The Initiation
Back after yet another boring weekend; another long, boring week to go...that Monday morning was expected to be nothing different. Just as I was done replying to all my friends' mails, reading-forwarding-archiving a few good forwards, reading-purging the rest, Harish walks in with a rare, happy gait. It was the after effect of an amazing weekend trip with his friends to Wayanad. I had heard from the others that this place in Kerala was really worth visiting. So, that was that.
Post lunch, he showed me his trip photos. This was what did the magic! The beauty of the place and the pure fun they had had, had me missing my training gang. I too wanted to go someplace with them. But, I knew that this time too all plans would end in yet another fruitless chain-mail. So, I let it be.
Rajni & I were talking, when he mentioned that Prassi & he were planning to come down to Mysore that weekend. So, I put the Wayanad idea forth. These 2 were ready. Shilpa and Manjeera agreed as well. The surprise packages, yea 2 of them, were Nandu and Jaini. The 2 most unexpected people were the most excited and eager to make it.
Feasibility Check
The next step was finding out the details in terms of the days required and the financial viability. A detailed mail was sent to all, with the itinerary, the final expense and a few tempting pics of Wayanad (borrowed from Harish :-) )
Road to Wayanad
Cottage
All were fine with it. Literally jumped at the offer!! :-) Finally, the people for and the dates of the trip were decided. (7 & 11/12/13 May respectively)
Bookings
The cottage (accommodation) was booked first – the same place Harish & gang had stayed over. Then, the Hyderabad guys (Jaini & Manj) booked their tickets to Blore & back. The cab was taking a long time to be booked. The guys wanted to enquire everywhere possible and get the best rates we could get :-) Plus, we were undecided on whether to go for a/c or non-a/c. I was ok with anything as long as it came with a good MP3 system. Anyways, it was finally done. Nandu promised me it had an MP3 player…that too of excellent quality! Yeah right! Little did I know :-(
Gearing Up
Then came the issue of taking a day off on Friday. Jaini was on LOP. Prassi was doing nautanki as usual :-) Finally, after a lot of pleading (no limit man!) he had feigned illness all Thursday, to the extent that his PL had asked him to leave office early that day!! (I told u, Nautanki No. 1!! :-)) He told his PL Friday morning that had to go to the hospital and the usual blah :-) The rest of us had no issues.
Jaini & I were working on the songs to be burned for the trip. Thursday morning was spent on this. He had shared his songs with me and I collected all the good ones on my pen drive and was going to burn CDs @ home. We made a checklist; things to be done, things to be taken etc etc. Yea, we all were really excited. The main reason being, we were meeting up together first time after training…that’s like after a good 10-11 months.
2 items were very important – Digicam, I-Pods & speakers (for the cottage). We asked all around the first few days for a digicam, when Prassi tells us “I have a Digicam! I thought you guys were taking about handycam!!!” Ass!!! :-) Next, Rajjo was getting speakers, and both he and Jaini were getting their I-Pods. Problem solved.
We were all set.
To Wayanad
The Hyderabad guys’ train was half hour late. I was woken up by Rajni @ 07.00 with news that Nandu might not be able to make it. I thought it was a prank. Later, found out that it was indeed true and Shilpa had gone to her house, pacified her mom and finally got Nandu on board. By the time the party left Blore, it was 09.15.
Left Blore!
They reached Mysore at 12.45 finally (thanks to Nandu, for her superb directions; and getting me blamed as well…)
The first comments –
Prassi: “Moti! Aur moti ho gayi hai re tu!” hugs
Jaini: “Kritiiiiiii! Sup?” hugs
Rajjo: “Hullo Krithika. Tere bal acche ho gaye!! :-) ” hugs
Nandu, Shilpa: “Hieeeee sweetie!! Straight hair n all! :-) ” hugs, hugs
Manj: sleeping beauty
Manjeera - Sleeping Beauty
After we exchanged pleasantries, I gave the hungry kids all the food bags (hungry because Prassi didn’t feed them on the way :-)) and we set off. Wayanad, we’re coming!!
Wayanad - We're Coming!! :-)
Suddenly I realized that it was all too quiet for comfort in the cab. Reason? There wasn’t any music playing. I told them to play something and guess waaaat? The MP3 player (supposedly of excellent quality) wasn’t working!!!!!! DUMBO NANDU!!!!!!!! Anyways, had to reconcile to the fact that not everything can be perfect…saved by these guys’ I-Pods.
On the way we had to stop by to draw some cash, get AA batteries for the digicam, driver wanted to have lunch…nope…not us…Prassi was not feeding us :-( :-) ok…he’s going to kick me if I say this once more. We weren’t hungry, after having all the junk I got.
Photo ka photo. Wah!
The road to Wayanad is, in itself, a treat to the eyes; flanked by the Bandipur forest on either side; natural habitat of the elephants, you’ll find them greeting you in their own jumbo style all the way. The road is well maintained and a perfect place to click away your cam. We did just that – took a couple of pics.
Bandipur to Wayanad
Magestic Welcome
Bathing Baby Elephant
Human Road Block
With that photo session in Bandipur, we stopped again only at the Kerala check post, an hour later. There again we had a photo session (yea, not letting any opportunity go…there’s always an urge to capture and freeze all happy moments in a pic…afraid it’ll fade out of memory…)
Give me the toll, and I'll let you pass
In Wayanad
Friday Evening
We finally reached the Dream House Cottages at around 4.15pm or so. Just one cottage in the midst of wide open fields – beautiful. Mr. Biju, the manager, was really helpful and hospitable. Our initial plan was to visit the Edakkal caves that afternoon itself. We later came to know that the entrance to the caves closes at 5pm and shuts down 6pm. We decided there was no point even trying to go there fri evening; coz we knew by the time we freshened up and left it’d definitely be atleast 5.30pm. We decided to visit the nearest “attraction” – the Lakdi Valley (choram in Malayalam) and the Pukode Lake for boating (I quote Jaini – “…and other boring stuff!” Killjoy!!)
The valley was some 40 km from the cottage. It was a good place. As soon as we reached, we found Rajjo’s friend there to greet us (see pic below :-))
Rajjo's long lost friend
@ Choram
As the ride was a little on the ghat roads, Shilpa was feeling a little off. Surprisingly I was fine!! :-) Mujhe thodi na pata tha ki next day meri itni vaat lagne waali hai! :-( Again, we clicked a couple of snaps and left for the lake.
On arriving at the lake, we found out that the entrance was closed for the day. Which lake closes down at 5.30pm man!!!! We tried pleading, cajoling, shouting at, threatening the guards (in English, Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil), nothing worked! :-( Some mundu-clad chetan told us that we could get to the lake if we trekked a little. So, elated, we trekked a little uphill there…there was absolutely no sign of the promised lake. We then decided to discontinue once we realized that the path was leading to someone’s house – didn’t want to take a chance. Pata chale ki kisi ne family hatthi hume chase karne chod diya :-)
On the way back to the cab, we found Jaini suddenly interested in something on the ground; could it have been a beer bottle / a pack of cigs? Naah! It was an earthworm…slimy creature…“pic”ed that as well…
Earthworm
By the time we reached the cottage, it was 8.45pm and everybody was dying of hunger! We hadn’t had any decent solid food since morning and Prassi since lunch the prev day. Mr. Biju informed us that dinner would be ready in another 15min, within which we changed, freshened and started eating the leftover chips/sweets/biscuits etc.
When the dinner bell was rung, the way we raced to the dinner hall would’ve put Olympic champions to shame. :-) The food was simply SUPERB!!!!! Prassi had already told them not to use coconut oil in the preparation – that was our only concern. Nobody spoke for atleast the first 15-20 min :-) The food was too spicy for Jaini and Shilpa – they could not eat. We told Mr.Biju to reduce the spice in the subsequent preparations. The service was really amazing. Mr. Biju was waiting over us and was overwhelmed to see us devouring the food this way – a proud chef :-) Rather, the proud husband of the chef :-)
Campfire
After dinner on returning to the cottage, we found the garden all set for the campfire. It was 11.30pm or so when we sat around the fire…it actually wasn’t all that cold for a campfire, so, we spent most our time shielding ourselves from the fire :-)
We hooked up the I-Pod to the speakers; DJ Rajjo played some amazing music. Danced for sometime. Tired, sat down and chatted on and on till 3.30am. We made Prassi & Manjeera tell their choti si love story. Prassi had already told our group, which Jaini, Rajjo and I had missed it. This time we’d be getting Manjeera’s version as well. It was a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong story. Trust me, longer than this!! Yes.
Then, we ragged Rajjo about you-know-who; that discussion got really heated up; ended in everyone yelling at Rajjo :-( Me included. We just put a full stop to that discussion.
Then, the 3 girls went to bed – Prassi, Jaini, Rajjo and I were sitting and chatting on the veranda till 5.30am. Then, decided that we need a few hours of sleep for the trek the next day…or rather later that day :-)
Edakkal Caves
The plan was to leave for the caves at 8.30am as they open @8am; spend time there till noon/1pm; lunch; move to falls @2-2.30pm; back from there by 6pm; visit some dams on the way back to the cottage…good intentions, but obviously didn’t happen :-)
I was the first one to wake up…biological clock had me out of the bed by 7am. After getting fresh, clicked some damn good pics of the cottage and surroundings; woke up these bums @7.20am…everybody wanted those 2 extra minutes…kids man!!!! I woke up the guys, threatened them. After 5 min I go and check…these guys (Rajjo and Prassi – Jaini didn’t even bother responding. Jamke so raha tha, stupid!) were just sitting on their beds – sitting and sleeping. They were like “you wanted us to get up, we’re up” Heights man! Another problem was one bathroom to be shared by the seven of us. So, everyone wanted to go last!
No! I don't want to wake up!!
We are up! See?
OK. I give up! Do what you want!!
After an early morning photo session, Nandu finally decided she’d rather use the bathroom first, before people dirty it :-) One by one everybody got ready. Before breakfast we explored the cottage surroundings - an inevitable photo session ensued! :-)
It was 9.45am when we went into the dining hall for breakfast. It was the classic kerala breakfast of puttu-kadala-pappadam-pazham. I loved it! The others had no issues either. We knew we were running late and there might not be time for lunch, so stuffed in as much as we could. I was afraid of my ghat-road-phobia :-( Luckily, the 40-min drive to the caves was pretty uneventful.
I was told that the trekking to the trekking start point to the cave is pretty tiring. That was the understatement of the year! It was atleast a 80° climb. I was exhausted within the first 10 min. I had given my back pack to Jaini and was still finding it difficult to hike up that road. I did not want to stop lest I get more tired. But these capsules of energy wanted to tie their shoe laces, click pics, change the cam batteries…!!! All that couldn’t wait until later. And all this to click a picture of poor, tired me! :-( The 2 love birds flew away, out of sight…they’d reached the top in the blink of an eye. I’ve decided that the next time I too am coming here with my boyfriend – maybe then I’d be able to climb faster :-)
Somehow, after 45-50 tiring, heaving, exhausting minutes and after 2 litres of bottled water we reached the entrance. There was a long wait there as well. It seems we had to wait until one batch of people returned as it was getting really crowded up there. Finally, got the tickets and started the climb up the mountain at around 12.15pm or so.
We had a photo session at the start point. There was this irritating family right behind us. With a bunch of irritating “grown-up” kids!!! No other choice, we requested them to take our pic; dumb old battery problem!! Prassi’s cam was funny. We were using 2 sets of batteries; after every pic taken, the battery’d die out; on using some permu/combi on the 4, the cam’d work alright again! The same thing happened twice, embarrassing us. By then the “kids” and their over grown parents had lost their patience (can’t blame them though). Finally got hold of a group of guys on their way out and took that snap!! :-)
The climb up the mountain was surprisingly easy – definitely easier than the mountain climb @ the Abbey Falls. I climbed 95% up without any help from the guys. I am really proud of myself for that!! :-) We reached some level ground in 45min or so. There was this point from where we were shown a church atop a mountain through a telescope @ of Rs.5 per head! It seems it is an unfinished church (not even started with, actually), with just four stone pillars surrounding a stone cross. It seems this place is pretty sacred, despite its “structure” or the lack of it, and is usually jam-packed on Good Friday & Christmas. We took a couple of snaps there as well.
We were then taken into a small enclosure and the guide showed us the Edakkal. It’s a huge rock stuck in a gap between 2 mountains – the literal translation in Malayalam for Edakkal. There were also some carvings on the rock – the victory story of some chieftain who saved a lady from wild elephants! The opposite wall also had inscriptions, of a different nature – names, “I love you”s, etc. There was a name there – R. Jain – that called for another pic.
Edakkal
After that, we resumed the trekking. The crowd was pretty badly managed. There were people moving up and down without any concern for the others, lashing their tongues @ each other. This way the trek took way too long; and we were getting uncomfy by the minute with the scorching heat! Finally reached the “caves” – its actually that Edakkal, which the guide showed. We have to pass through the gap – it was fun. We wanted to click a snap there, but we didn’t want to create a bottle neck or have people hurling abuses @ us.
Once out of the “cave”, we’d reached up that plateau. There was more, for the interested. Another 500ft of trekking – and this was supposed to be a little more difficult and dangerous.
The goal was this mountain peak - not easy as it might appear!!
We (as in the girls) wanted to go, but were worried about the time. It was already 2pm. We knew that the trek, with us, would take way longer. We wanted to get to the waterfalls before it got dark. Jaini wanted to go up to the highest point; I quote, “at any cost!” :-) So, it was decided that the guys’d go up and we’d wait for them. They climbed up at lightening speed. They were up in some 10-15 min flat; waving to us all the way up :-) – excited like small kids.
The view from the highest point - you can see the three southern states (Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu)
The initial climb up involved rope rappelling. We wanted to do that atleast; we were losing our patience waiting for the guys. They were taking a comparatively longer time to return.
All 4 of us went up to the ladder. That rope climb WAS NOT as easy as it looked. It was almost a 90° climb. Shilpa and Manjeera backed out. Nandu and I climbed up and waited there for the guys to return. We didn’t want to venture further. There were 2 guys following us and offering to help us climb down. While rappelling down the rope, meri vaat lag gayi thi! Jaini & Rajjo helped me get through. Nandu managed on her own :-) The guys told us it was good that we chose not to trek up as they had to come down a different route and they themselves found it extremely trying! It was 3pm. We had to get down asap and get to the falls by 4.30pm atleast.
I was afraid of the trek down – I always have more trouble getting down than climbing up. But once again it was real easy. Managed ALL the way down without any help!! :-) on the way out we had coconut water and soft drinks. It was 4pm when we got to the cab. All too tired to even talk, we set out for the Soochipara Falls.
Soochipara Falls
The drive to the falls was supposed to take atleast half an hour – 32km. We had to ask around for directions as the info boards weren’t all that informative. Every person we asked would give us different information in terms of distance to the falls. One guy (an auto driver!!) said it was just 6kms away; we were happy…further down, this uncle told us that it was 13km; another said 23km; we stopped asking around. Heights!
Finally, we reached our destination after a trying half hour. What I was afraid of happened finally. I puked on the way there. The hair pin bends were simply UNBEARABLE!!! :-( Was happy that we finally stopped and could get out and walk…what a relief!
Once out, we were automatically searching for the falls. We could hear it but not see it. Then, we were told that we’d have to trek to the falls! It was more than we had asked for – ok, I’m speaking for myself atleast. We had to trek down to the falls. While that was good news, the happiness was short lived coz soon it struck me that I’d have to trek UP while returning. Again, it was that 80° slope! What’s with this place and slopes?? I was really worried that I might not be able to walk back. Jaini was taking immense pleasure @ my discomfort! He was like “I want to walk back with you girls. Just to see the looks on your faces!” Schadenfreude!!!
(for the illiterates, follow this link to enlighten yourselves - http://www.google.com/search?q=define%3A+schadenfreude&hl=en).
The falls is pretty, but the same can’t be said for its surroundings. The place was really filthy. It was crowded as well. We somehow managed to get into the water. The guys pushed us into the falls…the sheer force of the falls was unbearable! Nevertheless, it was fun!! :-) Manjeera could not get in as she was wearing contact lenses and had left back its accessories in the cottage.
The water was getting colder, the sky was getting darker, we growing tired and the crowd was getting trashier. We decided it was time to leave. Prassi and Jaini wanted to change and join us on the way up.
As expected, the walk back was just NOT happening. It was like my legs had given up all hope. I somehow managed to make it up the steps. Nandu also got weaker. Rajjo helped her through. At one point, Nandu and Shilpa gave up and sat down, decided that they could not take a step forward. That’s when the heroes joined us…and you should’ve seen the glee on Jaini’s face. He was busy taking snaps. Nandu regained her strength. So, Rajjo, Nandu and I decided to go to the cab and change into dry clothes asap. Yes. We had got change of clothes. Thank god!
Felt human after changing. We were dying of hunger now. We had Haldiram’s Khatta Meetha; it didn’t satiate the hunger, nevertheless, it did do some good. The rest of the lot came finally. It was pitch dark. The place was filled with fireflies! Jugnu. While the others changed, we were busy trying to catch hold of these spots of light. We managed to catch hold of 3. it was the first time in my life that I was seeing a firefly – in person :-) :-) :-) Jaini, Shilpa and Manjeera went the other direction to catch their own lot. Finally, everybody had changed – Rajjo was doing naatak – he was like “main kaise change karu yaar?” somehow got him also to change into his chaddi (which he insists on calling boxers) :-) We were all drained out of energy – just wanted to go to the cottage and eat and sleep. I was dreading the drive back on the ghat roads. I tried sleeping, but couldn’t. As expected, I puked twice on the way back. There was nothing left in my stomach to come out also. I was feeling blue/black/green – whatever color!
Back @ the cottage
COTTAAAAAAAAAGE!!! Yes! We made it!!! I was DEAD. We went straight to the dining hall. We hogged all that we could and got ready for the camp fire. The campfire was a subdued event this time. Just music bajaaoing & naaching & general baat karring :-) :-) :-) we wanted to get to bed early, leave early the next day, reach Mysore early, roam about the campus for a few hours and then head back to Blore. None of these happened – atleast not as planned initially.
We slept real late, woke up late – at 9am or so (this was the expected time of departure :-) ). We just lazed around in the girls’ room, chatted for a long time – probably nobody felt like leaving :-) By the time we went to the dining hall, it was 12.30pm! I exclaimed and Prassi’s reply was “Tune kya socha? Ki tu 6 baje utti??” :-) After settling the bill and thanking Mr.Biju and his family profusely for an excellent stay @ the Dream House Resorts, Nandu & I conducted one last check around the rooms – to make sure we were not leaving behind anything. One last photo shoot and we got going.
Boys' Room
Girls' Room
Don't wanna leave!
Bye Bye Wayanad
This was one of the MOST memorable trips ever! I’ve said this before, and repeating – only impulsiveness pays off! It was when we had the last look at the cottage that we realized that 3 days, 2 nights had passed by in the blink of an eye.
The only regret was that we wouldn’t be able to make it to the campus. Just as we were discussing that, surprisingly – no, shockingly would be more apt– our dear dumbo Nandu had a brain wave. She suggested that we’d anyways have to stop over for lunch; so why not have lunch in the campus – in Dominos (safe, coz of the great reputation of the campus food; and quick as well. Anyways, PIZZA’s my fav, so I was in for it :-) ) – ek theer mein do/theen nishaane :-) After calculating the time factor, we decided it was feasible. Kudos to Nandu!!! :-) :-) :-) Prassi’s comment – “Cool! You’ve also started thinking like a guy now.” Nandu was beaming :-)
Campus Sweet Mysore Campus
Infy’s known for its weird, posh, gigantic structures – what’s even weirder is that there’s not even one board that shows the direction to infy!!! You’d actually have to follow L&T’s milestones. The only way you’d find Infosys’ name on the highway is on the information boards and it reads “Sponsored by Infosys Technologies Limited”. That’s Infy for you!
Prassi, Rajjo and I did not have our IDs with us. So, we had to get an employee pass. Now, normally the procedure is simple. Fill out the slip, sign the register, get the security guard’s signature and you’re done. I don’t know what happened to the security dame that day; she eyed the 3 of us as if she just recognized 3 escaped convicts! She made us show our details in the telephone directory – I guess the Mysore heat finally got to her! Finally, grudgingly she issued us our passes.
Jaini was cribbing about how late it was, how late he’d get to Blore, how he’d have to take the long bus back to Hyd…Grrrrrrrr!!! Killjoy, seriously!! Nandu wanted to check out the campus; whatever she could in the time given (yet again, I quote Jaini “Kriti, it’s 3pm now. We HAVE to be out of here at 3.30pm sharp; even if it means having to leave the pizzas in between!” Impossible man!!!!) ; so, we told the rest to order the pizzas and set off to the ECC. Nandu wanted a pic sitting in front of the fountain.
Then, Rajjo joined us. After a good look around, we left for the FC1. These guys were still waiting for the pizzas; Jaini with a rotten look on his face and saying “I told you it was a waste of time coming here. Arrrey yaar, yeh bata ki hum half an hour mein kya dekh sakte the? See, if we had 2-3 hours, it would’ve been worth it…blah…blah…blah…” We shut him up and went to the juice counter – Nandu had her fav – strawberry milkshake. I had chiku milkshake. We told Rajjo to click a pic of ours; he took my cell and went and took a pic of these guys sitting outside Dominos. HAHAHA :-) Rajjo, Rajjo!!! :-) Then got that pic taken. Had the pizza and rushed out of the campus.
Home Sweet Home
Aaaaaaaaah!!! These guys dropped me home! Finally! It was 4pm, I guess. Then, all awkward good byes later, we promised to send out the pics asap etc etc. These guys then headed off to Blore.
The Trip
AWESOME!!!!! COULD NOT HAVE BEEN BETTER!! (Actually it could have – we could’ve had a working MP3 player in the cab; we could’ve NOT had those stupid ghat roads; I could’ve puked less; we could’ve spent one more day and seen some other stuff around; etc) But, who cares??? We were together! That’s all that matters!! Thinking all this, I went straight to bed.
Morning Tea
DoddaBetta - BigHill
Another game the guys (read Sridhar) decided to play was Tie the ShoeLaces...Thee and i were the only 2 who had the necessary props (shoes/laces), hence, we were the chosen targets. After fighting for a few minutes, decided to give in to his whim...
"Log"ged on the 6th mile
Adra raama adra raama adra raama!!!
After Pykara, we decided it was time to head back home if we were to make it before sunset. it was already 3pm. We made excellent time back down - with limited no. of stopovers...we only broke for tea once - where we checked our weights (nope...don't even think about it...NOT going to reveal the figures) and got to play on the swing - another top scorer on my list of favorites!!!
