Officer's Mess

I am going to describe the memorable experiences in an Army Officers' Mess. Being the son of an Army Officer,  I had quite a good grasp on table manners, I thought I did, but there were times when I went overboard. One such thing happened  an Officers' mess.
When me moved to Delhi, we spent a couple of weeks in the Mess, before getting an accommodation. The dining room in the mess had strict timings which were displayed outside.  There were many more unwritten rules. When we enter we must wish everyone there. Good morning uncle , sir blah blah. The plate would be upside down and a neatly folded napkin placed next to it. We had take the napkin and put on our lap and then turn the plate to its correct position. The glass would be placed next to it and the same had to be done with the glass.
There were forks, spoons and knives on either side of the plate. I personally love eating with my hand, but we would be looked upon by other as though we committed a crime.
Many of the people there would ask us what we were doing etc. I found some to take genuine interest, but the others it seemed were just faking it. A part of the protocol I suppose.
I remember one incident where I took a bread toast and tried eating it with a knife and fork.
I somehow managed to fold the toast into half picked it with my fork and thrust in into my mouth.
The bread behaved like a spring and the moment i pulled out the fork it opened up. Half the toast in my mouth and the other half outside. The little girl in front of me looked amused, as I embarrassingly pulled out the toast from my mouth.
Once during lunch, as I went to the dining hall, I saw some guys enjoying their meal with their hands. As I sat down after customary greetings, I found out that these guys were civilians who were here for some official purpose. I was most comfortable and relaxed while having food with them.
During dinner, I was once served bread, and the pudding that is normally served after dinner was served before. I just applied butter on the bread and consumed it. Later when I tasted the salty ' pudding', I realised it was Russian salad. No wonder the people sitting in front of looked amused.
I never felt comfortable eating the mess.
Soon we got our accommodation and I didn't have to eat in the mess again.

In the Company of Leeches - My Second Trek

In the month of October, my work place organized another trek. I was one of first to register. We trekked in the Aralam Wildlife sanctuary, in the Kannur district, near Irrity in the state of Kerala. It was a monsoon trek, and there were lots of incidents that I'll remember.
We started on a pleasant Saturday Morning, 41 of us including 4 ladies and our guide. The Trek was flagged of by the head of our organization.
We left Mysore at around 8 in the morning. We went via Virajpet. On the way we halted for breakfast, Idily, vada sambar, chutney and something else that was sweet , can't recollect the name. It was delicious. We crossed into Kerala by around 1300hrs and we had Lunch. We then continued with our Journey and reached Aralam Wildlife Sanctuary by around 1600hrs. It was drizzling.
A lot of people were talking about Leeches. I've heard of them, only when someone describes someone else. But now I think I have to take the literal meaning.
We took a walk to the bank of the river nearby and the path, it seem had leeches. I was wearing my trekking shoes and a pant and a raincoat. I didn't think a leech could cross all those lines of defense. But when we reached, I just casually lifted my pant a bit, to my shock there were three black things just above my sock. I was now donating blood to the nature. I tried yanking them off, but they wouldn't budge. Then a veteran trekker taught me to remove them by their suckers and then roll and toss them. I was now on the lookout, I kept looking down and walking. When I reached the dormitory, our abode for the night, I changed. On the table I saw a packet of salt. It seems that leeches don't take salt. In fact they seem to burst when in contact with salt. While I was just sitting and talking with my friends, one of them pointed out that there were not one but two leeches sucking blood from between my toes. Then the salt experiment was carried out and the leeches were killed and some blood saved and some sprayed.
The night I slept well, though initially I had a fear of leeches coming for a midnight snack.
The next morning, someone suggested that I wear shorts. The reason being that leeches can at least be seen climbing the leg. So I decided that I wear shorts.
It was a 14 km uphill trek to a waterfall.
We also rubbed some solution, a concoction of some jungle friendly anti leech elements. Unfortunately it didn't work for me.
After about 2km, I yanked a leech from the back of my knee. As I kept walking I saw that many leeches were waiting on the leaves on the ground in vertical position to jump onto our shoes. While I trekked I kept removing  Leeches from my shoes, before they get get to flesh using small twigs.
I noticed that while I stop at a place to remove two or three leeches, another 3 would climb up.
After dusting of leeches and walking for about 8 Km the gradient became steep. To make matters worse, it was humid and my DSLR was also heavy. After a while it started to rain. I took out my raincoat, I was now sweating inside.
After a while I didn't bother about the leeches, I was too tired.
We finally reached the top and then we could see the mesmerizing waterfall.
We had lunch there, and then we went back to the base camp in jeeps. The jeeps had a lot of leeches too. One bit my neck, one bit my elbow. Before things got worse we reached the dormitory.
I took a bath in the river nearby, another first for me.
We then headed for Mysore, I reached home at around 1 in the morning.
I had a very good time and now I can say that I can take on leeches (real ones) anywhere.

Trek - Part 1

I always wanted to go on a trek in a densely forested area. I got to do it last November. My office organised a trek to 'Pushpagiri' also know as 'Kumara Parvatha'. There were about 30 of us. I paid the fee and completed all the formalities. We left from Mysore in the Morning in a hired bus after the Manager flagged off the journey. We had breakfast en route. It was a two day program. On the first day, we would visit a waterfall and then reach the base camp. I don't remember the name of that particular water fall. What I do remember, is that we had to walk for at least 3km both ways on treacherous terrain. A heads up though, my definition of treacherous would be heavily altered on Day2.  I was tagging along with a senior colleague who had an encyclopaedic knowledge of flora and fauna. I got to know the names of some species of butterflies and birds. Since we were looking at butterflies, we reached the waterfall long after the first group reached. I never ever step into water at outings, but since today I was equipped with a swimming costume, I decided to take a dip. I stepped on a stone that was covered with slippery algae and fell down into the water and bruised my leg. It was a well learnt lesson. Watch your step! After wrapping up, we headed to the base camp. The local temple was our abode for the night. My water bottle got empty, so i asked the team leader for water. To my surprise, he asked me to collect water from the nearby tap, which was coming from the mountain top. That was my first gulp of unfiltered water, it was good, as there aren't many pollutants on the mountain top. We slept in the temple premises, it was a new experience. The night was cold and quiet. My  seasoned trekker friend, got up at three in the morning to take a bath in frigidly cold water. How do i know that? He was sleeping besides me, and in the night i got up looking at some one shivering, actually shaking with cold and rubbing himself with his towel.
The next morning we got up early as we had to leave by 0800 hrs, we walked for about a kilometre and then reached the forest guard or some forest office. All of us signed a document there. The language being kannada, I couldn't make head or tail. But most likely it would have a been a document that indemnifies the forest officials from any responsibility in the event of any damage to the limbs or loss of life.
We entered the forest. There was a trekking path as this place is frequented by trekkers. We started walking. I saw a board that displayed that the distance to the summit is 20km.  An upward trek of 10 km. I was excited.
In a single file we started, I took a few snaps here and there. Within a kilometre the  trek path became uneven and treacherous. We had to walk and climb and I was wearing a very heavy shoe, supposedly designed for trekking. I soon grew tired and exhausted and then arose the need to consume water, and just like the temple, I was asked to consume water from the stream that was flowing nearby. I was a bit reluctant, but when your thirsty and in a jungle, you don't have a choice. I drank some water and to my surprise it was pristine, and cool. It was the purest form of water i ever had. I took some more gulps and kept moving. After the first 7 km we took a break. We then started again and then the terrain became extremely treacherous, the inclination was now 30 degree, no less. I was becoming extremely tired and after about about had hour, I was thinking to myself, if i did the right thing to participate in this trek. I was overcome with exhaustion. Our breaks were now 2 km apart. We were right in the middle of the hilly jungle. We could hear all kinds of noises. The sun rays barely reached the ground beneath us. We kept going and then came a steep climb on plain rock. That was the most treacherous part. I must thank my shoes, the grip was so good that i felt like spiderman, where everyone else was struggling. We crossed this hurdle and then there was the climb to the summit. Surprisingly that wasn't very steep and we reached the top. I was overjoyed and felt a sense of accomplishement. We roamed around the top, and sat down to have our lunch. The trip to the top took us 4 hours. It was 1400 hrs in the afternoon and we had to get back before dark.
We took photos etc and then we started our descent.
Going downhill wasn't tough, in this journey gravity was on our side.  I walked fast and my heavy shoes was useful as i needn't worry about pebbles and twigs.  Soon, I started feeling thirsty. I went faster and faster with the aim to reach the small stream, which was half way down. Through the thick forrest and terrain we went and soon I reached the stream.

Trek Part 2 - (Triangle head)

I was overjoyed. The sound and sight of water made me feel good. I was about to take my first gulp of water, when a thought occurred to me.  There was a big wooden log across the stream at a height, such that the water could flow freely under it. Beyond the wooden log i could see upstream. I thought why not cross the Log and drink 'fresher' water from up stream. I made my way thought the pebbles and rocks and went under the log. I touched the water, it was very cool. I then drank plenty of water, and i filled my bottle. Just then a colleague of mine reached the stream and asked for water.  I handed him the bottle and he gulped down its contents. I then went again to fill my bottle. This time another colleague came along. We were under the log, when all of a sudden i saw something moving near my foot. My colleague had just lifted his foot and that thing made a sudden dash towards my colleague's legs, The triangle headed snake just missed his legs. I warned him and we immediately came out of there. Later on I found out that the snake that just missed my colleague's leg was a Malabar Pit Viper.
We didn't know the exact species of the snake, but i triangle head made it seem like a venomous viper. Only later did I know that it was malabar pit viper,  venomous snake, but a bite wouldn't kill. I thanked my blessings and we moved on. Going downhill was fun. After drinking a lot of water, I needed to empty my bladder. Another first for me was taking a leak in the forest.
We then reached the end of our journey and headed back to the base camp. We had tea and started for Mysore.  The driver had lost his way somewhere in Madekeri and then he got back onto the correct route. We didn't loose much time though. I reached Mysore late in the night and then I went home tired and happy.
This was my first trek and I enjoyed it a lot .