And the Eagle soared the Poconos

Trudging home from the daily routines and the phone rings….” Hello… whts up… whts the plan for the long weekend… nothing yet…. Wanna come to the poconos…. “ You bet I want to….. downloading my “munni badnams, sheilas jawanis, dhink chikas, tinku jiyas” I was ready to hit the road…. Driving my way out of Massachussets into Rhode Island…. I reached my first pit stop.. connecticut…. Picked up my friend and back on the road into New York to Pennslyvania…. That’s right 4 states in one trip…

As the hunger set in decided to take a break on one of the exits… fueled up the car and drove the car into a McDonalds. The M sign which we all know so well, was blazing in its full glory… so obviously it is open right… naah…. As soon as I enter…they turned off that yellow shining M sign.. full on popat…. Anyways… poor hungry soul.. back on the road…

The thing with cabins in the woods and the GPS is that they don’t like each other that much… as soon as you get off the main road… the nice sweet little voice of the GPS lady starts screaming at you…. Recalculating… after a while she is so fed up of finding the route… I am sure she must be giving me her choicest of good words… lucky for us this time we did not end up on the gates of a cemetry… the village roads in the night are awesome…. Dark night…. Headlight beaming straight up… creating a halo in the emptiness.. the twist and turns of the snaking road…. Ekdum bhoot ka picture types… suddenly a rodent crosses the path… a deer hops in the woods… scared by the sudden disturbance to his peace… bloody tourist he must be saying…. Finally after a tons of calls, gps lady fun and iphone maps we finally made it to our cabin.. to a welcoming sound of the stream flowing nearby…

Next day was reserved for enjoying the bustling white waters of the Lehigh river…. Class 3 rapids.. with no guides on our rafts…. It was like “Sindabad the sailor chala mere yaaro sunlo sunlo”…. Only difference was Sindabads naav was going in circles and lefts and rights…. We finally managed to keep the nose of our raft in one direction... I am still amazed as why no one from our raft fell in the water…. We got so professional in the end that instead of avoiding, we aimed for one rapid which was between two rocks and got through it without getting stuck, or falling off… 12 miles of paddling and I could realize that I had arms and legs and a torso…. back to the cabins….back to melodious sound of the stream…and grilling fish… and jack daniels and the old monks…

Paintballing on Sunday…. Amazing setup … the bullets come whizzing at you and when they get you they really do…. It hurts ouch…. I was also reprimanded for taking my googles off on the battle field… the guide took off the nozzle of my gun and made me sit out for a game…. Dicto school types… where time was spent less on the benches.. more facing the walls, or outside the classroom…. With everyones heart content with shooting … it was time for more of the heavenly spirits and the mutton currys…..

Monday morning was time where everyone went along their merry way…. I decided to visit the Bushkill falls in Stroudsbourg before heading home… and then suddenly… awakened the Eagle…. Subdued for so long… its wing’s clipped…. Its heart fluttering desperately to be set free…..a twinkle in its eye… for it saw the sign for Skydiving…. Without hesitation the eagles car made way to the airstrip…. I was supposed to be the first one out of the plane… So I got in and was sitting near the exit.. when the plane reached 11000 feet altitude…. The guide who was sitting next to me just opened the damn door of the plane…. And there I was looking at the great expanse of the mountains of Poconos, the delaware water front, the blue skies….. 13500 feet… 60 seconds of free fall…. The moment you hang your legs out of the plane…. That is when you realize.. this is really happening… and then you just fly…With wings of happiness, thrill…. Like an eagle… soaring the skies in circles….