Tripped!

Kerala is a nice place. So nice that they are called God's own country, and rightly so. Somehow the feeling of being heavenly was very profound when we stopped at the outskirts of this town Sulthan Bathery, which was to be some kind of a center point for all the places we were to visit on the trek we went last week. The mist surrounded us and both sides of the road dived down steeply, so that it seemed that we were on the mezzanine and all the fields were on the ground floor. The air was cold and I having had woken up from my deep slumber, was still trying to figure out what was going on. All around me the enthusiastic juniors were clicking away, while some tried to get acrobatic by climbing trees.

So here we were, 300-odd kilometres away from hostel, away from the steamrolling heat and sweltering climate of Skull, to enjoy the cool backwaters of Kerala. Well, not everything is rosy in life, and soon the pangs of hunger started biting. Yeah, we had the biscuits and no, we did not have cooked food packed from the lousy mess, but the reserves were meant for the trek or something. So we landed up at this so-called best place to eat in SB, and what an experience we had. The few guys who knew Mallutongue in our group chattered something we did not understand, I only hoped they were ordering something veg. Palappams, and ultra spicy curries turned up and there was also this dish which looked like a dosa made out of spaghetti. Anyway, most delicious (probably because of the hunger) and wanting to get on with the trek we moved on.

Revati had very kindly jugged us the lodge at this wildlife sanctuary at Muthanga. Having dumped our stuff there, we relaxed for a bit. The guys were tired, I don't know about the girls. But the one remarkable thing was the way we all flattened out on the bed. Wow, was the KSTRC bus ride tiring. Anyway, there wasn't much wildlife around and this wasn't Periyar at any rate, so we decided to get a move on. There are around 9-10 places that you would really like to visit in and around Wayanad. (see wayanad.nic.in) And 2 days aren't really enough.

We settled on Kuruwa island. Unfortunately we wasted an hour going around in circles, trying to find the point where we moved from bus to boat. Finally, we paid over 860 bucks to get 43 of us across a stream half as wide as an Olympic swimming pool. Man, I could have swum across that one! But con said no, and con is an honorable man. So then we crossed, and we were at last on the island. The trip mood hadn't yet picked up and herding 43 people through a jungle was proving to be quite a task. Con rose to the occasion by getting us a guide and we started our sojourn through the woods of Kuruwa. On land, you can at best file in a straight line and all there is for grip are roots of trees and dead leaves. The waters divide Kuruwa into bits and pieces and the waters that flow are stopped by the presence of big, smooth rocks. The rocks are really treacherous when it comes to letting you walk over them, and least because of the huge amount of moss that grows on them. So that's how the trek through the forest was, partially on land, then wade through water(yes my shoes were in my hand), then walk again with soggy socks and dirty shoes that poked because of the wild grass stuck to my wet feet. Finally after about a thirty such crossings, we got tired and rested on the rocks. In the mood for mischief , we started watering Con. And that snowballed into a major water play! (See pic). This went on till it got dark after which it was dinner and sleep, which would be too regular to blog about!

End of the day, there was only one thought in my mind .....we should do more of this!!!