“We’re going camping,” said appa, as he sat down to dinner. Amma, Rahul and Ruhi looked at him in surprise.
“Gaurav from office goes regularly and he says its great fun. I’ve got all the details and made the bookings too.”
“Why do we need bookings to go camping?” asked 10-year-old Ruhi.
“Gaurav says it’s a camping site with facilities. So we need to book,” appa replied.
At the camp
The family set off on their first-ever camping trip with mixed feelings. They reached the site, as the sun was setting. The place was beautiful, peaceful and idyllic. Dense forest cover, with a lake in the valley, and wild flowers growing everywhere.
Appa took exaggerated gulps of fresh air and said, “Ah, how pure and fresh the air is.”
Amma said, “I desperately need a cup of coffee.”
Appa said nonchalantly, “No problemo. Let me set up the fire. Gaurav told me how to do it. You will have a refreshing cup of coffee in no time.”
Quickly he set about collecting twigs and dried leaves, placed three large stones in a triangle, and lit a match. But the wind blew it out. It took too long; amma got fed up and said, “Leave it. Let’s put up the tent. It’s getting dark.”
“That shouldn’t take long. This is good tent I picked up. Gaurav advised me to buy it.”
However, the tent took longer than expected to set up. The final result was not promising. Amma had packed dinner, which they ate in glum silence. After dinner, appa said they should play games because Gaurav said it was the best way to bond with the family. But, the others were having none of it. They wanted to get to bed.
The gentle sounds of the night soon lulled them to sleep. The moon rose high in the sky bathing the forest in its pale yellow light. An owl hooted nearby. Close to day break, a wind began to whoosh through the trees. Suddenly, it came tearing down and swept away their tent.
They were startled awake. There was no way they were going to find the tent that night, so they all snuggled back into their sleeping bags. They looked up at the trees silhouetted against the moon. They awoke feeling calm and rested, despite the mishap.
In the morning, appa had better luck with lighting the fire. So they enjoyed a lovely cup of tea while they basked in the sun, as it filtered through the trees.
“What shall we do today?” asked appa.
“Go home?” suggested Ruhi. “With no tent, it would be the wisest thing to do.”
“Oh we will find the tent,” said appa. “In fact, I suggest we start looking for it now.”
After breakfast, they set off to look for the errant tent. It was a steep climb with narrow paths. Suddenly, Ruhi who was bringing up the rear, shouted, “Aaaahh!”
They turned around to find she had disappeared. They rushed down and looked over a rock face. There she was dangling from a small tree.
“Help! Help!” she cried weakly.
Amma said, “Ruhi, let go of that tree.”
“Whhhatt? You want me to die?” croaked Ruhi in disbelief.
Now appa, amma and Rahul laughed. “No silly,” said Rahul. “The ground is not far from where you are hanging. Come on, let go and climb up.”
Sheepishly, Ruhi joined them minutes later.
Another adventure
“I’m tired,” said amma. “Let’s take a break.” She down on under a tree and sighed. Appa was right. This was relaxing. She closed her eyes and sighed.
Just then she felt a sharp, piercing pain in her buttocks. She screamed and began to jump around saying, “Ow! Ow! Ow!”
“What happened?”
“Something is biting me!”
“Hahahah! Ants in your pants,” said appa. “Take off your jeans and have a look.”
It was a while before amma stopped itching and rubbing her backside. “Let’s go,” she said brusquely.
Just then Rahul said, “There it is…up there…in the tree…”
“What?”
“The tent! The tent!”
Sure enough, there it was. All tangled up with the branches. Appa decided to climb the tree. He was almost near the tent when he heard a ‘crack!’. The branch had broken. Quickly he grabbed another but that was too weak, so he grabbed third ... Next his feet began to slip. It was a while before he got steady again and got hold of the tent. He was shaking when he got down.
Suddenly a swarm of bees flew down. Appa had disturbed a hive when rescuing the tent. Appa shouted, “Lie down! Lie down! Gaurav said that’s what we should do.” The angry bees buzzed and flew around over them, until finally they went away.
They began their descent. Everyone was quiet. Each had had a share of misfortune. Suddenly, they heard a crashing in the bushes around them. A bear peered out through the bushes. Frightened, they took to their heels but the bear followed them. They ran faster. The bear was getting close. As a last-ditch attempt at distracting it, Rahul took off his CSK t-shirt and threw it at the bear. It slipped neatly over its head and covered its eyes.
Taking their chance, they ran to safety. When they reached the campsite, they laughed. The rest of the three-day trip went off well, all things considered. When they got back to the city and their daily grind, they felt rejuvenated. “Please tell Gaurav from office that we had a good time,” said Ruhi.
