Finally, I, Antariksha and Viraj Kole were the only ones left from all my good friends. The exams were over. It felt like a disaster had passed. The registration period was meant to be over by the morning of Wednesday - the same day when our exams got over in the evening. I had made an arrangement in advance so that I and my two friends could register later. I came to register on Thursday, as decided. However the college was closed that day. On Friday, I was asleep till 12O'clock. So, on Saturday, I registered. Just one day before the hike. I tried to call my friends, but they were busy in their classes (tuitions). Later on they told me that they were not in a mood of coming to the hike. They also suggested that I should take my name back. It was something like this-
Antariksha : Arre, 19 missed calls I had on my cell phone. I was in my classes buddy, Mahesh Tutorials! So, naturally I couldn't pick your call. You registered?
Me : Yep! Arre you can still register. Call that Manish and tell him that you want to register too. He has taken yours and Kole's names; you can confirm your registration till 4 o'clock. 'Cause after that he has got tuitions. You can pay money tomorrow.
Antariksha : I am not coming man. I have got tuitions tomorrow. I used the 330 bucks to recharge my talk time. So did Kole. You should also do the same, man. Just get yourself unregistered. Take the money back and recharge your talk time man.
Me : No, I have post paid service. But why aren't you coming yaar? It'll be fun. I'll pay for you if you want, but please come man. What will I do there alone?
Antariksha : There will be no fun. And no FYJC people will be their. There will be only seniors who will rag us. Either you will die out there only, or you will definitely commit suicide on your return.
I hadn't changed my mind, though. I had quarreled a lot about this with my father already. After successfully getting his permission, I was not going to take my name back now. No, not at all. I didn't tell my parents that my friends weren't coming. I knew for sure that nobody would know me before the hike. But when we should return, I would be the star of the hike. I know that was a little, err...... how to put it, over-rated. But, it's like, when you dream of passing the exam, you fail; when you dream of topping the exam, you pass.
We were told to be present at the college by 0545 hours on Sunday, with track-pants, sport-shoes, T-shirt, cap, minimum two litres of water, Tiffin- box, and an extra pair of each thing mentioned above, including underwear. I thought, for a one-day hike, underwear would not be necessary. I regretted it later, but that I will explain later on.
I live in Dahisar, and college is in Matunga. It takes generally an hour to reach my college. Reaching by quarter to six in the morning meant leaving my house by five pm. So I did. Mumbai Marathon was on the same day, so the first class compartment was not empty, luckily. The train I got was an odd one. It was slow from Virar to Borivali, then fast from Borivali to Andheri, then again slow from Andheri to the last stop, Churchgate.
Next day I read in the newspaper that Kenyans won the marathon once again. I was not shocked at all. The three athletes I saw in the first-class compartment on Sunday were plump people. All the three of them seemed to have been forced into this race. They were yawning from time to time. None of them seemed to be excited about this marathon. The only thing that proved them being a participant of the marathon was the number they had put on their T-shirts.
My elder brother was told to accompany me from home to the college. He fell asleep as soon as the train started. I was chewing Orbit White. It was filthy, I felt. I wondered whether it was expired or it always felt like that. As soon as I got down at Dadar, I started searching for a dustbin. My brother showed me one, and I heaved such a sigh of relief when I spat it, as though I had just thrown some poison out of my mouth. My parents had suggested a sweater for it is winter time, but I felt no cold, neither did my brother. Still, I could see some people shaking themselves in sweaters and shawls. We reached college at six, and yet half of the people were absent, as my brother had estimated.
I had thought that FYJC public would be rare. However, a group of six students was from FYJC only. I felt relieved. As the time went, the number of hikers rose. We also had two or three sirs. That felt fantastic. The ragging part seemed almost impossible to me now. A guy named Anuj from T. Y. Bcom started to introduce himself to everybody who seemed to be hiking for the first time. Usually when people notice me, they estimate my age two years less than the real one. But I was surprised when Anuj asked me whether I was from F. Y. Bcom. I told him that I am from FYJC, and he seemed to be surprised too. That was something unusual to me.
I don't remember the exact time; we must have left after ten or fifteen minutes may be. The bus, better be called a mini-bus, seemed very uncomfortable. All the seniors just got themselves in the front seats. I sat in the corner of the back, with Varun and Arpeet from the FYJC group I had mentioned before. The bus started; I had thought of shouting, 'Ganapati Bappa Moraya' but someone else did, luckily. That someone got no response, as far as my ears are concerned. As expected, the Antakshari began, but with no energy. Even the old people I had travelled with in Masuri showed more spirit. This Antakshari seemed useless. Varun, sitting beside me, seemed to have fallen asleep. I don't know what came to me, but I suddenly found myself a part of that Antakshari , and started to shout the song loudly. People sitting around jumped in their seats. I stood up, putting my bag on my seat, and began to sing (/yell), 'Ye mera dil, pyaar ka divana... blah blah blah!' Not that I want to take the credit (which means I do), but after I started singing (/shouting), other people seemed to have gained the energy too. However, my vocabulary was limited. So, I couldn't join in when old songs were being sung.
The bus farted when we had got very close to our destination, and the driver parked it aside of the road. We got out, waited while some people did the mutra visarjan. Then, we were told to walk by the road, and so we did. A T.Y. Bcom student (I don't remember his name), gave me company as we walked on. We talked about Marathi TV shows, especially about the sa re ga ma pa series. He was a non-Marathi, but he had more knowledge of Marathi TV shows than I had. I raised my eyebrows in surprise, and decided to speed up. He had started to discuss the story of the shows, which was intolerable (not the guy, the stories). Now I was walking by the head of the hike (I don't know his name), who was accompanied by Mandar and Pooja. They were discussing about some water problems in the city. That was an interesting topic. However, when I can't show off my knowledge or my view about the topic, I feel miserable. So I concentrated on walking, as I have a very little knowledge about the water problems, or rather say, my knowledge is possessed by every kid in the city (about water problems only, of course). We got near Morbe Dam, which seemed damn old.
Nothing much to say about the walking part now. I am not bad at describing the beauty I had observed (NATURE'S beauty, of course). But, I get bored describing it. Readers are requested to experience the beauty themselves. I'll just show the pics of nature, that's all.
