O, B, T and I

OBT here stands for Out-Bound Training. They say that it is an important part of the training we undergo as fresh engineers but all we care about are the three days of endless fun at the riverbank.

We had our outbound training from 20th November to 23rd November. (Sorry for such a late blog-post). It all began at the factory premises where we all boarded a bus for the overnight journey to Rishikesh and then on to Shivpuri Camp. There were about twenty-five of us and we crossed the river to get to the campsite in rafts, riding on the current of the last rapids, after the bus driver had brought us down to the accessible bank by driving along a precariously inclined path. The view around us was wallpaper material so we all snapped a few pictures.

And then the training began. We had a few sessions of trust building exercises, but this was the dull part of the game. Later in the evening we had artificial rock-wall climbing and grappling, in which yours truly lost his nerves after reaching the midway point. (note to self: reduce weight + gain some more strength).

We then returned to the camp to a bonfire party before dinner. Acoustic guitar and hoarse voices jammed on some of the favorite bonfire tunes, and it was a time to enjoy.

Next day we had some more adventure sports, Burma-bridge crossing, valley crossing (suspended upside down - military style), and the best part of the trip - the raft building and test drive. Using bamboo poles, two large plastic containers, three inflated tire tubes and rope, we made rafts that braved the river. Funny thing was that we thought that each team had to take only one test ride, so we selected all those who knew how to swim for the job. Later, we found that there had to be two test rides and on the second one four of us who did not know swimming at all got to take out the raft. Was awesome :D.

Later that evening, after dusk, we went into the woods for a "night-navigation", where we got thoroughly lost and reached to the camp pretty late. Where it was time for another Bonfire Party. This one was much more enjoyable than the previous day's (primarily because I had about twice the amount of alcohol inside me compared to last evening).

Stayed up that whole night with friends, and then the next day we had another team building and co-ordination exercise. Rolling Basketballs. Had lunch and then we set off back for Gurgaon. Exhausted, almost everyone slept off in the beginning of the journey, but later we all woke up and sang ourselves hoarse(i.e. with whatever was left of our voices after two days of singing at bonfires). We also shot a interview movie with what everyone had to say about the OBT Trip.

At the end of it, these three days seems too less a time, the OBT seemed to get over all too quickly. Kya karein, yeh dil maange more.

Looking back at that time now, it wasn't just an endless sequence of adventures and exercises, it was rather more about strengthening friendships, starting new ones and having one hell of a blast, which for me was after a long long time.