Late night fiasco, Part- I

PROLOGUE

It was a Saturday morning. I was casually sitting at home wondering how to while away my weekend when I suddenly got pinged by Sankarsh on Facebook. Now, Sanky (as we know him) had this long pending birthday treat that he was supposed to give us from the past three months. Having fooled around ever since and having used all escape mechanisms in his "How-to-escape-from-anyone" series of books, I finally found the right time to ask him for the party.

Sanky: Hi!
Me: Hi! Wassup?
Sanky: Bro I have a plan for tonight.
Me: What's it? I'm hoping you're finally giving your birthday treat.
Sanky: No dude, I have something much better in mind.
Me: What could be better than that?
Sanky: I think we all should go for an expedition of sorts. A night expedition.
Me: Where to?
Sanky: To Skandagiri. It'll be fun man.
Me: Dude, I prefer you giving a treat instead. I'm not in for any mountaineering at night. Especially on such a short notice.
Sanky: Come on bro... The others are ready. Don't be a spoil sport.
Me: OK count me in. But don't forget how treacherous it was climbing the hill the last time we went there.
Sanky: Hey that was during the daytime. It won't be half as difficult this time.
Me: OK. I'm trusting you on this. Catch you in the evening.

THE START

With the hope of not having got myself into a predicament, I started packing my bags for the trip. Now, our trip had six people in all- Sankarsh, Rohit, Jaiprasad, Khader, my brother Amith and I. The trek uphill was going to be at least 3 hours long and we intended to spend the night there, rest for a while, and return home after seeing the supposedly famous sunrise from the summit. I had packed water, some bedsheets, clothes, a flashlight and some light food for the trip keeping all this in mind.

The biggest concern before we go for any such trips is organising everybody to meet up at one common place (usually my house; that being the protocol). A few meetings, a few hundred calls and a few thousand SMSes later everyone finally showed their faces and we were able to leave the place at 11 pm. As if the time delay was not enough already (we were supposed to leave by 8 pm), two of my close friends started having an argument about who should ride pillion on their respective bikes. These were the exact bikes we had taken to Bandipur and Ooty for our previous trip. Sankarsh and Rohit started bickering about their respective bike's inability to carry heavy "loads" for a 120 km trip. Both wanted the small built Khader to sit behind them for the fear of their tyres getting worn out or their suspensions taking a beating or something like that. I was feeling sleepy already.

After half an hour of arguing and getting nowhere, we left the place at 11.30 pm only to find out that Sankarsh's bike had run out of fuel. Feeling sleepy, getting delayed by three hours, wasting time on a non conclusive argument, and that topped with the fuel episode was reason enough for me to doubt if the trip was going to be a failure or not. Luckily, after towing his bike for a while, we found a petrol bunk on the highway. Our official ride started then.

THE JOURNEY

Having ridden for two hours with a small break in between, we reached near the base of the hill at around 2 am. As we proceeded towards it two villagers stopped us with warnings of cops having blocked the road leading to the place. They persuaded us to park our bikes in a house nearby and offered to show us an alternative path to the top. Not wanting to believe them, we headed for the base of the hill only to be stopped by err who else- the bloody cops of course. They had blocked the only approach road with stones and weren't allowing anybody in. I didn't have to go anywhere to confirm my doubts now. Our trip was indeed a failure.

We left the place with a heavy heart. As we were going back, we noticed somebody following us from a distance. It looked like a bike (from the headlights) and we suspected the cops were behind us doubting we were up to something mischievous. After a while, the lights stopped flashing from behind and we stopped again in front of the two villagers who warned us against going where we went. They carried this cocky, smug looking faces as if they had won a battle against us or something; appearing in front of us like some resurgent rulers. I didn't think it was a good idea speaking to them again.

To be continued...