Friday, October 29, 2010

A trip to Wayanad in Gods own country - Phase II - A bad start turns good.

This continues from the place where “We are in Kerala, far away from a railway station we are supposed to get down, far away from the place we planned to go, completely drenched, lost one of our pals mobile, waiting for a autowala who might or might not come and most importantly we don’t know what we going to do next!!!”of my previous post

Cont :

We are in Thalaserry Bus depot now, Oh yeah.. I missed this, I was also searching for the PM as he seems to be not there.

We found our PM in the bus depot enquiry. He was enquiring about the bus routes to Wayanad. The staff pointed his fingers towards a yellow private mufsil bus and said it will take to the Wayanad. He also told that it is 35 Km’s and will take about an hour as it’s a hills journey. We came to that the place where we got down from the train is the nearest place to Wayanad and we have saved almost 3 hrs of our journey. The bus is about to start in 30 Minutes and the next one is after 90 minutes.

Now the PM got saved for not waking for us in Calicut and the guy who devised the plan to get down at Calicut gone missing. Lol. Anyway, now we got something else to worry. Our team mates mobile needs to be returned by the autowala. Though we are not sure whether he will come or not , we have to try(wait). We have waited for more than 45 minutes obviously missing our bus because the autowala said he has gone for a long trip. Finally the autowala came as he promised and returned my friends mobile, we thanked him a lot and paid the charge from Bus depot to Railway station.

We got the next bus to Wayanad and comfortably seated near windows to sight the sceneries as we were told that each and every kilometer of Wayanad is beautiful. Its true, when the Bus started and passed few Kilometers we were thrilled with excitements. Its Wayanad district, and it started with full of greeneries and small streams. Very soon we were in the start of hills, when the bus started climbing on the hills the real excitement begins. The wind is cool, fresh and we felt like a bird which is flying above a beautiful heaven.

There are lots and lots of giant trees where I couldn’t recollect all the names, such as teak, oak, eucalyptus etc.. with some common forest Bushes which also looked amazingly beautiful. We enjoyed the 1 hr plus journey even though we didn’t took our breakfast, the fresh air kept us very active and fresh.

We got down at Wayanad Bus depot around noon and enquired people over there for accommodation. Luckily we got rooms available in a tourist home just opposite to the Wayanad Bus depot. The rooms are good, neat and clean and we were surprised to see the voucher too, It came closely to 300 per day where 3 can stay in the room. And this is the benefit of being a bachelor, don worry about the accommodation and all..you can make it on your way.

The room is good and we got refreshed and we went to a near by restaurant to have our lunch. Our plan is to plan the places that we can visit in remaining days. Finally we ended up with stomach full and empty minds as no one doesn’t had any clue what to do. We came out and picked up a near by tourist guide / travel’s driver for enquiring the spots near by.

That guy was good as being a localite he understood us and he gave us some tips. He said that there is a island near by and it’s a good place see and spend some time. The other place he said to us is “Patchi paathalam”, and it got quiet a long distance too. Now the plan is to visit the near by island spend the time over there and return back to our tourist home for dinner. Since “Patchi paathalam” got some distance and its not possible to reach back the same day we decided to visit it the next day.

We enquired for a “Tavera” for our transportation with the travels guy who gave us the places, but the negotiation didn’t go well. We hired a Jeep (Mahindra 4x4) for 150 Rs/- and also the way is rough and tough and we liked it bit adventures that way. The Jeep driver was able to speak Tamil and he was so kind too. He also guided us towards planning for the “Patchi paadalam” trip. He also gave his mobile number to us so and asked us to call incase if we have stuck some without transportation.

Anyway, we have started our journey to the island from our Wayanad tourist home in a Mahindra 4x4 Jeep. We were excited towards the journey as its going to be a hill ride. Its not exactly that kind of mountain ride, after a few kilometers of bird watching, some good hairpin bends we entered into plains. WOWWWW!!! What a scene. As far as we can see, its only paddy, full green… not getting any words to describe the beauty. There is a small path in the large, wide open paddy field and our Jeep is going through it. The Road is not good, as I said its very rough and tough only. Few a kilometers later, we entered into forest range. Its neat, calm and chill.





We have reached a plain place where we had some petty shops and a forest ranger check post saying beware of wild animals. The Jeep driver dropped us there and gave his number, asked us to call back to get back to our tourist home. We got some snacks in the petty shops near by and started walking towards the so called island through the check post. With in some minutes walk we reached a forest river which was flowing more with red muddy water due to recent heavy rainfall.
A govt. tourism enhancement boat house was there where we can pay and get tickets to cross the river and reach the island.

We got the tickets and waited for the boat. Its really not a boat, it’s a Raft what they supplied to cross the river. They have tied a long, big rope against the river opposite bank tress. We have to hold the rope and pull our raft towards the other bank. (If you leave the rope..then no hope ..You are with the forest river). We crossed the river and reached the island with the help of rope and raft!!successfully..!!! (For now don’t worry about return). Lol

Actually its not a very big island. The forest river is flowing through different branches which made it as a island. It also has small streams running inside it, where we had small beautiful wooden bridges to cross it. It also had Bamboo houses , small bamboo towers and teak, Oak park setups describing few landmarks with in a forest. With this kind of setups the Island looks amazingly beautiful and very interesting to roam around and spend time. We guys were jumping here and there, running, chasing, having photo sessions here and there.. basically lots of fun.






We walked quite a long distance in the island and reached the other bank of it. We had the same rope and raft setup so that we can cross to the opposite side. The other side seems to be even more beautiful with a large valley one side and paddy fields on plain.








Much relaxed and excited it took more time for us to come out from the place.It was a nice place to spend time. We came back to our tourist home with some memorable moments and pics.

Thanks to the jeep wala who came back for us and picked up from there on a telephone call. And now we have plenty of time to plan for tomorrows trip.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Because..Its me..!

How do I say goodbye to someone I never really had?
Why do my tears fall so endlessly for someone who was never really mine?
Why is it I miss someone I was never really with?
And why do I love someone whose love was never really mine?






Saturday, October 2, 2010

A trip to Wayanad in Gods own country - Phase I - Planning

Guys, I like to share my wonderful experiences with you during the Wayanad trip. This trip was planned in such a time that we guys doesn’t have time even to see each other. Everyone are busy in their work and everyone had some or other issues going on their projects. Above all its appraisal time. Anyways. Go to Hell.. we guys are leaving Chennai... That’s it..But where to go ?

Firstly we wanted to run away from Chennai at least for 2 to 3 days. One of my friend came up with this idea, "Why don you guys go to some nice place that’s totally different from Chennai. A place that is not polluted, not crowded, no more vehicles, noises ,good water, beautiful sceneries’ and especially green”. We were excited with the idea but where is it? Is it possible to plan for such a place in in 3 days trip. Also we have to consider the budget too. After much brainstorming we got this picture. “Wayanad”.

Here I have to say something about Wayanad. “Wayanad” is a district in Kerala (God’s own country). The specialty about this place is almost the district is situated on top of the hills only. Beautiful place. Its has more rainfall and awesome temperature. After hearing this facts and few pictures from sites/blogs made us thrilled. Obviously because we are in Chennai, a place of that kind would be in our dreams always.


The factor is transportation. We found that there is a train from Chennai Egmore to that place. Its Mangalore express which goes via Calicut. Calicut is the nearest place to Wayanad, so we planned such that to reach Calicut via train. Considering other facts on travels such as cost, time and road risks we preferred train. We booked the ticket immediately in that train itself as it’s a busy train and you don’t get the tickets later. Though we couldn’t get the return tickets. We booked our return tickets such that we have to get down and board the next train.

Somehow we have the transport ready now, and what’s the plan? What we going to do once we reach Calicut? Truly speaking.. There is no such plan. Firstly run away from Chennai, reach Calicut then see about the plan. So weired rite? Coz people wont do this normally, that too you are going for a unknown place, long distance, almost 14 hrs of journey and everything with out plan..!!!! Hmmmm..That’s us..That’s the real me.. Trust me..All my wonderful trips doesn’t had any plan.

So the day also finally came, it was a fine Thursday and I took permission from my PM by giving the true reason(usually I never do? Better I say, I never liked to cheat her, Cheated her – Please, some one take her to this page). I reached station and few of my buddies were there already. Something I have to say here, we had 3 guys coming from the same project-team. And their PM also came along with them..!! So anyways we got a company, it will be more fun.

We boarded the train once everyone are in. Before settling in our seats we made almost the whole of platform watch us. We were so much excited and everyone are shouting, teasing each other, pulling the PM ‘s leg always. The excitement was not because of Wayanad or we are leaving Chennai. Its all because we saw each other after long time and everyone there on a working day, especially with no work. Finally when we settled in our seats, goosshhh near to our cabin its some girls university students nativities of Calicut and Mangalore. Are the girls from Kerala really beautiful? No more questions.. we are in a mood to say only “YES”.





Our excitement was doubled because of the angels..!!, and again the only sufferer was my friends PM. We teased, made fun on each other..lots of talks, laughs and it went up to 12,12.30 in the night when we decided to sleep. Finally we slept after getting some good advise from other travelers LOL. The next day morning I woke by 5.00 AM and I saw the senior member of our team (PM) was standing near the door. [No guys..no no.. he is not gonna sucide coz we teased him a lot.. ]. I asked him whats the matter.. “ I think the one before station we crossed was the Calicut, coz I saw something written like Kolikodu..” , WHAT???!!! I screamed.. He said calmly, I think Kolikodu and Calicut are the same.. Now I seriously thought why shouldn’t I really push the guy now..



Hmmm…I waked up all the guys, we got down on the very next station THALASSERY. When we get down in the railway station it was raining, not heavily but enough for us to get drenched completely. One thing I like to share with you people, Kerala is the place where its rain most of the time. So now we are in a Kerala, far away from a railway station we are supposed to get down and completely drenched. We couldn’t get the next train schedule neither we have the ticket. From there we decided to take an auto rickshaw and reach the nearby bus depot.

Despite of the autowala overcharging us we reached the THALASSERY bus depot nearby. We thought that the starting itself not good. Within a minute it become even more worst when my friend came to me and said that he lost his mobile.Ohh..this is not going to be good. We started calling his mobile and luckily he got some balance as we are in roaming now. After few calls we heard a male voice and it’s the autowala. Thank god, he being so generous said that he will hand over the mobile to us by coming back to the bus depot.

But again, some more problem. He got a long trip and he is on it, so we have to wait there and no idea when he will be back and how long will it take also will he come back or we are wasting our time in vain..!!!

As far As I can say now.. “We are in Kerala, far away from a railway station we are supposed to get down, far away from the place we planned to go, completely drenched, lost one of our pals mobile, waiting for a autowala who might or might not come and most importantly we don’t know what we going to do next”!!!

Uffff…!!! Mudiyala… Where the PM first..Yaar..I couldn’t see him nearby..Where is he…!!!???



To Be Continued..!

PS: You guys might be thinking “What is this planning,phase etc etc ..Guys, remember..I am a software engineer..” He he he..

Friday, October 1, 2010

பல நூறு வருடங்கள் வாழ்ந்து விட்டேன் உன் நினைவுகளோடு...

உன்னை நேற்று பார்த்தது போல் உள்ளதடி..
ரசிக்க வைக்கும் குறும்புகளும்
வெகுளிதனமான சிரிப்புகளும்
புத்துணர்சியுட்டும் உன் புன்னகையும்
குறும்பு மின்னும் உன் குரலும்
உன் செல்ல அடிகலும்
மொக்கை கடிகலும்..

உன்னை மட்டுமே நினைக்க வைக்கும் பாடல்களும்
இதயம் வலிக்கும் சில சுகமன ராகங்களும்..
மனதை நெருடும் சில கவிதை வரிகளும்
கவிதையாய் உன் நினைவுகள்..
பசுமையாய் என் மனதில் என்றும்..
உன்னை நேற்று பார்த்தது போல் உள்ளதடி..

பல நூறு வருடங்கள் வாழ்ந்து விட்டேன் உன் நினைவுகளோடு...
என் கடிகாரம் மட்டுமே சொல்கின்றது ஆண்டுகள் சிலவே என்று..
திரும்பி பார்கும் போதுதான் உண்மை உறைக்கின்றது..
நீ என்றுமே என் கவிதை மட்டும் தானென்று..

என் மனதுக்கு தெரியவில்லை உன் நினைவுகளை விட..
என்னால் முடியவில்லை உண்மையை ஏற்க...என்ன செய்ய நான்..
நீ வருவாய் என காத்திருக்க நான் சுய நினைவில்லாமலும் இல்லை..
என் காலங்கள் என்றும் வெறுமையில் கழியுதடி..

பல நூறு வருடங்கள் வாழ்ந்து விட்டேன் உன் நினைவுகளோடு...
இன்னும் சில நூறாண்டுகள் வாழ்வேன் உன் நினைவுகளோடு...