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!

independence day

A great country(sadly , not a proud one though!).Has had one of the most ancient civilizations ever. Great and rich culture ,it is infact the only ancient culture to have still survived.Has a rich and colourful history dating back to MORE than 5000 years.The land of the vedas,puranas,RAMAYANA,MAHABHARATA, BHAGVAD GITA etc etc. phew!!

Whenever down, be it in the form of foreign invasion or religious conversion, it only came back harder and stronger.

Such an incredible country like ours was ruled by the english/british for a mere 150 years.
I personally feel we are giving these english b@#$#%ds just too much credit by celebrating 15 th August as Independence day every year.50 th anniversary celebrations was fine, 60th too which is coming up shortly,celebrate it.. fine. But for how long will we keep glorifying the fact that these english m#%^^^$^&&s made us their slaves for 150 years??

Call it INDIA day or say FREEDOM FIGHTER'S day(they should get the credit which they truly deserve), but i feel its high time we moved on as a nation and start using the money spent on the lavish celebrations and security arragements on something useful for the betterment of this country and its people.

A newly carved out nation like pakistan or a country like US of A celebrating independence day is fine, because they have no other history or PAST to speak of!! But you will agee with me that OUR COUNTRY IS MUCH BEYOND these trivial anniversaries and celebrations!

Naan- Veg Curry!!

According to me the ONLY difference between cannibalism and non-vegetarianism IS IN THEIR SPELLING.

I am not trying to justify or un-justify anything(who am i to do that!!) All i can say from a veggie's perspective is BOTH ARE ONE AND THE SAME. You Kill , You Eat!!!!

"JET"aayu

If the mention of Pushpakavimana - the private luxury aircraft of lanka king Ravana in our ancient epic Ramayana was not enough(our modern day aeroplane was invented by the wright brothers barely a 100 yrs ago!! Geee!! pre-historic man knew a lot, didnt he!!) ,have you ever observed the rather mysterious presence of the word/sound JET in JATAYU- the supposed friendly eagle.

Was JATAYU just an eagle - figment of imagination mythological character or a manned aircraft that had the capability to counter ravana's pushpakavimana??

Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi:

I personally feel kunti's role in the epic Mahabharata has been underplayed.She has not been given the due credit which she truly deserves.People always remember and talk about Draupadi as being the most progressive and futuristic woman of Mahabharatha, who at that day n age had the guts to have as many as 5 partners.Agreed, but people fail to notice the fact that her mom-in-law too had 5 partners (Surya,Dharma,Indra,Vayu and Pandu ofcourse). And also remember it was kunti who gave permission to her 5 sons to divide the prize(Draupadi) they had won from the contest(Draupadi Swayamvara) equally. Was she completely unaware when she said that to her sons(as it is made out to be) OR was it all DELIBERATE??There is every reason for her to do that, as for one she BELIEVED her sons were sons of GODS themselves(that must have made her over-possessive about her sons.)I have a feeling , she must have seen the jealous looks on the faces of her sons from behind doors and must have thought "IF I COULD then WHY NOT MY BAHU!!!!"....so guys i think, it was then that the legend of Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi was born!!