A holiday (continued and ended)

The much needed fall

Nina didn’t realize that the fall could be so lethal. Blinded by the flowing water, she hardly had any control to remind herself the emergency protocol. As she fought for breath, her life jacket gave her full support. She gulped down the water, a sip or two, before managing a constant air flow. But the battle was still on; she was still unstable and drifting further away.

The raft came closer and the guide threw a rope in her direction. “Watch out you moron!” Nina shouted as she thought the front of the rope could hit her head. (It looked like she still had to learn she wasn’t the queen of this kingdom). The guide ignored the attitude and did his best to help. After a countless gasps from the ones still on the raft and Nina’s brave efforts, she was pulled back, though still in the water but now holding the rope fixed on the raft. She requested to stay like that and float along, smirking to her friends and then laughing at her silliness.

“Hey, did you know that the Ganges tastes sweet!” she exclaimed and this is what she got in return – “Did you know that you are total freak?” from Sharon, and “Could you act any less proud about what just happened?” from Aneesha. But Nina loved it all; right from the fall to this moment where she felt so small. The river, the mountains, so big in front of her—they didn’t care whether she was even there or not. It felt so real, and it just took one slippery fall to break free from her inner toil. 

A holiday (continued)

Rarely does it happen that one is happy to realize the contradiction between reality and dream. Nina’s first holiday morning was one of those.

It took but a moment for her racing heartbeat to reach back to herself; the picturesque view in front of her was to thank. The swishing sound of the river against the still and silent surroundings was overwhelming. Nina forgot all about the uncanny visuals from her dream. She was witnessing heaven in between the hustle of her hectic life and she didn’t want to give it up to participate in the group’s chaotic discussion of an adventurous plan. However, she knew that whether she pitched in or not, what’s inevitable will happen.

“Who said that camping would be fun?” one of her friends (Sharon) exclaimed while marching towards their camp.

“I did. In fact we all did. You got a problem with that?” another one (Aneesha) defended.

“Well, try to poop in that gross toilet, and let me know if you could even manage to make number one”, she shouted back.

Nina’s urge to pee just got worse. She, like all other girls, could not stand unhygienic sanitation. What the heck was she going to do for the rest of the trip? She took her chances and began her exploration. To her relief, it wasn’t all that bad. Talk of number one, she even made number two in one go. Hurray! This was a going to be good holiday.

Soon they all wrapped up to jeopardize their lives for seeking pleasure from a bit of adrenalin rush. They were not alone. It looked like the whole town was there to relish the adventure of water sports. With their life jackets on and matching helmets buckled tight, the girls looked cute and the guys an admirable sight. Feeling estrogen-drained, Nina sped up her way to the raft. She hadn’t made love to Abhay in a while and she didn’t feel a thing being around that hunk of a pack. Was something wrong with her? She thought the same. But there was no answer, at least not right there.

They all lined up on the shore, sincerely listening to the rafting dos and don’ts. Nina got shit scared and almost backed out but her friends didn’t let her and instead promised her a safer seat on the raft. And it began. All in that group were losers in the name of sport; the raft didn’t even move a few meters when the guide had to pull for a stop. He pumped some motivation, or at least he tried, and they were slowly moving towards the right side. Excitement heightened when the first wave hit them in the face, except for Nina who tucked herself further in the raft proving to be a joke for all of them. Maybe for all except one, a guy leading the group seemed quite interested in her from the instant the two groups were merged for the rafting trip. Somehow Nina didn’t like the extra attention, and manned up to face the silly tides on her own. She managed to love them one by one and eased her grip on the ropes that held her in.

The flow was treating them good and it looked like the group had picked up on the skill. Nina’s eyes met Aneesha’s and they smiled. Aneesha was admiring that she could make it here with her friends and that she could witness them all having so much fun.

But to make it last, their eyes had to be on the road (or river). There came a big tide and that smile turned all white. It took Nina along with it drowning her in the river upside down.

A holiday

She didn’t see it coming.

Nina was running in the mountain fields in the middle of the night. She wasn’t sure of the time but with the intensity of darkness and the fritinancy that surrounded, she knew it was surely past midnight. Fear had consumed her to an extent that she had forgotten what she was running from or where was she heading to. She could stumble upon a rock or fall in a pit as the starlight could hardly find its way through the dense forest.

She could hear the waters flowing somewhere near, but wasn’t sure exactly where. It could be a river or a waterfall, but she thought that it was enough to help her find someone or at least a way out. Running and gasping through an uneven path, there came a point when Nina thought she would lose her conscious. She had to halt, no matter what, to get a little rest. The waterfall was still far but she could hear it splash clearer this way. She gave her panting a chance to ease and tried to examine which one of the two will make her squeak—a wild animal or a ghost.

And as if they were listening to her thoughts, a spine-chilling shrill-of-a-laugh came from her side. She screamed aloud and charged her body to run against the direction of the sound. The sudden burst of energy caused a strange reaction—she woke up to a clear sky, outside a camp in front of the Ganges. Shudders went to her heart when the screaking laughter did a round two; it was Nina’s friend who was having an overjoyed conversation with the rest of the holiday crew.

A long awaited holiday had finally begun.