1st year of Hotel Mgmt. The Gremlins were staying at Deepak lodge. After learning how Theme dinners and the hard work involved usually involved the unquestioning first years, we were returning back to our room in the werewolf hours of a day. The walk back took us into the hills behind the college, through some narrow paths bordering streams. Coming to college was always a cross country run on these paths. We would encounter packs of dogs, children & curious villagers who would freeze at whatever they were doing to stand and watch these English/Hindi speaking bunch run through the tapioca fields, and steep paths. We would have breathless discussions on the way, running at full throttle, dressing up on the way, Putting on an elusive tie knot, buttoning chef coats etc, providing entertainment to the villagers
As I said one day we were returning back, bone weary, after cleaning up, after a Theme dinner. Surprisingly in these post-op discussions I don't remember us discussing about the guests ever. The discussions usually centred around which idiot did/didn't do something they were supposed to do, and the efforts that had to be made to retrieve the situation. Immediately after the steep climb behind the college was PAATTA's shop, where if
(1)we had our monthly allowance left over, and
(2)enough time,
we could get Puttu, bananas, Pappadam and egg roast. On that day, the thick roof of coconut palms and other trees ensured no moon light would penetrate to the ground. When we started out from college AKBM was leading in the forefront, with me, Saj and Thomman following. Till PAATTA's shop there was some amount of light, including a bare bulb in front of his shop. Once we crossed this point, the steep path next to the stream started. If you slipped here, you would land very quickly in the wet stream below. From this point on it was pitch dark. You couldn't see your own hand, if you held it in front of your face.
At this point AKBM stopped and told me, "you know the way better than me. Why don't you lead ? " Overwhelmed by this affirmation of faith in my abilities, chest puffed with pride, I took over the lead. As I started out, AKBM walked behind me with his right hand touching my shoulder. The others followed in the same fashion, one arm distance, hand to the shoulder of the person in front, the blind leading the blind in a human train.
Each step I took would be after putting an exploratory toe first, moving it side to side, putting pressure on the ground, to ensure there indeed was firm ground, then moving forward. AKBM would follow me, followed by Saj and then Thomman. Since we couldn't see each other, the reassurance to walk forward was provided by the person in front of you - Thomman holding onto Saj, Saj holding onto AKBM, AKBM holding onto me, and me in turn holding onto....the thick darkness in front of me.
Walking or rather dragging ourselves along in this fashion, we reached the side of the stream. On our left side, was the dropoff into the cold water, on the right was the embankment with the pineapple thorny bush growing on top. As we moved forward one slow step at a time, we could hear the water flowing below us. Occasionally, when my feet slipped, or I tethered on the edge of the stream, the line would stop. Once I got back in line like a train engine, the line would start moving again. The moment AKBM couldn't feel me at the end of his outstretched hand, he would freeze, till I connected back. Motivated by my grandiose imagination of an adventurous Indiana Jones leading from the front, and the obvious trust of my companions in my cat like night vision and sure-footedness, I blundered on.
At one point, I slipped badly and had a frightful couple of seconds wavering at the edge of the stream, before regaining my balance. As I let out a long sigh of relief, Thomman:s voice came floating from the back, "what happened?" "Nothing ", I replied." I slipped "He responded," Eda, scream loud, if you fall, OK? " I felt reassured by his concern. If I fell they would make sure I was taken care of. How comforting.
Then Thomman continued," Da, if you scream when you fall, we will be safe, right? That is why we asked you to go in front "
My self imagery of Indiana Jones just went out like a pricked balloon. Son of a bitch! I was the sacrificial goat, to protect my friends. Thendikkal! Pannikkal! Chettakkal! Inganathe koottukkaar undenkkil verey shathrukal vendi varilla
It was pointless to shift positions at this point since the dangerous bit was almost over, I trudged on. Just before the cross country path connected back to the tarred road, there was a small stretch through a Tapioca field, the path elevated about one feet above the field, passing next to a Mother Mary shrine and a villager's hut. There was a small patch of concrete around the shrine. In the morning when we passed this way there would be 3-4 dogs lazing on the patch. Occasionally they would rush at us growling, if we pretended to pick a stone, it was enough to discourage them. On this eventful day, moonlight was falling on our path. The moonlight filtering through the Tapioca plant leaves created a complex and pretty geometrical leafy pattern with shadows in the undergrowth. All color was gone, in moonlight everything was in black and white. When we reached the shrine, trudging along single file slowly in our line, we were busy in our dissection of the Theme dinner. There were no dogs to be seen anywhere. Just as we crossed the shrine there was a blood curdling howl in the darkness to our left. We froze where we stood. Could feel the hair on the back of my neck and hand stand up in an instinctive reaction. Then we saw movement. There was a large black dog moving in the shadows to our left. A black dog moving in the black and white shadows of the Tapioca leaves made it appear and disappear magically, the werewolf howling accompanied by short barks. All of us stood frozen for the moment, like prey hypnotised by the hunter, straining our eyes to keep track of the dog. Then from our right side and behind there was a sound of something moving through the undergrowth fast, towards us. For a moment, though we could hear the moment behind us, we couldn't take our eyes off the dog in front. At these moments in life, our brains stops working and instinct takes control. In a moment there were 4 dogs rushing in from 4 corners. It was was difficult to keep track of all 4 dogs at the same time. So, we moved closer together, bunched in a group. The dogs were moving like how pack hunting animals do. Rushing at us from all sides, running close to take a bite out of our legs, growling, barking, howling all the while. We shouted, and looked for a stone to throw, or tree branch to hold. To get either, we would have to get off the higher ground of the pathway and into the undergrowth, not a comforting propect with the dogs moving in and out of the shadows. The comfort of another human being watching your back, when you are bunched together as a group, gives you a few seconds to think.
As I told you, it wasn't my day and one of the dogs jumped at me. Instinctively like all prey animals I moved back and the dog's mouth passed inches in front of my pants. For a moment I had visions of what would have happened, if my instincts didn't save me. The dog would have ripped my precious family jewels off or worse, clamped its mouth on it and hung on with a case of lockjaw. The visual impact of such a scenario will bring out the survival instincts in the most peace loving man. This last attack had isolated me from the group, with the 3 of my friends bunched back to back, kicking out with their legs each time a dog came close. Standing alone for the moment, I was a bit more vulnerable if the dogs realised I was standing alone.
Desperately I unhooked and removed my belt. If you remember, all of us starving gentry in college had sexy 18 inch waists. Our belts literally held up our pants from falling off. The moment the belt came off, I had to grab the he front of my pants to prevent it from falling down. I looped one end of the belt around my right hand and then like our movie heroes swung this like an 'Urumi'. All the while my left hand clung tight fisted around the front of my pants to prevent it from slipping off. One of the dogs got nipped with the belt while rushing at my ankles, another took a full on hit midair with the belt buckle. The second contact resulted in a painful yowl and the dogs retreated growling. We continued our trek to the lodge, left alone finally by the dogs, me still with my belt looped around my right hand, left hand clutching the front of my pants in a tight vice like grip. After the adventure, for a couple of minutes, we discussed it excitedly. Then the tiredness hit us. The rest of the journey was spent in silence. When we reached our room, we kicked off our shoes, ripped off the socks and fell into bed still in our dirty uniforms, too tired to change.
Posts
