I always admire nature for its marvelous creations. I don’t read any books on nature nor do I study the genetic structure of chloroplast. But it is simpler to admire it and pretend to be Bear Grylls. So I joined my office-mates on a trip to Dandeli as we could engage ourselves in white water rafting on river Kali. So we set off from Goa (where I live) on a warm evening on a 1948 cc, 15 seater desi limo(winger) to Dandeli in Karnataka. Since I knew the local language (kannada) spoken there, I was chosen as the Supreme Commander for food and shelter arrangement for my army in Dandeli. I had booked a guest house, Dandeli Nisarga, on the internet. They had offered us breakfast, lunch, dinner, a camp fire, a trek and of course the rooms for around Rs 750 per person! So at many instances on the journey to Dandeli, the only doubt that lingered in my mind was whether the guest house actually existed! But I chose not to reveal this suspicion to anyone.

After 4 hours of our journey through towns and villages, we entered a wild forest area. We traveled further for 30 minutes and the roads seemed very similar to the ones we had just left behind. Another doubt crept up in my mind. Were we traveling in circles? “No” I told myself and wished every few signboards that we came across was a Google map. There was no cell phone range and none of the signboards mentioned Dandeli! After a while we entered a town from where we were directed to Dandeli and we found the way to our guest house, Dandeli Nisarga.

It was 10 pm when we reached and the whole guest house was in darkness. There was no electricity! Aha!! So this is why the offer was made cheap! They did not have electricity! I did not ask about it and they did not tell me! The owner cum manager assured me (in Kannada) that the electricity supply would resume as there was a power cut in the area. He was rubbing his chin. His voice seemed doubtful. His body language indicated he was not sure. I noticed all this and assured the same about the electricity to the others, but confidently. So we all proceeded for dinner as I covertly checked whether the rooms had any switch boards. Yes they did! There were tube lights and fans too! Finally my James Bond mode got switched off , when the tube lights lit up and the owners assurance turned out to be true. After a delicious dinner, we sat by the camp fire and went off to sleep at around 2am. The next day, we had to go for the much awaited river rafting!

Write an article in response.