Adventures Of The Fellowship In The Land Of Dreams

It all started with a clever inception. A subtle, seemingly not important at all post on Facebook by a master manipulator and evil genius. Months back Deepak posted a suggestion on Facebook that we all should go to Nainital. I remembered nothing of it in a few days and I doubt if anyone else did. But the seed was planted deep. So, when we started talking about a trip to celebrate Sakshi’s birthday, after exploring a few suggestions, we decided on Nainital. I was very happy about it ofcourse. I always love the mountains.

To our great surprise and pleasure, Prem also agreed to come to the trip. Sakshi persuaded him to come along, but hats off to you bro! It was so much more fun to have you along on the trip.

Finally the fateful day came and we all met up at Sri-Sakshi’s place in the evening. Aunty made awesome dinner for us all. We cut a cake to celebrate Maate’s birthday, along with the 9 month birthday of Vishesh. With a strange mix of feelings of excitement, wanderlust and disbelief, we all ventured out to board the bus. The bus was a bit of a disappointment for Sri, who had taken the pain to make all the bookings. Personally I didn’t mind it at all. Infact, I was quite happy that it was a sleeper. That meant we could all get some sleep and be ready for the adventures of the next day. And I was not wrong. Despite of all the shortcomings of the bus, we did get to sleep and that was a big advantage.

Nainital greeted us with a cold and mild rain. Getting down from the bus and huddled close under the umbrella, we got into a couple of cabs to head to the hotel. I call it a hotel because that’s what I had in mind. Boy was I wrong! As soon as we entered the property, I knew this trip was going to be epic! The property is called Ayar Jungle Camp and they don’t kid when they say ‘Jungle’. It’s essentially 5 acres of jungle with some cottages and tents sprinkled around. Lush green rain forest and beautiful, narrow trails mark the resort. We were taken to our cottage, which is a 5 minute hike through the jungle, by the staff. The cottage was a large room with 3 beds for 5 people. A marvelous wood and bamboo structure, this looked like something out of an adventure story book. We all were super excited that we all would stay together all the time! That was one of the master-strokes of Sri.

Pretty soon we figured out that the rain wasn’t going to stop. Staying in the cottage was obviously not an option. So, we all took our umbrellas, borrowed a couple more from the resort and hit the road. The roads were deserted partly because the hotel is in a location which is a little far from the heart of the town and partly because only the most dire need would have compelled someone to come out in that weather. Tracing those narrow roads, dotted with quaint little houses on one side and trees on the other, we climbed down towards the commercial center of the town, the Mall Road. The mission; buy a raincoat.

Equipped with a raincoat I gave up my umbrella for community service. The lake was a tempting sight from the Mall Road. Barely visible through the clouds which hang like mist over the town, it reminded me of the magical lake of the Harry Potter series; dark, mysterious and irresistible, we all were drawn towards it as if indeed a spell was upon us. The road to the lake was filled with evidence of activity. Shut down carts which would be selling infinite number of crap to us tourists on a sunny day, when the road would be packed beyond capacity with romantic couples, excited children and annoyed aunties. But not today! Today was special. It was as if the place belonged to us few adventurous nut cases who didn’t bother the rain. There were only a couple of vendors selling coffee and baked corn. The boat owners were desperate to get people to try boating. We respectfully refused. We were crazy, but not crazy enough to go boating on the lake on a day when it was raining incessantly and the visibility was barely a few feet. We rather decided to walk around the lake and enjoy the magical atmosphere.

The road which circles the lake is another piece out of books. This time it would be a Victorian story of romance and suspense. It was a graveled road, which made a crushing sound with every step we took. One side of the road was a moss covered cliff and the other side was the lake which might as well host the Loch Ness monster for all we knew. There were street lamps on the road which wouldn’t have looked too out of place to Holmes and Watson, walking down London in 1897.

About a kilometer or so down the road was a temple. An otherwise unimpressive, modern building, it was made quite interesting by the colours of the iron mesh which protected the main temple from monkeys. The bright red and wild green made it look more like a Buddhist monastery than a Hindu temple. We sat on a bench by the lakeside there and chatted for a while. On the road there, I had bought a funny looking thing which the seller claimed was a gel balloon. Essentially it looked like the soap bubbles we used to make as kids, but these bubbles lasted longer and didn’t blow up when you touch. Making the balloons looked much easier when the seller did it. Actual attempt soon proved to be much more difficult. After a couple of efforts which resulted in little more than a strange, sticky lump, I managed to blow a ‘balloon’ of passable size and the shape of a human kidney. Prem seemed to have a strange aversion to that balloon, even though it was sort of cute! There were a few unfortunate and totally misleading pictures clicked during that time. Taken out of context, those pictures can look pretty compromising and since I am the subject of those pictures, we will refrain from mentioning them henceforth.

After quite a few hours of roaming around in the rain, it was getting darker and we thought we should head back to the resort. Everyone decided to take a car back to the resort because it’s a few kilometers and an uphill climb. I was very clear that I would walk and thankfully I didn’t have to walk alone. Deepak, my eternal trek partner was more than happy to accompany me. So, we bid adieu to the rest of them for a while and started our serene and wonderful walk, back to the jungle resort. I wasn’t very sure that I would remember the way back, because I know how bad I am with remembering roads. Deepak was quite sure he knew the way back. As it turned out, I remembered more than that ass did! But, my memory was not very reliable either. We took a few wrong turns and had to trace our steps back a couple of times. But I don’t regret that. Actually it was more fun because we didn’t know for sure where we were going, nor were we on a schedule. We could afford to get lost a little and explore new roads. This sums up one of the most charming things about this trip. We had no itinerary to follow, no schedule to keep, no checklist of things to do. We just roamed around the city and took whichever road looked good and interesting. We were all aimless explorers without any idea where we were going. We just went along the road, hoping it would take us to some place interesting. After about 45 minutes, I and Bug reached the resort and the next part of the fun was about to start.

We planned to play a card game called Uno. Only 2 of us, Prem and Bug had played the game before, so they started teaching us the rules. To our surprise we found that they themselves couldn’t agree to the rules! After much debate, we decided to go along with Bug’s rules because they sounded weird and funny. The result was a night of crazy fights, many thrilling twists and turns and a few broken hearts. At last, after a mildly disappointing dinner in the resort, we came back to the room and after a few more hours of insane teasing and laughing and general tomfoolery, we slept off.

Next morning I was the 1^st to wake up. The minute I saw the view of the jungle in the morning from the cottage window, I wanted to go out. In a while all of them were waking up, so I told them that I was going for a walk around the jungle and headed off. Deepak, my faithful trek partner, joined me. It was raining a little, but the thick canopy of trees over the narrow jungle path we took, filtered out most of the rain. Whatever little rain fell on us only made the walk more fun. We were chatting and walking, again completely unaware where the path would take us. We just kept going higher on that path. On the road we didn’t see any wild animals, though we were told there were many. We did see a few monkeys near the cottage so we knew it was true. When we reached what seemed to be the top, we were surprised to find a dilapidated house on the plateau. After a short consideration we two came to the conclusion that this house must be a smuggler’s den and we would be shot as soon as someone sees us. So, we hurried along another path leading down from the house, laid with large stones. Here again we had no idea if this path would lead us to the other side of Nainital! Luckily, after a while, we reached the gate to the resort.

After breakfast at the resort, we all headed back to the town for another day of carefree adventure. The sky was clear that day and by the time we reached the lake again, it was filled with tourists like it’s supposed to be. We thought it would be a good chance to take a couple of pedal boats to the lake. I, Sakshi and Sri took one boat. Prem and Bug took another boat, which looked suspiciously like a love boat, with a swan shape. The boat ride was also quite enjoyable. The view of clouds drifting along the mountains was majestic from the lake. The sun was also playing a never-ending game of hide and seek. Suddenly it would be too warm and then again, the clouds would cover the sun and a cool breeze would blow. After an hour we docked the boats and went off to a place called the Cave Garden. Someone told us it was about a kilometer from the lake so we started walking. Soon we realized it was either a lot more than a kilometer or the steep hike was tiring us too much. After a short break in a shady little restaurant where we ate Maggi, we walked again. Thankfully now the place wasn’t that far. Before going in, we had our doubts if Sakshi would be able to go inside all the caves, because she was already breathless due to the steep climb and her weak lungs. But it’s a testimony to her courage that she still said she would come along, because she knew if she didn’t go in, none of us would have gone. We went through the first cave called the Tiger Cave and it was quite fun. These were natural caves and the rains had made them a little slippery, so it was interesting. When we came out of the Tiger cave, Sakshi said she wouldn’t continue. Sri stayed back with her and the rest of the three of us went ahead to the other caves. Nothing had prepared us for what we were going to face!

The next cave was called the Panther Cave and it was much narrower and much more challenging to cross than the previous. Prem almost banged his head on a rock. Once we were out of that, we were really excited to confront the rest of the caves with incredibly intriguing names like Flying Fox, Bat, Ape and Porcupine! Those caves tested our agility and mental fortitude a lot. I am sure if any of us was alone, he would have given up after one of them, but as the company of three, we were ready to face them. Encouraging each-other and pushing ourselves, we crawled, climbed, jumped and squeezed our way through the caves. By the time we came out of the last one, none of us were unscathed. Our hands were filthy, our cloths had mud patches and we were tired and filled with adrenaline!

By now Sakshi had rested a little and regained her strength, so she wanted to take a ropeway to one of the viewing points. We hiked back to the ropeway place, but unfortunately it was filled for the day. This proved to be a blessing in disguise because soon after that the day became clouded again. Had we taken the ropeway to the viewing point, all we would have viewed would have been frustrated tourists.

The fellowship decided to head back to the resort after a rather tiring day, but again I and Deepak were not satisfied yet. So, we headed back towards the lake to walk that path again. This time we went much farther than we did the previous day. We actually walked all the way to the other end of the lake. The clouds were getting denser and pretty soon it felt like we were walking through a cold steam bath. It started raining and we headed back to the resort. That walk was amazing! It was really clouded and was raining all through. We two started talking about religion and its various aspects. It was such a pleasure talking to a fellow atheist who was intelligent and educated enough about religion! We both had read some of the religious texts so we both knew how twisted religion can be. I didn’t even realize when we reached the resort.

That evening, we didn’t play. We just sat and chatted. We talked about everything from our college days, to our love lives (or the lack thereof). Again, after a dinner which wasn’t bad but left us unsatisfied, we headed back to the hotel. Another round of nonsense talks followed and ended with us falling asleep halfway through the talks.

The last day in Nainital came too soon. Thankfully we had booked train tickets for return and had to leave the resort by 12:30. As usual, I woke up 1^st and had packed my bag. After breakfast I decided to go for another trek. This time it was a solitary walk as the rest of them had to get fresh and pack bags. I took one of the uphill roads from the resort. This was also a comparatively deserted road, though the weather wasn’t bad that time. There were some houses along the road. After a while, I reached a point where there was a cliff on one side of the road and a gorge dotted with trees on the other. I could see the lake from this point, through the veil of trees.

The train ride back to Delhi was a bittersweet experience. We were happy because we were all having fun in the train and it was comfortable, but it also marked the end of the fairytale. We all knew that we were leaving behind the magical kingdom where we had no worries, no plans, no agenda and heading back to the cold and harsh reality of everyday life. But atleast we had each-other. Atleast we can always count on that. And we knew that we could revisit Narnia as soon as we all got back together again. The true magic, after all, was in the bond between us friends.