When it is may, rain becomes desperate to play hide and seek and we
become desperate to travel. Result is Wayand trip plan . Despite of last minute
changes, we 7 started at 3 AM morning on Saturday and we reached Bandipur
highway by morning. Morning life of
animal kingdom is quite a spectacular display to see through the car window.
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| Caring mother |
First, we started our journey from Historical Edakkal caves. Pictorial
writings as old as 6000 BC, stone age
writings and that walk inside caves to unleash mountain view. Burning effect of
afternoon sunlight and rocks as cold as barf - what a contrast. Any heart would wait to feel the rain. While coming down from caves, as expected,
rain arrived - with a shock - that none of the waterfalls are open.Well, no need to panic, still many places are there - we convinced ourselves.
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| Edakkal caves |
Who cares? When trip itself is full rain, what is the point of having
a waterfall? Water droplets dropping
down from car window and blurred image of nature outside, reflecting in the eye
of every drop - life should stop of a second - in pause. Melody of "Bhuvi
kenne tumba, mugilu surida muttina gurutu" - by Jayant kaikini and sonu
Nigam, felt like they are guiding us in rainy paths, through music.
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| Feel of air |
Pookut lake scenic walk in
muddy paths followed by crazy talk with Aloo chips enriched taste. That moment
not lasted long, as we headed towards our most favorite destination, Chembra
Peak. Tea estates soaked in rain, curved paths covered in mud, scenic mountains
surrounded by mist - Journey to remember. It remainds me of a quote " If
travelling was free, you would never see me again".
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| Pookut lake in background |
We thought to give some rest to our Innova buddy and walked towards
mountain. It felt like Bangalore and Chembra are two different isolated worlds.
Yes, they give same feel, when showered by rain. Small butterflies falling in
love with rain, couples taking Selfie and there goes, a gang of 7 disturbing
them! Heart lake is something we missed due to rain, but our heart lake was
already bloomed with lotus of feels. Boiled
corn was complementary to the feel.
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| View from Chembra peak |
And we booked a resort in the night. Cheapest, with all 7 people in
room. For bachelors no special requirements needed - when it comes to stay.
Night went with crazy discussions, stories, childhood memories, broken love
stories - an infinite night it seemed like. We slept like tired buffaloes. Morning
breakfast - Dosa, was something to remember for lifetime. It was like pizza,
except taste!
Early morning we started towards Banasur Sagar dam. One beautiful
location ( in terms of humans beings too), followed by adventure Fast motor
boat ride. Everyone made fun of New look with Life jackets. A sudden twist n
turn by boat, hair blown by wind and mind blown by thrill, drops of water
suddenly sprinkling due to water humps, fully surrounded by water and islands -
One should experience before imagining it. Movement was so random, that
someone in our group held gear for grip!
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| Banasur Sagar Dam |
We continued our journey towards Talakadu. In rain, with songs, a long
journey - long lasting journey like journey of life. We encountered an angry
elephant near Bandipur. It scared the hell out of many vehicles. Escaping that,
we immersed ourselves in Talakadu river and then played there till sunset.Thanks to Malli, Amrith, Kerure, Naveen, Lohith n Arun for fun filled ride. Evening hot Masala puri and Chai - a perfect end for a journey, within this
journey of life, gifted with memories to cherish.
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| A group Gesture |
