The Karnala Climb!

Finishing my last minute preparations, I finally leapt on my bed. With feverish excitement, I awaited my upcoming picnic. Prof. Coomi had suggested the Karnala Bird Sanctuary. Our grinning applause was her answer. Aadya and Surekha along with Santosh Sir arranged for the splendid picnic. It was set on 1st Feb. My Khudaaya Ve alarm raised me at 5am.

Zombily I awoke, but was ready within an hour. Half an hour later, I stopped the auto rickshaw driver at the drive to the Girls’ Hostel inside Mumbai University – Kalina Campus. It was too spooky and ghostly breezy to move any further. At 7am, day had entered its misty beauty. I left the hostel with my best friend Panchasheela aka Panchi. We were supposed to meet the rest at the University Canteen beside our Institute – Ranade Bhavan. My champion – Sujju drove me mad by not answering any of my calls. Then, just suddenly, she popped up. What a relief it was to see her! Panchi and Sujju added spice to my picnic!

Without realising anything, I jumped with joy when Prof. Coomi announced the next day to be a holiday. Her reaction alerted me and I went “Oops!” Santosh Sir got our bus and we took off at about 7:45am. Several M. A. Part - Is accompanied us too. One of them was a stud with a Guitar! For a long while, we played Antaakshari and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. Then Amol – the Guitar stud played melodious tunes on his Guitar and we sang along joyfully.

Prajakta served us a homemade tasty dish, while we also savoured other snacks and Fruity! I entertained myself by clicking pictures. Also, posed for a few and blissfully chatted with my buddy Maima. By 9.45am, we had reached our destination. At our arrival, strict instructions and a ready breakfast greeted us. Any person found littering the place would be fined Rs, 5000/-. Fair enough. We had Pohas, where mischievously monkeys tried to join us. By 10am, we had begun our trek to the Karnala Fort.

On the way, we saw a beautiful peacock, another white peacock, varieties of parrots and a little furry rabbit. Sadly, they were all caged. Journeying, we took plenty of snaps, but all missing the promised birds, monkeys or any other animals. However, the climb was fun, risky and just superb! It was my first trek shot!

Half-way through, lunchtime arrived. Several went back. Nevertheless, some of us continued with the Guide“How many more minutes?” His usual reply would be, “Just few more.” and our Staff Members. At regular intervals we would badger the Guide by asking,

The rocks were of course tricky. The ones, which looked impossible to climb, were actually the entry gates. Numerous times, we formed a hand-chain and scaled the rocks; while at others, we crawled like monkeys. Panchi, Ranjit and Swapnil Sir held my bag consecutively. They were real Angels! And so was Sujju. She motivated me, whenever I lost hope of climbing any further. Gradually, most of my friends had moved quite ahead. Inspired, I rushed and matched up.

Finally, I reached a tiny Goddess temple. Seated nearby, Sujju and Surekha guarded our luggage. Taking my one litre water bottle, I sped up to Panchi. The rocks were now turning steeper and trickier. Yet, the tiny specks of our friends inspired us to move on! Ultimately, we reached the summit. We found small water filled caves. Strolling around, we collected good snaps.

The down climb was the toughest for me. Somehow, I had managed to reach the peak. However, the vision of going down gave me goose bumps. My jelly legs obstructed as well. Nevertheless, with Panchi, Ranjit, Swapnil Sir and the others, I trudged ahead. Sensing my fears, Ranjit found me a broken branch. He smoothed it on a huge tree trunk and asked me to hold it with a hanky. I followed suit. My journey curved easier.

I tried holding Panchi’s hands. As both our hands were clammy, I was losing my balance. Umpteen times, I could hear snakes slithering towards me. I tried to rush, but almost slipped, though, thankfully remained safe. Swapnil Sir joked that he would rush down and get me a Paalkhi, just to speed me up. Panchi exchanged her smooth shoes with my rocky-electric blue slippers. She’s a sweetheart! When I finally reached the end and saw Prof. Coomi, I felt new life breathing in me. I felt glad as I had achieved something!

We had our lunch - Rice chappati, mixed vegetable, moong vegetable, legume, rice, pickle and papad. In addition, the staff considerately bought us extra chilled Bisllery bottles, tea and coffee.

Soon, we resumed our journey. Almost all were half-asleep. Some left mid-way as their homes were nearer. Finally, we reached Kalina University. I bid goodbye to everyone, thanked and left for home with a friend – Renita in an auto rickshaw.

Coming home, I changed in to my nightwears, had a light dinner, watched T. V. for a while and got back to my cosy bed. I was shivering with cold and my limbs ached terribly. Nevertheless, nothing mattered as sleep had drugged me. I awoke at 1.20pm next afternoon!