The Sun and the Moon

The alarm pierced the night air and cut my dream much like a machete swinging remorselessly through the forest.I woke up and groggily looked around at the pre dawn darkness.I saw the 4 am time and then the sleep washed away.The excitement began.That rumbling in the stomach that starts deep down and slowly passes through your veins and finally touches your heart. The eager anticipation of something exhilarating.

This was the 9th standard.I think it was September 2001 if memory serves me right.It was time for Kallar!!Till that time school field trip meant a boring day at some museum or worse,at an amusement park. But this would be the mother of all trips!The harbinger of more to come.It would set the tone for an affair with nature that continues to this day.

I jumped out of bed and practically ran through my chores.My parents gave me the standard Parentsy dialogue "If you had shown this interest in academics,you would have gone somewhere now."At that point I can assure you academics was far away from my mind(Ok I admit it usually is...).We left home and headed to KK nagar to pick up the Murg.It was the railway station after that to see the other PSBB clad teenagers waiting for a slice of life.I still remember the comparisons to ONYX uniforms when our yellow-grey uniforms first came to light.On hindsight, we did have nice uniforms.

The journey began without much ado at 6:15am.The whole bunch was pretty much there.Tan,KK,Rajesh,Wats and Murg.Notable absentees were Kastor and Sundy I think.It was then that we played bluff and Murg did a legen......dary play.In a game with 2 packs he smartly brought down '12 twos'!!Needles to say, he lost that game.Also significant in that trip was the intro of dumb charades in a major way!It certainly helped in my future love life(or something like that!:)

We reached Coimbatore around afternoon and cramped into a bus that took us to Kallar.We were 40 km from Ooty and that I saw Kallar. It was love...at first sight.Rather often for me, eh?But this was different....The swaying palms,the cool breeze wafting through the shrubs,the warm sun caressing our faces,the sound of a stream gurgling through,the mesmeric sound of silence.Nature at its best.It was a profound effect for us wee ones but a love of the outdoors was born that day in many of us.

The food was excellent!!More so cuz the others didnt like it much and I got a large portion!!Our first evening involved an orientation and then we got split into groups.I was very relieved when Murgi,KK,Wats,Tan me and Keer were all in Charlie group.They taught us about tents and we tried pitching them.

It was a hilarious hour that ensued as we tried beating down nails in soft ground,tied ropes to trees and then tripped over them.None of us had a clue what we were doing but its safe to say we had a kick ass time.

And then night fell in the way it can only fall in the hills,The light of day gives way to starlight.The sky lit up with a million stars and many ceased work to see this rarity of a sight.Keer looked up oblivious to all and said something about it being romantic.I very astutely wrinkled my nose and said "No its not,Now get back to work".I looked at her face.....and I knew in that instant that if she held anything in her hand apart from a torch(Which was the current occupant) I would not have left Kallar unscathed.

' My experiences with Tent ' was clearly not a book we were righting.But amidst the brains of a future Journalist,Engineer,Aeronautics guy,Auto guy and a doctor we managed to set up some semblance of a tent!!The guys then trekked to a place far far away.It was supposed to be 5km but I can swear it at least 10km.But it didnt matter cuz Tandeep and me brought up the rear(It would become a habit) and we were talking everything from cloud shapes to world politics with occasional tidbits from Murgi.It was a walk to remember cuz there is nothing like a good long walk with good friends.

At that time there was no ipods,i phones,GPRS and what not.So you had no choice but to talk to the person next to you!We reached a hotel and 15 boys cramped into one room!It was a perfusion of smelly feet and smelly socks and some more smelly socks!!!!

to be contd>>>>>