Batman...

" I knew the risk when i took the job, lieutenant", said Harvey Dent " How are you getting him back anywa....", and paused to look into a dark night where Batman's eyes were present just a few moments ago.
"He does that" commented the lieutenant...
A scene from The Dark Knight starring Christian Bale and Heath Ledger, where Batman silently vanishes after a conversation with Harvey Dent.

As a kid, there was no end to my fascination and obsession with these vanishing and appearing acts put up by Batman. I so fervently wished I could vanish just like that and this post is to those vanishing/appearing acts I managed to accomplish over my life time. Most of them were appearing acts because people never seem to sense my presence unless I want them to(Nope, I absolutely am not obscure, I just choose to be). I dedicate this post to this real sweet lady Asha, who has been a victim of my acts more than once.

I was standing in the hallway in plain eyesight. The lighting was a bit dim, but not enough to make a person go invisible. Asha was passing through the hallway and I sensed that she had no idea whatsoever that i was there. I am a decent enough guy to not scare girls in the middle of the night. So i chose to slowly appear out of the background and picking up my most soothing voice, greeted "Hi Asha." I was right, she did not sense me till then. She was a bit startled, regained her composure and was graceful enough to tell me there was no need to apologize cause I did not mean it.

The unwilling victim the next time was Chola. Late in the night I was standing the kitchen,lights turned off cause I did not want to disturb anyone with my phone. And Chola walked in, turned on the light with his back facing me. I went into my "blend in the background" mode, ceased all body movement, tempered my breathing and hoped he would not turn around (I did not want to scare him out of his wits, so i just hoped he would pick the glass of water he came for and leave the kitchen). But turn he did, was startled, swore something in Tamil and then said " Maccha!!! say something daa." I smiled and that was the end of it.

It was Asha again when I was trying to place a phone call from the convenience of the darkness in her room(i feel comfortable in the dark). She came in switched on the light and turned to find me right in her face. She gave a yelp and jumped a coupla steps back and in a demanding yet imploring voice " Why do you always do this???" i had absolutely no answer on me.

The vanishing act I pulled on a coupla guards takes the cake. They were guarding the entrance to the Registrar's office in my university. They had implicit orders to not let anyone pass in. I needed to get in desperately. I walked up to them, was about 4 feet from them among a lot of others who were stopped similarly. I waited for 30 seconds, waiting for a lapse of concentration in both of them and when they both were distracted for a span of 5 secs i walked right in between them and into the office. My nephew, whom I asked to wait outside while i did the infiltration was dumbstruck. It took me two seconds to sneak into a room and I could hear the guards realize what happened and start searching for me.. But I was in and nobody had any idea where...

Blending......

Blending with nature may not be one of our specialties, but evolved as we are, we humans like to try and mimic the chameleons once in a while. We bid Good-Bye to our gadgetry( love-hate affair), shed all inhibitions(sometimes our clothes) and try to do our best with the blending in. It so happened that i recently tried my hand at camping in the wild, my closest imitation to the chameleon. So i started out by renting camping equipment from Outback Adventures. The staff just turned out to be very friendly and helpful and the two guys Paul and Jay were kind enough to advise me that reaching the camping site I chose would be a futile venture provided the weather and redirected me to a closer and a more cozy place.

And so, I reached Saratoga Springs with hopes high in heart and a lot of expectations. But in retrospect, I feel like nature itself was so against me. It was pitch dark by the time we reached the place, the weather forecast rain, and I had no idea how to pitch a tent. With the help of a flashlight and a little help, I was finally able to pitch the tent(cost me about 45 minutes, and shivering painful hands). We somehow managed to scramble in and we barely did when it started pouring cats and dogs. So our camping adventure was limited to what sneak peeks we could manage from our little tent without getting wet, occasional shivers down the spine when we heard territorial and mating spars of the raccoons and the steady prattle of rain on our tent. So we tried our best at blending in with the tent which was the only thing we did. We tried to outrun the rain by waiting it out, but eventually got tired and decided to get wet. So we did exactly that and somehow managed to reach home all drenched to the inners and got into a hot shower and warm beds.

Did it turn out the way i wanted it to? NO
Did all my plans go to dogs? YES
Did i catch a fever and a cold? YES
Was the trip memorable????? A resounding, thumpin, mind numbing YES. It was my best adventure in US till date. Nothing turned out the way i planned it out, not one tiny bit... It was challenging, gruelling and somehow at the same effing time fun.... i sure am looking to another new adventure...