Juggling Jog falls and other places

“Travelling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things: air, sleep, dreams, sea, the sky - all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.” 

~ Cesare Pavese

Well it has hardly been a week since I last posted my travelogue about my trip to Hogenekkal falls and yet I am here again sharing my experience in Jog falls and the nearby places I visited this weekend. The plan was posted on facebook and I immediately signed up for the same. I was soon informed that the train tickets have been booked and arrangement for accommodation will also be made by the next day. That was the extent of communication I had with my travel mates till the date of journey. This was a girls only traveller group and my first trip with them hence every face was a new one for me.

We were leaving by train on Friday night till Talguppa and till the last moment, our tickets were stuck in waiting list and we kept our fingers crossed all day hoping our tickets would get confirmed and finally around 7 pm when the chart was prepared, final status of our tickets said RAC and we decided to continue with our journey. My travel mates had already boarded the train at SBC while I joined them at Yeshwantpur station. After a brief round of introduction, we settled down on our seats and realized that the guy with whom my sear was shared was drunk 

Not wanting to get into an argument or share a seat with the guy all night, I decided to spread some newspaper on the train floor and spend the night lying there somewhat uncomfortably. Then came the morning, train entered Talguppa and it was already raining. Luckily I had borrowed a friend's wind cheater but that too couldn't completely help. We ran from the train till the exit, haggled a bit with a taxi driver and finally decided a rate of 4,000/- for taking us around all the nearby places for two days.

DAY 1:

We had already booked our rooms at a Karnataka Govt hotel (Hotel Mayura Gerusoppa Jogfalls) which costed us 2.5K per night for the double bed rooms. Our check-in time was noon but we reached there around 9 am and got to check in to our rooms early as the rooms were available. We decided to take a quick shower and then leave to explore the city. When I entered the room, I couldn't believe how big the rooms were and the view from there was amazing. We could see the jog falls from our windows as we were staying just 3 kms away from the falls.

So we quickly freshened up, grabbed some breakfast at the restaurant (not very tasty but we were not there for food so didn't really care about it) and left around 10 am. 

Gersoppa Temple: We told the driver that the Gersoppa temple would be our first stop and he took us to a spot and told that we could either take a boat till the temple or we could walk till there which would be around 2 kms trek/walk. We being in mood for some fun and exploration decided to walk till the temple and I must say it was worth. The road we took was lush green surrounded with trees on both sides of the road and we were actually walking through a jungle. It is said that there were 108 temples in the jungle and there still are some more small temples but we didn't explore them all.

The temple was still very much unexplored and the place was serene and peaceful. Old architecture, some broken walls, moss on the sides, it gave a very different look to the whole place.

Apsarakonda waterfall and beach: After exploring the Jain temple for sometime, we headed back into the jungle and decided to take a boat back to our taxi as it was alrady 2:30 pm and we were hungry. Post lunch, we headed towards Apsarakonda waterfall which was the next item on our list. We needed to take a series of stairs and walk some more to reach the waterfalls and there we noticed the beach just at a walking distance and we couldn't be more excited about it. 

View of the beach from far off

On reaching the waterfalls, we saw that a big gang of guys were already having fun bathing in the water. Also the roots of a banyan tree had come down till foots of the fall hence a few guys were climbing to the top and taking a plunge down into the water (the height wasn't too much). We decided not to go deep into the water hence stood in the water for sometime with our feet dipped in the cold fresh flowing water, took a few clicks and went back to go explore the beach next.

The beach here was pretty clean with a few people here and there. The place wasn't overly crowded and we stayed there till around 6 pm hoping to catch a glimpse of the sky turning into orange during the sunset but the day being cloudy, we couldn't really witness the sky changing its blazing colours while the sun bid us good bye for the day.

After spending some time at the beach, we decided to head back to the hotel as it was late evening and we would not be able to cover any other place. So we decided to have a quick dinner and take some rest so that the next day, we are in full energy to explore the places some more.

DAY 2

The next day also welcomed us with drizzle in the morning. We had a quick breakfast, packed our bags and checked out from the hotel in the morning itself. Before leaving, we took a walk around the place, took a few clicks and then headed towards Jog falls.

Jog Falls: Not to mention, it was drizzling even when we reached Jog Falls but a shop near the entrance provides umbrellas on rent. As we went there in the peak of monsoon, the water level had already risen above the safe level hence we were not allowed to go down near the water and had to be satisfied with just having a look at the falls from the view-point. Just next to the view point, we saw another Govt hotel which has much cheaper rooms but I cannot comment about the interiors of the rooms or how well maintained they were as we didn't get to peek inside ;)

 The Jog Falls in itself is a group of four nearby falls called Raja, Rani, Rocket and Roarer. As can be seen in the pics, most of the time the falls were covered with mist and we hardly ever got a full view of all the falls together. There were times when the mist was so heavily covered that the mountains or the falls were not visible at all. There was a thick white blanket of mist with a background sound of the water hurtling down which was again a beauty in itself. None of the pics can capture the actual beauty of the serenity that we witnessed.

We stayed there for around an hour enjoying the nature in midst of the ongoing drizzle and then went ahead to visit the Aghoreshwara temple, a Shiva temple around 70 kms away from the falls.

Ikkeri Aghoreshwara Temple: Legend says that this temple used to have Shiva's statue in his avatar with 32 hands but now all that's left are his feet. There is also a huge stone Nandi, vehicle of Lord Shiva opposite to the temple. The original fortress consisted of 3 walls, two of which were made of bamboos and the inner one was built with mud and in the centre was the palace built with mud and timber with intricate carvings , none of which exists now. However excavations are still going on and currently it is being maintained by The Archaeological Survey of India.

By the time we were done visiting the temple, it was almost 5 pm and we had to catch our train back to Bangalore at 8 pm hence we took the taxi back to station. On the way to station, we took a halt to buy some fresh pineapples and another halt to pack some bread omelette for dinner as we were not sure if and when the vendors will board the train with food. With that ended our exciting journey of visiting and exploring places. As we were already tired from roaming around for 2 days, we quickly had our dinner and quickly went to sleep as our train arrived Bangalore at 4:30 am which meant we had to wake up early.

As a whole, the trip was a really memorable one with a company of wonderful people who were fun and love to explore. Thank you Yamini, Mini & Karthi for being such wonderful companions to the trip and thank you Yamini for the selfies reminding us of our times together. Looking forward to travelling again and clicking some more.

Hurtling Hogenekkal

"The point is that when I see a sunset or a waterfall or something, for a split second it's so great, because for a little bit I'm out of my brain, and it's got nothing to do with me. I'm not trying to figure it out, you know what I mean? And I wonder if I can somehow find a way to maintain that mind stillness." ~ Chris Evans

Since the travel bug has bitten me, I keep joining for some trip or the other whenever possible. After Pondicherry and Makalidurga, I have also been to Thattekere lake and Chunchi falls but before I got time to document my experience there, I went to Hogenekkal Falls which is a waterfall in the river of Kaveri.

The trip started around 4:15 in the morning and we were all to assemble at the common point by 4:30 but when it is a group of 28 people going on a trip, you always expect some delays and that's what happened. While waiting for everyone to join in till 5 am, we introduced each other as there were some new faces in the group this time.

Finally we started at 5 am ... 5 cars, 28 people and one destination which was around 170 kms away from the city. On the way to the falls, we took 2-3 breaks for tea/kappi and a halt for breakfast where we savoured idli, vada and egg dosa from a roadside shop and of course each time we all got down from the cars, we would take some group photos and selfies as well.

It is truly said that you don't wait for the destination when the path itself is beautiful and as it wasn't very sunny that day, we could actually enjoy the breathtaking view once we had crossed the main city. With mountains and trees on both sides of the road, it brought us all closer to nature and we enjoyed the view which has now become rare in the cities. Talking to our car-mates, we got to know them more. There were some old Hindi melodies playing in the car and were were all having fun.

By the time we were getting near our destination, it was around 10:30 already and we were all getting impatient and hungry so we decided we needed one more break and got down to get some chips, cold drinks and had some fresh coconut water before continuing with the journey. Finally by the time we reached there it was almost 11:15 or so. Some of us changed clothes as we had plans to get into the water and then went to see the waterfall. On reaching there, we found that there is a bridge on which we can stand and see the main falls for 5 mins and get down and that part was not accessible for people to go enjoy.

After paying an entry fee of Rs 5/- per head, we enjoyed the breathtaking view of the main falls, clicked a few pics and got down wondering what to do next. By that time, we were constantly asked by the vendors there for oil massage to which we said no initially (Later a few of us experienced that as well). Next was the haggling for the prices of boat rides (we paid 1500/- per boat) as they quoted pretty high charges compared to what we heard from others but we finally gave up and agreed coz we were not willing to miss the boat ride after coming this far.

Meanwhile two people went to place order for food where some 5 kg of fish was ordered for 21 people (rest were vegetarians) and some egg bhurji and omelettes were ordered for the eggetarians. Then began the main fun when all of us headed for boating with 4-5 person in each boat and we reached a more secluded area where there was hardly anyone apart from us. As soon as the boat ride begin, some of us already started the water fight with others shouting and screaming and trying to escape the water.

So the first thing I did was put my cam back in it's case and joined the fun. Whoever was a little dry after the boat ride also couldn't escape for one guy (he had viral fever already) as we dragged everyone into the water and attacked them with water splashes. By the time it was around 2:30 we were getting hungry but there was no sign of our food so most of us continued playing in water while a few went for oil massage.

The ones who were in water tried to learn floating in the water, a few of them did well. I too tried but was scared so gave up too quickly and continued splashing water on others. Around 4 or so, I decided to finally step out of the water when I saw one of the girls getting head massage and got tempted to try that well (I kinda repented it later though ;) :P )

I went and sat on the ground and the guy giving massage poured what seemed like half a bottle of sesame oil and started tugging and pulling my hairs and massaging my head. I immediately repented my decision coz I knew there was no way I would be able to wash my hairs properly before leaving hence will have to travel all the way back with oily sticky hairs. While I was having all these thoughts, he kept pouring more and more oil and whole of my head and hairs was covered with the oil. Then he said something which I didn't understand but nodded my head anyway so he asked me to close my eyes. and then he poured some oil over my eyes and kinda massaged my eyes and then told I can open my eyes. The moment I opened my eyes, some oil got inside and started burning like hell and the worst part was that as my hands were already covered with oil (due to touching my hair and face) I could not even clean my own eyes.

As soon as the massage was over, I ran back to the water to wash my eyes first. There were already some people in the water trying to get rid of the sticky oil using lifebuoy soap and Meera herbal powder but as expected, they were of no use. By then it was around 5 and we got a call saying that the food was finally ready so we all headed back to the boat and went back to the same spot where we started from.

After playing around so much in the water, we were very tired and the food brought us a sense of relief. We had fish fry and fish curry with rice for the non vegetarians while egg bhurji, sambar and rice for the vegetarians/eggetarians. Although 5 kg fish was ordered for around 21 people, we still somehow fell short of fish (guess too many foodies or we were too hungry). The food was nice and simple and after the lunch at 5:30 pm, we had another photo session and finally headed back to Bangalore.

By the time we reached back, my throat was already sore from screaming and I also caught some cold. I realized that I will probably fall sick so has some coffee immediately after reaching back the city for some relief, had a crocin and slept peacefully. The next day I was too lazy and a little sick to go to office so took 'work from home', took some more rest and was much better by evening. A fun filled trip overall with lots of memories to cherish
. 

Mountains of Makalidurga: My first trekking experience

“It had nothing to do with gear or footwear or the backpacking fads or philosophies of any particular era or even with getting from point A to point B.

It had to do with how it felt to be in the wild. With what it was like to walk for miles with no reason other than to witness the accumulation of trees and meadows, mountains and deserts, streams and rocks, rivers and grasses, sunrises and sunsets. The experience was powerful and fundamental. It seemed to me that it had always felt like this to be a human in the wild, and as long as the wild existed it would always feel this way.” 

― Cheryl Strayed, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

I had heard a lot from all my friends that trekking is a fun experience and that everyone must try it atleast once. Each time I heard my friends talk so passionately about climbing the mountains and discovering new heights, I would feel inspired but
never really dared to step out of my comfort zone until that day when I saw a new meetup (on meetup.com) announced saying "Trek to Makalidurga"  and I don't know what got into me but I just decided to go for it.

After giving my contact no to the organizer, I got introduced to a bunch of people on whatsapp none of whom I had ever met. For me, it was a really big step to go out with a bunch of guys and girls who were all strangers to me. I just made sure that a few girls were tagging along for the trip and thats all. Around 10:30 pm when my ride arrived, I was still not sure about the risk I had taken. What if the group isn't fun, what if I can't climb up, what if I slip off and die ... I had a thousand doubts but decided to go for it anyway.

When we all finally arrived at the neetup point, the final count was 11 and we all started on bikes and cars towards our destination, the foothills of Makalidurga. When we finally reached there around 1 am, I looked up and the sky was clear. It was the night next to Poornima and thousands of stars had illuminated the sky, a sight so rare in the cities that I savoured the moment. But when I finally looked back at the hill we were supposed to climb, all my doubts were back and I was sure I was gonna end up dead somewhere in those rocks.

It was pretty dark and we could already see a group of people who were halfway up through the mountain. The challange for me begin when I started climbing up the mountain whose peak stood at a height of 1.3 kms approx. I was hardly 1/3rd way up when I realized that I got myself into something that wasn't my cup of tea or coffee for that matter.

I didnot want to climb up anymore but I was too scared that I will be left behind at 2 am in the mountains and won't be able to find my way up so I tried to keep up with the group as much as possible but finally gave up. I was already short of breath and the rocks were too high for me to climb. While rest of the group went up, one of the group members stayed back with me probably because he could see how bad I was struggling and there was still almost 2/3rd of the trek left.

So finally I and he started to climb at a much lower pace, stopping every 20 minutes for a 10 minutes break and then continued climbing some more. For sometime, we could see the rest of our group climbing ahead of us but after half hour or so, they were nowhere to be seen and only the two of us were on our own trying to look for way up. It was dark, scary and we were surrounded by thorny bushes and slippery stones. Everytime I stepped on a rock, I could picture myself slipping off and rolling down the hills.

I was scared but alert, trying to place my feet on the rocks as firmly as possible, holding on to the surrounding rocks or to my travel mate for support. While we continued climbing, three other groups passed by us and climbed up while I was still struggling to even take another step. With every step I was taking up, I was more and more exhausted to climp up anymore. I was least bothered to see the the awesome view from hilltop anymore but staying in middle of nowhere at 2:30-3:00 am was not an option so we continued climbing with me complaining almost all through the journey.

So finally when we reached the top of the mountain, it was almost 3:40 am and we had taken almost an hour more than rest of the group to reach the top but I didn't care. I was happy that I finally climbed up, it wasn't a big deal for most of the group but I felt accomplished ... and dead tired. I just lied down on the big rock facing the sky and finally let myself cool down properly. My feet were aching and I was feeling very hot from all the climbing but in 15 mins, once I cooled down I finally realized how cold it was and put on 2 jackets and lied back down.

The others then lit up a bon fire and stood around it for a while but I was just too tired to even get up for some heat so I covered my face with the stole and kept lying instead. Later on everyone decided to lie down as well and although I could not sleep for very long as it was pretty cold at the top but finally when I got up around 5:45 to witness the sunrise, I felt much better.

We looked around the place, clicked the view from top, clicked selfies and had a lot of fun. Although we could not witness the sunrise properly due to cloudy sky, the view from the hill top was spectacular (not sure though if it was worth all the pain I endured or not ;) :P )

Finally when we had to get down, all my nightmares were back. I was still pretty tired, my feet were aching and now I had to get all the way down to the foothills. As scary as they looked, it somehow felt easier to get down that climbing up. As expected, I was among the last ones to get down but this time I had three more people giving me company, getting down at slower pace and taking breaks now and then. Dead tired, we finally reached down to the parking about 20 mins late than rest of the group.

On way back to Bangalore, I was so tired and sleepy that I dozed off a few times in the pillion seat of the bike so we took a break at CCD to freshen up a bit. As a whole, it was a really fun (and a little painful) experience and luckily the group was fun. All the inhibitions I had about travelling with a bunch of strangers was broken and turns out most of them love to travel frequently so I have turned in my RSVP as a permanent Yes ;) :P :P

Thank you Barkha for letting me know about a platform like Meetup.com and thanks to Prasad and Prashant for organizing this and making my first experience a memorable one. For anyone looking to experience trekking, I would definitely recommend this place. Looking forward to getting together for lot of trips and a lot more fun.

Pages of Pondicherry

After joining job, I had been quite busy for the first few months adjusting in the new place and in a new daily schedule which was very different from the student life. There are bosses and their bosses, meetings, deadlines, some more meetings and discussions and then work in the left over time.

So after getting really bored with this routine, I decided to get back to travelling which I love to do but haven't been able to do much as a student due to time and budget constraints. However one of the advantages of doing a job esp in software field is we get weekends free so around a month back, I finally decided to go visit Pondicherry as I had been craving to visit beaches for quite sometime and I must say I did not regret a minute of that experience.

Pic: Near Le Cafe

As this was the first visit to Pondicherry, we ddin't want to get into arranging for stay and stuffs so we spent exactly 12 hrs at Pondi and utilized every minute at the fullest. We took an overnight train from Bangalore on Friday night and were at Pondicherry sat around 8:30 am.

Me being a travel enthusiast, I had already made a list of places to visit, good eateries, what to eat where and most importantly, where to book a 2-wheeler so that we can travel the city at our own pace. So the Here maps came handy (Yes! I am a windows phone user) and we went tracing Vijay Arya rental which was one of the most recommended place by people who visited Pondicherry.

The shop opened at 9 and we were already at the door ready to collect the keys for an activa. The owner was a nice friendly guy and he also gave us some tips about the surrounding areas and at what time to visit what place. Once we got our 2-wheeler, the fun started.

Pic: Seaside view from Le Cafe

We marked Le Cafe on our maps and followed the directions to have breakfast at a restaurant looking the sea beach. Although the food wasn't out of the world but the view was to die for.

However as this restaurant was situated on the side of Rocky beach, there wasn't much to do on that beach as there was no way to get into the water. So after appreciating the view there for sometime, we headed towards the serenity beach and the Auroville beach which are more crowded as we can actually get into the water and take a bath if we want.

While on way from one beach to other, there were places with quite a few nice views where we could see a small stretch of water and sand so sometimes I would just get down and take a few clicks. After I finally reached Auroville beach, I could see there were already quite a lot of people bathing and jumping around in the water and some kinds playing with the sand or screaming on seeing the big waves coming towards them. On seeing the gushing blue water, I too left my bag and shoes on the beach and jumped into the water playing around for an hour and got completely drenched.

Now the problem with getting drenched in sea/ocean is that as soon as u get out of ware, u can feel sand particles all over yourself including in the fold of jeans, your pockets and even in the hairs. Now as we hadn't made any arrangements for stay, we didn't have any place where we could go change our clothes so we decided to let our clothes just air dry and continued roaming rest of the city with sand all over.

By then it was time for lunch so we decided to Hidesign for lunch. I know what most of you are thinking, that hidesign makes wallets and purses, not food but to our surprise, they had leather stuffs in 3 floors and served French food on the top floor. I love to try different food items as well and decided to try a baguette. The best part here was that I never had french bread before and never knew that the breads are supposed to be hard. When I took first bite of the yummy looking baguette that was served, I was in for a surprise when I couldn't take an easy bit off of it. Luckily my friend had had a baguette before and knew that's how the bread was supposed to be. The fillings were actually good but I decided that I like Indian breads better.

Once done with the lunch, we visited Richie Rich which was recommended by the rental place owner for ice creams. So we went in for some ice creams and also got assorted chocolates packed to later eat on the beach. After that, we decided to roam around a bit and then took a tour of the French colony on our activa. The place was serene and there were hardly any people on the streets and the old French architecture gave a very pleasant look to the whole place. After looking around there for some time, we headed back to Auroville beach but this time I didn't go into the water much as I knew air drying the clothes would be an issue once the sun goes down. So we just walked on the shores bare foot feeling the grains of sand pressed against our feet leaving our foot prints which would get washed up in a few minutes just so that someone else could leave his/her marks on the sand again.

After spending quite sometime on the beach, we decided to head back to the city and explore the mission street. There we found the famous Baker street but didn't try anything as we were full and I was in no mood for French breads again. Our next stop was Zuka choco la where we tried chocolate cupcake and some other dark chocolate dessert (forgot the name) which looked so yummy I couldn't wait enough to even click it's pics. By the time we had our chocolate treats and left, it was almost 7:45 pm so we decided to give back the activa and head back to railway station.

On the way back to the 2-wheeler rental, we found some small roadside shops which were selling clay items so as a souvenir, I got a small clay cup to drink tea in and a small clay aromizer inside which I can burn dhoop or aroma tealight candles. By then, it was almost 8 pm so we went back to the rentals, returned te activa and got an auto to head back to the railway station. So from my 'to-visit' list of Pondicherry, I visited almost everything  apart from the Paradise Beach which I will try to cover the next time I visit there. So as a whole, I made the best out of every minute I spent there and it was all worth it.

Ps: All the pics in this post are my clicks.

Loving from a distance

I imagine u 
right next to me 
in that one place 
where u r meant to be

 where I can see 
the happiness in your eyes 
where love is abundant 
and no dream dies 



where I'll have everything
I'll have you
we'll go back to the times 
when our love first grew

when we'll be together
 and there'll be no hindrance
 till then I'll keep 
loving you from a distance

Photo courtesy: Google

My 5th Anniversary Date

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

I woke up today feeling a little better. Today was special. This day 5 years ago we took our vows and promised to be together till death do us apart. Although I had seen him a few days back but I decided to dress up for the occasion. After all, he always said that seeing me in the light blue satin low-cut gown always made him weak at his knees. And that was the dress which I was wearing when he proposed to me.

I quickly got dressed, dabbed some powder on my face and was ready to go. I quickly put a copy of "The Memoirs of Cleopatra: A Novel" in my purse. After all he was never the romantic type but he always loved it when I read out to him from a novel of my choice so I thought I will finally read him out the last 2 chapters of this huge novel which is left unfinished for a long time. I made sure I had everything I needed and started on my way to meet him.

After a cab ride of around 30 minutes and a few minutes walk, I finally arrived at my destination. On the way to meet him, I also got him a bunch of white and red roses, his all-time favorite. I opened the small white gate and stepped in. He was never the chivalrous kind who would pull out the chair for me or hold the door for me but irrespective of where we go, he would always save me a seat when I was late. Today when I stepped in, I could feel him standing across me and looking at me with the same charm and admiration that he had when we first met. 

I slowly walked in and took a seat beside him. I told him all about what had happened in the past few days. I played our song at a very low volume on my mobile and took out the novel. I read out to him for around 45 minutes, occasionally taking my eyes off the book to look at him. After we finally finished the journey through this book together, I talked to him a bit more, placed the bunch of flowers and a small note on his grave and left for the day with a promise to visit him soon.

"At times it feels like yesterday that we met and yet it feels like ages since u were gone. How much I wish that I had some more time to tell how much I love u. And yet I know that telling that I loved u wouldn't have sufficed for these three words could never capture the essence of what I feel for u. It would have been so much easier if these three words were all I needed to say but then how could I ever express the rest of what I felt. After all, how do I tell my mind or my eyes what it means to me. Or how do I imagine my life without my eyes or without my mind. That is what I've always felt for you. You were not just a part of me but u were me and I was u."

                                                                (¯`♥´¯)..♥                                                               
                                                                .`•.¸.•´(¯`♥´¯)..♥

                                                                               .`•.¸.•´(¯`♥´¯)..♥

                                                                                                `•.¸.•´(¯`♥´¯)..♥

                                                                                                              .`•.¸.•´……♥ ♥

Picture courtesy: Google

The truth in Bangalore: Part 3

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Link to Part 1: http://words-of-the-fallen-angel.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-truth-in-bangalore-part-1.html

Link to Part 2: http://words-of-the-fallen-angel.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-truth-in-bangalore-part-1.html

**Part 3** (Last Part)

I was shocked as the unexpected had just happen yet I was not sure about why or what next. Eyes still full of fear and anger, I was still starting at the boss. His eyes still fixed on me, the boss slowly went back a step or two and removed the cloth from my mouth. I wanted to scream but my mouth was too dry and numb due to the cloth which was stuffed in my mouth probably for many hours. I was however a little relieved to see the boss moving away from me. Still wondering what he wanted next, I kept staring at him.

I was wondering if he suddenly thought of making me smuggle drugs or arms for him. By now, I was tired from all the struggle and had realized that my efforts to get free from the ropes were futile. I knew I had to think of something better if I wanted to escape my fate. So I thought I will agree to whatever 'favor' the boss asks for so that I can atleast be released from the grip of the ropes. Once free. I decided to go for my purse thrown at a distance, use the pepper spray on them and then somehow escape from there.

While I was mentally taking notes of my escape plan, the boss then suddenly pointed at the locket around my neck and asked "Where did u get that?". I was suddenly hoping that he would let me go instead of that piece of jewelry. Although very dear to me, I would still give up the locket to save myself. "It has been around my neck since my parents found me near a temple" I said with some effort. 

"Which temple?". 

"Outside the Nandi bull temple"

Suddenly the boss fell on his knees and said "It's me". Still staring at him in disbelief, I kept wondering if what I just heard was right. Meanwhile the goons released me from the rope I was tied in. With some effort, I got up from the chair, wrapped myself in the sheets nearby and walked away never looking back.

I had always wondered about who my real parents were but never realized I might have to pay such a big price for the truth.

********** The End *********

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