happiness is...
... waking up at 5 on sunday morning after 3 sleepless nights for a trip to green hills and rains!
... witnessing the skyline change from bricks to trees hanging on the door of local train!
... 7 people stuffed in an auto-rickshaw for an uphill ride!
... counting waterfalls on opposite hill!
... leaving the road to start a trek for the rest of the journey, girls in enthu as well!
... bathing in every waterfall of the same stream uphill!
... holding hands, grabbing legs, pushing, pulling through slippery rocks along the stream!
... pulling a friend, hanging only by your hand, up a fall... like in movies... if the grip goes loose, he drops 7 meters down!
... cuts, bruises, bones hitting rocks, pain... all, courtesy... mother nature!
... wondering, while crossing those tracks, how a train could run on rails just 2 feet wide!
... girls sighing in relief stepping on a flat ground, the road!
... despatching girls with all your lugs in a taxi to the destination and choosing a dangerous up-trek on a straight hill-face with 4 other friends!
... catching a small crab and watch the crustacean wrestle with all its limbs and claws against your fingers, its tiny mouth bubbling!
... grabbing roots of plants, small projections in rocks, searching for the smallest hold or grip when ascending about a 1 km high hill-face!
... turning back, looking down in amazement at the last walkable/drivable path and wondering 'just how did we made it upto this height?'!
... numerous snake holes all around, but not mentioning them to fellow rookie trekkers!
... washing off small squiggly leeches from your arms and legs in stream water!
... exhausting reaching the top, on the road, getting a lift for the rest 2 kms in a swanky luxury cage (i.e. car)!
... (calling a car 'cage' in the above line ;)!
... heavy, very heavy downpour and no shield at hand!
... no mobiles (which are in the lugs with other 6) and no number in mind to contact others!
... clutching a glass of hot tea, sipping it with parle-G in a shanty while you, trees, clouds dripping heavily!
... holding that hot glass in both hands even after the tea is over, not letting a minutest degree of warmth go waste!
... marching in rains, among the trees shouting "angrezo bharat chhodo, inqalaab zindabaad, jai mata di..." on top of your voice!
... finding your lost group in the first restaurant... smart people!
... tea, coffee, (some helping themselves with whiskey pegs), hot aloo parathas to savour and comfort your drenched and shivering bodies!
... rain-water flowing through the restaurant floor!
... setting off for return journey, fudges, paan to start with!
... setting free your short-term pet... that small crab, its small bulb-like eyes wiggling, like saying bye!
... still raining, whats called 'cats and dogs'!
... clouds all around you, visibility shrinking to just 15 steps around you!
... challenging each other to spit-as-far-as-you-can on the roadside!
... the loser challenging others for yet another round of pee-as-far-as-you-can and losing again!
... a friend saying “this is wilderness I saw in movies and read in books”!
... shouting slogans again, this time to ban himesh reshammia and asking him to leave India!
... leaving hills and reaching flats in no time in another cage (a maruti van), having airplane-ear ‘coz of this speedy altitude change!
... cursing railways for train delay!
... standing dangerously close, your nose just 2 feet away from a train passing at about 95 kmph!
... capacity-defying mumbai local!
... a gulp of fresh air and light by cocking your head above the crowd’s shoulders, arms, face etc.!
... getting down from the train and fly-kissing the ground!
... girls commenting that they were comfortable all he way!
... at home!
... hot water bath for a drenched and tired body!
... food and bed!
... a great trip to Matheran!
