My First Camping trip (Part 2)

The story continued to flow from short talk to short talk, questions kept arising, in the meantime, a gentleman arrived with boiled eggs, everyone was offered one egg each to eat. Along with a cup of tea. Another gentleman brought a basket of sweets. These things doubled the enjoyment of camping, even tripled. (I had also brought peanuts, but the things I had talked about were so useful, good and refreshing that I don’t remember them, otherwise I would have been blessed with some hospitality).

Tea cups, pots, tea utensils were with me, but I didn’t get a chance to cook. Because the gossip and introductory session that started at ten o’clock in the night ended around three o’clock in the night when the esteemed Tareen Sahib said that the comrades should rest for a while so that they can wake up refreshed in the morning. Thus, the meeting was adjourned, by which time the fire had also stopped burning and the coals were smoldering.

When he reached the camp, he was greeted by the people. Some had fallen asleep, some were getting ready to sleep. Two more people could have easily fit in, but I thought I should try my hand at camping. I picked up my sleeping bag and headed towards the small camp, which until now had looked like a storeroom. The camp had a mesh screen for ventilation, and a small cover was placed on top of it to prevent the dew from getting inside. I had taken off the cover and didn't remember to put it back on. When I reached the tent with the bed, packed my bag and helmet and made a place to lie down, I was shocked because the tent was completely wet from the outside due to the dew and the inside was completely frozen due to the top being open. I didn't even have a mat to lay down on. I couldn't bear to take my sleeping bag, which I had just bought online from Lahore and which was my first experience of sleeping in a sleeping bag, out of the cold. I opened it, unzipped it and got into the travel bed.

Now there are more tests of love, the struggle began, the first problem was that its zipper was very light or maybe it was so that it was closed all the way to the top, as soon as I turned it slightly, the zipper of the bag opened. And a gust of cold wind blew ten leaves. I closed the zipper again and lay straight for a while, then I wanted to change my position, then the zipper opened again as if it was getting too hot. If I accidentally touched the tent, it would be soaked due to the dew. There was enough space inside that a person could only sit, that too with a slight bend, otherwise my head would hit the roof.

Huh, did you enjoy camping? A voice came from inside, I also answered in annoyance, "Oh, too much..." 🤣. Huh, what else can I call camping? Yes, of course? Where were we going to give up, if we were scared by difficulties and circumstances, then what about camping and sightseeing? I don't know when I woke up. I must have been awake for barely an hour and a half when suddenly I woke up due to panic. When I turned around, the stitching of the inner fabric of the sleeping bag was torn with a crunching sound and some cotton also came into my mouth with the next breath. Oh, yours... When I straightened up, the zipper of the bag opened with a bang. I was panicking because it was growing, the humidity of the camp was still there inside, but I felt difficulty in breathing. I quickly unzipped the camp door, I was already wearing socks, so I put on my boots, zipped it back up and went out in search of water. In the meantime, the muezzin started reciting the call to prayer for dawn on the loudspeaker of the mosque located at the park gate. When I saw that Ansar Bhai was also coming out of the washroom, he reached the tap located nearby. When he drank water, his breath returned. He returned to the tent with repentance.

The bed had now been opened from the inside, the polyester was also made of rejected cotton or perhaps in the past, there was carpet cotton of this type, black and brown cotton or something. I lay there for a while, the sun was slowly rising, so did you hear the voice of Ansar Sahib, let's go to Hailing? I replied, let's go. So we both walked towards the mountain from there, there are paved stairs to go to the top, so we just walked, I was out of breath, slowed down a bit, then started climbing. After taking a couple of rests, we reached the top. The view of the rising sun was breathtaking, the cool air refreshed my health.

When I returned, many tents had been packed, there was a pudding made of sugarcane juice in one pot and fresh yogurt in the other. Both things were put on a plate and served to everyone with a spoon. Don't worry, the dishes of travelers are like that, but the truth is that the taste has arrived, my lord. On the other side, a frying pan had been placed on the stove and the process of making fresh puris had begun, a floor table was laid out which was made by laying out tent mats, then Mahmood and Ayaz sat in the same row for breakfast... Halwa, puri, gram and pickle. We stayed to eat dry roti but still cleaned our hands on two or three puris. After breakfast, everyone said goodbye to each other. Tareen Sahib's group left for a visit to the wrestling arena nearby. We got busy opening our tents, because only our two tents were in the back of the field.