Friday 21 August 2015

Trek From School Days

The sound of the birds chirping with glory. The lush green vegetation throwing fresh air at our faces. The nascently bloomed flowers seekng their first sunlight. It was a beautiful summer day; one perfect for a trek through the wilderness with friends.


Hi! I’m Kunal and I’d like to share with you an event that occurred in my life back when I was in highschool.


My friends and I had gone for a trek to Manesar during our summer break. The plan was to trek for about 90 min one way, have a little camp cum picnic and reach back before sundown. Little did we know about the adventures that laid ahead of us that day.


Everything seemed to be going perfectly well. We had all of our gear in place, plenty of food and water to go around and also a cell phone in case of emergency. Mobile Phones were a pretty big thing back in the day. It was the era of the flips and the bricks. One of my close friends, Vishesh had his phone. Me and my others friends unfortunately didn’t have a phone by then but our parents knew that as long as we had some way of communication, things would be fine. Well, parents are caring loving and smart but sometimes they forget to account for Murphy’s Law!


After about 30min or so into the trek, there came a point where we had to cross a stretch of boulders. These weren’t your ordinary boulders that were just chilling in the blazing sun but the super slippery not at all edgy ones. I used to watch a lot of ‘Man Vs. Wild’ back in the day (probably the reason what got me so interested in things like nature and trekking) and I remembered Bear Grylls from an episode traversing over such unfriendly terrain. The trick was to apply maximum surface area so as to increase friction. Simple Physics right?! Wrong! Easier said than done actually. Well I wanted to show off a little bit and demonstrate to my oh so gullible friends how awesome I was; so I skipped and hopped over those boulders like a frog jumping from one lily pad to the other in a pond. Awesome right?! My friends followed my every move. Hand placement to hand placement. Body angle per body angle. Finally came the last stretch. I wanted to show off just a wee bit more so this time I didn’t go on all fours like a toddler to cross the stones, but instead took a huge leap .. and .. *SNAP* !!
The next thing I could see was my friends surrounding me asking me if i was ok. I didn’t understand what had happened. Had I fainted? Had I fallen? Is it time for breakfast?!
Suddenly I realised the amount of adrenaline rushing through my veins! Yes I felt powerful, invincible, indestructible .. I had power.. I had energy .. I had .. a broken ankle!!


Out came the loudest scream of my life! Oh the pain was atrocious! My friends went all panicky. They kept a rucksack under my leg, gave me water, kept asking if i was ok. The scene was pretty brutal but I was a tough chap. I didn’t shed more than a couple tears! #IronBorn #MaybeNot


We didn’t know what to do but Vishesh flipped open his phone and tried calling my Mother. Vishesh.. my dear friend Vishesh. Next time you’re planning a trip with friends and you’re the sole owner of a mobile phone, please for the love of God recharge your phone after talking to your girlfriend all night !!
He didn’t have enough balance to make a call or send an sms!! Our last hope was to open the web browser and send an email to all of our dads that were working that day hoping someone would respond and call back (unfortunately the age of apps and whatsapp hadn’t started back then). So Vishesh opened the browser and tried logging into his email account.


Murphy.. we all hate you. Why did you ever exist. For those who don’t know about this greatly renowned individual; Murphy’s law, in a nutshell, basically says that whatever wrong that can happen will happen!


The internet connection was just horrible. Vishesh couldn’t log into his email account or into any other website. There was no balance to call or to send an sms. We were absolutely stranded!


We contemplated what we should do - wait there hoping that one of our loveable mothers would call to ask how the trek was going, send one person back to get help or leave me here to die and complete the trek (yeah they actually suggested that after my crazy screaming fiasco!).


I know this has been a nail biting story for all of you but what actually happened in the end was that one friend went back to get help, but in the meanwhile we got a call from Vishesh’s mother. We told her everything and in about 2 hours from then I had an awesome cast on my leg! #Win


Looking back to that day now, I really wish we had the technology of today. Things would’ve been so easier. In times like that, if we had the luxury of Airtel 4g at the palm of our hands, I could’ve been rescued way quicker. Not much damage was done in the end but we all would’ve just felt safer and at peace if we were able to at least contact our parents using the Internet.


Thank you Airtel for making our lives so much easier today so we don't have to look back at the hard times of yesterday.


  • Kunal

For more, visit - http://www.airtel.in/4g/

No comments:

Post a Comment