A little trip away from home: Chapter 5

Chapter 1: On a whim
Chapter 2: Beginning of the end
Chapter 3: Riding the train
Chapter 4: The best day

Happy falls

This brings me to the last day of the little trip that the gang and I set out on. The drunk night before was followed by a late, and rather alarming wake-up call. 

Deepak: Da, the girls are ready already.

I: Oh fuck, I missed my workout chutiya!

I was supposed to get up early and go for a little sweat session with Deepak and Geetu, but never managed to wake my arse up on time. In fact, I barely made it through my morning ablutions on time for breakfast. On to the last tourist spot for the trip…. Happy falls!!

It wasn’t until 350 metres before we reached the place that I realised that it was actually ‘Abbey Falls’ and not ‘Happy falls’, which sounds like someone called ‘Happy’ falling from some place. From a little research on Wikipedia, I found out that this beautiful waterfall and its tree-laden surroundings is close to where river Kaveri begins. And the forest you’re surrounded by here, boy-oh-boy, it’s straight out of a Lord Of The Rings movie. These 80-100 feet tall trees truly make you realise how fucking incy you are on this planet, and boy are they some sight! The waterfall itself wasn’t much of a big deal. Yes, the background was gorgeous, misty and dramatic, but there was little about the water falling that would blow your mind. Maybe, it’s better to go to this place during the rains, when the stream is stronger.

The way back out was a nice little hike, where again, the chaps went berserk on the photo session. This time however, I think the massive number of clicks were a sign that we all were coming to terms with the end of the trip. Or maybe, it was just me.

Our long drive back to Mangalore was through quite a windy set of roads. It was left, right, left, then hard right, and that went on for a good 15-20 odd kilometres. While most of the chaps were quite silent throughout, Geetu and Yaseer were feeling some serious motion sickness. What the hell is motion sickness?? Whatever it is, both puked their hearts out, which kind of sucked, as in maybe nature should have spared them their motion sickness.

Back on the move, it was almost noon, and quite a sleepy time for most of us. I was sitting in the centre of our Xylo’s middle row, with snoozy Deepak on my right and puky Geetu on the left. It was that time that I felt the pesky lady on my left lean on my arm and dose off. The pressure of her weight against my arm felt a bit strange, warm, soft, almost comforting if you may, like she trusted me. Perhaps, she didn’t hate me all that much. What a woman. It’s just that we are fire and ice when we’re in a group, but otherwise, one-on-one, we actually got along pretty well, I think. I’d realised this first time during that final bottoms-up shot of rum, and now, as we were headed back for Mangalore, where this trip would finally come to an end.

A pit-stop for lunch on the way and some more stray chats later, we reached the point where the gang and I were to part ways. It was kind of happy sad. Some ties had grown stronger, many new ones were built, and then there was boatloads of memories that this trip packed into itself. The weekend felt more like a week, that too in a good way. Honestly, that’s not something you get to say often.

Importantly, it was a complete U-turn for me. I’d set out in search of closure, in search of that woman who now seems to be a creation of my fantasies. Now, I have a new clan that I can rightfully call mine, one that took me in without an ounce of doubt or apprehension. A better way to start a new year? Not that I can think of. 
Perhaps, this happy little song makes for the perfect ending.