Khandala Camp 2017

Fr. Robin was managing one of the batches of May camp at St. Stanislaus Villa from the 22nd-28th May and I'd planned to go to assist with the treks over the weekend. Some of the other helpers were there during the week. Friday night after work we took our seats on a minibus at Dadar and got to watch Bahubali 2 over the 5 hours of crawling traffic we had to endure along the expressway. On our way up we learnt that the big trek was rescheduled to Sunday Morning. We went to the open ground and set up a small camp fire for all of us to sit around and chat. I got to know some of the new campers in between drinks with the old friends.

The next morning I gave the mini olympics a miss and instead played some table tennis with a gent named Matthew. Later on in the afternoon we took a bunch of people to The DEAR Falls. The water levels were low but cool enough to offer respite from the summer heat. By that evening I had my share of people and took off into to the dark for some alone time. I suddenly realized how emotionally draining it can be to reach out to and be available for people. I took a walk down to the beginning of Sneha Sadan and settled down on the ground in the darkness, poured me a drink and lit up a smoke as I enjoyed the peace and quiet. After a while I had some fireflies for company. Half an hour later I went back to my gang who were settled in another dark corner and we made some music and conversation before we packed up for the night. Next morning was to be the Dukes Nose

I was woken up early Sunday morning by Marcus beating a rat a tat on his dogs feeding bowl.It felt as if I'd barely slept a couple of hours and considered giving this trek a miss until a sleepy voice in my head said "but you are a helper!" I got going, although still hungover from last nights drinking and not gotten over the antics some kids pulled off and we loaded cars and bikes to ferry those who enlisted for this early morning rendezvous to the breakfast point. Once everyone got there we ate some boiled eggs and jam and butter sandwiches complimented with hot cups of tea and coffee supplied by the villagers. From there on it was about an hours trek to the top of the Dukes Nose. I brought up the rear, herding the people onward and soaking in the sights and sounds and smell of the clear mountain air. Everyone made it up in quick time, egged on, quite literally. I heard a beer can pop in celebration of a successful climb. (music to my ears)

This generation gets bored quite quickly and once all the selfies were taken, they seemed quite clueless about what else to do as they baked in the morning sun so I rounded them up and herded them back down the way they came so I could go back and brush my teeth. This trek (mainly because of the car ride half way) didnt wear me out and I was ready for another trek to the DEAR Falls in the afternoon. Unfortunately my plan to take one of the discoverers (Evonne) there failed as she crashed before we left for Kune. Even a weekend at Camp is always fun, I do miss the memories we made at Kune but having Fr. Robin around shepherding his flock while we chilled in the lap of nature and kept a lookout for those in need of help lent purpose to our lives. I'd planned to leave for bombay early evening so got down to packing up and saying goodbyes to friends I'd made. Thats when another friend (Stephen) drove thru the gates along with his girlfriend and brother in tow... I wanted to kill him for ditching me at the Beer Olympics this year but then again he was my ticket to a comfy ride home.