The Big Trip... :)

(a mix of writing in the diary and typing on the cell phone and now typing here…)

An Introduction:

1. Anant aka Papaji (the wall… vacation means rest! :)
   
2. Dhaval aka Pillu (the silent one who had to give his attendance time and again! :)
   
3. Jeet aka Baba (his girlfriend kept us melodious company… his guitar! :) and she always manages to soothe my soul!)
4. MITE (Mitesh aka Master Fang) – The Mighty Manager! Hail the Manager! And the Grand Daddy and the wake up call every every every morning! And as I have said before on this blog.. a gem of a person! :)
   
5. Mitesh aka Barwala (bottomless pit with the cutest smile ever! :)
   
6. Pavan (no aka here.. just beautifully footloose and fancy-free :)
   
7. Smriti aka the Washer Woman (need I say more!! :D)
8. & Yours Truly aka Motee aka Hidimba (jisse sabne thank you n sorry kehne pe bahut maar khaayi!!) :)
   

Day 1: In the train..

The women freaked out over the ‘Femina’ that she was carrying and the men just dozed the afternoon away after a scrumptious lunch of Biryani…!

The sun had begun to set and she was in her favorite place… in the doorway of the train compartment! The scene outside: calm grey, burnt brown, pacifying green… It’s like the whole landscape was trying to give her a message…and the song that began to play…’Superfantastic… everything is beautiful!’ (It sure was…!) She called her playlist ‘porcupine’s parody’ ‘coz that’s the way she was feeling.. all her senses spiked and awake… living breathing every beautiful moment… Track changes to ‘And the wheels just keep on turning.. The drummer begins to drum.. I don’t know which way I’m going.. I don’t know which way I’ve come’

The train slows.. the wind turns to a soft breeze.. as it crosses over a canal she thinks she caught a twinkle in her eyes even in those muddy waters..

Day 2: Vengurla

The train pulled up to Kudal station… its quaint smallness attracted her almost instantaneously…! Dawn breaking and 8 backpackers rubbing their eyes to slowly sense the sights and sounds around them. Finally a dog barks… (finally it is! One of Barwala’s first thoughts happened to be ‘are there no dogs here?’ :D) The ricks reached hotel ‘Bumbooo’ (pronounced that way in the local accent and thereon the way we pronounced any kind of Bamboo!) but it so happened that it was too early for anyone to be around… Found another li’l place right by the ocean and made that home for the day!

Morning tea (dubbed Irish Tea for its light brown shade), Poha and then finally Omlettes for breakfast….! And then Mission Beer! The refrains of Beer and Feni of especially the two motivated men (Baba and Barwala… who else re?!) had to be put to an end! Smriti, Dhaval and yours truly walked to their pathetic refrains of “There were two men, so tall and thin and lazy, their hair their hair were just like the color of blackberry and they were on a mission to find some Smirnoff blackberry!”

Well.. whaddya expect?! Mission obviously successful! And then these wandering souls went onto search for a ‘shady’ spot (pun intended) on the beach! It was their lucky day.. their lil alcove… the rocks and soft pure sand… an inlet of the sea close by… and the shade of beautiful light green leaves on white tree trunks… Lazybum Nirvana had been attained yet again! :) Cheers to us… to life!

After rollicking around and spending time in the water… losing a pair of glasses and breaking a pair of sunglasses… jumping on the tree branches… cutting ourselves up on the rocks in the water (they just happened to be sharp and we happened to be high!)… they trudged along back to their rooms…. Tired and sleepy.. dreamland was instant! As evening sets in and she began to stir awake her first thought was a biii…..g bear hug to all of ‘em! Don’t ask why..but they had all been complete sweethearts! Next up… Smriti aka fairy GodMa says there’s food for you darling! And she happily locates some spoons and digs in!!

A post dinner walk in the cool evening breeze with the sound of waves in the background and Baba’s guitar in the foreground… soft and rippling giving way to faraway rumblings of the sea… Fishermen’s boats lined up for the night with lights twinkling away and the ripples and reflections slowly swinging to the strumming of the guitar.. The moment: Ethereal! So much so that Barwala says it best when he says, ‘The only difference between heaven and earth is that heaven has no mosquitoes!’

And they talked… talked of almost everything under the sun… rather the moon! From their own personal li’l dragons to the genetic modification of the anopheles mosquito to the marijuana Dragon! (stop rolling your eyes now!)

And they slowly drift off to the jetty… the waves seeping into every lil nook and cranny… To imagine a life that waves along on the sea.. to and fro.. up and down.. experiencing all the travails of the sea and listening to its heartbeat day in and day out!

Her hair had developed a soul of their own flying in every direction… flying with every dance of the wind… as if wanting to experience every lil thing.. every lil moment all at once and pure and complete! And they turn in to bed… somewhere in the wee hours of the morning she wakes up and almost scares Pavan completely with her hair flying all over her head… (jus got up to turn the lights out!). She spooked her ‘coz of the spooky woman they had seen in the evening and then Barwala and Papaji had started off with u’ll open urn eyes and she’ll be there right next to urn bed etc etc! The stuff that ghost stories are made of!! :) Sorry sweetheart! Biiii…..g hug!

Day 3 Destination 1: Killeneuti

As her hair are still flying around following their own soul she settles down to write about the day at the back bench of a station platform! (yahan bhi back bench.. :D). Most of em call it the ‘Misadventure’ but it was an adventure nonetheless! She woke up to the sun waking up with her… Rising with the Sun! :) A bumpy bus ride later they found themselves at what was supposed to be a bust stop but hardly looked the part save for a black and yellow board which announced ‘Killeneuti – Last Stop’. Yup, that was the name of the place! Barely inhabited red soil zone.. and thus began a trek to unknown lands to find just about anything.. (it eventually began to feel like what she calls a journey to the center of the earth! :) ) An uphill trek later you can imagine the Motee’s state! But the trek had its own sweet rewards.. The view: The ruins of an old old fort… black stone walls falling apart gradually as time decided to find breathing holes through them.. On one side water breaking on jagged rocks and on the other a moment of serendipity! A virgin beach.. blue water.. white sand and green palms with a lonely boat rotting… a vast expanse of clear blue pure white… the wind blowing as if calling.. restless and impatient! All of it stark in itself but mesmerizing in their quiet, eternal symphony…

The call was answered and there they were running, swimming, playing like kindergarten kids in their lunch break! Even the waves decided to play with them by taking away their slippers but only so far as to be salvaged again! This bunch of kids, the manager successfully got of water in time and thereon began trek 2! (:D shrek 2!!) This one had her on ‘economy mode’ for breath by the end of it and Barwala singing ‘over the rainbow!’ but then… har aagaaz ka koi na koi anjaam zaroor hota hai… is agaaz ka anjaam: The sight of a gazillion white birds on the periphery of a rectangular mass of sand in the middle of the ocean! Waves on a trip of their own.. Riding on the waves in the deep blue ocean you peak and you go low.. never falling… always just flowing… is this what ‘equilibrium’ is all about?

Well… after reveling in the glory of the sights and the sounds and doing some pet puja on the goodies of the ‘food bag’ (which was bits n pieces all of them had put together) and a local orange drink they were back in the bus to explore territories unknown! :) They had a train to catch but the hungry souls decided to feast on some yummy ‘usal pav’ at a local chai ki dukaan and then of course… Beer, Pink Floyd and Baba’s girlfriend were company for the evening!

Another day.. another way… Another trek to the center of the earth…?!

Day 3 Destination 2: Karwar

As I write even the pen has gathered sand and I’m cleaning the nib on my already unclean clothes!! Mess and sand had become an inevitable part of the game and as Baba puts it, ‘There was sand in every pore’! They landed at Karwar dog-tired… but then they needed their sutta and mera to kya hi hai! I happily tagged along! 12:30 in the night Baba, Barwala, Washer Woman and Yours Truly ventured out and tried everything from talking in sign language to trying to break in to a shop! :P Managed to make their way to a semi open desi daaru ka dukaan! Lucky break… it’s here that they got directions and an almost fast asleep rick wale bhaiya was rocked from dreamland to take them to suttaland! The mosquito coil hanging from a white thread near the backseat in his rick almost burnt Smriti’s pants and then was dutifully held in her hands to avoid further mishaps! By Barwala’s calculations now, each sutta amounted to Rs 7.5!!!! The victorious warriors trudged back to their rooms to boozeland…! Vodka and kokam! Awwsum combination trust me! After boozeland it was snoozeland! (The situations created are to overwhelming to capture in words.. everytime she thinks of it she breaks into a helpless giggle!!!)

Day 4: Karwar

Lazed around till late afternoon and then was given a 15 minute ultimatum to get ready for lunch! The ultimatum had the washer woman worried about her clothes!! :D Now lunch with so many foodies around was serious business.. and turned out to be a grand feast! On the menu:

Fresh lime soda

Red Red wine! (reminds you of the song right?! :) )

Beer for some

Garlic Butter Squid

Masala Crab

Chilli Prawns

King Fish (roasted par excellence)

Chicken Amrut Special!

Amrut was the name of the place we ate at and the foooooooooooooooooooo…………………………………………..d was superfantabulously amazingly awsumly yummy!! Some of us discovered our affinities and our allergies for the newfound food! The evening found them at the Rabindranath Tagore beach… MITE with his balls (sand ones re!), Smriti with her sand home and she with her so-called sand castle!! Rollicking and playing in the water… and burying the Baba under a mound of sand! The wetness of the wine and the sea beckoned and they willfully answered… Master Fang suddenly decided to stuff her face first with wine which she gluged down her throat rather happily! (that was her prize for finding in the bag the last 3 wines for the 3 thirsty sea monsters!! :D) and then stuffed her face with sand! (nature’s own face scrub she calls it!) :D

Tonight’s poison was an Old Monk Gold! Yes it has been drilled into each and every brain cell by none other than the bottomless pit with the sweet smile that Gold means it’s 12 years old only to be called 20 yrs old by him again later! :P The Barwala was tortured enough by two of the women when while relishing on a glass of his ‘Old Monk Gold’ he was made to listen to the refrains of ‘Bewafa Bar Mein…’ :D The Baba was waiting for the women to try it on him only to torture them in return.. but hey! Smart women! :D

Day 5: Karwar + The Great Outdoors!

The men had started to rant by then that give women a clean room and they never want to come out! The bathroom was just the break that our washer woman needed and then she set out on her mission! Somewhere in the afternoon the ‘women’ (as blamed by the lazybum ‘men’) decided to get moving and all of ‘em found themselves on a boat that took them to the island of ‘The Great Outdoors!’ Yes she said boat and she said Island! :) The boat was a fisherman’s boat… the sea spray hit their faces and the moment of shrieking joy were the ‘dolphins!’ Prancing about with a permanent smile… :) They then reached the isle and it was tents and hammocks galore! It was definitely THE GREAT OUTDOORS! They had their first whim of an uphill, mountain top beach! Laugh away… from the pier to the beach was a very scenic trek, which went uphill and only uphill for quite sometime! :D The beach was a wonderful mix of rocks and sand… Yup they (the women that is!) even went rock climbing! (:P just a huge mass of rock that we clambered over actually!!) The water was floaters heaven! Lie on your back and let the waves take control as you float… blue blue sky… the sun shone on one side and the moon becoming more and more translucent on the other…! Smriti says it best when she says, ‘It’s like the sea just doesn’t get tired of flowing!’ :) After drifting all they wanted with Master Fang and discussing the ‘Art of Tai Chi and Helen doin cabre’ they trekked back to find Baba a piece of ‘Bumboooo’ which he vehemently denied was not ‘Bumbooo..!’ :D With the Bumboo came a discussion on how to create a ‘Marijuana Hukkah!’ They also had a taste of some funny, green berries…! Nope no Marijuana! :P

Her thoughts: ‘Zindagi inhi do chaar lamho ka naam hai jinhe hum yun hi chalte chalte bune jaate hain… unko rango me apni muskan ko siye jaate hain aur unke dard me apne pal chhin ko dhoonde jaate hain…!’

Beach bitten that they were… ek beach se inka kya hota?? They were back at Karwar beach as the sun began to set… But this time she just set out for a walk… The moon blazing her trail with the moonshine not jus lighting up but also leading every footstep with its benign reflection in the wet sands!

Day 6 Destination 1: Karwar + The Devbagh Beach Resort

It had been planned as an early morning… After doing a lot of ‘marham-patti’ to all the wounded soldiers (wounded on rocks at vengurla) and being christened ‘Dr Death’ for her blatant use of the knife on sand filled, almost pussed wounds they set out on their way to Devbagh Island! Yeah baby… another beautiful day, another beautiful island!

The ‘Sand Bike’ as she calls it was their first attraction! Smriti Singh Verma with her sweet smile n rants of ‘please bhaiya please bhaiya’ got her a chance to ride it! :D And the men were seriously contemplating waxing and batting their eyelids with their muskaans for want of ‘the easy way!’ :P Dr. Death was enjoying her moment meanwhile of putting pictures of hot wax and hair being pulled into Barwala’s head which he was desperately trying to fight by giving her images of a dusty, filthy, stinking Barwala! (and now she asks – ‘Isn’t that the way he always is?? :P)

Single-minded purpose in life – ‘Beer!’ The wounded soldiers and she had decided to keep out of the water for the day at least! Beer was their respite! Each unto his own they had become… Master Fang aka MITE went for a walk and got some rocks and shells in myriad colors and shapes… and he let her have them! :) Barwala pulled up his beach chair closer to the water and decided to pen down a few thoughts… a reading of it ended up in a discussion of the times they have written, how and yes even why! She and the Baba sat peacefully on their beach chairs, Beer in hand, under the shade! Their view was a shipwreck on one side, an island with a lighthouse on the other, a sprinkling of isles in between and waves rumbling across to create white sprays! The other four had gone snorkeling! :)

Food began to call… a sumptuous vegetarian meal (:D stop lookin so shocked! The great Barwala remembered it was Ram Navmi… only to forget by dinner time and consume fish!) later complete with rasam and a sweet bread dessert course some walked over back to the beach chairs, some to the water and some to the hammocks…! Guess where she went! :D Bliss is a very tiny emotion to describe her state as she slowly rocked herself on the hammock and went Zzzzz….! She was fast asleep when she was gently rocked awake by the Baba standing by her side… only to doze off again! A few soft conifers from the trees above and around fell like a ‘romantic movie with a happy ending and the credits rolling to a soft song in the background’ on her face and she slowly stirred awake.. (yeah I know you noticed how everything is kinda slomo! :) ). They walked their way to the beach chairs only to discover that Master Fang and his camera had captured their snooze and they didn’t even know! Amazing na?

After relishing in the mysteries of the shells and trying to figure out the stories they had to tell they walked back to catch the last boat to mainland! En route to the pier the Baba acquired the role of the ‘Charvaha’ and she was the so called, ‘Motee Bhains’! The Bhains of course would not stand the charvaha’s nonsense with the sota.. (actually it barely even qualified as a sutiya) Nonetheless she charged at the charvaha… more so with her hidimbic laughter! :D

The boat ride back was calming and serene… in line with the day’s slowmo! They met ‘Annie’ – a naturalist doing her research in marine biology on turtles! And the ‘washer woman’s’ latest calling in life was to be scuba instructor kind of something! She kept finding vague callings… :) !

Day 6 Destination 2: Turtle Bay

The day of laze gave way to an evening of travel… Turtle Bay! (the name in itself elicits such beautiful images na?!) Well… sitting in the doorway of a general dabba and staring out at the vast expanse of fast passing by scenic beauty with a wish to gleefully step down at each river that passed under they reached Bhatkal where a cab with Himesh Reshammiya remixed tunes playing full on was waiting for them! :D The Baba and Barwala resorted to their mp3 players for peace… Baba’s peace eluded him with the ipod showing ‘zero battery’ and ‘laundry woman’ and yours truly doing karaoke in his ears!!! :D We dint last long under the evil glare of the Baba and eventually shut up to stare in awe at the lightning… Women shrieking ‘I saw it! I saw it!’ and the men wither indifferent or drawn to it in their own quiet ways! The following thoughts crept through her head as she looked at the sky above to see a translucent cloud in the shape of a giant hand from behind which the moon was visibly shining through as if something somewhere was guiding their way…

‘There’s a light that shines through all of us.. A spark sometimes.. other times a glow.. A few times it’s even like a lamp-post and you lean on it in its glow… It’s a streak, a dot.. your eyes chase the myriad glints here and there and then when you find your flame… you have fund your peace.. All you can do is to let the glow curve up your lips in a soft smile..’

As the SUV turned into Turtle Bay and sand touched their feet, she dumped her stuff in the dorm and let the sand creep into her pores and the wind prance around with her hair as they went for a long long walk on the beach trying to explore it’s end… only stopping at the point where it turned and stood in mesmerized awestruck silence looking on in reverence at the miracle called ‘Nature’ with the waves lapping at their feet, the moonshine all around and even glistening on rocks placed here and there by ‘Mommy Nature’ herself for you to sit down relax and revel in her glory! :)

The night found them in a dorm with red ants and a flying cockroach! :D

Day 7: Turtle Bay ++..!

Early Early morning and a breakfast of omlettes and ‘JAM’ (the Barwala actually freaks out on something oh so vegetarian with the glint of a 3 year old kid in eyes!) we were racing along to Murudeshwar… The view was a Mecca of sorts with the sea one side and a river serenely gurgling by on the other side of the road..! Miraculous! Their first sight as they entered Murudeshwar was a gigantic idol of ‘Shiv Ji’. Located on a hill top… it was visible from almost 360 degrees! Jus looking at it made you believe in the ‘powers within and without..!’ But Murud was not their destination… thus began an 18 km boat ride into the ocean to ‘Nethrani Island’ for snorkeling… The snorkelers this time were the wounded soldiers, the washer woman again and yours truly! (To think that mommy dearest had said, ‘paani me mat jana’ when she set out for her trip! :D) They were handed over the snorkels after being explained how to breathe in and out of it and a lil practice later they were all sorta ok with the idea of breathing through a plastic pipe rather than the wind pipe! :D A lil sea sickness and discussions of omlettes floating in the ocean later they were cruising around the island with the instructor and the boatman (Jafar bhai) showing them the caves 2/3rds under water and a lot of the endangered ‘white breasted sea eagles’ which have a wingspan of 4-5 ft!!! Their flight was simply breath taking! Jafar bhai also pointed out a bomb-shell stuck in the rocks… It so happens that the Indian Navy uses the island a place for bombing practice despite it being inhabited with endangered species and exquisite marine life surrounding it…

And then it began… Life jackets were secured tightly around them and they slipped into flippers… (yup flippers!! The gear was quite exciting!) and then jumped into the water… feeling their way around a lil and getting comfortable in the new environment the snorkelers slowly started to discover marine life! Excited screams of ‘did you see this?, ‘hey see this..!’, ‘wow!!!!!’ resounded! It was truly a whole world of its own with rocks and corals and clams and green patches of the ocean ground and crackling sounds of lobsters and crabs in the salty waters! Schools of fish that they naughtily kept breaking into, big fish, small fish, yellow fish, blue fish, black fish, brown fish, green fish, parrot fish… all kinds of fish fish fish!!!! A zillion life forms… all with their own habits and quirks… some marking their territory, some feeding, some swimming around in peace and some just resting! Black fish with electric blue lines and white encircled tails, yellow fish with blue lines and pink-purple fins, the nemo kinda fish, schools of yellow fish with blue lines…. It just kinda left you speechless! Thoughts: ‘How the ocean is so healing! It not just gives life and nurses it but also allows for it to be tapped of energy and then serenely heals… it just relaxes your mind, body, heart and soul and brings into them a certain beautiful incomparable symphony…!’

Tip: Sniffing on orange peels is good for sea sickness! :D And they reached back to the shore spent and sunburnt but rejuvenated nonetheless! They slept like babies on the drive back!

The evening found them all fresh and light… The last walk on the beach…! (yes the next day’s sunrise would find them packing their bags to leave..) Here’s what she saw…

‘The li’l brown white bird was afraid of the waves.. They would approach and he would approach and he would run.. The waves were persistent.. They touched his tiny webbed feet and he was curious.. He maybe liked the feeling.. He began to explore and was slowly more accepting of the wetness.. Even tasted it..! Having overcome his latent anxiety he waited for the waves to come at him again and this time.. he ran toward them.. embracing and exploring! And there he was now.. racing with the waves and flying!’

Afterthought: Haven’t most of us felt jus like the li’l brown birdie at some point in our lives? I know I have… I know of someone else too… :)

The night was lit in the cool moonshine and the warm campfire! Baba’s guitar creating waves of her own and the waves playing up their symphony… Beer and playful chatter! And slowly… one by one.. they drifted off to their dreamlands dozing off to the sounds of the waves…!

Thoughts that wandered in her li’l head while looking at the campfire… “And so she burns.. her tiny flame finding way through the smoke clouds… burning blasphemously only to turn to ashes.. but… to be resurrected or buried under the ocean sands?”

Day 8: Back Tracking… 1444 kms!

They were up before sunrise… pittering and pattering with their stuff and getting ready to head back to where they came from… (to maybe our states of mind… or to new niches we created… to the physical confines of IM-NU for a last few days… or just to the city we all call Ahmedabad…)

All of them were quiet… some meditating, some wandering in their hearts and heads, some weighing their options… and some jus plain hungover..! But all with a faraway glaze in their eyes… And then the sun began to rise like a mass of coagulated volcanic matter from behind the crater like hills as they drove through the twisted terrain!

A lull seemed to prevail… every step was slow.. the bags seemed heavier (or were they really with the shells, stones and wet clothes?! :) ).. deliberate movements… a ring on a faraway bicycle seemed to crackle the atmosphere… if only for a few seconds… and they waited for their train under the lil shack like structure on the platform!

All loaded… the train began to chug out and she found her place at the door of S9 and made herself comfortable for the day… sometimes with the Baba.. sometimes looking on in solitary silence… she just looked on and on…

A river down under as usual made her smile… fishermen on boats waved up to her and she smiled and waved back! Rivers meandering endlessly… through hills along the track… One even found it’s way to the sea as she looked on speechless! Huts and homes… palms and groves… mountains on fire? Nay.. jus smokey for the fields being rejuvenated underneath!

Tunnels and tunnels… cool dark respite away from the harsh afternoon sun… and a particularly sparkling sight of the darkness of the tunnel giving way to the shimmer of a waterfall as the train chugged out… (Total count of tunnels: 94!!)

< The confused evening sun slowly began to set behind the hills only to pop out again as the train turned on it’s track… It’s happy childlike flaming orange reflection in the river traveling by slowly turning serene and it sets behind a dark faraway hill leaving behind a warm tinted sky and the water glistening in it’s afterglow!

The night gave way to meandering tracks as well… from her middle bogie the sight of both the front and tail ends of the train curving up like a crescent embracing the evening star were quite a sight! A brilliant curve where the engine and the end are both indicating safety to each other with a green light and she’s letting the wind play havoc with her hair as a smile creeps onto her face and the twinkle of the star is reflected in her eyes too…

And that ladies and gentlemen was ‘The Big Trip!’ A huge bundle of thanx to madhukar for suggesting the most amazing places to us and Three Cheers for our Manager! You rock!! :)

And cheers to all of us! to life! May such beautiful moments keep happening time and again and the bomds that have been created live on in our hearts forever! :)

And the song in her head since the time they’ve come back:

(yeah yeah… smile on all of you! I can see a very victorious glint in Barwala’s eyes! :D)

somewhere-over-the...

Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high
And the dreams that you dreamed of
Once in a lullaby
Somewhere over the rainbow
Blue birds fly
And the dreams that you dreamed of
Dreams really do come true
Someday I'll wish upon a star
Wake up where the clouds are far behind me

Where trouble melts like lemon drops
High above the chimney tops thats where you'll find me oh
Somewhere over the rainbow bluebirds fly
And the dream that you dare to,why, oh why can't I?

Well I see trees of green and
Red roses too,
I'll watch them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world

Well I see skies of blue and I see clouds of white
And the brightness of day
I like the dark and I think to myself
What a wonderful world

The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people passing by
I see friends shaking hands
Saying, "How do you do?"
They're really saying, I...I love you
I hear babies cry and I watch them grow,
They'll learn much more
Than we'll know
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world

Someday I'll wish upon a star,
Wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where trouble melts like lemon drops
High above the chimney top that's where you'll find me
Oh, Somewhere over the rainbow way up high
And the dream that you dare to, why, oh why can't I?