Return To Innocence

There are times in your life when you just want to be like the innocent kid that you once were. When you just want to enjoy the simple joys around you without having to worry about all the politics, jealousies, relationships and insecurities rattling the world around you.
I had a chance to relive that phase of my life this weekend as our entire project team went for a team outing to the new theme park near Bangalore touted as the best in India, called WonderLa.
Even though our complete project team had around 15 people - 9 singles and 6 married, yet when the idea of going to an entertainment park was first suggested most people just laughed it off and the seniors suggested going for a dinner to some 5-star instead. But the young crowd being in the majority, it was our choice that counted in the end, and soon everyone was to realize that far from being kiddish, many of the rides were scary enough to send a chill down the spines of the bravest of the bravehearts around.

So on Sunday morning the whole team got into our company bus and reached the venue which was around 40 kms outside Bangalore. Being a holiday there was a substantial crowd and most of them were IT people.
As soon as we entered the park, most of us were just raring to go. We soon split up into 2 groups – 8 of the ‘chicken hearted’ ones who went for the kiddish rides like bouncing cars etc. and around 6 of the so called ‘lionhearts’ (including yours truly) for the rollercoasters and other gut-wrenchers.

The very 1st ride we ran to instinctively was the 1 we heard most of the screams emerging from, aptly titled ‘Maverick’ which was Tom Cruise’s codename in Top Gun. People were buckled onto their seats on 2 rows on a platform. It first starts rotating in a circular motion up and down, then sideways and then it suddenly goes upside down…and then sideways up, and all this churning continues for at least 5 minutes!
Obviously most of the females were screaming their lungs out and 1 of my colleagues even started crying!

Next we all headed for the rollercoaster called WonderSplash(top and bottom), where everyone’s seated into a carriage resembling a raft, which goes twirling upto an elevated rail and then hurtles down a steep incline at an awesome speed before making a big splash in the water that drenches everyone to the core.
Another interesting ride was called the DropZone where everybody is seated on a platform that is raised to a giddying height of 17 metres and then makes a freefall to the ground! Before anyone got a chance to breath it rises up and falls again and again continuously for at least 5 minutes!
The last ride worth mentioning in the dry rides(and the scariest for me) was called the ‘Twister’. It looked almost like a Giant Wheel, but instead of the basket like cubes it had 2 seats at each point, where we were strapped on our shoulders, with our legs hanging in mid-air. Now as the wheel moved up, the seats swung to and fro like a pendulum, and just as each pair moved to the top, the seats went upsidedown! There we were at the top of the wheel looking down with all the blood rushing to our heads, and desperately clinging on to dear life with the support of only 2 straps on our shoulders! And then the wheel moves down with us in the same position facing the ground, and this goes on for at least 20 rounds. DAMN scary.
After some more of such freaky rides we decided to take a break for lunch before jumping into the water park.
Here most of the rides were water slides at various elevations and inclines. Obviously we went for the highest ones. The 1 that got me real claustrophobic was where we had to climb 4 stories high, and enter the mouth of a black pipe lying down on our stomachs and facing downwards. From here you go twisting and twirling into multiple circles in the pitch darkness around you, and your body catches a breakneck speed before splashing out of the pipe into a pool at the bottom.
This unbridled fun continued till late evening, and everyone was literally exhausted from all the frolicking around. However, everyone was unanimous on one thing….this was certainly the most fun team outing we had in a long time.

(Pics from Top: All raring to go for the rollercoaster....with me grinning from ear to ear as if posing for a toothpaste ad...lol.
2nd the platform in Maverick before turning upside down.
3rd the platform in DropZone while going all the way up.
Last all of us at the end of the coaster ride....i'm like man...wht the hell was that!
)


P.S. – I’ll be leaving for Delhi this Friday, and then move on to Chandigarh to celebrate Holi with my family next week. So might not be able to put up another post till end of next week. Hope you all have a rocking time!

RETURN TO INNOCENCE (Enigma)

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