Monday, May 28, 2007

Being ONE with nature - A TRIP TO WAYANAD



Last week me had been to a trip to wayanad along with my close friends (office colleagues and college friends. )
This was my first ever visit to the God's own country.The best thing about this place (whose name
i had not even heard off 1 week before the trip) is that, this place is by and large STILL a
VIRGIN territory unlike most other tourist hill stations i have been to. This place has about 5-6 water
falls, one lake at the top of a mountain, caves with pre-historic rock carvings(edakallu caves : world heritage
center).But visits to all these places came at a premium.For instance, A photograph of mine
with the water fall(meenmutty falls: see pic) as backdrop required a 2 hour trek down hill, phew! The visit to the heart shaped lake on
top of a mountain(chempra peak) required a 3 hour trek up hill, phew!! The phrase "light at the end of the
tunnel" never made so much sense!!
.Now let me come to MY best moment of the trip. The visit to the meenmutty
falls required us trek 5 kms downhill in the dense forest. If that was not scary for a 1st
time trekker like me, i began to realize mid-way through the trek that my 2 yr old adidas shoes
was not up for the challenge at all!! The trek path was extremely slippery(coz of the constant rains this place
recieves) and my shoe sole resembled more of a brand new FLAT bangalore-mysore highway than a regular
bangalore road! I had no grip whatsoever on that slippery surface and i resembled more
of a skater more than a trekker! I had to soon take a call, go ahead and continue skating on that steep surface hoping
i come back alive(haha! a bit of exaggeration helps!!) or stop wherever i was(had completed abt 70 percent of the trek) and wait till my friends
returned back after their photo session at meen-mutty falls! I had no option but to opt for the latter and decided to
stay wherever i was in that dense jungle till my friends returned back. My friends soon left me behind and proceeded further for the photo session
not before coming out with all possible equivalent words for the word "chicken"[not meant for all audiences! :))]!!
Now i was left all alone with not a single soul around ONE WITH NATURE. Time had come to a standstill. Every minute passed like
an hour with only sounds from beetle and cricket giving me company. It was by far the most
undescribable and THE lenghthiest 40 minutes i have ever spent in my life. The entire experience was over-whelming. Looking at the imposing and intimidating surroundings around me I began to realize how insignificant and
meaningless I was !!! With the fear of some wild
reptile or some wild animal attackin me from behind at the back of my mind I did not move an inch and sat in the same position. .I also found to my horror that my favourite hutch puppy was scared of these wild creatures as well, THERE WAS NO hutch NETWORK!!!!!
There was NO WAY in this world could i have reached anybody if i needed help! To make matters worse i found to my discomfort that my urinary bladder was full!! THE NATURE WAS CALLING!!!!!!!!
Soon all my friends returned back from the photo session at the falls.I was RELIEVED :P!!The
next two days of the trip passed off smoothly, luckily the trekking path elsewhere were dry and kind to my slippery shoe sole. All is well that ends well!



To summarize my ENTIRE trip,


Cost of taking a day off from my office for the trip: 1 Earned Leave


Lodde's auto fare to my place from his : 400 INR!!!! (hahaha cheap shot!)


Entire Travel expenses to wayanad from bangalore : Abt 1000 INR


Entry ticket to edakal caves : 50 INR


Entry fee to trek on top of chembra peak(has a heart shaped lake on top of the mountain!) : 300 INR


BUT BEING ONE WITH NATURE FOR FORTY MINUTES AND MANAGING TO DO "ONE" WITH NATURE!! ;)) : PRICELESS!!!!!!!!!!!!

PS: I am not there in the uploaded pic for obvious reasons!

1 comment:

Anon said...

*LCFWS* KB...
What a trip that was!