The Days we Coasted by...(Part 2)

As we disengaged our footwear and tentatively stepped into the river we discovered why it sported such a deceptive, dark facade. Its clear waters simply showed up the color of the pebbles that made up its bed. And this was indeed to its credit quite unlike what we had made of its dark colors. Agreed the water level was quite shallow, it could at best only come up to our shoulders but in contrast
to what we had imagined, the water was cool and crisp.

We undid our clothes and walked into the river in our underwears to scrub ourselves and enjoy the cool morning. At dawn the river looked like still waters. The flow was imperceptible. Vijay avered the river hadn't a flow, which sounded presposterous to me. I picked up a little leaf sticking on to a nearby rock and let it float in the waters. For a moment I wondered whether Vijay was right, the
leaf hardly moved. But ofter a clutch of seconds we saw the distance it had patiently accumulated.

We sung a few tamil songs that featured heroines bathing by some waterbody, gay abandon. Further our imagination careened to those in which some mischief-monger, a la Krishna, walks away with the clothes and belongings on the banks leaving those in the joyous dips of the river high and dry. Then our imaginatinative banter extended to us getting arrested for nudity and profanity in the town of Chiplun...because of us losing our dresses, the news getting flashed in Sun TV', 'Two IIM Students Arrested in Chiplun Town for Obscene Display..'; 'IIM
Students' Innovative Protest Against Joshi's Diktats-Sleepy Chiplun Enraged!' and so it went. We had such rollicking fun for the next hour or so that it made me think how delicately this tour was posed till the previous evening, its prospects swinging like a pendulum-shall we , should we, would we,need we, why should we...hmmm! Finally the pendulum just stood struck in the affirmative and here we are.

After an hour or the sun was out along with a few lads, upstream, to get its morning dip in the river. The river shone only a little despite the black pebbles that colored its flow. And the flow now turned quite strong. The water level rose rapidly and I had to relocate our belongings twice, farther up in the bank. We were wondering if the river was dammed somewhere upstream-that neatly explained the low water level which was growing tremendously. Soon after we finished our rendevouz with Vasishti, dried ourselves, and next headed to the hills nearby.

To be continued...