The Big Black Box

Its been a long while since i blogged. I have been suffering from what bloggers generally call, a writer's block. I spent nights staring at the screen, wanting to write but facing a big black box in my mind. It felt like, the box comes right in front of everything else, blocking out every other thought that would have been blogged otherwise.
There were several things i wanted to blog but could not because of this so-called writer's block. I am finally here, making an attempt to move that big block out there.
Here is one thing that I have been dying to blog but resisted the urge because i was quite sure that i would, sometime in future, will look at it and repent that I ever wrote them. But still, the devil in me succeeded. Here it is. The ill-fated Ooty Winter Survey Camp.
Everything that begins well ends well. A famous maxim. But let me tell you. It is an utter lie. I am more a believer of Murphy's Law. If everything seems right, then something is about to go wrong. Now, that is a line. A perfectly true one. Our trip to Ooty began well. One cannot say a perfect start, but yes, to an extent, it began well. It can be said spotless if the fact that TTR shouted at us for all the havoc we were creating in the train can be forgotten. The toy train journey was simply wonderful. Breathtaking views of the Nilgiri Valley were a feast to our eyes.
The first two days went very well. Personally, it was great. I had an exclusive tour of the entire hills in the name of Site Selection for Surveying. The next two days went in surveying Thalakunda, Our Surveying Site. It was all serious work. Okay, not so serious. Well, basically very little work and a lot of fun. So far so good.
As i said, it looked too good to be true. And right I was. The happy event of cake cutting on the ill fated 4th of December turned out to be a messy one creating cracks, fissures, inside the class. Words were said and feelings were hurt. The unwanted entry and words of some special people resulted in further chaos and hurt. (The way i feel about these special people would require another big blog. Hence, i am omitting the part here) I once read somewhere "No one has the power to hurt unless the word they say mean a lot". I was a real fool to have let them hurt me. I could not help it. I was hurt.
Once again, it was my dear friends that I turned to. My friends were the ones who stood up for me during the fateful night and i realised how much i love my friends. It feels good when someone stands up for you even when its not the right moment to do so. The only good thing that happened that day was my discovery of some really good friends who will be there for me always. The ill fated night ended with one of the girls hospitalised because of wheezing and cold.
Yes, the Cold. I forgot to mention the biting cold there. I was beneath layers of clothing and could still feel the cold bite into my skin. My heart yearned for a warm bed. But still, we had fun in the cold. The Hot tea in the roadside tea shop and the the Hot Bajjis from another roadside vendor were a real treat. We stayed at YWCA. The reception, warm and welcoming, was another place where we had fun watching the TV. Also the Thendral and Tandoor Mahal Restaurants deserve a special mention as we stuffed ourselves with the food there.
After the ill fated night, things went on as before. But now, the crack had widened. I spent all of my time with my friends while the rest of the class were in a world of their own. All I could remember of the subsequent days are the times we were together.
The dodabetta and the botanical garden were superb. The sights were quite refreshing, quite different from the concrete views of the Chennai city. We also had a camp fire. It was okay. But our personal camp fire (after the rest of the class had left) and the midnight noodles were great, memories to be remembered always.
The day of return arrived and we left Ooty, more divided than we came. May be its jinxed. The survey camp always widens the crack. I left wiser and clearer on people's thoughts. I finally reached home at midnight and fell into my beloved warm welcoming bed. My search and yearn for a warm bed ended.