Camping Trip
It was the summer vacation of my
fifth standard. My school was taking kids to a camping expedition organised by Tata
Steel Adventure Foundation. The camp was held in Tumung. It is a village twenty kilometers away from
Jamshedpur. It has locations for rock climbing, bouldering and caving.
I along with my friends reached the
reporting place, JRD Tata Sports Complex early in the morning. Candidates were
told to bring track
suits, sports shoes, cap, sun glasses, writing material and torch along with
normal things required for two days and one night stay. At the TSAF office we
were given sleeping bags. It took us nearly an hour to reach the camp site.
After the breakfast of boiled eggs and raajma, we were divided into groups of
five. I had only one classmate in my group and the rest were seniors.
Instructors gave us materials and a brief demo to set up tent. Groups were
given tasks and at last the group with most points would win. First task was to
hold a rope forming a circle and without leaving the rope we had to form a star
holding the rope. Second task was to reach a specified end point with the group
circling the whole perimeter of the site. There were numerous obstacles and hurdles
on the way. We had to crawl two hundred metres under barbed wires. There was a
wall of webbed ropes twenty feet high. Climbing that was hard. Climbing down
the other side was harder. We had to cross a hundred metre rope tied between
two trees, upside down holding the rope with hands and legs forming a loop.
There was a long track full of stones and rough terrain making it hard to run
fast. At the end of the perimeter there was a large pool full of mud and water.
We had to swing to other side of the pool using a rope hanging above it. At
night after dinner we were shown the documentary of Bachendri Pal’s Mt. Everest
ascent.
The next day we had to cover the
same perimeter again. We were to find hidden signs containing next location coordinates
using compass. We climbed a mountain and came down abseiling. We also went through
caves, rock craters and holes. We talked and took photos with Bachendri Pal.
She signed autographs too.
The expedition was highly
educational. It taught team-coordination, leadership, self-volunteering,
surviving techniques and increased physical strength.
4/21/2017 09:02:00 pm
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