Divided by families, united by a scorpion!

Three summers back, two of my friends decided to visit us. The mothers and the children reached Bangalore and the three of us took the five kids and ventured on our own.

I had booked a cottage near Kanakapura, at a place called Anandhama. I was particular that the resort management gave us three different bed rooms, though each one was big enough to accommodate all three families.

Since I was the host I wanted to ensure that we all had our private moments with our kids.

We hired a tourist’s vehicle to reach us to the place. The youngest kid was a little more than 2 years of age and the oldest was about 11 years.

We had fun all the way and when we reached the place, the trip organisers had arranged for a night jungle walk! Though I was tentative, my friends wanted to try their hands at everything. We carried the little one in turn. The rest of the kids were enjoying themselves, though they stuck together.

The trek was quite enjoyable and when we reached the cottage we were all tired and exhausted. We hit the dining hall straight as the kids would have otherwise had each other for dinner!

The food was good and the kids ate well!

Before getting back to the cottage, my friends reminded me to check the sleeping arrangements. I promptly went to the reception and once again, reminded them that we needed three separate rooms.

The person in-charge asked us to have a stroll, while he got the rooms ready. Once he came back to tell us that we could occupy our rooms, we dashed off, kids in front. Just as he opened the door to let us in, the youngest kid made a quick dash. The kid behind her, let out a scream, as he spotted a huge, black scorpion.

All of us backed out while we kept the screams going! Very soon, few of the men rushed inside and hit the unsuspecting creature with their footwear before driving him out of the cottage!

As soon as the black arthropod was safely out of our way, the rest of us went inside picking the baffled child up. We were all so shaken, that we did not realise how tired we were. Finally, we decided that it was time to sleep and the lady in-charge asked us if we wanted anything more.

Gingerly, she began, “Call me if you need anything more. Usually scorpions live as a colony. And the tiled roofs are their favourite hiding place,” she concluded.

All of us looked up at the same time. As the lady was about to leave one of us began, “Do the bedrooms have tiled roofs?”

“Not sure, we need to check,” she said as we went inside to check.

Except one bedroom the rest had tiled roofs!

“Can you move all the beds to one room?” I asked.

“Are you sure? You were insistent on different bedrooms,” the lady did not let go of the opportunity that had so conveniently presented itself!

After she arranged the beds, the lady left. The three of us burst out laughing at our own plight!

The next morning, we debated on whether we had to pack our bags and head home or stay and enjoy the rest of the trip. Finally we decided to enjoy the vacation and what a vacation it turned out to be!