there are many things in life that happen for first time. and this event 'first time' has a special significance. it makes a way into not only our memories, but also in our compartment of special moments. i had my first official BMTC ride yesterday. official in sense i didnt know the vital stats like which bus i had to catch, from which stop to catch etc. i wanted to go to my sister's place. she had told me where to come, but how to go there from my place; she didnt know. so i had to call a few friends of mine which know a good deal about travelling by BMTC and had been living in bangalore for past few years.
the main twist in the story was, i was going to start the journey from an area, about which i knew nothing. i sometimes wonder, that why i have to do such foolish things. like going to roam and landing up at a place from which, to return i have to take help of either a friend or of an auto rikshaw. i was wondering that yesterday also, to tell u frankly. anyway, i had gone there to take gift for a friend. from there i was planning to come back to a stop which i know, and from which i was sure that at least i ll get a bus back to home.(thats if i dont get a bus to go ahead)
i had almost decided to go back, but rains poured over my decision.it wasnt heavy rain, the rain had just started. because of this, my friend forced me to go to next stop from which she was sure that i ll get bus to go further.(she was sure, i wasnt) i boarded in bus. told stop name which i had memorised by utmost difficulty.(here names are like that only. they ll test ur pronounciation and memorisation skills every now and then...) i also requested the conductor to tell me when the stop comes. now i dont know what was goin on in his mind, or maybe he was busy so he forgot to tell me when my stop came. i heard a man who was just getting down say my stop's name.(i have forgotten the name. who ll rememeber that after one day also?) but the time till i reached the door, it was already closed and bus had started. i said to conductor that i want to get down. he just replied 'so?'. so, i have to wait for next stop to arrive.
i got down at next stop, thinking that i ll catch another bus back to that stop; i crossed the road only to realise that the road which i was now standing on was one-way. now u can imagine how much i wud have cursed the conductor. rain was a li'l bit more than what u can call drizzle. in these conditions i had walk back to my stop. i had read in a book that one should never walk on unknown road without asking directions. so i kept asking where the stop is. one man said right across the road, where i just saw one public toilet. i guess he heard me wrong. i went ahead and asked another person. that person said just go a li'l ahead, cross the road and u ll be at that stop. being happy that i finally reached the stop, i went ahead. once there, i asked a security guard whether i ll get bus to go ahead to my sis's place. he said u ll get at a stop behind. i asked the above stop name, the guard said thats the stop, u left it behind.
until this time rain had started pouring its heart out. i started my walk back to the designated stop. when i reached there, i realised that the stop was right in front of the building in front of which the man was standing. the man who told me to go a li'l ahead and to cross the road. i had no time to go shout on him, coz there was already a bus there. i just asked a person sitting inside whether the bus goes to k.r.pura (such a short and sweet name. kaash all names were like this...) he said yes and without listening further i jumped inside.he was telling me further that the bus doesnt go to station, and the area to which i wanted to go. then i asked conductor to tell me a stop to get down to take another bus.(my bus no. 3 in single journey...) he told me get down at a stop, i didnt hear the name properly let alone memorising it. so i told another person sitting inside to tell me when my stop comes.
now in between this telling to tell me wala confusion, i remembered my sis had told me something like tin factory on phone. i enquired about that. so now i had two choices to get down at. and in process of selecting the stop from these two, i again missed the stop (stops this time) and went ahead. but fortunately this road was not a one way. i went on other side, and this time i asked properly, what my sis had told me to ask and caught a bus. it was something like channasandra (.......) finally i was in right bus. then i got down at the stop and called my sis. her husband then came to pick me up at the stop.
i was thinking about the experience afterwards. it was not at all a bad experience. just imagine, u dont know how to go, but u have to go. there is no way u can find out exactly how to go, the rain is coming down. and all u get is information is how to go to next step of the journey. so u dont know what will be there in the next step of journey. so unpredictable life! have u ever experienced it? try to do it. its good to have all experiences. and i bet u ll love it, just like any other 'first experiences'. and then u ll be ready to go anywhere, even if u dont know how to go. this first experience will help in boosting ur confidence.
so dont just keep reading the blog. think of such opportunity to enjoy life.
next time u come back on blog, i hope u must have at least thought of experiencing this...
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
MadeMyTrip!!! Part 2
Hi again...
now comes the two third of my trip. this was the part when we enjoyed the most. as told in previous blog, after kodai kanal we went to tekkady. arguably (should write 'un' before this word) the worst place in my trip.
the day we just entered kerala, was a 'band' day. all shops were closed, and because of that, we had to pay 1300/- as entry fee (which is just 750/- on normal day. now if u r a CAT aspirant, please find the realstion of these two entities and tell me. it ll really helpful...) after paying 'taxes' we moved ahead towards the tekkady, which is a wild life sanctuary. we were just about to enter but a guard there told us that the boat ride for which the place 'famous' (i didnt even know the name of the place to tell u frankly) is completely full. and we wont get any ticket. so frustrated, we went ahead to take lunch. but there also, because of 'the day' the hotel was full and we were not supposed to get any food for next hour. again frustrated we thought of moving ahead to munnar. there also we were faced with problem. someone told that we wont be allowed to enter munnar until late evening. more frustration. (now u know why i said 'un'arguably worst place of trip.) we took about turn and entered tekkady.
once there, we saw a loooooooooong queue for buying boat tickets. cursing the guard who told us that tickets are sold out, we stood in line. but the line was not that unpleasant, because of someone standing in front of us in the line. (we were all guys, so u know what made us stand still in the line) after some efforts we got 7 tickets and it made one of us not to come for the ride.
boat ride was not at all bad, same way it wasnt not that good also. (for a ticket of 100/-) they say animals come to drink water, that time we can see them from the boat. but i think the animals were already done with there thurst. not a single animal was visible for almost entire ride. at last while returning back we got a glimpse of some animals. all other time we were watching wild things (yeah not animals, :D ) i have a lot of videos, but wont update here. a li'l sensored stuff...
a small word - if u have limited time, then its advisable to skip tekkady.
we left the tekkady after having some food, then we again entered the previous restaurant. our time was turning back to normal, we got food with normal delay. then we left towards munnar. in between driver wanted some food, so we stopped and to give him company, we had tea. (some photo session again...)
there was no obstacle to stop, as a man had mentioned before. this time, the trip started to become a li'l traditional. we started singing and playing antakshari. so the ride towards the munnar was comparatively smooth. (except some of the bumps on the road) we reached munnar at about 11:00 - 11:30. it was very cold out there. again we started house hunt. finally we got a cottage. now the food hunt begun. it was late, almost all shops were closed. but we managed to get our hands on some food. then at cottage we finished the food and slowly dozed off while watching the TV.
next day morning, as the owner had promised that we ll get hot water how muchever we want; we didnt get a single drop of hot water. we just washed face and left the cottage to see all the points. first was the tea estates. we romed freely in the estates doing all photo session and all, till the rakhwaldar came running and scolded us. till then we had already taken a few pics.
after a session of photo shoot we left tea estate and wnt to see dam. it was dam(n) good. at least to take pics... the water was very deep, while taking one pic we all were standing on the wall. we were so afraid to look down that we just finished taking photo as soon as possible and came down from wall. while taking photo also we were holding each other. we also bought some home-made chocolates there and finished there only. (record time :- 3min 42sec. just a guess of time. didnt measure by stopwatch)
then the most exciting part of the trip. speed boating. this one was just too good. the boats were so fast, that we had to do video shooting to capture the speed of boat. but the ride was too good. water splashing all over as boat rushed forward, or while turning and even while stopping.
then there was a echo point. thats the first echo point i have ever seen having a lake and boating. we kept wondering why that point was called echo point. there was no echo at all. not even as much as we get on cellphone network. as there was nothin to do anything there, so again we did some photo shoot.
next point was a shooting spot. there we did shooting. we do what the point tells to do. at echo point we tried to get echo, but the nature didnt respond. so we did photo shooting. ekdum filmi eshtyle...
next stop was a point called something like 'top mountain' or 'top point' (dont remember exactly) which is the highest point on kochi-munnar road. the weather here was pleasant. nothing else extra ordinary. just another point where u can stay just looking at mountains, admiring their beauty. and time will just pass by...
now was the time to visit last and most awaited point. a falls. i again dont remember the name. extremely sorry for that. the main reason is, when we reached there we were just thinking of going in falls. no one even thought of asking the name of falls...
from there, we came back to bangalore. 3 day trip, for which planning was done for almost half a month came to an end. thats all. if u want more information on exact route and all the details of places to go, u r looking at wrong place. search google!
now comes the two third of my trip. this was the part when we enjoyed the most. as told in previous blog, after kodai kanal we went to tekkady. arguably (should write 'un' before this word) the worst place in my trip.
the day we just entered kerala, was a 'band' day. all shops were closed, and because of that, we had to pay 1300/- as entry fee (which is just 750/- on normal day. now if u r a CAT aspirant, please find the realstion of these two entities and tell me. it ll really helpful...) after paying 'taxes' we moved ahead towards the tekkady, which is a wild life sanctuary. we were just about to enter but a guard there told us that the boat ride for which the place 'famous' (i didnt even know the name of the place to tell u frankly) is completely full. and we wont get any ticket. so frustrated, we went ahead to take lunch. but there also, because of 'the day' the hotel was full and we were not supposed to get any food for next hour. again frustrated we thought of moving ahead to munnar. there also we were faced with problem. someone told that we wont be allowed to enter munnar until late evening. more frustration. (now u know why i said 'un'arguably worst place of trip.) we took about turn and entered tekkady.
once there, we saw a loooooooooong queue for buying boat tickets. cursing the guard who told us that tickets are sold out, we stood in line. but the line was not that unpleasant, because of someone standing in front of us in the line. (we were all guys, so u know what made us stand still in the line) after some efforts we got 7 tickets and it made one of us not to come for the ride.
boat ride was not at all bad, same way it wasnt not that good also. (for a ticket of 100/-) they say animals come to drink water, that time we can see them from the boat. but i think the animals were already done with there thurst. not a single animal was visible for almost entire ride. at last while returning back we got a glimpse of some animals. all other time we were watching wild things (yeah not animals, :D ) i have a lot of videos, but wont update here. a li'l sensored stuff...a small word - if u have limited time, then its advisable to skip tekkady.
we left the tekkady after having some food, then we again entered the previous restaurant. our time was turning back to normal, we got food with normal delay. then we left towards munnar. in between driver wanted some food, so we stopped and to give him company, we had tea. (some photo session again...)
there was no obstacle to stop, as a man had mentioned before. this time, the trip started to become a li'l traditional. we started singing and playing antakshari. so the ride towards the munnar was comparatively smooth. (except some of the bumps on the road) we reached munnar at about 11:00 - 11:30. it was very cold out there. again we started house hunt. finally we got a cottage. now the food hunt begun. it was late, almost all shops were closed. but we managed to get our hands on some food. then at cottage we finished the food and slowly dozed off while watching the TV.
next day morning, as the owner had promised that we ll get hot water how muchever we want; we didnt get a single drop of hot water. we just washed face and left the cottage to see all the points. first was the tea estates. we romed freely in the estates doing all photo session and all, till the rakhwaldar came running and scolded us. till then we had already taken a few pics.
after a session of photo shoot we left tea estate and wnt to see dam. it was dam(n) good. at least to take pics... the water was very deep, while taking one pic we all were standing on the wall. we were so afraid to look down that we just finished taking photo as soon as possible and came down from wall. while taking photo also we were holding each other. we also bought some home-made chocolates there and finished there only. (record time :- 3min 42sec. just a guess of time. didnt measure by stopwatch)then the most exciting part of the trip. speed boating. this one was just too good. the boats were so fast, that we had to do video shooting to capture the speed of boat. but the ride was too good. water splashing all over as boat rushed forward, or while turning and even while stopping.
then there was a echo point. thats the first echo point i have ever seen having a lake and boating. we kept wondering why that point was called echo point. there was no echo at all. not even as much as we get on cellphone network. as there was nothin to do anything there, so again we did some photo shoot.
next point was a shooting spot. there we did shooting. we do what the point tells to do. at echo point we tried to get echo, but the nature didnt respond. so we did photo shooting. ekdum filmi eshtyle...
next stop was a point called something like 'top mountain' or 'top point' (dont remember exactly) which is the highest point on kochi-munnar road. the weather here was pleasant. nothing else extra ordinary. just another point where u can stay just looking at mountains, admiring their beauty. and time will just pass by...
now was the time to visit last and most awaited point. a falls. i again dont remember the name. extremely sorry for that. the main reason is, when we reached there we were just thinking of going in falls. no one even thought of asking the name of falls...from there, we came back to bangalore. 3 day trip, for which planning was done for almost half a month came to an end. thats all. if u want more information on exact route and all the details of places to go, u r looking at wrong place. search google!
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
MadeMyTrip!!!
Hi again...
earlier this month, on dates 1st to 4th, i went to a trip with my roomies. i wud like to share my experience.
we planned to go to munnar-tekkady-kodai kanal. planning part was superbly done. we were planning for a 4 day trip. but it took us about half a month to plan everything. but i shud say that i dont have much authority to say how tough the planning was, coz i joined planning team for last two days only. after everything was decided about the route (which i knew least about), places to stay (which i knew almost 50%) and places to be visited (number of which, after i entered the planning committee got reduced to one-third); we started to finalize on the way to go there. after much thought (just to say, we decided this in an hour ONLY) we decided to go by private vehicle. we visited a few travels offices here in bangalore, then decided one travels (do i have to tell on what basis?)
we left bangalore on friday night.i dont know what was goin on in the driver's mind. i think he had decided to turn our journey upside down. literally... he took us to kodai kanal first. anyway, we reached kodai kanal at around 11 in morning (or shud i say afternoon? naah, for me its morning. holiday yaar) then we searched for a cottage, took wash and all and then started searching for the basic need of mankind-food! and by good grace of god we found a good hotel just near our cottage. we ordered Rs.75 wala thali. it was UNLIMITED north indian thali. i ll give u the description of what all and how much we ate, some other time. for now i ll just tell that we entered the hotel at about 3 and left at about 4:30.
then we went and watched some points in kodai kanal. one of which was a shooting spot. that time i understood that the jungle they show in movies, is just a portion of land having a li'l dense mass of trees.
anyway, then we went forward to a rather high point. when we arrived there, it was almost clean and having good visibility; but within five to ten mins clouds started closing in on us to reduce vivibilty to almost 30% (cant help talking in %'s, that shows that engg has started flowing in my blood now. god help me!) it was a pleasant site though. we did some photo session there (which sure is a unsaid rule of trip!)
then we went ahead. now we arrived at a lake, in which we were supposed to do boating. but unfortunately (maybe fortunately), there was rush so we were not able to do boating. hence, we moved ahead.
then we went along a path known as 'coaker's walk'. spelling is right, its coaker's. there also, as mentioned earlier - photo session... then we had masala tea and we came back to cottage. there we spent about an hour.
we then went to a lake. frankly speaking that was the best part of stay at kodai kanal. we sat there along the shore, all six of us having masala tea (yeah, again!) after having the refreshing tea, we went back to cottage and had another refreshing thing. obviously SLEEP!!!
next day morning, we left the cottage and went on for tekkady. on the way we went to 'silver cascade water falls'. falls were good, if they had allowed us in; it wud have been awesome!
ok then, this was one third of my trip. now u can imagine how much we enjoyed... remaining two third, next blog. until then, alta la vista...
earlier this month, on dates 1st to 4th, i went to a trip with my roomies. i wud like to share my experience.
we planned to go to munnar-tekkady-kodai kanal. planning part was superbly done. we were planning for a 4 day trip. but it took us about half a month to plan everything. but i shud say that i dont have much authority to say how tough the planning was, coz i joined planning team for last two days only. after everything was decided about the route (which i knew least about), places to stay (which i knew almost 50%) and places to be visited (number of which, after i entered the planning committee got reduced to one-third); we started to finalize on the way to go there. after much thought (just to say, we decided this in an hour ONLY) we decided to go by private vehicle. we visited a few travels offices here in bangalore, then decided one travels (do i have to tell on what basis?)
we left bangalore on friday night.i dont know what was goin on in the driver's mind. i think he had decided to turn our journey upside down. literally... he took us to kodai kanal first. anyway, we reached kodai kanal at around 11 in morning (or shud i say afternoon? naah, for me its morning. holiday yaar) then we searched for a cottage, took wash and all and then started searching for the basic need of mankind-food! and by good grace of god we found a good hotel just near our cottage. we ordered Rs.75 wala thali. it was UNLIMITED north indian thali. i ll give u the description of what all and how much we ate, some other time. for now i ll just tell that we entered the hotel at about 3 and left at about 4:30.
then we went and watched some points in kodai kanal. one of which was a shooting spot. that time i understood that the jungle they show in movies, is just a portion of land having a li'l dense mass of trees. 
anyway, then we went forward to a rather high point. when we arrived there, it was almost clean and having good visibility; but within five to ten mins clouds started closing in on us to reduce vivibilty to almost 30% (cant help talking in %'s, that shows that engg has started flowing in my blood now. god help me!) it was a pleasant site though. we did some photo session there (which sure is a unsaid rule of trip!)
then we went ahead. now we arrived at a lake, in which we were supposed to do boating. but unfortunately (maybe fortunately), there was rush so we were not able to do boating. hence, we moved ahead.
then we went along a path known as 'coaker's walk'. spelling is right, its coaker's. there also, as mentioned earlier - photo session... then we had masala tea and we came back to cottage. there we spent about an hour.
we then went to a lake. frankly speaking that was the best part of stay at kodai kanal. we sat there along the shore, all six of us having masala tea (yeah, again!) after having the refreshing tea, we went back to cottage and had another refreshing thing. obviously SLEEP!!!
next day morning, we left the cottage and went on for tekkady. on the way we went to 'silver cascade water falls'. falls were good, if they had allowed us in; it wud have been awesome!ok then, this was one third of my trip. now u can imagine how much we enjoyed... remaining two third, next blog. until then, alta la vista...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)