My Wayanad blog post has been featured on Rediff.com
I am thrilled!
Here’s the link: http://specials.rediff.com/getahead/2008/apr/28sld1.htm
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Category Archives: Travel
Wayanad – A trip to God's Own Country
I finally visited my last remaining southern Indian state “God’s own country” Kerala. A group of us six dudes went for a road trip to Wayanad. This was to be my first tryst with the Kerala, and boy it wasn’t at all disappointing.
We booked a Tata Sumo, and started around 6.15 AM on Saturday, 19 April. By the time we were done with the pickups of everyone it was already 7.30 AM. We then took the route of Bangalore-Mysore-Gudalur-Wayanad. We literally zipped all through Karnataka, and took the NH 212 to Wayanad from Gudalur(or Gundlupet).
En route to Wayanad, we had to pass through the Bandipur national park and the Mathunga national park. It was lush green and dense, however, we could only witness Elephants during our journey.
We reached Sulthan Bathery around 1.30, and were throughly surprised that it was pretty humid and wasn’t at all what we pictured it to be. So we moved ahead to Kalpetta, which is further 25 kilometers from Sulthan Bathery.
At Kalpetta we checked in to Arun Lodge. We got decent double bed rooms with a clean toilet and a TV (the bare minimum for stay) for just 440 INR.
Later in the evening we went to the Pookot lake, the images speak the rest of the story. After Pookot we went to the Banasura Dam. I guess this place is a must watch for visitors; it is the biggest earthen dam in Asia. The reservoir and the partially submerged hills tell a story.
On our return we were greeted by a sudden downpour, something which we hadn’t expected after the warm day that had been. There were moments when the visibility of low and I was perturbed by the rain. However, it all calmed down and we were back in our cosy rooms in a while.
Food in Wayanad is way cheaper than Bangalore; a typical South Indian breakfast for the 6 of us with a cup of coffee each could cost us less than a 100 bucks! I also discovered a top-notch bakery known as ‘The Walnut Cake‘. You could treat yourself at the pasteries, Jew Chips, Plum Cake, Cookies, Fresh chocolate and tarts. It was mouth watering and yum!
The next morning we checked out and visited the Soochipara Waterfalls which are around 17 kilometers from Kalpetta. The journey to this place was filled with tea gardens; shining golden under the sun light. This waterfall varies from 100 ft to 300 ft in hieght, its a great place to take a shower the way liril models do, and even try rappling. Do remember the journey to reach the bottom of the falls itself is quite tiring because of the sun and the stairs.
On our way back up to the hill; we treated ourselves to Pineapple slices. My friends ended up buying almost the whole stock on the urchin selling them!
We now moved to the last destination of our trip to Edakkal Caves. This place is around 25 kilometers from Kalpetta. The name Edakkal means ‘Stone in between’, the main cave has a huge rock stuck between the walls forming the cieling. The cave is said to have engravings dating back to around 4000 B.C. It was discovered back in 1890 by the SP of Malabar. For more information visit: www.edakkal.com
My friends decided to venture further up from the cave to the hill top, while I decided to wait for them. Sensing the change in air, I felt it was going to rain so I came down to the base, however they were stuck there. What happened next was a huge downpour which resulted in addtional slipperiness to the pathway. They had a tough time coming down, however, they did enjoy the thrill and the risk in that!
Being the last place, we then had lunch on our way back at Sulthan Bathery, finally we reached Namma Bengaluru at around 10 PM ready for another week at our offices!
Something really special about the whole trip was the presence of a guiding angel to tell us which direction to take whenever we were confused with the route. In the middle of nowhere there would be someone present to tell us which way to take! Maybe thats why it is called God’s own country
[1] Carry extra change of clothes, and good canvas shoes for trekking.
[2] Arun Tourist Home, Kalpetta. Phone: 04936 – 202039
[3] Distance from Bangalore is around 280 kilometers. It takes around 6 hours on road to Wayanad.
Lucknow
Was missing due to exams, just got a breather for two days so am writing something which I discovered tonight. Maybe a lot of people don’t know that Lucknow is not only a city in UP, India. There are three more Lucknow towns/estate in Canada and Australia!
I hail from Lucknow, the constantinople of India. A city of 3 million people; with its historical beginning said to be by Lord Laxman, and the original name being Lakshman tila(stone). Over the ages the name changed to Lakhnau, and later to Lucknow by the British.
The other Lucknow found on Google was the Lucknow estate in Moultonborough, New Hampshire, Canada. This estate was started in 1914, with its beautiful surroundings over 4200 acres of forest.
Another Lucknow is a town in New South Wales, Australia. It is a historic gold mining village, the second place in Australia where gold was first discovered. The village was established in 1838, the naming does have an interesting connection. The settlement was named ‘Lucknow’ in 1863. Some say this was a reference to the good fortune the town proffered (i.e., luck now) while others claim it was named by the mine bookkeeper after the siege at Lucknow in India in which he may have been wounded.
The last Lucknow in my search is in Lee County, South Carolina. Lucknow is a small settlement in Lee County which was the terminal of a logging railroad that began at Atkins. A large saw mill was once located near Lucknow to cut the virgin long-leaf timber in that area. The railroad was partially completed by Captain Atkins but was later sold to Bridges and
McKeithern of Darlington. The name Lucknow is reportedly attributed to one of the firm’s members who exclaimed, “We are in luck now,” when he looked at the stand of virgin timber.
Cool, ain’t it. It shall be fun to visit these places!
Diwali Break – Choti Diwali
Another busy day, most of it went in shopping and bank related jobs. I still managed to take a few snaps of the festivities en mi casa.
It was really fun to be back in the diwali market rush and haggle for clay diyas, electric lamps, or kitchen utensils. Trust me, this is the real festival, the rush and the pavement shopping has no match in the malls of today. I did manage to get a good deal on electric lights and shall have my setup ready tomorrow morning.
I also spent a bit of time on clicking pictures of the drawing room with its dim lights, and one of them is a pretty decent snap…
I also hope to make my first rangoli tomorrow morning, hope that mom helps me with that…
Happy Diwali
Hasta la vista
Diwali Break – Dhanteras
Its great to be home, after 5 months. Much has changed in the city, particularly the traffic has increased substantially. Another surprise is the infamous Ambedkar Park, that project of the current chief minister of UP seems to be re-constructed all again. This comes as a surprise because the Park had been completed more than 5 years ago and was open to public. I cannot understand the logic of almost reconstructing all of it! Illogical to me at the least, specially when there is a 14 kilometer long fly over awaiting completion in its last phase, stalled ever since the Government changed hands.
Anyways, its Dhanteras today, and I had a trip to the local Diwali market to buy the clay idols of Goddess Laxmi and God Ganesha. It was fun to be a part of the hustle and bustle of the market, I always enjoyed this bit of shopping in the Diwali market, it gives me the feel that the festive season has arrived. I happily clicked snaps and even recorded a small video of the paraphernalia on display. Boy, if you aren’t here then you miss all the fun!
Later, went with my grandpa to the nearby multiplex and bought advanced tickets for Om Shanti Om. Hope that it would be a good one, and then I splurged almost a thousand bucks on four books thanks to my grandpa…
I am back, but the festival has just begun, it is going to be quite at home but I know I would be enjoying every bit of it.