Summer of '09

June 1st week

It was summer again and it was getting hotter and hotter by the day! I just wished I could fit inside a cooler!! Now that really was impossible. The only option was to move to some cooler place for a few days. So I discussed it with my dad, who gave me quite a few options viz. Pune-Shirdi, Kolkatta, Bangalore-Cauvery, Amritsar, Hong Kong-Macau, Bangkok-Phuket, etc. But I wanted to go to a hill station. Ooty was the place that came to my mind first, as it had been over 15 years since I'd last been there. I stressed on that point, and also mentioned that it was raining everywhere else. Somehow I managed to convince dad, and he booked our trip for the very next week i.e. June 13-16, 2009.

June 13, 2009

Our flight was at 11:25am. We arrived at Chennai airport by 9:30am. I was all excited and didn't even realise how those 2 hours in the airport went by. There we were finally in the aircraft, bidding adieu to the heat! What a relief! It was an hour's journey to Coimbatore. From there, we went by car (Lancer) towards Ooty. It was kind of my dad's friend to lend us his car, which made our trip quite comfortable.

We were quite hungry as we weren't served any food on the flight. So on the way we stopped by at Nilgiris dept. store to pick up some food stuff and drinks to have on the way, as it was a 3-hours long journey. So we headed straight to Ooty from there without stopping at any other point. At first, we were listening to my favourite Mohd.Rafi songs in the car. They were so soothing. But once we started climbing the hills, I felt the need to change the mood. So I then played Jab We Met songs. They made the hills come alive, besides me ofcourse! I felt like I was in the same place as Aditya and Geet were... dancing to the tunes of "Yeh ishq haaye baithe bithaaye jannat dikhaaye haaye..." That's the perfect song for anyone to hear while travelling along the hills. I was in love with nature even more at that point of time because of that song :) It was an enjoyable drive.

Around 4:30pm we reached our hotel - Fortune Sullivan Court. It was quite nice and the room was quite cozy. The view outside was amazing! We had some snacks and then set off for a walk by the lakeside. It was quite chilly outside and I was really enjoying the weather. We didn't go in for boating then as it was closing time. We just walked around. There were a few rides and video games too. I dragged along my brother for a ride called the "Break Dance". It was fun. All those twists and turns were actually like energy boosters :) We then walked out of that area. Opposite the lake was a Thread Garden. We got in there and were totally amused to see plants made of thread! It took 12 years and 50 people to get that garden ready. It was wonderful! We even bought a souvenir. All the flowers looked so real!

It was dark by the time we left the garden. So we went back to the hotel and had dinner after a while in the restaurant. By 10:30pm we were off to bed.

June 14, 2009

The hotel had organised a car for us for sight-seeing. So we got ready early and had our breakfast by 9:30am. By 10am the car was there at our service. We were barely a few metres away from the hotel when the driver received calls from someone. He then told us he had to meet a customer urgently. We said okay and he drove along there. He was having a long discussion with the customer, who actually wanted that driver to take him around. Growing impatient, my dad told him we would not wait anymore and we got off the car. We took an auto-rickshaw back to the hotel. My dad complained to the Manager, who then arranged for another car. Finally by 10:45am we set off to Doddabetta Peak, which is the highest peak in the Nilgiris range. It was amazing out there! The blue sky, the hills, the clouds, the flowers, made it look like Heaven on Earth! The only hindrance was that the place was over-crowded, especially 'cause it was the weekend. Anyway, it was a beautiful place. While gettin back to the car, I picked up a nice hat for myself from one of the stalls there, which I made use of in all the gardens we roamed therefater :)

We then visited the Tea Factory, where we got to see the whole process of Tea Manufacture. Closeby was the Chocolate Factory. A wide variety of chocolates were kept for sale. Again it was too crowded there, so I couldn't pick up any.

The Wax Museum was next in our itinerary. There were wax statues of our great poliitical leaders like Manmohan Singh, Gandhiji, Abdul Kalam Azad, etc. The other statues included those of Jesus Christ, Sai Baba, Mother Teresa, man injured because of drunken driving and Veerappan. All statues were wonderful and looked quite real from a short distance.

Next, we headed towards the Botanical Garden. It was a lovely place, especially for a picnic with family/friends. The trees and flowers were so lovely to look at. All types and colours of flowers could be seen. We took a stroll around the park and I managed to click some beautiful pictures too :)

Around 1:45pm we were back to the hotel for lunch. Dad's friends were coming there to take us to Mudumalai for a night jungle safari. So we quickly had lunch and packed up our bag for that night. By 3:30pm they were there, and we left for Mudumalai after a few minutes.

We reached Mudumalai around 5pm. We were staying at a resort called the "Jungle Retreat". There were 2 huge dogs at the reception, 1 of them being a Labrador. Surprisingly I wasn't scared, as they seemed to be calm and friendly. We met our guide there. He showed us to our rooms, which were huge and pretty clean, something I actually didn't expect. We then thought of going for a small drive around that area and come back for dinner, after which we would go for the night safari. The scenery around was beautiful. There was a light shower just when we had arrived. The leaves on the trees and the flowers were all shining with the rain drops still perched on them. We were just passing by a river when we noticed an elephant quenching his thirst. It was a beautiful sight indeed. Suddenly our car's tyre seemed to have some problem. So we went to the mechanic's. He said it would take a while. So all of us started walking down the road, leaving the driver and the guide behind, who would bring the car to us once it was ready. We noticed the wide blue-grey open sky, some haunting trees, low lying mist at a distance, quite a few varieties of flowers. It's rare to see such things in a city!

Finally after about half an hour the car was with us. We then carried on with our drive to the jungle, instead of getting back to the resort. We saw many elephants, bison, deer, huge beetles, fireflies. We could even smell freshly killed prey and started looking for a tiger around, in vain. I loved watching the elephants the most, especially the babies. They were just too cute!! :) There was a particular elephant who enjoyed posing in front of my camera with the car's headlights flashing on him! :) It was an amazing experience to catch the wild animals so close! I felt like just hanging around there itself! We even crossed the border into Karnataka to reach the Bandipur sanctuary.

By 10pm, we got back to the resort. The guide asked us if we were interested in going for early morning trekking and the elephant safari. I really wanted to go, but my brother didn't want to, as it was difficult to wake up so soon, that too after a tiring day. So we dropped the idea. We had dinner quickly and were off to bed.

June 15, 2009

We woke up early and got ready quickly, as we had to leave back to Ooty. We had our breakfast in the resort, and also climbed up the tree-house. That was really nice, but climbing up was a bit scary! Then we walked by the pool too. The weather was amazing once again. Soon we left from there. The drive back to Ooty was wonderful again, as I was listening to all my favourite tracks. The song I enjoyed the most at that time was "Jhirmir jhirmir megha barse o rama, mann pyasa kaahe tarse o rama...". I loved one particular line in the song "Bheege hue mausam ka mazaa loot le aa ja..." :) That song suited the mood and the surroundings perfectly! I was feeling so in love yet again!! :)

In about an hour we were in Ooty. Dad's friends bid farewell to us as they had to get back to work. We reached our hotel by 10:45am. After about an hour's rest, we headed towards the lake for boating. We took the Rowing boat for just the 3 of us and the rower. It was a half an hour ride. The water was quite dirty as we could see all food pkts and bottles lying around the corners of the lake. Wish the place was more well-maintained and kept devoid of plastics. After the boat-ride, I wished to go for a horse-ride. I forced my bro to join me. So we got onto our respective horses, mine being a white pretty one, and my bro on a black handsome one. My horse was named Rohan. It was a nice smooth ride, but really short. After that I wanted to buy some chocolates, for which Ooty is famous. So we drove along to a department store where we got some home-made chocolates. By 1pm we were back to the hotel. We had our lunch and took a short nap.

Around 4:30pm we set off to the Rose Garden, which was located right opposite the hotel we stayed in. But it was a long walk to the entrance, quite tiring actually. Dad preferred to stay near the entrance. Bro and I walked along the garden which was huge. We covered maybe about 60% of it only after which we got back. We still had quite alot of time left before dinner. So we decided to check out the Pykara Falls too. It was an hour's drive. We were again listening to Jab We Met songs, which enlivened us up again.It was closing time when we reached the entrance to the Falls. But somehow we got in and walked down the hill right upto the river. Those steps were life-taking!! We barely reached down and clicked a few pictures, when we were asked to leave. Again we had to climb up all those steps. It was a difficult task indeed!

We drove back towards the hotel. It was quite windy outside and our faces were getting frozen up. All i needed was a hot cappuccino! So I asked dad to stop by Cafe Coffee Day, my favourite coffee place. We got in there, and dad and I had cappuccino, while my bro had iced coffee! Wonder how he could actually have that in the cold!!

Once we were done with our coffee, we got back to the hotel. We had our dinner in the restaurant. The food was delicious that night. We'd ordered for Dal makhani, Panneer makhani, Chicken makhani, Kheema mutter, Onion Raita along with Naans. It was a royal feast indeed. I wish I had more place in my stomach to literally empty those vessels! :) After that heavy meal, we retired to bed.

June 16, 2009

It was time to get back home. I really wished it didn't have to happen so soon! I was just beginning to enjoy life once again; did it really have to end here so soon? Well I had no options. We all woke up early and got ready. Breakfast was done with soon, and we got our bags packed. I took a horse-ride once again from the hotel to the Rose Garden. It was more enjoyable this time. I was on a black horse, named Amazing Boy! He was quite amazing and playful too. This time I got to ride the horse myself. It was quite difficult actually, with the horse making his own movements from one side to the other. But it was a nice way to the end this wonderful trip!

By 11:30am we left the hotel and drove down to Coimbatore. We reached the airport around 2pm. We still had over 2 hours for our flight to Chennai. So we had our lunch in a restaurant there, after which I again had a cappuccino at the Cafe Coffee Day, situated inside the airport. It was time to board the flight soon. That was the end of my family trip, possibly the last one! You never know...!