Lost With The Shells

It was in October 2018, last year, that our family planned a trip to Gujarat. We had planned to go to Narara Reef on the 11th. I, my own and cousin Brothers and my mom and dad were on the trip.

When we reached Narara Reef it was not what we expected. No one was around. When we asked the guard he told us that the guide gas not yet come. It was around 6 to 6:30 in the morning. When we asked him that if the guide would come soon, he replied that it would take some time. But he gave us the permission to go and explore the reef and warned us to come back by 9 as the tides would be coming to the shore.

At first, when we started walking, there was only algae and mud (keechad) all around. There were a few poles on which the boards displayed a variety of animals we can see in the reef. We took a few photos(to be honest, A LOT OF PHOTOS) and went on. There was no signal in there. I, my dad and my cousin brother were walking together and seeing a lot of crabs and seashells on the way. We took photos of those creatures too.

After a while, I and my cousin, both got tired as we were not feeling well. We told my dad that we would be heading back and the other three can enjoy. My dad consented and told my brother to take care of me and not irritate or make fun of me. He laughed and said that it is obvious that he was going to tease me the whole time. I rolled my eyes and then told him to get going.

While walking back, we didn't see in the front, but we're seeing down and walking so as to not step on any crab as there were thousands of them. Every now and then a crab popped up and I jumped, while my cousin just made fun of me. We were going and going, and in the end we saw huge trees blocking our way. We realized that we had to take the wrong path. We then went through the other way and that also led to trees blocking our way. Like this, we tried various paths but in vain. I finally couldn't hold myself in and burst into tears. We tried contacting mom and dad but there was no signal. We didn't have water also as the bottle was with Dad. My brain had gone blank totally.

An hour or so had passed and we still didn't find our way back. I was assured that we were lost and we wouldn't get back again. I was inconsolable. My brother maintained his cool. Finally we saw a pole with the same hoarding we saw while coming in. We were relieved and took that way. It led us to directly where our car was parked. We got in drank water and laughed.

The other three came a bit late, but it was okay. We told them our story and they too burst out laughing hearing about how I was crying so much.

That trip will always be stored in my heart in the form of a horrifying at the same time a memorable experience.