The Flower Rock

"Coorg is almost flooded!" - our gang was dejected at this news.
"So are we calling off the trip?"
We had planned for a weekend at Coorg and the trip was in danger of being dropped. That's when Naveen suggested Poomparai.
Poomparai - first time I had heard of this village. Supposed to be an hour's drive away from Kodaikkanal, this sounded like a good destination for us almost burnt out chennai-ites!

After a lot of Last minute plannings and confusions friday night found us on our way to Kodai. The little Maruti 800 mustered up all her energy to shoot us across the potholed roads. Saturday morning at the Kodai foothills we met the gang from b'lore and swapped vehicles.
We girls were unceremoniously bundled into the monster of a bus. The bus was built for load but defnitely not for speed. After a very slow and sluggish journey up the hills we reached the Kodai town and were met by a man with a Bolero from the resort where we were to stay.
Now that guy knew how to drive! He whisked us through the mountain side and we reached our cottages.

The Wilusa Holiday homes made a very favorable first impression on us! The rooms were neat and sweet and confusingly constructed. That made it all the more endearing. Our love with the cottages lasted until we found out that there was no water supply. Housekeeping informed us that once the power supply is back we'll get water!!
Ah well, philosophers that we were, wanting to waste no more time inside those rooms, I and Nivi set out on a small expedition to explore!

When a girl who's completely brought up in a concrete jungle of a city is let loose in a mountain side filled with little paths snaking from her, can you blame her for losing her head??
I was completely enthralled with the possibilities of adventure that lay before me. Armed with a stick(I had heard that if u keep tapping the undergrowth while walking in a forest path, snakes won't come near you. They can sense the vibration or whatever) and a camera we set out. We could see a waterfalls in the distance and we decided to reach it. Though we never reached it, we did end up discovering a small brook that actually fed the falls, with numerous distractions of side paths on the way!
After a while, when others came in search of us, we realised how late it had become and walked back to the cottage, all the while listening to remonstrations on how unsafe our act had been!

Then in the evening we found that only our tiny maruti was available to take us out. The bolero was making some other rounds. Of the eight, Five of us bundled into the car (no mean task, given the size of my fellow travellers!) and visited the main Kodai town for an hour of cycling around the lake and some shopping.

We started back when it was almost dark. There we were, driving through the dark mountain, five people who are all new to the area. We were discussing the next day's plan. Sunday was to start with a trekking to see Bisons. Suddenly, Satya who was driving shouted out, 'hey look, a bison!'. Sure enough, there it was. Standing at the side of the road, blinking in our headlights, munching away and looking as contented as a...cow! Then farther down, our headlights caught a wild hare in the act of crossing the road! Even farther down, our headlights caught a bridge. Even if the others didn't pull us up, this one sure did. All of us thought "That wasn't there when we came!". About turn. "We missed a turning, and I know where" - Man! Was I glad to hear our driver say this!

Saying hello to our friend the bison again, we finally reached the cottages. The temperature had dropped considerably and our hands were beginning to freeze. The idea of a Bonfire was gladly welcomed and the resort people took us to a big clearing that had been dug out a precipice. We settled in the stone seats around the fire and partook of our dinner.

Sitting around the fire, talking, we lost all count of time. When we woke up the next morning no one had any energy for trekking! We just lazed around. When we were waiting for the others to get ready, I and Nars went on another of those walks in the countryside. We took another unexplored path and ended up at a pasture like clearing. I took one look around and felt that I had stepped into an Enid Blyton. There was a green green meadow below me, dotted with black goats and an authentic goatherd! To add to the already pretty picture, we came upon a tiny babbling brook!!!
Dipping our feet in the ice cold water, yakking away to heart's content - Pleasures of the countryside!

After a while, we bundled up again in the two cars and bid adieu to the lovely village. It was back to Kodai for boating and cycling and walking around the lake! When it was dark, we started back, singing lustily at the top of our voices, with the mountain air working our lungs! Now that was one fun-filled, memorable trip wasn't it??!!!