In a place far away from the maddening crowd, set in the tranquil interiors of a quaint little village in Kolar district, enclosed with hills on all sides and dotted with green fields of corn & vegetables.. This is the place where we packed off for an outward bound training program from office. There were no proper roads connecting this place & during the last half an hour of the bumpy, jerky journey , we didn't even come across a single bmtc bus. Muddy tracks led us to the camp where we stayed, in the tents..it seemed to be so far away from civilization...

It was a unique experience living in the tent & having campfire dinner every night. In the nights, we had friendly visitors inside our tent in the forms of beetles & centipedes, who found their way inside our cozy blankets for a nap.. Once in the middle of night, it rained very heavily & our tent got almost flooded.Well, but as usual nothing could hinder my beauty sleep.

In the evenings after the training, we were free birds. And the team was out in fields playing football, cricket & volley ball. I tried my hands at playing cricket. The word 'tried playing' will be an understatement, considering the way I excelled. Because the only time my bat hit the ball, it went for a direct catch :( I guess, it's time to start our all girls team :D One evening, a few of us enthusiasts, decided to explore the wild country side. We trekked to a nearby hill. While trekking up, at a high altitude, we were taken up by surprise when we hit upon a plain, which was segmented into cultivated vegetable fields . Yes, a farm right in the middle of the hill, in the middle of nowhere. I guess it is the concept of 'step-farming'. And when we hit the top, the sun had almost set at the horizon.The panoramic view of the fields & hills was breathtaking in the mellowing evening light. Next day,we went for yet another expedition. We conquered another adjacent hill & hoisted our flag there (ok..not flag, but our office logoed cap propped up on a stick).

And the best part of camping was saved up for the last. It was rafting. We had to build our own rafts using bamboo poles, ropes & lifebuoys. Yes, and we built our dilapidated looking Noah's Ark , by tying the bamboo poles together using figure-of-eight-knot & appropriately fitting the lifebuoys to keep the raft afloat. Phew.. So I mastered the art of tying the figure-of-eight-knot so well that, now I can even tie a ferocious bull safely to the pole. So here is our hard work...














And what to say, we rafted in the lake in our Titanic.. No..It was not a tragic Titanic!!!! We the proud sailors rowed hard to reach our destination at the other end of the lake. And in the middle of the lake, the sailors momentarily lost their sense of direction, abandoned their oars & started splashing the muddy water on each other. Thankfully, we had life jackets on & hence I am still alive to write this crap post.











With this ended our three days of frolic & adventure....

The Weirdo Tag

Posted by Flyaway Mind comments (10)

I was on hibernation for quite a while & hence guilty of abandoning my little bloggie.I was awakened from my sleepy mode by this IIMBian & told to write 8 weird / arbit things about myself. So here I bare my soul ….

1.) I have this weird habit of talking in my sleep sometimes .And there were times when I had screamed out in my dreams & hence scared the living daylights out of my poor roomies :)This was much prevalent during my college days. While, I used to sleep peacefully throughout these episodes, my roomies had tough time getting back their beauty sleep :D

During BTech, at hostel, my bed used to be right next to the windows. Once I dreamt about a hand extending through the open windows & trying to strangle me. I screamed out … A few weeks later, this incident actually took place in the adjacent room, where a guy actually put his hands through the window & tried to flick the purse..


2.) Though I love hearing music, I don’t have an ear for English music especially the heavy metal kind. With a roommate addicted to Vh1 channel, I don’t have much of a choice. I call some of those songs utter “NOISE POLLUTION” :) Music lovers, don’t throw stones at me!!!

3.) I have very good memory about people & incidents. Recently, I got introduced to a colleague from another branch of our office. I instantly recognized her as my classmate in 4th standard. She was there in my class only for 2 years. And she didn’t even remember having heard my name, let alone my face :(

4.) I hate hypocrisy. Am allergic & repellant to people whose words and actions don’t compliment each other. I understand that a little hypocrisy is necessary to survive in this world. But I have seen some extreme cases. I can’t stand these people…

5.) I derive sadistic pleasure out of killing mosquitoes with the mosquito bat. I like chasing them with the bat & watch them attain nirvana…

6.) I take some time to trust people. Trust is not something that blooms instantly for me. So I take time to make friends, but once friendship is formed, it’s there to stay. I have friends right from my kinder garden onwards, with whom I still maintain good contacts with.

7.) I am an “attention seeker”, as far as my mother is concerned. So when I have a cold & headache, I like to exaggerate it & inform my mother that I have fever :) After all, nobody dies from all the extra care, attention & love showered on them.. hehee..

8.) Last weird habit about me is “I-won’t-ever-acknowledge-I-am-weirdo” hahaa….


People tagged to write 8 weird things about themselves:
-The attention seeker
-Toothless wonder
-Aths
-Minu
-Pophabhi

It rained heavily in Bangalore on friday. We were having Ethnic Day celebrations at office terrace, when the menacing thunderous clouds rolled up and it began raining cats & dogs.Heavy pellets splashed on us from the tarpaulin sheet overhead. I was traveling home that night. And in Kerala the monsoon was setting in with all its ferocity .

My growing up years were closely associated with monsoon. It was the season I used to love as a kid, the season which used to irritate me when I grew up, the season that arouses waves of nostalgia when I think of it now. I used to hate it because, I could no longer go out anywhere and had to stay back at home. Hence my moods used to be as cloudy as the overcast monsoon sky. There was a persistent damp feeling everywhere & dresses took forever to dry up.

My home is on the banks of river Periyar and it's mesmerizing to watch the river when it is raining. The rain lashing on the gentle river and creating turbulent whirlpools is something I love watching .During my childhood, it was usual for Periyar to flood up during monsoon & threateningly encroach on it's banks. It was something much awaited by us, to play on the swollen river banks swarming with fish, crabs and an occasional water snake. And when the flood gates of Boothathankettu Dam were opened up due to overloading, the rain swollen river used to look menacingly beautiful.

Once when I was 7 years old, I went to play in the river accompanied by my mother. I started playing on the flooded stone steps leading to the river. As a child, I used to behave exactly opposite of what I was told to do .So when my mother shouted, 'Dont go further', I had this sudden inner urge to step forth. Involuntarily I took a few paces ahead . But there were no more steps... I fell into a deep gorge and was helplessly drowning in the river. My mother who never swam in her entire life time was forced to jump into the water and drag me out. Now the moment I was confirmed alive I got a good doze of scolding. Thus ended my trysts with the river. Never again during my childhood was I taken anywhere 1 km radius from the river. Even the mention of the word 'river' resulted in terrible outbursts in the form of scolding & threats!!! But then unknown to my family , I had eloped several times with my best friend to the river banks & plucked those tempting water lilies. That's entirely another story.

I remember the time when we went for Goa trip from college. That was one of our best tours. We stayed in a beautiful beach resort , which ensured that we spent a whole day on the sun-kissed sandy beaches of Goa. But the only kill-joy was our Sir who screamed at us, every time we attempted anything adventurous. So in the afternoon, we locked his door from outside when we went out :) We were frolicking in the sea, when out of blue, it started raining. It was not an ordinary drizzle; it was a heavy thunderous outpour.. And we delightfully stayed in the sea, while the heavens poured itself out. It was simply blissful...And the best part was, we were so far away from the shore, even crossing the danger zone, where a red pole was hoisted as warning.

These incidents surface my mind when I think about monsoon. Between, I am planning to buy the book 'Where the rain is born' compiled by Anitha Nair.It's a collection of stories about Kerala. The title of the book itself is too tempting for me...

Poonjar Diary

Posted by Flyaway Mind comments (16)

Last Saturday, I attended my friend's wedding mentioned in my last post. It turned out to be a sort of get together, meeting up with my old buddies. We 5 of us planned for a trip to Poonjar that evening. It had been 4 years back when we girls went to the same place and I remember it was one of our best trips. Poonjar with its enchanting rolling hills, dense dark rubber estates, gurgling streams and cascading waterfalls. Nature was simply at its best there.

Because of the sudden hartal in Alappuzha district, we had to take a train to Kottayam and from there 2 exhausting bus journeys before we could reach Poonjar. By the time it started raining heavily. Rain gods seemed to have no mercy on us and the sky was pouring out threateningly. We feared rain will play spoilsport on our trip. By the time the bus was climbing the long winding uphill roads of Poonjar, there was power failure. The whole village was enveloped in coal black except for the hurricane lanterns that flickered here and there. The heavy rains had caused some damage to the BSNL tower and we were literally cut out from the rest of the world. What a way to start our journey!!!!

At last we reached our destination. My friends uncle and his daughter were there waiting for us. And it was a long walk in the dark to reach their home, guided only by a torch light. We had to climb through the rocky path , cross a stream and a bridge to reach home. A worried aunty was there waiting for us (it was almost 8 pm. We were supposed to reach there by 6).There was nothing much we could do inside the house because of power failure. So we sat under the candle light sipping hot tea and munching chips, talking to our hosts . Aunty was an energetic sporty lady and soon we were plotting wild crazy plans. The power cut could not tone down our high spirits. We decided this was the best time to take bath in the stream. Soon, under aunty's leadership the girls army( including her daughter S) marched down the rocky tracks to hit upon the stream. The water was icy cold after the rain. S was a girl used to all the wild ways of nature and soon we found her dragging us and unsuspectingly pushing us into under-water pits. With a sinking feeling I found myself drowning & gasping. And for a brief moment, I had a glimpse of the happy life I may never live to see :-) With zero knowledge on swimming, I felt it was a wonderful creative game for people who are thinking of ending their life. But soon we turned crazy and was enjoying the drowning-game. We screamed and our voice echoing in the dark almost brought the whole village down there. In a way, it was good that there was no power.

After dinner, we were sitting out in the veranda. The first thing I noticed on reaching the house was the swing. It has been terribly long since I did swinging. And there I was swinging to my hearts content into the cloudy night sky. We played anthakshari. It was past midnight and the aunty surprised us by coming with glasses of black tea . She announced, "to keep you devils awake and croaking." Here was a lady who encouraged our craziness!!!! After we finished our activities and decided to hit the bed it was 3 am.

I had to literally pry open my eyes next day morning at 6. We went to explore the country side in broad day light. The streams looked beautiful set against the foggy misty hills . Our next destination was waterfalls in the nearby hill. There we trekked down the rocky tracks enclosed by dense dark rubber plantation.


The best part about the waterfalls was that, we had it all to our own. The waterfall was surrounded by rubber plantations belonging to uncle and hence was a secluded place inaccessible to public. It was our very own kingdom. Only the chirping birds & the dragon flies hovering over the water gave us company.We sat under the waterfalls, with the heavy splash of water drumming on our heads and almost intoxicating us. We splashed around the pool , tried the balancing-floating-act on water ,and even danced under the falls. Later we were sitting on the top of a boulder, drying ourselves in the sun & chatting lazily, when S came and started pushing us one by one. From the precarious edge of the rock, I fell, was momentarily air borne and then sank down into the stream below. It was an exciting adventurous feeling. We tried it several times later

We spent almost half a day there. And then it was time to return. We had a train to catch at 6 pm , to take us back from this heavenly abode to the corporate jungle

For last 1 week I felt like being orphaned. Here is the turn of events that turned me into an abandoned soul.

A week back, I accompanied my friend for his wedding shopping to buy blazers & suits. Two gals accompanying a guy for shopping can turn catastrophic, especially when the gals in question are ‘shopping crazy’ ones, who vanishes when ‘ladies dress section’ is in vicinity. But since this was wedding shopping, we refrained ourselves with much difficulty :-)

The mega shopping started in Marathahalli brand shops . His specification of blazer was a gray one which looks ‘informal’, ‘unique’ & ‘different’. Since we gals didn’t consider ‘gray’ as a colour even worth mentioning, we brainwashed him to go for a cream coloured suit. Now, none of the specifications ‘unique’ & ‘different’ were met in any of the brand giants viz Allen Solly, Van Heusen, Giovanni etc etc. Finally decided to select the engagement shirt first.In between his fiancee called up. Both of them are my friends since college days.

She: Remember, I am wearing orange sari with yellow border. So his shirt should match with
that
Me: Ok done. How about a bright fluorescent orange shirt then? Heheee....
She: @#$*#@
She: And don’t select any full sleeved shirts. It doesn't suit him.
Me: Ok..i will try to convince him…

As soon as the ‘order from higher authority’ was conveyed to him, he dismissed it as absurd. So we did buy a full sleeved shirt. God save us!!!!

After lunch we proceeded to Bangalore Central. As far as I was concerned, all suits looked alike. They were either black/gray/blue/cream or 2buttoned/3buttoned. After hours of searching, we zeroed in on an ethnic looking smart suit. By this time we gals were really worn out. To rejuvenate our poor tired souls, we decided to go on a shopping spree of our own to ‘ladies section’, while he was left gaping. After having revived ourselves, we decided to search in main Commercial Street too, inorder to widen his options. We went to some 5-6 shops in vain. By this time, we were dead tired & couldn't even take another step ahead. The climax of the story happened when he called up his parents to tell about the ethnic looking informal blazer he has finalized upon. From the other end he got a lecture on ‘proper mallu Christian weddings’ and how you should only wear simple formal suit on the occasion. So that was the end of it. We argued with him but he meekly replied , "I chose the bride on my own; I chose the wedding card on my own; at least I should leave this to my parents.” Thus the shopping saga came to an end.

It was much later while I was returning that I discovered I had misplaced my cell phone. I had left it somewhere while shopping!!!!!!!!!!! Called up to my cell immediately , but it was switched off. That was the anticlimax. I felt sick , more because I was so careless. Hmmm..i was proving myself to be all the adjectives that my Amma sometimes lovingly :-) calls me – ‘careless’ ‘irresponsible’ ‘clumsy’ :-) To get over the feelings of blue, I slept the whole of next day.Felt much better after that. For next one week,I was out of contact with the world and felt orphaned. Finally I got my mother to send me my old Nokia 1100 . So finally no longer am I abandoned :-)

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