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| Kerala - God's Own
Country (Period: 24th - 28th Oct 2001) |
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| Man Proposes
God Disposes! |
| Story of
carefully planned trip almost going awry... |
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| It all started
in August 2001 when we decided to visit Kerala to see if
it really was God's Own Country! We planned and
replanned; spent many days on gathering information,
gulped many pegs and wished all the time the trip better
be a success. The final plan was simple and straight
forward.
We would indeed visit Kerala. The trip would be for just
four days! We didn't want to take any leave. And we
would visit the picturesque hill station - Munnar, the
wild life sanctuary called Periyar and take the famed
backwater cruise in Alleppy. All these and much more in
just four days! Munnar is a very popular hill station in
South India. Situated in Kerala, the place boasts of
miles after miles of tea gardens, numerous waterfalls,
lush greenery and gentle undulating hills. The place is
very well laid and well maintained roads make every
place out there easily accessible. |
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The
best way to go to Munnar from Chennai is to take an
overnight train to Cochin and get down at a small
station called Alwaye. From there one can reach
Munnar easily by buses, private cars or taxis. The hill
road journey takes about five hours and is very scenic
and exciting. |
| We started on 24th October evening.
Chennai had to experience very heavy rains on that very
day! The traffic jams had to occur when we were
desperately trying to reach the station. Suman, Nitin,
Shre and Gautam managed to catch the train in time but
for me, Anto and Writo, the hope of a dream visit to
God's Own Land seemed remote at that point. Yes! the
three of us had missed the train. It seemed that the God
didn't want us in His Land! |
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But we did go;
we took the bus route!
This is not for the weak-hearted. From Chennai we
took an overnight bus to Madurai and reached there at
0730 hours. From there another bus ride of three hours
took us to Theni. From this place, regular buses
(about four hours journey) are available for Munnar. |
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By
1530 hours 25th Oct, we had reached and were roaming in
the heart of Munnar to search of a suitable hotel :-). We
were able to keep the plan intact! However, it came for
a price... Almost seventeen hours of bus ride in three
different buses (ordinary state route buses), missed
dinner and breakfast, a half lunch and what not!!! |
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| It was a
tremendous reunion at Munnar when we all met again. The
other group had reached at about 1300 hours. We were only
two hours late. The evening and the night were spent
exploring Munnar and enquiring about ways to visit the
various spots next day. We also took a long walk down
the hill roads at night.
We were staying in two hotels and it was a problem.
But what the heck! Our drinking session was already on
and after that who cared! But even then, we were
charting our route for the next three days. It was a
case of "Once bitten twice shy". We made all
possible contingency plans to ensure that our dream of a
whirlwind trip of God's Own Country become a grand
success. |
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In retrospect, I
must say the trip was an absolute success! The next
three days were simply heavenly. We saw the gentle
undulating hills, the plains and finally the backwater. |
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| One of the world's largest, a cruise down the
Kerala backwater is an experience in itself. Miles after miles
of canals and water bodies, wonderfully lined coconut trees and
beauty of rural Kerala is intoxicating.
It was almost twenty four hours since we had left Chennai.
The next day (26th Oct) would be the actual start of the trip!
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