Lunch in the wild and Lurch at the wild

After that momentous evening where we turned a sober gazal ki shaam to a desi disco we woke up to a bright and sunny day. Valerie, who was staying along with us with Milan, searched my face carefully for signs of hangover. She was still attributing Harvinder and my reckless behavior to daaru…well ab kis kis ko samjhayein. After a quick breakfast at the coffee house we set course to Duda Land. Now Duda has BIG political connections ranging missionary to mercenary to the political machinery. So, we were to set out to a Guest House made in Reserve Forest owned by the local MLA of that area. Since we were in his turf, he decided to be the leader and we all humbly followed keeping our fingers crossed about where all we could possibly reach with a leader like Duda. The bright sun and the lonely road soon caught on with everybody and yes the Bar i.e. the Scorpio driven by the eternal Barman Mukho was ordered to pull up. Each of the cars stocked themselves suitably and the entourage continued... this time nobody cared who is taking them where…

Our first halt was at a waterfall called Nizara. Now this water fall was nothing more than a sad pee like trickle. We all took pictures here and the guys went to answer the nature’s call. Duda returned with his kurta wet near the pocket…there were speculations about how his pee could reach there when Urmi told us that what were all speculating about is almost vestigial as it was not in use! After this irrefutable observation we all moved on to a place called Bhainsa Ghat from where we had an aerial view of the entire forest reserve. We then set course to the Guest house. The Guest House in the jungle was imposing yet not disturbing. The stones used to construct it merged well with the jungle. Our host, the MLA was personally present to meet the batch after all he too was a part of this gang. So was the “couple” of the previous evening who very politely told us how we had made the evening so special for them!!!!!! I am sure Manoj Singh has been black listed by the hotel authorities and can never hold a party there. Lunch was ready for us at the Guest House. We had the tastiest food cooked in traditional fuel. Even basic food like, roti tasted special. The menu was simple- dal, sabzi, desi murga, kaithe ki chutney, salad, papad, roti and rice. But I would rank it as one of the tastiest meals that I have had.

Lunch over, we decided to move on and visit Giri Darshan, a forest guest house with a watch tower to see animals. Well with the cantankerous crowd that we were, all animals kept away but we enjoyed a wonderful view of the jungle and some water bodies from the watch tower. Our Host the MLA then suggested that we go for a chota chakkar in the jungle where there would be more chances of seeing an animal in the wild. The jungle was peaceful and very quiet when we saw the MLA’s jeep stop and before we realized, out popped a gun and we heard a shot. We saw two of his cronies along with Duda and Joshua rush out… all we saw were that they were killing the animal, a wild boar with boulders as the shot had not done a complete job. We all watched in stunned silence as the yet to die animal was loaded into a vehicle. Somehow, this incident stunned us all and was a bitter twist to an otherwise happy day. The MLA who holds a license to kill wild boars as they do a lot of damage to crops. But this intrusion into the jungle and killing the hapless creature in its turf was just not fair. Duda and Joshua hung around with the MLA while we all completely disgusted decided to drive on.

We were all stunned and shocked and as we drove into Milan’s house, Duda too had caught up with us. Joshua had gone to put the animal away somewhere. Everybody yelled at Duda and expressed their disgust in very very clear terms. Soon our Duda was thirsting for a drink and then he binged, more out of tension than the need for a drink. And then began Duda’s emotional atyachaar. It started by blaming Urmi that she had not given him anything to eat and that he was hungry then he kept pleading that he wanted to eat... so everybody chucked their drink and decided to take care of Duda’s hunger. They rushed to their all time favorite clock tower which was closed and then everybody decided to head for the Coffee House in Sadar. All that Duda wanted was some kind attention after being bombarded from all sides for the Boar killing. Anjana and I fed him and he sat back and ate like a petulant hungry kid. Seeing his state, Inder decided to take charge of the wheel and drove Duda back home.

It was later that we learnt it was not just Duda who was so shaken; Munnu’s fiancée was also deeply affected. The MLA in all sincerity thought that we would be thrilled to see games that too live. He never thought that there would be such violent reaction to what he thought would be an entertainment for people like us who live in concrete jungles!