Tour De Kerala
This was a wonderful experience of my life, really it is!! It's all triggered on a very lighter note when my buddy friend asked me if I want to join him for Tour De KERALA(though we visited only northern part of it). As it was just a matter of couple of days that too a weekend, I nodded and put my dukes up without a second thought. We were supposed to start on Friday evening and expected to reach SULTHAN BATHERY by 7am in the Saturday morning.
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Bus was at 8:50pm. With keeping in account the
amount of traffic on the way to Shantinagar bus depot, we decided to leave
office at least couple of hours before. But this Friday was no different where
we get to stop by some critical issues. We were about to wrap our things up in
a hurry to leave for the day and head towards bus stand, the heavy rain stopped
us short. To get rid of this situation our HERO (Mr.Praveen) came to our rescue
who not only drove us through but also reached us well before expected time.
Nobody doubts that he can beat Ferrari’s Schumacher even with his i20.
After having our dinner, we headed towards little untidy and
congested KSRTC bus. Though it started in time, not only driver but the bus
itself was too lazy to run beyond 10km/hr. For a while I thought if this continues,
we will never be going to reach our destination. Almost after 2hrs of journey,
the bus started to run in its intended speed and I had a sigh of relief. Nearly
at about 4 in the morning our bus stopped in the dark jungle. Everybody was in
deep sleep except me (I didn’t get sleep throughout the journey) and noises of
snoring were coming from all around in the bus. Suddenly an old man sitting
couple of sits back from us started making weird sounds of his snore. It was
scarier than the deepest jungle. Every breeze of cold was making me shiver when
it used to pass by my ears. No blankets had been provided as we were travelling
in the high class bus. Now, that snoring sound was irritating me. For a moment
I thought I should cut his neck. With much of despair I got out of the bus.
And here was a surprise!! There was a huge jam.
Long queues of vehicles were there as far as my eyes could able to see. We were
in the Bandipur forest. Here outside the bus,
there were no sounds of snoring neither did the humming of engines of those
heavy vehicles. Few bikers were making their ways through those narrow gaps
between the vehicles and making their all possible efforts to reach to a
vantage point. Other than the bikers the only sound I could able to hear now
was that of some wood-boring-beetles. It was freezing cold outside. To
accompany me or what, an old man from our bus also got down. More and more
vehicles were accumulating behind us. In another 5-10 minutes my friend joined
us. He asked an old man if he knows why there was a jam. “As dictated by the
government here as a part of wildlife dictation efforts, this section of road
in jungle is blocked for 6pm to 6am to not to disturb animals in the jungle”,
the old man enlightened us. Basically restriction was imposed due to the
disturbance and fatality to the wildlife caused by the speeding vehicles. The
cold was becoming unbearable now so, I and my friend decided to get into the
bus.
Only after ensuring there are no more snoring sounds we
reached up to our sits. It was almost quarter past 6 in the morning vehicles
started moving. We were at about 40km away from SULTHAN BATHERY. It was a treat
for the eyes to see such a beautiful nature as we entered in KERALA. With no
surprise, heavy rain welcomed us as soon as we got down at SULTHAN BATHERY and
I pulled out my all weapons (rain jacket & ESPIRIT umbrellaJ) to protect myself
from the shelling.
Our plan was to get into some hotel in the morning and get
ready to explore the nearby places. So far everything was going fine according
to our plans. Thanks to Arun (our trip manager). He got us into a nearby hotel
and in next hour or so we left the hotel room to move to the next location. We
had our breakfast at one of the udupi hotel.
Now we had to catch some vehicle which can drive and guide
us through the places nearby. We hired one jeep.
The driver explained us well about
the package and about the places which we can cover till the evening. And here
starts our adventures. We headed towards Edakkal Caves near Kalpetta. Edakkal
caves are situated on the Ambukuthi Mountains at a distance of about 16 km from
Sulthan Bathery. Located at an altitude of 1000m above MSL,
is a set of three caves, considered to be one amongst the earliest sites of
human settlement on the face of the planet.
Each of these caves has numerous ancient stone scripts, various animal
and human figurines, symbols, ancient weaponry figures et cetera depicted on
the walls. These depictions, estimated to be over 7000 years old, have
contemporaries only in Stiriya in the European Alps and a few places in Africa.
We crossed the line: There was a kind of fencing has been
made right above the point where caves can be seen. Nobody was allowed to cross
the fencing. Still almost 200 meters steep must be there and we decided to
reach up to the top of the hill crossing the end line. It was really a fun and
we were feeling vivacious as we reached the top. After spending some more time there, we
started climbing down the hill. It was very tough as all of us were struggling
because of the cramped legs. Even after reaching down the hill, we were
starving and strolling.
We got into our vehicle and moved towards next juncture. But
before going any further we jumped into a nearby hotel where we had Kerala
chicken curry, parotta and rice.
After eating lavishly we headed towards Pookot Lake, about 13 kms from
Kalpetta, is undoubtedly the most beautiful tourist spot in the whole of
Wayanad.
The lake nestles in the lap of mountains surrounding it. Boating in the Pookot Lake is a memorable experience. We did a kind of rafting in the lake in the rain shower.
Tall trees and dense forests that line along the pathway around the lake provide a visual treat. A freshwater aquarium with a large variety of fish is an added attraction.
The lake nestles in the lap of mountains surrounding it. Boating in the Pookot Lake is a memorable experience. We did a kind of rafting in the lake in the rain shower.
Tall trees and dense forests that line along the pathway around the lake provide a visual treat. A freshwater aquarium with a large variety of fish is an added attraction.
We were very tired now and were in no position to roam
around more. We returned back to our hotel room where we had left our
belongings in the morning. Next day we had to attend one of our friend’s
marriage. The place of marriage was too far from the place where we were. The
hotel room had been booked for us in the town of marriage. It was required for
us now to travel over the night to reach there. It was almost 80-85kms of
journey and no buses/cars were available in the evening. At last we hired an
auto and travelled through the foggy hill and dense forest to reach to the
other town.
After attending a marriage and nice Kerala food
we started our journey back to home town BANGALORE.
This was one of the memorable expeditions for me as I enjoyed lots of adventures and a delicious food in Kerala.
This was one of the memorable expeditions for me as I enjoyed lots of adventures and a delicious food in Kerala.
Maagevalun Paahtana
आज म्हटले जरा भूतकाळात डोकावून पाहावे, म्हणून इतके दिवस जपलेली आठवणींची 'कूपी' उघडली तर एक मजेदार किस्सा नजरेसमोरून तरळून गेला.
मला आठवते, ते माझे अभियांत्रिकीचे शेवटचे वर्ष होते. 'Campus'भर 'gathering' आणि 'cultural
activities' च्या 'चर्चा' आणि 'हालचालींनी' वेग घेतला होता. आमचे 'department' या बाबतीत नेहमीप्रमाणे जरा 'सूस्त'च होते, ही आमची 'परंपरा'च होती जणू!आणि दरवर्षी अशा कार्यक्रमांत आम्हां 'टोळक्यांची' भूमिका 'performers'ना त्रास देणाऱ्या 'हुल्लड' प्रेक्षकांची असायची.
कळविण्यात आले की, 'instrument playing'स्पर्धेने या कार्यक्रमाचा शुभारंभ होणार आहे. आणि जो-तो वाद्ये गोळा करणे आणि 'performance'साठीच्या 'themes' सजविण्यात गढून गेला.
आमच्याकडे 'instruments' तर सोडाच, 'ते वाजवणार कोण?' हाच यक्षप्रश्न होता. पण स्पर्धेच्या आदल्या रात्री 'typical engineer style' ने आमच्या department cultural activity प्रमुखांनी 'या' दोन्हींचा 'शोध' लावला.
परंपरेने 'ना'कारलेला 'साकेत अभ्यंकर' तबलावादक तर नेहमीच अशावेळी लपाछपी खेळणारा
'लाजाळू'(काही नाही 'गैरसमज' आहे हा) 'अमोल बेणारे' बासरी व 'mouth-organ' अशा 'दुहेरी' भूमिकेत अवतरणार होता.
परंपरेने 'ना'कारलेला 'साकेत अभ्यंकर' तबलावादक तर नेहमीच अशावेळी लपाछपी खेळणारा
'लाजाळू'(काही नाही 'गैरसमज' आहे हा) 'अमोल बेणारे' बासरी व 'mouth-organ' अशा 'दुहेरी' भूमिकेत अवतरणार होता.
कुठून कुणास अशी 'कुणकुण' लागली की आमच्याकडे 'harmonium'वादकही आहे आणि हा 'काटेरी' मुकूट माझ्या डोक्यावर ठेवण्यात आला. हुश्श! आम्ही तीन नमुने सोडले तर बाकी सगळ्यांचा जीव अगदी भांड्यात पडला. आता खरी कसोटी होती. साकेत सोडला तर मी आणि बेणारेने कधी 'stage' चढायचीही 'daring' केली नसल्याने बुजलेलो होतो.
तयारी करायची होती. कुठे माशी शिंकली कुणास ठावूक, आणि 'त्या' रात्री आम्ही 'ढापलेले' harmonium न्यायला दुसऱ्या departmentची 'धाड' पडली. आता कसली 'डोंबलाची' तयारी(माझे स्वगत!). "रात्र वैऱ्याची असते" या उक्तीचा 'अनुभव' प्रथमच घेत होतो. काय वाजवायचे हेही नीटसं न ठरवता आणि उद्या स्पर्धेलातरी harmonium मिळेल या आशेवर आम्ही 'good night ' म्हटलं.
साकेतचा काही प्रोब्लेम नव्हता कारण आम्ही ऐकलं होतं की तो तबल्यावर अगदी 'कहो ना प्यार है' ही वाजवतो म्हणून! प्रश्न होता तो फक्त माझा आणि बेणारेचा. आम्हाला खरंच वाजवताही येते की नाही, हे अजूनही गुलदस्त्यातच होतं. बेणारेने तर तुटलेलं mouth-organ दुरुस्त करण्यापासून सुरुवात केली होती. दोन-चार मोठाले screw बसवून निदान 'एकटा' बेणारे तरी ते हातात पकडू शकतो या बेताने आम्ही त्याला 'fix' केला.
आज स्पर्धेचा नव्हे तर निदान आमच्यासाठी तरी 'लढाई'चा दिवस होता. मला आठवते, त्याच दिवशी आमच्या अद्याप सुरूही न केलेल्या final year project ची 'status meeting' होती. स्पर्धा पाच वाजता सुरु होणार होती. या वेळेपर्यंतही practice करण्याचा कोणताही मोह आम्हा 'महाभागांना' अगदी शिवलाही नाही. आणि करणार तरी कसे नं! चार वाजेपर्यंत तर आम्ही तुमची काय म्हणतात ती 'brain storming' करत होतो. साडेचार वाजता आमची status meeting 'schedule' झाली. तिकडे दर दहा मिनिटांनी आम्हाला स्पर्धेत हजर राहण्यासाठी 'ultimatum ' देण्यात येत होता. इतक्यात 'साकेत म्हामुणकर' धावत-पळत थेट मीटिंग रूममध्ये घुसला आणि चक्क department head समोर आम्हा तिघांना अक्षरशः फरपटत 'auditorium'मध्ये घेऊन गेला. असल्या 'स्टंटबाजीत' आमचा 'क्लास' आम्ही अगदी 'राखला' होता.
ज्याप्रकारे आम्हा तिघांना स्टेजवर फेकण्यात आले, मला तर आफ्रिकेतले 'गांधीजी' आठवले. स्टेजवरून समोर बघायची हिम्मत होत नव्हती.
आम्ही अगदी हिंदी चित्रपटातल्या नायकाप्रमाणे अगदी त्वेषाने उठून,
तिथे पडलेली आपापली वाद्ये उचलली आणि बैठकीवर बसलो. मी फक्त harmonium उघडलीच होती, तोच 'ओंकार', प्रेक्षकांत बसलेला आमचा मित्र ओरडला, "शाब्बास, Computers"!!! फक्त 'harmonium ' उघडण्यासाठी तर ही 'दाद' नव्हती नं! क्षणभर माझे डोळे चमकले आणि ऊर अगदी भरून आला. बेणारेला तर तिकडे डरडरून घाम फुटला होता. साकेत अभ्यंकर आम्हा दोघांच्या मधे बसला होता. बेणारेला tension होते, त्याने फुंकलेल्या हवेने बासरी, ऑर्गन वाजतील का नाही?
आम्ही अगदी हिंदी चित्रपटातल्या नायकाप्रमाणे अगदी त्वेषाने उठून,
तिथे पडलेली आपापली वाद्ये उचलली आणि बैठकीवर बसलो. मी फक्त harmonium उघडलीच होती, तोच 'ओंकार', प्रेक्षकांत बसलेला आमचा मित्र ओरडला, "शाब्बास, Computers"!!! फक्त 'harmonium ' उघडण्यासाठी तर ही 'दाद' नव्हती नं! क्षणभर माझे डोळे चमकले आणि ऊर अगदी भरून आला. बेणारेला तर तिकडे डरडरून घाम फुटला होता. साकेत अभ्यंकर आम्हा दोघांच्या मधे बसला होता. बेणारेला tension होते, त्याने फुंकलेल्या हवेने बासरी, ऑर्गन वाजतील का नाही?
मी वाजवायला सुरुवात केली तशी आमचे प्रेक्षकांत जाणूनबुजून पेरलेले मित्र टाळ्या आणि शिट्ट्या वाजवू लागले. इतक्यात साकेत दबक्या आवाजात पण जरा दरडावूनच, मला खुणावू लागला, "दऱ्या, हे नाही दुसरं गाणं आहे, तू हे काय वाजवतोयस?"
टाळ्यांनी भारावून गेल्याने मी माझ्याच 'तंद्रीत' होतो. तेवढ्यात तबल्यावर मारायची 'थाप' त्याने माझ्या मांडीवर मारली आणि मी 'भानावर' आलो. या गोंधळातच, तिकडे बेणारे इतकावेळ पोटात साठवून ठेवलेली हवा 'फुंकणी' पद्धतीने बासरीत भरत होता. आमचे मित्र टाळ्या आणि शिट्ट्या वाजवून 'चोख' भूमिका बजावत होते. अशाने आमचं काय चाललंय आम्हालाच कळत होते. परीक्षकांना ऐकू न जावे यासाठी तर एवढा अट्टाहास होता. अर्धातासभर चाललेला स्टेजवरचा आमचा 'सावळा गोंधळ' time-up च्या buzzer ने थांबला.
अगदी 'विजीगिषु' मिजाशीत आम्ही स्टेजवरून खाली आलो आणि आम्ही मित्रांमध्ये मिसळताच सगळ्यांनी पुन्हा एकदा जल्लोष केला. आम्ही स्पर्धेचे कोणतेही बक्षीस मिळवले नसले तरी ते गमावल्याचीही कोणतीही लाज न बाळगण्याइतके 'निर्लज्ज' तर आम्ही नक्कीच होतो.
इतक्यावर्षांची हीच तर एकमेव 'दौलत' आमच्याकडे होती...
Cheers!!!!
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