Ganesh - Ramya: Reception
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Friday, October 17, 2008
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Kodaikanal + Elixirs
Kodaikanal : We all knew that a trip was badly needed, and it conceptualized on a friday evening get together.Ooty was the initial suggestion but things hazed out while we were watching the Rajasthan Royal VS Delhi daredevils in ascendas giant screen. Things did not take off, untill when rajarajan took up matters. The treat that was supposed to be went off as a planned get together rather. The trip: It is a noteworthy moment to write about how each of us caught up the train in the first place and the run-up to it. The train start time was said as 10:20 in the evening, and nobody even cared to pack for the trip with that luxury of time. Then it was sheepishly said as 8:20, game-on. Santhosh decided to call off for the day, while I went of with the daily chores. No rush and it was 6, so nonchalantly I walked off from office and reached home after shopping around at 7:30. People kept calling me and I kept giving bogus reports, when it was 7:50 - I realised it is going to be a rush to the train. I came to beach station around 8-05 and had a train taking off - with a long ticket queue, I skipped the tricket queue and took the train but it never really started till it was 8:08. I got at Egmore in 7 mins that made the clock to hold its hands at 8:17. I made a call and rushed to the train. phew, it really was an adventure to begin with.
Everybody else were cozying themselves up at the wagon. There was this huge gang of boarding- high-schoolers. We just could not take our eyes off. The conversation kept rolling, was a great evening. We had a quick dinner with whatever we rationed. Seshathiri joined us at Tambaram and the stories kept rolling from the vault. Atleast myself and a couple of guys had some sleep of say 4 hrs. Woke up around 6:30 - 7 torealise the train is running late and will be about 1 hrs late in reaching the staion. Ours is a set that you could associate with a college gang, for all of us had similar humble roots. Meanwhile one of the highschool gang pairs managed to get down and play some ball game while the train was stationed. The wretched kids got some stick from the TTR .
It was the dawn of the dragon warrior, no - no our very own rajarajan aka stalin got to his hometown of dindigul. In a few snaps and jokes time took us to kodai road. This is the starting point of BSB backseat boys debate. No hassles till we reached the foothills, but within a 5 km ascent up the hill - it was half boils all over. It was racing at its very best between our vehicle and a goverment bus. We crossed the bus several times but we were unable to match the consistency of the bus. With great bit of resilience we arrived Silver falls and in a few moments we reached main Kodai.
We stationed ourselves at the guest house behind coaker's walk. Tiredness/eagerness was taking turns like switching channels between a melodious song and a live t20 match. The entire crew was hungry,and we knew there could hardly be a nap. Had a good shower in the cold water. The other guys were very reluctant to accept that I just had a cold shower. Got to a hotel and began the proceedings with a breakfast, as planned and as it panned out: the agenda was to see main Kodai in the first day. Coaker's walk , Park, Boating and what else?. We had just enough time to see things without any rush or boredom either. It was around 5,pretty tired and dusted - we got into their hard fought seats. Along the way we crossed through some interesting places. We went through a passage of a small stream with huge tree covers - had lots of clicks. I personally was not able to take my eyes of the plastics and waste thats been put up all over the place. It was pretty late when we reached poompaarai and God! weren't we hungry. A special thanks to the rangers there for the quick meal (chappathi and chicken curry)- which was DELICIOUS, pity sesha that he is a vegetarian. We finished the meal with a twinkle in the eyes and were glad to call it a day. In the night though rajarajan managed to get himself a night safari.
We had to get early the next morning to have ourselves a trek.Yeah!.. trek. Not that long a trek, but it really took a toll on us, as the path was steep upwards. Phew, finally we managed to get to this huge tank had a few interesting photo shoots and the descent was nothing comparatively. Next stop was mannavanur dam. wow! what a view it was?. Serenity was finally discovered and had a few blissful moments. Had a long walk across the lake's periphery to a puddle of shrubs which looked like a green hillock to suit its enchanting beauty. When we got back to poompaarai, we were teased with the fact that lunch got over in the nearby eatery. We rumbled ourselved to the village in search of something to eat, but it was around 3 and there was nothing much we could get. We bought ourselves lots of snacks some curd and thought of steaming some rice, when we get back to the guest house. Got to go, oops, was the call. It was late already and we had to quick start and go to Berijam. Supposedly you need lots of papers to pass take this route and goto Berijam.
We stopped at a nearby village enroute, found a real good eatery and it was just like home food, atleast for me. Back on road, we soon reached Berijam. It was about 5 in the evening and we were greeted to a near empty village. Just the kind of setting that we urban dwellers would love to be in, but the flipsyde being no electricity and the sort of creepy feeling owing to the emptiness of the village. Giving you a feeling as though the hills have eyes. Doesn't matter we had lots for company and there we were playing cricket with a wooden pole. it ended with some sledge on prakash, resulting him to hit straight to the bushes. We had nothing to do but to take a walk around the village. The entire area was quite exotic. The mood soon started to become romantic with a camp fire being raised, we had an interesting chat with Stalin's father, straight talk over how things politically are in the government sector.
The camp fire was poetic, the more so because it was a real camp fire - not something done for namesake. We burnt lots of wood and the flames were dancing in the chilly wind. The light was dying but carried a tinge of photogenic blue and it painted a silhouette around the trees.Not much sporty bunch we were, else there would have been an anthakshari or something I am sure. We soon retired to our pretty dark rooms. The local workers prepared another feast for us, this time the cooking was real neat and was wholesome. We just laid back and enjoyed the evening. For one day I am sure the lack of TV, internet and urban coziness was forgot and we were just happy about it. Every now and then during the entire trip people flipped open their mobiles to some interesting songs. We had to have a good sleep, coz the next day there was a
real long trek to be taken.
This is the mother of all treks that I have endeavored. To begin with it was 1. 8-10 kms trek from start point to end point. 2. A real wild trek, there were not many before you or after you either, we had no clue of what lies ahead. The ascent took about two hours to go there. It was like an african safari sans animals. We had to cross passages of water, prairies, steep boulders, dense foliage.. The main problem was the chilly feeling that the small leaches managed to evoke, can't bear that feeling of something lurking over your body. we had various pitstops and finally we got to this huge dam ,"ahhh! yes, atlast". We returned back had break fast and got back to main Kodai. We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping fruits, herbals, chocolates and the regulars. We managed to see some feminine green that made our testosterone tickle our brains,
while we were having some lunch. Yeah, happens every other day, wherever be it. The entire trip ended with a final trip to rajarajan's father's city residence, we managed to have a closer look at some heavy artillery.
Had a light chat, the best thing and bad thing was that we almost had too much time for everything. So finally the day ended with we signing off from Kodaikanal and the night reached with we arriving at pazhani. Did our dinner, had a few laughs and then it was finito - arrival at Tambaram, chennai. Hey, I almost forgot its time for me to start to office, catch you in my next blog.
Everybody else were cozying themselves up at the wagon. There was this huge gang of boarding- high-schoolers. We just could not take our eyes off. The conversation kept rolling, was a great evening. We had a quick dinner with whatever we rationed. Seshathiri joined us at Tambaram and the stories kept rolling from the vault. Atleast myself and a couple of guys had some sleep of say 4 hrs. Woke up around 6:30 - 7 torealise the train is running late and will be about 1 hrs late in reaching the staion. Ours is a set that you could associate with a college gang, for all of us had similar humble roots. Meanwhile one of the highschool gang pairs managed to get down and play some ball game while the train was stationed. The wretched kids got some stick from the TTR .
It was the dawn of the dragon warrior, no - no our very own rajarajan aka stalin got to his hometown of dindigul. In a few snaps and jokes time took us to kodai road. This is the starting point of BSB backseat boys debate. No hassles till we reached the foothills, but within a 5 km ascent up the hill - it was half boils all over. It was racing at its very best between our vehicle and a goverment bus. We crossed the bus several times but we were unable to match the consistency of the bus. With great bit of resilience we arrived Silver falls and in a few moments we reached main Kodai.
We stationed ourselves at the guest house behind coaker's walk. Tiredness/eagerness was taking turns like switching channels between a melodious song and a live t20 match. The entire crew was hungry,and we knew there could hardly be a nap. Had a good shower in the cold water. The other guys were very reluctant to accept that I just had a cold shower. Got to a hotel and began the proceedings with a breakfast, as planned and as it panned out: the agenda was to see main Kodai in the first day. Coaker's walk , Park, Boating and what else?. We had just enough time to see things without any rush or boredom either. It was around 5,pretty tired and dusted - we got into their hard fought seats. Along the way we crossed through some interesting places. We went through a passage of a small stream with huge tree covers - had lots of clicks. I personally was not able to take my eyes of the plastics and waste thats been put up all over the place. It was pretty late when we reached poompaarai and God! weren't we hungry. A special thanks to the rangers there for the quick meal (chappathi and chicken curry)- which was DELICIOUS, pity sesha that he is a vegetarian. We finished the meal with a twinkle in the eyes and were glad to call it a day. In the night though rajarajan managed to get himself a night safari.
We had to get early the next morning to have ourselves a trek.Yeah!.. trek. Not that long a trek, but it really took a toll on us, as the path was steep upwards. Phew, finally we managed to get to this huge tank had a few interesting photo shoots and the descent was nothing comparatively. Next stop was mannavanur dam. wow! what a view it was?. Serenity was finally discovered and had a few blissful moments. Had a long walk across the lake's periphery to a puddle of shrubs which looked like a green hillock to suit its enchanting beauty. When we got back to poompaarai, we were teased with the fact that lunch got over in the nearby eatery. We rumbled ourselved to the village in search of something to eat, but it was around 3 and there was nothing much we could get. We bought ourselves lots of snacks some curd and thought of steaming some rice, when we get back to the guest house. Got to go, oops, was the call. It was late already and we had to quick start and go to Berijam. Supposedly you need lots of papers to pass take this route and goto Berijam.
We stopped at a nearby village enroute, found a real good eatery and it was just like home food, atleast for me. Back on road, we soon reached Berijam. It was about 5 in the evening and we were greeted to a near empty village. Just the kind of setting that we urban dwellers would love to be in, but the flipsyde being no electricity and the sort of creepy feeling owing to the emptiness of the village. Giving you a feeling as though the hills have eyes. Doesn't matter we had lots for company and there we were playing cricket with a wooden pole. it ended with some sledge on prakash, resulting him to hit straight to the bushes. We had nothing to do but to take a walk around the village. The entire area was quite exotic. The mood soon started to become romantic with a camp fire being raised, we had an interesting chat with Stalin's father, straight talk over how things politically are in the government sector.
The camp fire was poetic, the more so because it was a real camp fire - not something done for namesake. We burnt lots of wood and the flames were dancing in the chilly wind. The light was dying but carried a tinge of photogenic blue and it painted a silhouette around the trees.Not much sporty bunch we were, else there would have been an anthakshari or something I am sure. We soon retired to our pretty dark rooms. The local workers prepared another feast for us, this time the cooking was real neat and was wholesome. We just laid back and enjoyed the evening. For one day I am sure the lack of TV, internet and urban coziness was forgot and we were just happy about it. Every now and then during the entire trip people flipped open their mobiles to some interesting songs. We had to have a good sleep, coz the next day there was a
real long trek to be taken.
This is the mother of all treks that I have endeavored. To begin with it was 1. 8-10 kms trek from start point to end point. 2. A real wild trek, there were not many before you or after you either, we had no clue of what lies ahead. The ascent took about two hours to go there. It was like an african safari sans animals. We had to cross passages of water, prairies, steep boulders, dense foliage.. The main problem was the chilly feeling that the small leaches managed to evoke, can't bear that feeling of something lurking over your body. we had various pitstops and finally we got to this huge dam ,"ahhh! yes, atlast". We returned back had break fast and got back to main Kodai. We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping fruits, herbals, chocolates and the regulars. We managed to see some feminine green that made our testosterone tickle our brains,
while we were having some lunch. Yeah, happens every other day, wherever be it. The entire trip ended with a final trip to rajarajan's father's city residence, we managed to have a closer look at some heavy artillery.
Had a light chat, the best thing and bad thing was that we almost had too much time for everything. So finally the day ended with we signing off from Kodaikanal and the night reached with we arriving at pazhani. Did our dinner, had a few laughs and then it was finito - arrival at Tambaram, chennai. Hey, I almost forgot its time for me to start to office, catch you in my next blog.
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