A night at the Eco-Village

I havent been travelling as much as i would have liked to, thanks to my
'no discounted tickets' job... (being a social worker can be tough... in more ways than one!)... After my J&K trip in June-06, I never really had the time (or the money...) to go anywhere. But i didnt want to deprive mself of having fun, so, last week when my friend Madhu asked me if i was game for an overnight eco-village trip, i jumped for it! We had no expectations from this place; all 7 of us wanted to have a rockin time! Bindu, Shree n me were joined by Madhu, Anupam, Merlin & Avinash at Pune and around 10 in the night we reached the eco-village... it was pitch dark and we couldnt see anything as the only light available was from the stars in the sky... all of us were quite excited as we were half way up some mountain and had to descend steeply into the valley... there was no road or light leading us to the camp site, so in true trekking style, with just one lamp all of us started the last leg of the journey. I had carried a torch luckily which turned out to be a saving grace (as 1 lamp was not enough for 7 of us)... Shree & Binz were a sport as they accompanied me at the end; i was quite petrified by the narrow way and kept slipping every now and then.

Finally, after about 30 minutes, we reached the bottom of the hill. Though we couldnt see much, we were happy with the cool breeze - fresh air. Didnt take long for us to freshen up, and, within minutes, we were swinging to some R n B music which later turned into some mumbai masala and masala into trance (yes, my parties are incomplete without trance). the best part was, that we could blast our music as there was not a soul around for miles!!!

Then Avi lit a bonfire and we had delicious dinner around 3 in the mrn! After chilaxing for a while we had a look thru a telescope and for the first time i saw what craters on the moon look like... :) too tired to stay awake any longer, we hit the sack around 4 in the mrn... or was it 5...? i dont remember. The temp dipped to around 10 deg C... the 2 blankets were not enough for me as the tent was covered with dew...
Morning was breathtakingly beautiful... in the broad daylight we could now clearly see the beauty around us. Next to the owners big house was a tree-top (which Merl & Maddie had climbed the night before in a tipsy state). The house had a huge backyard where our tents had been put up the night before. The backyard ended with bright red mud that met the river... no fences, no boudaries... exactly why everyone (except Merl n me) jumped into the river for a swim... The water was so clear that we could see the rocks on the river-bed... merl enjoyed clicking pics (for a change it wasnt me) while i was happily lazyin around... infact everyone was just lazyin around and even took a nap after lunch...
unfortunately it ended quickly... we had to leave in the eve to reach BOM by at least mid-night.
A very memoriable trip indeed that lasted 1.5 day and cost us only Rs. 1,500 per head.
This is what i love the most about India... you dont have to go too far or spend too much to have fun... just look around and theres some untouched land waiting to be 'discovered'.
Thanks to Avi for 'discovering' this hide-out, to merl for reminding us to carry woolens (as it was freezing in the night); to Anupam for coming all the way from Riyadh; to Maddie for taking the initiative for this trip; to Binz to bunk a couple of days from wrk; to Stylo for being a sport.