Anjali told me that she wanted to see a star-filled sky. I immediately thought of Amar's Pensieve, the training centre that Amar has so lovingly built near Chilkur, some 35 km away from town. I asked Amar if we could stay over there for a night and check out the stars. Amar welcomed the idea and asked me when I would like to go. I proposed a date and off we went.
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| On the water tank |
The idea was to reach the place by 430 pm, settle in, and eat dinner by 8. Hopefully, there would be stars to see. We did get there by 430 as we had planned. Ramakrishna showed us around the place and got the watchman Konda Babu to come over and introduced us. The Pensieve is spread over a couple of acres and it is rather isolated so it would be an interesting night.
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| The Pensieve |
We walked around the place. Anjali and I climbed the water tank and got a better view of the place around. Then we went and sat on the large water tank. Konda Babu offered us tea and we drank tea.
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| Laughing! |
Then we sat in the lawn behind the administrative block and in the quiet evening started talking about this and that. Anjali told us about her Pench excursion which had taken place in January and we listened while drinking our coke and eating some snacks. It got gradually darker and colder and after a couple of hours Konda Babu offered to set up a small bonfire and it was heavenly.
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| A mist settling in at 5 in the evening |
We sat out in the cold watching the skies.
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| Bonfire tales! |
Save a couple of stars there was nothing to see. But the quiet, still night and the cold December chill more than made up for it.
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| Konda Babu warming himself up |
We heated up our food over the bonfire and ate right there.
At around 930 we finally called it a day and headed into the block. Anjali wanted to do some homework and she sat and studied while we read our respective books. The idea was to wake up early and check for stars. I offered to do that.
At 4 in the morning I was up and walked out to see a hazy sky and no stars. I went back in and read my book.
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| Morning exercise |
At 6 Konda Babu came by and offered tea and we had some hot tea on the lawns. Finally, at 830, we headed back home.
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| Some hot tea before we leave |
It was a lovely experience - the peace, quiet, silence, weather. Anjali summed it up when she said 'thanks nanna, we spent some real quality time here.'
I think so. Thanks Amar. And Ramarkrishna and Konda Babu. It was a lovely experience.
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