A trip into serenity, a trip to Kodaikanal...

I'm penning this blog a week after returning from a trip to Kodai (or Kodaikanal as it's commonly known). Even though it's been a week now, the fun, excitement and chilling fog is fresh all over me as I continue to write this with the very same excitement.

Friday, 20th July 2007, Chennai.

I had to catchup the evening train from Egmore at 9.30 p.m, and that after travelling 18km from office after a client call between 5.30-6.30p.m.. Managed it comfortably in the end, and joined my office folks at the Chennai Egmore station well before time. Ashish and Pagu were already running around grazing our herd, something which they did pretty good till our return the subsequent Monday. The highlight of the journey start was "Yengal Varungala Chief Minister Balajiku oru O podunga", nearest translation : "Three cheers to our future Chief Minister Balaji". (Balaji happens to be our Project Manager who made it to the trip with his family).

The night in train was fun as expected, bullying, ragging and all naughty stuffs college folks would do. Girls formed a little train chain and ran around, guys did their best to obstruct the train chain. Most guys retired around mid-night. We all envied Andrew and Ashwini, who were amidst the Accenture gang (not to mention some good girls too).


Saturday, 21st July 2007, Somewhere few hours from Kodaikanal.

We guys woke at 6, freshened up and were all over the train looking forward to Kodai Road station which eventually arrived at 7. Our 3 mini buses that picked us from here were going to be the only transportation mode next 2 days. The roads to Kodai were curvy and curvy enough to cause vomiting among most of us, especially the ones who opted not to sleep. All 3 buses took a stop over before we reached our resort "Lilly Valley". Lilly Valley in simple was an average resort. The exterior garden and lawn were much impressive than the interiors of our rooms which never made me feel cozy both the days.

We had a hearty breakfast, and lazed around a bit, before which it started to pour hard. It was surprising to see the count of photo enthusiasts amongst us. Each one trying to grip every angle of the hill station and cover every damn flower or leaf. I managed to get some view of the oncoming fog that gripped us for next couple hours. This was when some alcohol lovers felt it was time for the hard drinks to come out. Had a few rounds of it and even more rounds of chat and fun. Post lunch the sun showed himself to us, and the group decided it was time to visit the lake.

We were there in a few minutes. I hopped on to a cycle in my bid to get rid of my little hangover. At first I thought the 5 km cylcing around the lake was an exaggeration, but later knew it was indeed 5 kms. After a lot of pit- stops finally made it. By now it began to pour hard again. A few of us hopped into our bus, and unfortunately this was where a little misunderstanding happened and we ended up driving back to hour resort, while the other 2 buses continued with the city tour. We missed the boating and the Coakers Park, the 2 main attractions of Kodaikanal.

Our batch retired in our rooms and re-united at 9 p.m, back to another round of drinks. We were all disappointed that no camp-fire or music was arranged owing to heavy rains today.
Meanwhile there was the other batch playing Anthakshari, I decided to opt out of it. We guys danced to songs on TV and danced to our own tunes too. It was all too much fun. Nitin and me bribed our driver to play songs in the bus, and we lit our own camp fire (burnt out of cartons ) and danced around it (the highlight song was "Pokiri Pongal" from a recent Tamil movie "Pokiri"). At about 12 all of us found ourselves snoring in our rooms.


Sunday, 22nd July 2007, Kodaikanal

Thanks to Ashish's snorts, I couldnt sleep beyond 6. Watched TV for a while and freshened up in the cold Kodaikanal morning water. Then walked all over our hotel lawns trying to fill my camera. Fed a few grass blades to a horse (more of a pony) in the campus, and woke up mates from other rooms. Our plan was to cover more tourist spots today, and leave by4 p.m to catch the 9.30 p.m train from Madurai to Chennai. We first travelled to the Pine Forest in our buses. This is where the fun began. Each of us dancing to the songs being played in the bus. Rinu and Asma need special mention for their never ending energy source that lasted till late in the evening.

I have earlier seen such pine forest scenes only in movies, where a pretty heroine is chased by a few gangsters. Now I found myself with Syntel gang in the same pine forest. By now almost all of us were running around the forest in all directions, more like an untied dog running all over a grass lawn when it finds itself in an overly excited state. We captured a lot of scenic pictures here, munched a few fresh carrots, shared some with monkeys too. This weather here was amazing, it would shine bright and then slowly but steadily we would be completely surrounded by fog, and then heavy downpours. It was so very predictable by now.

We then drove to the Pillar Rock ( I think so) which had a very steep descent. The recent rains made this path even treacherous. All except the 7 of us decided to venture through. It was a one of a kind experience, we all knew we were just one stumble away from a never ending roll down the cliff. This made it even more exciting. Finally made it as far as we could go, and then decided to join the waiting gang up there.

Next on our agenda was the Suicide Point. By now it rained again. We sheltered and had hot bajjis, milk and some shopping. Suicide point offered us no view, except a thick blanket of fog. I remember a similar blanket the last time I was here, 15 years back !, I mean 15 years and the fog still stayed on, beats me ! Bought some homemade chocolates and eucalyptus oil (the Kodai specialities), and off we went to our resort. Out of nowhere we decided to put up a dance party near the resort bus park. The whole bunch joined in, and it was a whole lota fun, a mid-day dance extravaganza. Very few were spared from dancing, and we rocked the next 1 hour. I think this 1 hour was the best in the entire trip.

The last part was our descent from Kodai to Madurai. It was a 3 hour curvy journey again. Our bus was filled with Dances till we took a puke break again. Then we started Anthakshari, which got us over the puking sensation and the next 2 hours went off in a fluff. Saveetha became the limelight now when she fainted the moment she got out of the bus in Madurai. I managed to get her some glucose, and in a while she was all charged up for the last leg of the tour.

Me, Sami, Thulasi and Chandrakanth split to have some juice and then back on our 9.30 train. Felt like even before the fun gripped us, the thought of returning back to a daily routine of status calls, meetings and work sank in. It was a little sober journey back to Chennai. I dozed off around 11 returning back after what I would simply call an absolutely fun filled trip to a scenic serene Kodaikanal.

Highlights of the tour: Scenic Kodai landscapes, Fog chilling the skin, Thick Pine Forest, Mid-day dances and the team's togetherness.