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Goa Year End Bash

New year eve was spent in Goa. A sincere attempt to record the happenings for historical records is being done now (after a month of the tour)! To go to the Goa like the DCH way, mostly with those whom the DCH was watched was a wish since long. No one knows how many times it was planned/discussed only to be dropped later. This time the plan was executed without any hassles.

Also I had to keep up the appointment with Goa I had made that I would re-visit it in another 3 years or so. Unfortunately no other takers of the oath could join me as they are in US

The planning started almost from November 1st week. As usual these days, most of the discussion happened over mail, starting from the kick-off to sign-off. Even if we were planning 2 months in advance, the accommodation was a big question mark, luckily sorted out by a high-profile contact Skv had The leaves were the easiest part (for me as usual and I guess it was easy for others too.)

Mode of transport was zeroed in on Car basically to emulate DCH. (Thank Farhan, he did not choose a helicopter !). With our own car (Skv’s actually), the next big concern was over the route to be taken to reach Goa and the places to be visited en-route.

Looking up on net gave us few suggestions and more confusions. Few alternatives were discussed:

1. bangalore to dharwad and then to panaji via londa

2. Try taking the Toll Road which starts just before Hubli Town and then take the Karwar Route (u need to take a left at one of the interchanges) which is smooth as silk and awesome scenery next to you as u drive

3. The recommended route is via Tumkur, Davanagere, Hubli, karwar and Margao. Around 580 km. Best road

4.Bangalore - Tumkur - Chirtradurga - Harihar - Hubli - Karwar - Madgoan - Panaji - Goa -Total distance 680 km

1 was decided at the nth minute due to the apparent advantages it had over others (shorter distance was the compelling factor I guess). So on 29th morning we started at around 6:30 AM and most of the day was spent in traveling. Various matters were discussed including Karnataka’s politics, songs, movies, girls, respect, culture, perception, cricket, videos etc and the highlight being Dhoom 2 (also thanks to Cineblitz’s pun on the movie which made the laughs explode).

The road was so bad b/n Dharwad and Goa and there were absolutely no road at many places and this was, after all, NH4A! Once we crossed Karnataka-Goa border, the road was good. The roads on Karnataka are heavily damaged and completely unmotorable (Skv kept one eye on the road and the other on the fuel indicator…no peterol bunk for a long stretch …we were getting prepared to push the car thru the road in the dark night!)
At around 9:45 we made to the rooms near Meeramir beach in Panaji. We inaugurated our beach visit program then and there by going to Miramir beach and staying till 12:30

30th:

We had planned to go to the dolphin’s show which is possible only on Saturday and Tuesdays. We had to get ready by 8:00 for the dolphin show and we woke up at 9. So thus dolphins missed to see 4 amazing characters that had come all the way from Bangalore. Breakfast was had and we were beginning to see the hospitality from the servers in hotels in goa, more about that later. Other highlight was the curd worth rs 40.

Our next interest was in Casino on the cruise. It is a whole night package with dinner and we just barged in and ordered the tickets. The experienced receptionist that she was, asked whether we knew the prices. We left from there, a 3k special price for only these 5 days was unaffordable, the normal prices for other days of the year being as low as 1300.

We then immediately booked for the night cruise (and mistake we later realized that we should have booked for evening one.)

Thus with 2 plans flopped, we next went to Aguada fort (around 12). Sk’s camera got life from here after. It’s a different topic that we started addressing him by 12x by 4x (zoom of his camera). Next stop was at Candolin beach. We went on para-sailing and jet skiing (again, on the lines of DCH). Para-sailing was one wonderful-memorable experience. Now I have got little courage to do the sky diving! If I were not to hold and pull the ropes, I could have enjoyed it even more. I had felt, even if every other thing does not happen as planned, this one sport has made the tour paisa-vasool.

The car key along with autocop, which too played water sports in Skv’s pockets, had by now become wet and could not communicate to the car that we were the rightful owner of the car. Since autocop could not be turned off, once the door was opened, the alarm started to shout. We had to cut the wire of the alarm speaker by opening the front bonet.

We then tried to book for the 31st night disco, but the mambos and titos was a bit costly and anyways we were told pre-booking is not necessary. On the way back from here we saw the remains of a very tragic accident - scorpio after hitting tree which was on the wrong side reduced to its half, car which was on the opposite direction probably got hit by the scorpio reduced to its 3/4th, and a man laid on ground with face fully covered with blood. We were not able to comprehend the way the accident might have happened too.

Post lunch we went to play Frisbee at Miramar beach.

There wasn’t much fun in the cruise, we just enjoyed the ride, talk and gossips.

The already eventful day hasn’t yet seen the end. We wanted to go to the ingos night bazaar shopping. On the way, we were royally misguided by a girl, with a mischievious smile! The smile gave away about it, but not till we had already gone in wrong direction for some time. On the way to shopping, the traffic moved as slowly as it could, and we barely made a km after 20 minutes or so. A brilliant idea struct to park the car in a near by place which though made us walk for 2 kms, saved us nearly an hour or more. The entire 2-3 km stretch were cars.

Ingos was expected to be the bazaar where electronics articles among other things were sold at a throwaway price.We didn’t go to Ingos, did not notice the name and entered the first bazaar available. The shopping stalls was not any special – usual tour articles with exaggerated prices – mainly to suit/target $people and ladies. We bought shades here.

31st:

We slept at around 2 AM and the day started late, as usual. We started with the visit to DCH fort. Its fort chepora but now widely known as DCH fort itself. During my earlier visit, we had climbed this from Vagator beach and this time we first went to the fort by the other direction.

Next stop was at vagator beach. Photos. Beach. Fun.

We then had a very relishing food (@garden valley restaurant). Here the soup was served at the end and Lassi at the beginning, but the food was very good. Had a time like the old times’ visits to Dhabas.

While many events we wanted to emulate from DCH happened quite easily, an unexpected oppurtunity arose when we saw a train coming in full speed and before it crossed the overhead bridge we wanted to go through it. Train was fast and in same style, we encouraged the man on steering. The car speeded up and won the race and huge enjoyment resulted. It happened so fast that the whole scene – we saw the train, we recognized the oppurtunity, the race was a close call- was unbelievable and breath-holding and one of my favorite moments of the tour.

We went to Anjuna beach in the evening and here the sunset was seen. On the way to the beach, a drug deal happening very casually was witnessed. Photos were taken in the beach, enjoyment of playing in the beach happened.

Till now the plan to spend the night, “the night of 31st dec”, was not made and I was all prepared for any happening/un-happening and disappointment. Thanks to our host, we got passes for the “Scintilla 2007″. We had seen the venue when we tried booking for the casino and luckily it was very near to our stay. Anywhere farther would have proved unpleasant with the traffic involved that day.

Scintilla was just perfect for our varied tastes. We had a relishing menu; fire-dance, troupe dance, live music (all the way flown from Dubai it seems, it was intolerable to say the least and were stopped soon enough) was performed, DJ’s music and an irritating announcer were present. Many people danced and enjoyed the time – particularly a girl in red, a small kid, that kid’s parents, an old man and his young son/grandson danced very well. The merry happened till around 2 Am after which we went and had coffee.

1st:

The day started almost at afternoon. We went to Baga beach and slept on the beach (for a change, this time I did not sleep on the sand but rested on the cot.). Bk and I bought some gift articles here. We then paid a courtesy visit to Calungunte beach which was as crowded as the railway station and we did not even go till water.

We then went to a bakery and after delayed orders and mistakes in the bill (we were charged less than we consumed), he was cool enough to dismiss the error in the bill saying “Jaane do”.

After little rest we shopped for liquor and cashewnuts.

We then had a good dinner at Delhi Durbar amidst interesting discussions.

2nd:

While the bags were put back to the car, we expected someone to announce his stay back in goa to do “makki-paling” with Christine. Luckily no such incident happened

This day was spent in traveling but with better route now it was a pleasant experience.

We somehow escaped Goa border police but Karnataka police took bribe for carrying liquor.

Various matters were discussed including remembering dialogues of DCH, NRI lobby in US, influence of Indians in west, the usage of cars in US, China’s rates for services

Around 10 PM we reached back home.

Song of the tour : Tere Bin by Atif Aslam (Any guesses why?  ) and DCH song.

Some of the assorted recordings:

• We had funny incidents with restaurants many times. The waiters were generally very fast.
  • First time we had to wait a long time for the bill and when we said we were in hurry, he immediately started to clean our unfinished plates !
  • In another place, we were looking around and guessing what might be available to eat. One confirmed thali as many were having it and other guessed pavbhaji too as it was getting prepared in the entrance. Once the waiter came to our place, for formality we asked what was avaiable. He said Thali, Paavbhaji and stopped after that. We were expecting more items. He was not ready to take any orders that took more time and since we had discussed these two (we guess he heard us), he had to tell these two but then stopped immediately. The hotel was so crowded that by the time 2 of us washed our hands and returned the seats were occupied. We went out and waited for the other 2 people. When they too came out, we could have easily left, without paying the bill. The good guys that we are, we called the waiter and asked him bill, he saw us interrogatively and the question was a brilliant-n-innocent one liner “Koun Dega?”. We were so tempted to point at the other 4 ppl who had occupied our seats and leave from there !!
  • Again during breakfast, the sauce plate was taken away even while we were left with Buns. So when we said “By the time we say D in done, they would have picked up the plates”. Just then, right when we were saying that, right exactly when we said D, waiter appearing from nowhere had picked up another plate right under our nose. The timing was so unbelievably perfect that, we could not resist bursting into loudest laughter. (Causing confusion to them, who cares. In an unknown place we don’t mind the tag of mad guys too !)
  • In the bakery the other day, we waited so much to initially place the order and then to pay the bill. The only person in the coutner was taking orders, packing things, taking bill and was very busy with 2 heavy orders. He was not bothered to even look at us. But we were very reluctant to pay the bill (the good guys that we are), and waited impatiently. Finally when the bill was made, we had to give some amoung for correct change. When we told we didn’t have the change, he said “jaane do jaane do” He had missed out on one item that we had bought. We pointed it out and took pains to make him understand he should be paid more, again he said with such indifference “jaane do jaane do” I guess he just wanted us out of the bakery!
• Other Strange people whose memory put smile on our faces :
  • On a night while driving we asked for directions to a traffic constable who was in half sleep, standing, and probably drunk. He opened his eyes with effort and showed us the direction, and the eyes were almost wanting to shut down again and we asked another direction. An irritated person “Ek bar bola na…seede jao”.
  • On the way to bazaar, we asked a person for direction. He said pointing to the roadside repair(in english) in full enthusiasm “5 years. from 5 years this is a construction site.” He was drunk too.
  • A gang of girls and boys were standing in the intersection of the road that was heavily crowded on one way. We asked her for direction towards the shopping bazaar, she so confidently pointed to the side where traffic was free, and we happily cruised along. With confidence she had given a mischievious smile too. On reconfirming with another person we realized that we were going the wrong way and if we had taken the right direction at the intersection we could have saved a km or more (equivalent to 30 or more minutes in that heavy traffic).
    I was so very impressed with such different, dream sleep-walking people, that I wished greatly to ask local on-goers for directions to Australia via road in all seriousness. Some sanity (or probably the esteem company I kept) stopped me from doing that.

As much as I wanted to embed photos, this writing itself has taken a large amount of time. I will leave with the link. Here
Some links :
We stayed here
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061121000833AAPXEtu
http://www.mapsofindia.com/maps/maharashtra/maharashtratourist.htm
http://www.nivalink.com/goa/goabreaks.html
http://www.spjimr.org/alumni/creativecorner.asp
http://maps.live.com/?v=2&rtp=pos.k4tty9qfytpx_Bangalore~pos.kkftj9q4jb2k_Panaji
http://www.bsmotoring.com/bsm/wcms/en/home/roads/Goa-Bangalore-060927.html;jsessionid=527CD53A31E84ECDE3E0712FBCF7DA90

Team outing which was getting postponed for nearly an year finally happened on Aug 5th. A brief minutes of meeting.
Except for the last minute drop outs, most of us arrived on time and prepared (with gifts, pots etc). We left for Muttukadu in 2 vehicles. In groups we went boating. for half an hour or so.

Had tea and left for TTDC Beach Resort. Now all of us were in the same bus, enthu picked up, ppl sung and danced.Noise was made.

It was the beginning of play time. Dog and bone was played first. Just playing for the participation sake is passe, now its the era of fierce competition and only winning matters. Teams , named as Bow-bow and Hijackers, fought for each point, confused others, got confused, won, lost - all in the game’s name. Finally posed for photos with coveted trophies (chocolates). I was the scorer.

That was followed by another game - to hit the hanging pot, blind folded. The on-lookers had the maximum fun at the expense of blind folded participants who were always misguided by the crowd. Sensing that the prizes will remain unclaimed, some of them were then guided to the pots.

A brief display of team members’ musical talents followed. To the beats, some danced. Next on the list was much awaited dine-wine session. Food and drinks were had to heart’s content.

Two professional musicians were the invited surprise guests of the afternoon. They enthralled the team with drums. Some talents in the team took up the sticks and to their background music, some other hidden talents picked up the mic and lent their voices to the songs. Audio team was now “creating” music.

People then left to swimming pool/ beach. On their return, housie-housie was played.(I was co-organizer of the event). After two rounds of the game and after decorated prizes were given away, it was time to present the newly married couples with gifts. They thanked and praised the day-out.

The team’s energy reserve and enthu was at display again during the return journey. They danced and sang all the way back.
Click on the images for clarity.

Per my dreams and wishes, I was planning for a Singapore trip during May end. When that was dropped, I hoped for a Andaman tour. And when that too could not happen, to compensate, a Madikeri tour was planned.

But this tour, I did not think would be go so un-smooth. The start itself was an omen of sorts. When I started from Chennai to Bangalore, I and my colleague(RP) reached railway station, after a leisurely dinner at around 11:45, station was like never before. Almost empty station and we had tickets for 9:45 train. As if that was not enough, we didn’t have enough money. The CorpBank ATM had communication failure. ICICI Atm was nowhere to be seen. I was ready to go back, sleep and catch next day morning’s train. RP had other plans. We took an auto to Koyambedu, searched for ATM, went to private bus station which too was empty, took a bus to Vellore, and then to Chittor. Twas 6:30 in Chittor via another bus to Blore and were at home by 11.Huh!

If one thing that made the journey endurable, other than the wind blowing through window less buses, was the talk about Kajol. RP, who was once a big fan, remembered his old days.

Detailed plan about the places to be covered, route to be taken, distance and duration details, alternate routes, alternate options were all thought out. We decided to cover the places in a normal 3 day Madikeri tour and then proceed with our own plan. Some additional places were kept in mind if we had time.

A day before starting, we heard that it is raining heavily in Kundapur. If we face problem, we decided to change the plan but however start with the tour. So early morning, we started after the usual delay by driver. Confirmed with him that there is a MP3 player, I took my CDs and started to Srirangapattana.

Visited Nimishamba temple, Ranganatha Temple (which IMO was very good), Mini Golgumbaz, Sangama and proceeded towards Ranganatittu. (Except for Ranganatittu rest were driver’s choices. If we didnt object he could have gone to Mysore and then proceeded to Kodaikanal, his favorite route apparently) Just before we could start boating, it started to rain. We decided to wait and after around half an hour we went on boat and saw birds and crocodiles from a closer proximity. This was the first time rain decided to play with us, trying to discourage us and the game continued through out the tour.
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Off we went to Bylakuppe and visited Golden Temple/Buddhist monastery. Huge statues are seen to be believed. Prayer hall was serene.
936922

Went to Nisargadhama. 958 It is a forest department run rest house. It is kind of natural island formed due to the splitting of river. The NDhama has lot of trees chiefly Bamboo. There are cottages available and is a good place for a quiet weekend getaway. It has a small canteen, deer park, boating and children play area. The it-might-rain-now climate was a wonderful feeling. The colour of river water was dark brown indicating the heavy rainfall that was happening in the area we were next supposed to go.

Halted at Kushalnagar.
Morning first stop was Harangi Dam. As the water has not yet raised, it was no special attraction. But I must recall, this dam is much better visit than we did during Waynad.

Dubbare forest is an elephant camp. It is a habitat for 14 elephants. And in normal days, one can feed the elephants, bathe them, ride on them. But during rains, no activity is allowed and we just ’saw’ an elephant.
966
By now we were hearing that it is not possible to go to Talacauvery and to Bhagamandala due to blocked roads due to heavy rainfall. These were the two places that were in our list.

A customary visit to Fort and Raja seat(which is a neat relaxation place during evening I guess.) happened and we proceeded towards Bhagamandala. After we enquired from the bus returning from Bhagamandala, we felt there was no point in trying. I suddenly remembered that we can plan to Padi Iguttappa temple which is as far as BM. While going towards it we found many Iguttappas(later came to know that there are 3 Igguttappas. Main one is Padi Iguttappa. Iguttappa means one who gives food. He is a form of Shiva and he is considered to be father for Kodagu and Kaveramma is mother of Kodagu). When we reached there, the temple was not yet open. But the priest stays nearby and we requested him to open the door and perform the pooja (explaining we have come from far and as we might have to return and we were running out of time). He was more than happy to oblize and he was more happier than us that we were visting the temple. He said only those with good fortune can make it and narrated several instances of people making to it accidently and people not making to the temple even though they wanted to. He also said, that if we had tried to come in the morning, it would not have been possible due to heavy rains and we were just at the right time. He performed pooja very well and even took us to his tome and served us with delicious Obbattu and coffee. He was even more delighted to know that we came to know of this temple from internet. All in all, it was a good part, unplanned surprise of our tour.

Then we returned to Madikeri and visited a Ranganatha Swamy temple. By this time it was raining too much. We halted to give us a chance to see if we could visit Tala cauvery and Bhagamandala in the morning, if the rain has stopped in the night and cleared the roads. But, in the night it rained so much again that this had to be dropped from the plan.

In the morning we set out to Abhey falls(which is wrong usage as “Abhey” itself means “Falls” in Coorg language)…as usual, while we were in car, there was no rain and it re-appeared as soon as we started walking towards the falls. Though we protected with the help of umbrellas, the breeze carried water in front of falls soaked us readily. The Abhey falls too was very brown and was jumping in such fury that I didnt like that much. It ruled out my wish to bathe in the falls too. However it was a sight to behold - the water, the colour.
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Our next destination was Kollur. This was the time we realized how bad our driver was. He was careful, thats ok but he was extremely extra careful which beat our cause and rationale of taking a professional driver. Even where normal car users go 55-60kmph, this person never crossed 40kmph average. Add to it the rain and he became extremely sluggish. By 60kmph speed, which should have been possible in a Tata Indica and on good roads, we could have made well before 12Noon. We had to reach Kollur by 1 PM to perform Pooja and we had to constantly nag driver to make him realize that. Even then he still went at 45 avg to reach at Kollur exactly at 1. Luckily entrance has been now extended till 1:30 and we were just in time to get “Darshan” and perform Pooja. We had a relishing lunch at the temple too.

Drivers, I have always had bad time with them, almost all of them. They fail to know their boundaries. Sometimes they try “to sit on head”(a Kannada phrase to say). Those who try to consider the driver one among us should be partly blamed. I always try to maintain a distance and they remain sane. Totally unrelated but related to context, I have noticed that drivers have a very bad taste for music. They love remixes(even on AR Rehman songs) like anything, that is at least acceptable if I think that slow and mellow songs might induce sleep to drivers. But this driver, not only rejected to play whatever I gave him, repeatedly played the same songs over and over again for 5 days. It was unbearable. He rejected good songs I gave as “old” and when I gave “latest” songs he rejected them simply. His choice of songs were Baazigar, QSQT, AHAT etc which were old too. Much much later, while returning to Bangalore finally I was able to disclose the biggest mystery of his repeated playing of the songs. He had watched those movies with his gf it seems!(Now, how we got to know that info is little out of context here!).

He also had another bad habit of praising Tamil nadu places and roads over Karnataka’s. Just because he has travelled TN and Kerala, he feels they are better than Karnataka. He didn’t know the routes/direction nor knows the way to ask for it. I have faced this earlier too that drivers want to take you to place they like rather than the place you want to visit.

From Kollur we went to Murudeshwar. Since it was raining, we could not roam around well. Just a visit to temple, few photo shoots of huge Shiva statue were done with. Of course, due to rain and high tides, it was strictly warned against playing in beach:(
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From here again started our race against time with driver, rain and night not helping us at all. We reached Siddapur, from where it was not possible to take Indica to the place we wanted to go. We had little clue about the route too. Our attempt to contact our relative had failed as telephone lines were damaged due to rain. An helpful STD booth owner (luckily he knew our relatives) tried to check if anyone is going our way in a bus. So that they could accompany in our car to show the directions. But we knew that a stream blocks the road in rainy season and we preferred to take anohter vehicle. He arranged for a Trax and told him the alternate route. Past Hosangadi, my father felt we have come little far distance and driver went and asked a person in a nearby house to accompany us, as he knew our relatives.(His being there that day was also co-incidental). The roads were badly damaged due to the heavy transport of red bricks. There were also steep paths. Our co-passenger remembered that this road too has a stream and that day’s rain might make it difficult for us to cross. We went near and waited while driver and co-passenger went out to see the height of water relative to height of our vehicle. They came back and decided it is not possible to cross by vehicle. They then went to our relatives house on foot and decided to get them/ their vehicle.
Rain, slipping time, night time, we were in a area that is known for naxalites. Recently you might have heard the shoot out of naxalite, that happened near this area. We thought of so many ifs and buts that could have changed our approach but now we were stuck in middle and all that mattered was “What next” ?
Meanwhile, driver did not even know our identity and our relatives had no clue that we were visiting them. There have been instances of naxalities kidnapping etc. Since they knew the co-passenger and after a fair guess, my uncle came in his vehicle. We then crossed the stream in rain with our luggages and went to their house at 12 midnight in his vehicle which went through the fields!

Next day around afternoon we left from there and visited Kamalashile temple which is on the way. From Siddapura, we started to Sringeri. After few brief visits to relatives house near by, we visited Sharadamma temple in Sringeri. Later travelled to our grandfather’s place. Next day left to Bhadravathi after a stop at Koppa. One more uncle’s place visit and we returned to Bangalore.

Later we came to know that this rain in these districts have never been so much in last 15 years. Also, their arrival is exactly on my tour planned days! My tour which was thought to be a sight seeing was invariably converted into a semi-pilgrimage(11 temples!). The additional places added were of temples and those that got subtracted were of sight-seeing or beach spots. But nevertheless a memorable tour as usual, for 5 day travel and now I feel the rain was fun afterall

Other photos here. Most of them were taken by bro.

+ve:
5 day long tour
First time visit of many places.
Gripped in uncertainity and suspence.

-ve
Heavy rains
Bad driver
Driver not allowing to listen to our songs
Cancelled places

As with every other tour initiation, this too started with a mail and then continued with the endless Reply All. Flood of mails included everything from zeroing of the location, checking the accommodation, short listing places to visit, route to take, maps to use… Something like requirement analysis (who is available, what time, interested in trek?, can a leave be taken?) to the (hourly) schedule(itinerary). This is by far most planned tour. Even then, I as usual do not believe the tour would happen until I sit in the car (or until I finish the tour … last time we planned to Munnar and till we reached Munnar we were not sure whether we would go there). There are many reasons to remain so skeptical…you see the world is so unpredictable. The number of times the tours got cancelled or didn’t go well are almost 4 times the number of those that did go well. More importantly, to this particular spot, the tour was planned around 6 times and each time resulting in either total cancellation or change of destination. The name of the city had thus become more familiar than the tourist spots to which I have visited.

So started my thoughts even before we started. Meanwhile, due to some requirements I could not leave the office early and that left me with the option of taking the already booked Bangalore Express. Wow..what a misnomer. The train, I am sure, was reluctant to travel to Bangalore. The surname of Express is totally misleading. And to my (and other participants of the tour) ill fortune, the train showed no movements even 90 minutes after its scheduled departure time. Our itinerary dictated us to start latest by 8 (that too only because of me!) but this additional 2 hours meant the whole plan is going to go for a toss. I could no longer keep my eyes open and feel bad about it, regret and think of 101 ways in which things could have been better or differently managed. It always happens. Experience is the best teacher. To my further agony, whenever I broke from my sleep and opened my eyes, I would find the train motionless. It happened so many times that I felt I would still be in Chennai even at 8 AM, the time of scheduled departure to Wayanad from Bangalore. And I let “my minutest hope that the tour would happen” sink and felt sorry for other 3 guys who were all set. Worse, they would keep waiting, in hope, for me to arrive.

Finally around 10 AM after a quick brush and breakfast, we started our tour, keeping in mind the inevitable changes that were to happen to much planned time table. I really thank these guys for not to cancel the trip in which case I would have been heart broken for the nth time and exhausted to think of Waynad tour again!

Around 12 we reached Kadumane and had another round of breakfast. Reached Mysore around 3 and searched for a Paradise to have lunch. (Notes to self - hereafter NTS- An experience to keep in mind. Never search for hotels while on tour. Barge in to the decent hotel and get on with the tour. Tour and time is more important) Then cruised through the jungle to Kalpetta. Sunset and other evening spots were missed out (especially lake. After Hyderabad lake visit in the hot afternoon, I am very averse to the idea of visiting a lake in the afternoon and wished [against odds] to cover the lake in the beautiful evening. But as you would see, I failed again). The lovely roads coupled with views of inviting jungles, wonderful brand new car drive what with noted music directors entertaining us through out the tour, with the company of some nice friends and snacks, the purpose of tour was almost accomplished. I have often observed that the company and the journey is almost as important as the places to be visited to make it a complete nice tour. Ever since I had seen DCH with SK, I had wished to go on a tour with him in a car, like this. And plans for a tour with Nbk and RS are in the making ever since RS has bought a car!

Reached Kalpetta so late that we could not do anything but to search for resort (NTS - as above) but we had already booked rooms at a reasonably good place and we checked in there. We walked around the city and SK noted the time when most of the people get their hair cut in this place. We had dinner at Hotel Harithagiri. Here more than the dinner we observed and noted the design and raw materials used for everything - bamboo. We also hatched our plan, design and name for our own restaurant that we are going to start in another 6-8 years in Bangalore (which could possibly expand to chain of restaurants - speciality being - good vegetable dishes served along with drinks). The name would be Udupi Jungle.

Lots of shoots happened with each one turning as creative and artistic as possible either in photographing or in posing.
Waynad/Wayanad_074.jpg

Being all boys group, not to mention, matter talk happened along with other many discussions ranging from blogs, politics, movies, gossips, tennis, car races. Interestingly not once did we speak about cricket -Indian cricket. Then it was time to rest after the re-plan of the itinerary for the next day, along with finalizing on the routes to take - with the help of the map. Re-plan and route finalizing kept happening through out next day.

Early start was mandatory next day. Alas everyone was in deep sleep. Thanks to SK who woke up and tried to wake us up, we began [albeit half an hour later than the plan]. We went in search of Sun rise valley. By the time, we reached some point which we only decided our destination, the Sun has already come up but was hidden in clouds. With constant fear of running out of petrol we took best possible routes [and in this confusion missed & lost the Soochipara falls] and covered a picturesque tea estate, a waterfalls [Kanthanpara] (only sight seeing), had breakfast and went to lake[Pookot].
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Lake was wonderful surrounded by the trademark beauty of Kerala- God’s own land (NTS- I have to visit the interiors of Kerala and experience long cruise through backwaters, the wish pending from 3-4 years). The sailor was more than happy to let me do the job.Waynad/Wayanad_174.jpg Now that I am more than an amateur, he too appreciated and promised to get me a license next time I go there. He also was more interested in taking photos himself that I had to snatch my own camera from him few times.

We noted one prominent thing in Wayanad, the places are not as well marked as in website. There are no directions mentioned, no sign boards and worst of all the local people have no clue as to what “tourist” spot we are looking for. The falls was present as if in someone’s backyard.

After checking out we proceeded towards the dam. It is being renovated or being constructed. And to mention that as tourist spot in the website is surprising for us who have seen absolutely marvelous KRS dam. This visit, we realized later, was a waste of time. Especially walk to the dam and back.
Then we headed in search of Phantom rock and by this time we were convinced that it is going to be some rock for which we have to assume some shape and visualize it as Phantom Rock. Also that we would see it from the windows of our car and we can not get there. We were right. But still we went in search of it and returned.
Finally it was Edakkal Caves. A govt jeep shall take us through the steep hill to the caves. The best part of the tour (next to the journey, of course) is indisputably these caves. In around 4000BC tribal people lived here and their carvings of tribal head, man, woman and dog etc can be seen on the walls. Carvings in dravidian script could also be found. The rocks have been split by an earthquake. From the first point we could get good views and good photos. Waynad/Wayanad_236.jpg

We saw many other points through a telescope. Including Phantom rock.
We could not get to second point which involved some trekking and we had absolutely run out of time (we were still hoping to reach Blore by end of day). This is where we looked back where exactly we could have saved some time. We would get absolutely wonderful views from the top of all the 3 states Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. I am sure the effort would be more than worth if we get to the top.

Again wonderful drive through the jungle. Both our drives were in the evening and I just love that. Add to that short drizzles make it more wonderful. (Though we had rains following us the day before). RS and BK were skeptical that the lorry we saw the previous day was the victim of football playing by elephant and wanted to rush through the jungle. Also, finally thankfully we could see 2 elephants and few deers otherwise we should have been satisfied with the views of only wild dogs.

We reached Mysore, early enough to do something , late enough not to continue our travel. Due to the program of last day of Janmastami and because it was Sunday, the palace was lightedWaynad/Wayanad_279.jpg. Few more clicks, search for hotel, dinner and sleep. Two days were over.

Get up early morning, stop at Coffee day for a short break, cruise towards Bangalore, hoping that RS and SK would be able to reach office.

Nbk constantly planned, re-planned, routed and re-routed (sometimes with the help of the knowledge of Kilometers obtained from the locals). He constantly renamed the places too! Nbk Waynad/Wayanad_116.jpgalso managed Djing. RSWaynad/Wayanad_117.jpg posed for photos most of the time and deleted the photo for which he did not pose (that is not being sporty and RS, I will never forgive you for this). RS also drove superbly enjoying himself as much as we did. SKWaynad/Wayanad_105.jpg, along with directing and re-directing the routes, planned for the future restaurant, cut cool jokes, talked about his job and kept his cool despite the changing schedules (which would affect most to only him). I, enjoyed most of it, (along with making NTS), feeling bad for my contribution to upset the schedule, maintaining accounts and calculations, and experimenting Waynad/40f7.jpg with camera and clicking away the picsWaynad/Wayanad_167.jpg.

Thanks guys for hanging on with the tour. Where next and when ?
Selected Photos

I have lived in Bangalore and now staying in Chennai. During my recent visit to Hyderabad, without intent to do so, I drew up few comparisons and conclusions. Here it is:
(If I say A is good and don’t mention about B there it means B is bad or pathetically bad. And vice versa).
Auto:
For Chennai I have a simple thumb rule. Bargain for 1/3rd of the initial quote of the driver. At the maximum agree for 1/2. The problem is non-existence of meters. They demand like crazy without any justification or logic. Hyderabad and Bangalore are lucky for that matter, with meters available and decent enough drivers.
Another tip I would like to give while taking auto either in Hyderabad or Chennai is : Once you sit inside auto, hold the auto firmly for safety and close eyes and pray God. At least you pray during this time, you can pray for your health and safe journey. Even if you don’t want to pray, keep your eyes closed - to avoid heart missing beats due shock. Dear Bangalore auto drivers, you are worse compared to other drivers in Bangalore. But thank God, you don’t yet know how bad can you still get.

Bus:
Frequency/Connectivity looked good in Hyderabad and Bangalore. Cost wise Chennai wins marginally. Crowded factor leaves Bangalore and next Hyderabad lot more likable.

Cost of living:
For food and accommodation, Chennai wins. Hyderabad is no less cheaper than Bangalore.
(Let me not go into the variety of food available because any normal veg food is ok for me and all are good at it. Hyd is supposedly good for non-veg.)

Pedestrians:
You do not exist in Hyderabad. If you can cross roads in Hyderabad you can cross any obstacles in life.
You are more important than vehicles in Bangalore. So you shall obstruct the vehicles on road which are helpless anyways.
Thankfully Chennai has a good balance among vehicles and pedestrians. There are available good number of subways and most of the civilized people use them.

Language:
Hyderabad has this unique switch language mode. If you request to change the switch, people would change the language to Hindi (or Telugu) even from a mid sentence! Hindi language eases the entry of outsiders.
Bangalore is out of race. Here there are multiple switches for all important languages: English,Tamil, Telugu,Hindi and sometimes Kannada. (When I get out of railway station in either Chennai or Bangalore, I won’t know the difference because I am spoken to in Tamil at both places.)

Traffic:
The vehicle density is more in Bangalore. In adhering to rules dept, Bangalore and Chennai are good. Chennai because of a stricter Police. It is total chaos at traffic junctions in Hyderabad even with the Police watching it. Lane rules etc are mostly followed quite well in Hyd.

Roads:
This is one place where Bangalore fails miserably. It is out of comparison. Hyderabad, Chennai both have good and durable concrete roads but Hyd wins easily what with cleaner, wide roads and plenty of flyovers.

The traffic is bound to go bad in big cities. It is all in how it is handled.

Climate:
Bangalore is again out of comparison, this time because it is heavenly in Bangalore and other two places fight out to prove which can get more hotter.

All these are not on the fly comparison after 2 day visit, but includes accumulated facts and opinions.

The tour started in tension and apprehension. One should never believe these ticket agents. They find all the ways to cheat you and have no botheration about your concerns. While waiting for the ticket at his place, there sat another fellow. Fellow-cheated-by-agent. Like me.

“You should be wise” he sounded as if he was. Any unnecessary usage of 2nd person instead of 1st person in a general statement indicates the person is either arrogant or he is defeated/hurt.
“I bought an open ticket to be converted into a confirmed seating by a person sent by this agent. The person never turned up and I cancelled the ticket. Next train is 4 hours later. Tension on one hand, disappointment on the other”
“You should never believe these crooks. They do their business and they know all the ways to make money. They are not bothered about you.”

I had a ticket at least with RAC. But the tensions, confusions, the way I am cheated, the way I was treated from the beginning have made me wiser. This, hopefully, will not repeat.

There are cheats everywhere. Some are in the form of breaking the queues. Some in the form of ticket agents. Those who bribe, those who get bribed. It will take an “Indian” or an “Anniyan” to stop all these. No, stop dreaming.

There are good souls, like the one who helped me in need, to send a sms.

The train is crowded. There were these 200 odd people returning from their Char Dham. I am vaguely reminded of Godhra. What if some people know that this compartment has people who were on a holy visit. What if they burn this train?

There is this blind hand kerchief seller. Who gives away whole of his bundle for us to select from. What if he is cheated either by paying wrong amount or by picking up more pieces. He has no means of knowing it I guess. He has more belief in this world and its people. Perhaps it is because, he is blind.

I easily buy a pair, but am uncomfortable in donating to other beggars who just run into us. Displaying their helplessness. Violent and irritating eunuchs – a nuisance.

My co-passenger is carrying a little puppy with him. Everyone is attracted to it.

The outside of train is beautiful. I should settle somewhere like here. Lush green, large fields.HydSecBad/Hyderabad033.jpg Mountains in the backdrop. A drizzle.

All Photos

Next: Lake, Birla Mandir, Imax

Babu accompanied me to marriage and in Hyderabad for a day. Nice fellow.

We went to Hussain Sagar Lake. Got down a stop earlier and walked along the lake. Nice roads. Beautiful, big lake. I tell “Babu, there are 2 points. I should visit a lake in the evening and preferably with a girl. Unluckily, it is 1 PM and you are with me.”
Oh!, a statue of BuddhaHydSecBad/Hyderabad002.jpg.In the middle of the lake. He might have disturbed by all the happenings on the land and has situated himself in the midst of the lake. Peace. We took a boat and were lighted near the statue. Just a few clicks and the showers came chasing us. I didn’t even have a complete look at the statue. At that face which is quiet. At the statue of a person who taught the mantra of peace to the world. And has made India proud.

The rains stopped as soon as we left the place. We then went to Birla Mandir. Nice templeHydSecBad/Hyderabad004.jpg. Not much crowded. Again the rain was after us. Drenched, we left from there and the rain stopped.

Next stop: Hyderabad Central. 5 storied shopping complex, spend more than a hour. Pick up a couple of books. I have put myself a rule. Spend at least the same amount of money on books as I spend on movies. I am forcing myself to read.

Go to Imax. Buy ticket for the 3D movie T-rex. There are few exciting joints like artificial rock climbing, hitting with hammer, scary house. Let me check out scary house, people are screaming from inside. Babu declines to get scared by paying money. There are better ways! Oh, there. Ramani, Nagi, Dutta. Let me join you guys. It is worth it. The Ramsay brothers have equipped me with the knowledge of make-ups of ghosts, diseased. But the sudden appearance and sounds, scare you. Ramani, Nagi took all the shocks as they were in front of me and being ever cautious and expecting I was, I was not surprised once. Expecting things make it easier.

But the fear carried to the movie where I shook twice or thrice! The 3D movie about a species T-rex was ok and special effects were good. Will a day come when all the movies would be made in 3D? That would be fun.

An eventful day.

All Photos

Next: Ramoji Film City

Some miscommunication and I am all alone. No complaints.
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The film city is spread around 2000 acres of land. Good facilities of sound recording, editing and sets are provided in side the city. We are taken in the bus for 2 trips. One showing us the different sets where films have been shot. Few buildings have different elevations. The bunglow-cum-highcourt, church-school-hospital-airport, bank buildings for example. The guide mentioned many film names or song sequences that were shot here, none do I recall. There are nice picturesque gardens, fountains as well.
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A Tajmahal too. The other tour took me to a park and a cave. Cave reminds me of scary house. Some games like rangerHydSecBad/Hyderabad006.jpg, electric cars are provided. Nice place for a single day family outing. There are few live shows – stunt show, Spirit of Ramoji show (dance and gymnastics) and a comedy show. Stunt show was good.HydSecBad/Hyderabad012.jpg Gymnastics and tricks at the other show was also very good. There were signs of rain and I left the scene soon.

All Photos

Next: Golkonda Fort, Salar Jung Museum and Charminar.

HydSecBad/Hyderabad027.jpgI went to fort, alone again. There were all the signs of rains spoiling my day. I sang “Rain rain go away. Please don’t spoil my day.” It worked.
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I liked the fort. Guide told me many stories. That the king had 360 queens. (A lady quipped “Daily one”). How the bedrooms of queens were lighted by pearls because the candle light would make the room dirty and when servants come to clean the room they might look at the queens. Why eunuchs were body guards of queens. How there were provisions for hot and cold water by providing two paths. That in the Nagina bagh, they were selling pearls and diamonds. They were countless in number and hence the name. Na-gina. That a Hindu king had built temple on the top of the hill next to which a mosque was constructed by the Muslim King after conquering. Disciples come to temple in large number even now during the auspicious festivals. How a soldier accepted bribe and let Aurangazeb inside the fort and that the soldier was cut into so many innumerable pieces by Aurangazeb and was buried in Na-gina bagh. Aurangazeb almost destroyed the fort. It took 8 months to destroy the fort which had taken 62 years for its construction. There are some whispering walls, echoing domes. How stones were used to keep the heat away from the roofs. How lifting a 240 kg weight was the selection process for the army.

360 steps take you to the top of the hill where there used to be assembly. Next to which is the temple.

I met two kids (yeah, let me call them like that..they made me uncle. Uncle, uncle, uncle!!) who accompanied me for the rest of the fort visit. They were innocent, curious, full of happiness and enthusiasm.
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I went to Salar jung museum next. Damodar accompanied me here. We were running out of time and I was really exhausted. Few paintings were good. There exists a clock, which consists of 60 different parts. It has day, date, time dials. At every hour, a toy comes out and dongs the bell. Another toy would tirelessly dong every second. Ivory, modern art, wooden exhibits were all present. Modern art varied from simple to unbelievably simple. I wonder what qualifies as art. One painting was named “abstract”. I would have known that without the title, tell me what the painting means. Another could not even be named, so was titled “Painting No 2”. The oil paintings were good. Ravivarma’s were there, as well as a Mona Lisa and few others which look different depending on the direction from which you see them. Among the wooden statues, there is a Man on the front and woman on the back. Actually it should be front and back but on one side and another. As Damodar noticed that the statue should have been standing sideways allowing us to see from both the directions instead of showing us the rear in the mirror.

Even though many asked me not to go to Charminar, for there is nothing worth, I still wanted to visit. Just for the heck of it.
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An hurried, quick meet with Amit who was equally busy, before winding up the tour.

Thanks all – Babu, Muktesh, Damodar, Amit, Nagi, Ramani, Dutta, Rizwan and Irfan.

All Photos

Next: A conversation with a co-passenger

If things keep me so busy that I don’t have time to even record them, what more can I ask for ?

Chennai is a city most people – including its own sons – love to hate , or at least hate to love. The reasons are plenty ranging from hot-climate to unfriendly people. I have never found such a uniform negative opinion about a city !

For me, I just had to visit the place. A two day visit at the most was what I had planned. First, I booked the tickets in advance on-line. I am slowly utilizing the power of net and I found this exercise very comfortable and useful. Last time I had to run to ticket-booking center early in the morning, yet had to wait in the queue for about an hour. This time in an unearthly hour of 11 in the night, sitting at home I could book the tickets.

After the lengthy day, Sriram joined me timely(+1hr) at 8 PM . A visit to Mary brown. Sriram is the most optimistic person I have seen. Imagine him even hoping to get current show’s tickets for a Rajanikanth movie, in Chennai, in the first week of its release and that too on a weekend! We went to a theater, only to find what we guessed.

In an effort to utilise the rest of the day (night), we roamed (walked from Gemini flyover to Triplicane - around 6km) and visited a beach. This is the same area which was partly affected by Tsunami, but did we see any traces? Visiting beach in the night around 10 pm was exciting (read haunting sounds) but we did not play in the water. Then we went to a local railway station (Parakkum rail) which was, completely deserted. I was reminded of the DCH railway station scene. But not even a sign of a beggar to scare us. We tried to shoot some pics of theyear.
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A ride back to room in a shared auto was a very good.

Lazy start in the morning costed us

Having booked return tickets for the night, we had enough time to roam around the city.

We traveled via local train, just for its sake, from Park to Mambalam.

We visited one of the prime shopping streets of Chennai for Jewellery (Usman Road). Also the prime area for clothes. I was surprised by the omni-present shops by name Saravanan. But the highlight of the window shopping was Pothy’s. This shop is huge (4-5 floors of garments). We entered the shop for only one reason – AC. The darbar set-up and other drama-costume clad people surprised me! Also there are small games to keep the kids involved. We even played Chess on a large board �?� This is the only shop I have seen with so much un-selfish concern for the visitors. Hanging around a chess board can actually make one feel the ladies shopping time shorter by hours.
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Sriram was again hoping to watch Chandramukhi. I just needed some place to sit and sleep. So we went to another theater. I got a small taste of Rajani-worshipping with all the banners and decorations. Again, of course, we could not get the tickets.
We went to IIT. An envious campus to be at. We even caught a sight of deers running around! We tried to reach main building from main gate on foot, but soon were exhausted. Later took the bus to reach near the main building only to find the canteens being closed. We just had to satisfy ourselves with a look at the library and then we returned.

Off we went to beach (Elliots beach). Under the hot sun on the hot sand, we took a good nap. You should be really tired to realize the beauty of sleep. Few photo-shooting and balloon shooting , then we proceeded to a coffee-bar next to the beach. The contrasting atmosphere with the outside – heat vs ac, silence vs noise , poor vs posh , dull vs colorful – was very evident.
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We then went to a HUGE shopping mall – Spencers plaza. One round of window shopping and we were back to railway station. We finally ate something in Saravanan and occupied our seats in train. Sriram also investigated that our co-passenger was Shalini (F 22).

It was a pleasant journey back home. Despite a ton load on my mind, if I could enjoy certain things, that was mainly due to Sriram and of course some part of the credit goes to the city itself - Chennai.

Other Pics

Highlights :

People have run out of names for the hotels I guess – I could see Hotel Park, Hotel Picnic, etc.

Train journey with(out) the co-passenger Shalini (F 22)

Sleeping at beach under the hot sun

Visiting the deserted railway station.

Using various modes of communication with in city limits – Local train, bus, auto (3 kinds) , on foot.

Sriram’s optimism about Chandramukhi.

Omni-presence of stores by name Saravanan.

Oct 30 to Nov 2nd

Participants: Manohar, Vipin, Sameer, Gaurav, Kiran, Ravikiran

After planning, re-planning and cancellation of tours to Pondichery/Munnar, nobody thought that weekend would be so eventful. Friday 4′o clock, it was decided to go ahead with the Munnar trip with the available 6 persons. Manohar and Sameer rushed to book a vehicle and finalized to leave Blore on Saturday morning 9 AM.

Quite after 9 all of us assembled , breakfast followed and started by 10:15. “Do you want to go to temples or you will be going only to beaches?” first puzzle from driver Raju ! Gaurav was most confused - last time he went to Munnar there were no beaches! “Which route you would like to take - via ooty - kodai ? All the three can be finished in 3 days!” another attractive package from Raju. Dil maange more and we chose Ooty-Kodai-Munnar.

With frequent stoppages, it was noon in Mysore when we stopped over for the lunch. Journey after that was smooth. On the way we deviated to visit Bettada Gopalagiriswamy Temple. The hill was an indication of what we could expect from Ooty- the mist, the cold. Drive through Bandipur reserved forest gave us the sights of peacock, deer, one elephant family. Reached Ooty by night leaving us time only for drinks-food-sleep.

Visit to Munnar was at stake. After realizing that we were not left with any time either in Ooty or in Munnar if we want to go to Munnar, the plan was shelved. 3 days from blore and one can’t visit Munnar?? I and few others were visibly disappointed. We checked out the possibility of night journey and decided that we visit Munnar come what may. Vipin’s desire to go to a beach and its possibilities were also being considered all the time. All these planning left Kiran totally confused that he kept querying “Lekin Munnar kaun ja ra ha hai?” all the time.

All boys group, all through out the journey, obviously missed the obvious. Lets see if Manya keeps up his promise of arranging a “fairer�? and “better�? tour next time. This time only possible solution was to talk about them.

Open-heart which was happening all through the journey, now continued formally. Bday boy Vipin entertained us with his stories of Lalbagh, childhood crush, and ofcourse aunty’s was well-known to all. Sameer with a story of handshake with his competitor. If Manohar finished with breakfast, Kiran went a bit ahead with his Dhandiya story. My “swapna-sundari” story didn’t impress/convince people. Gaurav kept mum throughout.

It will be unfair if a small note is not made about the service/hospitality (its absence) during our stay. Repeated requests for glasses/candles/blankets/pillows were royally neglected stating some dumb reason. We continued with our (insufficient) candle light dinner. At the end, hotel proved costly too.

In the absence of hot water none was ready to bathe and it saved us some time. Breakfast and we left to Doddabetta. 8640 feet above sea level, the cold embraced us. The mist covered views opaqued us from beautiful top views and scenaries.

The never ending uniform tea estates were a attraction by themselves. Varieties of tasty tea samples at a store compelled all of us to buy & take some tea powder to home.

Journey continued to Munnar broken by lunch, by Coimbatore and by frequent permit checks and dinner. Twas 11 pm when we were finally in Munnar.
With the ooty hotel experience still fresh but behind us, in much smaller town of Munnar at 11PM our prayers of good stay were more than answered. We stayed in a cottage (actually a house where 10 ppl can easily “live”!!). Hot water for bathing was provided but cosmetic lover Gaurav was not affected.

Munnar was not as cool as Ooty. The scenaries’ beauty met our expectations. After the breakfast and quick plan of places to be visited we set off to the lake. Boating was great fun (made more exciting after we bribed the sailor). The surrounding gave us a hint why Kerala is known as “God’s own country!”. We continued to “high-point” with a break in between at “echopoint”. The mist again played spoil sport and we could not capture any scenic beauties.

With the company of few water falls we continued our journey down the hill, just trying to capture as many as wonderful sights all around us.

Lunch and we continued our further journey. En route we spent some time near a dam. Around 3 am we were back in Blore thanks to heavenly roads.

Except for Raju who would have been happier if we had been to Kodai rather than to Munnar, all of us were satisfied inspite of investment of weekend in continuous journey. Uncrowned PJ king Vipin trained others so much that at the end his own title was at crisis with Kiran making most of his training. Vipin’s PJs and other stories, Silent sameer’s timely one-liners and accountancy, Kiran’s “Munnar kaun ja ra ha hai?”, Gaurav’s planning and ability to sleep anytime-anywhere, Manohar’s shooting —— all these entertained us through out the journey. But for these, the tour would have been as entertaining as a lonely sailor’s.

“Leave only footsteps, take (away) only memories” - one signboard had urged.

(This write-up was mainly targeted to the participants. Also, any similarities with TRAP is unfortunately co-incidental)

Narration:Guru,Vasanth.
Review,Editing,Special effects : RK

This is the story of our most successful unsuccessful trek. I am always blamed for organizing surprise trips/treks. Sorrowfully my critics failed to realize the main reason - heap of uncertainity, gifted by our software industry. But still seeing the efforts which went into organizing some well-organized treks v/s the enjoyment and effort v/s the probability of a flop show, I always feel that surprise trips/treks worked better.

Preparation & Planning:
It was a long time since our last trek i.e Green Route trek. So I asked my trek-guide Prashant to suggest a tough one. He suggested us to trek to ‘ombattu gudda’ which was on the hasan-chikmagalur border. The trek to start from Gundya in Udupi Dist and pass through the dense forests of western ghats to reach Ombattu gudda. From ombattu gudda a jeep track would take us to hosakere. From there a bus ride to moodigere, mudigere to Bangalore back.

Meanwhile few words about Prashant. I met Prashant for the first time at Air Force Selection Board, Mysore during our 5 day selection process. He is a real enthu guy. He has a big group of friends who are regularly in search of new places for trekking. After that I’ve not met him in person, but he has been continuously the source of good trekking places and a guide for me.
This time I decided to give my critics a chance to rest, especially Kaat who had complained about me to Capt. Zabi. So, the bill was circulated well in advance (about 10 days). After lots of harate, inclusions and dropouts finally a team of ombattu decided to go to ombattu gudda on 03-09-2004.

Though the planning started long before, we could not escape the last moment uncertainties. We faced more challenges before the trek than during the trek. After the struggle to get tickets, fight to acquire sleeping bags backed by the punctuality of Naveen L, the final blow was a last minute drop out, sardar. And to the surprise of our punctual team, the bus which was about to leave by 9:50 PM was not to be found till 10:30 PM. Our team of 8, me, rk, vasant, sriram, Naveen L, srinivas, abhishek,anand welcomed this since it would save us from reaching our base location Gundya in odd hours.

Start:
Our bus journey was smooth. We had a good sleep often interrupted by the thought of our conductor’s reminders to handover the tickets to seat no.15 before we get down.

Day 1:
We reached our base location at 5:30 in the morning. Without wasting much time, we started off trekking. Our only guides were prashant’s document and map, backed by some guidelines. Keeping all our pressures under control we walked for about an hour on the jeep track with the Kabbinale river flowing parallel to our paths. Then we decided to take a break, finish the formalities and have a nice bath in the river. It was here that we started finding mysterious wounds on the legs of our team-mates. At this moment we didn’t know that these were due to leech bites and this was just a beginning to a lasting ( blood-sharing ) relation we had with these creatures for 2 days.

Refreshed by the bath in the cool waters, we continued our trek in search of the fireline where we decided to have our breakfast. All along the path the forest was getting wilder and wilder. We also received a warm welcome by a viper which was carelessly crossing the path. Our path was cut by innumerable streams. With lots of circus (crossing the streams) and some leg pulling sessions we reached a point where the path divided into two. Now, we realized that we had already crossed the fireline. Now, we decided to have our breakfast. To our astonishment we realized that our blood had broken the fasts of many bloody leeches. Almost all of us were bleeding. The most essential commodity was salt. After freeing ourselves from the leeches we walked for some more time and we had our breakfast at around 10 AM.

The path was now wide enough only for one to walk. We came across the kabbinale river cutting our path. The best place to cross the river after some investigation was found by sriram and shek. Meanwhile the other team members freed themselves from the leeches. Crossing the river was an adventure in itself. With all the luggage, shoes in our hands, stumbling, falling and sliding on the slippery rocks, we reached the other bank.

As soon as we crossed the river, we found a path and starting walking along it. Here the path was not much distinct and it was playing hide and seek with us. Suddenly we were unable to find our path further. Our only guide was the map and everything seemed OK according to the map. At this point I felt the seriousness of my mistake of forgetting a compass. Since we were now at the base of a hill, we thought climbing the hill may give us a better picture of our location so that we can get back to the right track. Map supported out thought,or so it seemed.

So, without a second thought, we started climbing the hill. The whole hill was covered by dense forest. The presence of thorny bushes and bamboos added to the complexity of uphill climbing was. Myself, sriram and Anand were leading the uphill climbing and making some sort of way to the other team members. The humidity was killing us. Our look for the alternative was cut short by dead ends and steep downfalls in all directions. Weigth of the food we were carrying kept reminding us of the hunger. Thirst reminded us of empty bottles. Ready to attack from all directions, leeches made sure we never stopped at one place.

We reached the summit finally- wet due to perspiration, dry due to thirst, hunger,. But to our disappointment, the hill had no clear patch on the top to help us find our path. Unloading ourselves on the summit, we decided to camp there, and send some of us in search of the main stream which we were supposed to follow. I, sriram and anand set out in search of the mysterious main stream. Seeing the sun, and calculating the direction we set out in the northwards direction. After some steep sliding through the jungle, we found a small patch of grassland. From there we could see most of the major hills mentioned in the map. The condition of the grassland at some places, the dung gave us a lot of clue to prove that the place was host to elephant herds. Continuing our downhill journey, we met a dried stream, further we could hear some water source.

The whole down hill journey had cost us 30 mins. So, fearing the plight of our worried teammates, we decided to return , even without checking if it was the main stream, which we hoped. Gasping for air and water, we again reached the summit. After a light refreshment, we set out to take our team mates to the supposed main stream.

Now started the real confusion. It was here that I realized how confusing a forest can be. All the directions appeared to be the same. It went on 2-3 times, we would take the team in one direction, then feeling it was not the way we went, we would climb up again. By now, it was past 3, we were all hungry. And the confusion brought down the spirits of many. Some were of the opinion to go back and try to reach gundya by EOD. Some were against it. Finally overcoming all the difference of opinions and after Very Intense Discussion about the route to be followed ,a final decision was taken and we headed towards the North direction approximately to climb down the hill. We somehow had to manage to sneak through the tough terrain and the hill seemed to be sloppier and at one point it was around 80 degree slope.
Fortunately all our teammates managed to climb down the hill successfully and reach a stream which was flowing in the valley.
It had its tense moments - like when a small rock almost uprooted Shek who had reached out to get back the slipped sleeping bag.

By now everyone was exhausted with energy and we all knew that we are completely lost in that wild jungle. So here we had to apply some common and direction sense and with bit of discussion we all agreed upon that the destiny of the stream we found would be kabbinale river.

We couldn’t dare to take rest or sit for a while b’coz of those leeches, we walked for about 2 hrs along the stream and finally we could see the boisterous water of kabbinale river.

By now it was around past 5 and uncertainity about our location still prevailed. Finding small patch of dry and vacant land , big enough for our gang, was like finding an oasis in desert. We found the tailor made oasis and almost immediately decided to rest there and spend the night there. This is where we encountered our second snake, think it was king cobra, black in color and about 6-7 feets. May be because of our foot steps it rushed away from us and disappeared into bushes in Nick of time.

On river banks, sufficiently away from river could be the best thing on earth for us to spend night. But the next day we heard from localites , that place is not visited by them ! Fear of wild animals like tiger and elephants stop them from going around that place, let alone spend nights! Over overnite stay there almost shocked them.

Preparation for night camp was done : Accumulating dry sticks, getting water from river, getting ourselves rid (as far as possible) of leeches. The agenda for the night was that 2 people would stay away for 2 hrs and turn by turn all would sleep/stay awake. Their activity would be to chat and to keep the fire alive Music of the dark jungle and some food was the company. Their another important responsibility was to shoo away the wild animals by making sounds (hitting the plates with spoon), or so we planned !!

Day 2:

After a strenuous day, naturally we all slept well in the warmth of sleeping bag. Our day started lazily, trying to wake up and trying to wake others. Hesitantly we wore the same stinky clothes, stained with blood. After our morning activities and a quick breakfast, we started off at around 7:30.
One thing I can’t forget is the sweet water of Kabbinale River. The river is true to its name. The water is as sweet as sugarcane juice. We all drank water heartily.
Our path was all along the river. Ups and downs, rocks, bamboos… oops, by then even my bag had given up. The 150Rs was worth only for 1 ½ days. I had to tie up the bag to my shoulders using towels, this added to the thrill.

The whole path had its excitements and challenges. We had to walk through the bamboo, slide on the fallen trees, climb rocks etc… Etc. We saw some of the beautiful curves of the river as we walked along. As the path became difficult to walk along, we crossed the river and trekked along the right side of the river. We had to face some more challenges. The challenge was to recognize the place where we had crossed the river. Along the river side, full of boulders and rocks, it was not a easy task to recognize the place where we had crossed. As we walked along we started finding clues of human intrusion, like bamboo cut using a sickle, foot prints.

I forgot to mention, we had also found feline foot prints along the riverside. By this time we had also stopped worrying about leeches; RK had become their best friend. Especially after being bitten by mosquitoes in the night, he was in all praises for the leeches, as they would silently suck blood even without our knowledge. No evidence/pain left. And they would silently retire after their job is done.

At around 10:30 we came to a place which according to shek and sriram was the place where we had crossed the river. But, rest of the team members were in doubt. Then our detective shek discovered the IKON sticker of RK’s shoes to convince the rest. I fear what would have happened if RK had not shed those stickers. Probably, we would have to go till the sangama and again trek all along the river to reach gundya. In that case, I doubt if we could reach Bangalore by Monday morning, since river side trek takes horribly long time due to slippery path and rocks.
After much discussion and argument, we found a path which we presumed to have used to come till the river. All along the path shek would try to convince the already convinced team showing their shoe-marks that it was the right path. Rest of the trek went smoothly.

We could even find some local villagers by now. We also met a group of shikaris. They had killed a large squirrel which I doubt would not even suffice them for a day’s meal. I really wondered, “the purpose of it’s living” only to fill the stomachs of 2-3 people ? and that too would not last there more than 4-5 hours. This is nature. The weaker ones exist to fulfill the needs of the stronger ones. We were helpless. We silently saw the magnificent animal being taken away. After having a small talk with them, we went to have a bath in the river.

After a hearty bath, we had our lunch on the way near the stream. Also a paper boat race kindled the child in us. We had lots of photo sessions too. By the time we reached Gundya, srinivas was limping due to the bad state of his shoes, shek due to the rolling rock.

Final Phase:
By God’s grace we all reached Gundya in full piece by 3:30PM. From there we alighted a bus to Hassan. The whole journey, was spent sleeping. We didn’t even bother to think of the state of our fellow passengers who had to bear with our stinking clothes and shoes. At Hassan, our team minus Vasant alighted a bus to Bangalore. Vasant departed us to meet his sister.
We reached Bangalore by 11PM. With the sweet memories of the Kabbinale river trek and a burning desire to go again and reach ‘OMBATTU GUDDA’ we departed to our HOME SWEET HOMES.

And though we did not go where we intended to , this trek gave our mechanical life all the required masala, - we had more adventure, more uncertainities , faced more challenges, did more trek than it would have been possible if we were to trek to original destination. After the strenuous trek, we really learnt to appreciate the luxuries of city life. But, we have also learnt to live without it. And also to enjoy the journey along the path the destiny dictates us rather than we choose.

(If guru was thinking about the wild-life we lived, I was actually discussing with sriram the plight of those leeches for whom I might have given a free ride till Bangalore. And their city-life in Bangalore !
-RK)
See here for the log embedded with pics.

Things in navy are edited by my friend Guru, who is also to be credited for the title.

Project pondy stands for the project which was discussed for 2 months, post poned morethan 2 times,in which team members dropped in and out at a rate faster than fall of cycles in the cycle stand,and which finally got excuted in 2days.  Of which here is a project report.

The project involved all major phases of meticulous design, planning, reviews, estimates, decisions, change-request, customer service  and finally released with shortcomings. Unfortunatelythere is no provision for rework/change requests.

Guru,Madhu,NaveenL,Ganesh,Vasanth,Manoj,Ravi started to Pondy on 11th night. At chilling 4:30 we landed in Pondy. After waking up Dam and reminding himto join us, we check into the hotel. Wait for Dam continues even as we finish the morning formalities. Finally he arrives just before noon and we visit Aurobindo Ashram. We salute Him and have alook at the various books and His memorables. Of His advices, the one that caught our attention was the advocate of watching movie.

We hired bicycles and started to Aura beach. Initially there was a competation to be pillion riders but later it was changed to be riders.

Then our patience during lunch was tested with the delay in serving the food and also offered us the stiff challenge of finishing the ordered item. The confusion led them(servers) not to serve an ordered item and thus averted us of the bad health. Miscalculation in bill gave us of the satisfaction of revenge.

From the main road , Aura Ville is 8 km. After much discussion, our team set out tothere. The flood of foriegners to that place made us curious to know thespeciality of it. It is a calm place with a huge well maintained park. In themidst of it, stays a sphere , Golden Globe. Speakers voice(without any mic) wouldbe heard to 300 ppl who can be seated inside. Alas, due to renovation ,visitors are allowed to have a look only on Sunday.

Finally the long awaited beach visit. And the joy of playing in water. Time runs and wewind up half-hearted.

A tiring return journey. We split up for dinner to facilitate like minded people to taste their individual choices. Mouth watering soups accompany Italian dishes.

Back in the hotel,it is time for gossiping. And most easily available and most often talked about topic among boys is about gurlz. Turn by turn ppl underwent the open-heart surgery done by Dr.RK. Theydiscussed about their dream girl/latest crush. Each one was in a different phase of the crush/love - life-cycle. Some wondered about the foolishness of guys to fall in this mad world while others realized the joy it gives to share the feelings. Some prayed their turn comes soon while some prayed that their turn may never come. The main attractions in the stories were RK’s swapnasundari, Manoj’s Doora -vani, Madhu’s Aunty No.1, Naveen.L’s sister,Dam’s April fool, vasanth’s bus-stop story. 

After detailed planning for the next day, which few of us knew would fail invariably, we hugged sleep grumbling about the failed plan of seeing a cab-’beeeeep’. The beautiful sea view from balcony and the cosy bed vied for our attention. As expected , the start of theday itself was delayed. We were off to Mahabalipuram. The beautiful sculptures, rock carvings made us proud of our ancestors.
Another short visit to crowded seashore. Volleyball, football under hot sun sawus drain ourselves more.

Back to Pondi, a just in timevisit to Boat house, provided the oppurtunity of boating. The calm water and the beautiful sorrounding scenary was as attractive as the voilent beach.

Another try at different food and we wind up the project.

Few things did not happen as planned either because planning was similar to biting morethan we can chew or because lack of experience(and or time) in executing the plan. Complaints, regrets were no lesser than satisfaction. Nevertheless, it was a memorable trip. If not for anything, it was for new-found-sense-of-humour of madhu , absent minded-ness and hidden talent of the inability to speak/translate tamil of naveen , charm of damodar, confident and i-will-pull-everyone’s-leg gani, anything is ok and silence personified manoj, intentional visit of guru to another room where "beeeeeep",bus-stop is beautiful by vasanth,book keeping and open-heart surgery of Ravi.

There is so much invisible around the visible , the suprasensible , the sensible even asthe infinite sorrounds the finite.- Sri Aurobindo.