Epic enough!

I stood at the Chennai Central railway station looking at the hundred friends who had turned up for the department tour to Wayanad in Kerala. I was looking at the responsibility I had shouldered along with the 'friend from the next class'. Responding to a pat on my back at that moment, I turned. It was my professor from college who had accompanied us for the three day trip. "Don't worry. At the end of the day, co-operation from each individual is what is required to make a successful trip.", he said and left to attend a call he had just received. He suggested we were like a team and I, a leader.

The railway station, with all the hustle bustle and its characteristic toilet aroma wasn't the place where my brain could process what my professor had just said. The sentence was registered in my memory, however.

We bade farewell to the dear ones who had come to see us off. The trip had begun. 

The train journey was all boisterous. The professor told us about his 'good-old days' and how a trip is more fun when the group is all-boys. The until-then-a-little-grim-group, gained enough energy from the professor's words and got all charged up. The mood for the trip was set up in the 11 hour overnight journey.
The first day, with the cave visit and the camp fire dance was exactly the kind of fun the group expected to have. If the friends found the day enjoyable, we the organisers, called it a successful day.

The second day began with a change in schedule. With the hundred people waiting for the day's agenda, we stood without a plan owing to weather's antics. The 'friend from the next class' was all cool, all through. "There is a waterfall two kms away. We could try speaking to the guide and get that on the schedule.", he said. I nodded in affirmation and the group didn't mind bearing the extra cost that had popped up.

The bus was parked more than a kilometre away from the waterfall. We had to trek up some treacherous land to make it there. Not all wished to brave the dicey waterfall. The ones that did, knew it was going to be some adventure.
The trek up wasn't a difficult task. All of them including the 'professor with his infant' made it to the top of the hills.
The end of the trek was met with the sound of the gushing water, that fell from a good height and hoots and screeches from the fellow friends. The first sight of the waterfall left us all stunned.
The viewers watched from the rocks that weren't wet, yet. The ones that chose to brave the water, stepped into the first tier. The waterfall had three tiers, of which the first one was least dangerous, the second, more and the third, the most. I hesitated to step into the freezing water when a friend called out for me,"Oh just jump in! You get used to it in seconds." 3...2...1 and I jumped in! Seconds later, I repeated that to another hesitant friend.
The water bed isn't flat, instead is rocky everywhere and each step had to be calculated. A wrong step could have even proven fatal. The brave guys offered their hands in support to the not so brave ones like me who in turn uttered dialogues to the 'hesitant ones', "It takes seconds to get used to it!".

 The waterfall was a picturesque natural setting. I moved my head up gradually..tier 1..tier 2..tier 3..beautiful view of the deciduous forest..sky, cloudy sky, dark clouds, Oh! Rain awaits!

The daring ones had already made it to tier 2 and started calling out to the folks in tier 1. The water flowed faster in tier two and more importantly, alarmingly, the entry route to the second tier wouldn't serve as the exit route. There was no time to think about it, 'the brave friend' called out to me loud. Climbing through the rocks to tier two seemed like a risky task, the friend in tier 2 dismissed its difficulty level in a second.

There I was in tier two, the view of tier one and the remaining part of the waterfall till the blind spot was a visual treat, natural beauty, left undisturbed by man. Seconds after admiring nature's stock, I turned, where stood a friend bleeding. The friend had banged his head against a rock. The man that he was, he dismissed the injury and began discussing 'prospective crazy things to do in tier two of Meenmutty falls in Wayanad'.
I knew the cut he had on his head wasn't that easy after all. It required immediate dressing to stop the bleeding.
We had to find a way to get out of tier two and into the 'dry rocks.' Little did we realise they were going to be as slippery as the ones in the falls for it had just started to drizzle.
As the rain intensified, each one became more self conscious. The place was dangerous and the path to the roads, more treacherous.
I left behind my bag and sandals for it required more rock negotiation. I was on my way back with the 'calm friend', barefooted. "Watch the slipperly floor!", "It slips more here!", "The rain is getting heavier!", I kept telling. "Okay okay..", said the friend, calmly.
As we trekked down, I wondered if the sudden change in schedule proved detrimental. I doubted the hundred would make it. The injured friend, the one girl, the professor with his infant, all came to my mind as I continued looking after myself through the path, attentively. The heavy rain reminded me of Uttarkhand landslides. The issue here however, wasn't that serious after all.

The sight of the bus from a distance gave me profound relief and the contentment of a satisfying adventure.
The vegetable shop next to the bus, was the soon-to-be-mens-changing room.
Fifteen minutes later, the rain receded, more friends arrived, the situation was getting better.
The hundred people changed into dry clothes in front of two different shops. The shopkeepers were the least surprised, it probably wasn't a new situation they had witnessed.

The group was all ready in half an hour to board the bus. Each person took responsibility for himself. None complained, even the ones that had misplaced their belongings in the commotion. Even the richest of the lot didn't complain, for all of them saw it as a satisfying adventure.

 "Don't worry. At the end of the day, co-operation from each individual is what is required to make a successful trip." It made sense right then.

Expecting negative answers, I asked a few friends if they enjoyed the day. I couldn't come across one who didn't enjoy the adventure. The only complaint was from the ones that didn't take to the water but got drenched in the rain. Sad, you see, when the purpose gets defeated.

The friends had a good day. I branded it a 'successful day' in my mind as I boarded the bus. I wondered if I could tell my friends, "What if I tell you this was part of the plan?".

Surrendered to the Mobile Phone

Ever wondered about a world without mobile phones? It is hard to spot a person without one these days. Long gone are the days when owning a mobile phone was a luxury. In the era of smartphones, owning one becomes a necessity.

The luxury period : A little more than a decade ago, my father purchased a new device and brought it home. We hadn't seen much of the mobile phone around before that, we gazed at it open mouthed. Two years later, he brought home the smaller and the more expensive variety, that even sported a camera and once again we were left gaping.

The luxury-necessity period : The introduction of Motorazr in 2004 was a revolution of sorts. It was introduced right at a time when owning sleek goods was a fashion symbol. Mobile phones then started appealing to the younger lot and they weren't as expensive as before. This was the time the college going sons and daughters got their Nokia 3310s. Primarily meant for safety reasons, it imperceptibly became a necessity.

The necessity period : 2007- current. The period of the iPhones and the Galaxys. Nothing much to be said, for all of us know how much we depend on the device we carry everywhere we go.

Life without mobile phones is at first unimaginable to some. Forgive the younger ones, the older people find themselves checking theirs, once every five minutes. Ever since the inception of mobile phones, man's dependence on the seemingly 'I know it all device' has increased.

Think about a current world devoid of mobile phones. Thoughts about the hypothetical world startles one about how mankind has let the device define his way of life.

Consider the following situation.
A terrorist group is on a mission to take down an enemy. The mission proceeds as planned initially. Further actions require orders from the higher official and this requires a phone call to be made from the field. The phone chooses to malfunction at that point of time. The 'terrorist on field' takes a momentary decision which he prefers referring to as an anonymous one, the decision backfires and brings down his group.
The most significant step of the assault banked on the mobile phone the terrorist had to have.
(Replace 'terrorist' with 'National security guard' and the case still holds true.)
The above discussed scene appeared in a movie that I watched recently and left me wondering how major decisions bank on a mobile phone.

In more common and civilized lifestyle, smartphones rule the roost. Phones are not only meant for calling anymore. Times have changed, questions have evolved from "What can a mobile phone do?" to "What can't it do?".
The mother reaches for the mobile phone to know if her son has reached safely. The driver uses his phone as a navigation device. The traveller uses it to click pictures. Most smartphone users use theirs to access the all-wise-internet. The phone tells your heart rate, it gets you the day's share updates, it lets you follow your favourite sport. The mobile phone in the current world is indispensable.
Gone are the (good old?) days when a one-to-one-meet-up was the only type of social gathering. Online groups and messaging services have reconceptualized social meetings and gatherings. A group announcement is just a type-and-tap away with a smartphone in hand.

My grandmother watches in awe as I scroll through my iPad and put my brother on a video chat. Talking to her grandson, who lives continents away,  on a video call wasn't even a dream in her younger days. Her dreams couldn't go that far.

The growth of the mobile phone market is a classic example of human obsession. The market has seen its largest growth in the last decade owing to man's obsession in making life easier with a mobile phone.

Modernization as it is now owes much of itself to mobile phones. The effect of mobile phones on the current generation is almost the line that separates it from the previous generations.
Whether the effect is good or bad is a debate on its own, but the fact remains that the world has 'surrendered to mobile phones'.