It's been loong....

...since I wrote anything here. Seriously, I never thought that maintaining a blog could be such a big hassle. Nevertheless, I have taken up this task and I fully intend to continue it. Where do I begin? This has always been a big problem for me. I never know where to begin from. Take today, for example. I finally got my gears together and commenced packing, but when I actually got down to the act of it, I was lost as to where should I begin....I had no idea what should go in first, or will I need this in the coming month or not. On one hand, those newly bought shirts were beckoning me to try them out at least once before I left, and on the other, my Mom's advice that do not spoil those shirts before going was ringing in my head. So, I did what I do best - procrastinate. I have taken out the shirts from their store-packaging and sent them for ironing, after which, I will pack them up. I have also made a new list of what all to buy, thereby giving another jolt to Dad. His expression was priceless when I handed over the list to him. I could actually see the wheels in his head chugging into gear and his teeth gritting in frustration as he went over the list. Too bad, Dad, you agreed to send me to US... ;) So, I had the most fun days in June owing to the Camp. Yes people, I went to ANOTHER camp this year....bringing my tally up to a whopping SIX camps!! O.o The whole fiasco before the camp is a tale worthy of telling. You see, Dad has retired, so his contact with Chandimandir Cantt is minimal at best. The dates for the camp had been 18-24th of June and was to be held at Palampur. All fine, and we even confirmed that my name was in the list. Keeping this in mind, I gave a go-ahead to Mom to get her routine medical check-up done. The days leading up to 18th were filled with me driving her from place to place getting all her tests and related work completed. On 17th, just as Mom had been taken away for another round of tests, and I was sitting in her room in the hostpital, Dad gives me a call saying, and I quote, "Beta (Son), the bus has left at 8 o'clock this morning." I am like, WTF?! And that is not all....the camp was being held in Dharamsala instead of Palampur. Heeelooo?! Wasn't my name first in the list? Wasn't I supposed to be informed of this change in itenary? Oh well, Army is a funny organization and I would not like to get started on it.... ;) So, I hurried home, packed up in a jiffy, and went to the Sector 43 bus stand to catch the overnight bus. My adventure camp had just begun!! :D I bought the tickets for the first bus that was going to Dharamsala - a Roadways bus that was so cramped, that even a newborn would have trouble sitting. While we were loading up our luggage under our seats, over our heads, on someone's legs or whereever we could find a place, I saw a nice looking, semi-deluxe bus pull up next to the piece of crap I was sitting in. Two guys from my bus went over to ask that bus's conductor of its destination and I followed. Surprise Surprise! Dharamsala!! I ran over to the ticket teller to check if my crappy ticket could be refunded or not. He gave me such a look that I beat a hasty retreat. But I was not to be defeated by the sardonic expression on a 'duniya-ka-maara' TT. I immediately bought the semi-deluxe bus's ticket, albeit expensive, but worth it. As the buses were about to leave, I went to the crappy one's conductor and handed over my ticket to him in hope that another needy person might want it. I think God was benevoulent that day, what with first informing me on time of the change in schedule, sending me a semi-deluxe bus for the journey and finally in the form of the conductor of that crappy bus who gave me a look and with a sigh refunded 75% of the fare. wOOt!! Thus began my adventure camp....truly adventurous, ain't it? I reached the citty at 5am the next morning and was picked up by an army vehicle on its way to get yougourt for the campers' breakfast. It took us another hour to reach the camp-site. Once there, I caught the first glimpse of my 'mates' for the next week.......and I burst out laughing! There, in front of me, bearing faces as though returned from Hell, were around 20 kids scrambling to find a place in the washroom, brush their teeth, capture a bathroom, and lastly take a crap.....Ah! I hath returned to my favourite summer past-time...... ;) I will not bore y'all with the gory details of the next seven days. Let's just say that they will go down to become the most fun days of my life, just like the previous five camps of mine have. When I returned, though, I was reminded of so many things that we take for granted. Take a few things for example and I am going to list them out.... A nice bathroom......It is a luxury, and many of us don't realize it. Even in the camp, the facilities were quite good, but I was reminded of the previous camps where all we had were shacks. Showers, SOFT WATER, RUNNING WATER and above all - the freedom to take a bath whenever you want to..... A nice, clean toilet.....Ardent campers will agree with me that trenches are certainly not the best place to crap! At least when the they are three days old!! O.o Luckily, in this camp, we had proper toilets, but then again, they were Indian. Also, some intelligent people carried toilet paper with them and threw those in the commode AFTER flushing them......veeery original!! another bunch of specialists thought that by pushing the flushing apparatus too far down would somehow magically make the landmass they just created disappear faster!! No shit sherlock, you just broke the mechanism, and with it, the hopes of the people standing in queue behind you!! Sleep.... I swear to God, if there is one thing that I get pissed off hearing in the camp, it will be these two words - "Fall In". Who does a freakin' fall-in at 5.30 in the morning, when the actual time to report is 7.30?! Oh yeah, the army people! I swear that jawan had a thing against me....why in the living hell would he otherwise sneak up behind me and with all the air in his lungs, blow the whistle with all his might?! Water...... Clean drinking water is a rare commodity. Seriously, is there a freakin' buzzer installed on my water bottle? Whenever I opened it, there would be a horde of kiddos asking in their 'Russel Peters' crappy requesting facial expression' for a sip. And by golly, what a sip they have.....put a Killer Whale to shame! Same goes for any eateries, soft-drinks....anything! All in all, though, the freakin' out we do in the camp can never be compared to anything. It is in a class of its own. Those seven days are worth everything that we go through, the people we meet go on to become life-long friends (at least some of them do) and all-in-all, it is a blast! Worst part is the withdrawal, though....ask me, I am still suffering from it!! I wake up at 6 am and try to listen to those non-existant whistles...I wake up at all times of the night and peek over my comforter, hoping that there ain't any footwear flying around. And each time I get up in the morning, I have this feeling of hope - Yes! I have the bathroom to myself!! Ciao Bikram