Rishikesh & Hathipaon

 

My recent trip had been to Rishikesh and Musouriee in Uttarakand (Uttaranchal – depending on which faction you belong too!). I went with my team mates and had a blast of time. This blog is about my experience!

Day1:

Our team assembled in Noida and we used four buses as transport. It took almost 8 hours for us to reach rishikesh. The section in which we were to do rafting had a rating of 3/6 in toughness scale – for first timer it was exciting! I wanted to keep my stomach light, so had couple of bananas and some chai – man for that weather, the chai was GREAT! (I prefer coffee over chai but here the chai was superb). I guess the weather should have been around 22′c – which is cool!

 

The guide told us that we have to go further up the mountain to do the rafting and it was 30mt drive. There we go again on a slow but marvelous drive; it was just like doing a River Trail. All the way up we saw Ganga following down stream towards Haridwar. All along the trail, one could see myriad temples and houses. Man – one should see that place to absorb the beauty! We had another excitement in waiting for us – there had been a landslide and I had the opportunity to see how the clearing happens! BRO people were very quick in clearing road and the traffic was back to near normal. After this minor trouble; slowly, we reached the camp point and we were asked to take rafting gear!

We could hear the roar of Ganga flowing near by; the whole team was excited to get into the action! We had roughly 8 rafts for us and each raft had 8 people on it. After the safety and operational instruction from our guide, we jumped into action! I took position in the front and people that’s the best place to be in – especially in rapids! Pure adrenaline rush! There were brief plains and we were allowed to jump into Ganga – do I need another invitation! I just jumped from the raft into the river - praying that life jacket works! – the water was cold and the experience was awesome! PEOPLE, I WAS OUT THERE IN THE MIDDLE OF GANGES SWIMMING!!! Thank god, I got into the raft on time, we were approaching a rapid – oooshhh!!!

 

The rafting went on for 1.30 to 2 hrs. We came back to hotel – all dead tired but full of excitement – and lunch was ready for us. I devoured the food and took siesta!

 

We started to musouriee in the afternoon and reached in the evening!

 

Day2:

 

We reached musouriee and from there we had go further up (around 14km) to a place called Hathipaon. We had omnis waiting for us and we went to the camp place. This is my first experience with a nature camp – no creature comforts!!! More than any inconvenience, the beauty and joy of being in sync with nature was the best part.

 

We spent couple of nights in Hathipaon and the time was fabulous. During the day – we would go for trek, rappelling and rock climbing. During a short trek, I happened to see the observatory used by Mr George Everest (the person who measure the heights of almost all the peaks in Himalayas). Valley after Valley..and complete silence!!! Around of 10 our team had decided that they wanted to stay away from leeches and play cricket all day long (yes, they did play cricket all day long)…the leeches scared the heck out off them!!!

 

The second night was more eventful than the first one, we had plenty of people singing old soft English rock and some Hindi songs. The going was good and all on a sudden the rain started pouring – it was a literal down pour! I had never been so close to a cloud like this before! It was 4.30am and I woke up with a jolt, jeez the booming sound of thunder over my tent, damn loud it was. I wanted to see how heavy the rain was, since it was pitch black, I could only feel it!

Day 3: We started early in the morning and reached Noida around 430pm. It was very long drive but once again it was a memorable one, ‘coz of dum-charades! It was pure fun!!!

 

Day 4 and 5 – Meeting!!! Boss back to job again!!!

Mangalore & Bangalore Trip

  

As I told earlier the gang grew by a member –
Aswath. The time was Jan 2006 and the period had become more hectic than ever! Like Ghajini Mohamad, we had attacked CAT / GMAT and had miserable results. We were really tired of writing exams after exams with no positive result! We felt our minds needs to be refreshed for fresh round of attack, so planned
Goa – Kannan was after this
Goa idea like hound-dog! Later we settled for Munnar, Kerala – here my beloved friend Bala played his role and we could not make it. So we settled for another alternative Mangalore & Bangalore!  

We reached
Bangalore early in the morning by 430hrs. The travel from Chennai was really pleasant because of the KSRTC’s Volvo – awesome hospitality! Bala was the organizer of hotels & transport in
Bangalore. A horrible surprise was awaiting us; we alighted from the bus & called Bala – bloody hell he was happily sleeping & didn’t pick up the call. Cursing him we got into a hotel opposite to Majestic terminus. Because of my ability to sleep anywhere comfortable, I did not feel like sleeping in the hotel. The other two slept like a log of wood!

 

I wanted to visit my sister’s family in Rajaji Nagar and get back to hotel for
Bangalore tour with the guys! I got ready and left the hotel by 530hrs. Though the area was popular it was a maze of concrete. Auto driver & I found it difficult to find the place – after 6 years I was going to
Bangalore. Finally I found the house & it was a great relief – Imagine I began the day without a coffee, was just waiting to have one!

 

It was 615hrs when I entered the house and had the most wanted thing – COFFEE! Wow! Narasus Coffee na Narasus Coffee thaan! Sister was preparing tiffin for the school going kids – Raj (11^th) & Sanju (7^th). I like the kitchen in her house (as it is only warm place!) and had the usual chat. As I had to join the guys back in hotel I could have only a small bite (5 chapatis, 2 Rasgullas, 1 Coffee and some biscuits) and left the place thanking her. (Man, the break fast was too good – felt like having more but for want of time!)

 

Got back to hotel by 745hrs, Kannan & Asu were getting ready for break fast. As they wanted company joined them for breakfast (Kamat restaurant’s pongal was too good). We roamed around
Bangalore till 1400hrs and took Qualis to leave for Mangalore. Bala maintained his ‘Bala Standard Time’ and we left by 1700hrs instead of 1500hrs.

 

This time we loaded enough of eatables to keep us (I didn’t eat much!) occupied. Qualis gave us enough room to crawl, fight & sleep. Bala was acting as the local guide and did a great job! Except for him, we three had no clue of Kanada – Atleast I &
Aswath had a passable hindi but Kannan….(ssshhh…he doesn’t know hindi) he he

 

  We had booked our place in Summer Sands, Ullal, Mangalore – a beautiful place. The journey to Mangalore was exciting & enjoyable. We were going through ghat section and the road was not so good after TUMKUR – Bala told us that we cannot have good food after this place, I was happy enough to take up the opportunity.

We had the regular dosas and idlies. A special idli made out-off rava. Everyone liked the item and had plenty of it – we or rather
Aswath didn’t know the consequences! We started again and the driver handled the twists & turns very adeptly. As we were handling twists & turns,
Aswath stomach started to play tricks on him – natural calamity + other complications – haha, told him to keep a check on Rava idlies! Who listens to advice?!

 

We reached Summer Sands by 0000hrs the next day and was pleasantly surprised to see the size of the rooms / house. It was awesome & very huge and well furnished. The hospitality even at that time of hour was pleasant. We took rest for the night and planned to wake up early to see the sun rise!

 

When others were thrilled to see a huge place, Bala on the other hand was happy to have the TV for himself! I do not know what’s there in a TV at 0100 or 0200 hrs in the morning! Haha!

 

We woke up by 0600hrs and started to enjoy the resort’s hospitality. Everything about the place was very good and we did not come out of the resort place for the next two days.

 

We were either in the beach or swimming pool or reading novel under the shade of palm trees!

 

The whole trip was very eventful & enjoyable. Really very nice to has such friends!

 

Soon will write about other trips & tours!
South Africa, Kenya & UAE!

 

 

Ooty & Topslip Trip

I have three best friends two are from my college and otherone my colleague – Kannan, Bala and Aswath. All four of us made a trip to Bangalore & Mangalore in 2006 about which I will write about soon. 

We entered the corporate jungle in 2002 and three years had gone by with no real break, so three of us (Kannan, Bala & I) decided to take a tour.
Lot of deliberations happened over email & phone. Since Bala was in Bangalore we were looking at a convenient place. We first decided to do it in Jan 05 but as in any corporate life things were hectic and we planned in Apr 05 during Tamil New year’s time.  Our destination was Ooty and Topslip (valparai). Since it was season beginning we booked our rooms in a decent place. Bala and myself started from Srirangam and Kannan from Chennai. We met in Coimbatore. We planned to cover Topslip on Day 1 and return to Coimbatore that night. Day 2 and Day 3 would be in Ooty. Day1 : We started by 7 in the morning in INDICA. It was really refreshing for us and a real break from the hectic corporate life. Drive and climate was really too good. Funny things started happening to Bala, every now and then he would stare at the tender coconuts and would insist in having atleast 2 or 3 in every pit-stop! We warned him that the climb is going to be tough (Topslip is known for its steep inclines and hair-pin bends) as always it fell on deaf ears!!! Result – As you know  In PK Tea estate there is a Balaji Temple with beautiful lawn and scenery. We had good darshan and since we wanted to reach the temple before the afternoon closing time we didn’t take many photos. Kannan had brought his digital camera and we kept clicking it while coming down! We didn’t leave a single waterfall or tea/coffee estate; every now and then we would stop by to enjoy the nature and attend to nature’s call  End of day1 we were tired and slept of early.  Day 2 and Day3 :We started off early by 5.30 am and were accelerating hard before the traffic slows us down. Journey to Ooty was much more enjoyable than Topslip. This time Bala learnt to control his urge to have tender coconut instead concentrated on potato chips – Result As u all know  We paid visit to a temple on our way to Ooty and crossed black thunder. The scenic beauty that surrounds black thunder was awesome. It was groove after groove of trees and cool breeze was blowing – IT WAS JUST AWESOME!  We reached Ooty early by 8 am. After a brief rest (mainly to the car) we went to ooty lake and botanical garden. We were enjoying the natural beauties and also the beauties out there. Bala’s Basic Instinct came to life here also and started to look for a potential partner Sorry Bala ha ha! Wanted to take a boat ride in the lake but the waiting time was more than an hour so left the place with just a click! Ah now I remember Kannan took horse ride (hmmm…as he was afraid for most of the time…he didn’t allow the horse to move…) so technically he just sat on the horse and made me take a picture!  The best part was we took walk in the old lake road (it is closed for traffic). It is a km plus walk but worth it. There was absolute silence except for momentary bird chirpings. You should have a look at the size of the trees, my god so massive and beautiful. We were just completely enthralled by the beauty! We returned to the hotel and took rest. Here comes my part of comedy, I had to get some audio cassettes for the trip to a dam nearby. I  went, bought and came back with a cassette. As these guys were resting they didn’t have a look at the cassette. The next day, driver played the cassette eagerly – damn it was a HINDI Remix of some kind of some unknown songs! Kannan who has a natural love over Hindi (he doesn’t like) literally threw me out off the car. To add to the insult, the driver traded the cassette with another driver and got another cassette! You should seen Kannan’s face ha ha! We only went for the dam and only I took bath there – these guys were scared to bones! Return journey was good and we entered the corporate jungle again with full josh!

Will write about our trip to Mangalore & my overseas travel soon! Bye