Kodaikanal

One more journey started with playing cards in an A/C Sleeper Bus ....after having quick dinner. Before that every one of us finished work..and we were anxiously looking forward to the journey.
Seemed like Pavya is the one who was eager to go...as he was the first one to arrive at the bus spot nearly 2 hours before the departure…!! ;-)

Me,Avi and Shiv came by an Auto-rikshaw after cursing so many times Bangalore traffic. Shekh,Harsha and Harsha's two more "magical legs"(
thats how Harsha prefer to call..!! ) arrived in another Auto-rikshaw. All are set to fly to Madhurai..!!

I brought Playing cards, Avi brought his amazing i-pod, Pavya brought his digicam (which he has bought from Korea), Harsha brought Magic stics , Shiv with his two heavy bags as though he is going for live onsite project and Shekh with his fast track glasses. Fast track glasses and i-pod had huge competition among us. As the Bus started making an unusual sound we were all settled in random way. Shekh and Harsha started research on Avi's i-pod in a lower berth. Me,Pavya,Shiv and Avi started playing cards in an upper berth. First game we decided to play was "Bluff"...!! ;-) Guess...!! Who won ?? ..me..ofcourse !! You can say "Bluff Master"…!! After that game I felt little uncomfortable in upper berth...and thought, its better to have some good sleep...before exploring Kodaikanal. I slept at another lower berth, where later Avi has joined after few more card-games.

When I was about to sleep, looked at the window glass....it was a dark hazy night..!! Temperature was decreasing slowly in the Bus...I felt little cold...but was not shivering. Sudden rush of random thoughts made me to forget about the cold. I started thinking on upcoming blog of my own (This blog..!!)…. First of all why I mentioned that I won the Bluff game??
Do I seek attention from rest of others..? or Do I blowing my own triumph..?? ..We always have tendency to shout louder when we "win" or "successful" in some things.. but
on the other side we maintain silence like a dumb animal, like a soul-less object when we "lost" or "failed". …..such a paradox….!! Once I read some where ,”To differentiate between diamond and stone, first you have to know which is diamond and which is stone..!!” So as Success and Failure. Keeping feet firmly on the ground how long/higher you go, is most important.

"Tshhhhhhhhh...." sudden noise of the brake woke me up and we reached Madhurai at 07.30 am. We all took our luggage and got down from the Bus at last.

We all went to have quick tea and planned about our next move. It was a chaos...!! ;-) All had different opinion...!!! ....Madhurai -The city of biggest temple I have ever seen ...looked very different city...unknown language, different tradition. My eyes were scattering all over Madurai people…to avoid chaotic discussion.
....But finally we agreed in unison on a plan. Plan was that "we all go to Kodai and stay at night and next day evening at 4 pm we will be returning to Madurai."

Tourist mini-bus to Kodai was ready for us. I was the first person to get in to the Bus...!! My eyes did not take much time to identify a place in a Bus to sit. Guess…where?? ….beside a Italian-tourist girl...!! ;-) Me and Italian girl ( who came to visit India on a vacation) sat in a two seater...!! Rubbing each other ....on a consistent time interval made my journey from Madurai to Kodai a memorable one....!!! Oooops..!! I lost my friends.....where are they....?? ....yup they were also got in to the bus..and occupied some empty seats…(Are they jealous on me sitting with opposite “color” girl..?? Hope they were not…!! ;-) ) Through out the three hours journey, we both (me and Italian gal) lost in the conversation...!! I felt very nice to talk with a
that girl....hope she also felt the same..!!! But, when I asked about her experience in India...answer was shocking, but not surprising....!! She expressed in anger and disbelief that
some Indians tried to cheat her...!! And even some tried to mis-use her....( She did not tell me what and how exactly they did…!! )....I was laughing inside after listening to her. Being an Indian for me it did not look very strange….when I reminded about Mumbai molestation....!!! To divert her mind and to gain respect for India from an outsider, I gave her a “English Literature In India” book to read, which I carried along with me. Her eyes were glittering after reading a poem from that book…!! Purpose served..!!! ;-)

Beautiful nature surrounded Kodai made us to stop our “daily” crisis conversation. Rubbing shoulders detached…No fire arise though…!! ;-) We both started to fill our eyes with deep valleys, Rock Mountains surrounded by huge forest and a cloud cover on top of that…!! We were getting glimpses of how Kodai might be..….when we actually reach there. Mini-bus was going upwards in a dangerous curvy road…as if trying to catch the clouds, if not sky.

Yup…..we finally reached Kodai….as we all got down from the mini-bus, I waived my hand towards Cecilla ( yup…same Italian tourist girl) to say Good Bye..!! Did I say that her eyes were wet..?? …no way…!!! She was sending me off with her beautiful smile…..Adieu..…Cecilla..!!


We all went to a Lodge and booked three rooms (2x3)…and got ready within an hour to finish off seeing some of the “Tourist” spots at Kodai. It was 4pm. We went to Lake which was very near by to our Lodge. Huge crowd gathered at the Lake….some were doing Cycling, some were boating and some were riding the horse….!! We all also wanted to do all these things….so we started with Cycling..(as most of us were not did cycling for long time)..!! Harsha and Me took a two seater cycle with four peddles….and the cycle was very heavy…!! Praveen, Shiv, Avi, Shekh took there favorite one seater cycle…and we had to complete 6kms “curvy circle”. ( Is it correct word
…how can it be a circle..if it is curvy..??? or how can it be a curvy if it is circle…?? Some time word Circle is used if “starting” and “end” points are same during the travel…!! )

We finished 6kms cycling after few stops in between…for snaps and for Masala tea...!! Masala tea was very nice ….so as the typical Kodai “old” man who prepared the tea, ( He was wearing Monkey” woolen cap,woolen sweater) I requested him to pose for a snap with all of us…!! He gracefully accepted and here we go…..”Click”….!!! That was one of my favorite snap during this trip.

And then we did boating…and then horse riding….!! First time heart came in my mouth…by seeing Harsha doing Horse riding…( as Harsha fractured his leg and still a rod inside his leg…!! ).
Thankfully he did it successfully. ;-) Then we went to Coco-Rocks…to look at “Telescopic” view of Kodai…for that we needed to climb around 100 meters up. We are all worried about Harsha…but brave guy…he managed. We were all enjoying…taking snaps and enjoying the beauty of Nature.
Shekh gave an unusual idea for taking snaps while we were on air while jumping….!! Me,Shiv,Avi, Praveen all were giving jumping pose to the camera….!! And really it was a nice fun….and improved our quality of taking “motion” pictures…!! Praveen was the best amongst all of us..!! …When Harsha also tried to jump….we all did not control our anger…and scolded him like anything asking him to take care about his legs…so that he can jump more in future…!! Harsha felt little sad (so did we)….and next 15-20 mins he lost in his own world….!!!

After all these sight seeing..we gathered at our hotel room and planned for wild night party. We decided to bring dinner to our hotel room, so that we can chat in privacy without disturbing others.
(As I speak very louder…..!! ;-) ) While having dinner Shekh again initiated hot topic for discussion …where each one of us had to share his honest opinions on others. As night is becoming is darker and darker…our discussion heated up. Contradicting some one’s opinion, and
applauding the unanimous opinion…and justifying some ones thoughts…as each one was right in his own point of view…!! But it was a very meaningful and interesting discussion ,we as a group ever had…..till that point. At the end….”Intellectually Introspect” was a buzzword which stood apart….!!! ;-)


We went to our respective room to have a warm sleep in chilled Kodai climate. Avi slept beside me…and within few moments he went to deep sleep…!! I knew he was tired….!! So were we.
But….I can not sleep very early even after exhausting energy…(Insomniac you know..!!;-)) I started “intellectually Introspect” ing again from the healthy discussion we had few hours ago. Did I say anything wrong to any one..?? or did I shout too much..?? or did I bore others…?? Or was I too funny…??.... Before coming to anything “concrete” , goddess of sleep embraced me with her both hands…!! I went in dead state ….!!

Next day we booked a Car to visit all remaining places in Kodai…and all were again assembled at one room at around 9am. We had a quick break-fast and jumped into Car…!! All were spectacularly dressed for the upcoming “snaps”…!! We visited some places..(I am not able to recollect names of each spots..!! excuse me..!! L) that includes one small water falls in a huge Forest, Pine–forest ( amazing Pine trees which are very tall…nearly touching the sky…and straight like an arrow.),Huge lake ( very romantic…we must have opposite sex to enjoy there .Mostly couple’s place) in between the high mountains, Suicide Point…now they call as Green valley point..but I still feel later one was best description of that spot. Very scary…and if we looked down from that view our heart beats could stop…!! In such a cliff-hanger to maintain “broken” leg Harsha was a difficult part…..But this time we did not scold him..but were looking after him each moment…!! He was enjoying fearlessly.

Guyz…did I miss any spots….?? Later we went to a shop where all except me bought Kodai’s home made Chocolates…but I saved those money and bought Masala tea powder for my parents..!!

Packed our luggage and left from our Hotel rooms at around 4.30pm and again the same mini-bus to Madhurai was waiting for us….this time also I jumped first in to the bus..but “NO LUCK”….No Italian girl…!! L Sat beside a bus-driver. As Bus was departing from Kodai .. I was feeling sad and was looking at the window to see final glimpses of beautiful nature….!! Nature at its best….!!

As Bus came to the earth from heaven ...I felt like sleepy..or shall I deliberately making myself to sleep, to have a quick flash-back about Kodai’s nature…I do not know..!!! But, when I closed my eyes ...all frames from Italian Girl to Suicide point were passing like a motion picture.


Note:
1.Later next day after my friend’s marriage we went to Huge Madurai-Meenaxi temple…nothing more to describe from there, as I felt like “Lost in the crowd”.

2.Kodai- is a short form for Kodaikanal