My first trekking experience

           It happened during my third semester holidays. It was a warm sunny day. I went to the ground after my breakfast. My friends were discussing about something. I interrupted their conversation. Have any plans? …. “Can we go to marana parai?” Kevin said… Everyone was interested and we started walking. We were a group of eight. We had to walk three miles to reach the place. We travelled through tea bushes and reached that place at last. Marana parai as the name indicates is the rock of death. It’s a view point made of a single rock. We spent some time there.
Viki asked “Can we get down?”

Why not?  Vimal said.

          I thought they were kidding. After some time everybody got up and started to get down the hill (Are they mad??). I had no other go so I went with them. Kevin came near me and said “Take it easy man we will come back after getting down a little further.” It was walking through a steep (Nearly crawling). If I just misplace a step that’s it I will be down there dead. I was cautious on my every move. My friend Kevin helped me every time when I was afraid or slipped. The place was covered with rocks and bushes. I carefully snatched the bushes and slowly got down the rock. “Is it over and can we go back?” I asked curiously.
“We have come here before” Suresh said. 

“Yep” Prince replied. 

“Let’s go further” Vishnu commanded.

           We followed him. We ended in a place and there was a rock and a tree. We should get down the rock and climb up the tree and reach the next rock. If we slip from either the tree or the rock then we will go down for sure. I can’t do this I said. Everybody encouraged me. I had no choice. Six of them went to the next rock. Kevin was behind me and he was watching as I got down from the rock. I made it at last. I wondered whether I could go back!!!!  There was a slope and I started running. It wasn’t so steep so I ran swiftly. Kevin shouted” Stop! Stop! Stop!!!” He was standing below and watching me. I knew he was saying something but I couldn’t hear anything. He came near me and tried to stop but I didn’t. He took his hand and caught me firmly. What was he doing? He asked me to look down. I watched down and nearly fainted by looking at the deep valley. I thanked him but he was angry and scolded me. If he had not stopped I would have been dead by now. The other tasks were easy to complete. We go down the rocks. 

The place was dark because of the trees. It looked like an abandoned forest. We were afraid and I searched for a weapon to protect ourselves and I ended up with a log. On the way we saw a cave and we were so afraid and we ran past it. We reached a place where there was a small stream. We went up by following the stream and there was a beautiful falls and the place was so cold so no one was interested to get wet. The grass was wet and we finally made it to the tea bushes. We went through them and finally saw a road. We went to it and sat down for a while. I saw a black thing in my right leg. It was a leech and I took a stick and managed to get rid of it. Leeches are blood suckers and you don’t feel their presence unless you see them. My friends got alert and everybody began to search themselves. Vishnu, Kevin and Prince were also the persons who got bit by the leech. We carefully removed the leeches from their body . We couldn’t see a single person on the road. We couldn’t recognize the place. We walked, walked and walked…. We got lift from a vehicle and we reached our homes. I was happy to be back at home. I couldn’t forget that day. The experience was like hell. It was worth remembering for a life time…