Climb I did !!

When  we came back from the trek, we had a session on First Aid.The evening was as usual..herding  the girls to the bathing ghat, and literally pulling them away from the river…The river was gentle, crytal clear, cool and very inviting..

We then sat in rapt attention listening to the anecdotes of an erstwhile hunter. Now he is a conservationalist.As he was recounting his tales and invoking the sacred name of Jim Corbett, I was reminded of the saying in Hindi: “sau choohe khaakar, billi haj ko chali..” Kids are smart these days. A child asked him several uncomfortable questions regarding his past.

Night descended and sleep evaded..what with kids in a hyper mood. Some were tired and slept only to wake up with nightmares of having missed the wake -up call / getting late for breakfast….The kids who were still awake had a roaring time laughing at these diverssions and so was I.

next morning, there was no  running water in the toilet. We ran between the river and the tent with a plastic pot  while the kids did ‘fun  exercises’.The kids in my group started on their 20 km trek to Dudhsagar waterfalls. I had my own plans. My friend Chanchala  and I quietly walked to the river for a long, liesurely dip . After jalakreeda, jalayoga, we reached the  artificial wall climbing site and announced that we would climb. We were harnessed . My friend, just a 23 year old ,slim and trim girl climbed and reached the outcrop effortlessly. She lost her steam, only to be pulled up by the trainers.She rapelled down the other side. Now it was my turn. I climbed easily enough till the outcrop.Then I had to wait there for  2-3 minutes as the trainers were quenching their thirst. I had sudden doubts about my ability to climb the last hurdle. My hands were sweating. The trainers had told me to hold on… I decided to come back down  so as to avoid being pulled up by them . My huge body weight made me pity the ‘pullers’.IThis meant I couldn’t rapel down. It was ok with me. I had a huge satisfaction that I did climb.

I proceeded to Dudhsagar in the lunch vehicle. And what a bumpy ride it was !! We crossed thr river twice . After lunch I was supposed to  trek back to the camp , but the rocky, slippery dirt -track put me off and I rode back on the lunch vehicle.  In the evening a snake handler gave a beautiful talk and demo on snake handling .

The next morning the kids had some fun games and exercises. They filled up response forms and attended the valedictory function.It was time to say good bye..

The days of thrill were drawing to an end. We again walked back to Collem, treading through the  familiar river water.Our bus was waiting for us. We reached the school at 1630 hours on Sunday, 27 April.The kids were  safely handed over to their parents.I reported  to my principal about the safe arrival. Now the adventure was really over.