It was my sister’s birthday, so I thought of gifting her a sunrise. Oh well, she hates to wake up early, but sisters are meant to trouble each other, HAHA!

I planned it in a way that we land at night, so that the view is revealed only on the birthday morning. I woke her up at 6:00 am. Sun was rising amidst the wild, right above the gigantic Athirapally waterfall. And, what a stroke of luck! There was a live background score of trumpeting elephants. Breathtaking!

Later, at the breakfast table, she asked me the most unexpected thing, “Can we go to the waterfall to watch the sunset?” I was surprised, because she is not the trekking kinds. I was sure she was going to change her mind in some time. But, at 4 pm, she was all set to go.

We started walking down with the naturalist. It was an uneven muddy path, rocky in patches. We could see a big rock in the water, the closest point to the fall. And, to get there, we needed to cross the rough river stream in between. We kept slipping here and there, but she made no two bones about it. We created our own little game, 'Whoever slips the least number of times, wins!'

After almost half an hour of toppling and tumbling, we climbed up the rock. We were literally amidst liquid gold, getting drenched in the spray of the fall, with the pitch of the gushing water so high, that we couldn’t hear each other.

It was fun to plan this surprise for her, but it was even more fun to get a bundle of surprises in return.