Have you ever had a tryst with the supernatural? Ever experienced something that has given you goose pimples on your skin, when you realise that there is infact a superior being to man, and that you're probably in his presence at the given circumstance? Ever been stuck in such soup that you'd do anything to get out?! Well..... no, my story's doesn't have anything to do with the supernatural or any holy spirit (Mentioning them in that dramatic tone was just one way of getting hold of your attention) But it does involve me getting myself into pickle.... My favourite kind...
For those of you who don't know.... I'm not a risk taker. Not your average kid who shows their 'Jawani ka Josh' usually. You can call me boring if you like, it doesn't matter. But it so happened that on one fine Saturday evening, I felt quite unlike myself...
One of those times one wants to let one's hair down and do something rash... befitting a twenty yr old. So I called my friend up but told her I wanted to go for our "usual". (bike ride followed by juice at our favourite hangout) She willingly obliged and we set off. I let her be the pillion rider for once.
Instead of taking the normal route there, I took a detour. My notion of being an explorer, see. The initial plan was to go visit a scenic place of worship, but all of that went out of the window when I took to the wheel, or should I say handle in this case?!
Taking a vague turn on some vague street that one barely has a vague idea about, at 6.30 on a dusky evening is not the most sensible thing to do. Take my word for it. But it can also be rather scintillating to see where all the vagueness leads to (The initail impression only, ofcourse) After going along all the winding roads that had the population steadily decreasing, we reached our final destination. We were atop a small hill and had the full view of the entire city ( As far as I dwindling eyesight managed, atleast)
The first stars of the evening coming out and half the moon in the nightsky was enough to get our silly heads working in over drive. The cool summer breeze did everything to increase the urge to break into a song and dance sequence. But we managed to curb the instinct of turning into side-kick poets or worse still, B-grade Hindi movie dancers. After having soaked up the serene environment for sometime, we decided to call it a day and head home. We agreed to go back the way we came, because who on earth would take chances in figuring a happy route home in the dark? Not us. Nuh-uh! We were too chicken and made no bones in admitting the fact..... Destiny however, had different plans for us.
Humming along to a favourite song, I must've been pre-occupied because suddenly, the road didn't seem all that familiar to me. I must've taken a wrong turn along the way because to our dismay, the houses began getting sparse. The road began getting bad and we seemed to be driving into thickets trees more often than we would've liked. Ten minutes into the ride and some more twists and turns along the way... I had the complete sinking feeling. We were totally lost and seemed to be driving away from mankind. At one point, it got so lonely we were the only ones on the rugged road for what seemed like a mile.
No silly network on our phones. Running low on petrol and a stretch of a bad road with wilderness on either side was what lay ahead of us. The headlight was our only source of light besides the eerie half moon. All the Wordsworth-ish feelings we had not so long ago seemed to have evaporated. And fast. Its when one's stuck in such pathetic situations, do the world's 'never-watch-movie' list come's to life in one's head.
Suddenly, all the trash they dole out in the name of horror shows didn't seem so dumb. All the stupidest of ghost of movies didn't come through as so farfetched, anymore. And suddenly, a movie with a title as preposterous as 'Howra bridge se latakti hui laash' could have made us shiver in the dark. Its with all these highly uplifting thoughts, we rode on. I was dimly aware that we were riding uphill for a while.... and wasn't quite prepared for what we had, on the other side....so to speak.
I'm sure everyone who's reading this blog, has at some point been to a carnival and have also been on those sorry rides that give one the swooping feeling in the stomach. Yes, the ones that make you feel tizzy when coming down with great speed and from a great height..... Remember how loud you screamed?!.... However loud you must've been, it wouldn't have been half as bad as our combined yell, which (in retrospect) was at such a high octave that we were sure only the bats must've heard us. It was scary to be hurtling towards Lord knows what, at a speed of Lord knows what, with a mind full of all the cuss words that the Lord wouldn't want to know of what.
I don't want to say something heroic like "I managed to gain control of the situation and drove with great valour" towards whatever the hell I was driving at. I just remember spotting a lone bulb light at a distnce and I nearly sprinted with the bike. It turns out, it was a temple beyond which, we had the familiar roads and husstle bustle of normal life.
Phewww!!! What an expreience! Something to sit and tell my grand-children about, I presume. All in all.... One heck of a time we had. Being crazy, irresponsible, stupid.... but none the less displaying the famous "Jawani ka Josh" that we ought to have, at last.
For those of you who don't know.... I'm not a risk taker. Not your average kid who shows their 'Jawani ka Josh' usually. You can call me boring if you like, it doesn't matter. But it so happened that on one fine Saturday evening, I felt quite unlike myself...
One of those times one wants to let one's hair down and do something rash... befitting a twenty yr old. So I called my friend up but told her I wanted to go for our "usual". (bike ride followed by juice at our favourite hangout) She willingly obliged and we set off. I let her be the pillion rider for once.
Instead of taking the normal route there, I took a detour. My notion of being an explorer, see. The initial plan was to go visit a scenic place of worship, but all of that went out of the window when I took to the wheel, or should I say handle in this case?!
Taking a vague turn on some vague street that one barely has a vague idea about, at 6.30 on a dusky evening is not the most sensible thing to do. Take my word for it. But it can also be rather scintillating to see where all the vagueness leads to (The initail impression only, ofcourse) After going along all the winding roads that had the population steadily decreasing, we reached our final destination. We were atop a small hill and had the full view of the entire city ( As far as I dwindling eyesight managed, atleast)
The first stars of the evening coming out and half the moon in the nightsky was enough to get our silly heads working in over drive. The cool summer breeze did everything to increase the urge to break into a song and dance sequence. But we managed to curb the instinct of turning into side-kick poets or worse still, B-grade Hindi movie dancers. After having soaked up the serene environment for sometime, we decided to call it a day and head home. We agreed to go back the way we came, because who on earth would take chances in figuring a happy route home in the dark? Not us. Nuh-uh! We were too chicken and made no bones in admitting the fact..... Destiny however, had different plans for us.
Humming along to a favourite song, I must've been pre-occupied because suddenly, the road didn't seem all that familiar to me. I must've taken a wrong turn along the way because to our dismay, the houses began getting sparse. The road began getting bad and we seemed to be driving into thickets trees more often than we would've liked. Ten minutes into the ride and some more twists and turns along the way... I had the complete sinking feeling. We were totally lost and seemed to be driving away from mankind. At one point, it got so lonely we were the only ones on the rugged road for what seemed like a mile.
No silly network on our phones. Running low on petrol and a stretch of a bad road with wilderness on either side was what lay ahead of us. The headlight was our only source of light besides the eerie half moon. All the Wordsworth-ish feelings we had not so long ago seemed to have evaporated. And fast. Its when one's stuck in such pathetic situations, do the world's 'never-watch-movie' list come's to life in one's head.
Suddenly, all the trash they dole out in the name of horror shows didn't seem so dumb. All the stupidest of ghost of movies didn't come through as so farfetched, anymore. And suddenly, a movie with a title as preposterous as 'Howra bridge se latakti hui laash' could have made us shiver in the dark. Its with all these highly uplifting thoughts, we rode on. I was dimly aware that we were riding uphill for a while.... and wasn't quite prepared for what we had, on the other side....so to speak.
I'm sure everyone who's reading this blog, has at some point been to a carnival and have also been on those sorry rides that give one the swooping feeling in the stomach. Yes, the ones that make you feel tizzy when coming down with great speed and from a great height..... Remember how loud you screamed?!.... However loud you must've been, it wouldn't have been half as bad as our combined yell, which (in retrospect) was at such a high octave that we were sure only the bats must've heard us. It was scary to be hurtling towards Lord knows what, at a speed of Lord knows what, with a mind full of all the cuss words that the Lord wouldn't want to know of what.
I don't want to say something heroic like "I managed to gain control of the situation and drove with great valour" towards whatever the hell I was driving at. I just remember spotting a lone bulb light at a distnce and I nearly sprinted with the bike. It turns out, it was a temple beyond which, we had the familiar roads and husstle bustle of normal life.
Phewww!!! What an expreience! Something to sit and tell my grand-children about, I presume. All in all.... One heck of a time we had. Being crazy, irresponsible, stupid.... but none the less displaying the famous "Jawani ka Josh" that we ought to have, at last.
