Friday, 30 April 2010
A refreshing day in routine busy life.......
It’s been almost 6 months I haven't put any thoughts on blog.....I didn't find any reason to do so....except the country Politics (which Iam partly involved) so I can’t take any stand on that. About IPL, Sania’s marriage, Amitab bachhan controversary, markets etc,etc...., I could write about each of these. But I love to write about my own experiences in day today life. So I was on lookout for something to put on my blog.........until this day.....other day was something different in usual sucking so called busy normal life
The day started with usual stuff of struck in the traffic while going to office.....rush to sign-off at entrance(swipe card) and go to nearby darshini to have couple of idlis and orange juice. the day went on smoothly (except some hiccups at work).......at the end of the day weather was cloudy and it was about to rain anytime, the weather I love most is here. Finally, I love to play in rain but Iam scared of thundering somehow I managed to reach flat around 7 pm before it started raining. After a while there was heavy rain which was awesome to watch and I stood at door to feel the cool breeze....this was the first rain this summer. I had a feeling of going out and play in rain but lightening and thunder scared me to step out, but with much enthusiasm and zeal to play in rain I stood on top of my terrace. The Fat, ripe, juicy raindrops explode on hot parched skin, detonating shivers of pleasure, waves of delicious coolness. I stand in the open, face turned to the sky, eyes closed, smiling, opening like a flower.
As nature recoups with the rains it is rejuvenation time for humans too. A tropical rainstorm is something else, and really a thing of beauty and delight when it's been stiflingly hot. I can say that rain has finally arrived. it’s just one of those little things that add a bit of sunshine to my life, even if it’s “STEELY” outside.
This year saw a protracted spell of heat and humidity with more expectation on early monsoon. Therefore, after the harsh heat and heavy humidity, the soft cool caress of rain feels divine.
The rain here is really noisy. Maybe that’s because we live in a house with door and windows facing that way! Anyway, we have glass windows which we normally leave open at night to let the breeze come through the bedroom. The wind comes up, and then it starts raining, and the wind is blowing it into the house. I jump out of bed and run around and close all the windows. This happens every time when it rains. after short stint with rain and refreshing myself, 2 of my friend’s arrived and then events unfolded that evening about my friend that took me by surprise. As it was breezy evening we thought to make it very special(colorful) and one of my friend’s birthday was next morning, even we came to know about it only in evening when we saw message in his inbox..so we thought we could get pastries and celebrate at 12 sharp.
we thought to warm ourselves and planned for some drinks, after having few small pegs. We started discussion about our friend(birthday boy), even though we stayed together for almost a year he never expressed anything about him or his family, he is little introvert, but on that day he was like open book, we didn’t ask anything but he kept on opening chapter after chapter about his past life.....there was so much to express and there were so many feelings which he buried in himself for years (the dark ugly secrets and for the first time he is speaking his heart)....similarly we remembered some of our college friends who left us in the halfway of life journey (angadi,sidda,amul). We really cherished those memories which we have spent together, they had golden heart with some peculiar mannerism but whenever they were around they made their presence felt, now when we look back and see they are no more it really hurts, It happens to every one at some point in their life. I personally learnt so much from this conversation like know about your loved ones, understand their feelings and respect them. You know the person for whom you are praying But, you never the person who is praying for you........
The show must go on As life moves on, after heartfelt and touching interactions we came to last but not least cake cutting ceremony of our new born friend(in my view he is completely new person and I could c through his eyes or whatever)....the most awaited show like birthday bumps and cake all over his face, thrashed some eggs and tomatoes....and I was amused at the events unfolded that day even a normal day turned in to a refreshing day for all of us....those discussions will remain with us for years to come....we don’t know what’s in store for today.....life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get. So be optimistic and positive and enjoy your life.......as it comes.......
Monday, 23 November 2009
Journey to god's own country(Waynad)
Most of the time I have experienced that whenever we plan for a trip we should not spend much time on planning (As rightly said too much analysis leads to paralysis) like we plan for 15 days and plan remains as a plan, what I feel is we should not give much time for friends to give excuses and u guys know how these soft ware techies give excuses. For this we planned at 5 pm on Friday to go on Saturday morning for Wayanad in god’s own country. We planned to go in two cars; one is our friends and other one we hired. We decided to leave Bangalore at 4am so that we can reach around 9am to wayanad. But as we know plans always looks good on paper the same happened to us. The hired car driver slept overnight after heavy amrutha (drinks) and didn’t pick the call; we kept calling but in vain. After so much hassle the owner of the car received the call at 5.45 am and due to lot of nice verbal bashing he agreed to send a new car at 6 am. During this time lot went in to convincing friends about the incident and they kept calling every 10 min and some of them even thought trip is cancelled and had nice sleep for 2 more hours. We stated our journey around 6.30 am by picking all friends from their respected rooms. As we running behind the schedule one of my friends was too hungry at 6.30 am, but I was more interested in covering the distance, the other two guys’ were starving like anything. After a brief travel one of our friend was interested in having breakfast only at kamat (he was insisting every one to have at kamat we thought he was brand ambassador for the restaurant). We stopped at Kamat on Mysore road to have breakfast, but due to holidays the place was so crowded that we didn’t find a place to even stand, after wasting some 30 min and with 2 starving hungry stomachs we left the place with some biscuits in near by tea shop. The 2 guys in the back seat were really hungry and angry, but some how I convinced them to travel till Mysore and we had some delicious breakfast at nanganagud and now stomachs are really happy.
The newly constructed 2 lane road to waynad passes through bandipura forest and there’s great scenery along the path.
This was our first stop after breakfast we managed to get some beautiful scenic snaps. As we Indians are more interested in taking snaps rather than enjoying the beautiful landscape we too did the same thing as it is inherited in our genes 
As we passed through these landscapes we stopped at the check post entering kerala state, this was the most horrible experience as officials made us to wait for 2 hours for no reason. There was a long queue of drivers with documents in their hand waiting for the official to give a green signal to enter god’s own country but even god didn’t help in this case. After a long wait we were allowed to enter kerala.
After this our first stop was edakkal cave, As we reached late around 4 pm the shopkeepers at the downtown cautioned caves have been closed but we thought its nearby and give a try and trekked some 2km to reach the cave entrance but it was closed. With disheartened faces we had some tender coconut, soda and left to kalapetta were our hotel room was booked for night. We had traveled some 400 kms whole day and were ready to hit the bed.
Kalapetta is a big city; there are plenty of home stays, hotels, lodges. At night we met one our friend’s relative who is staying there and he gave some instructions and a rough sketch of the travel map. We went for shopping at near by mall and some guys purchased lot of stuff for their homes. The prices were comparatively cheaper than Bangalore. We tasted some delicious kerala style cuisines and some tasty ice creams.
The next day we had hectic schedule and left hotel room around 7.30 am. The first stop was view point, were we can see beautiful falls, hand touching clouds and greenery forests. Such beautiful skies always inspire me to take up new challenge and remind me of some naughty things of the past. 
I think so every one was inspired by the scenic beauty.
There were plenty of tea estates and manufacturing units, we took some snaps at tea estate but could not able to see the tea manufacturing plants.
As we were running out of time for next spot, the heavy rain stopped us from moving with time. The rain played vital part in our trip because it used to rain for every 15 min and gave us some time to see the places, with heavy rain lashing at us we reached next destination POKKOT LAKE. It’s about 13 kms from Kalpetta, is undoubtedly the most beautiful tourist spot in the whole of Wayanad.
We reached around 10 am and we were the first one to visit in the morning. The workers were still removing water from boats due to heavy rain the water was accumulated in boats. As we waited at the ticket counter for couple of minutes crowd started arriving, but we were first one to get the tickets. The ticket price is 50 rs for 4 seater and 30 rs for 2 seater.
The lake nestles in the lap of mountains surrounding it. Boating in the Pookot Lake is a memorable experience. Tall trees and dense forests that line along the pathway around the lake provide a visual treat. A freshwater aquarium with a large variety of fish is an added attraction. Tourists can also avail of boating facilities, to enjoy the serene waters of the enchanting lake. A children park and a shopping centre for handicrafts and spices are some of the few attractions of the region, providing recreational facilities to the visitors. The pathway around the lake is lined by thick bushes and tall trees which further add to the overall charm. This was the most beautiful freshwater lake I have ever seen and adding to that was morning fog and pleasing weather. After having some memorable time at lake, we left for dam which is some 40 kms from lake. The backwater of dam is surrounded by 3 islands, the main attraction of this place is speed boating. Although we didn’t get a chance for speed boating due to heavy rush at the site. We took some snaps and continued our unfinished journey towards edakkal cave.
The story of edakkal cave was afresh in my mind due to the classic movie of puttanna kanagal. Once again we trekked to the cave entrance. It started drizzling when we reached the cave entrance and long queue of young, yielder and few with their children all waiting to have a glimpse of ancient caves. The Entry fees are rs 10 and rs 25 for camera. .
You will pass through some cave like structures and lots of rock covered areas. After some easy climbing through paved ways and ladders you will reach the real Edakkal cave. Due to rain the step were too slippery but was amazed looking at yielderly people of my granny age was really enjoying the ride.
Well anyways we made it to the top with some enthusiastic students from some college. It was an accomplishment in itself. When you enter the cave you can see there are some kind of drawings and carvings on the walls of the cave. Also when you look up you will see that you are actually standing right below a huge rock which is on its way down. This rock is being held there by 2 rocks on its sides. This is a peculiar sight.
The cave is formed by a heavy boulder straddling a fissure in the rock. Inside the cave is on two levels, the lower chamber measures about 18 feet long by 12 feet wide and 10 feet high and can be entered through an opening of 5 x 4 feet.
A passage opposite the entrance leads upward to a small aperture in the roof through which one climbs up to the next storey whose interior is about 96 feet long, 22 feet wide, and 18 feet high. Light enters the cave through a big gap at the right-hand corner of the roof where the boulder does not touch the facing wall. The gap is so narrow and deep they have sealed it to prevent any one from falling. We could not take snaps at the caves as our camera batteries were dried up but some guys had a mobile with same features as of camera we managed with that. But it’s just a mind game as we reached back in half the time and it was really very easy when compared to the uphill trek. I forgot to mention about the lunch which we had skipped for edakkal caves but this time the 2 stomachs had greater fan following. This time I could not convince them due to the number and on the way at sultan bathery we found vegetarian hotel ( its really hard to find one) and had some masala dosas and appams (kearala’s main food). By the time we had refreshment it was 7.30 pm and left for Bangalore. On the way at Mysore had dinner at dhabha and reached Bangalore around 1 AM. In 2 days we had traveled around 650 kms and had some great time and cherishing memories of lifetime.
This was our first stop after breakfast we managed to get some beautiful scenic snaps. As we Indians are more interested in taking snaps rather than enjoying the beautiful landscape we too did the same thing as it is inherited in our genes 
As we passed through these landscapes we stopped at the check post entering kerala state, this was the most horrible experience as officials made us to wait for 2 hours for no reason. There was a long queue of drivers with documents in their hand waiting for the official to give a green signal to enter god’s own country but even god didn’t help in this case. After a long wait we were allowed to enter kerala.
After this our first stop was edakkal cave, As we reached late around 4 pm the shopkeepers at the downtown cautioned caves have been closed but we thought its nearby and give a try and trekked some 2km to reach the cave entrance but it was closed. With disheartened faces we had some tender coconut, soda and left to kalapetta were our hotel room was booked for night. We had traveled some 400 kms whole day and were ready to hit the bed.
Kalapetta is a big city; there are plenty of home stays, hotels, lodges. At night we met one our friend’s relative who is staying there and he gave some instructions and a rough sketch of the travel map. We went for shopping at near by mall and some guys purchased lot of stuff for their homes. The prices were comparatively cheaper than Bangalore. We tasted some delicious kerala style cuisines and some tasty ice creams.
The next day we had hectic schedule and left hotel room around 7.30 am. The first stop was view point, were we can see beautiful falls, hand touching clouds and greenery forests. Such beautiful skies always inspire me to take up new challenge and remind me of some naughty things of the past. 
I think so every one was inspired by the scenic beauty.
There were plenty of tea estates and manufacturing units, we took some snaps at tea estate but could not able to see the tea manufacturing plants.
As we were running out of time for next spot, the heavy rain stopped us from moving with time. The rain played vital part in our trip because it used to rain for every 15 min and gave us some time to see the places, with heavy rain lashing at us we reached next destination POKKOT LAKE. It’s about 13 kms from Kalpetta, is undoubtedly the most beautiful tourist spot in the whole of Wayanad.
We reached around 10 am and we were the first one to visit in the morning. The workers were still removing water from boats due to heavy rain the water was accumulated in boats. As we waited at the ticket counter for couple of minutes crowd started arriving, but we were first one to get the tickets. The ticket price is 50 rs for 4 seater and 30 rs for 2 seater.
The lake nestles in the lap of mountains surrounding it. Boating in the Pookot Lake is a memorable experience. Tall trees and dense forests that line along the pathway around the lake provide a visual treat. A freshwater aquarium with a large variety of fish is an added attraction. Tourists can also avail of boating facilities, to enjoy the serene waters of the enchanting lake. A children park and a shopping centre for handicrafts and spices are some of the few attractions of the region, providing recreational facilities to the visitors. The pathway around the lake is lined by thick bushes and tall trees which further add to the overall charm. This was the most beautiful freshwater lake I have ever seen and adding to that was morning fog and pleasing weather. After having some memorable time at lake, we left for dam which is some 40 kms from lake. The backwater of dam is surrounded by 3 islands, the main attraction of this place is speed boating. Although we didn’t get a chance for speed boating due to heavy rush at the site. We took some snaps and continued our unfinished journey towards edakkal cave.
The story of edakkal cave was afresh in my mind due to the classic movie of puttanna kanagal. Once again we trekked to the cave entrance. It started drizzling when we reached the cave entrance and long queue of young, yielder and few with their children all waiting to have a glimpse of ancient caves. The Entry fees are rs 10 and rs 25 for camera. .
You will pass through some cave like structures and lots of rock covered areas. After some easy climbing through paved ways and ladders you will reach the real Edakkal cave. Due to rain the step were too slippery but was amazed looking at yielderly people of my granny age was really enjoying the ride.
Well anyways we made it to the top with some enthusiastic students from some college. It was an accomplishment in itself. When you enter the cave you can see there are some kind of drawings and carvings on the walls of the cave. Also when you look up you will see that you are actually standing right below a huge rock which is on its way down. This rock is being held there by 2 rocks on its sides. This is a peculiar sight.
The cave is formed by a heavy boulder straddling a fissure in the rock. Inside the cave is on two levels, the lower chamber measures about 18 feet long by 12 feet wide and 10 feet high and can be entered through an opening of 5 x 4 feet.
A passage opposite the entrance leads upward to a small aperture in the roof through which one climbs up to the next storey whose interior is about 96 feet long, 22 feet wide, and 18 feet high. Light enters the cave through a big gap at the right-hand corner of the roof where the boulder does not touch the facing wall. The gap is so narrow and deep they have sealed it to prevent any one from falling. We could not take snaps at the caves as our camera batteries were dried up but some guys had a mobile with same features as of camera we managed with that. But it’s just a mind game as we reached back in half the time and it was really very easy when compared to the uphill trek. I forgot to mention about the lunch which we had skipped for edakkal caves but this time the 2 stomachs had greater fan following. This time I could not convince them due to the number and on the way at sultan bathery we found vegetarian hotel ( its really hard to find one) and had some masala dosas and appams (kearala’s main food). By the time we had refreshment it was 7.30 pm and left for Bangalore. On the way at Mysore had dinner at dhabha and reached Bangalore around 1 AM. In 2 days we had traveled around 650 kms and had some great time and cherishing memories of lifetime.
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