To Bankot and the Second time

Please read Part 1 of the trip HERE, and Part 2 HERE.

OK. So we were unlucky first time, and had the rest of the day, till evening to while away before going to the beach for the second attempt. What do we do?

After getting ready and having breakfast, we were off to see the Bankot fort. A bit about the fort first....Or maybe not, Google uncle will help you out anyways. (This also means I couldn't get much from Google, hence the need to put it in a very sophisticated manner. HA!)

So we reached the fort at around 12 (which means we were supposed to reach at 11. Leave it to us to reach every place on time!), and went about doing what we did best. Posing in front of the camera when someone was taking a beautiful picture of the scenery, trying to capture the essence of the moment! (OK I'm guessing by now this same theme is running around most of the posts. But then, what else do we do when we go to a fort other than pose for photographs and.....well.... click them!)

Anyone notice the pyramid like structure in this photo? No?

Probably the best picture of the fort....showing the valley below. Gives an aesthetic feel to the fort, the right feeling. And the last few sentences makes me sound like the professional photographer that I am!

Had to take this picture from Google, because I did not find any photo taken of the front of the fort in any of the pictures!!!

After spending a couple of hours enjoying the sights of the fort and the scenery around it, and posing for photographs, it was time to go back to the village for lunch and our afternoon siesta. The road back is very narrow. So narrow, in fact, that the bus we were in could not take a few turns! Finally we reached, had lunch and was ready to take a nap.

But NO! HOLD ON A MINUTE! If you just wanted to sleep, you could do that at home too! Why simply travel so long just to have a few hours of shut eye?! BAH! NO WAY IS THAT HAPPENING! So a few of us grouped together, took out a pack of cards, and started deciding what game to play.

Now, if you are in a group, coming up with a game to play with a pack of cards is a herculean task in itself. I'm sure Hercules himself would have said "WTF I cant do this!" and gone somewhere else where and taken a nap.

"Let's play rummy! Everyone knows the game, and its easy to play. COMEON!"

"NO DUDE! Lame game. This place needs some spice, let's play DONKEY" (I go "Donkey" and "spice" don't mix together!)

"Chal hatt! What donkey konkey you are talking about, I know this truly epic game called Mafia! It is the best game ever!"

And thus the game was decided! You would think that now we would go about the business of actually playing the game. BUT NO! We had to decide how to play the game itself! Apparently the game had a lot of twists, and sub twists, and sub sub twists! It would have taken Sherlock a long time to figure out all the puzzle pieces that went on to finalizing the way the game had to be played.

The game brought out the cunningness in everyone. Absurd accusations were flying left, right and center!!

"You are the killer because I can raise my hand and it points to you!"

"WHAT?! Me? No ways man, I am being schemed here, the real murderer is him, because his name starts with an M!!!"

"Somebody has been very quiet this whole time......laughing from within huh?!?! YOU ARE THE KILLER!!"

All this was made even more interesting with the moderator, directing the discussion in such a way that it kept us on our toes the whole time!! We did try with another moderator, but was soon back to the master mayor, willing the city and its residents on a murder mystery to find the ultimate killer!!!!

And just like that, it was evening! THE SECOND COMING! TIME TO FINALLY SEE THOSE TURTLES HATCHING AND GOING TO THE SEA! All of us got ready and rushed to the beach, early enough so that we would get those coveted seats this time too! Unfortunately, the public were WAAAYYYY ahead of us in the game.

The crowd that was already at the place by the time we reached. OK maybe I'm exaggerating a bit here. Or am I?

So we got those last few places that were remaining. The wait ensued. Where were the organizers? Why were they taking so long? Where were the turtles? Were they hatched? Or were they still inside? Why am I asking so many questions which actually din't arise at that time? What is 2343 multiplied by 4532? (HA If you guys haven't read till here, GOTCHA!!!! Otherwise, read on... )

The organizers arrive at the enclosure. Tensions rise.

Organizers : Let's open Basket No. 1.... (opens basket no.1)

OOOFFFF... AFSOS!! Nothing there

Crowd : BOOOOOOO!!!

Organizers : Let's now open Basket No. 2!!! (builds the tension by going slowly to the second basket)

OOOFFFFF..... NOT HATCHED YET HERE EITHER!!

Crowd : OH NOOO!!

Organizers : On to Basket No. 3 we go! (Builds the tension... ok you get the drift now)

AAAAAANNNDDD... It's a negative... NEXT TIME GUYS! (Swiftly goes away from scene)

Crowd : (Doesn't know what to do, just looks at each other)

OK. Not to be this time either. SPARTANS!! LET'S MOVE ON!

So we were unlucky the second time as well. But, as we moved towards the beach, we saw the sunset, and what a sight it was! As usual, for me, it made for some super awesome outstanding clicks that no one else would ever be able to take ever!

Did I specifically tell them to position themselves at those particular positions? Or did it just happen on its own? You'll never know!

So after an evening full of sun set photo shoots, shadow figure shoots, a bit of beach football and 100 m dash running races, it was time to head back to the village for the night. 

The night sky at the beach and the village was stunning! Mumbai would never get to see such a flurry of stars shining brightly in the sky! It was well worth just standing and staring at the sky, seeing the massive worlds that lay in front of us, and imagining how small and tiny we were in this entire universe!

After the sky gazing, all of us had dinner, where we photographers had very interesting conversations on how to take the ideal picture, what would be the ISO, exposure and what not needed in order to take pictures of moving objects, still objects, animals, self portraits and what not. As I was way above all that, I decided to just stay mum and hear the conversation happening. Because, you know, if I did start, all the others would just keep quiet. Or go away. Or both!

Soon it was time for bed. I took my blanket out and slept in a room inside, and my dearest friend soon came and took the remaining bed that was spread in that room. It was lights out at 10.30 PM, as we had a long day ahead the next day!

So would we be third time lucky? How would the next day go? Read on here!