Class
X Trip to Jodhpur & Jaisalmer |
Mocks… Feedback session… Grade cards…
PTM's… and all this in a span of just
15 days! Does it sound really stressful? Trust
us, it felt BEYOND stressful!! With the IGCSE
final exams looming like a dark cloud on the
otherwise clear horizon, the class 10 students,
to put it lightly, had a lot of tension filled
nights. We needed this trip like fish need water
and like kids need chocolate.
On 2nd March (please note that we left school
at 1 p.m. because we had to attend classes for
a whole half day!) . Although dispersed across
4 classes, the entire 10th grade made a request
in unison at 12:30pm. "Please can we leave
now?" and thankfully all our teachers complied
and we had officially entered vacation mode.
From that point on, we were all over the place,
running across the school grounds, comparing
our bag sizes, changing into our jeans and track
pants and finally we were told to climb onto
the bus and we were on our way.
Reaching Bandra station was a reality check
for most of the students, who were scared of
crossing the platform, almost paranoid and therefore
holding hands out of fear, causing our teachers
to of course express their shock and horror
at the fact that some of us of this generation
had never traveled by train before! We clambered
onto the train, brimming with excitement and
anticipation, and only the slightest bit of
guilt over the ever mounting pile of coursework
assignments we were shortly leaving behind.
The teachers who accompanied us worked themselves
into a frenzy trying to sort us out.
As night came upon us, making the beds of the
three tiers was quite a challenge, but we emerged
successfully, and I'd like to believe stronger
and more multi-skilled from the same. At 10:30,
after the best train dinner of McDonald's burgers
and Smoking Joe's Pizza, the lights out were
ordered, and if you know us, you know that didn't
happen! But as they say, early to bed early
to rise, explaining why some of us poor sleep
deprived souls (remember we had a whole 2 weeks
of Mock exams! We were conditioned to sleep
less), awoke by 4 a.m., with an alarming declaration
by a certain (biology loving student) that her
arteries were hardening and she was going to
have a heart attack (obviously did not happen!)!
Our apologies though to the teachers, who we
kind of woke up at 4:30 a.m.! Finally we pulled
into Jodhpur station on the 3rd morning, bright
eyed and chirpy, and completed the Herculean
task of disbanding the train in a span of 10
minutes… 60 students, 6 teachers, and
5 tour operators… couple that with individual
luggage and you know it's a mammoth task!
Imagine our joy and astonishment at being garlanded
as we walked off the train. It was like a scene
straight out of those bollywood movies, as every
single one of us was garlanded and welcomed
into the blue city. I know what you're thinking,
and it's totally true! Our school had got us
into a good hotel, Abhay Days Inn, where we
had clean, spacious bedrooms and bathrooms that
seemed surreal for a school trip! The place
actually also had a clean, large albeit slightly
cold swimming pool which some of the guys decided
to use immediately. While the rest of us chilled
out, changed and enjoyed the 45 channel facility
offered by the hotel… It was perfect!
On this day we went to see the Mehragar Fort,
and Ummed Bhavan (where not only Arun Nayar
and Liz Hurley are getting married, but also
Abhishek and Aishwarya on the 19th of March,
remember guys you heard it here first!), which
were so pretty and well preserved! After the
longest of photo shoots, we had tea and snacks,
followed by a meeting with the Maharaja Gadhsingh.
We also saw some of the most beautiful peacocks
on the manicured lawns of Ummed Bhavan, and
raised the till date unanswered question in
our minds, "Do peacocks fly?" After
this, we hit the hotel again and were informed
of the night's entertainment, a dance party.
Most of the bus ride was a blur of sleeping
people, ill tuned singing and frequent pit stops
on the way. The 6 hours seemed to fly and crawl
alternatively as tempers simmered and temperatures
rose. The fact that it was Holi, highlighted
fears as rumours, about 'khoon ki holi' flew
thick across the bus. When we reached Jaisalmer,
we were saddened to see that the hotel was not
quite as fantastic as the former, but it seemed
to suffice. It was quite on par with school
standards, and unfortunately only had 3 TV channels..
Oh well, que sera sera, as we changed into our
dirtiest clothes for our own holi celebration.
Since the hotel only had us, we were free to
scream and shout and basically bring the roof
down with our holi fun, and when the colour
finally arrived, all hell broke loose as people
went around stuffing the gaudy greens and reds
into shirts, rubbing them onto faces, until
finally the inevitable happened, with a girl
being the first one pushed into the pool. After
that, we all jumped into the pool, and by all
I mean the teachers too. It was a very colourful
Holi, both literally and figuratively.
After Holi, it took all of us ages to get clean
and get dressed, after which they took us for
a boat ride. The boat ride was so scenic and
relaxing. Then we went for a puppet show at
the Desert Centre, which left us all shocked,
not only with the skill of the puppet master,
and the expertise with which the kartal was
played, but with the supershudh Hindi of the
Compere! Then we turned back to the hotel, dined
and returned to our rooms for some rest and
relaxation. That night was special not because
there was another dance evening organized, but
because it commemorated the first evening of
B news! Controversial as this B news was, it
led to many juicy secrets being spilled out
into the open, and viewership rose astronomically
for the next few telecasts.
The next day we actually got to sleep in (read:
wake up call was 8:30 am), and then take it
at a leisurely pace as we made our way to Jaisalmer
fort. After this we went to the deserts for
camel rides and while all the girls came back
having had a blast, the guys didn't seem too
pleased with the same. Fabulous as the camel
ride was, the local residents livened up the
evening for us as the girls got to dance along
with the local seven year old performer. As
the sun began to sink, we made our way to a
beautiful campsite, with picturesque white tents
and musical entertainment; where we were served
hot pakoras and chai, after which the girls
did an encore of their Rajasthani jhatkas.
Returning to the hotel we dived into dinner
and then were told to go straight to sleep.
Keeping in mind that it was our last night of
the trip (excluding the night on the train on
the way back), every one was in high spirits
and playing on the play ground well past the
time permitted, as nostalgia pulled us back
onto the swings and see saws; while others played
a favourite game of the trip chor police.
The last night on the train was quite a trip
down memory lane as we all went nostalgic, remembering
the last 3-4 years we spent together, as from
next year all of us will be split up as we pursue
our future(s). We all realized how well we had
come together as a class of 60, and how the
absence of any one person was going to make
such a big difference to our lives. This trip
really made us value our friends and our teachers,
and all the times we've spent together. It was
the perfect cherry on the ice cream, the perfect
icing on the cake, as we now look forward to
reaching for new horizons, with the support
of these memories etched in our hearts for ever.
The class X farewell trip was fantabulous in
all ways, and the crowning moment of all the
last few school trips, the crème de la
crème of them all… And I know I
speak for all the students when I say, I miss
it already.
Shloka Mehta
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