My best friend and I have had some really epic crazy days in our life. Days new age directors would love to make a movie out of.
However, of all the supremely crazy antics my best friend and I have thrown, this one takes the cake; for the total 'unbelievable' factor that it entails.
On December 25th 2010, my best friend, Sonakshi, along with my family and I made a trip to Jim Corbett National Park. The hotel that we reside there at is an eco-friendly hotel built at the border of the jungle where you can go for nature walks and other such adventure activities.
Being photography enthusiasts, after everyone fell asleep that night, we decided to shoot star-trails. Basically, long exposure night sky shot which results in long trails of the stars. It was out first attempt and we were more or less unprepared for what was to follow.
Around 1 o clock at night, the temperature suddenly dropped really low. It was about -2 degrees Celsius according to my cellphone. We were wearing single jackets since we hadn't contemplated this temperature drop which is normal for winter nights, nor were we aware that we'd have to spend at least an hour on a single image before seeing our results.
Since we didn't have an automatic trigger to stretch exposure time, we taped 2 pebbles on top of our click button to hold it down for exposure time.
It was jet black since the eco-friendly hotel believed in keeping things the way nature intended it. All of a sudden we hear strange gurgling noises. We freak out and jump up on our plastic chairs. What could it be?? We were too afraid to find out in case it was a ghost (bestie's suggestion). At this point, I was on the verge of fainting since I am not made for cold weathers and was miles beyond my comfort zone.
Suddenly we hear a loud cracking sound and Sonakshi made a low yelp swearing under her breath. We didn't know what to do and where to go and we were too afraid to move from our position. From behind us we hear whispers of a man, "what is happening here?" BY God ki Kasam we screamed better than what you hear in those B-grade horror movies. Sonakshi jumped out of the chair and began to run in the dark and when the dark figure caught her by the jacket and made her to halt.
The dark figure now lights up the torch and tells us hurriedly, "I am a watchman here. You girls are in grave danger, don't move a step!" We didn't know whether to sigh in relief or cry in horror. My best friend broke into a nervous laughter and was immediately shushed by the watchman.
He then points his torch on the ground about 8-10 feet away from us and we finally understand what he meant. There's a pack of about a dozen wild boars who've apparently broken the barricade built for wild animals surround the hotel perimeter. So That's where the gurgling sounds were coming from.
The watchman told us these wild boars are so ferocious, even the tigers stay away from them. They can kill a person like it's no one's business. All we want now is to crawl back into our bed and cry hoarse to sleep. MUMMMAAAAYYYYY!!! Where have we got stuck now???
The watchman tells us to keep sitting in our chair in the pitch dark so the boars can't spot us while he'll scare them away with a fire torch which he then went back to his office to fetch. All this while we chant Hanuman Chalisa, or the first 4 lines of it, which is all that we recalled.
We wanted adventure, and there it was, right in front of us, waiting to kill us merrily. Thankfully the watchman was agile and came back quickly with a fire torch. He then ran behind the boars, shooing them out of the hotel premises and banging his lathi heavily on the ground. This proved to be effective and within minutes all the boars had disappeared.
We took this as our cue to pack up & go back to our hotel room. Half way across the lawn where we had been sitting, we hear the banging noise return. We now make a quick run to our hotel but lo and behold! the entire pack of wild boars is running right towards us at the speed of a rolling banshee. We're done now, we think to ourselves. Crying and praying to Lord Almighty to save our ass desperately. Luckily for us, the pack leaders find a better route to run away from the watchman and pass us by by about 3 feet. PHEEEWWWWWW!!! We've been saved!!
We finally run to our hotel room quickly, open our rooms with shivering hands, jump into the bed, say quick grace to God and went to bed without further ado.
That day remains etched in my memory as one of the craziest life experiences I've had in my life. With bestie or otherwise. Oh, and it's decided now, come what may, wildlife photography is Not a career choice for us anymore. :P
speech less beauty with brain<>
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