Tina was sharing here tent with Nanu. Their tent was adjacent to the tent occupied by Cathy and Shana. As soon as Zia ma'am and Zoya, Shana and Cathy called it a day, Tina and Nanu also decided to go to sleep. Tina was very tired. She felt pain in both her legs. She had never walked so much in her life. She bid goodnight to her fellow students, Luke Sir and Sherpa and proceeded to her tent along with Nanu.
Actually, all the girls and all the boys were tired and wanted to sleep early. The long walk through the forest, then the conifers and then the reforestation and finally the excitement of coming into the alpine area had indeed tired them. But all that excitement did bring tiredness only.
Sleep was doing the hide and seek act. Tina could not sleep in spite of being tired due to the pain in her calf muscles. She decided to apply an ointment on her legs and massage her calf muscles to get some relief from the pain. Then she covered her legs well and got inside the sleeping bag. She saw that Nanu had also got into her sleeping bag and was trying to sleep. But Tina could not sleep. After all, it was not her bed and her bedroom at home. The comfort of one's bed and one's home is the best. That is why the saying goes, 'East or West, home is the best.'
The pain in the calf muscles had become less after applying the ointment. Soon the strong smell of the ointment escaped and spread in the tent. Nanu was not happy.
"What have you applied that there is such a strong smell? Keep the sleeping bag closed, I am feeling nauseated," she spoke with annoyance.
"Sorry, I did not want to cause you any discomfort but my calf muscles are paining due to all that uphill walking so I applied a muscle relaxing ointment," replied Tina.
"Pass me the tube so that even I may apply. I am also having pain in my calf muscles," Nanu said while putting her hand out of the sleeping bag to catch the tube.
"Catch!" Tina threw the tube to Nanu. Nanu applied the ointment and the smell dispersed throughout the tiny tent. The smell had a relaxing effect and soon both closed their eyes and tried to sleep.
There was nothing to pass time. No phones no books to read as torchlight had to be saved. Zia ma'am had rightly said that here, there were no telephone towers and no landline cables; hence, no connectivity. There was no mobile data which meant no what's app, no social networking site, no YouTube, etc. Tina felt cut off from everyone and wanted to talk to someone from her family.
She started to wonder how people managed when there was no connectivity in the past before mobiles and internet. In the early 1980s, you had those landline phones which were the push button types. Earlier than that, the phone had a dialing system where slots were from numbers 1 to 0 and you had to place your index finger in one slot then dial it all the way around one after another to dial a number and call someone. Her grandmother still used such a phone.
Her grandmother's name was Rita and she lived with her father's younger brother. Rita did not like mobile phones and would refuse to keep one with her. All mobile phones, expensive ones, and the latest models which were given to her as presents by her parents were never used. They were dumped in a suitcase and whenever they visited her, they were told to take the phones away.
She had heard about these mobile phones bursting after overcharging or catching fire and injured the owner of the mobile. Further, they emitted radiation which damaged that part of the brain of the side of the ear where you held the mobile the most. She had a horror of carrying phones.
They all had told her that this happened to cheap mobiles from unregistered firms which did not follow safety norms. But she refused to listen. At least females kept the mobile phones in their purses and not in their pockets. Hence, not many females had such accidents with mobiles.
Anyway, it was quite peaceful without phones. No phones were ringing. No one with earphones stuck in their ears and phone in hand, or the phone to the ear under a headgear could be seen anywhere in this area. These chaps were a great hazard to themselves and the traffic as they walked and talked without looking or being attentive to their surroundings. Technology has its advantages but it has its disadvantages too.
Tomorrow morning, when they all assembled for breakfast, she, along with others, would ask ma'am to try to see if the guest house had a system whereby they could contact their relatives just to tell them that they were safe and enjoying themselves. If the guest-house could not help then, of course, there was the Sat phone with Luke Sir. He had mentioned that he possessed one when they were trekking to this camping site.
Tina closed her eyes tightly and slowly could hear the rhythmic breathing of Nanu. She realized that Nanu had slept.
She was restless due to the unfamiliar place. No one can enjoy a good sleep in an unfamiliar place that too in a sleeping bag and that too at a camping site. She was more concerned about her family that they might be worried about her.
Luke Sir is nice and she started pairing him with Zia ma'am. She felt he was in love with ma'am and he had perhaps fallen in love with her some time ago. He just followed her around without her knowing. No, he was not stalking her. He just wanted to see her and know she was safe. Zia ma'am was a reserved person and it would take her time to be at Luke Sir's level in respect of emotional attachment. One cannot force matters but maybe by the end of this camping trip, she might really come to like him immensely which would turn into love later on?
She then thought about herself. Her father's name was Burt and her mother's name was Elisa. She had a younger brother whose name was Grant and who was a year younger to her.
Tina liked to read a lot. She was also on the internet or watching the Discovery channel to enhance her knowledge. She was like a walking encyclopedia having knowledge about everything under the sun, so to speak.
Both her parents were doctors but she was more interested in computers and wanted to study further, its various programmes, etc. Maybe she would make a few programmes herself one day. Ben, her class fellow was also a general knowledge expert and a walking encyclopedia like herself. Maybe Ben and she would work together.
She had become quite independent from an early stage and could manage to look after herself and her little brother. Her father and mother were busy people, giving their children quality time and not quantity time. As after work they had very little time to interact with their kids. Both her parents were in the kitchen in the morning and at night. Money can make you hire cooks and servants but the love and affection that is transferred to the children from the parents are unprecedented. So they did all they could and the hired part-time help did the cleaning, mopping, washing, etc.
She had come to this camping trip at the behest of her parents who wanted her to have some change and become more independent and sure of herself and her abilities.
Think all this was like a lot of information getting into her head which would make anyone drowsy. Slowly her eyelids started to droop and within a few minutes, she was asleep. Maybe her brain got bored thinking about itself.
It was around 5 a.m. that Tina awoke with a start. There was a huge disturbance coming from outside their tent. She could hear the sounds of screams from one of the boys, and then there were grunt sounds as if it was a pig or a bear. Thereafter there was the sound of persons running. After that, there was the sound of gunfire. Tina and Nanu jumped out of their sleeping bags immediately and rushed towards the opening of the tent. Nanu quickly unzipped the opening of the tent so that they could go outside. Just as they were exiting the tent they heard another shot being fired.
By the noises that were coming as they moved out, it seemed that a wild animal, probably a wild boar or a bear, had made its way to their tents and attacked one of the tents. But whose tent was attacked and who could have fired a shot? Hopefully, whichever animal it was, would have been scared away by the gunshot. Hopefully, it was not injured as an injured wild animal is dangerous.
The gunshots must have been fired by Luke Sir, Didn't he say that he was always prepared for any eventuality. He must be carrying a gun, she thought.