( ! ) Excuse me................

I love journeys; no matter how short it is. I was travelling from Aluva to Thrissur by train, to one of my best friend's house. I was panting and gave a while to ease out myself... As soon as I took the ticket for Island express, it was about to leave platform No.3. I usually reach Pl.3 by the over bridge as i don't like to break rules, deliberately. But this was a different case. I jumped to the first track and ran to pl.3 , bending down at the overhead service line, then taking a jump and a hop with my hand on pl.2, i landed on my feet in a squatting posture. I ran and found the general compartment. Usually general compartment are at the ends. So i would have missed the train if delayed for seconds. Somehow i leaped forward and got a firm grip on the yellow uprights by the door side. If a steady cam captured my live action, then it would have been awarded as best action movie by AXN...I just took out my ticket to confirm the details. It was the rear side which turned up first, and the last line read- "It is Dangerous to Entrain or Detrain a Moving train"...what an irony....Now i wanted to confirm that i was in the right train. What i could remember was only a feeble voice of the operator at ticket counter mentioning that the train was moving though platform 3. I had to travel north. If it was to south, then it will be a great disaster. So i looked outwards. On my left, it was pitch black; but right side was like a huge canvas painted with hues of orange, red, maroon- the high wavelength colours of spectrum. I was moving backwards; that means bingo!..i was travelling in the right direction. I was panting and gave a while to ease out myself....

It was Unni who woke me up early in the morning. At first it seemed to be the biggest wonder of the year. This lazy chap who sleeps even when his ass gets burnt up by sun rays is now waking up all of us. Soon i remembered that he had a "two way love" affair and "terminated" the relation by themselves. Now both wants to be thick friends, and used to chat every now and then. So he might have had sleepless nights to engage her sms. It gave us a good time to pull his leg and he was the "BAKRAA" of the previous night. I woke up and had a look at the place. Empty Vodka bottles, 2 l Pepsi PETs, lemon, salt, 3 decks of card, and a put out piece of cigar. One bloody fucker took few puffs and it took a lot of effort for me to convince to put it off. The smell was still inside the room. We all got ready in an hour. They had made an early plan to go to a waterfall nearby. I didn't know about it and didn't bring any spare dress. All were in a rush and to occupy the seats. Light ones were seated on bulky laps. The journey set off and the first stop was a toddy shop. We bought 12 tapioca- the staple food for the day, and mouth watering toddy shop-special curries....yummmmmmmmmmy....After a few more minutes' journey, we parked the vehicle and had to trek the rest of the way. Someone gave me a jeans, trimmed off into a bikini like knickers. With my sexy thighs, exposed to sunlight, i felt like the days i had been to my L.P. School.....We went through a rubber plantation area. One among us had a nick name- "Dubber (rubber) khan". He was the Bakraa now....

Initially the path was along and over a random rubble foundation. Very soon the paved path came to an end and muddy a path took us to the inside forest. Grasses much taller than the tallest guy marked the medians, and the width was narrow than the slimmest guy of our gang. The highway was simply awesome. We left our foot wares in car. The path showed a variety of its beauty profiles viz slushy, rocky, thorny, and and i even remember crossing a stream on the way. As i didn't bring a spare underwear, i didn't want to soak the only one i had. So i looked for big boulders lying within the bottom and managed to cross the stream with my knickers dry, while most of them had fun....It took us a while to reach the top. We were now facing the fall from an adjacent rock..The scene was simply awesome. The first thing anyone would have done will be getting busy with a camera. But our apatite for food was at much higher scale than our apatite for aesthetics. The food packets were ripped open and all of us sat down and enjoyed the meal. Meanwhile, someone pointed out a heavy rain on the canopy and told that it was heading towards us. I took a look at the sky and assured them that it wont reach us as the clouds were moving away from us. It rained, but very slightly; or it just showered. We finished the meal and went to the jump....

I was not told how cool the water was, but i noticed someone submerging their beer bottles into a shallow crevice. It all speaks about the cold water. Water was falling from a height of about 45 ft. The cliff was slightly concave that it provided room to stand in between the fall and cliff, and one could see the waterfall like a picture infront of him. All of us, except me stood at a safe place where water could not soak my clothes. There will be enough excuses for people to hesitate- brand new Zara shirt, leather strap of watch that stinks if wet, and no spare underwear that can put you in real trouble.....So i felt myself like a usual guy. the trip didn't give me any pleasure than the beautiful scenarios and trekking. Then i just remembered Brigadier's words - "do the new, feel the change. Challenge all your excuses". I stepped on the rocks and carefully headed towards my friends who already had begun their fun. The rocks were really naughty. They all were covered in green slimy mosses and i remember a guy rubbing his palm around a round stone as in some p*r* movies. I stepped onto such a sexy stone. "plithachuuuuu!..." I slipped and hurt my knees. but somehow i managed to move on. My nickname is monkey and i am not supposed to lose balance, am I?..... We moved towards the fall...

OH!GOOOOODDDD....its really painful...my head is aching like hell....Don't worry no one got injured. All of us who went straight below the fall said the same. It was like throwing stones on my bald head. It was a cumbersome task to get through the fall, but the experience was just beyond expression. We all did a piss on one of the highest rock, like Aamir Khan drinking beer in Rang de Basanthi. While i was in water, something tickled on my feet- oh! cute small fishes. Jithin started with the idea to fish some of them. Abey took off his t-shirt to use it as a net. We all had a great time fishing. I proposed the idea to put a fish inside Kurian's pants, but Jithin said that he didn't want to make the fish feel depressed, so he put it inside his t-shirt. We left the place and on the way, i again slipped and fell down, this time hurting my right shoulder. It was quite a fall. Still we went on.....

Finally, my brand new shirt, leather strap of wrist watch, and something else were fully soaked....but i would have missed the raw power of nature and its beauty if i hesitated and said an "Excuse me" to myself...Quite a wonderful trip...Unforgettable, and marvellous.....