Batch: 2023 – 27

Semester: 1
Name of the course: Writing Skills
Name of the student: Anoushka Sarkar
Roll number: 3022
PRN: 23050423022

Q2.
Metamorphosis
Beas was on a term break going on to standard 9. Just last night she had a
hearty laugh with her next-door neighbour Fifa. They baked cookies
together. Beas
always looked forward to baking activity with Fifa. This was their yearly
ritual on every
school break. Last year they made delicious cakes. Fifa joked over the
urban legend
of the bat land, weird name given by the locals for the amazing place
Beas and her schoolmates had chosen for their trekking expedition the
following day.

Beas got up early that morning. They were supposed to gather at school.
When
she arrived in school, most of her classmates were already there. A bus
picked them up and started the journey. The girls were chirpy and loud.
They had made up their mind to
enjoy every moment of it. It was Beas’ first outing outside of family. She
was never
allowed to go on a school trip before by her over-anxious mother. She
jumped right into the fun.

When they reached their destination, Beas was rendered speechless at

the glory of nature. She breathed in the fresh air as she travelled through
the lush green landscape. She was enraptured by the beauty of the
scenery around her and could not believe that this hidden wonderland
was just a few hundred miles from home. When her friends had
suggested a trekking expedition she was initially wary thinking of the
bugs, heat and
physical exertion. Enduring heat was never her strong point, it made her
cranky. However, now she was glad that they had chosen this place. She
and her friends had started their expedition in the morning, waking up at
the crack of dawn. As much as she was not a morning person, the fresh air
and the greenery rejuvenated her and the day passed in a blur of
enjoyment.

There were trees and plants and shrubs Beas didn’t see before. Touch me
not had lived
only in her imagination till now. She played with a sea of them, stared in
awe at trees kissing the sky, measured their girth, ran after the butterflies
, imitated the birds , she
wished she had wings.

She played with her friends. She never thought Titli, the class monitor
could lose her
mind in joy. They ran, hugged, fell and laughed some more, They didn’t
want the day
to end,
As they trekked, the panorama removed her cover enthralling them with
the glorious mix of greenery, blue sky and castles made up of snow-white
clouds. Beas couldn’t
believe her eyes when the ground suddenly went down to receive a
constant stream
of water from 20 feet above, into its lap. The waterfall, created a pool of
squeaky
clean water, then resumed its journey in a small stream to join a rivulet 20
meters
away. The sudden and unexpected opening caught them speechless,
motionless. Beas saw that the river flowed on the left after appearing out
of nowhere , waterfall
on the right , pine trees set at the background. The place had the best
music Beas ever
heard. There was a ground in the shape of a wedge, between the river
and the
waterfall. No better place to have lunch.

They stopped for a short lunch consisting of sandwiches and fruits. They
chit
chatted, the main topic of discussion being what career they wanted to
pursue in the
future. Most of Beas’ friends wanted to become doctors or engineers. But
Beas was
an exception. She was still exploring different possibilities. She was sure
about one
thing though, she wanted to be a famous author someday. She loved
reading and
writing, it was her first love. And didn’t her class 8 English teacher nurture
the same
dream about her? Her mother, who was also the number 1 fan of her
writings,
cherished the same dream too.

After lunch, Beas walked to the foot of the waterfall and watched the
water gush
powerfully off the adjacent cliff into the great depth of the stream below.
She
marvelled at the ability of water to look gentle and powerful at once. She
was a water animal. fascinated by water ever since her childhood. Her
favourite outdoor activity was swimming, which she had mastered at a
very tender age. She couldn’t resist and plunged forward in the pool.
When she resurfaced, she saw Titli looking
down, and for a moment she thought Titli will wield her famous register.
Joy gripped her
when she saw Titli jump right in beside her. Then Kabita, Shristi , Neha
joinedthem. They
splashed water at each other. They had fun. She was sad that she didn’t
try to make
friends with Titli before. She was always in awe of Titli’s academic
brilliance. There
was a sense of reverence that kept Beas at a distance. Now she realised,
Titli was a
child too. Going by the last few minutes, Titli could have been her best
friend in
another universe.

Play time was over and they continued on their path again, relying on a
map as the
signal was unreliable. This stretch was different. It had more trees. There
were birds
flying in a herd before they made sharp turns to settle in a tree, monkeys
hanging
from the branches by one hand and thrusting fruits into their mouth with
the other.
There were bright flowers that created a sheet above the ground.

The beauty all around got Beas thinking. what if human beings still lived in
forests
like hunter gatherers. She read in Sapiens that contrary to common
wisdom, hunter
gatherers were healthier and happier than us. Nature provides more than
we need.
Sure scientific advancements , agriculture has outsized benefits but greed
has
pushed us down into an abyss. There was war everywhere, to save what a
group thought belonged to them. But what if we didn’t have anything to
protect , lived on the food we have in abundance. Will humans take their
differences , their battles to Moon one day? So deeply engrossed was
Beas in her thoughts that she lost track of time. She
noticed the sun go down in a splash of colours- red, orange, yellow and
purple - and
set beyond the waterfall. The scene was so picturesque that she pulled
out her
mobile to capture a few photos. It was then that she noticed the time
displayed on
her mobile - it was 6 p.m. They were supposed to board the bus, that
would take them back to their camp, at 6. There they would enjoy a
dinner by the campfire and spend the night in tents before heading back
to the city the next day.

Beas looked around for her friends, but the area was completely deserted.
A pit of
dread settled in her stomach as she called out her friends names only to
be met by
the unnerving silence of the great unknown. She tried to stay calm, which
was
obviously not her forte, as she maneuvered her way back to the pre-
determined
meeting point, while trying to convince herself that everyone would be
waiting for her
there. She broke into a run as she approached the point but was met only
with
disappointment as there was no one. She pulled out her phone to try and
call her
friends but of course there was no signal. She cursed herself for losing
track of time
as her head circled through all the possibilities of what lay in store for her.

When the panic settled enough for her to think clearly, it was pitch dark
around her.
She could barely see her own hand in front of her face. In the dark she
tried to find
her way towards civilization for a while, but it seemed a futile activity. In
the
meantime she could hear her stomach make loud rumbling sounds
reminding her
that it was dinner time. She pulled out a cold sandwich and a half-eaten
apple from
her bag. Her friends had wanted to throw away the leftovers of lunch, but
reluctant to
waste food, she had brought it along. She silently thanked her mother for
ingraining
this childhood lesson in her head. As she ate, the chill in the air began to
turn
vicious. She shivered and pulled her knees onto her body, trying to
preserve her
body heat. The weather and the silence along with the exhaustion of the
day
threatened to lull her into sleep, but she tried to stay awake. fearing
poisonous
snakes or vicious wild animals or whatever other dangers lay ahead of her
in a
forest.

By now she had resigned herself to the fate of spending the night alone in
the forest.
She turned on the flashlight on her phone to look for a place to settle for
the night.
The phone battery was almost dead. The sound of the crickets were
deafening and it
was rising more and more. Few of the last birds were returning to their
nests. There
were sounds of animals at a distance. Evening seemed to surround her
faster than
she thought. She gathered her thoughts and counted her options in her
head. She
walked helter-skelter when she suddenly saw a cave at a distance. It was
her best
bet and she brisked towards it. She stumbled on dead branches, slipped
on wet patches but picked herself up again. She cursed her complete lack
of sense of time which has plagued her ever since she has known
anything. But she was a grown up now and could take care of herself.

Beas stepped inside the cave, there was spacious opening. in the failing
light she
saw enormous ceilings, large walls. There was no sign of life. The floor
was clean
and the air was clear, Beas walked around a little bit, it seemed nature
had created this
recess for her and only her. There were a few names etched crudely on
the wall.
She realized she wasn’t the first one to set foot in the cave. Her spirits
lifted and
she prepared for the eventuality.

Beas decided that was going to be her den for the night. As she settled
down
inside the cave her flash light went off - the battery was completely dead.
Darkness
covered every possible inch around her. All she could hear now was the
incessant
sound of crickets. She thought about her friends, the campfire, she
thought about her
home and how anxious her parents must be as they were unable to
contact her. She
had watched home alone and baby’s day out. This was her day out but
only worse. Scary thoughts filled her mind. Will they or will they not find
her. Will it be too late for the
search party to arrive? Beas decided she will stay strong. Her eyelids were
heavy and she could barely keep them open. She slowly drifted off to
sleep.

She dreamt that there were other beings around her in the cave. There
were people
trying to tell her something, they were the good ones. They were pulled
back by the
larger number of bad people. None of them meant any harm physically.
There was
fluttering of wings. The fluttering became more and more intense and she
felt a prick
on her neck. The crowd slowly disappeared and it was all quiet again.
She had a disturbed sleep. When she woke up there was sunlight outside.
She
looked around and wondered where she was. Memory started to rush back
to her.
She had survived. Her heart filled with joy. She thought of her parents,
friends, her
cosy bed. She thanked almighty for being alive. But there was something
very
wrong. Was the sun shining brighter than usual? Why else was she not
able to look
at the glaring light outside? The idea of going out of the cave now did not
seem
welcome. So, she just spread her wings and flew to the darkest corner of
the cave
and hung upside down from the ceiling of the cave, feeling safe and cozy
at last.