CROSSING THE RIVER

At the end of December, we a team of five members, were planning for an adventure trip. But the common problem with the working professionals is uncertainty of leave, all the five members were happen to be working in the same department. Any how we managed it after adjustments at the weekend and planned accordingly. Each and every detail was collected; we were going to enjoy snowfall at Dalhousie, snowboarding , boating and photoshoot with mountain rabbit and much more. Dalhousie was going to be our main spot. But it was just a plan waiting to be worked on. As plans hardly succeed, so how could this plan. As per plan it needed an extra working day i.e Saturday, Sunday and Monday. One of my colleagues with charming and cute face went to tell the boss about all this and requested for a leave on Monday for all the five people.

"No, it is beginning of the New Year; you must know that in the beginning of a year lot of work has to be done and new projects are also assigned" Boss said. I thought my colleague’s charm and cuteness would overcome the frowny attitude of my boss. 

Suddenly my pen and notebook fell inside the car, I saw everyone sweating, breaks were pushed hard, nothing was visible, everyone was quiet, and in panic. Driver was looking for a way from front and back side of the car it was a hilly road without street lights. The person sitting beside the driver said to stop the car. Car was stopped at the middle of the road. We all came out of the car everyone’s heart was racing. 

Someone told, we were at the edge of abyss, but experienced driver managed to get the car out of it. It was 4’o clock in the morning. We stopped there for 5-10 minutes; we thanked God for saving us from the danger. As we got back our breath we started our journey again to Mohan Chatti a hilly place in Uttarakhand which was going to be our adventure spot. It was 25kms from Rishikesh, one of the farthest hill stations. 

We reached at the reception of the Bull Adventure 0025 Camp Hideaway, our camping site, at 8 AM morning, after leaving Delhi yesterday at 10 PM. After reaching there we started a short tour of the campus. It was wonderful camp, beside the river, even one could listen the river hitting over the rocks from the bed. It was not as cool as we felt in Delhi in the month of January. After completing short tour of camp, we went to take rest. And we started our day after lunch. We played badminton as it was also provide there. 

In the evening, we were served hot water along with a snacks and tea. Serving hot water Waiter said, "Sir you are requested to get ready for an event." It was a D.J. show situated beside the river. As we came out of the camp we started dancing from there on, the song was "Mai kamli kamli tere yaar diii." From the home to camp we were together but later on I realized , my team was further divided into small groups, I with the younger one started stalking girls while dancing, while the elder one's were also stalking bhabhis. And the left one was engulfed in dancing and not looking anyone, we also selected the girls which one we liked as per their dress. After dancing for one and half hour. We were exhausted and went for the dinner i.e. buffet was very wonderful, hot food vegetarian and non-vegetarian was there. After dance we could not eat too much food and we had to be awake all night, "Sir, be ready for next event." waiter said while serving hot water to us. 

It was bonfire setup beside the river on the sand. There we were the only left ones, car's dickey was opened and the thermos along with energy drink was out and decorated on the table where we were supposed to sit and enjoy bonfire. We sought extra wood from waiter as we were planning to stay awake all night. We felt nature and talked for a while, as the coolness of energy drink was cooling our stomach in the same manner our talks were reducing. I did not want to sit idle, and let our night emerge to dullness, so I proposed an idea but it had some conditions and restrictions, I was allowed to proceed. I started to tell the conditions that conversation we were going to have would be very personal one. It was adult talk "Bade bachchon ki baten." It did not have any depth; all were requested to join in and speak as per their comfort level. The entire group favoured this idea and also requested each other to follow the conditions. Talks should not be revealed to any sixth person. We started first, to share about our first love, one by one we proceeded. As the night got younger, our levels of talk increased. We went on getting personal details of each other. 

We woke up at 9 AM, wished good morning to each other. Before doing anything we walked here and there to look for the girls that we selected in the DJ show, but did not find anyone may be they left. 

We proceeded for the breakfast it was very luxurious buffet. We finished it. Serving hot water waiter again said, "Sir, be ready for the next event." It was a surprise. We did not book this event. It was a short trip inside forest and we were told to roam at our own risk, as any wild animals were there. It was across the river, very pristine and isolated place where we were alone, not even camp staff was there. Before entering the forest we sat on stony ground after crossing the river. River was not so deep, actually it was a small dis-tributary of Bhagirathi River, one could cross it carefully. Later we saw some people coming out of the forest. We were stuck with two families; we guessed that one family was from Bengal and another one was from Delhi, which included girls and bhabhis. They both were also resting in the stony ground near river. The same scene recreated as it was in the DJ show, again we were divided in to two groups, I with younger one was stalking the girls and elder ones were stalking bhabhis and the left one was busy in clicking selfie. Our short term affair did not conclude to any result. 

We proceeded for bigger adventure inside the forest. It was a very deep forest; we wandered to some distance but did not find any animal except birds and monkeys. We were getting tired and returned to camp though we were content. 

It was time for lunch, Bengali's and Delhi's family were already present there, so we again got another chance to extend our short term affairs, we did not do anything in this little time except passing smile to each other, as we had to leave for Delhi. 

We were in Haridwar, car was parked in Har Ki Paudi, We stopped for the Holy Aarti which happens on the river Ganges at 5 PM always, we were not at the Ghats on the banks of the river, where there is a lot of crowd, where there were all the priests for Holi Aarti, we chose middle Ghat and prepared to sit on the floor. Suddenly our 5th colleague surprisingly said look at the other side, the family we saw in our camp last night we were also surprised to see, in that family there were girls that I with the younger one selected and stalked in the DJ show. We did not want to let this time go waste like this. 

At least we should confess. We silently planed to go to other side of river through bridge, where the girl’s family was present. Before Holy Aarti ended we were sitting beside the girls. We confessed all about what we feel about her and exchanged our social media IDs,i also shared link of my blog spot, this was what I and younger one had planned before reaching the girls.The girls also responded well and said they liked the way we guys danced. Leaving Haridwar we were again together as we were in Delhi. 

During our journey to Delhi one of the person emotionally said, "From Monday we again have to be in blue collar job, doing the same boring toil, talking only formal things, laughing on pre-defined jokes. Life should be like these days that we lived here, free to go anywhere see the real beauty of nature, experiencing things not virtually but in its reality. Feeling the peace and coolness of fresh air, not sitting inside our A.C rooms, willing at the blinking stars in moon light. In these two days we had so many memories and pictures. These short tours give us chance to understand the people we work with.