The Trip to the Fall

It's been a year since my trip to Dudhsagar, Goa last year and here's a story often told but not written so far; a story I wished to forget but one that remains etched in memory. I made a passing mention of this in the previous post - here's the full story.

We had decided to go to Dudhsagar the next morning - but, when I got up the following day, I didn't feel like getting out at 5am - so, we decided to postpone the trip. But then, when I got up at 7am, I wanted to give it a try. And so, thanks to me, we left 2 hours late and reached Colem. It was going very well - we'd been helped by one of the passers by - he'd given us very specific directions on how to reach the waterfalls.

Initially, it was quite scary to ride along the railway track - we've never done this before and Amir was hoping the bike doesn't give us any trouble till we get out. We were quite cautious along the railway track. But, once we reached the mud track, I relaxed. I took my D80 out of my bag and wanted to take pictures as we rode along the way. I have to mention, this was against my friend's word of caution to leave the camera inside and hold on to the bike. Being the smart kid I am, I refused. We'd have gone a bit further, when he was trying to negotiate an upward slope, my feet touched the ground, and before I knew it, I was trying to get on my feet - I was on the ground, holding my camera high up in the air. And, the first thing I said was "I think I am bleeding."

I had banged my head on the ground. When my friend, Amir, had a look - he freaked.

To say 'he freaked' is an understatement - and quite understandably so. Here we were, in the middle of the jungle - we'd seen no one else on our way - and he had someone with blood flowing from her head. At that time, I didn't know how bad I'd hurt myself. I thought he was getting worried for no good reason. Of course, until much later, I won't know. When he suggested we head back, I insisted on going ahead. After all, we were far into the jungle - why return without reaching the waterfall! And, that's what we did.
We reached the end of the road - and there's no way you can see the waterfall. I didn't even know in which direction it was. You walk down a couple of steps (depending on the water level) and cross the stream to reach a small patch of land in the middle. You cross again and again - before you reach the rocks right in front of the waterfall.

After resting there for a while, we decided to head back - thankfully, we made our way out without another adventure.Only when we were on the main road did I realise how bad I was hurt. We walked into the first hospital we found - ESI refused to treat without the card. Onto the next hospital and I got stitched up - my first stitches as far as I can remember!