It was a dark and stormy night....but let me go back a few hours before hand. It was 5:30pm when Rohith (son of Rajen and manil), Ronny, 9 of the boys here and myself decided to check out Nikhara Fort. Nikhara Fort is 510 acres of private land owned by some rich people. The entrance of the area is shaped like a medieval castle/fort/moat. This place wasnt opened to the public but Rohith has a way of convincing people, so we were let in. The reason we wanted to go here was because Rohith's father built something like a small dam in this area 15 years ago. It did alot for this area, but now the land is privately used, so its almost like they've been robbed - they built something for the people and now its owned by private ppl from an area who dont even know let alone even care about what he's done.
So, we signed our car in and then we drove around Nikhara Fort to the head office ( u cant drive around here cause its private so we had to pretend we were here for business). on our drive we looked around and saw that the land was filled with crops with really good irrigation. Another words, these ppl were rich. We drove to the head office, which was about a 3 story building - nice fancy garden, glass doors, marble floor, formal furnishing....this place was mega rich. we pretended to be businessmen and found out these guys were selling plots of land to wealthy investors so they can build holiday homes. i think their target was city dwellers who wanted to build a home so they can spend some time in the rural parts of india. after some discussion, we asked if we could explore and so we did. we hopped in the jeep with all the boys and drove around. this place was huge!!!! u would not believe it. it was almost like a suburb of its own. We drove to the back parts of the land and thats where we found Rajen's masterpiece - the dam he built 15 years ago. it was tucked away in the back of the 510 acres, out of sight out of mind. almost a piece of history just forgotten about. you could see it frustrated some of the ppl.
it was about 6:30pm when we decided we needed to leave as dark clouds were coming in - the previous days were 37-40 degrees max, so the rains were gonna be hard. We started driving back on the dirt roads and then the rains fell - thick, hard and fast. it was torrential. It was so bad that the boys pointed out that it was hailing as well. We were driving in the now muddy road trying to find our way out (as we drove so far down) quite quickly becuase ronny had a flight to catch in 5 hours time, that we realised were lost. the dirt roads had turned to slush and we couldnt find the route. it was then that we made the mistake of driving down an embankment (probs about 60cm) and our jeep rolled on its side. all 12 of us were tossed to the left side of the car. i had to prop myself against the roof so i didnt crush the 3 young boys sitting next to me. After taking a few seconds to realise what had just happened, we realised a miracle occurred, no one was injured. no windows had broken and no one had smashed into the sides so we were alright.
We were now all standing in the car and we needed help, but we had no phone reception. It was decided we had to walk. but u need to picture this - it is pitch black (u cant even see ur arm infront of you) with torrential rain pouring down, with no phone reception. Here's another miracle - constant lightning strikes lit up the sky for us to just see where to put our feet. So with this on our side we just decided to walk towards a light. we couldnt see anything for a maybe 10mins, not knowing which way to walk, when we saw a glow in the distance. Cutting through farming land, slushy mud, and thorns we aimed for the light. what a miracle that this light happened to be where the main office was in the distance. After about an hour of walking we reached the light and then headed for the entrance of the fort, where we were hoping a jeep from seds would come pick us up as we had got phone reception (Btw, we had to wrap our phones in plastic bags so it was quite hard to use haha). We met security at the front gate and told them what happened. Its pretty funny in that we signed in with a jeep, and now were leaving without a jeep. He told us we had probs walked about 2-3km. felt like forever, having to trudge through mud.
So we were waiting for the jeep at the entrance to rescue us, with some of the kids shivering, when we got the news that the jeeps couldnt rescue us. u see, theres road constructions happening and the roads were flooded. no one could rescue us. so, we decided we need to walk back home. It was then the rains halted, but then poured again. It would have been a funny sight, but there was us, all 12 of us, walking on the pitch black road in the middle of a storm. ppl would have thought we were crazy. yet it was one of the greatest experiences ever. the absolute pitch blackness and just walking and then some jogging as a group was such fun and such good bonding for all of us. no one panicked or complained, but we were just laughing and joking. i couldnt stop smiling and laughing about how funny the situation was. Every now and then lightning bolts the ground in the distance....that was one of my concerns, but my main concern was some wild animal attacking us, because a leopard was spotted around the area just a few months back.
As we were walking a motorbike pulled up and could take 2 ppl back to SEDS....we found out he was actually the father of one of the students who went to seds school. Ronny and a young boy went back because he had a flight to catch. so the rest of us continued to walk for an hour or so. again it was good fun! thankfully a car pulled up and we could fit in. he drove us for about 2km to where the road construction had flooded. here, lorries, buses and cars and blockaded both sides of the road as no one could cross. it almost felt like we were in a apocalyptic movie - rain was pouring, lightning flashing and cars and people just in pandemonium. what a spectacle. we navigated around the construction and continued walking (theres no street lights here). we walked another km or so when finally the jeep had come to pick us up. we discovered the another jeep was sent but went via a different to pick us up. what a miracle this night was. anything that couldve gone wrong didnt. anything that couldve went right did. what a miracle.
we went to investigate the damage the next day. we had to explain to the manager we got lost in the mud haha. we retraced our steps and we found the jeep. we discovered that we drove down into a small river, and we were surrounded by mud. we wouldnt have any chance of getting out that previous night. we also put the trip meter on and discovered that altogether, we walked around 6 km that night. the car that drove us, drove us for 2km. All in all what a couple of days. so many miracles, so many stories. we cant stop laughing and saying how lucky we are. seriously though, no one got injured and we made it home. someone's looking out for us.
P.S. in case u were wondering (and i know u are), where do farmers go to do their number 2s? Answer: in the fields...i know, cause i accidentally startled one on my morning walk.
So, we signed our car in and then we drove around Nikhara Fort to the head office ( u cant drive around here cause its private so we had to pretend we were here for business). on our drive we looked around and saw that the land was filled with crops with really good irrigation. Another words, these ppl were rich. We drove to the head office, which was about a 3 story building - nice fancy garden, glass doors, marble floor, formal furnishing....this place was mega rich. we pretended to be businessmen and found out these guys were selling plots of land to wealthy investors so they can build holiday homes. i think their target was city dwellers who wanted to build a home so they can spend some time in the rural parts of india. after some discussion, we asked if we could explore and so we did. we hopped in the jeep with all the boys and drove around. this place was huge!!!! u would not believe it. it was almost like a suburb of its own. We drove to the back parts of the land and thats where we found Rajen's masterpiece - the dam he built 15 years ago. it was tucked away in the back of the 510 acres, out of sight out of mind. almost a piece of history just forgotten about. you could see it frustrated some of the ppl.
it was about 6:30pm when we decided we needed to leave as dark clouds were coming in - the previous days were 37-40 degrees max, so the rains were gonna be hard. We started driving back on the dirt roads and then the rains fell - thick, hard and fast. it was torrential. It was so bad that the boys pointed out that it was hailing as well. We were driving in the now muddy road trying to find our way out (as we drove so far down) quite quickly becuase ronny had a flight to catch in 5 hours time, that we realised were lost. the dirt roads had turned to slush and we couldnt find the route. it was then that we made the mistake of driving down an embankment (probs about 60cm) and our jeep rolled on its side. all 12 of us were tossed to the left side of the car. i had to prop myself against the roof so i didnt crush the 3 young boys sitting next to me. After taking a few seconds to realise what had just happened, we realised a miracle occurred, no one was injured. no windows had broken and no one had smashed into the sides so we were alright.
We were now all standing in the car and we needed help, but we had no phone reception. It was decided we had to walk. but u need to picture this - it is pitch black (u cant even see ur arm infront of you) with torrential rain pouring down, with no phone reception. Here's another miracle - constant lightning strikes lit up the sky for us to just see where to put our feet. So with this on our side we just decided to walk towards a light. we couldnt see anything for a maybe 10mins, not knowing which way to walk, when we saw a glow in the distance. Cutting through farming land, slushy mud, and thorns we aimed for the light. what a miracle that this light happened to be where the main office was in the distance. After about an hour of walking we reached the light and then headed for the entrance of the fort, where we were hoping a jeep from seds would come pick us up as we had got phone reception (Btw, we had to wrap our phones in plastic bags so it was quite hard to use haha). We met security at the front gate and told them what happened. Its pretty funny in that we signed in with a jeep, and now were leaving without a jeep. He told us we had probs walked about 2-3km. felt like forever, having to trudge through mud.
So we were waiting for the jeep at the entrance to rescue us, with some of the kids shivering, when we got the news that the jeeps couldnt rescue us. u see, theres road constructions happening and the roads were flooded. no one could rescue us. so, we decided we need to walk back home. It was then the rains halted, but then poured again. It would have been a funny sight, but there was us, all 12 of us, walking on the pitch black road in the middle of a storm. ppl would have thought we were crazy. yet it was one of the greatest experiences ever. the absolute pitch blackness and just walking and then some jogging as a group was such fun and such good bonding for all of us. no one panicked or complained, but we were just laughing and joking. i couldnt stop smiling and laughing about how funny the situation was. Every now and then lightning bolts the ground in the distance....that was one of my concerns, but my main concern was some wild animal attacking us, because a leopard was spotted around the area just a few months back.
As we were walking a motorbike pulled up and could take 2 ppl back to SEDS....we found out he was actually the father of one of the students who went to seds school. Ronny and a young boy went back because he had a flight to catch. so the rest of us continued to walk for an hour or so. again it was good fun! thankfully a car pulled up and we could fit in. he drove us for about 2km to where the road construction had flooded. here, lorries, buses and cars and blockaded both sides of the road as no one could cross. it almost felt like we were in a apocalyptic movie - rain was pouring, lightning flashing and cars and people just in pandemonium. what a spectacle. we navigated around the construction and continued walking (theres no street lights here). we walked another km or so when finally the jeep had come to pick us up. we discovered the another jeep was sent but went via a different to pick us up. what a miracle this night was. anything that couldve gone wrong didnt. anything that couldve went right did. what a miracle.
we went to investigate the damage the next day. we had to explain to the manager we got lost in the mud haha. we retraced our steps and we found the jeep. we discovered that we drove down into a small river, and we were surrounded by mud. we wouldnt have any chance of getting out that previous night. we also put the trip meter on and discovered that altogether, we walked around 6 km that night. the car that drove us, drove us for 2km. All in all what a couple of days. so many miracles, so many stories. we cant stop laughing and saying how lucky we are. seriously though, no one got injured and we made it home. someone's looking out for us.
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| storm clouds are coming to Nikhara fort |
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| us reaching the fort entrance after walking 2km in the torrential rain and storm |
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| the aftermath |
P.S. in case u were wondering (and i know u are), where do farmers go to do their number 2s? Answer: in the fields...i know, cause i accidentally startled one on my morning walk.
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