Dandeli and Goa - Part 2

GOA (11th to 14th Feb 2010)
Click here for Part 1
We left Dandeli at around 4:00 PM and took the NH4A through Ramnagar, Mollem, Ponda to Panjim. The roads are quite good but there is considerable lorry traffic. The travel is best remembered for the imaginary creation of a film story and narration of the same by Nagu and Benda. Nagu morphed into the award winning director Nagarathnam, and Marky in to the 6 pack long haired hero. The story told spontaneously for almost 30 minutes was creativity and limitless innovation at its best. The intentional humor put into the story had us in constant laughter, and even the drinks and hectic rafting in the morning could not make us sleep, atleast most of us. On the way we started calling up places to stay near Anjuna beach.

Mackey has an extraordinary talent of making calls; he has a great voice and coupled with courtesy and exceptional telephone etiquette, makes it really difficult for people not to be helpful during calls. He worked his magic and we were assured of a room at Hotel Sunshine an affiliate of Villa Anjuna, you could say almost on Anjuna beach which is usually lent out only to foreigners.

We got a feel of Goa as soon as we got close to the Anjuna beach, our Innova entering the narrow roads leading to the beach with shacks and familiar shops on both the sides, their sales mostly done for the day at about 9 PM. We did quick freshening up in the room before hitting the beach. The beach was quite with very few people outside, most of them preferring to sit and have few drinks in the beachside shacks, with the beautiful view of the beach and fond memories for company.

A shack can be described as a restaurant, usually with an open view of the beach/sea which is typical of Goa, something like a pub with open air and view. We walked the entire stretch of the beach, admiring the live music played in one of the shacks, before deciding to quench our thirst lightly in one of the shacks on the beach with a beautiful view. We went to another shack called Moonstar restaurant for dinner just few meters from our room. This shack has good food with moderate pricing and beautiful view of the sea. We also shared a few more beers here and became quite friendly with the guy named Roshan from Himachal Pradesh who was managing the shack/restaurant, a very nice and polite man, although he did tell us a white lie that chicken cost more then 300 rupees per kg in Goa.

The next day 12th Feb was a beautiful day, I was awakened in the morning by Benda and Nagu, and we three went for walk on the beach to stretch our legs or should I say our minds. We saw a foreigner with an amazing body juggling 3-4 wooden dumbbells at a time, as usual disturbed by few Indian men trying to do the same at his discomfort; this again reminded us of another interesting but difficult way of building good physique. We moved on to savor the beautiful sight of sun rays kissing the sand and water, creating ripples of glistening silver, soothing our minds and body. By the time we reached back to the room most of the others were up, and we decided to start the day with a little bit of ‘cheers’, the combination of Bacardi WR with the Jamaican breezer, too good to resist even at the odd hour.

It would be fair to say that by the time we reached for breakfast in our parent hotel Vila Anjuna, we were in good mood, and the breakfast with the view of the swimming pool was quite an experience. It was interesting to note a lot of foreigners on the beds next to the swimming pool, relaxing and having a few sips soaking in the sun. It looked like they had no plans for the day or for that matter next couple of days, it also felt little odd that they were doing this by a pool and not the beach. (A hotel with a swimming pool could be availed anywhere, why come to Goa and do it)

One of the best beaches in Goa is the Arambhol beach, about 30 odd kms from Panjim to the north. This beach is unique because if you walk about a kilometer to the sweet water lake, you will find an extraordinary setting with the serene beach on one side and a natural lake with a hilly background on the other, separated only by a few meters of sand and few temporary beds and Umbrellas. The path to the sweet water lake is also beautiful along the slope of a hill lined with small shops, and providing beautiful views of the sea and the shore filled with rocks.

We decided to take couple beds right in the middle, and ordered a few beers and also sea food, before venturing to the sea to play with the strong waves, it was fun to wait and jump towards the bigger waves, leaving yourself to be tossed around harmlessly. After a while we decided to enjoy the fresh water and moved on to the lake, also shifting our beds and umbrella, to more convenient location by the lake. We all enjoyed playing in the clear green water, which was about 10-12 feet at the deep at the centre, with just 15-20 meters wide at the place we were playing. After swimming for a while, a couple of us decided to play beach ball (with the plastic bat and ball) with a young boy who had seemingly run out of partners. Couple of our others had gone to check out if we could place some orders for food only to return as the hotel guys were having their lunch.

The events which unfolded in the next 3-5 minutes was horrendous and astonishing, one of our friends who was playing in the water ventured a little deep into the water only to be startled to realize his legs were not touching the ground and he was being pushed deeper into the water by his own mass, he grabbed the hand of other friend, who could not support his weight for too long and had to leave his hand, when he felt he was also getting sucked into the water. Soon the friends returning from the hotel spotted them and one of them ventured to help only to be pulled into the deeper waters and in many senses lot of trouble. Things were a little out of hand by the time I realized that someone was literally shouting my name for help, I immediately threw the bat aside and jumped into water and got behind our friend who started all the trouble (Sorry buddy I had to mention atleast so much), with 3-4 heavy pushes from the deeper side I was able to shove him to a place were he could stand and be helped by others. (My experience in Dandeli with Mark helping my reflexes to make the correct decision of swimming around and pushing the friend to the shore instead of giving the helping hand, which could have resulted me also being pulled to the water)

I was about to climb up to the shore, being a little shaken from the experience when others told me that one of other friends were still in the water, I went back to help him and to my comfort saw a very white body of a foreigner pushing him towards me and the shore, and then my friend put his arm around me and we both swam the couple of meters to the safety. I still think my friends were extremely lucky, that we all worked as a group and we can not thank the foreigner enough for his timely help.

On a personal front, I will never be able to forget the expression of relief on the face of my friends (After I gave the first push and when the other put his hand across my shoulders), as I realize it now, it would have been one of most significant help I provided for my close friends, and the expression of their confidence in me, to be able to help them providing me with supreme sensation of accomplishment, easily pushing aside my greatest triumphs on the football field.

We were definitely shaken but not beaten by the events, as we continued with a couple of drinks on the beds with snacks/lunch, some of us even managing to take a quick nap, discussing a thing or two about football and Formula 1 with the 2 Russian couples on our adjacent beds. By the time we left we had spent close to 5 eventful hours in the place and we managed to see a couple of other beaches, notably the one with a view and access to the fort where the Hindi movie Dil Chahta Hain was shot, before reaching Baga.

We spent a while there in the beach, seeing the huge crowd in their frenzy to enjoy the last minutes of the day, and others trying their hand at the water sports and other facilities available here. We did contemplate drinking in one of the shacks here named St. Anthony’s, which was highly recommended by the brother of our friend, finally deciding to skip it and do something near the now comfortable Anjuna.

We came back to the room and sat outside for our ‘drink’ session the snacks being provided from the Moonstar shack, we continued the session in the Moonstar shack when the crowd became less and we had our favorite table available, we also had our late dinner here and went for small walk before retiring to the rooms for a sound sleep.

We got up a little late on 13th morning and by the time we had checked out and reached a moderate looking hotel for breakfast we were famished. We had heavy breakfast few selecting the goan style NV and others Aloo Parata. Our next destination was Fort Aguada, a well-preserved Portuguese fort standing on Sinquerim beach, overlooking the vast expanses of Arabian Sea. Built in 1612 it was once the grandstand of 79 cannons with a moat around the fort providing additional protection. Inside the fort stand the 4-storey lighthouse, erected in 1864 and the oldest of its kind in Asia. Built on the mouth of river Mandovi, it was strategically located and was the chief defense of Portuguese against the Dutch and Marathas. There are amazing views of the beach and the sea from different locations in the fort.

Next we visited and offered our prayers at the Basilica of Bom Jesus, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The basilica holds the mortal remains of St. Francis Xavier. The body is preserved in a casket and is placed on the right side at a height of about 15 feet for public viewing.

The church is more than 400 years old and is located in Old Goa about 10 km from Panjim. The church also holds paintings with scenes taken from the life of St. Francis Xavier. We also visited another church which is located across the street which also has a museum attached to it.

We had a late but good fish curry lunch from Margoa, before reaching Palolem Beach by around 4:00 PM. The beach is largely unspoiled and is about one mile long and is crescent-shaped enabling one to view the whole beach from either end. Both ends of the beach consist of rocks jutting out into the sea, providing beautiful scenery. As soon as we reached Palolem, we were approached by a local man extending help to locate a good place for us to stay. He took us to the hotel, which had a number of wooden cabins standing on stone pillars, along the beach. We settled for 2 comfortable looking and relatively new cabins, and were quite thrilled by the unique accommodation which had attached bathroom and a small verandah outside each cabin. I thought at the cost of 1000 rupees a cabin it was really cool and provided us with a different experience. The man also helped us get in touch with a boatman who agreed to take us to the Honey Moon beach and Butterfly beach for 700 rupees. The butterfly beach was decided as one place we were not going to miss as I had heard and read a lot about it, and seen pictures of it had which had captivated my imagination for quite a while.

The boat ride provided quite a thrill as we were able to spot a few dolphins, occasionally jumping to provide us with the mesmerizing view of their silky grey and white skin, and showing off their skill of smooth and effortless swimming. The boat was moving against the waves, tossing around and splashes of water hitting us, making it little uncomfortable for all and especially for Deepsy who was sitting in the front, his back taking quite a beating. Benda was also not very pleased and said that they could have made the trip much more pleasurable if they had provided us with lifeboats, which I think would be very good idea to make the people comfortable. All were quite for a while, a friend also saying a little prayer for safety, I for some reason was not worried at all and even offered to sit in the front where Deepsy was sitting on the way back. However in a little while we got used to the tossing of the boat, and the splashes of water, or should we just say we were so lost in the beautiful surrounding that we forgot about everything else.

Soon we sighted the Butterfly beach and what a sight it was to see the beautiful, unspoilt and secluded beach, surrounded by hills with the clearance of just about 20-25 meters. It was like the Mother Nature had embraced this place much a like a shell, protecting it, opening a very little for her beloved people to enjoy and admire the pearl. We did not get down in the beach but went very close to get the complete view of this enchanting place, admiring nature at its very best.

Just a few meters away from this, we saw one more isolated gem of a beach, slightly wider but equally beautiful, for some strange reason called as the honey moon beach. We got down here and there were only handful of other visitors in this beach. The beach is surrounded by wilderness with a few boulders mostly along the end’s creating beautiful sight for the eye to behold. We did not realize the racing time with the fading light adding a sweet calmness, to the already peaceful surrounding, prompting us to lose ourselves in the serenity of the place. The boat ride to see the beaches and dolphins is a must if you go to Palolem, however the ride can be little intimidating and you may have to think twice especially if you have children accompanying you.
We spent an hour or two walking along the streets leading to the beach, which are lined with shops selling a variety of things like clothes, sweets, caps etc. One thing that we noticed here was that T-shirts were quite cheap and they had a lot of designs, more interestingly they had designs which were stitched apart from the usual printed ones. They had huge choice of stitched designs from the logo’s of Foreign football clubs (Including Chelsea and Arsenal), Om and different signs, animals etc. We picked up a few T-shirts for our children and also managed to buy cashew nuts and the famed Bibinca sweet (A Goan Speciality) to take home, notably being the only purchase we did.

We got back to our rooms by around 8:30. There was a Kerala Ayurvedic Massage centre in the place we were staying and couple of my friends enjoyed the relaxing Massage. There was a good shack/restaurant right in front of our cabin and we decided to spend the evening there having the right “spirits” as luck would have it they allowed us to have our own drinks, on the condition that we buy the snacks and food from there and also pay a little extra money for their cooperation. We had a glorious session here, recollecting and discussing the events of the trip apart from the usual gyan, some of us continuing the celebrations till around 2 in the morning. I also remember talking to some Swedish travelers, who were in the same state like us, about football before we finally called it a day.

The next day (same morning to most of us) we left the hotel by around 9 AM and started our long journey back to Bangalore. We had stopped for a few drinks and lunch in Haveri and for night snacks in hotel Kamat in the outskirts before reaching by around 9 PM. This trip will remain very close to our hearts as we had a wonderful time, the rafting, the boating, the shacks and the sessions, the beaches etc. bringing a smile of satisfaction whenever we recollect the experience. It also taught us to be really careful with water and understand the calmness of the water in a lake or the sea can be very deceptive. On a personal note I felt we were much more dignified in our consumption of the ‘liquids’, quite unlike the usual men only trips (especially in the college days), I just hope that it is not the signs of aging.

Dandeli and Goa - Part 1

10th to 14th Feb 2010
Dandeli
It would not be an exaggeration if I say that this was one of our most anticipated trips. Dandeli and Goa are destinations which can awaken the spirits of even the most indolent and you can imagine what it can do for 6 active men like us (Bennish aka Benda/Ben, Mark aka Marky, Mahesh Aka Mackey, Deepak Aka Deepsie, Nagendra aka Nagu and me aka Sunda/Josie). I do not think many can blame us for planning to be lost in the right “spirits’.

We started the Journey from the Infant Jesus church after a small prayer for protection on the 10th of Feb, 2010. We took the Tumkur-Chitradurga-Davangere-Shiggaon-Tadas-Kalghatgi-Haliyal-Dandeli route, which looked like the best route to reach Dandeli according to Google maps and also for the fact that we were traveling in NH4 most of the way and about 80 Kms of state highway. We picked up a couple of Bacardi’s from the St. Marks road and it took about an hour for us to start our first drink session in the innova itself, which finished just before dinner in a Dhaba near Haveri.

The travel on the NH was mostly comfortable apart from the fact the never ending constructions were still in progress at some stretches making sure one could never fully admire the roads. Things changed as soon as we left the NH, the first surprise was that there was no sign board or lighting before the diversion to the narrow road leading to Tadas from the NH, infact we did not even realize there was a road there until Mahesh who was tracking the route using his GPS enabled mobile phone, told us that we had missed the way. The road from Tadas to Kalghatgi was bad with atleast 5 kms stretch just having nothing called tar, it was a mud road with the usual potholes. But none of us, even in our wildest imagination were prepared for the condition of the road, from Kalghtagi to Haliyal, in some of the stretches there was hardly anything you could call road, it was really shocking to know that it was supposed to be a State Highway. One thing we all agreed was usefulness of a GPS enabled phone, if it were not for that, we would have been stranded till morning in the middle of what seemed nowhere, with literally no sign boards to guide us. I am sure the next phone I buy will be GPS enabled, thanks to the condition of state highways in Karnataka. My sincere advice to anyone who is planning to visit Dandeli is to take the Bangalore - Hubli - Haliyal route.

We reached Dandeli at about 1:30 AM, my cousin Ben had arranged for a homestay package including river rafting, unfortunately the contact person Manju, who had called us couple of times on the way to confirm the time we reach there, was not reachable from last 2 hours, our concern was doubled when we came to know that his mobile was switched off. We had no choice but to take a 4 bed room in the hotel opposite the bus stand for 1000 rupees, the room was quite bad and unclean, worst was as soon we got onto the bed we felt like there was something itching (a very slight but definite sensation of irritation), we were all a little uncomfortable but the beauty of the group was that no one really complained. Then for our luck we got a call from Manju asking us where we were, it was an experience to see the expression on Ben’s face when he was talking to Manju, there was noticeable attempt to contain the blunt anger, which turned to relief at the hope of escaping from the horrible room. Ben was confused for a minute and said he will callback to confirm if we are going to Manju’s place, we all unanimously agreed to go there even before the question was completed. There was room for more drama as Ben tried to call Manju and his phone was not reachable. It was big relief when Manju called and confirmed that he will come to pick us up, we got out of the room, collected 800 from the hotel owner after giving him 200 for the very short, unpleasant stay we had there.

We reached the home stay at 3 AM. The home stay was in the private guest house, surrounded by nature and the rooms were quite good and comfortable. At the rate of 1800 per person for the stay, breakfast and lunch, a guided morning trek and river rafting it was very economical (It would cost 2500 rupees if dinner and the Safari were included).

We decide to skip the morning Safari as it was impossible to getup at 5:30 AM after sleeping at 3:30 AM, we got up by 8:00 and went for small guided trek through wilderness to see a small temple and a Cross erected in the hills by the locals.



The trek was good with our young guide taking us through the small narrow footpath, surrounded by wilderness wrapped in the soft mist, taking us to the Cross which gave us beautiful view of the hills and the plains below.



We left for the much anticipated rafting in a jeep, after a delicious breakfast, enjoying the beautiful view of the Supra Dam and the reservoir on the way.


The rafting was done in the Kali river, basically having class 2 and 3 rapids, for a 9 kilometres stretch from a place close to Ganeshgudi to another place about a kilometer from the Dandeli town. There was just another family of father, mother and a teenage daughter, who was staying next to our guest house, for rafting as it was a weekday. Soon the rafts arrived and the two guides Sunil and Muhammed, split us into two teams of the 4 each (Ben, Nagu, Father & Daughter in one and Macky, Marky, Deepsie and me in the other), made us wear the life jackets and helmets according to our sizes. In the boat we got instructions on how to row front and back, how to kneel down with the oars etc. The when we were in the middle of the river, the guide Sunil asked us to jump down to the river to get confident with our life jackets.Deepak was first to go with Me and Mahesh following him, Mark refused as he had done rafting before. I know to swim a little and found it very comfortable with the life jackets on. We soon got into the rafts and started our experience, and what an experience it was, I was sitting in the front with Deepak and as we approached the first rapid we felt a little anxious as we could not see the river below from a distance, we rowed to the rapid and got down to the floor of the raft, looking out with sheer joy as we went through the rapid, the power of the water making the raft move randomly down, with the water gushing at us simultaneously, creating a unmatchable bliss which has to be experienced to be believed. There are 8-9 rapids on the 9 km stretch the first rapid being the best, the cruise down the river is a great experience, the river, with crystal clear water flowing around the trees, creating marvelous scenery blending with the surrounding wilderness, and the occasional sightings of attractive and rare birds like the long tailed hornbill providing the icing on the cake.


There are other stretches in the river where you can swim, and we all decided to jump down again. Mark jumped down last and with one look at his face I knew he was not comfortable, he was struggling and I instinctively held on to his life jacket and repeatedly told him to calm down. It was a matter of few seconds before he realized that he could easily float with the life jacket on, but those few seconds were enough to make me comprehend the power of a man (who thought he was drowning), making me realize that he could easily pull me down with him if not for the life jackets. The experience, I feel did come in handy for me to help a friend in another situation, which I will explain a little later.

One of the best part of the rafting is ‘Surfing’ which can be described as an attempt to go up a rapid in vain, making the water gush at you pushing the raft down, and experience 3-4 splash of water, throwing you and the raft of balance and hitting you with force of about 15-20 buckets of water thrown together each time. The words fail me to detail the absolute joy we felt, the marvelous sensation embedded in our minds, instilling us to try it again. We did surfing 4-5 times before we were totally exhausted. It was almost 2:30 by the time we reached back to the guest house; we freshened up and sat out to have a round of MHB, which Manju got for us before having delicious buffet meal with Chicken dry and Chicken curry along with other excellent veg dishes. The food here is excellent and got better votes from Mark (The food expert from our gang, whose quality of single minded focus on food is something to be admired), who also have stayed and experienced the cuisine in the Jungle Lodges.

For the benefit of the people who plan to visit Dandeli, it is about 480 kms from Bangalore and will take about 10 hours. The river rafting has to booked in advance and you need atleast 2 days to see and experience the things here. Apart from rafting which will easily take 4-5 hours, you have the jungle safari of about 3-4 hours, the forest trek/nature walk and interesting places like the Syntheri/Cyntheri Rocks, Kavala Caves which will take 3-4 hours. There are places like the Jungle Lodges, Bison river resort and few other resorts here to stay which will arrange all the activities for you. The cost of staying in these resorts along with the activities would come around 3500 a day per person. The guest house/home stay is a little cheaper at about 3500 for two days (2500 for one day as it includes river rafting and 1000 odd for the second day) compromising a little on the luxury aspects. Manju is in charge of the Guest house and also provides sleeping tents and can be contacted at 9900671757 or 9449175001.

BR Hills and K-Gudi Jungle Lodge

This was one of the many trips we friends had with our families. There were four couples (Priya and Mahesh, Priyanka and Mohan, Nidhi and Deepak, My wife Bindu and I) with 2 very special people, one was Mark who took the challenge of traveling as the only bachelor along with married couples and the other my very active(one of the alternatives I use for the word naughty) 11/2 year old son, Johan Anthony. The more number of friends meant we had to forsake the luxury of the Innova (Our usual and desired mode of transport), for the more accommodating and not so comfortable Tempo Traveller. We soon realized the advantages of Traveller, it meant that all of us were together in the same vehicle and true to the quote ‘more the merrier’ we had our share of the fun with the usual stories, chit chatting and singing (especially the tour numbers like ‘In the morning...). We took the Kanakpura, Malavalli, kollegal route while going which is shorter, compromising the better roads of the Mysore highway.

The travel was comfortable (Apart from the bad roads) in the sense that we were only 10 including my son, in a vehicle which could easily accommodate atleast 13 people, ensuring we had enough space to stretch a leg or two if needed. It also helped the men to sit together in the backseats and peacefully have a few cans of beer with out causing inconvenience to the ladies. Priyanka was kind enough to prepare and bring cakes and muffins the delicious taste of which we savored while traveling.

The Biligiri Rangana Hills, commonly called B R Hills, is a hill range situated in the Chamarajanagar district in south-eastern Karnataka, sharing its border with Tamil Nadu. It is understood that the hills got its name from the famous temple in this place dedicated to Biligiri Rangaswamy. The area is actually a Wild life sanctuary sharing the name of the Temple, spread over 525 sq km, scattered with valleys, streams and scenic spots.

We usually plan our trips well, but for some reason we assumed that we might not have too many problems and hence had not booked the stay in advance. To our horror we realized, after checking a few places that this was one of the rare weekends when most the places were booked. We also took help of a young teenager from one of the resorts, in his Avatar as the local guide to look for possible options for us to stay, only to be disappointed. The only comforting fact was that we were able to visit the BR temple on route to one of the places in his very small list.

We discussed a few options like going to Madumalai and Bandipur, before deciding to try out the Jungle lodges. The Jungle Lodge resort at K-Gudi is located at the heart of the BR hills Sanctuary, surrounded by nature and woods. As luck would have it, the only remaining rooms available there was one single room and one 7 bed room, which actually suited us well and we decided the three couples will use the 7 bedroom with Mark getting the privilege of using the single room. At 2250 per person (18000 for 9 people, after waving of one persons charges) for a day including the Stay, Lunch, Dinner & Breakfast, Jeep safari into BRT Wildlife Sanctuary, Guided Nature Walk, Elephant Ride , Forest Entry Fees & Taxes, the price did feel moderate after the experiencing the comforts, suppressing the initial opinion that it was slightly expensive.

We had a good buffet lunch with one or two Non-Veg dishes at the ‘Gol Ghar’ probably named so because of its round shape and decided to spend some time exploring the outdoor activities at this place. We enjoyed the experience of getting on to the large rope Hammock supported by a few trees as much as we had fun rolling around in them. Some of the couples also effectively used the smaller individual rope hammocks for intimate moments, probably trying to compensate for sharing the common room, which was duly captured by my zoom camera, to become the priced photos for the jokes and fun we shared. Someone even mentioned the name of a Hindi movie starting with Jungle to aptly describe the happenings.

We had hardly set out for nature walk along the road to the resort with a guide, when we saw a ‘spotted deer’, who looked quite comfortable with the frequent visitors to this place and were not bothered even when we got very close, probably only a couple of meters from them. The guide explained that it was common to see Deer’s and Wild Boars inside the premises of the resort.

The walk was very nice, relaxing, with hardly anything on the road to disturb the peace, with only the sound of birds and the rustling leaves following us, reminding of the wilderness enclosing us, allowing us to share soft discussions and moments of collective solitude.

The men of the trip was feeling adventurous and requested the guide to take us on a trek through the forest, which he agreed after a little persuasion together with a slight hint of tips. So we left the women in the comfort of the room and after agreeing with their demand not to be over adventurous, set out to explore the forest with lot of expectations for some unique occurrences. It was definitely an experience with the narrow path, at times completely covered with trees and shrubs, providing visibility of only a few feet, and combination of the diminishing day light and stories of the guide explaining about the encounters with wild animals including tigers along the path, mixed our expectations with a slightest of hidden fear, to provide the much sought after different experience. I should admit that for our disappointment or comfort we did not encounter any wild animals, and we could only see the foot prints and droppings of few animals which were exaggeratingly described by our guide.

We returned to the rooms by twilight and had tea with light snacks. Some of us watched a wildlife movie at the audio-visual room, others choosing to play a quick game of table Tennis or Carrom or just relax. After changing to some comfortable clothes, we went to the Gol Ghar, which had a campfire on one side surrounded by people, having discussions, some over a glass of drink, munching the unlimited starters provided by the staff. The night was cold and it took a while for us to get a few comfortable seats next to the campfire, to enjoy a few drinks and starters along with the high level discussions. The ladies preferred a more quite place in the Gol Ghar, and looked very comfortable with their gossips without us, probably enjoying their freedom as much as we were. It was pleasant surprise to find our ladies asking us continue with our ‘discussions’ and retiring to the room looking seemingly happy after their dinner. When we went back to room we could still find them laughing and visibly enjoying their private discussions. Soon it was time for Mark’s Ghost stories, which usually has a bigger introduction then the story itself, it took a while for Mark to exhibit his remarkable narration skills, thanks to the well disguised intimidating questions in the name of genuine curiosity by Mahesh. I should say we slept well, despite the odd efforts from some to scare the others.

Surprisingly, we were up and ready early in the morning for the much awaited Forest Safari. We traveled on the common road before entering the narrow mud roads going deeper in to the forest, as usual we saw herds of spotted dears, few Monkeys and wild boars on the way. We were also lucky to see Bisons, Barking Deer and some elephants.

To our pleasant surprise we saw couple of Elephants at very close range peacefully eating, not in the least bothered by our presence. My son has special fondness for elephants and was thrilled, Shouting ‘Ana Ana’ and pointing to the Elephants making sure none of us missed the great spectacle, only to be calmed by my apprehensive wife, as we were too close to the elephants for her comfort.

The thrill of watching wild elephants in their natural habitat from close quarters is an experience in itself, their unmatched majestic presence skillfully hiding their incredible power and potent threat. We stayed for while watching and admiring them, till my wife felt they had noticed us and had taken the smallest of the steps towards us, urging us to move on.

We returned from the Safari and had delicious breakfast at the resort. There is a beautiful lake right in front of the Jungle lodges, to our joy we realized that the elephant ride was along the path circling the lake. We spent sometime sitting and relaxing, admiring the beautiful lake and pleasant surroundings.

It was really surprising to see my son so excited at seeing the Elephant and at the prospect of riding it, I was thinking probably he will get a little intimidated by the real size of the animal, in reality we had to hold on to him to make sure he did not fall from the high platform built to climb on to the Elephant, in his effort to jump on to its back even before it reached.

The Elephant ride was real pleasure, 5 of us sitting comfortably and enjoying the slow and steady swaying motion, occasionally waving at the rest of our friends below. It was sheer joy to see the happiness on my son’s face, resting my initial doubts whether he may get a little scared on top of the Elephant, the satisfaction of seeing my son enjoying so much was beyond comparison.

We left the jungle lodges by 12:00 noon had a simple lunch (which is the only option in these regions) at Kollegal. We reached Barachukki falls by 3:00 pm and made the one kilometer steep climb down to the foot of the falls. To our disappointment the place was very crowded, and most of my friends decided not to take bath under the falls, but the temptation of the chilling fresh waters was too much for me. I jumped into the waters, swam a little, reached under the falls and enjoyed a quick refreshing shower, my son also joining me for a very short while. The climb up from the falls was little tiring as usual and we ensured we did it well before dusk.

We reached by around 9 PM feeling that we saw and did a lot of things in just the two days and one night, and also relaxing as much a possible. This trip will have fond memories because all the odds (like traveling in Tempo Traveler, Difficulty in getting the rooms, Sharing a common room, Mark the only bachelor, my young son) all becoming positive sources for collective joy and fun. It is amazing to know that a group of like minded and fun loving friends can overcome any odds. I would like to appreciate all the friends, who made this trip so enjoyable and meaningful.