In the midst of the busy hustle and bustle of Chennai Central Railway Station, there were four figures scanning the information board.
"Shatabdi Express on Platform 2A"
We four started in search of 2A. We saw platform 2. We saw platform 3. And we saw a solid wall seperating the two. Nowhere could we see 2A. I and Niv turned to each other. "This is just like Harry Potter! Are we supposed to walk through it?", we giggled. Then Sarat walked a little way ahead and found 2A tucked between 2 and 3 snugly.
We were excited to be on Shatabdi. It was our first time. Our idea of an 'AC Chair Car' was a usual sort of train with no option of berths. With this impression I entered my coach and was hit with stares from a sea of faces! It was like entering a plane. It was like I was given a new toy, to play with and to discover the many things that it can do.
The train pushed off and soon an announcement came on air from the Train Superintendent. The whole setup was so like a flight. I wonder which came first? Plane or Shatabdi?
Soon we were given tea and sandwiches. Munching the sandwiches, we spent the time talking and sight seeing through the window. Time crawled on. The sandwich was over. The topics were exhausted. It was too dark to see outside. Ennui was setting in.
Relief came in the form of Coach Attendants. This time they were bringing soup. That helped to somewhat vary the monotony.
Even a soup has to end sometime. Out came a book which helped to pass time. But the chairs were in an uncomfortable angle to enable a good read. By this time another hour had passed and our guardian angels now came in bringing dinner. And that provided entertainment for a half hour. After that, we again began to crave some entertainment.
That's when Snehil entered the scene. Snehil is a lively one-and-a-half-year old sitting right behind us with his Ma and Papa. He was fascinated with our camera and came sat with us. Soon he was fascinated with other stuff. My bracelet, the fan switch, the story book, the magazine, an old ticket, pencil, wafers all were playthings! By a strange and happy coincidence, when it was his bedtime, we had reached our journey's end.
'Twas a happy and content four that got off the train at Bangalore. Wait...don't I mean Bengaluru?
;-)
Showing posts with label Trip. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Trip. Show all posts
Nov 5, 2007
Jul 11, 2007
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??!!!
"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??!!!
May 5, 2007
My First Travelogue!
Sonu Nigam is humming ‘Kal Ho Na Ho’ in my ears. A cold wind is brushing my face. We’re coursing along a mountain route. I see a great green carpet of tea plants in the moonlight. I hear snatches of conversation around me; “Hey you took the 9 of spades”, “lakshminarayanan srinivasan are you there?”, “hey Praveen adutha paatu paadu da (Hey Praveen, sing the next song)”. How did I end up here?
We’re on our 3rd day of our much-looked-forward-to trip! It all started with one of my best friends getting married at Salem. Our gang planned to couple the wedding trip with a sight seeing tour. Since about a month before the actual tour, lunch time conversations consist of nothing but “trip planning”.
We started from Chennai Friday night. Two decks of cards came out when the train started moving. After some good games, we all felt considerate of other passengers and told each other dutifully that it was time to switch off the lights. Up came the berths and we all curled up intending to sleep. None felt sleepy!!! Slowly we looked at each other and all sat up in their berths. The conversations started then! We discussed life in general, love, marriage, family, parents, friends, colleagues, career… everything but the kitchen sink! One by one dropped off and finally it was just me and Vidya still continuing the discussion! Conversation with a friend lasting all night long – try it! I can’t explain the special feeling of bonding that arises from such convo!
We got our first look of Salem in the dawn of Saturday. That whole day and the Sunday morning were spent totally in the marriage celebrations! Sunday afternoon our van was ready to take us to Marayoor, the place where we had booked rooms.
We started from Salem all geared up for the sightseeing! With stops on the way for lunch at Kangeyam, to get a permit to enter Kerala at Pollachi and for tea at Udumalpet, we finally reached our destination Marayoor, Idukki District, Kerala at night. Our rooms at Chandana Residency were comfortable and we liked the first look of them which washed away our fears of getting cheated by what we saw of the hotel in the Internet! Since our rooms were adjacent, we could go from one room to another just by climbing over the balconies! We all freshened up, had dinner and while some went to sleep, some of us assembled at the balcony and played cards till after midnight! I went to sleep in pleasurable anticipation of what the next day has in store!
I awoke to the sound of Nivi saying “Mathi wake up!! Come and see outside, it’s great”. I sat up groggily and blinked at the muted sunlight. My watch showed 6.00am. I pulled on a jacket and went and stood at the balcony. All I could see was a green, green field spreading from the other side of the street and beyond that a row of brownish green mountains whose tips were wearing cloudy crowns. We planned to take a walk and left the room. That’s when I got the next surprise. Our room opened to a corridor through which we saw more mountains in the same uniform. Our hotel was plump in the middle of a valley! We took a long slow walk along the street with Thiru clicking away with his new camera. We bought coffee from a small mom-and-pop shop on the way. After we drank that down, we walked back to the hotel ready to start the trip!
While we were getting ready Suku was planning the day’s course with a map. Since we wanted to make Munnar our ultimate destination we decided to make Dolmen Caves our first stop. This cave lies on the way to Munnar from Marayoor. We reached the place where the mountains formed a kind of “U” and the road to the cave was situated in the bend. The road was not open to the Van so we walked down the path. We kept walking through the undergrowth, and suddenly we saw that ‘Two roads diverged in the woods’. Since both of them looked well traveled by, we chose the right one and just kept forging ahead without reaching anywhere. After a while the track ended abruptly!After that it was just a sheer fall. So we all trooped back and now took the left track. We passed a small culvert on the way and when we over the wall we saw that there was a tiny waterfall!! With a whoop, we slid down the sides and reached our waterfall. We squealed with joy when our feet touched the water…it was so cold! Some one then had the bright idea to thrust just the head thru the screen of water! We all lined up and did it!!! After a while we realized that we still hadn’t actually seen the Dolmen Cave. But no one was in the mood to leave! We finally left the place and walked on. The end of the road had a small dark Temple. We assumed (maybe wrongly!) that maybe the Temple is the cave after all! But we didn’t regret not seeing the cave a bit!
We came back to the Van and went to our next destination, Lakkam Falls. This was another amazing place for waterbabies like us! The Falls wasn’t a mighty expanse. It was a medium-sized yet proud sheet of water! We spent, like, an hour in the water, forgetting everything like lunch, time, and the need to go to the next place! I think the best kind of trip is the one you take where you enjoy to your heart’s content and don’t bother about wanting to include everything on the map!
There was a particularly deep place just at the feet of the Falls where we could actually swim! That was my first experience of swimming at a place other than a pool! When I went underwater, the whole world around me was green, the sunlight was piercing the water and I could see tiny rocks far below at the waterbed! That was a lucky-to-be-alive moment!
Other friends who hadn’t gotten into the water started yelling it was time to go, only then we left! From there we reached Munnar where we had time only for lunch and some souvenir shopping since we had to travel about 40+ km back to reach Marayoor. By the time we started it was dark. The full moon kept us company all the way back. There were fireflies blinking like tiny dots of fire along the road. That wide huge expanse of mountain sides in the moonlight was one sight I’ll carry to my deathbed!
The next day our driver refused to take us up the mountains again, saying that the Van has some problems. So we decided to go visit some lower areas. Our first stop was Tirumoorthi Dam where we went boating. On the way we saw windmills which presented a mighty sight! From there we visited Aazhiyar Dam. I felt a secret connection to this Dam since my mother had told me that my grandfather was the Chief Engineer for this Dam Project.
Next stop was Monkey Falls. It wasn't as much a falls as a cascade of water. We scrambled up to find the origin of the falls and saw that the flowing water was actually a leak from an old dilapidated dam! But since we reached the place near closing time we couldn’t spend much time there. Tired, wet and happy we finally left the area and were on our way to Coimbatore to catch our train!
The trip has given us a lot of memories, filled with laughter, jokes, ribbings, leg-pullings, bursting-into-song moments, feasts for the eyes and of course fights! Without the fights there wouldn’t have been the proper mix of spices to make this complete! Fight we may, Love we may, our principle was Har pal yahan jeebhar jiyo, Jo hai sama kal ho na ho (Live every moment here to your heart's content, The time that is here may not be tomorrow)!! And we did!
We’re on our 3rd day of our much-looked-forward-to trip! It all started with one of my best friends getting married at Salem. Our gang planned to couple the wedding trip with a sight seeing tour. Since about a month before the actual tour, lunch time conversations consist of nothing but “trip planning”.
We started from Chennai Friday night. Two decks of cards came out when the train started moving. After some good games, we all felt considerate of other passengers and told each other dutifully that it was time to switch off the lights. Up came the berths and we all curled up intending to sleep. None felt sleepy!!! Slowly we looked at each other and all sat up in their berths. The conversations started then! We discussed life in general, love, marriage, family, parents, friends, colleagues, career… everything but the kitchen sink! One by one dropped off and finally it was just me and Vidya still continuing the discussion! Conversation with a friend lasting all night long – try it! I can’t explain the special feeling of bonding that arises from such convo!
We got our first look of Salem in the dawn of Saturday. That whole day and the Sunday morning were spent totally in the marriage celebrations! Sunday afternoon our van was ready to take us to Marayoor, the place where we had booked rooms.
We started from Salem all geared up for the sightseeing! With stops on the way for lunch at Kangeyam, to get a permit to enter Kerala at Pollachi and for tea at Udumalpet, we finally reached our destination Marayoor, Idukki District, Kerala at night. Our rooms at Chandana Residency were comfortable and we liked the first look of them which washed away our fears of getting cheated by what we saw of the hotel in the Internet! Since our rooms were adjacent, we could go from one room to another just by climbing over the balconies! We all freshened up, had dinner and while some went to sleep, some of us assembled at the balcony and played cards till after midnight! I went to sleep in pleasurable anticipation of what the next day has in store!
I awoke to the sound of Nivi saying “Mathi wake up!! Come and see outside, it’s great”. I sat up groggily and blinked at the muted sunlight. My watch showed 6.00am. I pulled on a jacket and went and stood at the balcony. All I could see was a green, green field spreading from the other side of the street and beyond that a row of brownish green mountains whose tips were wearing cloudy crowns. We planned to take a walk and left the room. That’s when I got the next surprise. Our room opened to a corridor through which we saw more mountains in the same uniform. Our hotel was plump in the middle of a valley! We took a long slow walk along the street with Thiru clicking away with his new camera. We bought coffee from a small mom-and-pop shop on the way. After we drank that down, we walked back to the hotel ready to start the trip!
While we were getting ready Suku was planning the day’s course with a map. Since we wanted to make Munnar our ultimate destination we decided to make Dolmen Caves our first stop. This cave lies on the way to Munnar from Marayoor. We reached the place where the mountains formed a kind of “U” and the road to the cave was situated in the bend. The road was not open to the Van so we walked down the path. We kept walking through the undergrowth, and suddenly we saw that ‘Two roads diverged in the woods’. Since both of them looked well traveled by, we chose the right one and just kept forging ahead without reaching anywhere. After a while the track ended abruptly!After that it was just a sheer fall. So we all trooped back and now took the left track. We passed a small culvert on the way and when we over the wall we saw that there was a tiny waterfall!! With a whoop, we slid down the sides and reached our waterfall. We squealed with joy when our feet touched the water…it was so cold! Some one then had the bright idea to thrust just the head thru the screen of water! We all lined up and did it!!! After a while we realized that we still hadn’t actually seen the Dolmen Cave. But no one was in the mood to leave! We finally left the place and walked on. The end of the road had a small dark Temple. We assumed (maybe wrongly!) that maybe the Temple is the cave after all! But we didn’t regret not seeing the cave a bit!
We came back to the Van and went to our next destination, Lakkam Falls. This was another amazing place for waterbabies like us! The Falls wasn’t a mighty expanse. It was a medium-sized yet proud sheet of water! We spent, like, an hour in the water, forgetting everything like lunch, time, and the need to go to the next place! I think the best kind of trip is the one you take where you enjoy to your heart’s content and don’t bother about wanting to include everything on the map!
There was a particularly deep place just at the feet of the Falls where we could actually swim! That was my first experience of swimming at a place other than a pool! When I went underwater, the whole world around me was green, the sunlight was piercing the water and I could see tiny rocks far below at the waterbed! That was a lucky-to-be-alive moment!
Other friends who hadn’t gotten into the water started yelling it was time to go, only then we left! From there we reached Munnar where we had time only for lunch and some souvenir shopping since we had to travel about 40+ km back to reach Marayoor. By the time we started it was dark. The full moon kept us company all the way back. There were fireflies blinking like tiny dots of fire along the road. That wide huge expanse of mountain sides in the moonlight was one sight I’ll carry to my deathbed!
The next day our driver refused to take us up the mountains again, saying that the Van has some problems. So we decided to go visit some lower areas. Our first stop was Tirumoorthi Dam where we went boating. On the way we saw windmills which presented a mighty sight! From there we visited Aazhiyar Dam. I felt a secret connection to this Dam since my mother had told me that my grandfather was the Chief Engineer for this Dam Project.
Next stop was Monkey Falls. It wasn't as much a falls as a cascade of water. We scrambled up to find the origin of the falls and saw that the flowing water was actually a leak from an old dilapidated dam! But since we reached the place near closing time we couldn’t spend much time there. Tired, wet and happy we finally left the area and were on our way to Coimbatore to catch our train!
The trip has given us a lot of memories, filled with laughter, jokes, ribbings, leg-pullings, bursting-into-song moments, feasts for the eyes and of course fights! Without the fights there wouldn’t have been the proper mix of spices to make this complete! Fight we may, Love we may, our principle was Har pal yahan jeebhar jiyo, Jo hai sama kal ho na ho (Live every moment here to your heart's content, The time that is here may not be tomorrow)!! And we did!
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