An Experience

Before I talk about today in college, or about yesterday at Lohagad Fort, or about a cute guy who happened to share my surname, I wanna talk about this conversation I had with my mom's friend's husband. This friend of hers is a teacher in Physiology( hasn't taught us yet!) in BJ. So my mom said that she'd drop her home, and ultimately, we ended up going to her place. So that's where I met her husband. He's very jolly person and a Translator by profession. He was very sweet and all, and as mom and aunty went around for a round of the home, we sat talking. The substance of our conversation was mainly about how I ever topped my school ( St. Mary's School, Pune), and then went through a very different system to get admission into the best college in Pune. Since their daughter is also in Mary's, he wanted to know more about my concept of the school. That's where he said that he took around 32 yrs of his life to know what he really wanted to do. He went through commerce, then management and was into industry( in the true sence of the word), before his career took a path that he liked. He said that, he never really felt at ease with whatever he was doing or with whomever he was interacting, because they always seemed to be totally different than he ever was. There never seemed to be much of a connection between him and his 'friends'. And so he was there, when out of the blue, by Fate, (as he put it), he met a professional translator and his path fell into place. All though the conversation, I almost felt like I was talking to myself. This is exactly what I feel at this stage. The confusion, the don't-really-like-what-i-do thing, the want to do something different, the desire to be a writer but not be allowed financially. God! For the first time in my life, I feel like I'm not going through this, being the only one to do so. There are other people like me, people who've gone through the same things I'm going through right now, people who've had the same aspirations I have now. And he maintained diaries too. So the world is really a small one and Fate has been good to me today. I know that I want to keep writing and be a writer, yet continue with medicine, because its a way of life. I feel like I've been drifting through the system, and now I kinda feel that there's a reason to it. I feel light and sorta empty-headed but in the good sense. Thank you uncle for that 10 mins of conversation, it helped me sort my life out a bit. And will help me enjoy my time in a medical college a little more...:))
Now for the trek. It was awesome. And I realised I have no stamina. India is a beautiful country and all, but the sites we encounteres at Lohagad and even at the Malvali railway station were just more than breath-taking. It was serene, pure, raw, truly NATURE. When you talk about nature, you generally talk about the trees, the mountains, the rivers, the waterfalls, the clouds and the overall beauty of the place. What made the Bhaja caves and Lohagad fort more beautiful was the history attached to it. At almost every step we took, we could feel the history surrouding us. Lohagad was beautiful and very, very cold!!!!
We took about 3 hrs to reach the fort after we had finished with the Bhaja caves. It was tough, the journey. The road was simple, but it was horrendous trying to walk up and continuously for 3 hrs without any experience. I was quite famous as 'Red Tomato', when we stopped for our first halt, and then as a lesser red one when we reached the top. It was embarrassing, especially, when Raunak kept on teasing my face colour.
The top was drizzly, because it was enveloped in the dark cloud cover. We had our lunch in a cave-like stone room, and then had an intro kinda session with seniors. Our trip was cut short by a quarrel between our management and the locals. So we started down almost an hr earlier. the road which seemed tough when we walked up, was quite easy and we carried on without any incidents of slips and broken parts. Because of the rain, the ground was quite stick-muddy and slippery but we managed fine. The bestest moment of the trip was when we all jumped into the waterfall.
We had never expected that our rope-leaders would allow us in there, but they were all for it!!!. So it was a walk on the water covered stones, and then suddenly a fall, because they was no stone!!!! It was seriously fun and God! we went crazy. I fell so many times but never stopped. We had water fights, photos, laughter, lens problems and total fun! There was none slightly dry by the time we all finished. The experience of splashing water on somebody you don't know and vice-versa, of somebody pulling you up when you've fallen down, of you doing the same, the screams, the 'BJ' shouts........it was a whole new world. And of course, our clothes got clean, our face got washed, we felt cold instead of hot for a change, and felt like this big group of FRIENDS who were having a LOT of fun.
There was a sad part to it too. My shoes which had started to give way to wear and tear, finally lost it all in the water. When I came out, I was in a pair of shoes in which one was with half the sole hanging in the air, and the other with the top of the shoe coming out of the sole!!!I managed in till the end, because of the long laces with which i tied the top and the botom of the shoes together. I was better off than another girl, Mrida, who suffered a worse fate of shoes early on in the climb to the top. She came down, on socks with all stuffing that our seniors could find. We learnt a lesson: Carry an extra pair of shoes every time you go on a trek.
We finished the journey coming back in the local from where we started, me being totally wet. In the local, the specials were in the form of our male batch-mates singing in the most unruly voices, songs that we hate and like in the typical BJite and Marathi style. It gave me headache while coming back, and encouraged stares and comments from passengers both ways. I really enjoyed it all. There was no fall, no losing-my-cell incident and total 'dhamaal' ( enjoyment+ fun+laughter). I pity those who did not come and feel bad for those who did not enter the waterfall. I'll post the pics in the next post.
Onto today, the interesting incident: We separated the leg from the cadaver; the result of super-human effort by our dear table-mates, who bother to touch the body. I didn't watch the process because of the effects it would have on me after it was over, and the video of them doing it was stuck in my head. But, I am an integral part of it all, any way!!! Today, was a little less productive than usual, bcause the formalin hurt my eyes so much that my eyes couldn't stop watering and I even got a cold!
Thats what it has been. A great weekend. The pain in my , umhh, gluteal region and the upper part of my fascia lata, doesn't count much in the experience of a lifetime..:)))