Part 5.5

I don't know how I could miss this one!

Come vacations and everyone seems to head to one place or the other, one big migration and we are so much similar to animals in so many ways. Some animals and birds migrate during winter to warmer places and some animals hibernate - I did sort of both. Let me explain!

Our family (comprising of my parents, grandpa, bro and of course sweet me!) had booked tickets for Ooty (the hill station also called Uthagamandalam) for it was holiday time! We were to stay at Dashaprakash resorts for 2 days. First day was as uneventful as any other, the twist in the tale comes on the second day. We went to a nice lake, but the road leading to the lake was very steep (looks like there were many slopes in my life than I would care to remember!) steeper than the 30 degree slope in my college. On reaching the lake my brother and me started shouting "appa boating! appa boating!". The counter fellow told "Only pedal boats available!". My father asked for a 4 seater, and turned to me saying with a grin, you and me are going to pedal. I was quick to say "boating canceled! boating canceled", which obviously fell on deaf ears. Sighing I followed the herd, well everyone but me had a nice time. I was so exhausted, on top of that we had to climb that say 40 degree slope on foot as the driver anna told only two in car (my mom and grandpa left in it). To top it all it had started raining, and the water started to flow like a river from all directions with such force (so much that a car was washed away in the river of rain water!!), it was difficult to keep balance.

Why am I telling such gory details? trying to justify for what happened later on that evening..

We went back to the hotel. My parents and grandpa after freshening themselves went out for shopping as we were to return the next day. My bro and sweet me didn't want to accompany them so we stayed back in the gardens of the hotel. My bro befriended another guy of his age to play whatever silly game guys of his age play. I felt very tired after my strenuous day, i told my brother that Iam going back to the room to watch TV. I went inside the room which was in the ground floor and locked it from inside and watched TV for sometime and then everything seems blurr to me today when I think of it. Next thing i wake up to see an assortment of strange things on the floor and on the bed. Well I will elaborate on the strange things too - to start with pebbles which got bigger and bigger in size, pens, some more stones, slippers, bananas wait a minute did I say slippers, yeah the size of my fathers, no it was my father's infact.. What a weird setting for me , and not to mention 4 angry faces peering at me. Well it almost resembled 4 fierce bulls staring at me with smoke bellowing from their nostrils as if they saw the brightest red cloth. I think I must have looked like one, embarrassed.

It so happened that the sweet little me had dozzed off (out of tiredness you see) and when my parents returned from shopping they were first puzzled that i had locked the room from inside and was not opening, even after repeated knocking. Then the puzzled expression turned to panic when i didn't open the door even after 10 minutes, they thought i had consumed some poison (Suicide and me! heights! my parents didn't know me well, I think). Then my father along with hotel staff started throwing things from the window to wake me up, it seems they started with calling my name sweetly, then harshly and then stones followed, still slippers...how sad that I didn't get up even then. After some half an hour they had all lost hope and thought they have to break open the door, when suddenly as if I had this habit of walking in my sleep, I go open the door and then come back to the bed and sleep. I wake up after sometime and instead of seeing smiles on humans, I saw frowns on bulls...

What happened after is censored, its ok still, but the next day when we were vacating the room, all the staff of the hotel, from the cleaners to the waiters and the receptionist threw me amused glances, some giggling some openly laughing... I turned into a red cloth that very moment...