Night Hike #TM2021

I came across DivingDeep(is an Ahmedabad based organization that organizes nature walks, eco tourism and wilderness retreats) on Khoj Map(a tourist map of Ahmedabad from a local's perspective). And I found everything about DivingDeep super cool. I signed up for the first hike that I could find on their Instamojo page. It was the World CleanUp Day Hike at Jessore Sloth Bear Sanctuary. I’ve never really been hiking, I was dead by the end of it, but it was super-duper fun. I’d seen the post about the Sharad Poornima Hike on their page, but I was skeptical, I didn’t want to go alone, but Simran and Ansh were very easy to convince. So was Niharika (You guys know I love you).

We reached the starting point on Indore Ahmedabad Highway. All the participants were to meet here. Then we drove 5 km through a village to reach the starting point of the hike. The first thing we noticed on reaching were fireflies. There were fireflies all around us. I don’t know when the last time I’d seen fireflies. Probably, 3-4 years ago at my uncle’s place in Kerala. And the moon was so bright. Torches weren’t a necessity at all. We started the hike by standing in a circle as a group (there were about 25-30 people in total) and describing our feeling at the moment in a word. I chose the word glad.

Later, a few of us went to relieve ourselves in the woods, by the time Simran and I came back we were shit – scared, I’d just seen House of Secrets on Netflix just a few days back, I’d made sure that I’d told everyone about it before the trip, honestly just looking at trees creeped me out. We were divided into two groups, Ansh and I were with Bhardwaj, and Niharika and Simran were with Dvijen. Both the groups went along different trails into the woods.

I’d say, we started first, and just walking in the woods during the full moon, it was exhilarating. The weather was nice, it was pleasantly cold, and we could hear some animals here and there. We were told that hyenas and porcupines are seen in the woods, I’m glad I didn’t come across any. I did see a few bats through. There were thorny bushes and branches of thorny shrubs sticking out in weird directions, a few got stuck in my hair, I walked headfirst into a few, I mean within the first 20 minutes, I had scrapes on both my hands.

I felt like a daredevil walking in the forest in the middle of the night with just a torch. (Like people in horror movies who walk into scary situations and end up dead). It was just 8:30 at night but it felt like 2am. Sometimes, we lost our way, sometimes the trail was impossible to climb down, and Bhardwaj had to find alternative paths (if it wasn’t for him motivating us and sometimes even taunting, I don’t think most people would have completed the hike). We also walked under a banyan tree, and all I could think about was House of Secrets. The other group stood under the tree for 5 minutes. I’m glad we did not do it. At one point, we were along the banks of a river, it was so beautiful, the moon was so bright and it just felt so good to be sitting looking into the river. Simran later told me that they saw crocodiles in the river, again I’m glad I didn’t. (If you’re ever chased by a crocodile, run in a zigzag pattern). Someone from our group fell after we started from this point, and the rest of us waited at a check dam. While my friends saw crocodiles, Ansh and I saw a frog. (I think it’s a toad though). And there was a peacock feather right next to where I sat. For some reason, it felt like it was there for me, but then Bhardwaj had told us right in the beginning about not taking anything from the forests.

Then we reached a higher ground where the other group was already there. All of us sat there, lying down under the bright sky for a while. I’m pretty sure everyone was at peace at that moment, under the bright moonlight, looking at the stars and feeling nature around us.

Then, we chose groups, the group with Bhardwaj was to go along the difficult path, trust me it was difficult. But it was fun. (I’d say it was his taunts that made it fun). At the point when we had to come down a steep (scary) path, Niharika fell, it wasn’t funny then, but now when we think about it, it is. (It was funny then too. I did make fun of her saying she was the fastest person to come down). She stepped on soil that wasn’t solid and fell through the bushes. Like they do in cartoons. For a moment she was there, then she was gone. The next person also slid down.

This happened right after I said it’d have been quicker if people just rolled down, as if I was predicting the future. Next, it was my turn, Ansh tells me I did maximum drama before coming down, that I troubled Bhardwaj the most and I think I did. I remember him saying “No matter what you do, don’t fall on me.” (I almost fell on him). After that, we literally ran through the woods. Mani’s pants got stuck in the thorns, we did a rescue mission and then Bhardwaj had to wait for us again, he called us slow and asked us to walk right in the front with him. I kept complaining that I’d never walked this fast on normal paved roads, but now when I think about it, the running, my constant lame comments and complaints, Bhardwaj’s taunts were what made the hike more fun.

We ended the hike at the temple. There was Bhajan going on, one thing I noticed is that there were no women around. I don't know if it was because of the time (it was almost 12:30 by the time we reached the temple). The bhajan was very soothing to listen to, not that I’ve seen or heard many. A group of old men were the ones singing the bhajan. After they were done, one of them brought us prasad. One of them was sitting on a cot and telling stories and I couldn’t understand a word (I need to learn Gujarati). Then we had Dudh Poha. The DivingDeep team had bought the zero waste leaf bowls and steel spoons. I bought one of those bowls home. I like keeping souvenirs. Yet, I didn’t even bring back a stone from the forest. I did take every instruction that Bhardwaj gave seriously. Other than the part where he told me to come down the slope cross-legged or not to sit and slide down (I was just scared I'm going to fall on my face).

Before leaving, we gathered in a circle again and said one word that we felt. I said, “I'm proud of myself”. I was, choosing the harder path, for leaving the peacock feather exactly where I found it, for completing the hike. Also, we had to ask people to give us a ride back to the highway because our car was there. And people were sweet enough to do it. At the end of it, I’m very glad and proud that I went for the hike and I have bohot jyada appreciation for the people I went with. I have not been on many hikes, but I know for a fact that I'll always remember this one and the hike is definitely one of my best memories of 2021.