Get together -Feb,2010- at Masinagudi

Masinagudi is a lovely little town in the foothills of the imposing blue mountains. It is easily accessible from Bglore, Mysore, Coimbatore and Wayanad by well laid roads. Abutting the famous Mudumalai, BR Hills, Nagarhole, Wayanad and Bandipur Forests it is a very important elephant corridor between the Eastern Ghats and Wester Ghats. On the Thepakadu-masinagudi-Kalhatti-Ooty road immediately after one crosses masinagudi is the famous Bokkapuram Forest temple

Oflate a lot of resorts have sprung up around the temple. It is in one of these resorts we decided to have our School 2010 get together. After last minute cancellations and myself and my 4 friends spent one of the most beautiful and adventurous 3 days of our lives.

Day 1: After arriving at banglore we drove all the way to masinagudi. Once you cross Gundlupet, the topography changes without any warning and in no time we realised we were driving inside Bandipur. The sun which beat down relentless gave way to tall trees, cool breeze and endless forest soungs. The chatting and loud music in the car stopped and everyone was in the lookout for wildlife. As with many a tourist our wishlist for this trip was Elephant, Bison, Deer and if lucky, the elusive Tiger. Bandipur went eventless and the only animals we saw was a group of domesticated elephants playing near a man made pond.

Once inside Tamil Nadu forests, the anticipation builded up as the forests were much greener, streams flowing and troupes of langurs near the road side. After driving for 3km inside the Mudumalai forest we came across our first sighting of a elephant mom and its baby. Stopping inside a forest and taking pictures is unlawful. But for our tired city souls and minds the sight of the elephant its calf was too much to ignore. So we stopped our vehicle for a few mins and took photos till we were full satisfied.

With daylight fading our guide urged us to start quickly and promised to show many more elephants on the way. As like any other tourist we followed him dutifully . After crossing Thepakadu and turning left to Masinagudi we immediately slowed down our car. There were two groups of elephants playing around and feeding on the lsuh grass oh a high river bank. It was snacks time for the gentle giants.

After driving 6 kms more on the Kalhatti road, road signs indicate a right turn towards the Bokkapuram temple. Arriving at the resort we were warmly welcomed by our hosts who had thoughtfully arranged for a late lunch expecting us to come late. Lunch turned out to be pre-dinner and we thoroughly enjoyed the buffet served. After refreshing, we took a stroll around the resort to take in beauty, sights and sounds of the forest at dusk.

Reaching back at the resort we settled down with around a bon fire. Our host shared with us the efforts the Gov and people of mudumalai are taking to preserve the forests. After dinner we decided to take the night safari. Being very tired urs lovingly slept half way through the safari and was worken up to see deer and sambhar glaring back at the headlights. Without much fuss we reached our resort around 1am and settled for a much deserving nights sleep..

Day2: we had planned to explore the ancient route taken by Tippu Sultan when he conquered the Blue Mountains...

DAY 2&3 TO BE CONTINUED

Weekend Saga :

It was saturday [19th dec] - the last weekend before christmas and two weeks to the new year. The rain clouds in Chennai had disappeared and given way to a day full of welcome sun shine. The day was a welcome break from the unusually chilly week. As I lay in bed wondering what to do next, the 10'clk alarm went off.

Today is my roommate Aru's birthday. So we had arranged for a plum cake the previous night and had a big two hour celebration. As I woke up and foraged around the house for snacks, I could understand Aru, Vijay and Mani have already woken up and were ready. Aru and Vijay were going to Lifeline for Vijay's physiotheraphy and Mani on his way to Vadapalani to manage his bro's shop. My bro was still asleep. Weekend sleep is a big bonus for most of the professionals in IT industry as most companies have a strict work scheduling.

I bade goodbye to all three guys and was lying in my sofa browsing boringly thru the channel list of my Set Top Box. Australia was on its way to winning the match and england was trying to contain Sotuh African batsmen. I was thinking to goto the Hyundai Show room to see I10. My bro who had by now woken up offered to make a toast and I happily accepted.

With breakfast done and nothing to do, I was getting bored. Just then my buddy Anand called up asked if we can metup sometim in the evening. As I didnt have much to do after six we agreed to meet at Nungambakkam. By bro had got Fish and we had a meal of rice, gongura chutney, fried fish, rasam, chips, salad and curd.

After lunch we started for Levis to check out their new apparels [just window shopping :-) ] and then to globus to check out their new offer. The offer didnt seem worth for money as its only on the Globus brand. I left for Nungambakkam to meet anand at KFC. KFC has quickly opened up nine restaurants in Chennai and every outlet is filled to its brim with KFC lovers. The interiors are nicely designed and is a good place to catch up with friends.

My roomies suggested we goto Avatar for the second show. After a quick and light dinner we were off to Ganapathiram. The theatre is neat and clean but still I wont say its a Family theatre with drunkards and trouble makers in all corners. The movie in itself is a great visual treat with wonderful screenplay and special effects. Its a must watch and am already planning my second time.

Sunday's are synonymous with ablutions and after washing all clothes and cleaning up the room we went out to Ponnusamy for my treat. We had a stupendous meal of every available non-veg dish. It was quarter past four when we reached home. We have decided to change our present home and for a better place. So we roommates started at five for house hunting in Adyar.

Its vry easy to get a house if you go to one of the house brokers in the area. But since we are in no mood to pay him that shit commission we were roaming all the streets of Shastri Nagar and Besant Nagar asking for any available flat. Even after 2 hours we didnt land up a a decent house with car parking. So giving up the hunt we reached home. After a quick face wash we were off to Besant Nagar beach. The beach is one of the few places in Chennai where you find fresh air and peace of mind. An hour in the beach, we realised its time for Neeya Naana show in Vijay TV.

After the weekend is almost over I realis I havn't completd by two biggest weekend commitments - studying for my MBA and going to Hyundai to check out i10. Promising to make them up over the due course of week, I retried to bed thinking of the Christmas week ahead !!!

Athirapilly, VeegaLand & Alapuzha - Kerala roundup with Office Buddies - Episode 1

Being in IT service industry, one tends to get worked up badly and will look forward to a short trip to rest your aching body and souls and refresh ones senses. There is nothing more joyful and relaxing if these short trips happen to be with your best buddies. The very essence of "Fun with Friends" has been the driving force behind each of our iVAPP-Verizon trips. This year while planning for our short trip, we zeroed in on God's Own Country for obvious reasons. The only question was where to go in the vast state of Kerala.

The trip had to be long enough to enjoy and short enough not raise any professional concerns. Hence the trip will span three days and fours nights. The next challenge was to find tourist destinations which will offer a chance for adventure, relaxation and activity. After much brain storming it was decided Athirapilly Falls, Veega Land and Alapuzha will offer just that. With the destination decided, the Hotel, HouseBoat and Conveyance booking were entrusted to Shyam as Cappy took care of the finance[as usual] and train ticketing. Because of pressing professional and personal commitments, Anand, Pravin, Suresh and Karthi could not make it to the trip. We did miss you guys [promise :-)].

The train journey to God's Own Country: This trip was a little different from the previous ones in the sense we had a few relatively new friends and the old hands. Eventhough we had a few apprehansions on how well the group might jell, those fears were laid to rest in the first one hour of us being together. The trip started gloomy though. It had been raining intermittently from 12pm and our train - Trivandrum Express was scheduled to start at 15:25. The day being a friday, everyone was in a casual, carefree mood and we almost ended up missing our train. We had planned to start from office at 1:45 but because of various reasons like lunch, mails, briyani [:-)] and jerkin, ended up starting from office at 2:25. Rajamani was as usual on leave and was supposed to reach the station directly from home. We were banking on him to stop the train [!!!!!] but he too was late and was traveling in the same EMU as we were. We reached Central just in time and had to walk almost till the engine to board our sleeper coach. We again had a tense few minutes for Alamelu's baggage to reach but she just about managed to get hers, thankfully !!

Train journeys with friends are always fun. Cappy was busy trying to find out our seats as we had cancellations in the origibal bookings. Once the train started moving and everyone settled down a bit, we started with our favourite ice-breaker game. The Truth or Dare. With most of them opting for truth it was good to start the trip getting to know each other better. [Cappy, we had written your name twice in the chits.He He]. With the ice broken we started to enjoy each others' company. Siva had already finished his first round up of the train looking for birds [!@#$]. We got dosa and chappathi at katpadi as most had not taken lunch. With hunger subsidised, we started with Uno. There are few games that can beat Uno as a travel game. You just need two packs of cards and a blanket. Added to it, the game doesnt invite the infamous cops !! Hrishi took out his traveller's audio speakers and ipod and time just ran by playing Uno. Before we realised it was time for dinner as the train chugged into Salem station. We had a modest dinner and were off to the next game - all time fav Dumb Charades.

Siva and Padma were the heroes and I wont go into great detail on how good they were. I leave it for the images to tell you the story.

Thrissur and the Resort: We alighted at Thrisuur at quarter past one o clk and our cab was waiting to pick us up from the station. As we navigated out of Thrissur alomst many dozed off and myself with Mani, Shyam, Siva and Kumar kept the driver company. We were planning about our next trip [this has just started :-)] browsing through the Goa photos taken during my Goa tour on september. After sometime Kumar, Siva and Shyam had slept and me and mani were discussing the routes with driver. After crossing Chalakudy town, we started climbing up the hill and kept a close lookout for small wildanimals. We did spot a small mongoose by the way side and almost ran over another on the road. We reached our resort(River Oak Villa) around 3 am and got ourselves the much needed rest.

Me and Shyam were up early at 6 and decided to take a walk around the resort. We were trying to find the source of the gurgling sound that was so very clear. We indeed found out the source to be the Athirapilly river which was running in the backyard of the resort. Deciding to take a walk upstream we hiked up the river and had a glimpse of the Magnificient Athirampilly waterfall. The resort has ben built on th banks of the river just 1 km downstream from the waterfalls. While returning back, Francis, Senthil and Aris had already found the river and jumped over the compound of the resort to run to the river. The irked resort waiter boy greatly threw open the back gate which leads to the river !!! Sorry guys we cant wait - Please understand we are from Chennai.

While the others went for a bath, me and shyam went to our rooms to have a cuppa. Keralities make very good tea and if in Kerala never miss a chance to gulp down a cup. After a refreshing cup of tea, we guys left to hit the river. The river downstream from falls is shallow in most of the places but flows with great pull and acceleration. Eventhough the water is only waist deep, the current can easily topple you and before you know you might end up crashing against one of the numerous rocks with a broken bone to nurse. The source of Athirapilly is the Parambikulam reservoir. The white water is crisp and inviting. This place offers greats shots of the gorgeous Athirapilly river valley and is a favaourite haunt of Bollywood and Kollywoodfilm makers. With Siva's help, who stood as a pillar in the river we crossed and found a nice spot to take a dip. By now, Francis, Senthil and Aris had hiked up the river and had almost crossed to the other bank. We had to warn them repeatdely to not take the unnecessary risk. After spending couple of hours in the river, it was time to get back and get started. All this while our photographer Rex was busy clicking and recording whatever is interesting. While recrossing the river, jeeva had a lucky escape [courtesy Siva] from drowning into the river. The river current being too strong pulled Jeeva off his feet and it was Siva who was standing in the middle of the river who held on to Jeeva.

It was time for Breakfast and we met at a beautiful hall for a kerala type breakfast. The food was amazing with Poori and Appam complementing each other nicely. After a satisfying breakfast and quick chat we were off to Athirapilly.

Athirapilly and Valachal Waterfalls: The Athirapilly river originates in the wester ghats and through a series of waterfalls in the Sholayar Range reaches the planes before discharging into the Arabian Sea. The river plunges 80 fet deep into a narrow valley forming the misty Athirapilly Falls. The mild drizzle that started during breakfast had stopped and Sun peeped from behind the clouds. After our coffee we were off to the Waterfalls. During old days there used to be no security at this waterfall and hence tourists can virtually goto the edge of the waterfalls and look down. After more than hundred human casualities, security has been beefed up and u find centries all around the place who are constantly monitoring the holiday crowd.

The First Slip: Sun was playing hide and seek with the rain clouds. The greenery around the water falls, the mist hanging on to the adjacent hills and the waterfall itself are a soothin sight to the eye. While we were contemplating whether or not to take a bath, the girls in the group suggested we go till the waters edge and take a few snaps. With the rain starting to come down a little heavier and our official photographer urging, everyone scampered to the water's edge. The river above the waterfall branches into small streams before reuniting to form the mighty fall. As everyone cautiously crossed the rivulet Padma slipped and fell right into the stream !! With shyam and chechi'shlp she was off again and had our first group snap of our tour :-).

The second act and waterfall view: The kerala forest dpt has laid out a nice path down till the waterfalls. After climbing down one gets a nice uninterrupted view of the three branches of the waterfall. Being the active members, Francis, Senthil, Aris and Puspha climbed down first and had startd taking the snaps. They were followed by Padma and Chechi. Myself and Mani were the next to watch followed by others in the group. While everyone was busy either taking pics or posing for pictures Padma slipped while trying to negotiate a rock and tore her foot. Rajamani administered useful first aid and mani himself and shyam took her to the nearest primary health centre for a proper dressing. The slight drizzle had turned into a downpour but that didnot aftect our spirit for adventure. After taking numerous snaps and climbing onto almost every rock in the river I slipped down while trying to save my glasses. Deciding to take care of my bruises once in resort we climbed back to our vehicle. By now shyam, mani and padma had reached back and in the next half hour we covered Chapra falls and Vazachal Waterfalls.

We reached the Kerala Hydel Tourism Dam at almost 4:30 and quickly purchased the tickets for the speed boat ride in the dam. The ticket costs 60 a head and is worth for money !! We decided to call it day and decided to return to the safe confines of our resort. The rain had become very heavy now and we were expriencing a typical downpour.

The Maniac Two hours: Reaching th resort wet till the bone we quickly dried ourselves. While contemplating what to do next, we decided the best way to cap a wonderful day is with a party. With the mobile speaker ON again and Illayaraja songs playing, we had a bashing 2 hours of dance, singing, gossip, uno, eating !!! Everyone invented a step of his own with Mani's Shreya step being the top hit !!!

After a quite dinner we slipped into our beds in the Dorm not before having to listen to variuos stories and sweet memories !!!

Road Less Travelled - TopSlip - Adventure Tourism of its own

After a long long time being away from active blogging, am back here. Its been a very hectic 2009 for me personally . I have been travelling around non-stop for almost the whole year. These trips varied from short visits to see mom & dad, my friend's marriage trips, adventure trips with buddies and the occasional longer ones extending to 5-7 days. These trips took me to a whole bunch of new places which I have never visited before and familiar places that threw up new experiences and surprises.

I would like to share with you a few of these experiences that I have immensely enjoyed and which have taught me a few lessons. It was during my school days that I developed a liking for travelling. My dad being a timber businessman had to travel extensively in kerala for his procurements. If his business trip falls on my annual holidays, the family got the privilege to travel along with him. But most of these trips were restricted to TamilNadu and Kerala and hence places beyond Bangalore were alien to me.

This year I not only broke the bangalore jinx (!!) but did reach till the Capital of our mahan desh - New Delhi. Before I go into the details of these trips, there are a few experiences and incidents that I feel are worth sharing.

Letme start with the one that was the most unexpected and most exciting. During the 2009 pongal holidays, we, school buddies were discussing our long pending get together. We zeroed in on topslip as its a laid back place with great adventure opportunities. And TopSlip is far faaar away from the maddening tourist crowd.

We had planned for a two night stay at topslip on friday and saturday nights. So after prearranging our stay in one of the forest resthouses inside the reserve forest for a whopping 5K/night , we friends decided to start in two different groups. As planned one group of friends started on thursday night from Ramnad. But the group from Chennai had to postpone and start on friday night owing to last minute professional issues [:(].

The journey and Elephant Chase Story:

The Chennai group got together at Perungulathur where we had to board the KPN travels coach till pollachi and the onward journey from Pollachi to Topslip will be on a Sumo. After the hifies, we called our friends who were already in TopSlip. They thrilled us with the news of being chased by two wild elephants near the forest rest house that evening. My friends were returning to the FRH in Sumo and when they were 100m away, three elephants came from nowhere and stood in the path leading to th FRH. As they there in a group the guide didnot find anything unusual about their behaviour. But when the elephants started trumpeting loudly and expressed their intolrence towards the unwanted intervention he shouted to the driver to press the accelerator and not stop till they reached the FRH. After reaching the FRH all my friends ran helter skelter to the rest house leaving their baggage behind in the car. The FRH is nothing more than a concrete structure sans water & electricity. The only security against the elephants was the small ditch dug around the FRH. We spent the rest of the night discussing about our friends exprience[luck :( ] and hoping to have a great two days in TopSlip. And what a good time had. Read on.

Sights and Sounds of Pollachi:

We reached Pollachi at around 9 in the nine morning. Topslip is 45kms from Pollachi and a good 2 hour drive from Pollachi. Our friends had come down to pick up us from Pollachi. We heard the elephant chase story retold atleast 20 times that day. Since one of my friends is from Pollachi we stopped at his farm house for a hot cup of tea. After spending a couple of hours for the morning ablutions we bade them goodbye and started our ascent towards the Anamalai hills.

In Pollachi you are never far away from an irrigation canal or a river or a mountain stream. On the way to topslip just before the first forest check post take a hard left to reach a small stream. [Ask for the Nathi(river) with a small Amman temple] Being from Chennai we could not control the urge to dive into the water. We spent the next 2 hours in the river playing around, gossiping and making fun of each other. These small sessions are the best avenues to get yourselves up-to-date with your friends' lives. All this while the driver kept urging us to start asap as the evening sun was setting quickly over the rugged hills!!

In TopSlip / Anamalais :
After our short ride we crossed the first forest check post ( FCP ) where we bought our tickets and we were in TopSlip. Topslip is aka the Anamalai (Elephant Hills) aka Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary. IGWLS is more than 1000sqkm in size and extends fromValparai Plataeu to Amaravathi Dam to Parambikulam WildLife sanctuary in Kerala. TopSlip has the main tourist reception and interpretation center in the Anamalais. The activitis one can indulge here are Elephant Ride into the Forest, Safari in a bus and all the treks inside the park start from her. The reception center is the only place to replinish your provisions while your are in the jungle.

We found a group ofwild pigs just below the reception center. While we were clicking away at the wild boars a herd of chital [spotted deer] crossed the rugged road some 200m metres away from the reception. We framed the beautiful deer and dutifully took snaps of the famous topslip glass house ( remembr the Glass House from tamil film Suriyan). Our friendly forest guide Mayyan met us around 5 in the evening and we were immediately off to our FRH which was locted 3 km inside the forest. Mayyan gave the news of spotting the same group of elephants while on his way to Reception from FRH. So with high hopes of spotting the herd of elephants we set off into the evening.

The sunset trek:

Eventhough we didnt spot the elephants we did get a glimpse of the Giant Quirrel of the Western Ghats and a Rat Snake popped its head from behind a bush before quickly slipping into the thicket. We reached our FRH around 5:45 and Mayyan suggested we take a 1km trek to sunset point to watch the beautiful sunset. Mayyan being a forest dweller all his life is as agile and surefooted as a Nilgiri Tahr. We followed him dutifully and reached the small clearing around 6:15 pm. The forest was full of life and we could hear the chattering of various insects in the background. As the sun melted below the hills in distant Parambikulam WLS, the forest resembled a huge golden yellow carpet. It was early feb and spring was one month away. All the trees had shed their leaves and the forest floor was covered with layers of fallen leaves which were roasted in the sun. So whenever we stepped on the carpetted forest floor we could hear the disinct crakling sound of breaking leaves.

We guys were busy snapping fotos of each other and didnt notice the darkness surrounding us like a blanket. Night sets in vry soon in a jungle and before you know, in a matter of few minutes its pitch black. Mayyan started immediatly asking us to follow close behind. Myself and three of my other friends who were enjoying the fabulous views from the clearing were left behind. When we started back it was already dark and the guide had already left with my other friends assuming we will follow suit. We were alone and our heart were in our mouth when we negotiated a thick bush covered on all sides by thick undergrowth. Eventhough there was no lurking wild carnivore behing the bush I had a really tough time making up my mind to cross the bush. In a forest even the slightest movement catches your senses and your brain automatically goes to full alert. On that evening we reached back at 7 and were very happy to be back in the safe confines of our FRH.

Forest at night:

We immediately scrapped our plan of the night trek as our sixth sense warned us this is not the right place for silly adventures. Mayyan further scared with stories of spotting the Raja Naga 9King of all snakes) within a few metres of the FRH. He also told us that Leopard Spottings are very common around the FRH and tigers often visit the check dam right in front of the FRH. Our dinner was gtting ready at Ambuli Illam which was 2 kms from our FRH. So we had to take the Sumo to carry the food back. The driver of our car was vry experienced and easily negotiated rocks and potholes inside the forest without flash lights. We also found the Sumo [Qualis/Scorpio will also do] was the best suited for a trip to the forest as the ground clearance is satisfactory and the vehicle is rugged.

Early Morning Adventure:
After a well deserved dinner we laid ourselves for a peaceful sleep interrupted by continous Sabhar Deer calls very near to the FRH and the distinct call of frightened herbivoures. As always happens myself and my roommate Aru woke up very early [ we guys cant enough sleep while on trips] and came out of the FRH and went for a walk around the house. We spotted fresh dung of a herbivoure which Mayyan later identified as bison's!!! We were soon joined by Arun and all three went out to answer natures calls. If you have remembered, th FRH doesnt have water [neither running nor stored] and electricity. The only source of water was the check dam constructed acorss a perennial small forest stream. This checkdam forms a small lake upstream and this were we were headed. The checkdam is a good 100m away and I didnot have courage to negotiate this stretch without our guide. Arun was the more courageous and after deliberating for a few minutes we decided not to wake up our guide and decided to venture alone into the forest.

It was early morning and this is the time where forest denizens are most active and make a beeline towards the nearest water source. After hearing the sambhar call all night and spotting the fresh dung of a bison, we were scared to across the small ditch surrounding the FRH. Mustering enough mental strength we started towards the check dam. The way to the check dam slopes smoothly from all four slides which are relatively open interpersed with few trees. After stalking our surroundings for a full five minutes we walked down to the check dam with each of us keeping a look out for wildanimals in all directions. We squatted near the check dam to relieve ourselves. [I was reminded of the unfortunate forest folk in Jim Corbett's Man Eaters of the Kumaon. These brave men of the Lower Himalayas had no other option but to answer natures calls in the forest. A whole lot them were dragged by the unforgiving ManEater of Rudraprayag who had a special liking for the human flesh] If at that point of time a carnivoure had come he would have had the opportunity to taste yummy software engg flesh. But we were lucky that day and came back without any incidents.

Trek to Bison Point:

While pondering what to do next, we decided to try the sunset trip once more. The sun had not risen by now and hence the forest was covered with a thick blanket of mist and the whole place had a heavenly feel to it. We started walking briskly towards the sunset point aka bison crossing point taking confidenc from how we had negotiated the checkdam. The forest was very clam expect for the occasional call of the woodpecker and even the usual busy insects seem to be tain rest. We three didnot talk to each other but kept a close lookout for anything ahead/behind in the path. Suddenly a pair of cock and hen making loud noises ran helter skelter and disappeared into the forest undergrowth. By now my courage had vanished as I was not sure which animal had frightened the wild couple. Arun & Aru pressed further ahead and we came to the same bush which looked so scary at night. This time we didnot have any problem negotiating the bush but once we came clear of the bush an alarmed partridge (wild game bird) flew right into us before vanishing into the bushes beyond. By now our adrenaline had started pumping and we ran back to our FRH without bothering to look behind.

Tracking the Leopard:

By now the Sun had risen and thick mist covering the forest canopy was slowly vanishing. The forest was at its best and we were fortunate enough to take a few great shots. Mayyan suggested we take a trek to a waterfalls which is 2km further inside the jungle. We readily agreed with him and off we went on the best trek I ever had. I was giving Mayyan company and we were talking about his experiences in the forest. Suddenly we noticed pug marks of a small carnivore. Mayyan suggested its a young leopard and it will not be very long since he left. So we slowly followed the foot prints for a good 30 metres. Just when we knew we were quiet near the leopard, my friends ran from behind shouting and we could clearly hear sound of the leopard disappering into the forest. Mayyan ran behind th sound but the young one was too fast for him.

The Waterfalls inside the Jungle:
With our senses heightened we walked cautiously. Topslip is a great place to spot a exotic birds and its the place to watch the horn bills in western ghats. We spotted a large variety of birds on the way towards the waterfalls. The whole way was an elephant corridor and we could easily spot huge heaps of dungs in the forest floor. We took a fifteen minute break and since it was a descending climb we had no difficulty in covering the distance to the water falls. The waterfalls came into view from nowhere and it is served by a perennial sweet water spring. We had a chilling bath in the waterfalls as Mayyan kept a guard. The path leading to the waterfalls was very steep and we had to hold on to each other to reach to the fall. Even here we spotted a lot of elephant marks and were amazed to imagine the big frames rumbling downward at a steep descent.

After a refreshing bath, me and my two friends were left behind as we were enjoying the beauty of the forest and were in no mood to get back to the FRH. Just as we were chatting and slowly climbing up we heard the alarmed call of a langur. By now we were sure about ourselves in the forest and went in search of the langur. As we left the path and entered th forest, there came a crashin sound and a big crack from a nearby tree. Eventhough we didnt spot or hear any wildlife we decided against further advancing into the jungle. This was our third adventure in two days and I didnt want my luck to run out. So we walked fast and joined our concerned group.

The Final Act:
Its been two days and eventhough the forest had given us enough memories to cherish all life me and aru were still sad at not seeing the elephants. So with a great disappointment we started to pack and get ready to start for Pollachi. We had loaded our Sumo and we two were standing in the back of the Sumo and craning our necks to spot the gentle giants. Just as we were crossing the check dam we both spotted a group of elephants at the far end of the aritifical lake. Asking the driver to slow down we started taking quick snaps hanging to the vehicle. I had got down from the vehicle to get a cleared picture of the elephants. In the frenzy we didnot spot the bigger group of elephants standing on the near side of the check dam. There was huge herd of 12 elephants with 2 infants. The elephants had got alarmed at our cries and started coming aggressively towards the path and try to block our vehicle. They were hardly 20feet away from us. As i jumped into the backseat, the driver pressed the accelerator and we had a narrow escaped from being bullied by a herd of wild elephants.

Promising ourselves to comeback we bade goodbye to the guide and setoff for work back to Chennai.

Dont's in TopSlip:

• Never venture out without a guide.
• Never get down from your vehicle while on safari
• Dont pollute and spoil the environment.
• Donot smoke and drink. Smoking is the most frequent cause of forest fires.
• Dont make noise and disturb wild animals. Remember u are the visitor.

Do's

• Sit and enjoy the flora and fauna
• The elusive big animals might elude u. Dont be disappointed you always have a new chance and forests provid you with breathtaking views.
• Dont be in a hurry to click pictures. You will miss the real experience.

Rainy Day in Chennai

hi ppl..

this is my first blog .. and i know it has taken quite a while coming. but here it is and hopefully a lot more to follow..

i really don't know how to start blogging :) so let me start with the current affairs

as you all know it has been raining continuously for the past 36 hrs in chennai and the weather dpt has predicted no let up in the downpour for the next half day or so . it is in this dampened weather that i noticed a few bright, noticeable and noble changes over the past day or so.. that really drove me into writing/starting my blog ...

let me start from the 25th evening . the day was overcast but with no signs of rain till 4:30 pm .. i was planning to drop my mom in Egmore railway station . so i had hired an auto for a grand total of 200 rs just for the one way trip .. when we started off from thiruvanmiyur the rain had already started . the first noticeable change was in the way the auto driver was behaving to us.. when a third person starts behaving nicely to us its always a pleasant surprise especially since this guy was the auto driver .. firstly he was vry particular about switching off the engine whenever stopping in a signal .. i remembered my drive to thiruvanmiyur earlier in the day when i didnt switch off my bike in any of the signals or traffic jams .. this was a welcome change and which made me think why cant we as youngsters start being responsible towards spending our earned money and stop poluting the env and reduce the usage of petrol/diesel and so on especially since we live in a period of economic slow down .. the second welcome change that i noticed in this guys behaviour was the rain started belting down.. he parked the auto and helped us in pulling down the curtains so that we can be atleast 50% dry till we reach egmore .. it was wooow as most auto walas are only particular in going as fast as they unmindful of the plight of his passengers .. kudos to that guy for showing courtesy towards a passenger who he never knows . the last one before i forget is.. the easiest route from south chennai to egmore during peak evening hours it to take the marina beach road .. turn left after chepauk .. proceed to chintadripet railway station .. take a left and reach egmore .. it took us only 45 mins in peak hour traffic and heavy down pour :)

after dropping my mom in Egmore I came out of the station to find that the intensity of the rain has increased multi fold. this left me wondering hw i would reach besant nagar which usually takes 40 mins in bike on a sunday afternoon.. but to my surprise I got 23C bus which will drop me 400 yards frm my house .. without hestiation i jumped into the bus and got a cozy seat and sat down to enjoy the rain . as you see in the MTC buses more often than not a grp of college students were creating nuisance and acting as if the bus is owned by them.. the situation got really serious when they started shouting at a guy when he partly opened the window.. the conductor was an amiable guy who just persuaded the college guys to be quiet keeping in mind the weather.. to everyones surprise the boys kept their cool till dey got down at adyar..is was a good gesture frm the students and the conductor to have prevented a melt down..

26th morning we in our room in besant nagar woke up to a heavy downpour that would not stop till 11 am .. with my bike in my uncle's house and I had no option other than using public transport for commuting to office . with reservations i started to the adyar bus depot with Mani.. we parted ways in adyar as he has to goto OMR and me to Guindy for our offices .. to my surprise I got a bus immediately to guindy .. the bus was neat taking into consideration it had rained all day .. and I had a vry pleasant journey with no traffic jams on the way .. am nt sure if the traffic constables found out an efficient way to manage traffic on a rainy day or it was because chennaities started behaving responsibily when driving in rain or it was just the case that i started late for office .. but it was a welcome relief not to be caught in any of the traffic hotspots in LB road, Madhya Kailas, IIT, Raj Bhavan or Guindy and reach office in just over 35 mins .. the flip side of walking to our office is one has to wade thru knee deep water in front of the office .. the bus driver was considerate enough to stop the bus vry near to the office gate so we got thru without stepping into d water ..

the few vry noticeable things here are

* being considerate to someone who you might not meet again - as the driver did helping us pull the rain curtains down..
* being responsible and start saving fuel - by switching off the engine in signals where the waiting time is more than 15 seconds
* keeping your cool even when you are encountered by adverse situations - as the conductor did
* start being responsible atleast when the going gets tough
* show courtesy to others - as the bus driver did when taking the bus close to our office gates

some noticeables change in patterns from the givernments side

* we get MTC buses once in few mins as they their frequencies have been increased
* the buses are kept relatively clean
* the crew in MTC buses have become a little considerate towards fellow passengers..

even in this damp day it was good to have a feel good factor after reachin home .. i really wanted to share these with you and thats the reason i have started the blog :)

enjoy the rain and be safe ... cheers untill we meet the next time .. do send me your feedbacks :)