Barbecue & Birthday!

---

Monotony and routines can quickly catch with someone who has the travel bug! The 9 to 5 schedules, the meetings, the same ole TV serials!! You are yearning to break out of it and are just waiting for the first opportunity!! That's when it happens!



Something similar happened to me last month. I spent my birthday in the city doing almost the same thing i would do on another given day. That's when i decided i needed to get out. Even if it was for a day! The occasion presented itself in the form of a close friend's birthday!



I knew about this Eco Camp in Panchgani. A small hill station about 100 kilometers from Pune. Panchgani means Five (Panch) Hills (Gani). Thus you will find yourself nestled amidst 5 hills each of which have a flat volcanic plateau formation on top.



Eco Camp is located on the mountain slope, over looking the Krishna River running through the valley below. The camp has tenting accommodation and concrete toilets for guests. We arrived at the camp by 9.45pm only to be engulfed in total darkness. With no torches, we used the light from out mobile to find our tents.



Megan & Andy were fast asleep as they had informed us earlier. However they had made all arrangements for us and we found the bonfire wood all ready to be lit and a barbecue grill kept next to the tents. We’d got pre-marinated chicken with us and could almost taste the succulent meat as we tried to get the fire starting. Soon we realized that starting a bonfire wasn't as simple as putting a bit of fuel and lighting a match!



Hungry and tired we looked around for some help and requested 2 campers next door to help us with the fire. They promptly helped and within minutes our fire was cackling away happily! We arranged the chicken on the grill and waited patiently for it to cook.



The stars put up a great show on this wintry night. So many of them that you would never see in the city sky. As we gazed up we saw many shooting stars and constellations. The chicken was finally done!! Swallowing it hungrily everyone was engrossed and only when the eating activity stop did we notice how quiet it really was at the camp. You could hear thousands of crickets buzzing in the forest and the wind singing through the trees.



At 3.30am we decided to retire to bed. Feeling quite content with the evening of grilling chicken, creating a special evening for our birthday boy and feeling so one with nature! Each one of us secretly realized how essential it is to leave all the artificialness of a city life and get cured by the bounty of Mother Nature!

---