Day 1 at wayanad :)

Although I dont think I will be able to justify the ammmmazzzzing time I had with Laina in Wayanad in words.. I will still give it a shot! :D

SO we start from here on Friday night..and reach Kalpetta at 4:30 in the morning. It was still dark. The bus dropped us at some place where seemimgly drunken men were joblessly sitting all around..and the silence was kinda terrifying! we cud see a tea-shop in a distance..
We jumped out of the bus and I took a deep breath in the Wayanad air..something tht I had wanted for so long! :D

I turned around.. and we both smiled. Yes, we finally are here!

We called up the Hotel ppl( We had done prior booking in woodlands Hotel) and asked them where they were located. They gave us directions.. and after a 5min walk we could spot a watchman standing in the middle of the road. He stared at us and we stared back.
I uttered - "Umm.. Woodland Hotel?"
He nodded and started walking..We followed him. We soon saw a huge brightly lit board of the hotel.
He lead us in.
A sleepy but seemimgly nice chap welcomed us at the counter. He wore a blazer which probably would hv fitted his grandfather before dieting. He gave us the keys and we went to the room, watched the TV for sometime.. and then slept off..
There was nothing creepy abt this place and we felt pretty safe. Frankly, this hotel was perhaps one of the best things tht happened to us in the whole trip.

It was good fun overall! Met lots of interesting people.. travelled in local buses.. ate at random
places.. Knew wht it is like, to have a life where you can choose what to do..where to go..*sigh*

Met different kinda people..
1. the woman in the Hotel lobby whom we stopped for clicking a pic for us..

woman - ningal college students aano?
we - nah.. we are working in bangalore.. woman - oooh!!

hehe.. her look of bewilderment and how she looked at us from top to bottom..althought i dint really hv any age complex till now..it sure feels good when someone thinks you look way too young! :D

2. the hotel man..sudhir.. who kept contradicting himself everytime we would ask him for directions..
i think he realised it too... and decided to draw a map for us instead.. which was unequivocally
incorrect!
hehe.. he thought we were some high society russian women! he told us where to get the bus for meppadi.. and as we turned around, he prompted us..

he - umm,, well.. i'd like to tell you, tht everything will be written in malayalam. So...
and then he looked upset..
laina(smirking back) - yeah rrright!! eniku nalla pole ariya!! :)) he - ohh...

3. The woman on the bus stand who smiled excessively.. or tht pan shop guy who struggled to keep his eyes off his feet..or the bakery shop dude whose geography teacher would certainly kiss him for his knowledge!

after asking all over around.. we somehow took some bus and reached meppadi..

4. the hotel guy at meppadi.. who gasped in amazement when he learnt tht it was just the two of us who were going to trek to chembra peak..

man - randu kutti-gallo?
we - yo! :)
man - ayyo!! entha ingane pone!?? this was in such a sympathetic and concerned voice tht i almost thought i shed a tear at his concern..:D

he was nice.. he called a man and asked him to get the 'trusted auto man'..

man - nammal ariyane auto karane vilikyane!
and then he turned to us and said - tirichu varumbol evidanu bakshanam kazhikyane..!! (hv lunch with us when u come back from the trek)

the auto man arrived in a while.. he looked soooo paavam.. looked like someone had just slapped him :D. the hotel man told him to take us to the forest office and get the permission for trekking and then drop us 8 kms to the place where the trek began..and take not more than 60 bucks,.. he nodded obediently.

5. the paavam auto man who took us to the forest office.. but no one was there.. he dint give up, and took us to the quarters of the officers to make sure we got the permission... we were pretty chill all this while.. and clicking pictures everywhere!
finally one lady comes out of the house.. and gave us forms etc to fill.. she was sweet.. and was
amazed to see tht we were not hiring any guide to take us up the trek...:) she told us to taek care and be safe..

the auto man then took us some 8kms from there.. this was helluva isolated hilly road..peripherised by beautiful tea estates... not a soul to be seen anywhere,, we were enthusiastically clicking pictures everywhere.. adn stopping the auto man every 5min to click pics!! :)

6. we reach teh base of the peak.. and see some 4-5 absolutely sidee men standing there.. who were obviosuly staring slyly!! *phew*.. as Laina's explanation goes.. *they looked bored of their lives and were staring for some change* rofl!! :)
so we get out of the auto.. and one man jumps and makes himself available for any conversation..
we asked him where the trek began from..

man - yeah.. its right there.. towards the left.my name is zuber..and yeah..how are you plannin to go back these 8kms after the trekking.
we said we dont know.. and tht was not our concern at tht pointa time..
man (getting upset) - By the way do you hv network?
i took out my cell.. yeah.. there was no network..
man - hmm.. theres a local phone there..(he pointed to his right).. and this is my phone no. i hv BSNL connexion..you gurls should be back by around 5pm.. i will get an auto for you from meppadi.. but in case you dont see me here.. call me at this no.

we were zapped!! really!

we - thanks.. thanks a lot..
man - do you hv enuf water?
we(examining the bottle) - yeah.. almost half a bottle..
man - what!!! no..this wudnt do! saying this, he snatched the bottle from ma hand,,and leaped across to fill it up..

we started the trek..it was sooooper nice! we trekked trekked.. found our own path..cleared the grass roots to make our ways..when we got tired, we wud stop by.. sit around on the rocks.. and sing songs.. generally talk abt stuff..we were carrying newspapers.. and we had tie up a sheet like a ribbon on the branches of shrubs, at every crossroads.. so tht we find our way back..

Quite brilliantly, Laina and me gelled in pretty well.. she is the sweetest thing.. really! :)
we reached the top in some 2-3 hours.. and yeah..we were dead tired.. but the moment we saw the view from the top.. i dont think i wanted to think abt the fatigue anymore!
we clicked lots of pictures.. and then just lied down on our backs.. and closed our eyes..
there was nothing but just the sound of the wind..it was almost afternoon.. but the breeze was cool.. and caressed our faces.. i smiled.. it was such a beautiful feeling...
you know, silence is something tht has never failed me to amaze me.. so many thngs fall in place, only if we'd shut up and just BE.

we lied there for dunno how much time.. the feeling was just too much to give up..we trekked back..and tht dint take as much time.. ma shoes kept slipping at every steep edge.. and Laina kept making fun o' me.. njaan paavam :( .. she'd click me everytime i'd fall!! :D

we came back..and met soem helpul gardener while looking for Zuber.. this gardener gave us some water to generally wash our faces and freshen up. he kept talking abt bangalore.. and was pretty upset coz we trekked alone.. and we were like - aiyye! wats the big deal!! :P

Zuber appeared in sometime.. and called for an auto..
on the way back... Zuber bhai.. the auto man and we two..got into interesting conversations.. in
general abt kerala.. wayanad.. and somethings here and there..
Zuber bhai had to stop by at his place and change..he invited us for tea/coffee at his house.. but we preferred otherwise.. :)
we tried clicking pictures with his kids.. but they ran away shyly..:D
even the auto man had to stop by at his place on the way.. and pick some stuff.. i was pleased to see tht he lived in 'such' a big house..

so after having all the breaks.. we reach back to meppadi.. where the hotel man greeted us.. and we had a nice lunch with kerala parotha and some coconut veg curry and fish curry respectively..

we called it a day and went back to the hotel..coz it was getting darker..watched tv.. talked till 2 in the night.. and then slept off! :)

*sigh* tht was day no. 1.. putting some pics here..

let me take a break.. will write abt day 2 in the next post :)

going for the AOL Silver Jubilee Celebration from tomorrow onwards!!
i am very very very happy!! :) :)

bckgrnd - "Kid Rock - Only God knows why"
/me -