finally after days of waiting, planning and discussions 23rd january was here.it was time to leave the monotonous and mundane iit life at least for 4 days. the chatty bastard of our group i.e ravi decided to opt out at the last moment due to some health problems.god knows wat happened but symptoms indicate that its AIDS!! Rakshit, the crib gawd also stayed back,thanks to a stupid assignment given by his favorite prof.
we warmed up for the trip playing wing cricket..no points for guessing who dominated all the matches :). our dear friend and a responsible tranportation coord for saarang, Mr. Buyya arranged for a bus to get us to station and by 9 pm we were all sitting in our train to ernakulam.
we didnt waste any time and as soon as we got settled, cards came out and kinky started explaining us how to play poker. we played and chatted until one of the bouncers of 'tamil nadu police' ordered us to switch off the light..
all of us woke up and realized we were just 15-20 min to ernakulum.we got down,went straight to the waiting room and freshened up.meanwhile jaadu and kinky were feeling uneasy as they had run out of their milds stock and were unable to find it in nearby shops.finally they had to settle for something less(navy cut).we found a KTDC travel agency just outside railway station and hired a qualis after an hour of intense discussion with CKP being most tensed:)..
our first destination was vaikum back waters.we embarked on our journey to back waters and first stoppage was NM restaurant. god food sucked like hell..even the water.but nothing stopped phani and he feasted on his sambhar rice.digicams were out by this time and everyone was requesting each other to take one's solo pics. in the past year or so phani especially has become more interested in pics than he used to be. reason is well known!
it was hot and humid in ernakulum but we were in a different mood.we scrambled into our car after lunch and after an hour, we were there.
the whole scene was so serene and peaceful.everything was so green.we all were in complete bliss.our two hour boat ride started and we enjoyed it thoroughly.we took pics at every corner of our boat in different poses.here also phani was most enthusiastic about pics..this whole ashlesha episode is changing him dramatically.:)boat ride got over around 4 and we were on our way to thekkadi.
our driver suggested we should buy some hindi song cds and we got one.phani's mood was mostly extreme during the journey.in ernakulum he had just his shorts on and looked like a naked crow!as thekkadi approached he was all covered with pullovers and other clothes.people who have rarely crossed andhra borders are more prone to such problems.:)
another guy who was having a rough journey was manish..he had this throw up problem when he travels on road.we stopped at a shop to take some lemons for him but the lemons were more consumed by the other people than manish.
finally we reached thekkadi and took 2 rooms.rooms were decent for the money paid and moreover they had tv with star cricket coming.so we got to see highlights of sachin's innings of 4th test.jaadu and ckp went to bar and the rest of us for dinner after some rest.we took a long stroll on vacant thekkadi roads after dinner.when we reached hotel, we found jaadu n ckp were already there but not in fully concious state..ckp got psyched as kinky played with the light switch and jaadu was searching for reasons to bash someone.finally the liquor effect subsided and poker started..we played, watched highlights and chatted..it was interesting what a good weather and atmosphere can do to you.we were actually happier than we normally are with each other and were laughing more than we normally do..at 1am we decided to crash as we had to wake up early.
i was the first one to get up at 6 to watch sachin bat..once sachin and dhoni got out i crashed again.finally i woke up at 7 30 and was the first one to get ready.i tried to wake phani but he asked me to take his snap while he was in bed.hes weird sometimes!!
jaadu and me went to a nearby tea shop and had awesome masala tea with our dose of sutta.it was all foggy and smoke was coming out from our mouth even when we were not smoking.
we left hotel at 9 15 am to catch a 9 30 boat in periyar wildlife sanctuary.this was the most boring part of our trip..the boat moved at 2kmph through forests and there were no animals to see barring a group of elephants.everyone was getting pained.
the boat ride finished and we took a sigh of relief.we went for lunch at a marwari restaurant and consumed voraciously.
after lunch jaadu and phani went for massage and rest of us went to see a spice garden..but we were not willing to pay a ticket amount of rs 100 for seeing some stupid spices, half of which we didnt even recognize.so we came back to ur room.
jaadu and phani came back and we checked out of hotel at 3,had some light snacks n tea and started out journey to munnar.
scenery on our journey to munnar was completely out of the world.we were mesmerized by the natural beauty surrounding us.phani and manish again had trouble on the way.one was battling cold and the other his throw ups.
we reached munnar at around 8 30 pm and checked in to our hotel.that hotel looked a shady place but we didnt mind that as long as the place was cheap:).after freshening up we went for dinner at sarvana bhavan..had everything from dosai to idli to ghee roast to uttapam. after that took our dose of sutta and went to a church..too bad i thought! but couldnt help.i visited the church for the first time and that too after smoking (which i rarely do!).we roamed around munnar enjoying the soothing breeze.there are few moments like those in one's life.we went back to our room at arnd 11 30 and jumped on to play poker, watching fashion tv at the same time, ckp getting too excited with every model coming in lingerie! played till 1 and then crashed.
next day manish was first one to wake up and complete his toilet activities..we didnt have breakfast and straight way started as early as 8 30..first target was madipettu dam.on the way we stopped at echo point where phani pained us like hell buying arbit stuff for his sweetheart..finally we reached dam at 10 30 and went for paddle boating which forced us to remove all our jackets and sweaters.we were sweating heavily by the time we returned to the shore.but the scene was gorgeus here too..a huge lake surrounded by green mountains on all sides..
had breakfast cum lunch at a small shop.maggi and bread omlette made a good brunch.check out time from hotel was 12 pm, so we first went back to hotel,loaded our stuff on to the car and left for lakkam falls. stopped at tea museam on the way..had to take a rs 50 ticket which we realised later was not worth it..bhutia even took a book on 'how tea is made' or something like that for 50 bucks.:)
we stopped again on our way in the middle of tea plantation for a quick photo session.we were so engrossed by the beauty around that everybody wanted a solo pic of him in that awesome view.
finally we reached waterfalls at 2 30..it was another beautiful place.phani took off his clothes
as soon as we reached and went into the ice cold water.soon all of us followed but in a much civilised way than our earlier mate. we stayed there till 4 and then had snacks at a small shop nearby..
eventually we began our back journey to ernakulam at 4 30 ..again manish had problems and driver had to stop time and gain for him.had a quite journey as all of us were quite exhausted by now.we reached ernakulam at 9 ,cleared our bills with the travel agency by 9 30 and began searching for a hotel to spend the night. most of us were not that inclined to take a room as we had already spent much..so only bhutia, phani and ckp took the room and the rest of us decided to spend the night on the platform playing poker..we played and roamed around enthusiastically till 3 am but finally three days of hectic travelling and exhaustion was getting over us.we were now regretting not having taken the room.we somehow manged some sleep in the waiting room resting our heads on our bags!we got up at 7 30(didnt wake becoz we never slept) , completed our toilet activities , had a light breakfast and were ready for our train by 9.we boarded the train at 9 45 which was 30 min late.all of us crashed heavily as soon as we got on the train..again we woke up to play poker..time passed and we didnt realise we had reached chennai..
we got back to our hostel at around 12 to find a notice that conveyed 'monday was a non instructional day'!! we jumped with joy.
all in all ,this munnar trip was a fantastic experience which will live in our memories for our lifetime.
