Coorg - Day 2 Part 1

Okk this post was a-long-time-overdue.. So without further ado here it goes.. Coorg trip contd'

28th March '09

Now as I'd already mentioned we reached Civet Creek in the wee morning on 28th and all we did after that was crash on our cozy beds.. although P was extremely excited and wanted to wait and watch the sunrise amidst the lush greenery which.. umm.. could never haapen.. :D









Our cozy tents in the shacks were awaiting us.. :)














This is what P captured while the rest enjoyed their sleep..


We woke up only at 9 and got ready in a jiffy.. for we were supposed to go on a trek. It was one of the greater highlights of our trip. Shabari made sure all of us had a healthy breakfast before we left. She also send long a guide (muaahh!!) who would not only direct us, but was also capable enough to negotiate in case somebody sued us with charges of trespassing into their coffee estates growing wild. He knew how to swim, mountaineer, treat snake-bites and do first-aid in case we were "attacked" by "leaches" or "spider". Yes..!! That was the most dreadful calamity that could strike us according to A !! Leave apart the fact that we were trekking into an unknown forest and we easily could sprain/break a bone-or-two by tripping over rocks, get bitten by poisonous snakes or in the worst case "get eaten up by a tiger that came to the river to quench its thirst" according to BPS.. Imaginations.. Sheesh !!
P.S. #1 : A and Dee did land up getting bitten by leaches and A howled so loud we thought it did wake up the blood-thirsty tiger..!!! :D


"we" march on..


















This random kid we met on the trek just wanted us to click him.. I guess A spreads the pose-y virus wherever she goes.. :D












Dash poses too (with the waterfall on the Kaveri river we trekked upto in the background)








"we" + our Guide +our driver Manju



After trekking-jumping-walking-climbing-monkeying for some 3-4 hours we eventually returned back to Civet Creek at around 3 in the evening and had some amazing Coorgi delicacies for lunch. Shabari and her parents were such sweethearts, for they knew precisely well what our tastes and desires were. Tired and hungered by the trek.. "we" hogged like pigs and rested for a-while.




Next, we were supposed to go to Talakaveri - the origin of the mighty river Kaveri which is as sacred in southern India as the Ganga is in the north (so-much-so that in the morning trek somebody had enthusiastically declared - "one dip in the sacred river and all of us would have washed-off all our sins committed in south India" Geez..!!). Anyways the ride to Talakaveri was long-yet-breathtakingly beautiful.












We took some lovely pictures on the way..










I had never seen the origin of any river before, although I remember having studied in school that rivers begin in streams and tributaries which merge to form the parent river, but we were sure in for a big shock. When we entered the temple complex we saw a wishing well..err..a tank.



We had just 1 coin and the 7 of us wanted to make wishes.. :( i guess our wishes got divide 1/7th for each.. :(


After the customary visits-cum-prayers at the numerous temples we headed on to where the actual origin was, or what we knew back then the origin was. There was a staircase with some zillion stairs (trust me, it ain't an exaggeration.. I climbed them all) leading to.. umm.. nowhere..!! Yup.. we couldn't even figure out the upper limit.. it was all covered up in clouds..!!








Ya, we had to climb up all to the top to see how river Kaveri originates and One cheekily commented that in case we die while climbing up it would take us less time in reaching heaven. Sheesh :/




So we started climbing.. and climbed.. and climbed.. and climbed.. everyone around us was also climbing to nowhere.. but still climbing and climbing.. and climbing some more.. we paused to gasp for some breadth and then again climbed.. and more.. and I kept dreaming of all the escalators in all the malls.. :( .. and it made my climb more difficult and sad.. we panted.. drank water.. posed for pictures.. and climbed again.. but all the way up there was no sign of any river..??!! "The origin thing better be worth it" Dee scowled.. and what did we see when we reached the end of the 4000mts ascend..??!!??





Ohh Mann!! a water-hole!! thats it!!... Whhaattt??!!

We still pose.. only pairs of our feet showing huddled around the "Origin".. Geez..!!





Somebody suggested that may-be-there-may-be (ya so many maybe's) there was an underground trench running from that point all along the depth of the mountain to meet the actual river..!!
S wondered (aloud..!?! and thankfully in English coz the local crowd there seemed very detached to the language) what-on-earth-would-happen if we threw lots of pebbles and stones in the water hole to close it.. (Sheesh :/) talk of imagination running wild.. "It would certainly solve all the Kaveri water issues", pat came someone's reply (Double Sheesh :/)
















Guess what we saw on the descend..


We got back to Civet Creek again tired and miserable.. and hogged again to glory. Only this time it wasn't Coorgi food.. It was something we managed to cook-undercook-overcook-burn... :|


you'll hafta wait for it till my next post.. and i promise i'll make it quicker this time..

P.S. #2 : One DID-NOT bribe Dee into making all the compliments she made in this post. "we" do know what compliments m talking of.. right guys.. :D

- Dee

Coorg - Day 1 Part 1

The best decisions of my life have always been the ones that i've made without thinking too much. Which is why when one fatefully-boring-weekday-at-office i jumped the gun and SMSed a couple of friends that we desperately need to make a weekend trip. P jumped at the chance and i shot mails in all directions.

Before anybody could realize P had made all the bookings and arrangements, where-to-stay, how to get there.. bla bla. She even managed to strike a friendship with Shabari the most hospitable-storyTelling-sweetest host ever, while A managed to ransack every retail-cum-provision store in the neighborhood so that we had potato chips-coke for breakfast, chips-wafers-pepsi for lunch and again kurkure-coke for dinner for the full 2 days. *Sheesh* Jokes apart we had amazing coorgi delicacies thanks to our hostess.. but more on that later.

Everything happened very suddenly, and before we knew "we" ( Dee, P, A, BPS, One, S, Dash) along with our bag packs were aboard on the "traveller" we had booked at around 1030 in the night on the 27th March '09.

"we" ...


S and One enjoyed the bumpy-seat-ride throughout the trip..

Singing-sleeping-playing into the night we reached Madikeri - the capital of Coorg ( don't ask me the details, even i thought only countries and states have capitals and Coorg as far as i knew was only a small town). It was only 3.30 in the morning and our driver Manju (again don't ask) started craving for tea. So Manju, BPS, Dash, One, S and Dee got off the traveller in search of tea and accompaniment (now you-kno-what-it-is). Not only was it dark and freezing cold but the people there seemed to be practicing for F1 at an unearthly hour.. I almost got run over by a freekingly-speedy car while posing for a pic.

Another instance where BPS was almost gonna get run-over by a bus.. One is startled to death.. while S and Dee are happy enough at the prospect of being clicked at 3.30AM..!!

We reached our campsite by around 5 in the morning after a little trek in the dark coz the traveller could not be taken there. One look and all of us fell in love with the place instantaneously, even though it was pitch dark and we could hardly make out what we were gaping at..


I guess there was something in the spirit of the place that attracted us like a magnet..



















Another one at Civet Creek..


our shacks looked soo welcoming..


Tired of travel, as Shabari rightfully knew we were, she had already pitched out our tents. All we did was thank her and straightaway crashed on our cozy beds and dozed off to sleep at 6 in the morning..












theres more of Coorg to come in the future posts. so you keep reading..
-Dee

Home-Comming

There has been a-lot of "happening's" in the last few days, loads of events to account for, but it would only be justice if i delve back a little into the past to narrate the background before i start talking about the trip i just returned from..

After about almost a year in Bangalore my roomie-cum-gang-buddy A, another gang-buddy P and i(Dee) decided or rather felt the urgent need of moving out of a single room in the pg into a flat of our own for there were so many reasons behind. A couldn't invite home certain special friends.. we couldn't throw parties on-n-off and landed-up paying huge amounts at eateries each time we wanted to catch-up with friends. We (A, P, Dee, One, Nandu) also ended getting molested by the Karnataka Police for the mere offense of trying to cut my Bday cake on the road outside our pg at midnight .. So on the auspicious occasion of the Republic Day of India '09, we decided to go Independent (mere coincidence) and got our own house (okk, a rented one). Since that day there's never been any holiday we've spend sans parties.. Holi.. random lunch.. friend-catch-up.. So although our monthly budgets have sky-rocketed (I dunno how, but it makes me happy.. Seesh :/ ) we've made some zillion friends ever-since in Bangalore. It work's this way : A's school-buddy becomes Dee and P's cool-buddy. Dee's friend becomes P's and P's friends'-friend and so on and on.. Maybe this is how the six-degrees-of-separation found its origin.

So one fateful week-day at office P and Dee realize that they were getting very bored with the rut-life and needed some change in environment. So coupled up with P's school-buddy S and Dee's college-cum-ofc-colleague BPS they come up with a cool plan of a trek-view-raft-fun-trip over the weekend to Coorg (although the raft part had to be given-up coz looking at things pragmatically March end => no rain => no water in Kaveri => no rafting). However this was too petty a thing to deter our spirits and we headed on with our "Coorg-28-29" trip and shot off chain mails amongst 9-10 friends. Every mail saw some 40-45+ replies and finally "we" a group of 7 budged-on with the plan that turned out to be a legen-waitForIt-dary trip. :)

I'll carry on with the trip in the future posts.. so you keep reading..
-Dee

4.30PM..everyday..

the sun shines through the corner office and hits me in the eye.

I enjoy seeing its gold orange glow reflected off the modern steel and glass structure opposite the window, and I imagine briefly, that I am sunning myself on some tropical island..

And I wish I could exchange the tweed umbrella in my bag for a tiny coloured paper one in my drink.