2nd February 2008
Participants:
1) Sterin 2) Nirmal 3) Sandeep 4) Raman 5) Kiran 6) Arun Sarath
Startup
We started from our Kalki bungalow, Madiwala(I.e. the nick name for our NSS 2004 bachelor’s house) at 5 pm in the evening(I know it is really an odd time to start, but situation compelled us for that). Distance from Bangalore to Ooty is around 320 kms(as told by our cab driver via Mysore – Gundelpet - Gudalloor). Plan was to reach there in 6 hours and enjoy the night with some drinks and cards, roam around the least seen / uncommon places in Ooty next day, reach back in Bangalore by Sunday night.
Drive to Ooty
Bangalore Mysore highway didn’t help us for a fast drive since our driver was lazy enough and he maintained a speed only at 60 – 70 kms per hour. It took 3 and a half hours to reach at Mysore with a tea break in between. Pulling each others leg was the main time killer. Sandeep was really struggling to pass the crown on to others during that time.
We had our dinner from a dhaba at Gundalpet. Bandhipur and Mudumalai national parks on the way made us to expect some wild animals including Elephants and tigers(I know, the last one was an exaggeration). But only animals seen were deers and wild bulls. Reaching Ooty at 12.30 am, we flushed out the ideas of having drinks or playing cards. Even the climate was not freezing / cold as expected. After searching around for some time, we manged to get into a good hotel room for one night stay at Rs. 750/-. We decided to get up at 6 am next morning, even though most of ours’ morning starts at 9 am on normal working days.
Dodapetta
Foggy morning welcomed us with alarm rings from our mobiles. Chilled water from pipe made some of us to reschedule the pattern of morning habits. We had our bed coffee to get out of the freezing effect of Ooty weather. After taking some snaps we started Ooty roaming targeting Dodapetta first. Closed ticket counter invited us when we reached Dodapetta gate at 7.45 am.
Our gang was the first guys to get the ticket and enter the place. Expectation of seeing the’chicks’ went in vain, but the mist all around encouraged to pose for long photo sessions(which should be found in our orkut albums:)).’Dew drops’ all around made some of us(including me) to show our photographic skills.
Exploring unseen places in Ooty!
Our further plan was that. But void tummy compelled us to have a heavy breakfast from a vegetarian hotel at Ooty junction(off course all places have junctions, malayalam movies fans will never deny that:). Somebody suggested a place called Dolphin’s nose. We headed in Coonoor direction for that. We also targeted to see Lambs’ rock and some tea gardens on the way.
Dolphin’s Nose and Lamb’s Rock
View from this suicide point was really magnificent. Visibility was much less due to fog in the line of sight. Anyway we got a nice view of Catherine waterfalls from there. A small kid explained many thing to us regarding the places nearby. He also sprinkled some sweets to attract monkeys nearby. It was really nice to watch monkeys eating sweets eagerly. As a reward we bought some tea leaves and powder from his stall. Nice tree with yellow flowers was another attraction there to take snaps.
Next destination gave us the opportunity for some trekking. Even though it was not difficult, the place offers a trekking experience to families. End point was really exciting but dangerous to take snaps. Posing for adventurous photos may take your life, provided if you are careless enough. We had good non veg meals in preparation of seeing more places on the way back to Bangalore via Gudalloor.
Horse Riding
We took a short break near a film shooting spot. It was a very small hill with panoramic view of sceneries all around. A group of north Indians were enjoying horse riding which created the interest in enjoying the naturalism of riding in us. Nirmal was the first guy to board, but on a comparatively small horse. He didn’t realize the mistake until he saw the photographs later. Arun Sarath was the next one. Luckily he got a cute and good looking real smart(in my perception) coffee brown horse to drove. I was also interested in riding and same localities group came with a odd and strange looking horse. I commented negatively about that horse, as soon as I saw it. But influenced by the canvasing of localities, I had to ride on that.
Initially it was fine and smooth, horse started walking with the trainer(I hope he was a trainer or at least somebody who tamed the horse). After a few steps, horse showed its dis-interest in walking forward by nodding its head sideways. The person who was walking with us forced the horse to move forward. I was happy to experience something different. Nodding happened again, but more furious this time! My happiness turned into confusion. Now trainer wants the horse to run. The nodding happened again and horse started walking faster.
I was a little bit frightened with all these. This turned into terror suddenly as the horse stopped with a slight jump with its front legs up! My breath stopped for a second. But trainer slapped the horse on its back with his hand. Horse was about to run and I really got angry as well as terrified and shouted at the trainer, “STOP”. Everybody nearby looked us. I was really frightened at horse behavior with the man with us. I asked him to take me back. We had a few snaps with the horses. At last the horse tale had a happy ending with no injuries.
Pykkara Falls
Our next destination was Pykkara falls and we proceed deviating from the shortest way to Gundalpet and drove towards Gudalloor. We were expecting big falls and large crowd over there. A small check dam on the way made our expectation higher. After reaching the spot, we were asked to walk around 500 meters further. There was no sound of waterfalls but pin drop silence.
At last Pykkara falls was in front of us, with no fury. Water was flowing very streamlined, allowing us to walk in between. Stones were slippery but manageable for a walk on. Moving down the river bank, we were able to watch nice scenery and mighty view of a large mountain. We jumped across the flowing water and had a few snaps there. After having tea break from Pykkara we headed towards Gudalloor for a wine shop.
Gudalloor, Mysore and then Bangalore
We were concerned about the checking that happened while crossing the border on day before. So we decided to have something from any bar on the way and not to carry any liquor. It was a big surprise to see no bars in Gudalloor on the way. We post poned the drink-session to Gundalpet. Road was good and our driver was driving faster now. I don’t know why, may be because of some calls that he received a few minutes back.
From Mysore I moved to front seat to see more driving skills. Some times the vehicle was flying at 130 km / hr, feeling “loss of gravity” effect. We reached our home at 11.15 pm cutting Mysore – Bangalore driving time to 2.15 hrs. Seeing his driving skills, I came to know that first impression is not the actual impression and not to judge a person by first interaction or experience.