All of us (Nitin, Koel, Ranja, Gauri and myself) were in high spirits now that we were finally on our way to Munnar. That december night was unusually quite but not too cold. The tavera, we had booked, was zooming through the empty roads like the 'Santa Maria' would have sailed the open seas with Columbus on board. Only difference being there were 4 columbuses on board this one, in search of the new world called Munnar.
In no time the city lights were a silent speck behind us as if left behind in a race. The road in front of us was illuminated by the headlights of the car which had overpowered the starry sky and the only sign of habitation was a solitary petrol pump or a dhaba. But these were just distractions till we reached our destination and it seemed there was nothing to stop us.
The excitement was to be experienced than to be told as the cool winter air hit us in the face.(Interesting factoid: Gauri was not amused by this phenomenon so she made air tight arrangements for her hair by wearing a monkey cap and rolling up the windows). The tavera reached mysore in a few hours and continued on without stopping to see the Mysore palace illuminated in a million light bulbs. We were at our chatty best notwithstanding that fact that it was almost 2am in the morning. Mysore became a has been in some time and we made our way further south. Sometime around 4am we reached bandipur National Park. The road leading us there was not as smooth or wide as the one we had come from but the fact was it was nowhere as bad a road we normally see in the city sometimes. Since there was no divider, occasionally a vehicle would blind my eyes coming straight towards us in the opposite direction. Credit goes to Mr. driver who was always alert and an awesome person (more on that later).
It seemed that it would be a boring trip rest of the way. No sooner than I thought the car stopped dead in its tracks. Awaken from the 10-second-away slumber, I became wide awake and peered ahead through the windshield. Something was definitely wrong because there were vehicles parked one behind the other. None of the vehicles was moving or for that matter even trying to move. It seemed as if they had resigned to the fact that its gonna take a while before i get to move.
All vehicles had turned off their headlights and I could see just torches ahead in people's hands in the inky darkness of the forest. When I say darkness it was actually dark! If you are a city slicker don't try to imagine it just read on. For those who know what it means you are with me. In that darkness, theres no moonlight even as its blocked by the forest trees. The eerie silence of the surroundings adds to the freakiness. I couldn't imagine stepping out in that dark considering we were surrounded by tiger habitat.
As it turned out the forest had closed thoroughfare for the night and would be opening in the wee hours of the morning. With the suspense suddenly gone, the 10-second-away slumber returned and those few minutes of sleep are my most cherished as I hadn't slept even a second that day. Early morning was not without its drama. I woke up to the incessant chirping of the bandipur forest. We were surrounded by some serious wildlife. The first light of the morning sun took away my breath I suddenly found us surrounded by the tallest eucalyptus (nilgiri) trees i have seen in my life. The smell of the morning jungle made my lungs fill with life giving fresh air. The road was narrow and winding but it didn't matter much as each incline and every turn was unraveling the beauty that a forest is. Having watched a forest only on discovery or Nat geo, and read amusedly in the books by Jim Corbett, until then, it dawned upon me how beautiful a forest actually is. The never ending green is seldom monotonous and the sights and sounds keep you interested for whatever time you spend.
Most of the traveler's excitement dried once mr. driver confessed he wasn't sure of the route. Thus began a series of are-we-lost and how do we reach munnar kind of questions. Ultimately the known route was agreed to be Bandipur-Ooty-Coimbatore-Pollachi-Munnar. Glad that we knew where we were going the spirits returned to where they were earlier. The next hour was full of light hearted banter and clicks as everyone wanted a piece of the beautiful surroundings captured as a "Kodak" moment!
Thats it for this post. If the night was exciting the day was adventurous. I hope to post it sooner than later.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
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