And boy, what a trip it was. Was everything that I expected out of such a trip, and more.
It was a 2 night 3 day trip, to a place around 25 kms from XLRI. Early friday morning, we were picked up by 2 TSAF vehicles (Tata Sports Adventure Foundation) and taken to some desolate place, 5 kms from the nearest main road. It wasn't what I expected it to be at first. What I saw was rocks and dust, and what I expected was Jungles. But my perceptions soon began to change.
We were greeted by the Course Instructor, who was a task master of sorts. He probably couldn't use the whip even if he had wanted to, but he sure knew how to make you feel guilty of being tardy.
We were immediately divided into groups of around 7, and were given tents to pitch up. And as all such things happen with me, our tent didn't pitch up. Not our mistake though. However, the poor instructors were forced to help us out. So, we began our Adventure Trip by being the last to set our tent up. As we would see later, this was not the only thing we were last in. :D
The first day was pretty hectic. We had a few games that were supposed to break the ice between us. But this was all just an eyewash. The test was yet to come. Apparently, we were supposed to be competing with the other teams by running an obstacle course in the shortest possible time. And to top it, the times would be an average of 2 attempts !!!
Anyway, it began well, we did start of good. The course had stick walking, rope walks (with support), rope ladder climbs, barbed wire crawls, going through tyres, and the toughest of all, the Monkey Crawl. This was followed by a quick dive through a gap between two boulders, and then a race to the finish with a Tarzan Jump over water.
We did well, all of us, however, our group (Group 7) stood last.
We didn't give up though. We had our lunch, and then had another round of the obstacle course in the evening. This time we did much much better, even topped the stick walk, but the timing in the first round was just too much to overcome, and we came last overall in this.
We finished the day with an awesome footage of the Himalayas and Bachendri Pal's climb to the top.
Day 2
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This day turned out to be even worse than the last. There were no hard core competitions as such, and everything we did was lots of fun, however, I do wish the 'Tiring' part of it were not fixed with the fun part. :)
It began with some basic mountain climbing steps, and we soon scaled a relatively modest hill. It wasn't good for the ego that as we began crawling up the hill, the instructor was holding all the bottles and just scooting up, however, none of us got that on camera, so that'll pass...
We did a bit more of this, and then we were taught to do the Chimney Climb( climbing up between 2 vertical surfaces), and the wriggling (climbing up and out through a small crack between rocks. Pretty scary as I thought I had got stuck for a moment there).
We were then taken through Caves, and were inside some pretty dark caves for nearly about 40 minutes. This part I did not like one bit. I hate crawling on my hands and knees, and the cave bit demanded that I do this for most of it. However good the experience is, I do not think I would do this again, unless of course I had all day to explore a cave.
We came out all dirty and dog tired, and had lunch. And then we were told to get ready again. This was something cool though. All of us would be abseiling. This was one heck of an experience I don't mind doing again. It was fantastic when you took the first few steps and got over your fear. The whole world was at your feet then, and you feel your pulse racing. Now this was adventure, would have been more fun it we were abseiling down waterfalls. :)
After the abseiling was done with, we had another competition. A Treasure hunt. And as luck would have it, we came in last in this too. Well, at least we were consistent. :)
We had our dinner in the night, and were told to pack up in the morning. We would be going to Dimna Lake, a distance of around 2 hours from our location. For rafting. Now this was exciting too, and I couldn't get started. I did feel bad however when we left the camp.
Some of the best moments of a persons life happens in college, and I knew this experience of mine, would be tough to beat.
Day 3
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We reached Lake Dimna by around 10 am, and were taken out in a raft almost as soon as the instructors were set. And then, right in the middle of the lake, we were asked to get off the boat. Oh, what liberation, to be in water after all those hot spells in the mountains. And the feeling of vulnerability, when you couldn't touch the lake bed with your feet. Somethings just need to be experienced, and cannot be explained. This was certainly one of life's great experiences. For me at least.
Soaked up the water and the sun for nearly an hour. I just wished I had taken my swimming classes more seriously !!! We were taken back to shore for lunch, and then prepared for out last group competition.
We were required to build rafts out of 8 bamboo sticks, and 4 rubber tubes, and 30 pieces of rope. And guess what, we did that and won our round as well. Team work was of the essence over here, and I am glad, our team delivered. And we had fun too, while at it. Guess, everyone in our team knew how to have a good time while being serious at their work. This worked out totally fine for me.
Easy as I made it sound, it wasn't for all teams. One of the teams actually broke down mid lake. Unfortunately for them, there was no shortcut. They were towed to the other end of the lake, and made to re-do their raft all over again, and paddle back in. We nearly lapped them actually.
With that, our Adventure trip came to an end. And I was feeling real sad.
Like somebody had once said, you'll be really happy only if you have someone to share that with, and with the adventure trip organized the way it was, I had lots of people to share that with.
I made quite a few good friends, pretty good for the introvert that I am. I do just hope that we keep getting such chances.
For now, I am extremely thankful to XLRI for making this happen.
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