A Surprise Trip

At a time of desperation due to a life of boredom came a temporary chance to escape all the free time I have in the form of a call from a close friend of mine. It was to ask me if am available to go on a barbecue mission to a close location. I nodded a quick yes since my life is absolutely event-less these days. However the irony of this whole scene was that such trips are meant for those who work hard, those who are in need of an escape from their busy lives, not to me; not to us :p. I honestly don't know how Inji, being a fellow "boiling frog", managed to convince himself and us that we needed this event. Nevertheless, we made it a point to seize the self-created opportunity.

It was a Friday (6th of September, 2013) and we decided to leave soon after Jumma which obviously meant we were to leave an hour or so after Jumma. All of us were gathered at a friends place expecting Inji's blue Honda Fit Aria 2003 when a white Toyota Corolla dx Wagon sprung into view. The first impression was "Holy *beep*, we are about to be barbecued". We call it "The Paradise" not because of its comfort, its pure irony. Now the Wagon was introduced to the market in the early 1980s, imagine our reaction when we realized that the luxury of our trip just got pushed back a couple of decades. Yet it was all part of the fun trip. Inji's idea was that this would be more fun, more authentic. But one should know that there were a few problems with the so called Paradise, the most pressing of them all was the condition of its breaks. I guess the Paradise was meant to be ridden eternally, non stop, yes we could do very little to stop the beast.

There were seven of us and the Paradise was meant for five passengers including the driver. However we managed to pack ourselves in the heavenly automobile; The Satan took the wheels, Wahabi in the front seat, Wataka, Doti, Inji and Sotta took the back seat. I offered myself to the extreme back of the Paradise, the area meant for the luggage. And so the trip began!

It was a rainy day and The Paradise had no fully functional wipers. Its Air Conditioning was as good as its breaks and I wouldn't allow them to close the shutters as the pre-heated charcoal pieces next to me were emitting some serious Carbon Monoxide. Wahabi being the co-pilot of The Paradise had to keep wiping the mist off the wind screen. The trip got more fun when the east side of The Paradise started to leak :D. We had our engineer Sotta build a mechanism to counter this malfunctioning. The Paradise had to man the heavy rain with stunted visibility, nearly no breaks and with Satan behind the wheels. We thought we were heading straight to hell that day. It took us almost an hour and a half to get to Sembuwatta, an awesome place of scenic beauty and relaxation. The trip uphill would have been tragically boring had we not entertained ourselves at the expense of our clergy, Wahabi.

I was gaping for fresh Oxygen by the time we pulled the Paradise over. Dotius and Satan managed to get all seven of us in to the park paying only for five tickets. It was 4 PM when we got there and the closing time was 6 PM. Hence we had to work against time. Luckily for us the rain had stopped. We carried our supplements to a hut located near the lake. Dotius being the self appointed genius of our group started to heat the charcoal up with his crazy petrol-based method :p. That was the patrol we had in store in case the Paradise ran out of fuel for its age old fuel indicators too were not functional.

The climate in Sembuwatta was super cold by Sri Lankan standards and there was a pool accessible to the visitors at even a colder temperature. Inji and I decided to take a bath while the others chickened out. We went back to the Paradise which was parked almost half a kilometer away from the hut to get our spare clothes while Doti and the rest were trying to get a working grill going. Inji and I were on our way back when we noticed flames coming from the wooden hut and smoke eloping its leaf-made roof. We rushed to the spot to find out that "Doti Pandi Nai" had overdone his petrol squirting and almost burnt the place down. That was one narrow escape. We learnt that day that Wahabi is extremely capable of handling crisis for he was the first and the only one to run down the stairs and out into the open while the rest of them were trying to put the fire out.

Finally, they managed to conjure enough heat to make the grill work. Doti and Satan started cooking, the real men of the lot decided to jump into the pool while the pansies watched us from a distance :p. I had a brain freeze the minute water touched my skin yet it was totally worth the fun. Wataka and Sotta almost pushed Wahabi into the pool but he escaped. The chicken was nearly ready when we walked out of the pool and so was the guard to wave the red flag to our fun. But we are like the Paradise, there is no stopping our fun! We switched to plan B while ravaging the semi-raw chicken and sausages like wildlings :D. The plan B was to go back to Sotta's place and finish our food there.

The trip downhill was faster and less torturous for me since Doti had taken my place while I enjoyed a good "window seat". I watched Doti shrink into a mediocre being due to the carbon smoke which now was stronger than before and felt happy for him :D. The Paradise cruised downhill with little breaks and a scared-to-death co-pilot, Wahabi. We reached Sotta's place at around 7 PM. We sat around the fire, grilled the chicken merrily. Shahan's mother offered us a first class "Inguru plain tea". We had a great dinner of bread and meat. The Paradise dropped everyone home before 11 PM and that marked the end of a historical day.

It became a day that will not be forgotten. The planning was crappy, almost nothing went according to plan except for eating the chicken. Yet the trip was a success for this shall be a pleasant memory to be revisited when times get tough. We truly are blessed, Alhamdulillah.