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 !!!