26.0 Trips! It's Dangerous! (Nightmare Of My Parents)

I do not remember what was the very first trip or outing, I went with my family members. However, there was an annual trip every December with my family members. Sometimes a few relatives and friends joined us. 

As I can remember, I went to my first school trip when I was in grade eight, I think. Though my school arranged several trips early, my parents did not let me go. So, when all of my friends were going to many school trips, I was staying at home according to my parent's permission. I think it is one key reason for me to share a story about 'Trips' with you today. 

My parents did not like to send us out for a few days without them. The same thing happened to my younger sister as well. She also went to very few school trips with her friends. Sometimes we got their permission for some trips, and it was not an easy task. Though we cried for hours, they did not change their decisions. They proved their decision as a valid one by pointing out some reason. Sometimes, they took certain real situations as examples to scare us. They had a big database with many incidents. Actually, they could retrieve the appropriate incident. Now also, their heartbeat gets changed when we were telling about a trip, I think.

In some situations, we asked some of our best friends to get permission from our parents. In such cases, they also had to listen to the same lecture. However, that was not a solution and, it did not work at all. Though we cried and fought with them, they ignored all our behaviors by keeping their decisions as it is. So, sometimes it exceeded my limits, and I also got angry with them badly. I argued with them. However, I could not go on any trip that they did not like me to go to.

So, in these situations, we went to my mother for permission. She was my first approver and, father was the final approver. Most of the time, we failed at the first approval. In such a case, we could not submit our request for final approval even. So, once we asked for permission from my mother, she questioned us. 

The very first question checked whether there are any places to have a bath or not. So, by any chance, if she knew that, she did not allow me to go that trip though I did not need to have a bath even. Meantime she explained a few stories about people who died when they were having a bath in such unsecured places. Every time she had a good story. It does not matter about the climate. Even though there was a hot climate without rain at all, their decision was the same. 


Sometimes they reminded the validity of accuracy every time when there were similar incidents published in the newspaper or a TV channel. They used to say that 'See, that's why we did not let you go. The next question checked the people who were going on the trip. If she understood that there was no responsible person, she did not forget to blame them by remembering their past. If we could go through these two questions, then we got her approval and, she asked us to ask my father.

So, I had to tell all about the trip to my father once he came home. He also questioned the same things that my mother asked. But it was a detailed questionnaire. He could point out more reasons which could help with the cancellation. So, when grown-up I answered his questions very carefully as I knew his points. When my father was explaining the validity of his reasons, my mother also supported him, saying that she also pointed out the same. In such situations, she never took my side. Basically, both of them tried to cancel our trips in our school days.

Those days they had another tricky way to avoid us and, it was their dreams. So, once I woke up in the morning to go on the trip, my mother said about a nightmare she saw the last night. Meantime, she explained the results of her dream and, always it was not a good one. Finally, she asked me to stay at home. 

So, when I was murmuring my worries, my father also came and explained the dream he saw. At that time my mother said 'Oh my god... You also saw a nightmare? So, when both of them said that, I was also feeling a little afraid about the journey those days. However, they never revealed the dream clearly, and it was a funny drama they played in our childhood to cheat us.

One day a few friends went to my other friend's home. She was living in the beautiful countryside and, that's why they decided to go there. It was a two days journey. So, I tried a lot to go on that trip as I wanted to visit her green home town. But my parents did not like it. I think I was crying for a few hours by requesting their permission. Later on, I increased my volume to get their attention, though there were no tears in my eyes. 

However, they ignored by saying that their decision never changed and, asked me to cry the entire day if I wish. So, I was tired of the situation and went to bed early. On the following day, when I was getting ready to go to a tuition class, my father gave me money to buy a dress to wear. My friends also got upset and, they thought that my parents would give permission for me as I was going with them. As my parents knew most of them. After that, they did not ask me to go on trips with them. Though it made me sad, I was helpless. So, I did not ask about the journeys when they were planning trips️.

Though we had annual trips with family members, there were no special memories about those trips. They were comfortable journeys without hurdles except for only one trip where we had to stay in the vehicle for a whole night as we could not find out a place to stay because of the crowd. Everything happened as per the environment we had at the home. The only difference was we lived somewhere else. 

Therefore, the first memorable trip was a school trip we went to. Many of our classrooms went on the trip. So, there were many buses also. When we are going there, nobody wanted to sit in the seats. Everyone wanted to sing and dance. But everyone wanted to sleep when we were coming back. At that time only we understood that the seats were not enough for everyone. 

Therefore, we could not sit at a stretch. But some of them slept well. So, most of them had to stand for a couple of hours as they could not take their seats back and, I was also among them. So, I was very tired when coming back home. However, I think most of the journeys ended up with tiredness.

This incident also happened in one of our school trips. On that day we went to the seaside and, planned to go for a boat ride and see the coral️. Though a lot of people were ready to go, they were scared. So, most of us asked one of our teachers to come with us. 

She was a chubby and pretty lady. The boat was floating in the water and, it could not park like a car as you know. So, it was a difficult thing for her to get into the boat. When she was putting one leg, the boat floated to somewhere. So, every time she tried, she could not get into the boat. Everyone helped her, but her effort was pointless. So, she said that she cannot come with us, and asked us to go. But nobody wanted to leave her and, others also tried to get down from the boat. However, it made her sad as she knew that all of us were looking for that boat ride. 

So, she put her final attempts. Finally, she got into the boat. I could say that the others dragged her into the boat. It made all of us laugh and, it was fun for her as well. She was one of the teachers we loved. When we were going for a few miles, one of my friends fainted as the boat was moving to different sides with sea waves. It was a different experience for the majority of us including me. It was my first boat ride in the sea and, I enjoyed it a lot though I tightly hanged the boat seat. Meantime, we took photographs, and it was an endless job for some friends. I also brought a camera and, I wanted to take photos of coral reefs. 

The boat driver was a young boy, and he gave some details about coral reefs. So, he saw that everyone was trying to capture coral reefs as much as possible. There was a glass in the boat to see coral reefs. He said that we cannot take the pictures via that glass. But we took photos and, understood that there were no coral reefs when cleaning the camera reel. 

Those days I did not have a digital camera and, a limited number of photos can be taken via that camera. As I was going crazy by looking at the coral reefs, I wasted half of the camera reel for coral reefs. Meantime, I wanted to take a photo of us, including the sea. As there were no selfies in those days, I gave my camera to one of my friends. Those photos also were useless. Certain portions of our bodies have captured with the sea view. There were hands, heads, and legs, including the sea among her captures. It made me angry and, a few friends also planned to take the copies of my photos. So, it was a pathetic incident for me. Once I asked her, she said that at that time, she fainted though she did not tell us. Finally, there were no photos of coral reefs and boat riding. 

As this trip was an unforgettable trip, I did not forget to see their boat riding place when we were going some other journeys by passing 'Hikkaduwa. However, their service is not available since 2006 I think. As you know, the tsunami destroyed the most valuable lives and things. It was one key pathetic incident for Sri Lankans. Still, I can remember their friendly faces.

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