There are many times that you might have wanted to do something but stopped in between because you got an inclination that something may go wrong. There are warnings hidden in every aspect of life of what has to come next. Whether good or bad. These warnings are also known as omen! In ancient world, there were oracles or people with divine vision! In today's world there are still many divine people (or extremely clever humans who can fool people easily) who gave warnings about future. Believe it or not, I have experienced many such warnings or fore vision in my life that have helped me a lot. Many a times, it is just a feeling that something is going to happen or a complete vision of what is going to happen. As I said, the omen could be good or bad. We ourselves could be an Omen to someone who don't even know you. Sometimes, wherever we go or whatever we do may have a good or bad effect on people around us.
Our trip to Mudumalai was one such experience. What started as a regular quick one day outing turned out to be a chain of events that I can never forget for a long long time. It was, As if me and Surendra had become a Black Cat! Wherever we go our bad luck follows!!
Prelude: It was October 20, around 3:00 in afternoon. We were roaming around in Srirangapatna after having a delicious South Indian Meal at Subramanya's (our colleague at Starsoft) house. It was the naming ceremony of his daughter and hence the whole of Starsoft had assembled there. After the meal, we were roaming around and reached Karigatta, a small hill lock in the outskirts of the main Island divided by the river Cauvery. There is a temple on top of this hill and the road leading to it is well laid. Couple of ZigZags and you are on top of the hill. This is where, I was boastfully talking about my travel experiences with Pradeep (our Project Manager). He was driving his Hyundai i20 and accompanied by girls from office who had joined him during his journey from Mysore to Srirangapatna. Due to this reason, we cut short the exploring of the hill lock and headed back to home around 5:00 pm. On October 25th, Pradeep came to me and asked if I can plan a day's trip on coming Sunday and check with everyone who will be willing to join us.
"This was quick", I thought and without wasting much time started working on the probable locations that we can cover up.
I had been to Theppakadu (Mudumalai) recently but returned without going into Safari and hence, I checked with Pradeep if he was comfortable with the place. He gave me an approval. He also said that it has to be a drive and not bike riding as he cannot sit on bike for a long time! (another reason being, the girls could easily and comfortably sit in the car while the guys enjoy the bike riding!)
I started spreading the word among the team and as predicted, the answer from the girls was 'NO'. Everyone had one or the other engagement. Even the daring girls who always said that they wanted a trip to be organized, backed off. So much for the daring and the adventure and the excitement of packing your bags in short notice!! Since the girls were not coming, obviously many of the guys took a U-turn!
Finally from the office the following guys agreed
Our trip to Mudumalai was one such experience. What started as a regular quick one day outing turned out to be a chain of events that I can never forget for a long long time. It was, As if me and Surendra had become a Black Cat! Wherever we go our bad luck follows!!
Prelude: It was October 20, around 3:00 in afternoon. We were roaming around in Srirangapatna after having a delicious South Indian Meal at Subramanya's (our colleague at Starsoft) house. It was the naming ceremony of his daughter and hence the whole of Starsoft had assembled there. After the meal, we were roaming around and reached Karigatta, a small hill lock in the outskirts of the main Island divided by the river Cauvery. There is a temple on top of this hill and the road leading to it is well laid. Couple of ZigZags and you are on top of the hill. This is where, I was boastfully talking about my travel experiences with Pradeep (our Project Manager). He was driving his Hyundai i20 and accompanied by girls from office who had joined him during his journey from Mysore to Srirangapatna. Due to this reason, we cut short the exploring of the hill lock and headed back to home around 5:00 pm. On October 25th, Pradeep came to me and asked if I can plan a day's trip on coming Sunday and check with everyone who will be willing to join us.
"This was quick", I thought and without wasting much time started working on the probable locations that we can cover up.
I had been to Theppakadu (Mudumalai) recently but returned without going into Safari and hence, I checked with Pradeep if he was comfortable with the place. He gave me an approval. He also said that it has to be a drive and not bike riding as he cannot sit on bike for a long time! (another reason being, the girls could easily and comfortably sit in the car while the guys enjoy the bike riding!)
I started spreading the word among the team and as predicted, the answer from the girls was 'NO'. Everyone had one or the other engagement. Even the daring girls who always said that they wanted a trip to be organized, backed off. So much for the daring and the adventure and the excitement of packing your bags in short notice!! Since the girls were not coming, obviously many of the guys took a U-turn!
Finally from the office the following guys agreed
- ShivKumar, our Senior HR! This was surprising as he never come out on single day outings. He was determined to join us no matter what
- PunnaReddy (aka Munna), our one man army! He was basically from Andhra and wanted to join on any outing that was planned. (even though he was not at all motivated when we specified that it would be bike ride. He was comfortable for the car)
- TejPratap Singh: He is from North India and again wanted to break free this weekend
- Surendra: My faithful old friend and a wonderful photographer. I just called him and told him about the plan and in an instant he agreed
- Surendra's friend: I don't remember this name. But Surendra was confident that he will be bringing his friend along and they will be on his Bike (Surendra's old flame Suzuki GS 150)
The other usual dropies include Vikas (He was going to Bengaluru!), Sujith (a new claimant to the bike gang of Starsoft, but so far he has never ever joined us. During this event, he was going to Mandya and can't cancel his plan etc.,). The list goes on.
So the gang was finalized, the vehicle was decided (5 in a car which included me!) and two on Bike. The plan was to leave early morning i.e, around 4:00 am from Mysore to reach Mudumalai and take a Elephant Safari or the least the usual vehicle safari which begins from 6:00 am and ends at 9:00 am. We expected to reach by 6:30 driving slowly and enjoying the nature, as one way journey was of around 100 Kms and the roads were fairly good. Since we were starting early, we expected the traffic to be least.
This reminded me of "A Scary Night Drive" experience as we had to travel the same road and we will reach that stretch latest by 4:30 am (if we started as planned), I thought of ignoring this thought and going on!
Start of Action: The Action was started one day before. Pradeep was pounded with work on Saturday and he anticipated that he will be late that night. Tej dropped off citing that he did not had money and didn't want to join this time. No matter how much we pursued him, it fell on deaf ears. I was forced to sleep around 1:30 am, thanks to Tanisha (My three and a half years old sweet little daughter, who never sleeps early when I want her to!). Punna had hardly slept that night and he had called me at 2:00 am in the morning to check if we are on plan, to which I gave a faint 'yes' as I was dead sleepy and I had to get up again in 90 minutes to get ready. The team was pretty much down to 6 now and start time rescheduled to 4:30 am.
It was around 3:45 when I got up hurriedly when the alarm went off. We were to assemble near Starsoft's Guest House (around 4 Kms away from my house) and I had just 30 minutes. Luckily I had packed my bag and I had to just take a bath and be ready. My wife was also up to prepare Tea/Coffee or anything that she could stuff me with for my journey! I knew it was waste of time to pursue her to go back and sleep. She will never budge for that and I was really glad as I really needed some hot coffee. She quickly pulled out some biscuits and went to prepare a hot cup of coffee.
No sooner that I got off the bath, my mobile started ringing. It was Shiv! I vaguely remember what we spoke. I have tried to keep it as original as possible.
Shiv: Did you see the message from Pradeep?
Vaseem: No, wait.. let me check!
Shiv: Ok, he was awake late till night and he can't drive! In fact he was working till now and want to postpone it to 11:00 am or cancel it
Vaseem: What? let me call him
My frantic call to Pradeep (again vaguely familiar script)
Vaseem: What happened Pradeep?
Pradeep: I just wrapped up the work, if anyone can drive.. I can join else I cannot drive
Vaseem: No, no one can drive perfectly
Pradeep: Okay, can we postpone it to 11:00?
Vaseem: Okay, I will update Surendra.. he was coming on bike. We will go at 11
Call to Surendra (again vaguely familiar script)
Vaseem: Sur, plan has been postponed. Pradeep was working till now and wants to reschedule it to 11
Surendra: oooo this will not work out.. What about others?
Vaseem: Shiv and Punna are ready! Munna is awake from 2 for this trip
Surendra: My friend dropped out. It was an emergency. So I am alone. Ok connect Shiv, we will talk (he conferences Shiv)
Vaseem: Shiv, Surendra is on other line what to do?
Shiv: I am ok with anything, we can go now or later
Surendra: Let us stick on to the plan
Shiv: My bike is not working properly, we cannot go till there.
Vaseem: You can take my bike and join us.
Shiv: let us go with Pradeep as this was his plan!
Surendra: Okay (Call Ends)
Call from Surendra to me. It was around 4:15 am
Surendra: Maga, we will go as planned! let them join us at 11:00, we can go to safari once again with them! what do you say?
Vaseem: Okay, let us update them!
Surendra: I will be there at your home in 20 mins, be ready!
I called Shiv, as well as Pradeep and informed them about my plans to go with Surendra! They agreed and confirmed us that they will join us in Mudumalai by noon 1:00 pm.
As luck had it, once again it was only me and Surendra! After gulping down the coffee and finishing off with some quick snack, I got ready. To my surprise, Surendra was at my door before I got ready! He waited for 5-10 minutes before I got ready (during which my wife was talking to him about the camera's that he had brought) and we started off our journey at around 4:45 am.
Journey: It looked much familiar to start with. Surendra with his heavy bag on the tank of the bike and me with my bag on my back along with the camera that Surendra had brought for me and the tripod which I was holding. It was very dark and very very cold. I was trying to hide my palms (the only skin exposed at that time) under my jacket. We hardly rode few kilometers, when we saw a small road side tea shop. Surendra stopped the bike immediately. There was a rural police station just opposite to the tea shop and we started enjoying the hot Tea against the cold and the darkness. Meanwhile, Surendra took the opportunity to show some of the amazing pics that he had clicked on his mobile.
After the life saving tea, we started towards our journey and we were greeted by the chucking of a train. It was on the left side of us and it overtook us near Nanjangud. The Sun was gradually raising, giving me a spectacular view of the fields and the train that was moving along with us. We stopped at couple of gas stations and ATM's and our success was waiting close to Gundulpet.
It was around 6:00 am now when we reached Gundulpet. We wanted to complete our breakfast here as we were not sure how much time we will be spending in safari and jungle before we can bite onto something. Unfortunately, there was nothing available. I remembered about the canteen in Theppakadu and we decided to head towards our destination without much delay. No sooner than we started, we had to stop to click some real beautiful pics of the mist that descended upon this town. The entire town was covered in the mist and visibility was not more than 10-15 meters! Surendra clicked some real nice pics near the junction where the road divides itself to head towards Ooty and Waynadu. It was a small break of 5 minutes and we moved on enjoying the cool breeze and the mist covering us without a slight thought about the events that have passed by and the events that will happen to us in the course of time that day!
We had covered about 2-3 kilometers when there was another halt by Surendra. He wanted to do some of the business which even I was eager to. He stopped near a big tree and moving behind the tree we completed our business of watering the plants. I am not sure if the plants enjoyed the warm shower in that mist or not. However, this break gave Surendra another opportunity to click on the passing vehicles.
As I was not clicking any pictures from the Camera that Sur had provided me, I was standing next to the bike trying to create smoking effect without a cigarette. Suddenly there was a loud screeching sound which brought us both on to our senses from the mist which we were enjoying. I looked around and nothing was visible.
Keeeeekeeeeekeeee ki ki keeee was the kind of sound that came again from behind the bushes next to the tree where we had parked the bike. I started staring at the bushes with anticipation of expecting some animal either a pig or some monkeys to come out. I was confidently standing there as I was holding the tripod and I know I can use it as a weapon should I have some kind of charge.
Nothing happened and the silence overtook us. I turned back to Surendra who was still looking at the bushes behind wondering about the sound that we heard. He looked surprised and lost in thoughts.
"En ir bahudu adu Sur, handi gindi na?" {what could that be Sur? is it a pig or something?}, I asked facing the highway and took a step or two towards my left away from the bike.
The sound resumed heavily and this time accompanied by the sound of the branches breaking and a loud THUD! This literally caught me off-guard and I was shaken for a second.and when I turned right to see what scared me, I was surprised to see a fallen branch (albeit a small one) of tree right where I was standing a second before and also a Monkey! A full grown Monkey. It quickly scrambled and ran towards the bushes.
How on hell did a monkey fall down from the tree? I thought and looked above my head. There were at-least 4-5 more monkeys dangling screeching and shouting at the two unexpected intruders!
"Nodidra Sur" {Did you see Sur?}, I asked Surendra in shock
"Maga, Hinde Nodu" {see back son}, He Said
When I turned towards the bushes behind me, I saw a whole army of monkeys screeching and hissing and showing their teeths.
I was taken aback and I picked up the branch that had fallen. It was not a huge branch, It was thick (about 2-2.5 inches) and around 4 feet in length and threw it aside.
"Hogona illinda, sumne yake tale nau" {lets go from here, why to take tension}, Surendra said as he popped up on the bike. I followed him soon and threw the stick away as the bike got its momentum.
I was still dazed by the commotion that happened just few minutes back. It was so quick that I hardly realized what happened or how it happened. Expecting some explanation, I asked "koti mara dinda heg bittu Sur" {how did the monkey fall down from the tree?}
"yeradu koti jagla adtittu and ondu bittu, almost nin mele biltittu adu" {two monkey's were fighting and one fell down, it had almost fallen on you}, he said.
"Hmmmmm, lucky me", I said and started enjoying the mist. Now it was very bright and sun was rising towards our left as we moved forward. I was occasionally removing my helmet to enjoy the water droplets on my face when a very beautiful sight caught my eye. I immediately asked Sur to stop the bike and showed him the picture perfect scenery.
A calm highway with a temple in between, next to the road a big warehouse with a farmland glowing with flowers. Just next to it, the land rising itself to form the hills half covered with the mist that we had encountered for last few kilometers. Behind that the blue sky with a orange glowing Sun! We both started clicking pictures and enjoying this spectacle.
Nevertheless, we proceeded further and soon we entered "Bandipur National Park". The road is nicely laid and is well covered with road humps to control the speed of the vehicles. After the quick hairpin bends we were greeted by an elephant, then by some peacocks etc., As we neared the safari center, we saw herds and herds of deer, sambhars and the like. We got some quick shots of the deer's crossing the roads and the photos came magnificently well.
We saw many tourists hoping up and down of the safari vehicles at Bandipur but didn't bother to stop as our intended destination was Mudumalai. Okay, here I gotta let out a secret.
We had covered about 2-3 kilometers when there was another halt by Surendra. He wanted to do some of the business which even I was eager to. He stopped near a big tree and moving behind the tree we completed our business of watering the plants. I am not sure if the plants enjoyed the warm shower in that mist or not. However, this break gave Surendra another opportunity to click on the passing vehicles.
As I was not clicking any pictures from the Camera that Sur had provided me, I was standing next to the bike trying to create smoking effect without a cigarette. Suddenly there was a loud screeching sound which brought us both on to our senses from the mist which we were enjoying. I looked around and nothing was visible.
Keeeeekeeeeekeeee ki ki keeee was the kind of sound that came again from behind the bushes next to the tree where we had parked the bike. I started staring at the bushes with anticipation of expecting some animal either a pig or some monkeys to come out. I was confidently standing there as I was holding the tripod and I know I can use it as a weapon should I have some kind of charge.
Nothing happened and the silence overtook us. I turned back to Surendra who was still looking at the bushes behind wondering about the sound that we heard. He looked surprised and lost in thoughts.
"En ir bahudu adu Sur, handi gindi na?" {what could that be Sur? is it a pig or something?}, I asked facing the highway and took a step or two towards my left away from the bike.
The sound resumed heavily and this time accompanied by the sound of the branches breaking and a loud THUD! This literally caught me off-guard and I was shaken for a second.and when I turned right to see what scared me, I was surprised to see a fallen branch (albeit a small one) of tree right where I was standing a second before and also a Monkey! A full grown Monkey. It quickly scrambled and ran towards the bushes.
How on hell did a monkey fall down from the tree? I thought and looked above my head. There were at-least 4-5 more monkeys dangling screeching and shouting at the two unexpected intruders!
"Nodidra Sur" {Did you see Sur?}, I asked Surendra in shock
"Maga, Hinde Nodu" {see back son}, He Said
When I turned towards the bushes behind me, I saw a whole army of monkeys screeching and hissing and showing their teeths.
I was taken aback and I picked up the branch that had fallen. It was not a huge branch, It was thick (about 2-2.5 inches) and around 4 feet in length and threw it aside.
"Hogona illinda, sumne yake tale nau" {lets go from here, why to take tension}, Surendra said as he popped up on the bike. I followed him soon and threw the stick away as the bike got its momentum.
I was still dazed by the commotion that happened just few minutes back. It was so quick that I hardly realized what happened or how it happened. Expecting some explanation, I asked "koti mara dinda heg bittu Sur" {how did the monkey fall down from the tree?}
"yeradu koti jagla adtittu and ondu bittu, almost nin mele biltittu adu" {two monkey's were fighting and one fell down, it had almost fallen on you}, he said.
"Hmmmmm, lucky me", I said and started enjoying the mist. Now it was very bright and sun was rising towards our left as we moved forward. I was occasionally removing my helmet to enjoy the water droplets on my face when a very beautiful sight caught my eye. I immediately asked Sur to stop the bike and showed him the picture perfect scenery.
A calm highway with a temple in between, next to the road a big warehouse with a farmland glowing with flowers. Just next to it, the land rising itself to form the hills half covered with the mist that we had encountered for last few kilometers. Behind that the blue sky with a orange glowing Sun! We both started clicking pictures and enjoying this spectacle.
Nevertheless, we proceeded further and soon we entered "Bandipur National Park". The road is nicely laid and is well covered with road humps to control the speed of the vehicles. After the quick hairpin bends we were greeted by an elephant, then by some peacocks etc., As we neared the safari center, we saw herds and herds of deer, sambhars and the like. We got some quick shots of the deer's crossing the roads and the photos came magnificently well.
We saw many tourists hoping up and down of the safari vehicles at Bandipur but didn't bother to stop as our intended destination was Mudumalai. Okay, here I gotta let out a secret.
- Bandipur and Mudumalai are basically same forest (ah, everyone know about it)
- Bandipur is Karnataka part of forest and Mudumalai is Tamil Nadu (I guess even this is known to everyone)
- Safari at Bandipur cost INR 300 per head per 1 ride of 45 minutes and Safari at Mudumalai costs INR 30 per her head per 1 ride of 45 minutes (I guess no one knew this!!). The worst part: No one never knew about the 10% iny miny costs at Mudumalai as it was an utter lie which I was soon gonna find out
Some stupid bugger had told me that Mudumalai safari is just 30 per pax. I wanted to save that money which was not gonna happen! (This was not known to anyone joining me in that safari!)
While proceeding through the forest, we had several small stops of a minute or two to click the wildlife in Bandipur and soon we were near the border of Karnataka and we crossed it without any incident. The next few kilometers passed soon as we did not spot much animals.
Around 7:30 we reached Theppakadu (Mudumalai). There was a government guest house, elephant camp, ticket counter and a canteen with some houses. This place is a three way circle. Anyone entering from Karnataka side has two choices to make. Take a right to head towards Ooty. This is the main Mysore-Ooty highway via Gudulur. Anyone taking left route will enter the treacherous road leading again to Ooty via Masingudi. This road is very narrow and the climb when you hit the hills are very steep. There are about 36 deadly hairpin bends but the scenery is absolutely breath taking. Only small vehicles with capacity of max 20 seater can traverse in this route. This road is closed for traffic post 5:00 pm as driving becomes very deadly in the night time. One can also have a view of Kalhatti water falls on the way via this route. As soon as one enter this road, he/she will come across a iron bridge which itself is a good place to stop and see the river flowing below.
First thing we did when we reached this spot was to enter the canteen and see if we can stuff ourselves with some food. Luckily they had started business and they had parotas to serve. We both ordered two parotas each which was served with chick pea curry. We were hungry and the climate was still very very cold, so the hot parotas did their job wonderfully. As soon as I stepped out of the canteen, I noticed that the ticket counter (which was opposite to this canteen) was still closed. So I started clicking the pics of the monkey nearby! I was angry that the counter was closed as it was almost 7:50 and the safari time was coming to an end. This is when my another assumption was busted!
During my last visit with my wife and kid (which was just few weeks before), I had told them that the elephant camp was further 10 kilometers in Masingudi road and we had to return as the ticket counter, which was closed at that time also. To my utter surprise, the Elephant camp was just next to the iron bridge! We walked ourselves there and clicked some pics of the elephants. A person there asked us to go and get the ticket to enter the camp and feed the elephants! When I pointed to him to the closed ticket counter, he showed us the way to the real ticket counter which was about 100 meters walk towards right from the circle! (My wife would surely give me a cold stare when she will come to know that "Mr. I know it all" didn't knew about this).
After this revelation, we started our walk to buy the tickets. We were deciding if we should go for an elephant ride or a the tempo ride, however I noticed that instead of the usual Surendra was frantically trying to call his better half to update the status. Thanks to the mobile network failure at this part of the world, he was annoyed as well as worried that his wife may get angry! Me on the other side was not worried as I had already told my wife about network issues :-).
At the ticket counter: The gentleman said that the tempo safari would be 225+ and elephant safari (4 people max) would be 850 INR!! Final myth busted! The rates were almost similar to the rates in Bandipur! I was sincerely hoping that my last assumption that Mudumalai has got more animals than Bandipur is not wrong!
We both decided that it will be safari through van and when the other fellows join us, we can take a call on Elephant safari later in the evening. So Surendra purchased the tickets and we hoped on the bus that was to take us through the jungles. We both got ready with our respective cameras to shoot whatever we can see in the safari.
Safari: To my dismay, the seats that we got were just one before the last one. However we both got a window seat on left and right side of the bus. I was worried that my motion sickness may haunt me. We were accompanied by few honeymooning couples and a gang full of idiots who did not know the meaning of "Maintain Silence". They had started screaming, shouting and talking loudly as if they are in a market. They were all conversing in Tamil and hence we didnot want to create a Kannadiga-Tamilian conflict so we kept our arse shut tolerating these buggers! The safari started at around 8:30 am and the bus started moving and hit the main road heading back towards Bandipur. We had just moved a little far from where we had started that we noticed two Sambaar deer fighting each other. Surendra got real good shots with his camera. He was exploring all the features that he could in his brand new EOS wherein my camera was set to automatic!
First thing we did when we reached this spot was to enter the canteen and see if we can stuff ourselves with some food. Luckily they had started business and they had parotas to serve. We both ordered two parotas each which was served with chick pea curry. We were hungry and the climate was still very very cold, so the hot parotas did their job wonderfully. As soon as I stepped out of the canteen, I noticed that the ticket counter (which was opposite to this canteen) was still closed. So I started clicking the pics of the monkey nearby! I was angry that the counter was closed as it was almost 7:50 and the safari time was coming to an end. This is when my another assumption was busted!
During my last visit with my wife and kid (which was just few weeks before), I had told them that the elephant camp was further 10 kilometers in Masingudi road and we had to return as the ticket counter, which was closed at that time also. To my utter surprise, the Elephant camp was just next to the iron bridge! We walked ourselves there and clicked some pics of the elephants. A person there asked us to go and get the ticket to enter the camp and feed the elephants! When I pointed to him to the closed ticket counter, he showed us the way to the real ticket counter which was about 100 meters walk towards right from the circle! (My wife would surely give me a cold stare when she will come to know that "Mr. I know it all" didn't knew about this).
After this revelation, we started our walk to buy the tickets. We were deciding if we should go for an elephant ride or a the tempo ride, however I noticed that instead of the usual Surendra was frantically trying to call his better half to update the status. Thanks to the mobile network failure at this part of the world, he was annoyed as well as worried that his wife may get angry! Me on the other side was not worried as I had already told my wife about network issues :-).
At the ticket counter: The gentleman said that the tempo safari would be 225+ and elephant safari (4 people max) would be 850 INR!! Final myth busted! The rates were almost similar to the rates in Bandipur! I was sincerely hoping that my last assumption that Mudumalai has got more animals than Bandipur is not wrong!
We both decided that it will be safari through van and when the other fellows join us, we can take a call on Elephant safari later in the evening. So Surendra purchased the tickets and we hoped on the bus that was to take us through the jungles. We both got ready with our respective cameras to shoot whatever we can see in the safari.
Safari: To my dismay, the seats that we got were just one before the last one. However we both got a window seat on left and right side of the bus. I was worried that my motion sickness may haunt me. We were accompanied by few honeymooning couples and a gang full of idiots who did not know the meaning of "Maintain Silence". They had started screaming, shouting and talking loudly as if they are in a market. They were all conversing in Tamil and hence we didnot want to create a Kannadiga-Tamilian conflict so we kept our arse shut tolerating these buggers! The safari started at around 8:30 am and the bus started moving and hit the main road heading back towards Bandipur. We had just moved a little far from where we had started that we noticed two Sambaar deer fighting each other. Surendra got real good shots with his camera. He was exploring all the features that he could in his brand new EOS wherein my camera was set to automatic!
After this, we took a left turn and entered the forest area from the main road. We were on high alert and keeping watch for any kind of animal that we can spot. Minutes after minutes passed by and nothing was visible except for occasional small herd of deer. The shouting was getting unbearable but we had no choice. Suddenly there was a scream and everyone turned towards right side of the vehicle. It seemed that one of the bugger had spotted a crocodile in the small puddle of water. However none of us saw that. The route that we had taken looked like a small tar road that was not well maintained but connecting villages. However the thick vegetation around us gave us a good feeling. Almost 30 minutes passed by and nothing we had seen. It appeared as though we saw more animals during our ride to Mudumalai than what we saw in safari. Soon we realized that the safari was over and we were alighting from the vehicle. They say that to spot an wild animal, one should be very lucky. Albeit, we were not lucky that day!! Forget about the Tigers that we wanted to see in wild, we did not even see a bison! Anyways, better luck next time we thought. We had plans to go on an Elephant ride later that evening and we were hoping that we may get a glimpse of a tiger or a leopard or something else! Hope is a beautiful thing!
Wait: It was around 9:30 now and we the long wait for the rest of the team began. Since we both had nothing to do, we decided to head towards Masinagudi. So we hit the road again taking the left turn (narrow shortcut) road towards Masinagudi. We had just crossed the bridge when we saw two beautiful foreigners (Mostly Europeans) sitting on the back of an Open Jeep with a driver and a guide in front of us. They overtook us. Those two ladies were very pretty and as usual busy talking with each other ignoring everything else on the way! (Whether Desi or Foreigner, Girls are Girls!!). This was a pleasant relief for us, a company of two beautiful girls going in an open jeep busy talking to each other.. I was just lost in my thoughts, when Surendra increased the throttle and overtook them and soon they vanished behind us. Surendra might have remembered his wife's call. Luckily my phone was still searching for the network in the forest so I could enjoy the nature and its delightful surprise such as the two beautiful angels we just missed!!
After a few minutes drive, we crossed the gate separating the forest area and the village. Soon we came across a shop and stopped to have a drink. I could swear, I was waiting for the jeep to cross over so that I can get a final glimpse of those two ladies. However even after 30 minutes of wait, the jeep never crossed. I started wondering why they did not come out of the forest and I put forward my concern to Surendra. He simply said that "Maga, they might have returned to Theppakadu" and went to their hotel from there, why worry?
This was a fair enough reason, so I relaxed enjoying the Tea in my hand. Surendra found another opportunity to click some pics of a small lake nearby and boast about the camera that he had purchased.
Soon boredom overtook us and we decided to hit the road and head towards Ooty via the Kalhatty road (same road where we were). We thought, we will go towards the viewpoint which was at the end of 4th or 5th Hairpin bend and wait for these guys there. While crossing this stretch, we got some good clicks of people moving about.
We were on the foothill and I was talking mostly off the man eating tigers and leopards (thanks to some of the Jim Corbett, Kenneth Anderson) articles which I had read on WikiPedia. I realized that Surendra was getting worried as his Super Bike was having difficulty climbing the hill. The stretch was notorious and I have seen many vehicles stopping in between due to over heating etc., He was shocked that his bike was having difficulty even at 2nd gear to climb this part of the mountain. Anyhow, without incident we reached the viewpoint and we stopped here. Sun had raised over our heads and despite a hilly and forest region, we were sweating and soon over protective jackets were out in our hands.
No sooner than Surendra parked the bike, he asked me to hold the bags and he quickly moved towards the platform. I was loaded with two bags and the tripod and struggling to climb the platform when my phone rang. It was from Pradeep!!
After a few minutes drive, we crossed the gate separating the forest area and the village. Soon we came across a shop and stopped to have a drink. I could swear, I was waiting for the jeep to cross over so that I can get a final glimpse of those two ladies. However even after 30 minutes of wait, the jeep never crossed. I started wondering why they did not come out of the forest and I put forward my concern to Surendra. He simply said that "Maga, they might have returned to Theppakadu" and went to their hotel from there, why worry?
This was a fair enough reason, so I relaxed enjoying the Tea in my hand. Surendra found another opportunity to click some pics of a small lake nearby and boast about the camera that he had purchased.
Soon boredom overtook us and we decided to hit the road and head towards Ooty via the Kalhatty road (same road where we were). We thought, we will go towards the viewpoint which was at the end of 4th or 5th Hairpin bend and wait for these guys there. While crossing this stretch, we got some good clicks of people moving about.
We were on the foothill and I was talking mostly off the man eating tigers and leopards (thanks to some of the Jim Corbett, Kenneth Anderson) articles which I had read on WikiPedia. I realized that Surendra was getting worried as his Super Bike was having difficulty climbing the hill. The stretch was notorious and I have seen many vehicles stopping in between due to over heating etc., He was shocked that his bike was having difficulty even at 2nd gear to climb this part of the mountain. Anyhow, without incident we reached the viewpoint and we stopped here. Sun had raised over our heads and despite a hilly and forest region, we were sweating and soon over protective jackets were out in our hands.
No sooner than Surendra parked the bike, he asked me to hold the bags and he quickly moved towards the platform. I was loaded with two bags and the tripod and struggling to climb the platform when my phone rang. It was from Pradeep!!
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