Being one with the nature was something that I always craved since my childhood. In the hindsight, I was lucky to spend majority of my growing up years in different parts of the country which were diverse in geography but having one common pattern in the sense that all these places were more closer to natural jungle than concrete jungles.
In any case I'm not a very extrovert kind of person , therefore I always find myself more at home in secluded, calm places than let's say in crowded malls etc. I'm always game for any sort of adventure activity especially if it involves being closer to nature. I've done river rafting, trekking, para-gliding, lots of annual vacation at hill-stations. But now I wanted to take this to next level. One of crazy idea in my bucket list is to experience outdoor camping away from the hustle - bustle of the city. Actually inception of this idea was originally in my close friend's mind but like most of my goals, hobbies. I borrowed and made it my own.
For quite some time, Camping on our own has been a topic which we frequently discuss, mull over, make some crazy plans which never fructify, decide in all seriousness that we will definitely try it next week. It sort of developed a pattern which we somehow were not able to break; till last month.
This time too it started as it always do. While chatting on skype, My friend quipped that we must plan for an outdoor camping experience. Since it was starting of new year. I was all pumped up with the excitement and motivation that you feel for a few weeks after making your new year resolution. Plus as the luck would have it. I have to attend some family functions spaced over a week with some 2-3 days free in between. As I would be in my hometown during this duration with nothing else to do and keen to get away from my ever-inquisitive relatives. I find it a golden opportunity to satisfy my long standing whim. And thus begin my first experience with outdoor camping.
The family functions in question here was wedding of two of the cousin's from my wife's side. And as I said earlier, they were spaced round the week. So I landed up in Chandigarh with the family and duly attended the first set of functions. Though we have talked about the preparations for this camping trip but unfortunately we could not take out time for this. Hence it was more like in the spur of the moment kind of trip plus there was still some ambiguity about the real dates as I was not sure when I could get away from all this madness. But fortunately everything went alright and I ultimately landed up at my friends place to start this camping experiment. The situation was one down, one to go. As I was free from my last moment urgency; But my friend was still in his office and hence very much occupied. Anyways after some time both of us as relieved of urgent pending to do task and ready for this adventure of outdoor camping.
So we get into the car, took some bare essentials for this trip and decided to head towards Morni hills which is a secluded yet famous weekend getaway near Chandigarh, especially for college going crowd. To reach this spot, you actually has to pass through natural forest. The distance is not too much. Plus there is a guesthouse operated by Himachal tourism right at the bank of lake after the Morni hills, called Tikkartaal. In fact during one of my previous visits to this place, I had spotted some tents just beside this guesthouse which I understand were operated by the tourism department itself. We were also open to the idea of renting out their tents itself. The way to this lake was itself picturesque perhaps moreso because of the calm and tranquil state of mind that we were in. We stopped at the local grocery shop in a village on the way and bought some Knicks knacks, snacks plus matchbox as we were in full on mood of outdoor camping with bonfire. We made two more stops in the way; One for collecting some dried up branches of tress (We were lucky to find heap of wood, preferably collected by some nearby villager) and for having a plate of maggie. Yes we actually find one person selling noodles and other snacks very close to our destination. As we were in no hurry whatsoever and were feeling a bit hungry too. We stopped at that place. The food-stall owner actually has built a nice place for bonfire. Overall it has nice ambiance and the maggie was not bad too. After treating our taste - buds. We went ahead with our trip.
And so we reached our destination. It was twilight and the lake nested inside the mountains was looking even more beautiful. Coupled with that village like ambience with some folks songs sounding on radios, smoke rising from homes signaling the preparations of foods. Few snap of this picturesque setting below.
Everything was perfect but for one thing, there were no tents there. Even though we had carried makeshift tent in our car, still it was a big setback for us. Anyways we were not going to abandon our program due to this reason only. So we decided to follow our initial plan of enjoying the idleness even without the tents. So we sat down on the ground just near the parked car. The place was the best combination you can get between total wilderness yet accessible and secure. Although on secure part I will cover later on.
We chit chats for some time, talking about all the irrelevant topics. The sun was setting on the horizon. We could see the shadow of the same on the surface of the lake. After a while the stars come out. The sight of star-studded sky is something that you don't get to see in our over populated city. Once the darkness descends, it was almost impossible to judge if we were sitting in a city or a totally remote area. Just like the stars above, this total darkness is again something we are not accustomed to. After a while, I could see the shadows lengthening which was driving my over creative mind into overdrive. After some time, we decided to satisfy our whim by making the bonfire. In any case darkness coupled with dogs barking (I have a long-standing phobia against dogs) was unnerving us. We took out all the dry figs collected by us and got to the task to making the bonfire. Even though we had shown the presence of mind to buy matches from the grocery shop on the way. Still, lighting the bonfire was not as easy as it sounds. Unfortunately we did not have kerosene or anything else. All that we had was some old newspapers lying the car which we promptly wrapped on the wooden sticks and try to make the fire. It does not seems like we were going to make the Bonfire till my friend come up with a indigenous innovation better known as Jugaad. He found out that polythene film wrapped on the wooden fig makes it catch fire really easily. Probably because polythene is in essence oil and it should catch fire. Anyways it was a good hack. As to the question of where to find the polythene. Well unfortunately full of India is a big dustbin. You can easily find empty water bottles and chips / snacks packets scattered more-so at so called ecologically sensitive areas. For us it was actually hitting two birds with one stone. As not only we were enjoying outdoor camping, but also helping in cleaning the environment a bit. We actually made a good Bonfire, pic below.
The problem however was that we never had enough wood to last the night. So after a few hours maximum the fire was done and we were left with some simmering amber as the last remnant of our adventure. The forest nearby start appearing more scary since our eyes were not yet adjusted to the absence of light. I could sense the hair on my arm standing due to the sound of some dogs barking nearby. Good that we had one long stick which gives us some sense of protection. However false that may be. We fooled around for some more time but then ultimately could not shy away from the big question. Should we erect the tent lying in the car. After some deliberation also considering the fact that we don't have anything to defend ourselves. We decided not to pitch the tent. Another major factor was that it was really chilly outside and we were not prepared for that either. Hence we decided to use the car as makeshift tent for the night. I agree it was a major dampener and not at all a substitute for what we have originally come for. But it was a best bet we have considering the circumstances. Anyways we were as uncomfortable as we would be in a car parked in a totally secluded and forest area. My friend obviously is used to such adventures and was quite comfortably asleep in new minutes But I was almost fully awake for the whole duration.
At around 4 in the morning I think, Our body started reminding us we did not had anything for dinner last night (Save for some snacks) and the sleepless night did nothing to assuage the hunger rather it increased it. Hence we said enough is enough and with that our first experiment was finished. Nonetheless we still had some fun which includes night drives in foothills around Chandigarh; looking for some road side dhaba which would be open at such ungodly time and having steaming hot parantha's early in the morning.
So with this we concluded our first experiment of outdoor camping.
PS : At more than 1600 words, This is the longest blog post I have ever written
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