Up the hill and into the waterfall

By: Joshua

Right around Christmas, my family decided that we should go on vacation since it might be our last family vacation before I left for college(look how that turned out). My dad is from Mangalore and we all decided to stay at his cousins’ place in the village. So one fine evening we’re all just sitting around and talking and my cousin asks us if we wanted to see a waterfall and obviously, we said yes and decided to go the next morning.

The waterfall was around four kilometers up the hill and it wasn’t a normal hill. It was covered in tall trees and was part of a legit forest. So we took the car and began our journey. We could only go to the base of the hill in the car and had to continue on foot for the rest of our journey. As we made our way into the forest, I noticed the ground covered in stones that looked like they belonged at the edge of a river and the remains of what seemed like a small stream. The stream was probably gushing with water in the monsoon season.

Once we crossed the dried-up stream, we were greeted by tall trees that stood like firm guards at the entrance of the forest. The path was covered with the roots of those huge trees, penetrating the ground and trying to make their way towards the sky and huge rocks that wanted to twist my ankles(fortunately that didn’t happen). The path seemed like it was built by the forest itself but with a slight element of man. 

After about an hour and a half of careful walking(avoiding thorns, weird insects, and almost slipping and falling to my doom), we finally reached the waterfall. It was a magnificent sight to behold. Small droplets flying through the air and creating a rainbow that emerged from the bottom of the waterfall. So with a sigh of relief, I began to sit down but my cousin said that we still had to go higher up to actually find a proper place to sit and chill(the waterfall had like 4 or 5 different levels). So I got up, brushed the dust off my pants, and jumped from rock to rock to get across the first level(sounds like a video game). There was a narrow yet steep path on the side, which we all somehow managed to climb.

The view at the second level was even more breathtaking. You could almost see the entirety of the forest. The water pooled into a small area and there was another rock under the waterfall that made the perfect sitting spot(I had an amazing back massage there). The water was so cold even though the sun was scorching. So after fooling around in the water, my cousin asked me if I wanted to go up to the third level, and well off we were(the path was so steep and filled with mosquito-like insects, and at one point I felt like my legs would fall off). We(my cousin and I) reached the third level after around 10 minutes and there it was, a giant and deep pool, filled with such clean and clear water that you could actually drink from(which we did cause our bottles were empty by then).

I felt so much at peace that I didn’t want to go back home. The view was so beautiful and the air so fresh and fragrant(it had a subtle sweetness). For a moment I actually imagined how it would be like, living next to a waterfall. Unfortunately, I don’t think that’s gonna be possible anytime soon(sigh), maybe when I die I’ll go up that hill and into the waterfall…