4662) Leisure Time - Short Stories: "A Trip to the Elephanta Caves in pouring Rain and Stormy & Windy Weather - A Second Life:
I have been meaning to write this post for quite some time, but there are some journeys which leave a lasting impression for a lifetime.
This was one of such journeys by sea:
It was raining cats and dogs - a typical Mumbai weather/downpour.
Somehow our train reached the Churchgate Station after a long and arduous journey. At Churchgate we normally used to walk the two-odd kilometres to our Central Office on Madame Cama Road, Mumbai, but because of the pouring rain, we could not find a taxi to ferry us to our office.
We didn't want to walk to the office as we were already late.
Left with no alternative, we decided to take the day off. As umbrellas were of no use in the Mumbai rains and trains for heading back home to Mahim were temporarily not operational, we decided to take a ferry out to the Elephanta Caves. We walked in the pouring rain to the Gateway of India and boarded the only ferry plying out to the Elephanta Caves.
After a long wait, some 18 fool-hardy adventurers including the three of us came to board the ferry. We could see that the sea was a bit rough but decided to go ahead anyway.
There was a very heavy gale blowing from the West (almost hurricane level) and the rain kept lashing the ferry at every stage, but now there was no turning back.
Somehow, through the inclement weather, we reached the jetty at the Elephanta Caves. The ferry kept bobbing in and out, sometimes moving out upto one metre, so we had to time our "jump" onto the jetty otherwise there was a sheer drop into the sea. Finally, all the passengers came ashore safely.
Fully drenched, we found that all the vendors had spread their wares on the steps leading up to the Caves and as they were not expecting any visitors/customers due to the incessant rain had left their wares spread out hoping that the rain would abate att some time.
We walked upto the Caves, rested a bit, then decided to go upto where the mighty cannon was placed mainly to keep the pirates out in an earlier century.
On the way back, we stopped at a vendor's stall and picked up a "blue crystal" (which now adorns our Terrace garden). We tried to find the vendor whose stall this was but count not find a soul due to the incessant rain.
Then, it was time to go back, but the ferry's crew was nowhere to be seen.
We repeated the same high jump maneuver to get onto the ferry and finally made it on board without a mishap.
It turned out that one of the crew members came back to tell us that our trip back would get considerably delayed as we would have to wait for a group of three forest officers who were having drinks and lunch.
But the delay extended into over one hour and all of us on board the ferry were losing our patience, with the rain lashing us from various directions.
Finally, the crew came back as all of us were getting restless and decided to forget about taking the forest officers on board.
As soon as we reached the open sea, the gale lashed the ferry once again. We made sure that the crew members would not put on their life jackets and if the ferry went down they would go down with us.
The waves were rising upto 3-5 metres by now. The Ferry would go up on a crest and crash on the trough below. With every trough, the ferry would almost feel like it was headed to "Davy' Jones Locker". (I had read many stories about the "Flying Dutchman", and the Vikings and the "Pirates" which have always been my favourite subjects).
We almost regretted coming on this trip, but I thought - what a way to go.
Ultimately, we sighted the Gateway of India. With a relief we got back to the shore.
Link:
My grandmother _ Mrs. D.B. Gupta:
My Uncle Col. Vinod Kumar Gupta:
My grandfather Dr. O.P. Gupta:
My Father Dr. J.N. Prasad:
1) Leisure Time Short Stories: Friends at the Crossroads
7) Leisure Time Short Stories: Connecting through several lifetimes: The Story of the "Panditji" (Priest) of the Hanuman Temple at Chandrasekhar Azad University, Kanpur
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