Keoti Waterfalls

by Deepali Tiwari (India)

A leap into the unknown India

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We were at the gas station just outside the city, waiting for a group which was to join in for the trip and I couldn't care less about who they were. We were heading to Keoti falls and though these were the last bunch of people I would want to go anywhere with, I was genuinely excited. Rewa is a quaint little village, commercialized tourism hasn't hit this place yet. There is no public transport available to get to the falls. I was scrolling down on my cellphone when I saw a white Sedan rolling down the sidewalk. "Here they are!" someone said, I was midway in turning back to my phone when I realized whom I just saw driving. I froze. Various hues of green were sliding past as I felt cold air on my face. Mud huts, yellow mustard fields, cattle grazing in green, a tree full of pink flowers, "cherry blossom!" some kid shouted in excitement. "Cherry blossom in India?" someone wondered. More green fields, a village school, kids in uniforms, a stray cow on the road, screech of tires, and halt. "Is everyone alright?" I turned to see the person asking the question in the eye, he averted. More green fields, a sudden burst of orange, "wow! what is that?" someone asked. "It's a marigold farm" someone replied. "Look Hills!", there was a faint figure of a range of heightened ground far away, getting sharper as we sped forward. Hills, indeed. They had stopped somewhere in the middle of the highway to click pictures, "Oh! the view from here is wonderful". The fields and schools and huts that we had passed earlier were like dots and spots from above. Winding roads and wide expanse of green, "the world seems to be spread like a traveling fair below us" someone said. They asked me to join in for the family picture, I volunteered to click it. There was a temple where google map thought that we had reached the Falls and I could see an old fort far away, "Where's the waterfall?" the kid whined. "It must be somewhere here, let's ask some locals", there was no one around, the place seemed deserted, there was no road for vehicles to go further. It felt like a post-apocalypse world. I went near the edge of the path, we were on the top of a river valley, emerald green water was flowing deep down in the valley, when everyone grew silent I could hear the sound of water rushing down. They stepped down a few rocks carefully, to see the full view of the river valley but there was no waterfall still. The kid shouted "Papa" in frustration and there were multiple echoes of his shout. Everyone started shouting their names or names of there beloved after that. I heard echos of their laughter, I also wanted to shout something but I screamed instead, they grew silent for a few seconds amidst the echos of my screams. "Hy! the waterfall is that way", a local told us. It was huge, powerful and gushing. I could see little rainbows forming in the steam that was emanating from the falls. Trees were growing out of the rocks on both sides of the fall and I could see the bare roots forming various criss-cross patterns on the rocks. Apart from the gushing water, there was a faint chiming sound of water passing through cracks and crevices. It was soothing. They were asking me to join their little picnic, their photo sessions, their speaker and trashy music. I was sitting at some distance, I pulled out a cigarette and heard them murmuring. "Why don't you act normal for once?" They were both eyeing me with disdain. I gave them a snort, "normal in the sense, pretend to forget that my Uncle sexually harassed me when I was five?". I walked away from my parents, walked closer to the falls, where their voices and murmurings were drowned under the sound of gushing water. It was 'rape' that I had wanted to shout back there but I had screamed instead.