This is not so much of a post. I love sharing a few personal stories every now and then. And this is a small episode from our lives.

A few years ago, my husband and I had gone camping with his brother to Kings Canyon National Park in California. Believe me when I say this was our first time camping ever. We rented a tent and some camp gear before we headed to the park. Our first day was as eventful as one can imagine. With help from a nearby family, we managed to pitch our tent. We were so proud that we even celebrated with a nice meal of dosas cooked on our camp stove. 

On that first night in our tent, it was pitch dark. The only sounds we heard was the faint rush of the King’s River flowing near our campsite and the sound of our breath against our sleeping bags.  It was an utter thrill to be sleeping in the forest amid all the nature you can possibly ask for.

I was content and almost on my way to subconscious bliss when there was a strange light that shone in our tent. We listened in and realized a car was backing up on to the road somewhere near us. So we went back to sleep. Suddenly, we heard this rustling of leaves near our tent. Just then,  the shadow of a figure  appeared in our tent moving with the movement of the car’s lights. Our first thoughts were we had a visitor on four paws. My husband held on to my hand with an iron grip and said “ Don’t worry, I got you.”. On the other side, he held on to his brother’s hand and assured him the same. 

Once the car lights were gone, I didn’t think much of it and focused on going back to sleep. But it seemed my husband decided he couldn’t sleep and wouldn’t let us sleep until he had figured out what was rustling the leaves outside our tent. It turned out to be just a small  flap flailing about in the wind on the side of our tent that had our over-imaginative minds guessing. 

The first time camping  is always the best one. You hear all these stories about bears making entrances. And especially after an evening of making dosas on a campsite, your mind is run with ideas of a dosa-craving bear rummaging around the site for dosas and a cup of chutney!