The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, he answered”
“Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”
We started driving to Wayanad amidst the lust green forests covering Tamil Nadu & Karnataka… We crossed lots of small hamlets in Karnataka and I was the interpreter to ask for the route to Sultan Badri using my butler Kannada…
We crossed over to Kerala and it was immediately visible with the lust green cover, big houses, good & clean roads… I adamantly demanded for toddy & 1st being a dry day in Kerala we had to hunt for toddy in black… I must really thank Rooban bro for taking pains for getting toddy….
Then we had lunch at Sultan Badri but unfortunately 1st & 2nd being dry day in Kerala we were asked to travel 20 KM to Tamil Nadu… We promptly stocked things for next 2 days… En route we found a little puppy on the roads… We took it along with us as it was wandering on the highways… We named him Kunnu…
From there we drove straight to Coffee Aroma Resort in Wayanad… This place has only added my attraction and fondness towards Kerala… Wonderful place for retreat and to burn the stress… Cottages were that clean and the atmosphere and nature view made me feel very much relaxed… Behind the resort there was a water falls and a small stream… All these were well utilised by the resort folks…
We didn’t take bath that day as it became that dark… We sat in a hall played with our Kunnu, had some discussions with friends, had my dinner and I went to car to watch some movie… Again I slept in the car though the cottage was good because of space constrains…
Next day went for a walk in the small lane along with Karthi… Then went to the falls to take bath and we spent couple of hours… Then we came back had our lunch, left our Kunnu in the resort and we started back to Chennai…
En route we came thru Nagar Hole forest reserve in Karnataka… After crossing 90% of the forest cars were attacked by elephants and we were diverted thru another route which is 30KM long and had very bad roads…
We reached Mysore by 10 PM on 2nd… W had our dinner there and we started driving to Chennai… Karthick took over driving from here and I navigated him till HP petrol bunk in Soolagiri which has Cafe Coffee Day… I refreshed myself and had some coffee and I crashed immediately…
Finally we reached home by 7 AM on 3rd Oct… Over all in all three days we were only driving half the time… But over all it was a nice experience and a much needed break from routine…
Here are some memories….
After a lot of broken promise to Rooban… I was finally caught hold by and was unable to give any reasons… It was a trip planned by Rooban along with Prakash, Imanuel, Karthick & myself between 29/09/2011 to 03/10/2011 to Masinakudi & Wayanad…
It was Thursday and being a working day I had to wrap all my work on time as I was travelling during next 2 working days… I was asked. To be ready by 11 PM and until 10 I was busy with my work… Finally I wrapped everything and rushed to my house by 10.30 and packed everything in next 10 min…
Since my iPad & Samsung was about to be drained I kept them on charge… But our friends Rooban, Prakash& Imanueal were late and they came by 1 AM… After getting settled we all get ourself seated and I was awake till vellore where we had a pit stop… It was here I crashed to sleep and I woke up the next morning near Sathyamangalam… This picture taken using lighting from the car near vellore…
Then it was hectic drive crossing some towns & hamlets in Karnataka and finally we reached Masinakudi by 1pm… After checking into the resort we asked the resort maid to prepare our lunch & folks crashed to sleep… I used that time to catch up with emails and with folks in office… I thought getting a bat and ball will help if we get bored in the resort and I went out to Masinakudi town which was 6 KM from resort…
Finally lunch was ready by 4.30 PM and folks were ready after good lunch and sleep… I motivated them to stay in resort to play cricket… But Rooban wanted to explore places immediately… Then we started our drive to Theppakadu by 5 PM and we didn’t see any wild animal… We went to Moyyar Dam and we took some snaps out there…
The time we returned it was half past seven and it was too dark… There was a Scorpio which warned us of an elephant attack… We marched ahead in spite of warning and we took some snaps of the elephant which even more irritated Tusker… It immediately started chasing us… This is my second experience in the same place… Only difference was last time we were out of the vehicle and this time we were inside… The driver of the vehicle was prompt enough to press the accelerator and we escaped once again…
On our return of the resort we befriended a bunch of civil service students who were on a field trip and we had a party time with them in the night… We understood the benefits, challenges about a civil servant…
Then I crashed inside the vehicle as the resort was not neat… Then finally we got up by 8 in the morning we all refreshed, took bath and packed our bags to Wayanad…
Day before yesterday was one of the landmark days in my life… It was the reunion of 1997 batch mates of AV Meiyappan Matriculation HR Sec School… I’d like to thank JB Vinodh for initiating the idea and Srinivasan for executing the plan…
Though there were only 10 folks who turned up it was a great while to rewind 14 years back… In fact I met most of them after 14 years… We couldn’t accept that we were all grown and thine has passed this passed…
The fact is no one has changed in character and almost everyone was spontaneous in pulling down each other… Recollecting old memories, punishments, quarrels, ex-love (infatuation), teachers etc…
We have forgot the names of almost many girls and everyone explained situations to recollect names and personalities… One good thing was no one talked about profession or success stories…
We have planned to have a big reunion during November as most of the folks living abroad are planning a visit… Hope it should be more fun and am waiting for that day…
These photos will last in my memories forever..
Dear Friends, Itz been 2 months I blogged last… Though I evangelise and force other to blog I had to take this forced decision…
So, Why did I stop blogging for 2 months?
Considering all the reasons I wanted to consciously take a sabbatical from blogging and wanted to see how it felt… There were moments where I was pulled automatically pulled to blog… But I resisted it and after a while I got used to it…
Not I’m fresh with new thoughts, new mindset, new work hours etc.. From now on I’d be consistent in posting a blog a day…
AnandNataraj 