I want to tell you a story, a story of Kalyani who is one of my best friends. At first, as most of you would, even I had dismissed it, thinking it just couldn’t be true. However, the time has proven me wrong. I had to cajole her a lot to share this instance of her life with me. Let me present her story in 3 parts, in her own voice and you be the judge if it’s true or not.
PART 1: The Pond
This happened when I was in my early twenties, looks like a lifetime ago honestly but the memory is still fresh in my mind as if it happened yesterday. I still smell the freshness of the newly grown grass, the soft rustle of the leaves in the distance, and the soothing sound of that waterfall. The water fell from the side of the hill into the pond where this incident took place. But I am getting ahead of myself.
I had chosen agriculture engineering as my college major and for a project on “soil sampling”, we had to visit a remote village of “Kakan” in rural Maharashtra state of India. When it was announced, I was immediately overjoyed. I thought it was going to be a welcome break from the mundane hostel life however I understood later that there was a larger purpose to this visit. We sat on the college bus but when the bus was on a hill climb, it gave up. The driver gave a look of disappointment which meant this was it. We had no way to turn back so our tour guide and our professor of the trip talked us into following him on a trail through the forest to reach the village of Kakan. He had been to this village hundreds of times so we had no reason to doubt him. There was plenty of daylight remaining. Our professor briefed us about how he would take us through the forest and told us to form a chain so we would be able to walk on the narrow trails. He also mentioned keeping our luggage, and food items on the bus itself, so we can travel light and reach the village in time. The bus will get repaired by tomorrow and will meet us at the village directly. I had never trekked ever, so I was super excited about this journey. As we made our way into the dense forest, the sunlight started to disappear. Though it was afternoon, it felt like dusk. I was the last in the line as I didn’t have many friends in my college days. I was the weird one, I guess. I didn’t mingle with anyone. I studied in a girls’ college. I felt very awkward initiating conversations or even participating in one, about irrelevant matters such as boys or fashion like other girls would. So I was the last one following all of them, enjoying nature. Enjoying each different colored petal of the flower, noticing each butterfly’s wings, taking in the smell of the fresh grass, the chirping of the birds, I was taking in everything. Often I was taking pictures in a digital camera of the surroundings, this meant I was lagging behind the last girl in the chain. After being satisfied with the picture that I took, I would take a few quick steps to be back in the student chain, walking through the trail.
We were climbing through a slanted area of the hill. The soil was slippery. I was carefully putting one foot after another. Just then I heard a very strange voice echoing in the jungle. I used my digital camera to zoom in on nearby areas. I saw one parrot that had sky-blue-colored feathers. I had never seen such a unique parrot so I was clicking pictures of it. I forgot about that strange noise and enjoyed the different poses it was giving me. Then as if it looked straight at me. It was a strange feeling so I let my digital camera hang around my neck and started wondering where the last student had disappeared. I didn’t see anyone as far as I could see. I rushed in the same direction I was walking but I was walking on loose soil so inevitably I slipped and rolled. I was desperately trying to hold on to something so my fall could be stopped. I was trying to use my legs as breaks but the slanted surface of the hill ensured gravity pulled me to the bottom of the hill.
There, I was. Alone and scared at the bottom of the hill. When I tried to stand up, I realized a sharp pain in my left ankle, maybe when I was trying to stop my fall, it got hurt. I cried for help and yelled my professor’s name hoping someone would hear me. There was no answer. I yelled again and again but the only response I got was the fluttering of the wings of a few birds. Tired, I sat down, and leaned on a tree trunk, observing my body. My kurta was almost torn as I was rolling down the hill, and my ankle was badly swollen, and I couldn’t even touch it. I dusted myself off with my hands to clean the dirt on whatever clothes still remained on me. I again called out for help, “help me anyone” but no response.
Disappointed, I took a glance at my surroundings and I wasn’t so scared. It was such a beautiful place. I had rolled down to the hill where there was a pond. All sides of the pond were covered in thick trees with broad trunks, except one. I was sitting right at the shore. While I was calling frantically for help I missed noticing this beauty. Elsewhere these tall trees had restricted the sunlight from hitting the floor of the forest but here, the pond had created a nice opening. It was nice and bright. The light helped me calm down. Then my eyes went to the other side of the pond. The pond was getting its fresh water supply from a stream above. The flow was gentle, it was as if someone was gently pouring the water from above into this pond. The flow was clear too, anyone could see through the falling water. When the water met the surface of the pond, it created a soft trickling noise with ripples that reached out to the shores.
I decided to take a closer look at the pond. I had the urge to see my reflection and maybe even drink some water. Limping I came close to the water and saw my face. It was bruised. I saw my kurta barely covered my breasts. I took a few sips of water and splashed a handful on my face. It further calmed me down. Hoping for different results I again yelled my heart out for help but the results were the same. The ankle was thumping with pain. I realized that the cold water of the pond might help me. So I removed my salwar, which was torn in many places and barely covered my modesty anymore, to dip my left ankle in the cold water. As it started soothing me, I took a final look around me before removing my kurta as well. I dusted the clothes off in the hope that I would look decent when they found me. The sun was fading and so was my hope. I didn’t want to cry, I knew they would find me. I assured myself that it was not so bad. I loved nature so while it lasted I wanted to enjoy every bit of it. I thought how romantic this place is, I would love to come back to this pond with my partner to tell him my rescue story. Maybe he will laugh at my foolishness and maybe we might kiss or maybe we might take a bath together in that stream of the water and maybe who knows we might even make love here. The thought excited me. It held me together. It made me believe that I was going to be saved so I could enjoy that moment in the future. I decided to take a dip in the pond to swim toward the falling water. The cold water was beneficial in healing my ankle. I could move it a bit better than earlier. I cleaned myself off well while I swam. I reached the stream that fed water from above to this pond and played with the water, even drinking a few gulps down. I was smiling like a little kid. Then I came back to the center of the pond and took a big breath to see the bottom of the pond. The clear water of the pond made it easy for me to see those little fishes that ran to safety as I was peaking in their world. I saw the beautiful green carpet mother nature laid at the bottom. My chest was imploring for a fresh breath so I rushed back up. As I moved the wet hair from my face, I got the shock of my life.
That is the moment, the real story begins.
I saw a young man with, a barely grown beard, wavey hair, broad shoulders with a big smile sitting with crossed legs on a nearby rock, using sticks to draw things on the shoreline.
“oh, you up?” He said, flashing that smile.
To be continued …
Next Part, we will find out what happened to Kalyani and who was this stranger waiting for her.
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