Cold

Bangalore
Luckily, it didn't rain at all that night. Seeing the drizzle earlier before we settle down, I was wondering how we would stay dry the whole night, especially when the temperature was dipping. Without much dialogues and discussions, each one of us had found safe and 'comfortable' places to stretch on various boulders.

Thomas and Anoop had again become the wonderful resource persons. Gauging the importance of the heat and light considering the whole night in front of us, they had dragged in a huge wood. The fallen tree was stuck between rocks probably during the previous monsoon.

"half baked - half frozen!"

Probably for the first time, I felt happy to be in the company of a smoker. If not for Thomas who smokes his beedi often, we wouldnt have had a match stick to set fire to the wood! Even though we were all unimaginabily tired and calf muscles were literally withering away after ten hours of trek during the day, none of us realy slept because of the cold. The boulders were getting colder and colder by night and it became almost impossible to even sit on it.

After twenty minutes effort, we managed to set fire to the thick wood which lasted for the whole night. It saved us from elephants (fire keep the elephants away!) and we had some of our colleaugues literally lying down on top of it by the beginning of the next day!

© GP 2007