And I still dont like fire crackers though I dont mind them now

Fire crackers, I hate them, I am scared of them or rather the sound waves of huge decibels made by them. Every time I hear one, I cant help but jump. When I was small, I used to hide under the bed, stay there for a period of two days with wads of cotton stuffed in my ears, during Diwali, and only come out to feed myself. Now, don't give that smirk to me, maybe I am a cracker phobic.
But being an Indian, staying in India leaves me no choice but to resort to such crude methods to escape those jolting acoustics that gets at me every year. My parents hoped against hope that this phobia of mine would gradually fade from my life as I grew older and got married and had children, but I proved them wrong!! Now it is my husband Manoj's turn to hope so.
I feel God too wanted me to overcome this morbid fear of crackers, so I had my test of my life...

Last year, feeling sympathetic to my inner fears, Manoj suggested a getaway from the din of Diwali season to a far, quiet place in the city outskirts. The idea sounded good to me and off we went on a four day trip. Kids were excited too, atleast Abhishek was and Kia, we couldn't find out as she was too small then, just over 8 or 9 months.
We had everything packed, even a kettle to boil water and clean feeding bottles, plus all that I felt would come handy over there. It was a farmhouse, aptly named the 'Silent world', the magnitude of the aptness would hit us only later.
It was half past 8 in the evening when we reached the place after many phone calls to the manager for guidance. This was further from a village, the last of the civilised world we would see for a few days, set deep within a huge barricaded compound of a mostly vacant farmland.
As our car wheeled in front of the establishment, Manoj had to keep the car headlights on as he went to open the huge gate (there was no security/guard to greet us nor were there lights) and then we reached the main office or the club house. There were a handful of helps besides the manager and soon we were shown in to a cottage, the only one of its kind in the near and far vicinity!
The house was built on an elevation, was furnished, had two bedrooms, a drawing room with TV and a kitchen. I set about getting the place ready for our habitation as Manoj and kids settled in the sofa. Children were tired and we ordered food for them, fed them bathed them and I went to get the beds ready. That's when I saw this creature on the bedside, a huge lizard, the size of Comodo dragon (maybe I exaggerated, but did I not tell you I am scared of lizards too?)!! I gave loud shriek and Manoj fearing the worst came rushing to my aid, he tried to pacify me that it was just a lizard, but was a little bigger than the usual variety we get to see in houses. Nothing could pacify me and he called up the officials at the clubhouse. They sounded amused to Manoj as they said they couldn't possibly drive it out as it was part of the house and the house itself was near the forest.
It was getting late and I was forced to join the kids and Manoj in bed. But could I possibly sleep with this godzilla lurking behind the curtains? I kept a night vigil- super (scared) mom to the rescue of her family from the giant reptile.
I jumped everytime I heard howls or rustlings outside. I wondered who else were part of the household from our friendly neighbourhood jungle. To be honest, I have never prayed the whole night till then but that night I did.
The long night passed out and daylight streamed in and was I glad but was too exhausted. As we went out to drink in the scenery outside, we were alarmed to see nothing but long stretches of land and vegetation and rocks surrounding us, there was no human habitation for miles around.

We had a good time at the clubhouse, with swimming pool and well maintained lawns. Kids loved to play cricket, tennis and hide and seek. As the daylight faded, my fears resurfaced, another long night's vigil...
As the night hesitantly wore on, I just wished to hear human voices outside, sound of speeding cars, truck horns, or even our neighbour's constant hammering away in the middle of the night and...and...fire crackers that would remind me that people were around us, that we were not alone.
But I didn't have the heart to tell Manoj to cancel the trip and return to the city, after all he had meticulously planned it out for me, to take me to a 'Silent world' where there were no fire crackers to scare me...
Day three and things were getting on my nerves, Manoj sensed it and asked me should we go back home and as I hesitated to give a reply, Abhishek voiced my answer, "Papa, I want to go back home". Whew...
And that's how we came back cutting short our trip to no man's land and as we steered into our lane, I couldn't help but smile at those otherwise bratty kids in the next door apartment getting ready to burst more fire crackers. After getting fresh, I offered to prepare dinner surprising Manoj as I would dare not move to kitchen usually at this time of the year. And as I happily cooked, bomb-like crackers, rockets and other burstable stuff went off around our apartment...But now I was happy, relieved to be back among humans away from the silent world!