The adventures of Sam, D’silva and Gopi Part-I

Characters:
Sam – Chega
D’silva – Surd (now Super Surd)
Gopi – Mouse

Supported by:
Lavin
Mandar
Nilesh

We all were tired of our earlier business of going to far away places to watch the same old things like trees, flowers etc. In such places if it’s raining cats and dogs and if you stand under a tree, it rains droppings of crows and sparrows. So it was decided that this time we would go to a place where it doesn’t rain.
Gopi however said, ‘I have heard that crows are found all over the world, so where do we go?’ D’silva replied, ‘crows are found only over trees, in the sky and at the most on the earth’s surface. So why don’t we travel below the earth? Let’s explore the earth’s core.’
Hearing this Mandar fainted since could not bear the thought of losing Nilesh in the dark. As if to console Mandar, Lavin threw light on the fact that the gravitational pull of the earth is at its maximum at the core so all the crow droppings would be directed there with maximum velocity. Hearing this explanation, the idea of going to the earth’s core was dropped.
I suggested going to the moon and Nilesh asked the way in which we were to reach the moon. We had Mandar in our squad who had answers for everything. Mandar said, ‘first of all we need to find out the rising time of the moon from a local news paper. Then well before the rising time we would reach the nearest horizon by means of a launch or something similar. Then as the moon would appear on the horizon, we should one by one jump on it.’
This looked very logical and quite feasible. But D’silva had a doubt. He asked, ‘as the moon rises so also it sets. So what do we do when it sets?’ Lavin answered, ‘when we would reach on the moon, then according to Geography, the earth would rise or set on the moon!’ ‘Oh Yes!’ said D’silva, ‘I had forgotten a bit of History’. Hearing this we all laughed heartily. But D’silva seemed annoyed and asked us the reason. Not finding any, he tried to justify his statement by saying, ‘you all might be knowing that history repeats itself and the setting of earth and the moon with respect to each other is a periodically repeating process so I had said that I had forgotten a bit of History.’
Finally, the day of our departure arrived and we began our voyage. Very soon we reached the horizon and were eagerly waiting for the moon. Watching the moon arrive from below we all got set to jump. The first to jump was Mandar, so that the moon would rise up slowly. One by one we all got over the moon except D’silva. When D’silva was about to jump, a cloud engulfed the moon. And by the time the cloud passed, the moon had significantly risen, making it impossible for D’silva to jump on the moon. But fortunately enough, a large wave took D’silva sufficiently above sea level to be able to jump on the moon. Thus every one of us had reached our destination.
For our basic necessities such as water, air, and food we had a solution suggested by Mandar. For water, we had carried a long rope and a bucket which could be lowered in any of earth’s fresh water lakes. For air and food we had carried with some plants. These were to be our source of food as well as oxygen.
As we landed on the moon we were quite excited about it. So Mandar suggested we move inwards lest someone falls off the edge in excitement. We went inwards a bit and kept the plants, our luggage etc and sat down to rest. Soon we fell asleep. When we woke up, Mandar read us a poem that he had written while we were asleep. Here’s the poem:

Today for the first time I have lost my weight
And only due to the trio such a chance I could get
Today with them I traveled on the moon
And lost 1/6th of my weight in a single noon

Everything here’s so strange
Absolutely nothing in range
And here if I sit on a bench
I will not break the bench

Its surface is like the transverse wave
With all crests and troughs
And while walking over it
I say, ‘puff-puff’

Hearing Mandar’s poem, we again fell asleep.

(guess I never woke up after this; the story was left incomplete at this stage)
(written ~ 1995)

The trek near Karjat vill(ag)e

Lavin (my school friend) had registered my name and even his, for a trek to Kondana caves. This was the first time that I was going to be a part of an organized trekking activity. Somehow, I had never heard the word ‘caves’ from Lavin and was under the impression that the trek was to Kondana (fort) popularly known as Sinhgad.
The trek was planned for 18th June, Sunday. I was racing against time to finish my office work by Saturday afternoon so that I could reach Mumbai by evening, the same day. My project manager had compared me to Shivaji’s lieutenant Tanaji Malusare and had exhorted me to conquer my work before Kondana. I managed to complete my duty without having to lay down my life, unlike Tanaji Malusare who had lost his life in the process. To understand this pre-trek story you need to be aware of the Maratha history.
The trek team was supposed to start off from Dadar, Mumbai at 0600 hours. I managed to reach the spot by 0645 hours. The local trains that day wanted me to believe that Mumbai’s public transport was as unreliable as Bangalore’s or Pune’s. Pune’s public transport cannot be called unreliable; it’s as good as non-existent. However, an odd incident cannot shake a belief that is based on an experience of over 20 years.
Our trekking party comprised of Apsara, Rani, their mom, Jay, Lavin, Vidyut and myself. Jay was Lavin’s colleague; Vidyut was our trek guide while Apsara, Rani and their mom were complete strangers until we met them for the trek. Since I was late and had made everyone wait, Rani had prescribed that I should be made to sit on a Cactus.
Lavin had taken up the self assigned role of a camera man and looked perfectly suited for the job of news reported with the TV channel ‘Aaj Tak’. As his nature, he was trying to screw up things.
We reached a resort located about half an hour from Karjat. This was to be the camping point of our trek. We had our breakfast and then our driver dropped us about 1-2 kms further from the resort; this was to be the starting point of our trek.
After walking for a short distance, we discovered that the road ahead was closed. Fences were constructed to prevent trekkers from crossing fields and in the process destroying crops. It was quite understandable that the local farmers wanted to protect their source of livelihood from the trekkers who had no concern for it.
We did have an alternative route that went around the fields. Lavin got filmy and pointing to a peak in the distance said, ‘Chega tum kehte the na ki mere jeevan me koi lakshya nahi hai; who hai mera lakshya!’. Even Jay recollected an apt song in the form of ‘kandho se milte hai kandhe, kadmon se kadam milte hai…’, to inspire the party to carry on.
The weather that day wasn’t quite suited for any outdoor activity. It was hot and humid. We were perspiring profusely. Of course, you do lose body fluids in hot and dry weather too just that you don’t quite notice it.
Though the trek wasn’t a long and tiring one, we did take a few breaks. Apsara wasn’t feeling well but still made a brave effort to carry on. I remember that when I am unwell, I don’t even have the courage to climb out of my bed leave alone climbing mountains.
The monsoon hadn’t set in as yet and hence the streams were running dry. But the surroundings weren’t barren since it had rained a couple of weeks ago. It seemed like, anticipating further rains, the mountains had covered themselves with a protective green sheet of vegetation.
We reached the Kondana caves after a walk of about a couple of hours. The trek was a simple one; it didn’t require any special skills other than walking. The Kondana caves weren’t a place of attraction. They were only remains of what at some point of time must have been a small temple. They weren’t caves in a true sense where one would expect a network of tunnels zig-zagging through. They were but a result of a piece of a large rock carved off. Vidyut told us that it’s a great place to visit during the monsoon just after it has rained sufficiently. During that time the water falls over the edge of the rock while you watch it standing below in the carved off portion.
We rested here for some time. Vidyut suggested that we collect the plastic that India’s uneducated junta had left all over the place. We collected it in yet another plastic bag so that we could carry it back to the resort.
Back at the resort we had a good lunch and then went on to enjoy the rain dance. As it was sunny we could see small rainbows. Each one of us thought that we were all looking at the same rainbow however this is never the case. We then spent some time in the swimming pool. We had an air conditioned tent to rest. Back here, Lavin tried his ‘drop the towel trick’ which unfortunately didn’t work for him that day.
The most interesting incident in the tent and possibly of the trek was Rani’s story about Ms. Pillow from ‘Pillow Ville’. It started with Rani dressing up a pillow. Lavin noticed it and as mentioned before, like a typical ‘Aaj Tak’ reporter started asking Rani some silly questions about it. Rani had apparently decided to give Lavin a taste of his own medicine and had prompt answers for whatever Lavin and everyone else present in the tent had to ask.
She explained how her Ms. Pillow a native of ‘Pillow Ville’ had come over to get sun tanned on a beach. ‘Pillow Ville’ was somewhere on Venus where everything was made of chocolate. Ms. Pillow’s doctor had asked her to diet and hence she was here on Earth to avoid chocolate. However, she had died here on the beach and that this was actually her funeral.
The above story is only a tip of the ice berg; the complete coverage is available on Lavin’s camcorder. It was worth noting how to answer each of the questions asked the story took logical turns and even though the story advanced rapidly, hardly ever did it conflict with the previously stated facts.
Overall, Lavin, Jay and myself didn’t find the trek to be as physically demanding as we had expected it to be and hence to a certain degree were unsatisfied with it. It’s strange to see that man invented the wheel and then invested time and money to develop better modes of transport and that now he pays to go on long walks. Also, he’s unhappy if the walk is not tiring!

(written - 23rd Jun' 06)

The Da-Vidya Code

For Nishi it was just another evening. He had no idea that it was going to change his life forever. He was strolling down the dark lanes of Bangalore, playing his mouth organ. He usually used to get so deeply lost playing the instrument that he often had no clue about where he was or where was he heading.
That evening, about 3 years back, he was playing the tune, ‘hai apna dil to …’. He was unaware that he had come a long way from his room, lost in perfecting the tune. He was inadvertently walking right below Vidya’s house. Vidya was his colleague at BPL Telecom.
Vidya was busy reading a book at that time. But the tune was too melodious to be ignored unless you were deaf. Initially she thought that it was being played on the radio. But the radio was off. She sensed that the source was right below her window. She rushed to see who it was. But it was too dark outside and she could only see a shadowy figure pass by.
The way the sound died was like a child watching a ship leave the docks. The child thinks that if he keeps on watching the ship can never go out of his sight. But the ship keeps on getting smaller and smaller as it ventures into the deep sea. A time comes when all that remains is a tiny dot and eventually even that disappears. The child tries to relocate the dot but it’s gone!
Vidya was quite restless that night. How badly she wanted to see the person playing the tune! She was not sure whether she would ever see/hear him again. She thought the next day she would write to the civic authorities to get the street lamps fixed at least in her lane. Such dark lanes could encourage crime she thought.
The next day, in office, she told Nishi about this mysterious man playing mouth organ in her lane. But she made it sound more like a complaint lest Nishi started teasing her for liking it. Nishi didn’t suspect that could be unknowingly talking about him and advised her to keep doors and windows securely closed.
After a few weeks, Nishi once again happened to pass through the same lane playing the very same tune. Again, Vidya couldn’t figure out who that person was. She was becoming increasingly curious about his identity. That night Nishi stumbled over something in the dark and his mouth organ slipped out of his hands. He did pick it up and continued playing as before. Vidya had noticed this small accident.
The following day, Vidya narrated the entire episode to Nishi. Hearing about the accident, Nishi thought that she might be talking about him. He decided to check it out. The next day he passed the same way and the following day Vidya talked about the musician passing by her house. But Nishi wanted to be absolutely sure and hence the next time he played a different tune. From Vidya’s version of the story, the following day, Nishi was now sure that all the while she was talking about him.
By now Nishi had sensed that Vidya was almost in love with her mysterious musician. But Nishi was enjoying the way things were and wanted them to continue this way a bit longer before coming out with the truth. It made him feel like God. He was the one who decided when the mysterious musician would appear, how long would he play the tune under Vidya’s house, which tune he would play and so on. It was like a baby girl deciding when her Barbie doll would be happy, when she would cry etc.
After a few months, Nishi was tired of being the director of the play and wanted to become the hero of it. So one day he asked Vidya out for lunch and told her the real story of the mysterious musician. But Vidya dismissed his story outright. Nishi had anticipated this and therefore was carrying his mouth organ. He repeated the tunes he used to play under her house. But Vidya was convinced that what her mysterious musician played was much sweeter. Nishi tried hard to recreate the same magic but couldn’t change Vidya’s opinion.
Then, Nishi decided to play a trick. The same night he again went near Vidya’s house playing his mouth organ. When he saw Vidya come to the window to hear him, he climbed up the stairs and knocked on Vidya’s door, all the while playing the tune. Vidya opened the door and before Nishi could say anything she admonished him for playing this dirty trick. She told him that from the way the tune was being played she always knew that this was not her mysterious musician. She let off Nishi warning him not to repeat this act in future.
However, that night she felt bad about behaving that way with Nishi. She explained herself that Nishi wasn’t all that bad with the mouth organ and that for a moment she did feel that it was her mysterious musician. He wasn’t as good but then he wasn’t as bad either. And importantly he loved her. It was for love that he had done that foul play. As for her mysterious musician, she didn’t know who he was, what he did and whether he would like her in the first place. He was so talented that there was no reason for him to fall in love with her. And then some things are better off as dreams that never materialize, pretty much like the following 2 lines from a Marathi song,

Swapnat lya kalyanno
Umalu nakkach kevha
Godi apoornatechi
Lavel ved jeeva

The following day she went and apologized to Nishi. She also expressed her desire to marry him. Nishi was angry with her but hearing all this even his heart melted and he too agreed to tie the knot. And they lived happily ever after. The mysterious musician did make guest appearances under their window, of course, when Nishi was not at home.

PS.: The above 2 lines from the Marathi song could be translated as:
May the buds in my dreams never bloom,
The sweetness in their incompleteness is driving me mad!

I would suggest you get the lines translated from a better source!

(written - 1st Jun' 06)