Land of mystic mountains!

Kodai Kanal has always been my favorite destination, ever since I visited it as a kid. The beautiful mountains, the lush green jungles, the placid lake, the lovely mist, and the beautiful waterfalls always had remained etched in my memory. I had a chance to visit Kodai a few years back with my friends. A log of that trip is here. But it seems, I never had enough of Kodai, and my craving to visit that place is still the same :D

Kodai has always been a part of my family favorites. And guess, Ritesh had got so bored of listening to the dinner-time-kodai-stories, that he decided to visit it and become a part of the memoirs recitation :D. So when his parents were coming to stay with us for few days, we planned for this much awaited trip to Kodai Kanal.


Ever since we got our new car, we have actually never travelled anywhere without it, so this trip also had to be by car :-). We started on the friday evening and reached Salem at night for a halt, as we don't drive in the night (reason being, there is absolutely nothing that you can see in the night...driving in day is so much more interesting). And next day early morning drive from Salem to Kodai was all the justification we needed for the night stay at Salem :-).

When we reached Kodai, the scene was right out of a fairy tale. It was mist & fog everywhere. And the small town was abuzz with activity. And the best was a view from the lawn of our hotel. We just went all gaga over it...and stayed up at the lawn taking pictures and breathing in the fresh air and purging our lungs of all the pollution and toxic gases. The climate in Kodai in June was just amazing. You see a beautiful sunrise and nice "dhoop" in the mornings, then by the time its afternoon, the clouds come down as if to give you a hug, the late afternoon, there is slight showers, and then it miraclously clears up and you see twinkling stars in the sky.

We spent three full days in Kodai, each day exploring an area around Kodai that is not so well known, so as to avoid a lot of crowd. And yes, every day was followed by an evening ...cycling around the lake. Its one of the best activity you can do. Its healthy and you can take lot of beautiful pcitures around the lake. The rest of the evening was well spent at cards and food at the Kodai Club. :-)

We just enjoyed every bit of our time spent in Kodai and now Ritesh also has a craving to visit Kodai again and again...so watch out for more travelogues coming! :-)



Facts
Bangalore to Kodai - 480 kms
Route: Bangalore – Hosur - Krishnagiri – Dharmapuri – Salem – Bhavani - Erode - Kangeyam - Dharmapuram - Palani - Kodai
Kodai - Palani - Dharmapuram - Kangeyam - Mechcheri - Dharmapuri - Krishnagiri - Hosur - Bangalore
Google Map
Places to stay: Villa Retreat - Official Site, My review on trip advisor
The Kodai Club - Official Site
Best time to visit: April to June & September to October
Places to see: The Kodai Lake, Pine Forest, 12 Mile circuit and view points along the way, Coakers walk, Berijam Lake, any drive coz its so beautiful to pass through mist-ful roads and we are still exploring better places! :-)

Suggestions
Try to avoid the weekend rush and go on a weekday.
Better have your own car, so as to move around easily.
There are a lot of hiking and trekking trails in and around Kodai. Get more information from the DFO, office.
I have come to know of a trekking trail from Kodai to Munnar, and it sounds amazing. Me and Ritesh are waiting for the calendar to change, so that we can do it the coming january! :-)
There is this site 360Inn, they have an interesting and off-beat lineage of organized tour. This too is on our list and will do it soon!

Jungle Mein Mangal...

Recently we had a trip to Bandhavgarh (a Tiger Reserve in M.P.). We had booked a tree-house for us to stay and were expecting an adventurous trip. With the adventure in our minds and moods we set off from Bhopal to Bandhavgarh, via Katni. The ride from Katni to Tala (District of Bandhavgarh) was all the more convincing for the adventure we thought of facing and specially the remoteness of the tree-house resort sent some warning signals to our minds.

Once reaching our destination, our adventure started to shatter bit by bit. We were greeted by the staff present there with utmost hospitality and yeah the regular etiquettes that you see in any of the 3-4-5 star hotels. We were taken down a trail to our room, which was hidden amidst trees and completely isolated. The moment we entered, we were taken by awe. The room was very well designed, all the luxuries that you could ask for, and yet conserving the basic essence of being in a jungle. The best part was, one of the walls of the room was totally glass and opened up into a deck with two lounge chairs. Oh man, it was such a romantic place. I couldn't have asked for a better place.

And there was one more blessing in disguise, only BSNL network. So we were completely off mobiles and isolated in that small place. No STD PCOs and neither did the resort have any phone, so totally off the hook. How much I loved that peace and being in the arms of the nature. In our rooms the only sounds that we could hear was wind, chirping of birds and some stray sounds of animals roaming around. It was a complete bliss. Specially the nights, the sky was like a heavily studded diamond plate. Have never seen so many stars in my life. It was just amazing to lie in the lounge chair and look at the sky and stars for hours together.

Nights were also beautiful coz the place was lit up using lanterns (the usual kerosene lanterns) and not bulbs. The trail to each room was decked up with lanterns at regular distances, which looked like a beaded strand of necklace from far away. And sometimes, if you are lucky enough, you can hear those jungle bands and songs from nearby local tribes.

The jeep safaris into the national park were too exciting too. It was fall time and the colors of the trees were awesome. The feel of being inside a jungle and be able to watch the activities happening there is just amazing. We took two jeep safaris into the national park, and finally in the second one we spotted a tigress (a pregnant one!!). Wow such a majestic animal it is.

To top it all, the service that you get is amazing, they literally treat you as kings and queens (of the jungle...hahaha). The food was amazing too, not the usual 3-4-5 star types, but a good deal home-like. In short, it was a perfect "hideaway" vacation which we enjoyed to the best. And I would recommend all of you to try out that place.

For more information visit http://www.treehousehideaway.com/

Weekend Spent Shooting!

I am back with my tales out of my routine life. And this time its about a weekend photography shoot (so don't misinterpret the title ;-) ).

I joined this group called Bangalore Weekend Shoots very recently. Missed out on the first weekend shoot due to some unforeseen circumstances. But was determined to join the next one. After a lot of scheduling and rescheduling my weekend, I finally got myself free for the Saturday trip to Channapatna.

The trip started with meeting of all the fellow photographers from the group at Town Hall at 6:30 a.m. (believe me I woke up at 5:30 a.m...a record for me :D). I was picked up by Vinayak, Srividya and her cousin Anu from my place at 6:15 a.m. I was already pretty nervous for the shoot and once when we reached Town Hall, my nervousness had reached new heights. Looking at people with fundu gears and equipments, I felt like the odd-man-out. And knowing my inhibitions with new people, I thought of better standing quietly at one corner of the troupe. We waited for another fellow photographer, Shreelesh, while I just tried to calm myself down. Finally, with the arrival of Shreelesh, the caravan started.

The first stop was at Kamat Lokaruchi, for a nice breakfast, after all an empty stomach will drive you crazy. After filling the stomachs, cameras came out and a few shots were taken at Kamat's. We even met another flickr member with an ultimate photo gear. I had noticed him at Town Hall as well and thought he is a part of the group, but later came to know that he was not. Anyways, he took a nice wide-angle shot of the entire group and headed his way.

From there we started towards Channapatna and with a 10 min break in the way for shooting some photos, we reached the place to find it all deserted. Then Shridhar, another fellow photographer took the lead and went in search of toy industries. He finally found one, and with a bit of searching and U-turns we finally reached the small industry. It was far away from what I had expected from my a priori background study on Channapatna.

But still everyone else seemed to be busy. So even I took my camera and started taking random shots. I was completely blank in the start, what to shoot? But, as and when I took snaps, I started finding reasons and urge to take this and that. I took some snaps in that particular workshop and then headed for another one where women were the makers of those wonderful toys. Here, the colors were more, it was more lively. But something was lacking. I didn't spend much time there and started loitering around. Thats when I saw a small door at the backside of the school in the premises. There were many kids looking intently towards me and they called me inside. That was really the best part of that day.

Those kids were so enthusiastic and full of vigor and liveliness. They were all going gaga about getting themselves photographed. I liked that smile on their face when I click a photo. Wow! it was all worth those smiles and few minutes of happiness that I could give them. Looking at their ecstatic faces, even their teacher didn't mind my intrusion and was most welcoming. I took a series of shots and had a nice chat with the kids. With an intention of not disturbing them much I reluctantly left the place.

Next in line was Dilip Kumar, The Horse. He was getting too nervous modeling for two photographers shooting at him from two different sides..hehehe. Meanwhile, I had sort of made a friend their in little Irfan. He lead me to his house, though he was so shy that he hid himself. Had a small chat with her elder sister about the life and education in their place. I always feel I am over-blessed after talking to such people. I just can just hope for them!

Well, I know its getting too long...but believe me the day was too long. Anyways, from Channapatna we headed back to Kamat. Took some refuge, water, buttermilk and Sugarcane Juice to refill ourselves. And then headed for Big Banyan tree. Though mistakenly, we reached another spot, I think it was a meditation center by Swami Nityananda. We took a few snaps there and headed for the original Big Banyan Tree. Again it was a disappointment to me, from what I had imagined of the Big Banyan tree. But here again I found three kids, so eager to be photographed. They smiled and giggled and posed like whatever I asked them of. It was good. From there we parted our ways and left for our respective destinations.

All in all, the day was amazing, far from expected, but then always the uncertain is more interesting and turns out to be the best. I learnt a lot of things that day. Technically, spiritually, and philosophically. I really will be looking forward to more such trips and more learning.

Team Outing!!

It was 6:11 AM when I started my bike....(shucks...why did i wake up 15 mins late...was supposed to reach office by 6). It too me precisely 6 minutes to reach office and another 2 minutes to reach my floor. That makes it 6:19. As I reached my floor I expected a bunch of people to be there and ready to scold me...but but but...there are only 3 people. Anyways, we waited and waited and waited, people came in at a very slow pace. Finally at 7:30, we decided to finish our wait. And we ended up in a group of 18, which was supposed to be of 30. So finally we were on the road :).

Our journey was made enjoyable by having various games amongst us and some brilliant performances. Can you imagine, i was made the captain of one team :D. We took a break in between for breakfast. I ate a new variety of idli :). And we were again on the road. The journey was long...infact pretty long...actually the driver took a shortcut :D ;). "Are we going on the right way?" "Does the driver know the place?" "I guess we will reach there by tomorrow!!"...were the general expressions coming from everyone gazing outside the window as if its about to come. But finally we got off the road at 1:05...yes...dont open your eyes wide open...we did reach at 1:05 :D. The first thing I saw in Talakad was this...

Talakad is the river bank of Cauvery. But looks more like a shore with sand and all. Infact, Talakad means "Sand Dunes". We had a nice time in Talakad, though none of us ladies got into water...but it was fun watching others play in the water :D. And the best pleasure was to watch Rishit play in water (he is a two year old sweet boy :)). Anyways, we did boating also, that too twice in a round boat aka tappa aka...ooops...i forgot the kannad name of it...sorry!! Have a look at the boat....


Can you imagine we went round and round in that boat :D. I was not able to stand up after that, walked like a drunk :D. And how can I forget the boat walla...He was 73 years old and spoke in english. He said he passed SSC in 1955, great na.

After that we went to a temple. A temple which looked as if it came out of my school history books. The architecture was fabulous. Took rows of snaps over there. Here are a few glimpse out of it....




Well our next destination was Sivansamudram. I will classify that place in some of the most beautiful places I have been to. Take a look... The two falls are just amazing. The nature seems to be at her bloom.


I just couldnt help myself from clicking on and on. Went crazy for taking the snaps. There was one other interesting thing in sivansamudram...lots of monkeys....specially small ones...chooo cute.

Well then started our outdoor games. The first two "one minute" games were quiet funny and innovative. Had a good time laughing over it. Then came "the tug of war". This was my first time at it...before this no one ever thought me worth to be taken in a tug of war :( :(..anyways...our team consisted of no heavy body builders but but but..we came out clear winners...yipppeee :) :).

Now it was time for us to get back to the road and head back to bangalore. I didnt feel like leaving, we were having so much of fun.

But wait, the fun didnt get over yet ;). We had a long round of Dumb C. That was the most enthued thing in the entire trip. Each and everyone participated with so much of zeal and josh. We even had a round of the "original Dumb C". It was sooooooooooo much of fun. In the end there was a tie between my team and another team for the first place, and we lost the "battle" by just a hair's difference. But the spirit of playing was good.

We reached office at 11:10. Anyways, so here ends my first team outing. In the start I was very skeptical to go. I hardly knew anyone in the team. Felt that I will be left out. But it turned out the other way. This became an Ice-Breaker for me. Now, I feel that I belong to this team and am not any outsider...which i used to feel before this trip. I just hope I have many more good moments like this in future :).

I kno am sounding too formal...but believe me this is what I am feeling.

A glimpse outta the trip!!

My jaunt to Kodai Kanal!!

Kodai the wonderland!!

It was an exotic trip to the land of the greens. Wherever you turn your head, only the green meets your eyes. An amazing place to get your batteries recharged [:D].

The hill station is centerd around the kodai lake. The kodai lake will confuse you. It appears to be a small lake but as you take a round trip, it seems neverending!!! and imagine we took a round trip on bicycle [:)]. That was the most beautiful ride i had ever taken, along the side of the kodai lake. There are many other attractions in and out of kodai. I loved the flora which i got to see there.

And yeah...one very important point. The falls of kodai are fabulous [;)]. They are just beyond your imagination [:D]. I guess all my trip-mates will strongly agree to it and we all will advice you all to never leave out the best part of kodai [/)].

If a person loves nature, kodai is heaven then. How much I wished that I had a house there and can spend all my weekends in the arms of the mother nature, with peace everywhere. I could take a cycle ride around the lake daily then [:)][:)]. Really kodai was just like a beautiful dream and I crave to be back in that dream again. [:)]

http://www.kodaikanal.com