Hasta Manana....

After the high drama of a live game followed by Duda’s melodramatic and theatric scream for attention ; everybody was exhausted. As we returned to Milan’s place , Mukku and Milan cursed Duda from the depth of their stomach for forcing them to eat Masala dosa for dinner. Chalo raat gayi aur baat gayi…the next day we were to set course to Kanha.

The next morning Duda had arranged break fast for us at his home. That lovable idiot amply pampered the previous evening, was cured and the usual blundering self. Typical to his nature he had a huge spread ready for break fast to cater to every taste. After breakfast we all rolled out to Kanha. Duda’s farm being on the way, there was a mandatory halt there where Duda piled me and Shyamal with whatever farm fresh we could perhaps have fit into our Scorpio. I must mention here the obsession Harvinder showed for Baingan especially the slender long ones! When her exclamations on the freshness and texture we pointed out the pervert angle to it. Harvinder promptly handed the baingans very suggestively to Valerie, Elizabeth ,Anjana and Urmi. Why? Because according to Harvinder, “ Tavera mein sirf ek Inder aur char auratein hai to unhe iski zaroorat pad sakti hai” Elizabeth having got over the shock told her that the baingans were only two while they were four…to which Harvinder replied “ Turn by turn please!” While all this conspired, Duda who had handed over the wheel of his Tavera to Inder, had planted himself along with Ajith in Joshua’s car to swig in peace. This car of tipplers kept getting lost as the car almost on auto pilot seemed to head towards any joint which mentioned “BAR” in any conceivable language. True to Madhya Pradesh where we see telephone booths with the sign board “ lo kar lo baat” we came across a place which displayed “ Khatiya Exchange” rather boldly. The entire batch was very keen to see what that place is really about…then the consequences got better of them and we moved on to an accommodation which had been arranged by Abhijeet.

The accommodation was amazing and really very comfortable. The décor of the place merged with the jungle and was very peaceful and quiet. After a sumptuous lunch we set off to the jungle. The evergreen jungle of Kanha was so beautiful that the riotous batch 77 was silenced by the awesome mystery of the jungle. The best part was that we actually saw a tiger. This youngster was sitting on a rock when he was spotted by a safari jeep within minutes almost 15 vehicles converged there and everybody climbed on whatever they could to have a look at his majesty. The tiger was naturally very irritated with the characteristic uncouth behavior of the humans. So, his majesty stood up shoed us his ass and walked off into the jungle. A befitting treatment to us intruders. We also saw a young bison who gave us a royal ignore almost telling us “mere angne mein tumhara kya kaam hai” Satisfied that we saw a tiger in the wild, we returned that evening happy and satisfied. Once again we converged around the bon fire in the evening. Everybody was somehow sobered as we settled the bills as we realized that our reunion was now coming to an end.

The next morning we were all up at 5 AM in the biting cold ,to go into the jungle and see the tiger. Well we were not so lucky this time…except Manjot who kept singing “jungle mein mor nacha kisne dekha” till he saw mor and mor and mor but no trace of the tiger! So, we returned trifle hungry and disappointed. But I think everyone was sad at the thought of parting ways of course with the promise to meet again.

We all packed our bags and Mukku and I were to drive off to Nagpur from there. As we left, we all finalized our next rendezvous point i.e. Kerala in 2010. We drove off …filling the sudden emptiness with memories of the last 4 days. I am sure the others felt better as they were still together…there too a vacuum would set in as each of the batch bates moved off in different directions carrying fond memories. Memories of pure unadulterated fun and laughter which would see us all through the business of life….bringing a smile irrespective of where you are. As the memories of the days spent together floods in, all cares and worries melt and we all smile. Smile for what we shared and what we will share when we meet again……....Hasta Manana.