Trek
It is summer vacation. Maya and Nidhi were excited as they are planning to go to an adventure camp in Wayanad Kerala. Maya is a keen observer and a calm girl. Nidhi is a kind of playful girl. She will be fascinated to see everything around her. They finished their shopping and packed their backpack with water bottles, energy bars, nuts , lemons and oranges to prevent vomit, bottles of juice, sunglasses, first aid kit for safety, note pad and pens and a box to store important collections for the coming trip. After packing they finished their dinner and went to sleep early.
It was 6 in the morning. They got ready and assembled at the base camp. The guide adviced to stay with the crowd and most importantly not to touch any plants. After the instructions they started their trek. It was very beautiful to hear the welcoming call of whistling, warbling and shrieking notes of mynahs. The path was narrow and had ups and downs so they were asked to follow each other. They all got a strong and powerful smell. Maya asked the guide about the strong, pleasant and powerful smell. He told " The smell is from the crushed Mountain Ajwain plant which is used for making ayurveda medicines to enhance digestion." Everyone took a note of the amazing fact and Nidhi plucked a leaf and stored it in her collection box. They listened to so many bird calls like 'kahkahkahkah-kahkahkahkah' of rufous treepie ,' Harsh tiu-tiu' and ' cheece cheece' of black drongo and noisy , cheerful and trilling notes of bee-eater and twittering chirk-chirk of pied kingfisher. The guide told amazing facts behind the names of birds like 'pied means a combination of both black and white colour in the body.'
Nidhi was fascinated by seeing all these and she drifted away leaving her backpack to Maya.
They all trekked forward and when they were about to reach the destination the guide asked everyone to pay attention " Look at the fruit on this tree, it is like small mangoes and is called cerbera odollam. This fruit is also known as suicide fruit. It is highly poisonous when ingested. It is used in manufacturing bioinsecticides and deodorants. Please don't touch it". We went to a point in the mountain and started to have our breakfast.
Meanwhile Nidhi realized that she got lost. She searched for everyone and started shouting"Maya where are you?? Guide. Can you hear me? Is there anyone?? Help . Hello." She felt hungry and thirsty and turned to look for her backpack. But she realized that she gave her backpack to Maya when she was tired. Suddenly she spotted cerbera odollam that looked the same like mangoes. She said ". Hey there mangoes yummy"... And jumped to pluck a fruit.... She ate it... Hmmm..... "Well it doesn't taste like mango." What fruit is this??" "Bleah🤮🤮 I can't eat this( bleah🤮🤮) anymore." " Ohhhh my head is aching.... Ahhhh my throat isl burning..... I can't stand" And trrrrrr she fainted. While, Maya asked guide " Guide guide I can't find Nidhi over here..... I don't know where she is gone..." Guide..." What!!.." "Attention a girl is missing in the crowd... Please help me in finding her.. All searched " Nidhi..Nidhi... Can you hear us... Nidhi.. Where are you?? Maya shouted"Guide guide she's here.... Fainted" Guide run towards them. "Oh ... No she ate the fruit.." He immediately called the security at the base camp to arrange an ambulance. He gave some first aid and carried her to the base camp. They took her to a hospital nearby." Thank god she is alive." After few days she got discharged and everyone learnt a lesson from the trek ...
Moral:Never ever ingest anything if you are not aware of it...