Amidst ghosts, pranks and falling ... oops.

The setting was perfect. In every way. Our quaint cottages were right in the middle of the Mudumalai forests of Ooty. The resort - Casa deep woods. Enchanting name ain't it ?! What started as the most boring trip ever turned out to be one of the most memorable and funniest one !! The sort you can sit with your grandkids and narrate during power cuts :)

Noone imagined this trip to be anything but mundane. It was an outing with colleagues. Normally it is a lot of fun, but this time spouses and kids were also invited. So energy levels dipped and many of us opted to go only because the traveller in us wanted to see the Mudumalai forests. We weren't let down. It was a magical feeling to wade through the forests and arrive at this resort right in the middle of nature.

After exploring the surroundings for an entire day, people were bone-weary. There was a wild life safari organized and the married crowd opted for it. My 5 friends & I were very wary since we had been let down by these wild life safaris and treks earlier in the past on several occasions. We chose to laze around and play games. 4 hours later the married bunch returned totally disgruntled since they did not spot anything other than a few eagles and deers. You bet we had a hearty laugh not to mention wicked pleasure with our foresight.

The resort owner narrated some frightening tales of tigers and wild animals entering the cottages at night. The boys piled it on with exaggerated renditions of ghost stories. Well there was only once in my life I actually was terrified of ghost stories and that was when I was in Germany. I actually called my family and friends in the dead of the night because I was certain there was a haunted house filled with ghosts overlooking my room. Anyways, I shall not digress. My roommate D was petrified and our cottage was right at the corner ; we could see the wild jungle meters away and it was not a nice feeling (for her). The 6 of us were in our room - 2 on the bed and 4 around in couches and chairs.

One of them did something as innocuous as switching on the fan and believe it or not, the fan fell on the bed bringing down a part of the roof as well !! Fans falling off roofs was certainly not commonplace and we were shell-shocked. It was scary to even imagine that we could have been sleeping right there and bringing the roof down on us! Ghosts were momentarily forgotten and fans took precedence. We complained and they profusely apologized with a zillion excuses (what else could they say - sorry, this is actually the 4th time this is happening here :p ). They got down to fixing it right then - we stopped them and assured them we could make do without fans for a night given the choice !!

The next day started with an early morning trek. After breakfast, the 5 of us returned to our rooms to see the whole place having a new look. Things were re-arranged, cupboards were moved and clothes were scattered. We entered gingerly and D (my roommate) tried to laugh it off. Nice try so far. Out of the blue, there was a knocking sound from the cupboard. That did it! D bolted out of the room shivering and... with tears streaming down her face!!! She was scared stiff and chalk white. Watching her break out into a cold sweat, the boys couldn't control themselves and confessed that it was a prank. They hadn't the faintest idea that she would be driven to tears in broad daylight as well. Of course I played a key role by providing our room keys so that one of the guys could hide in the cupboard and scare her when she entered. Notice only 5 of us had entered the room :) The colour returned to her face and she felt much braver. Or so we thought. Whom were we kidding! Just as she entered a second time, the captive stepped out of the cupboard and she dashed out again alarmed and looking terrorized. So much so that the guy hiding in the cupboard also got stricken. We couldn't control ourselves after that and literally rolled all over the forest laughing at her. Till date, I haven't met someone as alarmed as D ; Even during the return journey she jumped everytime someone patted her or approached her without her noticing. The poor girl was shaken out of her skin and we felt like horrible villains :D Although we were secretly thrilled. Who wouldn't be - A prank isn't quite a prank without an ideal subject.

Back to office couple of days later -- One of the colleagues went to D and tapped her shoulder. Yes, she was STARTLED !!!!!

On behalf of the villains, I dedicate this post to D - The supreme epitome of faint-heartedness :) You made our trip. I also dedicate this post to Trina for her patience! ;)