The Jungle Adventure

“Hey! Rahul! Wait for me!”

I was running behind him as fast as I could. Oh, why, why, why did I get myself into this mess? We were now chased by a cackle of hyenas, in a dense forest.

It all started because of a mess Rahul made a month back…

FLASHBACK:

I woke up with a start. It was 7:30 in the morning. I woke up late. My boss is going to get very angry at me. This is the second day of my nightmares. I dragged myself as fast as I could to work. Oops! Sorry. I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Niharika. I work at the most boring place you could ever think of (choose the worst place, and that’s where I work).

Where was I? Ah, yes. I reached my office at exactly 8:13. Only three minutes late. But that doesn’t mean that I could escape my boss’s boring lecture. My boss likes to embarrass me in front of all my colleagues since the day I joined (yesterday).

But today, someone else got into my place. A new trainee joined the work. He was about a feet taller than me, dark, and had the looks of an athlete. His eyes were piercingly bluish, just like mine. His uniform was crumpled, his shirt wasn’t tucked in, and he looked as if he was ready to shout back at the enraged boss. I was late, and wanted to escape the sight of my boss, but he spotted me when I was sneaking slowly to my desk.

“Stop right there, Niharika! You are late, again, aren't you? You just joined work yesterday. But already you are unpunctual. And so is this man here. You both have no manners. Don’t you have any sha..”

“Stop shouting at us like this, you ruffian! Don’t you have any courtesy? Is this how you treat your employees? If I were you, I’d be ashamed to be in the place you’re in. We both were wrong in choosing this job. We both resign right away.”

Saying so, he dragged me out of the building. I was dumbfounded. I just couldn’t believe that I lost my work because of a messy guy, who decided to turn up and ruin both our jobs. But, I had no other go, as I was tired of this guy’s lecture, even though this was only my second day.

“Hey. My name is Niharika. I suppose your name is Rahul. It says so on your ID card. Anyways, thank you for speaking up. Even though I lost my job, I’m still grateful to you. Maybe, as I owe you, I could take you to…”

“Please take a break. I can’t stand people who talk too much. Do you have a place to go to? If yes, I’d be more than happy to drop you there if you keep your mouth shut.” 

I could say that you could realize how rude he is. 

“Unfortunately, I live in a dorm. As I have no work, they won’t allow me to stay. So, I am homeless right now. Can you help me find a place to stay in for a few days until I find a job?”

“Even though my place is not that comfortable, you can stay for the present. Anyways, I owe you as you lost your job because of my temper.” 

OK. Maybe not. I think he’s not that bad. And I’m guessing that you’re thinking the same.

I cursed myself a hundred times, for accepting his invitation. His house was in the middle of a dense forest. “If you are going to be staying here, I suggest you learn how to run fast, hunt animals and make sure that you know how to climb a tree. It is very important. There are many wild animals around here. If you don’t want to end up eaten by them, I suggest you get trained by the professional.”      

“Great. I have to learn to climb trees? I don’t even know how to ride a bicycle! Even worse, I don’t know how to swim. How am I going to survive here?” I almost shouted. I was really annoyed at this man. The boss’s lecture was much better than having to put up with a jerk in the middle of a wild forest.

After what seemed like hours of training, I got very hungry. “What’s for dinner?” I shouted forgetting that I wasn’t at the dorm anymore. “It’s fruits. I couldn’t get the durian, but I got salak, duku, rambutan, mango and a few veggies like petai, palm heart, jengkol and sago palm.”

Are they even edible? I asked myself. But, I had no choice. I put a piece of rambutan forcibly into my mouth. Yum. I didn’t expect it to be so yummy, so were all the other things. I’m starting to enjoy this. At last, my favourite time of the day - bedtime. But this was the worst night ever. I was given a bed made out of dried straw, which looked as if it had been washed about 5-6 times. Oh, why, why, why did I get myself into this? I didn’t sleep the whole night, as Rahul was snoring like a pig, and the bed wasn’t comfortable, and that I was scared of an attack from a hungry predator.

My eyes looked low and drowsy, when Rahul asked me to wake up. We went to a small pond nearby. There were many fishes there. He taught me how to catch one without using a fishing hook. Even though I couldn’t master it, I was at least able to catch 2 of them. Then, we made a bonfire, and as we were cooking the fishes we caught, there were small growls coming from behind the bushes.

“What was that? Are there wolves here?”

“Oh, no, there are no wolves. They are hyenas. Climb the nearest tree you can find. Hyenas cannot climb trees. You will be safe. Stay at the highest branch you can sit on, until they leave. Understood?”

I nodded silently. I climbed up a peepal tree. As soon as I reached the lowest branch, the hyenas ran out of the bushes, and grabbed my left foot. I tried pushing them away, but all was in vain. When I was about to lose my balance, a sudden and loud lion’s roar scared the hyenas and they let my leg go.

I fell down with a thump. I looked around cautiously, scared that the lion might attack me suddenly. Then I heard a small, terrorizing roar from behind me. Terrified, I turned around to come face to face with… Rahul! OMG! Being in a forest, he sure does know how to roar. For the first time after meeting Rahul, I was happy to have his company.

 

We again went back to fishing, as the hyenas had eaten the fishes which we cooked. I was much better this time and was able to catch 8 fishes. We cooked them. This time nothing disturbed us. The day went peacefully. I decided to go to the city the next day to look for a job. Even though I was getting to like that place, I still needed a job. I can’t stay like this forever, can I?

The next day was a very sunny day. All was peaceful, until I departed to go to the city. I realized too late that the city was 100 miles away. While coming here, we came on a horse, but now, it was nowhere to be seen. I had to walk all the way. Rahul, too, wanted a job, and so we started the long journey together.

We reached about 80 miles when we decided to take a break as we were continuously walking. We stopped near a large tree which gave a nice shade. I wanted to see the view that the tree would provide. So I climbed up swiftly. It provided a spectacular view. I didn’t want to come down at all. But time had come for us to start our journey again. “But it is almost midnight. Isn’t it dangerous to travel during the night? That too inside a jungle?”

He didn’t have a choice but to agree with me. We put up our tents and stayed there for the night. It was almost dawn, when we both heard the howling of hyenas. Trees, we need trees, to climb on. But there was not a single tree strong enough to support our weight. We decided to use our running skills and ran as fast as the wind.

 

Present:

Huff and puff. We were breathing heavily. We had to stop for breath. But the hyenas were still chasing us. After misguiding the hyenas (they are not so intelligent), we found a small house on top of a hill. Thinking that we finally escaped from them, we walked towards the house, with a lot of effort. But it seemed to be moving farther and farther as we moved closer to it.

“Hey! It’s a caravan! No wonder it’s moving as we get close to it. Stop! Stop! STOP!”

At last, the caravan stopped after a lot of shouting. The hyenas seemed to have been scared off by the lights and shouting. When we got to the caravan (at last), we asked for a lift to the city. It took about an hour or two to reach the city.

I got employed at TCS. I was happy to be back at my dorm, at least that’s what I told others. But deep down inside, I was craving for another wonderful adventure inside the jungle.