Chapter 4

Ever since she was a child, Neenu had been afraid of woods. Her parents had seen a specialist in the matter. The doctor had said that she suffered from a false fear of the woods. Xylophobia.  While on their way up, Neenu never left Anand’s side and tried to engage in light conversation. “What is your name?” Neenu asked the guide on their way up. “Tembul, memsaab” the guide answered. Neenu furthered found out that Tembul’s father was a guide too and he had chosen this special location on the mountain slope overlooking the main road below. He had also constructed the four guest huts with special amenities.

Tembul’s enthusiasm was infectious. The more he talked the more comfortable everyone felt. “So where is your father now?” Anand asked Tembul. But before Tembul could answer, Parsy exclaimed “Is that your place?” signaling towards a sad looking shack and four huts joined together in a square cluster, not very far from the shack.

“Yes Saab, there it is” Tembul answered.

Tembul showed them the huts they were meant to occupy. Three of them contained wooden beds with straw lining and a lantern. The fourth was a bathroom, the same size as the others, only having an angithi with a brass bowl over it, having warm water, and a toilet pot. The place was clean and the angithi was not lit. “The main village has got to be better than this” were Neenu’s first thoughts. The big drum of water that Tembul had warmed in the morning over a fire outside under a grove of dense bushes near to his hut had gone lukewarm. That was the trick; you had to keep water heated all day long. The colder it is, the more time and wood it would take to get heated.

“I will heat the water, Saab. It will just take a few minutes”. Tembul told them.

While the water was getting hot the group of four huddled together around a small fire in Tembul’s hut. The hut looked small from the outside, Anand noticed, but was designed very well in terms of space utilization. The small angithi around which they were seated occupied a corner of the hut. In the exactly opposite corner was a small wooden table surrounded by four cubic haystacks, probably meant to seat people. On the table were some utensils kept in perfect order, which surprised Anand. On one of the walls was a lantern, which was lit and on the other was hanging a yak skins, probably used as a shawl. The floor was lined with thick straw which was wet, and did not pose a fire hazard. The hut was surprisingly cozy.

“The water is ready Saab”, Tembul entered the hut with a metal shaving mug in his hands. “You can use this to take water from the big drum outside and collect in the pots in the rooms. I will make some tea…”

Hot water was not of much use. No one was in the mood for a bath, and there was not much space in the bathroom for it anyway. Washing your face with hot water was enough, although it gave you an awful feeling when the hot water evaporated and chilled your face. The lighted angithi in Tembul’s hut would be more comfortable. By the time everyone returned to Tembul’s hut, he had prepared tea. Neenu had plenty of snacks in her rucksack and coupled with the hot tea, it seemed that they could spend some time here.

“It is almost nine, Prof. Nathan must be about to start from Palampur” Kaul said. “Its good we came directly via Rampur, if we had to meet him at Palampur we would have wasted another five hours…”

“Yeah, he will be here by four, I guess” Anand confirmed.

“Well Tembul, I am Neenu, this is Parsy, Anand and Kaul” Neenu made a quick formal introduction “Tell us about yourself, Tembul” Neenu wanted to know about the lifestyle up here in the hills. It irked her somehow that except Tembul, they had not seen any more villagers from Kimpri.

“We lead a busy life, memsaab” said Tembul “We have to get our own water, and make our own fire. Night comes early here, you can’t tell that time is passing.” He looked at Parsy and continued “At this time of the year sun usually sets early, Saab. In the day you can tell how many hours till night, by watching the sun, but at night, be careful, it is difficult. And when you are alone, it is worse…” Parsy sensed a kind of loneliness in his voice. “The jungle is very nice to look at, not a good companion Saab.”

For the next two hours that followed, Tembul told the group everything about himself. He used to go hiking with his father, which was his father’s way to familiarize him with the mountainous terrain. He had chased a leopard, which had pounced upon one of his sheep, for over half a kilometer and succeeded at throwing a khukri at it. It had hit the leopard and injured it. He had spent a whole night once trying to rescue a fellow villager stuck in quicksand. He had found his way through the jungle in pitch dark and brought the victim to his home. Due to lack of medical care, the victim succumbed to broken upper ribs.

“Wow! James Bond!” Anand could not hide his amazement.

“If I were stuck in the jungle at night, I wouldn’t go anywhere. Maybe dig a pit and keep sitting in it till morning.” Parsy shared his fears.

“The name is Bond, Tembul Bond”, Kaul changed his tone and remarked.

Everyone burst out laughing. Tembul could not figure out why, but he joined in too.

“Well, since we do have time, I will go to my hut and dip my feet in hot water. It must be like a hundred times a minute I have had to press the brake and clutch on this road” said Kaul, who was exhausted of driving for so long and left the hut.

Kaul prepared the brass tub with hot water, sat by a stool on its side and dipped his feet in it. It was bliss. The feeling was so relaxing, he half regretted the fact that he could not ferment his feet and sleep at the same time. He got up from the stool and put his warm socks back on. And then his shoes. The stack of straw on a wooden platform would hardly pass for a comfy bed, but he was too tired to think about it. He soon fell asleep.

Back at Tembul’s hut Anand felt glad that they had come here. They had had their breakfast and were sitting by the warm angithi.“You feeling tired too Neenu?” asked Anand.

“I was, but I guess I will be ok. The tea is nice Tembul” she smiled. Tembul smiled back. Anand cared for Neenu, and in the dim light of the angithi, she looked prettier than ever.

“We have enough time” Parsy said. He crossed his arms over the table, rested his head on them, and closed his eyes. “The sandwiches were good, Neenu, thanks. Wake me up a little while later.”

“I have a hot water bottle, would you like me to fill it up?” Neenu asked Anand.

“I’ll do it, if you want” Anand replied.

“That’s ok, thanks, I’ll just come…” answered Neenu and left the hut.

Anand realized after a minute that Neenu had forgot to take the shaving mug with her. She would need to use it to fill the hot water bottle…

“I’ll give this to Neenu” Anand said and took the mug from the table.

“I’ll do it Saab” said Tembul and took the mug from him. “I’ll fill up the water bags.”

Neenu reached the hut and ducked to enter it. She saw the pot of water on the angithi and took out the hot water bottle from beneath her shawl. She realized that she would need something to pour the water in the bottle with. And then she remembered the shaving mug…

“Memsaab” it was Tembul’s voice “you forgot the mug back there so Anand Saab sent me to give it to you.”

Anand saw that Parsy was asleep on the table. Parsy never snored, so it was hard to tell. Anand’s watch showed a quarter to noon.

And then, from the outside of the hut, he heard Neenu scream. Parsy had not heard it. Tembul had just gone to Neenu’s hut. Thoughts raced through his mind so fast, he almost unconsciously got up and exited the hut. He raced towards Neenu’s hut. Another scream, but different. It was fainter this time. Almost as if… He ran as fast as he could.