The Most Bizarre Project Ever!!!

School life was full of fun, frolic, friends, tests and projects and when it came to projects I was a maverick. I would call my friends daily and talk to them but somehow for strange reasons I would never take their help for project work. It baffles me even now when I think about it. I shifted to a new school when I was 12 yrs old and here they gave a lot of importance to project work which is a very good thing as it diverts a child’s mind from the routine and makes learning more fun. To make it a little more competitive our beloved teachers would also allot some percentage of marks that we could secure in the usual tests to project work. Since I was a new student here, I wasn’t very equipped with how to go about with these projects as my old school was not really into all these things. It was during this time that an incident happened. I would cringe whenever I thought about it in school and college but now when I think about it, I can’t stop laughing my head off. I really proved that I could be a maverick and a very strange one at that.

I was 12yrs old when this happened and we were learning about Civilizations in our History class. You know civilizations like the Aztecs, Mayans, Indus Valley etc. Our History teacher was terror personified to most of us. She was your typical teacher, old with a curt face which was adorned with spectacles, all out to get you if you didn’t do something right. While teaching us about Civilizations she chanced upon a brilliant idea for our project work. She asked us to make a model on any one of the Civilizations. Quite frankly it didn’t bother me much, I thought it was a pretty lame idea back then and I was almost dead sure that she was a sadist and was doing this on purpose to torture us. I didn’t understand the concept of making a model on a civilization, what could we possibly show and what use is it off??? Several questions in my tiny head but no answers to make them go away. Me being a maverick at that time obviously did not take the help of family or friends so much that I didn’t even bother to find out what my friends were doing.

The days were closing in on me and I was least bothered. It fills me with envy when I think of how I was back then. I used to lead such a chilled out life, no tension of anything, totally contrary to the kind of life I lead now. I remember some students discussing about what they would be doing, I didn’t overhear it, they were just too loud. Just a day before the submission of the models, I had a panic attack. I suddenly remembered the teacher’s face, her anger, her wrath, her gaze and it all made me weak in my knees. I did not know what to make and besides it was too late to make anything elaborate and beautiful. At that moment I remembered one very important point from the Indus Valley Civilization. Any guesses??? You are absolutely right, Indus Valley Civilization had an almost impeccable drainage system which was a radical thing back then as it kept the surroundings hygienic and saved people from diseases. I saw the picture of the Drainage system in the History text book and believe me I couldn’t make head or tail of what I saw. This was when I decided that I had to awaken the genius in me and put her to work and fast.

Just a couple of days ago my dad had brought this table fan cum emergency light cum radio and god knows what all was there in that thing. My eyes hovered on the thermocol mould that was used for protecting that multi utility equipment. The thermocol mould had a circular depression towards the left and there were various grooves all around it. I decided that the Big circular depression would be depicted as the ‘Great Bath’ (I’m sorry if I got that wrong, not very strong in History right now) and the other grooves could be depicted as canals and channels. There was one problem, the depression and the grooves were all too neat obviously because it came out of a machine. No one would believe that I did that even in a hundred lives, so I had to make it look more hand carved than machine cut. I took a pen knife and started scraping the edges so that it would look a little shabby but no matter what I did it still screamed ‘I CAME OUT OF A MACHINE’. After the ill luck of trying to make the thermocol look more handmade, I decided upon coloring it. It was a bad idea to even think of coloring it as the paint was just not sticking to the surface, why you may ask, the answer is because I was using water paints. At that time that was the only thing I had and it was too late to buy oil paints as the shops were all closed. So I had a pretty messed up Indus Valley drainage system in front of me and I had to do something to make it look presentable and you won’t believe what I did. I took a transparent blue colored plastic sheet and pinned it on all four sides of the thermocol and my magnum opus was ready. It wasn’t pretty but at least I could sleep in peace.

The D Day had arrived and my class was swarming with students and their models. I saw some fabulous Mayan pyramids and the likes and I was embarrassed as hell. How on earth could I tell people that my model was on the Indus Valley Drainage System. I maintained low profile till the History teacher’s class and the rest was history. She came to my desk and I showed her my work. Her expression was priceless. The Conversation was something to this effect.

Teacher: “What is this??” (Read: What the hell is this crap??)
Me: “Miss, this is a model of the Indus Valley Drainage System.”
Teacher: “How do you know it looks like this?”
Me: “I saw this in a History reference book.” ( Read: It was my imagination at work)
Teacher: “The cuttings are very perfect. How did you get it done?”
Me: “My Uncle helped me out, he is very good at these things.” (Thank God I had the presence of mind to not say it was me)
Teacher (with a disgusted expression) : “I hope you referred to the right books to get this model.” ( I’m sure she had no clue on how it looked like. I really don’t think any text books will have detailed images of the drainage system of any civilization).

She scribbled something on her notepad and walked away to review the next student’s model and I breathed a sigh of relief. Later I got to know that she gave me 2/5 which was a lot better than getting 0/5. When I think about it now, I can’t believe that I came up with something as bizarre and absurd as that. After that incident I was ashamed for a while for being so careless and for not having paid attention and I decided I would not talk to anyone about this. Now when I think of this, it makes me happy. How many people can brag about such memories? Its memories like this that you can think back and laugh about and that is what prompted me to write this post. I always say never underestimate a child’s mind, it’s not as innocent as you think it is. At least mine wasn’t.

The Visa Interview

It was beautiful, a 15 day long vacation to Kerala and Andamans with my hubby and I didn’t realize how time just flew by. Before I knew it I was back in Bangalore and getting prepared to go back to work and do what I was employed to do. It was a cool Monday morning and I was kind of excited to get back to work, to catch up on all the gossip that had happened in the past 15 days. As usual I first opened my mail box to catch up on all the work details and there I saw a mail from my Project Lead asking me to apply for my US Visa and another mail from my HR to send her a scanned copy of my passport. At this point of time I was completely clueless about what was going on until my Team Lead updated me that I might be travelling to US soon with three of my other colleagues.

I had to immediately rush to my parent’s house in the middle of work hours to get the passport and almost half the day went by commuting from office to home and vice versa. I was excited about the whole thing but I was kind of worried about the whole Visa procedure. In my mind there was this picture of a big carpeted room with a huge teak table, on one side of which sat a group of three to four interviewers and on the other side sat the people with appointments for the interview and there was this big queue to get inside the room. It was only later that I learnt that it was a really crowded place with umpteen number of counters like the one’s in banks or railway stations.

I’m quite famous for my procrastination and as usual I was just hoping that this whole Visa interview thing be delayed but much to my disappointment I got a mail from my HR almost immediately about booking my interview date. All the other guys who had to appear for the interview including me were discussing with each other about scheduling our interviews on the same day so that we could travel together. Unfortunately my visa interview got scheduled for the 24th of November and I pretty soon learnt that I would be travelling alone. The only thing running in my mind at that point of time was about travelling alone to Chennai as it would be the first time I would be travelling all by myself. I could have asked my dad or Santosh to come along but something stopped me from doing it, it was this whole “I can do it by myself” thing. Some people were saying that since there was a weekly quota for the Visa, I would definitely get it as I was going on the first day of the week, it comforted me to a certain extent.

The next couple of days just went by in searching for the documents that I had to take and arranging them. I also learnt that I needed to carry an updated resume since I was applying for a B1 Visa and I couldn’t think of updating it since the resume I had was the one I had prepared in College for the campus recruitments. It was a pain in the a$$ updating it. We were all assured from the HR that we would get the visa as our company was enrolled with BEP and the US Consulate had all the information about the company. She also pointed out that no one had got rejected till now after the company had started the BEP process. This information was comforting in one way but I also believe firmly in Murphy’s law, if I happened to get rejected by ill luck it would be so humiliating, to be the first person to have gotten rejected, so I was tensed as ever.

Finally it was time to attend the Visa Interview. My colleagues had all attended their interviews and they didn’t have any problem whatsoever in getting the Visa. I was the last one in the boat. I had to board the 6.30 AM flight to Chennai so I woke up at 3.30 AM. I would be lying if I said I was not nervous because it was the first time ever that I was travelling all by myself. Once I landed in Chennai everything was such a cakewalk. I took a cab to the VFS office, waited in the Stars and Stripes lounge till my interview. Once at the US consulate I realized it was not as I had imagined, my colleagues were right when they said the counters resembled railway station counters. It was funny how I had gotten tensed for absolutely nothing. The whole process took about 1.5hrs and the interview hardly lasted for a minute. Just a day before I left for Chennai, I was watching this movie called ‘Pursuit Of Happyness’ and I remember Will Smith giving himself a small clap when he finally manages to get a job in the firm he had been interning for. I was greatly inspired by that scene and had decided that I would give myself a small clap if I managed to get my Visa. I know it’s a pretty silly idea. I could in no way compare my situation to Will Smith’s in the movie but it would be my way of appreciating my confidence of travelling alone to a different place for the very first time and getting what I came there for despite people around me being apprehensive and also for not being afraid even for a minute. And I did just that after coming back to Bangalore, I gave myself a little clap.

Trekking Mis-Adventure

I was under the impression that I would love all Adventure sports, stuff like Bungee jumping (Which I have never tried and would love to sometime soon), parasailing (loved every bit of it), ski diving ( quite adventurous but don’t know if I will muster the guts to go for it) and finally the sober of the lot, Trekking. Never did I realize that I would have so many fond memories of Trekking. I have gone trekking three times in my life so far and the memories that I have will last for a lifetime. I’m not going to reveal at this point of time if the memories were pleasant or unpleasant.It’s for you guys to find out(Duh! I know the title gives away the answer).

It was on the 12th July, 2008 when I went for my first trek. The date holds prominence because it is also my birthday. Many of you must have already guessed that the trekking plan was part of my birthday celebration. I was quite excited because people have always raved about how fun trekking can be. The place we chose was Masinagudi, which is a small village surrounded by the thick Mudumalai forests. We stayed in a lovely resort called Jungle Hut which is amidst the jungle and believe me it’s quite an experience by itself staying there. All the superlative adjectives that you can think of will be an understatement to describe the ambience. Coming back to the trekking part of the trip, we were supposed to go trekking at 6.00 AM on the morning of my birthday. We were given an option to choose between an easy trek and a difficult trek. A wise choice on my part would have been to go for the easy trek as it was my first time but me being the quintessential me, decided to go for the difficult trek. I want you guys to visualize the picture in my head at this time. I was thinking of a nice walk in the jungle where we would be surrounded by greenery on all sides, just like being in the middle of a picture perfect postcard with deer’s running around and the sound of a stream somewhere close by. In short it was my idea of a perfect romantic getaway.

Well let’s get back to reality, shall we? We started on time and our first task was to cross a small stream which I thoroughly enjoyed. As we proceeded with the trek our guide showed us a grave which looked like an elephant’s foot and just when I was beginning to wonder why it looked like that, he explained to us that the guy buried in the grave was killed by an elephant during the trek, the mistake he made was that he did not go with a guide but instead decided that he would take a stroll with his wife and dog. The guide also gave us some tips about how we should move about, about being silent and all that stuff because we were entering a dense jungle and there would be wild animals everywhere. The only weapon that we guys had was a sickle which the guide was using to pave the way and quite frankly it didn’t look like it would be of a lot of help.

The scenery was breathtaking just like how I had visualized, I had never imagined that I would be in the middle of a jungle ever in my life. We came across a beautiful waterfall and I was so mesmerized and it was precisely at that time that I saw a carcass of a deer. The guide reminded us that animals generally hang around water holes and we must be cautious and not make any noise. The moment I heard that my only thought was to scoot from that amazingly beautiful spot. All the way we saw animal poop, especially that of elephants, on plain grounds, on extremely steep cliffs, on precariously narrow paths. It’s amazing how animals like elephants that are so huge manage to trod on such terrains without losing balance or grip. I noticed that the terrain which was leveled till now was becoming steep but I had no problem with the ascent. I was enjoying it, the scenery was just breathtaking and the air so pure and the whole thing felt so serene and peaceful. It was tiring no two thoughts about it. It was almost a 2hr trek to the top of the mountain, our destination of the trek.

I completely forgot to mention who else were with us on this adventurous trek. We started off from Jungle Hut with another couple and met a few more guys on the trek who were with a different guide. We decided to trek together because the more the merrier, that was just one of the reasons, the real reason was because I felt I would be more secure in the Jungle if there were a lot of people around, probably the wild animals would be too afraid to come near us. The guys who joined us were an extremely energetic bunch, they were just brimming with energy and it was quite hard to match up with their pace. Midway the girl who was with us was feeling very tired so she didn’t want to come along with us till the top so we left her with one of the guide and we proceeded towards our destination. At this time even I was beginning to feel quite exhausted but I was almost there and decided to go on. We came across this huge boulder which we had to climb in order to reach the top. When I looked at the boulder I was wondering if all the guys had gone crazy because there was no way of climbing it. It was almost inclined at 80 degrees. After a lot of hue and cry, I managed to get to the top. Whoa!!! What an achievement it was to trek through the thick jungles of Mudumalai which was Veerapan’s abode at one time and climb the highest peak there. It was a rush to just look around and take in so much of beauty.

All the while during the ascent, there was one question that was always on my mind, “The terrain is so damn steep that it is an effort to climb without falling back, how the hell is it going to be while getting down”? I was very soon going to find that out. As you remember I was on top of the mountain and to get there I had to climb this really steep boulder. First step in getting down was to get down from the boulder which was really an effort by itself because you make any silly mistake here and you won’t go down but straight to the heavens instead. This is from where my wonderful trek takes a steep diversion and becomes one of the most horrid experiences I have had till date. I somehow managed to get down the boulder with the help of my hubby and trust me there was no reason for me to be happy about that because at that time I remembered that the ascent was a good 2hrs which meant there was a long way down in the almost 70 degree inclined terrain. There was this time when I saw almost all the guys slip at this really precarious site but they somehow managed to cross it safely. You slip from here and you go straight to hell this time. It was my turn to cross that place and by this time I was so drained of energy and so freaking scared that I was almost in tears. All the guys were convincing me to cross, the first one being my hubby and at this time the guide asked us all to hush up because it was a jungle and there might just be a bear lurking around and it may just pounce from behind if it heard us. Just imagine my plight now, first I was tired, second I was scared that I would fall and die and third, the threat of a wild animal killing me. I didn’t have a choice I had to move ahead and as anticipated I slipped but I held on to some twigs and somehow crossed. My husband faced the complete brunt from me of getting me on this horrid trip which was for professionals and not me.

The ‘Descent’ as I would like to call it was very slow for me. Like I mentioned the guys with us very super energetic and super excited about this adventurous trek so they were just gliding down and my poor hubby could not obviously leave me behind and glide with them so he was also stuck with me. I was beginning to feel that we would just lose track of them and get lost here and we did get lost for a couple of minutes not just me and my hubby but the entire group. The guide suddenly got confused about the way we came by and was trying to figure out the right way. No prizes for guessing how I felt, I just fell short of fainting. Imagine getting stuck there with all the wild animals, even if an animal chased us we would not be able to run decently and I was pretty sure the animal would attack me considering I was the slowest. The guide suddenly realized we were on the right track and we had not lost our way. Thank You Mr. Guide for literally giving me a heart attack!! So we continued on our ‘Descent’, with me holding on to dear life and I bumped into a small rock and low and behold I had a twisted ankle on a treacherous trek. I couldn’t have asked for more because we had trekked down only a couple of minutes and I knew there was a long way ahead to my destination. This time my destination being flat ground away from the wild animals. I walked a little and limped a little only to realize that the path we were taking was different and fortunately it was not as steep. It was then that the guide told us that during the ‘Descent’ we take a different route as people are already quite exhausted and would prefer to walk on fairly flat ground. I thanked my stars and proceeded ahead and I fell again this time and I twisted my ankle some more. But I was not so depressed this time because I knew it would not be so tough anymore but I knew that if any wild animal attacked us now, I would surely be the prey because I was again the slowest.

Everyone walked and I limped and we finally made it to plain grounds. I wanted to bend down and kiss the earth and thank god that he did not let me die on my birthday. All was well after that. Not quite, actually because my brave story was narrated in a grand way by my hubby to everyone who asked about the trek. Everyone had a hearty laugh about the incident and so did I after I was a good long distance away from the trek site.