment and each other’s company, we lost track of time. The curvy path leading to the top is a different and difficult one, not as we expected initially. It was slippery and we fell a couple of times. The twilight started emerging, the sun gave us a few warning calls. Yet we decided to fulfill our aim to reach the top. After a couple of time and with all our efforts, we finally reached the top and it was like a eureka moment for us. We were so happy as if we were on the top of the world. She pointed out to a building saying that it was her college. We could see whole of her college from the top. But little we knew was that darkness was emerging sooner and faster. That very moment, we decided to go back. But we lost the way because of darkness. We called out loudly so that villagers or someone might hear our sound and will come for our help. We tried to find out human footprints so that we can follow the path. But everything went in vain. We were searching all the alternate possible routes to go down, but most of the routes made us go further up. Lost in this forest in the dark felt like deadly for sure. Now, seriously this place has become a hell for us. Suddenly some voice shook us up.
We felt like something was approaching us. She said some wild animal was coming towards us. We were definitely afraid of snakes as we were moving through grass bushes. We started moving forward with all our energy and vigor. We struggled till darkness spread its wings and we were left with only two options–one was to continue the mission downwards which was surely a gate pass to death in that dense and dark forest, and second was to move to a safer and open place to pass the night unharmed staying steady at a place. We lost all our energy in the struggle to get downwards and we got fully exhausted. We could hear a whole lot of noises from all around. Everything put together, we decided to stick to the second plan with no other options left. We started moving forward using mobile flash. But in the mid, our only connection to the external world i.e. my mobile got switched off. We went upwards to finally reach a flat rock to sit and rest.
To kill time sitting on these rocks, kill our fear, keep the hope alive was our new struggle now. The sounds of wild birds and animals, darkness all around, fear of snakes, lost in midst of jungle made us feel like spending the whole night here was a Herculean task. We both decided to live these moments to the fullest like this was the last day of our life. This gave us the confidence to break our new enemy i.e. fear. Slowly our tensions faded away. We started to observe good things of nature – the open sky, twinkling stars above and the cool breeze flowing around. We started talking on various topics to spend time. We even talked about life after death. We played dumb charades, antakshari, word games etc. We both got more close to each other and understood each other more deeply. We both were equally hungry but had nothing to eat or drink. That day I understood that even I can fast. The climate was too cold, we were shivering without blankets. The scenario was reminding us of some movies. Each others support and company made all the odds bearable, but not for long, after a while cloud rose eating all the stars in the sky finally evaporating into the rain. God was testing our patience indeed, but luckily I had an umbrella in my bag. Since water was flowing around the rocks, we had to stand up for hours now beneath the umbrella. She started singing songs to keep the mood alive and it made me more active. I too joined her in that flow. With God’s grace, rain stopped after few hours. We again sat on the rocks conversing with each other. The climate was cooler than before and it was chilling. I don’t remember when I slept but was waked up by her call pointing towards the sun which gave us a ray of hope.
Monsoon & Trekking: Get The Right Gear
We started our journey downwards. We were not getting the right paths which can lead us to a safe destination. We went through one route after the other searching the way but everything was in vain. Suddenly torch lit in my brains and I thought what if we follow the water flowing through the forest. We started following it. The route in which water was flowing was a tough one because it was full of boulders, pits, tree branches and water streams. My hand got cuts and bruises because of the thorny plants. She fell many a time in the pit and hurt herself on the leg. Our bad luck, rain started pouring again all the way. We didn’t care about anything nor were we afraid of the snakes which might have been there in those streams of water. After an hour and half of journey, we finally reached a place where we could see the broad daylight. The houses nearby boosted our confidence level. Our happiness at that moment could not be expressed in words. We were totally wet in rain water and our dress messy with mud and bits of branches and leaves on us. Happily, I kissed her forehead because I knew that we would be okay. A villager stopped by and asked about us. We told the whole story. He told us that the forest had tigers and cobras and it was lucky that we survived the night. He took us to his home, gave us food and clothes. As my pant was muddy and torn, he gave me his pants to wear. He even called us an auto to reach the town. These people with a golden heart which made me believe in humanity. We thanked him and bid a farewell. We went along with his daughter and son in an auto to reach the nearest town. It was a journey never to be forgotten in our lives. It was a journey via heaven and hell.
About the Author:
Prahalad K.R has done M.Tech in Control Systems from MIT Manipal. He loves travelling,trekking,writing,chess,table tennis,badminton,reading novels,quizzing.His dream is to start a socially innovative company.You can find him on Facebook.
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