So we reached Pune, got down from the bus, and promptly had an incident with a rickshaw, turned out he had turned the meter on before he took us, luckily Roochay, having lived in Pune, was wary and checked the meter. We promptly got down midway and took another rick.
Reached sanchit's place, i think the incident of the 'keys' happened here (am a bit hazy, roochay might remember - he confirms, it didnt happen here, it happened on The Return). Mihir, arpit and nakul too arrive. We borrow lots of stuff from Sanchit before setting out. I think the scene was kinda like whatever we laid our eyes on and would be cool to take along we took. Sanchit might have a full list i guess (i think roochay even took a bandana for some reason). He must've feared for the safety of his beloved camera, i think we did ask him in a mock-serious tone for it.
And oh yeah, the problem of the passport, well ya, you guessed it, Sanchit graciously agreed to give his passport as collateral, (maybe in return for not taking his camera, :D) not knowing his passport would have to endure a 'Behind Enemy Lines' kinda story later on...
Well the car (ford ikon) comes, we leave around two, eat like havent eaten in years at an unassuming joint (before the Satara highway i think). If someone would have seen the empty plates and bottles that we had left at that place, he would have been forgiven for thinking that roughly 15 absolutely famished ravenous (refugees?) had attacked the place.
So, having had our fill, we finally leave, thinking we would take around (6-7) hours to reach as it was about 450 odd kilometers from pune. Oh how wrong we were... (sanchit had told us it would take longer so we should leave early, but i think we just thought it was a ploy to get rid of us so that we wouldnt steal any more of his things)... Anyway, the drive was awesome - full music, amazing conversation, awesome scenic view...
Then night came, we asked for directions, and a man, who looked like morgan freeman, assures us that we will not be able to find our way through kolhapur and will get stuck, so generously (if you count 100 bucks as generous) offers to ride with us, guide us forlorn travellers, so that we cross kolhapur without getting stuck.
After a discussion the motion was carried with a ratio of 4 to 1 i think... and that 'kaka' jumped in with us at the back, guided us across twisted ways, whether deliberately to make us realize how lucky we were to have him with us or not i dont know, but he led us through the city, we let him out and then we were on our way...
The drives at night are especially beautiful, this beauty was specially shown by nakul by turning the headlights off, you see he didn't us want to miss a single part of the beauty, the pure awesomeness and the adrenaline rush that you get from the dread and fear that comes with the realization that you are going at over 100 kmph without headlights and at any moment something big and mean and with wheels could appear in front of you...
We stopped in the middle of nowhere at night and got out of the car. The night was so so beautiful, the heavenly silence, i haven't seen so many stars ever, you could just be there and look at the stars for eternity, lost in thoughts, funny how just looking at the stars makes you go into a different world, totally oblivious to what is going around you, but everything becoming crystal clear for that moment...
Anyway i digress, we realize its getting late, again drive, figure we should be nearby by now. We find a sign saying Tarkali, debate on whether to follow the sign or not, since it led to an offbeat road, away from the main road. We decide to follow it, rejecting the notions of some horror movie scenario, where some undead might have planted the sign to lead unsuspecting people down to their doom or something...
Well the night was dark, roochay was spooked, the road got progressively worse, the night got darker (if that were possible), roochay got more and more spooked (yes this is definitely possible), nakul was driving. And suddenly there's a loud 'thump'! Something hit the car... did we hit some animal, run over a dead body (the undead who had planted the sign), run over some guy 'i know what you did last summer' types, or was it just some harmless bush, well we had no idea and we weren't going to stop to find out, coz it was definitely something...
'the curious incident of something in the night-time'
... so roochay gets more spooked and tries to scare everyone else, we seem lost, and there's no one around to ask for directions. We keep driving, finally see a hut, with a dim light, 'someone' (who has been named previously but has since protested against the 'allegations') is too scared to go ask for directions, finally arpit goes with him, asks directions, turns out we should have taken the main road, but this road is also okay, just a bit long and rough and umm... scary... Still haven't figured out the mystery of the signboard though...
We rumble on, reach there late around 1 in the night, realize we had made no reservations, cue we frantically calling up all the resorts after getting their numbers from the signboards, turns out everything is full. We drive on, looking wistfully at the parties going on in various cottages. Going to every resort, asking for reservations, we ditched the car, walked on foot. No rooms free anywhere! In the entire freakin place!!
Well the place is like a strait, a narrow piece of land, with resorts, and with sea on either side. Thought we might have to spend the next three days sleeping in the car or on the beach... hmm.. on second thoughts would that have been that bad...well anyway, right at the end, we find a resort, literally and figuratively the last resort, turns out the guy was watchin a movie thats why he was awake, and he had a couple of room to spare!! So we get the rooms, trundle down to the beach, take in more of the beautiful night, the silver moonlight shining on the pristine sand and waves, the sand was so white it glittered even at night.
We sat there for a while, in absolute silence, just the sound of the crashing waves... This silence is so addictive, you crave for such moments when you get back to the real world, the world you want to run away from. It is these moments, which give you the energy to face the world. I think vacations should be made mandatory every couple of months, i guarantee productivity will go up 200%...
We realize its real late, get back to the rooms for some well-deserved-even-though-we-dont-want-to sleep, waiting for the morning to arrive... with all its exciting possibilities!!
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