THE FALL in Ghatikallu

Strange things happen to men when they are faced with hot women and cool weather. Stranger things happen when there is cold water.

Our gentle giant Bala let out his Mowgli-Tarzan-Whoo cry. It was a sign of happiness bordering on delirium.

NHNT Pawan let out a soft howl through his tightly clenched, albiet grinning, teeth.

I did not know how to react. I love water. I hate water. I love the feeling when the weather is cool. I love it more when it is cold. I absolutely hate it when the water is cold though. So you know, the contradictions, they make a man happy, they make a man go crazy, they make a man a little ecstatic, the reason being he does not know if he likes it or not, and I was in that state of not knowing what to say or what to think. As I said earlier, I did not know how to react.

Tukku, being the gentleman he generally is, preferred to reserve his comment. He plucked his comment from inside his mind, placed it on the stone which was nearby, climbed a bigger rock which stood next to it and jumped on the comment which he had placed, breaking the comment into countless different pieces. Only after some research that took a very long time did we realize that the relationship between him and water was never good. No, they were not divorced. They were not even married. For heaven's sake, they were not even lovers. They just didn't get along well. That's all.

We were coupled with red life jackets which really didn't fit any of us. It was too loose for me. I saw Tukku and realized it was too loose for him too. It was 'I-don't-think-it-is-comfortable-enough' for NHNT, and was too tight for the GG(Unsurprisingly, i hasten to add). Now if your question is, "Did you guys really need that jacket? Its such a fuckin' small pond! Aren't you ashamed?", all I can say is, "I really am not a fan of life in general, but in general, death by water is not a good way to die too! If you don't know how to swim, and yet value your pride, you can go and drown yourself. I love my red jackets."

We wore the jackets, a little apprehensive, just a little bit ashamed, as happy as a dog which has just been unleashed, and got into the water.

A minute later we were back on the land.

"Friggin C..O..LLL.DDDD". Someone said. I am pretty sure it was me, but well, the other guys told it too, in a lot of different ways. Doesn't really matter. What matters is this. It was such a 'I-can-cook-dosas-on-this-rock' hot day and the water was cold. So cold ,someone could have used it to chill beer (Ooops.. I hope I haven't given any wrong ideas to anyone who matters!). The guide who brought us there had a smirk on his face (oh, didn't I mention him? Damn, i always keep forgetting about these guides. I think they will banish me soon) which was wide enough to force me not read between the lines which said, "These people from cities.. so spoilt, so soft". Soft. Yeah. Soft as in 'that girls' skin is soft', 'ooo... baby, you are so soft', 'this sofa is soft'. Mind you, men never like these 'softs' when it is on them.

This pond was created by a waterfall which fell from around 40 feet (i am not very good at these assumptions. So you can either google it and find it out for yourself or take my word for it). It was not a big one, but well, one that was surprisingly adequate to play around. So happy were we with this fall, I can even go to the extent of saying that our stay in Ghatikallu (News: Ghatikallu is not a name that the people here identify their place with. Ghatikallu is the result of just another marketing strategy) was such an enriching experience because we spent some time under this fall (and also because we dragged ourselves to the mudfort, which you might have read about). Do not burden me with your question - "What is the name of this fall?". How the fuck does that matter when a rose by any other name is still a rose?


Argument with an unsound logic you say? I agree. 


A rose by any other name is still a rose. The point is, there is something that you can call it with. So let us not overly complicate this with names that are hard to remember. Let's call this fall, THE FALL.

On the way to Horanadu from Mudigere, just take a few rights, a few lefts, climb that steep hill, roll down again, and there you are - you are standing in front of THE FALL. We took an easier route though. We just stayed in Ghatikallu homestay. Our guide, who incidentally owns this Ghatikallu homestay, carried us in his gypsy, through the previously mentioned, right-left-up-down terrain and just when we were wondering if we were anywhere near the Sri Lankan border, the gypsy stopped. After the gypsy stopped, it was our turn to take a small right, a minor left and roll downhill to arrive at the pond.


And right next to the pond was THE FALL.


And that's where this writing began.

Oh yeah. We got into the pond anyway. While the gentle giant used his enormously huge limbs to plough through the water and reach the other side of the pond where the waterfall was, lesser mortals like us had to use the same enormously huge limbs (not ours... the gentle giants' !) to reach it and feel its force. Of course Tukku was not there. It is not right on our part to speculate the reason for his absence. We already know it.

After three agonizing cold minutes under THE FALL, the lesser mortals - myself and NHNT - decided to swim away (the right word is float away, we don't know how to swim, but we have embarassed ourself too much now). We swam, I showed what a creative person I am by rotating clockwise and anticlockwise in the pond, Tukku was still emotionally detached with the capricious water lady, NHNT was just beginning to get all warmed up in the cold water, Bala threw himself around dwarfing even the giant fall, and the guide still had the smirk, courtsey the panic we created just because there was a water-snake trying to catch a dragonfly.

Bloody soft spoilt city guys.

I spent the next ten minutes trying to catch my breath (I think the cold water was so cold, my breath started solidifying. A pile of bullshit you say? I completely agree) and the others spent the same ten minutes getting all dressed up. We bid goodbye to the water snake which created panic, bid goodbye to the red jackets, and wished to bid goodbye to the bunch of beautiful girls who were just coming in to enjoy the pond. With a towel on my head and a sunglass on my eyes, I hiked my way back to the gypsy. Tukku walked like a gentleman just a few metres away from me - with a towel on his shoulders. The gentle giant had already disappeared with his camera while Pawan (yes, yes.. the NHNT), I guess, had made a few jumps like pawan putra hanuman and got into our vehicle the moment that snake had come out of its home to have its brunch (i hope so, he wasn't with us, and I don't think he was with the bunch of girls.. or was he???).

Disclaimer: All that has been written here might factually not be 100 percent accurate, but the essence of the story remains true to the happenings of the day. If the reader thinks it is necessary to bring to my notice that some of the things could never have  happened or has never happened, he can take the water-snake from the pond and stuff it inside his noise so that it can remove the blockade which might exist between his brain and his 'sense-of-humour-nerve'. Thank you for your patience. Have a good day.