Nature's Plaything

Mountains feel peaceful until you actually have to walk them. My friend and I left comfortable

Gurgaon for adventure, choosing the death route over the easy path because we're men with sawdust

for brains. That forty-five minute trek turned into over two hours of pure regret.

The lake we hiked to was actually just drainage ditches. Darkness fell, we got completely

lost heading toward Israel instead of our hotel. Then a passing driver casually mentioned

bears live in these woods, and unlike lions who kill quickly, bears prefer to

play with their prey first. My friend kept staring at me intensely. Turns out he wasn't

scared of bears, he was scared of dying with unspoken feelings. We survived the