We were finally here. After waiting 6 months, right from the beginning of the 1st semester, we had finally arrived at our field trip.
We had arrived at Mussourie. We would be braving the mountain cold in December, and doing what? Learning field geology, climbing mountains, and getting close to nature, and friends. Getting to know friends better, and making new ones too.
As is usual with Indian railways, Mussourie exp. was an hour late. It was raining when we arrived at Dehradun. And it was colder than Delhi. As we were already late, we somehow bundled our luggage into the waiting bus and set out for our lodgings.
Leaving Dehradun behind, the bus started upwards, into the kingdom of mountains, the abode of Gods. It was raining and the clouds floated amongst the mountains and the spray of rain was refreshing which came through the tentatively opened windows. We reached the Youth Hostel at around 11am.
We didn’t get enough time even to shed our tiredness that we were called outside. Whatever we learnt, saw and heard over the next three days (brilliant movie, by the way, Next Three Days) will remain as cherished memories and valuable knowledge. I will never forget the days of my first field trip (and even if my memories fail me, I can always turn back to this text)
That first afternoon was washed away by a constant drizzle, but we didn’t sit idle as in a washed away cricket match players. We learnt the use of the Brunton Compass, and methods of measuring the dip and strike of a bed of rock. The next morning, a bright Sun shone through, and after breakfast, we went upto Dhanaulty. After getting rid of the uneasy feelings from a sudden rise in altitude and a twisty road, we first visited an Eco Park. On our way down, we stopped at Masrana, to look at folded beds of shale and dolomitic limestone. Applying our newly acquired knowledge, we proceeded to measure the dips and strikes( we were more successful than NDMC trying to renovate CP inside the deadline).
That day will be forever in my memory, as much as in my friend Ankur’s. Letting the others go on, we climbed a mountain upto its peak. It was not Mt. Everest or something, not even comparable to the tallest building, but the feeling of moving up, and reaching the top can’t even be beaten by the strongest drugs ( I don’t know whether drugs even compare, I don’t even intend to). And seeing our teacher waiting for us at the road below was even better. That climb made my trip.
Further down, at Kaplani, we saw ancient ripple marks on sandstone rock faces. Everything we study in Geology in ancient (time is measured in not less than a million years, generally). But these observations are necessary for the future. It was awe-inspiring to think that the pre-historic, pre-Himalayan Tethys had once flowed over this very rock, gradually moulded it into ripples and now it stood in front of us, rising as a sheer rock face.
Then we came back to our rooms. As we were returning, the cold was creeping its way down from the mountains, and the fog enveloped us from below, rising like clouds, blowing along with the wind, and making everything invisible in a shroud of white.
The next day, it was foggy and cloudy throughout, and we spent the day looking at quartzite and sandstone beds at Bataghat and Jabarkhet. A syncline axis runs through that area and the changing and then reversed dips of the rock beds were evident.
That night, the night of the 13th Dec, we stayed up the whole night. Not all of us. Eight of us had decided to talk through the night, and then one by one, everyone dropped off to sleep, while only I and three of my friends remained awake. We talked of ghosts, we talked about God, we talked about the cosmos and we talked of love. And that night brought everyone of us who were awake a lot closer than before.
The next day was our last, and we were taken to the Kempty Falls, a gushing waterfall, learning on the way about rocks.
That night, on the train, we continued our discussions of the previous night, but soon at around 1 o’clock, sleep overtook us. We woke to find ourselves back in Delhi.
Now, we wait for college to reopen, and I’m impatient to meet my new-found friends again.
Spiral into me 