Truth or Dare (Trip Day 3)

“The happiness of reaching bungalow showed on my face as it was time for our TRIP NIGHT OUT.” The happiness sure did fade a little after some time. We were already told that there would be no camp fire, on top of that, some of the girls complained they were too tired and didn’t wish to stay up. To add to my misery, even boys started complaining about the tiring day we had today. Somehow, I got the support of few good men and women (Mukunda, Vivek, Bhupendra, Vinay, Shilpa and Apoorva). Since we were few, we decided on spending night by playing cards. It was either bluff or lucky seven. I had fun playing and teaching rookies tricks of the game. We had Lakshmi and Shyamala as spectators for sometime who later went to bed. When we got bored of playing, we started talking. We decided on telling each other about what is good and what is bad in them. For e.g. : I was told that I have a very good sense of humour, I have a different perspective of situations every time, very helpful, etc, etc. but on the other side, I trouble and irritate a lot too. When this discussion had started, the girls (Shilpa and Apoorva) had already gone to sleep. So, we jotted down their good and bad points too. Later, cricket and our future were the hot topics. It was 1:00 a.m when Mukunda and Vinay too hit the sack, leaving me, Vivek and Bhupendra. We went out for a while to breathe some fresh air. Later after coming back, we again started chatting. Now, I don’t exactly remember what we spoke about, but I can assure that everything that we spoke was nonsense, trying to kill time. In the midst of all these, I got time to click some photos of my sleeping friends. While I was doing all this, I observe daylight. It was 6:00a.m. After sometime, everybody was awake. One by one, everybody was ready to leave for Yana too. Shyamala and Padmini took long time to get ready (I don’t blame them). Poor Vinay was dying to freshen up but the washroom was always engaged (don’t know how he managed to behave normally at that point of time). With all this problems on our head, we finally managed to leave Yallapur at around 8:30. We had packed some food for the afternoon too.

The journey to Yana was as good as the one to Yallapur was. I was busy enjoying the view outside, with some friends giving me company. Some ruined their journey by playing cards, talking on phone for hours, sleeping, etc. We reached Yana at 10:30 a.m. The place is famous for a single rock cliff placed in the middle of the jungle. A temple of Lord Shiva is situated below the rocks with 10-11 bee hives on top of the cliff. We had to walk 3k.m to reach the rocks. Everybody showed enthusiasm initially, which turned to glum a little later. People complained of leg pain, tiredness, even headache as though I can treat them. All I told them was either you have to walk or wait in the jungle for us. The statement made them walk faster. We reached the rocks, visited the temple and rested for sometime. Some of them were hungry and wished to have their lunch, but the majority decided on reaching the bus first. On the way back, I had only Priyanka and Apoorva for company. I learnt one thing from the journey way back with Apoorva and Priyanka that sometimes opposites do not attract. We reached to bus in record 20 min. however, others (except Bhupendra and Vivek who had reached before us) took a long time to reach. We waited near a petty shop. To reach that shop, one must jump across drainage, made to drain rain water. It was totally dry since it was summer season. While 5 of a certain group were trying to cross it, I realized that only 4 came on the other side. On investigating the matter, we found that Asif had fallen down. It was not all that big drain that he would fall in it. After all, Shyamala managed to cross, why couldn’t Asif? The only reason I could give was he must have done something wrong at the Yana temple. Frankly, I don’t blame him, because he hardly goes temples and doesn’t know the protocols of many rituals. However, after all of us assembled near the petty shop, we got on the bus and left for Murudeshwar – our last trip destination.

On the way, we stopped to have our lunch. Not all of us were hungry, may be because of the tiring trekking at Yana. But we forced ourselves to eat cause Murudeshwar was and I had told that we are not going to stop anywhere on the way. However, Shilpa still decided not to eat, she complained that she was too tired too move her hands towards the plate. At this moment, my friendly neighborhood (because she was sitting next to me) Apoorva volunteered to hand feed Shilpa. Problem was solved. I finished my lunch early and with nothing to do, I grab my camera and shoot a video of my friends eating. It’s funny to see how people behave while they are eating. They are too conscious and don’t want to be in front of camera. So much so that Lakshmi tried to hide herself behind Mitesh, which was I feel was a pretty desperate (and stupid to some extent) move to avoid the camera. Later on, I concentrated on shooting Apoorva feeding Shilpa. The love I felt from this sisterly act was too much for me to handle. It was very emotional. I couldn’t stop myself from laughing (even while I am typing this).

With everybody’s stomach full, we moved on towards Murudeshwar. With no sleep last night, and a good meal after a tiring walk often induces sleep in humans, and sometimes in me too. I went into deep sleep, unaware of the outer world and its plots against me. I was told the news of me sleeping was too good news for Shyamala. She had all plots against me since I troubled her whenever she was sleeping and she always requested me to sleep while traveling since she wanted to take my snaps. Finally she got a chance and she didn’t miss it. In her excitement, she forgot that she wasn’t taking snaps, but shooting video. Later when I woke up, I see that we had halted and we had not yet reached Murudeshwar. On asking Mukunda, he told me that driver was a bit tired and he wanted to rest for a while. I observed that some of my friends were missing too. Mukunda told me that THE GANG (headed by Shyamala with her followers – Lakshmi, Padmini, Mitesh, Vivek and Asif) were also in the hotel eating. It was fine because we had halted anyways. I went to wash my face since I was feeling sleepy, but didn’t want to sleep. Vivek came out after sometime and sat next to me. A little later, driver too turns up but there was no trace of THE GANG. We waited for fifteen minutes after which I asked Vivek about what they were doing. He told me that they had ordered Pav Bhaji ( an Indian snack consisting of bun roasted in butter along with a mixed vegetable curry made by using spices, enjoyed only when very hot) and were waiting for it. PAV BHAJI!!!!! It was around 40° C there, hot enough to boil eggs without the help of heating instruments. Who would even think of eating PAV BHAJI in this hot weather? This was too hot to handle. I decided that its time to teach them a lesson. I told all my friends that when THE GANG returns, we will tell them that Murudeshwar trip is cancelled and we are heading towards Bangalore. Our driver too agreed to take part in this. When THE GANG arrived and were told about this, they thought it was a joke initially. But we acted so well that they were convinced after sometime. They pleaded a lot that we go Murudeshwar. Mitesh even proposed that we stay overnight with all expenses to be paid by him (what a brave thing to do when your wallet is running out of money). But we told him that this was impossible since Vinay and Vivek had their presentations due on Tuesday and we couldn’t waste time staying. THE GANG was pretty disappointed with this. They knew this was my entire plan. Shyamala and Padmini threw really nasty looks at me, as though they wanted to throw me out of the bus and go Murudeshwar. Meanwhile when I asked Shyamala to give me her camera, she was so pissed that she told me that she lost her camera, not realizing that it was in her own hand. I was enjoying every moment of me. THE GANG cursing me was indirect compliments on my acting abilities. It was only when we actually reached Murudeshwar that I saw THE GANG smiling. Shyamala was so happy that she started beating me (beating is actually an overrated word. Onlookers would call it a pat on the back, but the intention categorizes it into beating). We changed quickly and dived into the salty water in no time. I, Bhupendra and Asif were the only people to go farthest into the sea. We went so far into the sea that in stead of waves pushing us back towards the shore, the sea was pulling us towards it. Asif and Bhupendra panicked to such an extent that Bhupendra forgot he knows swimming. I told them to relax and push themselves backwards with each wave coming towards us. We finally reach the shores. There is nothing much to tell about our beach activities since all of us always do same kind of stuffs on a beach. However, there was one change in Asif’s activities. Instead of floating like a crocodile, he was diving around like a dolphin this time. After a nice time on the beach, we were facing difficulties in finding out a place to bath with fresh water. It took a while to solve this problem, after which we all headed towards the temple to catch a glimpse of god. Somewhere, our group got divided (no points for guessing that one of the groups was THE GANG). We had decided that after the temple visit, we would all meet at Hotel Kamat for dinner. But it was too crowded. We decided on eating at a nearby resort. It looked costly but after all this was the last dinner of out trip. We waited for THE GANG, only to be informed later that they were eating at a hotel near the temple and would not join us.

We took a good fifteen minutes to decide whether we should eat in the garden, or inside the hall. After much thought, we decided on the hall and went inside. We ordered food and requested the waiter to serve us fast. But he told us that it would take minimum fifteen minutes to serve. Our jaws dropped, but we had no options. While getting bored, one of us saw an empty bottle in Mukunda’s hand and proposed playing truth or dare (A game where a bottle is spun. The person pointed by the bottle when it stops has to do something daring, or tell us true information. A silly game if you are getting jacked royally.). I don’t remember about who was asked to do what. All I remember that Mukunda was made to bow down ten times, Shilpa was asked to jump in the middle of the hall 10 times, Sahana was asked to run around the hall, we made Sherin to propose Bhupendra, Bhupendra was asked to give Sherin a positive reply, Priyanka, Apoorva and Vinay opted for truth. Last but not the least (in terms of funny acts), I opted for dare and I was asked to dance with any girl present in the hall. It was Priyanka’s idea. I thought I will dance with her, but she gave me life threatening looks. I could see Sahana sitting next to her. Without thinking too much, I asked Sahana for a dance. She agreed. It was a scene out of Beauty and The Beast (Except for that The Beast resembled a Panda more and he didn’t know to dance either.). No matter what, I enjoyed it because I know I will never get a chance to dance with another girl again in my life (How opportunistic of me).

Later while going back towards our van, Sahana told me that I am very bad at dancing and I didn’t know how to ask a girl either (things that I knew). On this some people offered me help on teaching all kinds of manners and behaviors while with a girl. I told them I would ask for it when I need it. When we got back to the van and told THE GANG about how we enjoyed our dinner, they felt sad for missing it. We decided to continue the game while traveling to keep them happy. Asif was made to dance topless, Vivek was asked to blast Shilpa since she dumped him, Shyamala was made to flirt with Mitesh (poor girl), Padmini was asked to propose me (poorer girl), Shilpa was made to walk as though she was pregnant, Lakshmi was asked to cat walk (however, some of them had other acts to give her). We continued our game for long, long enough to confuse me when I am trying to remember it now. Once we stopped the game, most of us, including me fell asleep, only to be awakened by dogs, who were barking on some of the girls who ventured out into the bushes when the van was halted. After laughing on that for sometime, we all went back to sleep.

Next day morning, we had a light breakfast after which we tried to keep the environment lively inside the van with dumb charades, antakshari, etc. We reached Bangalore at afternoon. We dropped everyone one by one, with me being the last person to get down. I throw my bag down and lie on my bed once I reached home. Long before, I was told that pulling even half of the class for a trip is next to impossible. Everybody thought I am the last person to be trusted upon to do this. But after all these months coming back from the trip, I can shout at the top of my voice that I DID IT…..

P.S: I thank all those who made impossible possible by their presence on the trip. I thank Lakshmi’s mom for being with us on the trip. I thank Apoorva’s dad for arranging our accommodation at Yallapur I thank Padmini for coming on this trip and bearing me throughout the trip. I thank all those who were sitting at the back and wasting their time playing cards. I thank Apoorva for speaking over the phone for hours. I thank Mitesh for taking care of all the girls present in the trip, even though he was not asked. I thank Mukunda and Vinay for their support and assistance in arranging this trip. Last but not the least, I thank Sahana for the dance. I thank all my friends for the funny moments they gave me to share on this blog. I thank you all.