With A Definite Purpose

I'm not going to write about the North trip. It's way too much. I'll never get it over with. A few things will keep taking me back to the place though - or the experience to be precise.


Sounds of silence & the outdoor life

Every night that I lay on the camp bed in our tent, the silence kept me awake an extra 10-15 minutes than the usual. I would listen to the Ganga water flowing down below and the occasional muffled rustling of the leaves in the trees. Time and again, an unidentifiable sound would place itself within audible distance and keep me guessing. Of course, once you start the guessing game, all sorts of crazy ideas crop up. T'was fun. Kept kicking away the sleep to a later time.

I also loved the outdoor life, away from our hectic routine. Even the 'dry toilets', which initially had us in a daze, soon gained in popularity. Maybe a form of that fun factor thing - sand pit, plate et all.



The Jump

Of all the things in the world, I had never imagined I'd dare my fear of heights on the trip. But I did. From a 35 foot elevation, off the top of a boulder faced the Ganga - I claimed my feat. I still don't know what helped me overcome the fear, more so because I was the first in line to take the plunge but I guess this what one calls fate. It had to happen there and then. The jump down was a very long period that we all experienced. You expected to hit the water in a jiffy and then the extension kicked in. With eyes closed, you wondered if you'd jumped off the wrong side of the rock or something. Panic stricken emotions almost shot through the brain when SPLASH!
You welcomed the numbness offered by the 4 degree water.

Planning

Coordinating, group polls, motivating and passing on vital info were a few of the things that were seen all the time. With an aplomb approach does one gain maximum positive response and I strove hard for that front. Most of it paid off.



We amassed a total of around 1100 pics and vids from the trip, thanks to the click-a-thon of 4 digital cameras. I took up the mammoth task of applying relevant labels to each picture and video as I thought it best to segregate and organise our collection. Took me a few hours but I had touched up 700 odd entities by the end of it. Worthwhile.

Very few people note the significance of such an activity. In my eyes, it's only an application of data sorting and warehousing that we speak of, only implemented in a not-so-hot area. But I keep asking myself and sometimes, a few friends - what if you wanted to view a certain rafting picture? Would you skim through those 1100 untitled files and pick up the one you wanted after a taxing bout of searching?

Or would you rather choose a folder that had 56 files .... all within scope?

So fucking simple really.