The Last Day of the Year Gone By.

and i spent the night next to a quiet lake, which sure was to be disturbed by a kayak!

We started out, 28 in total, towards vikarabad where the entire evening or rather say morning was to be spent next to Nagasamudram lake. The car drive was around 80 kms from hyderabad, one way and I should admit that I never realized the distance. Thanks to a good company of people who kept me in loop of their conversation. Nice talk, connected topics, willingness to listen and be 'listened' are few things that help you take away the distance. This was precise, in the car i was traveling. Can't say about the rest. Waiting to hear from them.

So, it was around 2345 hrs, by the time we reached the lake. Darkness and silence greeted people, albeit a pleasant one. A wide stretch of water pictured far away and we were walking towards the start of the water-line after parking our cars, carrying various utensils and baggages for the 'light' dinner which was supposed to commence..err...at sometime. The night began with a campfire close to the lake. Couple of people who were supposed to be good at doing it, got into business and set it up. I had the impression that the campfire was supposed to be the center around which people would dance and sing as the night progressed but the thought was shattered as it's true purpose was unveiled later!

So, the time was approaching. 0000hrs. We had a yummy cake opened with 3 candles on top of it [still figuring out the significance of 3] to celebrate the new year and the honors were made. A
delight for cake-lovers. The cake slicing was followed by chai - precisely for which the fire was made. Post chai-time, it was time for dance and 'aao twist kare' segment. We had the woofers blowing out music and someone presented the idea of a circle of people with one person in the center trying to create dance steps while others followed it. It was a recreational exercise. Nothing more than that. A nice thought put in place. Apart from this, people had an option to go for a round of kayak in the water or take a walk under a moonlit night. From moonlit night, it strikes me that around 0025 hrs, the lunar eclipse had begun. It was a partial, no, a minuscule shadow placed on the surface of the moon. Few of them, took time to use a binocular to view the event.

A closing hours ended with eating and people still waiting for a round of kayak - which included me as well. A nice short walk around the lake was a pleasant one as well. We wound up the event close to 0300 hrs and started back to hyderabad.

It was 0500 hrs by the time we got back to hyderabad. Lucky, the next day was a holiday for me. Spent the entire day lying down.