If I had wings,
I would fly towards the horizon
Floating over white cushions
Their covers streaked in gray

If I had arms as wide as the earth
I would hug the hills to me
Resplendent in its green robes
Decked with cascades of shining silver

If I had lungs that were infinite
I would fill it with the fragrance of greens
The perfume of the wet rocks
And the veils of hanging mist

These were the words that came to my mind as we traversed our way through the clouds that hung thickly over the hills, rising green, forming dark crevices, hiding innumerable small rivulets, streams and cascades of water in their shadows. When Shah Jahan said, “If there is a Heaven it is here”, he surely couldn’t have meant only Kashmir. Heaven indeed is on earth, you just need the eyes to see it. You surely couldn’t drive through hills towering green on one side and a misty lake on the other side, with the spray of light rain on your face, in Heaven!

Beginning at the beginning, we are talking of our line event here. After weeks of discussions, varied opinions, innumerable polls, preparations and cancellations, we zeroed on a one day trip to an eco camp on the river Kundalika, located in Kolad. The highlight of the trip...kayaking. We set off at 6 in the morning, did some Pune darshan, picking up people from different places, even waking up some people from their sleep, finally leaving Pune at 7.30 a.m. It took us all some time to get out of our sleep modes and start off with the all time favorite bus game – antakshari, only deviation from the usual being, Tamil songs were also allowed. So we did have a great 2 words’ song from Siva and a really good attempt from Rajesh :) After a while this got boring, so Dinu came up with the idea of each person talking about his/her funniest incident in Amdocs, which soon got morphed into each person reminiscing about funny incidents in his/her life (read that college life). So we heard about Bruce Lee in Andhra, funny nicknames, teachers on mopeds, ragging sessions and many more, about which we should just keep “Shhhh…” :) Soon the surroundings became too beautiful to be ignored and everyone’s attention was diverted to the scenery all around us. Driving through hills covered in clouds we emerged on to the other side of the ghats. After a while we reached the jetty where we were met by the boat that would take us across the river to the eco camp that was our destination, Rivertrail.

The day at the camp started off with a late breakfast, after which everyone changed into “kayaking” clothes. This was followed by a training session on handling the paddles and getting in and out of a kayak – K2 as we now know it. It’s a wonder that a 10 feet long 1.5 feet broad (at its max) boat can actually take so much weight! Well, this seemed easy; as long as the kayak didn’t topple over in water (which of course the trainer and organizer did their best to convince would not happen). And then after this short training session, we were finally in water. A round of kayaking guided by trainers and then, for those who dared it, kayaking alone, during which Rajesh went off, apparently in search of mobile network, which he seemed to have found upstream near the rapids! Kayaking was followed by lunch. After the morning’s exercise, the excellent lunch and the warm afternoon, the general mood was to doze off in the comfortable chairs of the ‘machan’ which served as the dining room.

The afternoon started off with everyone heading towards the river for river-crossing. This, at first, looked a simple task, especially when we were told that the river at that point was “only” 3 feet deep. But exactly how easy it was, we found out only when we entered the water. The current was strong enough to wash away a person who did not have the rope or swimming skills for support. But once everyone got over their initial fears and apprehensions of water, the one hour passed off as quick as lightning.

Against our wishes, we all returned to the camp after the river-crossing activity. Here, a snake awareness program was on and we lazed around in the late afternoon sun learning what we could about snakes and watching a venomous cobra trying it’s best to bite the snake trainer’s shoe off! After tea and a round of thanks to the organizers we set off on our journey back home. Another beautiful drive through the hills bathed in the light of the setting sun filtered through clouds, a short halt at a waterfall, a relaxed dinner at Garden Court and the day was finally over. A short, sweet and pleasant day that exposed us to some of the beauty this country hides. Truly India needs to be explored to understand its hidden treasures of nature so that we can claim this paradise to be ours for years to come. A day that will be always be remembered with a smile. :)