Wayanad Trip

Before leaving Bangalore...I at least once, wanted to be to Waynad...had heard a lot about the place.....and was really looking forward to go there.....My Motorola office colleagues planned for the same this weekend. We were six people.....Marliyn, Srinivas, Dechen, Yashwant, Pankaj and Me :)

Marilyn : Sweet girl , coordinator of all the accommodation and plan for travel....ready and enthu for all the activities.
Srinivas : Ready to help anyone for anything...and anywhere....(phisalta hain..bar bar)
Dechen : This girl slept maximum time....as soon as we used to enter the cab...she always managed to take a nap :)
Yash : Cool banda....apni hi dhun me mast !!
Pankaj : Challa jaata hoon kisi ki dhoon main....machalte dil ke tarane liye :)
Trupti : I had promised myself and everyone....that I would give up phone for one night and one day ;) ......and hurray I did it !!!!

Day1 : 5.00 am
We started early morning by 5 from Bangalore..had hired a cab....we managed to reach Mysore by 8. On the way we had nice breakfast.....at Mandya...a place few kms
from Mysore.....Marliyn had got 2 CD's written, but we had already finished with all the songs until we reached Mysore...so we got a new CD of A R Rehman..... :)

Mysore
After crossing Mysore the stretch along which we drove was simply awesome...as the monsoon had just started.....it was lush green everywhere.....and did not feel like missing even a single view or sight. After entering into Bandipur forest...we could see ... tall bamboo trees towards both the sides...which made the view absolutely panoramic. To our luck....we could spot two huge elephants and one baby elephant on the way...It was very nice. We reached Sulthan Bathery at about 11 pm.....The home stay we had booked, had already arranged a guide for us. He came to meet us at Sulthan Bathery, around 11, and we started with sight seeing :) We decided to roam around the places throughout the day, and go to home stay directly at night.

Edakkal Caves
These caves are located closer to Karnataka border, the carvings in these caves have been acknowledged as the work of the earliest human races. It was a good small trek for about an hour....which was really refreshing for all of us.....the breeze was cold and nice...while moving through the place we found several coffee n cardamom plants....Had nice ripe mangoes and amla....while coming back. After this we headed to have our lunch. In lunch we had fish biryani, and lots of chicken...must say the fish was really tasty..!! After lunch we went to some of the tea estates near by....had nice time der...and left for chemra Peak...which was about an hour from der....

Chemra Peak
Is the highest point in waynad....there were clouds moving through....the mist and fog....made it appear more and more beautiful..you can enjoy the green ghat enroute to Caliciut from here.

Pookot Lake ... a natural fresh water lake bound by forest and hills all over. The fresh water lake nested above wooded hills, is the only one of its kind in Kerala. It is one of Wayanad's top visitor draws.

Kanthapara Waterfalls
Relatively smaller than Sentinel Rock Falls, and rather less frequented Kanthanpara and its surroundings offered a very pleasant site.....this one was very far from the town.......It was only we six souls ....der....we walked across a small stretch of trees and jungle...which led us.....to this beautiful place...the water was fresh and refreshing......the place was covered with dense thick trees....from all sides of waterfall....as the the sun started to set...we could see the clouds....and could here the sounds made by birds....we spent maximum time here....and then left for home stay....

Entee Vedu...our home stay
An exclusive bamboo house with 2 bedrooms and an open sitting room ...tree houses....dining hall...the food , the view and stay was simply amazing...very well managed.....These cosy rooms were the perfect place for a tranquil stay!! Traditional Kerala cuisine was served for breakfast and dinner. . There is also a small kitchenette if you are in the mood for a holiday cooking..
After having bath...we went for dinner...chit chatted for some time..played carom and cards. We wanted to stay in some more time...but every one were too tired to stretch beyond 12....so all of us went to bed.

Next day early morning....we woke up had a nice cup of tea and headed towards....the fields and farms...it was a nice experience walking through the paddy...and supari trees...we walked more than 2-3 kms and came across a river....spent some time der...and headed back to home....we had nice breakfast and started for our first place for the day....

The Kuruva Island with 950 acres of evergreen forest lies on one of the tributaries of the River Kabini. This calm and peaceful island is home to a variety of birds, butterflies and orchids. We had a wonderful experience of boating though bamboo boats. After crossing the Kabini river....we found several small islands which we could cross by walking through the river. This was the most adventurous part of the trip. We kept crossing islands....hoping that we could reach the other stretch of river.....walk instead of boating back to reach the place. We just got lost to a point ... where we were with water all around...then we thought of walking back the same path and reached back...until which it had stared raining...so had nice bhajjis and tea :)

Started at about 3pm from the place...had lunch and then headed towards Bangalore.....the trip was excellent....and would like to go there several more times :) Had a rocking experience guys!!!

Coorg Trip

We had booked a tour package for some 1350 for coorg-medikere-nagarhole with 1 night accomodation. Tour was from saturday morning to Sunde night.

Trip main we all following ppl were there:
-- Deepali - Make up queen.....cautious about looks and figure
-- Sonal - wohh itna sabko chalne ke liye tayyar karti hain n she takes care of things like keeping water, food, snacks etc etc
-- Trupti - waise adha time she is on fone but thankfully very pumped up to go on any trip anywhere ....anytime..always
-- Hina - Jab we met ki geet ka doosra naam... she talks endlessly.. punjabi kudi from jalandhar.. soch lo kitna chik chik. mazze dilati hain.. uski baatein totally full of fun
-- Kanika.-. kitchen ki spelling bhi nahi aati hogi.. shruti ka perfect replacement hain.. born on 16th april... n kuch bhi khana bana na nahi aata.. use sab kuch tayyar karke de do.. fir woh apna italian etc etc banyegi...

Saturday

So Saturday morning we got up, got ready n had tea n took bus to reach badami house jahan se tour ki bus thi. wahan pohoche 7.15 am par toh pata chala tour bus nahi aayi hain..
khana peena chalu kar diya with loads of fotoz .... ek baar toh hum paanch apni khud fotoz le rahe the toh ek uncle aakar bolte hain ki u guys are struggling i ll take the foto..
fir kafi itnezaar ke baad bus aayi.. trip start ho gai ...

bus main ghuste hi everyone slept..10 am we reached a dhaba on mysore highway (revived old memories jab we mys se bus main aayi thi wen zo,vikas,mahaveer, n all saath the we had food over there)
wahan Kanika got tea for free.. for all of us.. that guy didnot ask for money.. fir wapas bus main.. n we started towards coorg...

raaste mai we started playing dumb c + antaskhri n all.. slept for some time as well.. reached coorg at 1.30pm

1st Place : Buddhist Monestry.. largest in India.. thats like a small town for Tibetan ppl..clicked fotoz stopped for 20 mins n back to bus.. it was damn hot that time
then headed to a restaurant.. that village was very small so had bakwass food.. there we came to know that there is no river rafting as the water level is not gud enough :(
we headed to next stop.

2nd Place : Kauvery river fishing & boating camp : here the only thing was boating & a hanging bridge over the river..
here we got very frustrated that nothing worth while is there in the tour

3rd Place abbey Falls: then we headed towrds abbey falls.. it was like u go up in the mountains n then go down again.. kind of from one hill to another.. ek side valley doosri side trees n hills.. was not enjoying cos of heat... the bus driver stopped around 2KM from the falls n asked us to walk down n come back by auto as buses not permitted to go beyond this.. it was evening around 5..30..
me n sonal started running from here.. it was fun.. it was steep curved roads & narrow ones... down the hill so we cud easily run.. we reached there near the abbey falls n clicked fotoz.. other ppl reached.. then foto session hua.. n some coconut water ...
while going down there were some steps once u enter the area of falls... while coming up we started shoutin jai mata di jor se bolo... pyaar se bolo n all.. all ppl got so shocked some of them started also shouting.. guess everyone had the enthu... then we got into a jeep.. jeep main bhi we were shouting the same hting...

4th place : Raja's seat: here we reached in another next hour.. by the time we reached it was dark n cold... wahan bhelpuri (churmur) milta hain.. so ate that ... then cold drinks.. wahan troy train thi chotu si... but we chuck it out.. then went to raja 's hill... there was a garden on the edge of the hill... and its like highest point of coorg-medikere.. it was dark so cudnt see anything.. but thandi tahndi hawa chal rahi thi and it was like on the edge of a hill... so we stayed there for sometime.. fir nearby ek musical fountain tha.. wahan gaye.. wahan 2 gaano par dance kiya.. some kannda song n its the time to disco.. beech beech mai fountain rotate hota tha n it use to sprinkle water on us..
then wapas bus jaate hue got into a march by ISKON temple ppl.. hare rama hae krishna kiya n back to bus..

5th place : old shiva temple of 1800.. darshan kiya n then went to hotel...

hotel was quite OK ... not tht gud..w ahan ajaake sabse pehle change kiya n got camera charged.. went out for dinner.. ek mast jagah par khana khaya.. was like a dhaba...
mast khana tha north indian..

then came back.. we had foto session for some time again :D n slept again

sunday

we were suppose to get up at 5.. the tourist incharge told that hot water comes at 5 in the monring.. we thot hum logo ke room mai koi bucket mai deke jaayega..
so we kept on waitin. pata chala baad mai it came in taps..

khair kuch kar ke we got ready went into teh bus by 6.30 (5.45 tak pohochna tha)

9am : Thala kauvery : here the kauvery river originates.. on a very high mountain.. a small temple n a pond is there.. nothing much.. the scenic view was nice but it was already very sunny so cudnt capture anything.. then there were some 300 steps up where u cud see the whole medikere... went up watt lag gai....

there were one aunty uncle who went up n came backa also wen we were only 1/4th way

fir upar gaye.. it was beautiful/... u cud see many windmills.. mountains covered with fog n all...

neeche aaye.. camera was running out of charge :(

10 am : went to a small restaurant for bkfast.. wahan camera 30 mins ke liye charge kiya...
11 am : sangama kauvery : here the kauvery river and a spring is there.. dono milte hain... wahan pani hain 1 foot jitna..
pani main thoda der masti ki.. fir tere was a small boundary..wahan chadd gaye.. socha khudte hue we will click fotoz but ek bhi foto nahi aayi...

pass main hi ek temple tha wahan gaye n back...yahan bus wale se daant padh gai.. we were late n everyone has come so :(

fir gaane saane. dumb c etc etc

1.30 PM : had lunch n refilled eating stuff.. chips etc etc... ye gonnikappal (town) main tha

3.30PM : nagarehole national park.. tourist incharge told ki nobody has seen even a single animal in last 15 yrs of his carreer still if u want to take safari u can.. some ppl booked for the same...
entry jahkaas hui.. tat tourist incharge uncle told this after restaurant only.. but jaise hi ismai ghuse he started shotuing tiger tiger... everyone was sleeping so sab uth gaye,.... n idhar udhar dekhne lage,.. then he told ki us board par hain... popat maara..
fir uske baad we saw many deers n all... wahan elephant par bhi safari hoti hain.. fir we got down there.. that jungle is some 32 kms.. and its a thick jungle.. safari n all take u only 7-8 kms hence u dont find any animals...
we 5 gals iwent into the jungle way clicked fotoz n came back.. wapas aake pata chala ki safari is booked till 6.. so cannot go.. toh wapas chal diye..

raaste main stopped for tea break.. fotoz wagarah click kiye n then antakshri n all gapp marna suru.. mysore highway par fir ruke n then raat ko ghar wapas at 11.30pm..

Changes!!

While leaving from Pune...and travelling back to Banaglore....numerous thoughts kept running through my mind....as they always did....As the bus moved...and we crossed several miles...... my mind kept wandering...how fast does our thoughts cross our mind? At an instant we think and focus on one thing.....at another fraction of second..it wanders about something else!!

Change probably..the only one thing which is constant. Inspite of so many new things coming into our life, we get so held back by all the older ones. It just seems too difficult to come out from the nutshell, we had adjusted ourselves, from a long time. But does it mean...when new things and people come in our life, we should forget the older ones?? Or does thier importance get reduced? We know its not so...but its important and necessary to make them realize this.

As time passes, may be priority and preferences change, but should it be applied in case of people too....our friends, our relatives our dear ones...? It just seems, getting a bit selfish then, just centering around our own world...and thinking about our own needs only!!

Holi Hai !!!!!

It was supposed to be a Wednesday, and a holiday for me , on ocassion of Holi....this break was a nice one in the middle of the week.....giving a nice feeling...that two days of week have already passed and only two days yet to pass for the weekend.....a very neutral day....it seems like...on which I always want to take a leave..or expect for a holiday :)

The sad part this time, was, it was only the 'I' lonely soul who had this off...so holi was a bit boring :( All my roomies had office and they..only came in at 9.30 pm..untill then, the day was really boring!!!

I had already taken a head bath..and was nicely relaxing...cosily..in my bed....listening to all the wonderful tracks, I could. To my surprise....when my roomies came..they had these handful of colors with them....Immediately..the process of coloring each other stared as they came in....Red and Yellow..these were the only two colors..Hina had managed to get.....but it was really nice of her......I did not miss , being at home and playing like I always do.... It was quiet late until, we could go out and play...so we just started splashing water and colors..in the back utility that we had...a small place though...but we had lots of fun.... :))

After the process of getting drenched...the most irritating thing is to clean the mess created and getting ....washed.....we did with all that (actually my roomies did it :) ) Kanika was kind enough to prepare a nice cup of hot tea for all of us...and Sonal managed the magggiii :) It was a nice and wonderful experience...Happy Holi !!!!

Wierd Thoughts

Some times it just happens...that we start giving so much to a particular person...forgetting our own limits and boundaries.....then it feels....should we too be selfish and behave as we feel and what we want?? This is definetely not a right or correct feeling...but then the same level of understanding and maturity is expected from others as well.

It gets worst actually when, people....ur close friends, or your loved ones...start taking you for granted...just becausce they know...you are kindly..just 'available' for them. Might be this also could be wrong. But its most important to have the sense of respect and value for each other.

Just becausce a person is behaving patient and understanding , does not mean you should keep taking him/her granted for everything. Every one have thier own priorities in life, but it is more important to think, how you can manage them and get it in synch with others.....this sometimes seems too simple.....but still I make it a bit more complicated.....dont know why????

First Day @ Youth for Seva

I was deciding this since a long time.....finally started with it now!!! ( This meant by writing my first blog !!!)

Last weekend, was probably, one of the shortest and the most beautiful weekend that I have had for several reasons!!

I was wanting to start with some kind of activity...which could be of some help from me towards society. It could be anything then...may be helping out old people...or being to a spastic society..or teaching kids....I was more of intrested in taking up the task to ....teach. First reason being, I would love to spend my time puting in the best....for education, which our country lacks the most....and secondly, it would be a real nice and wonderful experience being with kids !!!

It was since long I planned to do it.....only untill this sunday when, I actually started with it. It was Sunday morning....actually afternoon...I had my brunch and started towards..Koramangala NGV...This was the place, where we were supposed to meet. I had discussed this with few of my friends...and even they were willing to start up with this.

So we three, Suneet, Malini and I headed towards NGV....where we met Rohan, a volunteer of Youth for Seva....he explained..what would be the kind of activity. It was going to be like tutions for kids from Std 2 to 9. The major subjects which we could cover were, Maths, Science and English. Opposite to NGV....Viveknagar Slums are there....We walked through the small 'gallis' from the main road for about 10 minutes and reached a Municipal Community Hall. This was the place where we were supposed to teach the kids. The room, seemed to be quiet well constructed, and I felt glad, that there is atleast a place made, which can be utilized for the best of it.

The timings for tutions were about 3 to 5. We had been there by 2.50. There were about a group of 8 to 10 volunteers. This is a Teach India Initiative Project..which is what I found from them. I kept observing each and every thing in the room. As we entered...the room ...there were several wooden planks.....kept...which I had thought could be used as tables as well as chairs for the kids.....Slowly the kids kept coming in... within the small room, and soon it was filled with more than 25 kids.

The best of expressions...which relieves all kind of tensions....can be found through smiles on faces of these kids.....!!! Seems to be so true. Some were shy, some were too naughty, some were talkative...and some kept on staring....at all three of us...wondering...who these new people are...?? Most of them were curious enough to ask our names.....after having an informal introduction...we stared with the classes....

Every person could take on 2 to 3 kids...I preferred taking up with older ones...as it was difficult to communicate with the younger kids...due to language constraints....most of them understood...Tamil...and I did not know, even 'T of it!! Better would I start learning that too.... :)

Shalini came to me....a 8th standard girl...and said..."Didi I want to learn English" . I was more than happy....to see her....with the books she held in her hand....a slim and slender looking female...with an amazing spark in her eyes....which showed up, how enthusiastic...she was to learn.....I had a initial chat with her....and we started off with an English poem.....She was not too fast....to pick up with the things...but she seemed...to be a slogger...one who wont stop until.....things are done....its a killling attitude and I simply loved it.!!!....She had beautiful and neat handwriting , which really seemed like pearls rolling down on the lines of her book.
A bit hesitant to speak....with ...but within few minutes...she did became very active in the participation.

Sooner Mohammad followed in and joined us...tall and lean...with big eyes and absolutely mumb......he just kept on staring...when I started asking him certain questions.....he just used to stare..it took me more than 15 mins to make him speak. He too was from Std 8, we continued with the poem and and did the exercises. I felt like completely lost into those 2 hours, as if I have returned back to school. Some of my school memories flashed back...and gave me a beautiful glimpse...of the phase I had been for ten years of my life....!! How wonderful it could be!!

By 5 we finished with the class...and thought of arranging some games for the kids...we jumbled up certain words...and started with a quiz competetion.....divided kids into groups....and started with the game...The same room..had now filled with voice and noise of so many kids...some shouting..some laughing....and some of the vibrant and brilliant kids not leaving a single chance to answer the questions. At 5.30...will dispersed.

While returning home...as usual....many thoughts started pondering into my mind....I could not find answer to all of them, but what ever experience I got for last 3 hours, was one of the best of its kind. It gave me immense satisfaction and joy......I gave nothing...but had got many things in return!!!!