The experience!!

The morning dawned and in true Indian spirit the people assembled by the poolside for the trek at 8.00. a good hour and a half late...the next 2 hours was to some the best experiences in their life (atleast that is what they told me). For me it was a rekindling of the spirit that my forester grandpa had instilled in me.
The forest and the orange county estate were not that different in the morning dew, only the fencing demarcating the boundary of the dubare forest. We made our way to the forest and was the estate slowly stirring into life, with ladies under plastic sheets picking their way thru the coffee plants.
The trek threw up something new at every turn, a gnarled tree that resembled a python wapped around a man, a spooky bamboo grove, a steep ravine thru which we were to climb down and then climb up on the other side, leeches that sucked the blood of a few lucky people. and then the most majestic of all..the kaveri
This is what surrealism is all about, u walk down a jungle not knowing what lay ahead, and then out of nowhere u see the mighty kaveri in spate, roaring thru the jungle, the morning sun shining on it. It does make one philosophical. and u realise the insignificance of human existence, your troubles, egos, ur desires..how they all pale when compared with the underlying rhythm that nature seems to have, u r but a mere spec on this earth, millions of which have come and gone before..
Everybody was silent on the walk back, maybe too overawed by nature or then by the hunger pangs in their stomachs. The rain was giving us company all along, as was our guide ganesan's singing. Rajkumar numbers and kodagan tribal songs...never made head or tail of it, but nonetheless they fitted the mood to a T.
The sigh of breakfast laid out by the poolside, all 8 different varities of it meant that people set aside their civility, and attacked the food with the dirt from the jungle all over them. As for me, the thayir saatham guy that i was, it was idli and sambhar for me.. Soft idlies, vada and hot onion sambhar...never realised that these could ever be so tasty..
A little rest and then it was lunch, Leeches still popping up from people after they had had their fill.
The journey back began and with the rain splashin on the windows, everyone gently drifted into sleep, the rocking bus more like a cradle this time around. The return journey was more sedate, people receding into the comfort of their friends circles. But then chatting away still like there was no tomorrow. made me realise how u could be sitting next to someone for a whole year and still manage to share in a day what you couldnt in a year. and as the chatter in the train continues, i managed to hit the bed to get some shut eye. Too tired to think of the drudgery ahead
Awawken next day, groggy headed and my face sticking to the rexin of the railway birth, hitting home the fact that chennai was here.. "Chennai central...parrrr...aaapka swagat hain :-(( "

The journey!!

The train left Chennai and everyone seemed to be a different person on it...sans their emotional baggages, gleeful and without a care in the world. and for a change i myself felt a lot lighter in a long time (not physically i mean).
There seemed to be unbounded energy and no one was in any hurry to hit the bed, though authorities wanted them to.. Railway police can be bought off with a bribe, but then what do u do with..mm well let me stop at that..people slept for hardly a couple of hours, and yet were fresh as daisies in the morning, the morning chill doing a refreshing job. a quick breakfast and a brief interlude in mysore as we switched modes of transport..we were off again. ...Not a sign of the rain that was promised.
The vehicles tottered over the roads and were making slow progress when the rain suddenly came down in a delightful roar setting the mood for the day ahead. Winding through a big carpet of greenery we managed to reach the resort a good hour late. The journey had not taken its toll on anyone. The sight of a small cottage which was the reception was definitely not what we expected for a resort that had 5 stars going for it. all we could see from there being a small forest that was oozing the scent of the monsoon all over.
The small buggies which were there to cart the guests to their lodgings, gave a small hint of the vastness of the place. stepping out of the reception we walked down to the "cottage". And the only thought that was going thru me was "if this is the cottage then what would the presidential villa be like..."open mouthed anticipation".."
a quick, hot spicy lunch and we were off on a tour of the resorts coffee plantations...basically just a walk everybody huddling under umbrellas or their windcheaters and chatting away to glory with their friends and then somebody said it.."already i think this is worth the 2000 rs that i gave, and gave me a pat on the back"... too much on a high to think straight, the weight of the expectation when u do something to please 60 people was now gone.
the rain was now pouring in the forest and yet no one was complaining and something told me no one will. eveyone was drenched from head to toe, but were eagerly looking for more, as we had a hot cuppa of coorgi coffee by the pool side restaurant.
The beauty of the trip lay in the lack of itinerary, which actually was a gaffe on my part. People were free to do what they wanted for the evening.. cycling, games, or just plain old loitering. a cricket bat and ball materialised out of nowhere and we were off to the banks of the kaveri as the guide led us to a meadow where we could play.
I was a bit behind and was forutnate enough to see that sight. as we turned a corner there it lay, spread out in all its lushness and greenery the meadow that i am sure everyone dreams of just lying on with their loved ones by their side, gazing at the stars with a gentle gurgling of water by the side. As i stood there dazed, the guys in front of me broke ranks and just ran....like children rush out of their classed to the play ground during recess , some just running with no real purpose, someone thjrowing the ball high in the air and running behind another waving the bat around his headand prancing like a horse..that image for me was the defining moment of the trip by far..a thrilling cricket match in the meadow till it grew real dark, a few of the ladies strolling by with the odd comments and the day was done. Darkness and the stage was set for a different kind of fun..Everyone strolled in to the poolside for the 7.30 bonfire by 8.30, the usual intros and the light hearted ragging later, people tucked in to their dinners and were off, into their rooms for the long night ahead. Though everybody was tired, from what i gathered, nobody really slept that night too. Every room had its share of stories to tell. Sadly not mine cause all i remember was dozing within seconds of switching on the TV to watch formula 1. and then shouting at someone in my sleep over the phone, this particular person wanting me to arrange shoes at 12.00 in the night for the trekking that was scheduled the next day...DUH!!!

Orange county!!!

P.S:- This is intended as an update on the past few months in life...with too much of the focus being on work (cause that is all that has been happening)...also for the benefit of the wonderful friends that i have made in the small period that i have been here.. Names have been dropped to prevent future blood-letting..
This was a trip that was to have happened a good month ago, when the summer was at its peak in chennai....all the browsing and the online reviews had created visions in my mind of that perfect happy place of my dreams....I was to have organised it too, as it was my suggestion in the first place, but then my disappointments at work meant that i was to spend a good amount of time sulking and eventually backing out..so May came and went and then june seemed set to do the same.
Chennai was reeling under the sun and "PF-ians" under work. The signs of a burnout where everywhere..people who took some responsibility to their work were all stressed out and no respite was in sight...and the people who were supposed to take note were tucked away in their cabins and their dawn to dusk routine.."SULK"...
And then it happened ..the rain in chennai which rekindled that spirit in me..the travel junkie that i was..initially thinking of making a private trip with a few friends, only to be stopped by the prohibitive cost of the resort..for the uninitiated a cottage costs RS.9000 for a day and night...this was were the economies of scale reared its head...I had promised myself that i will never organise a massive trip again, least of it for this project...but then again, Orange county was too good a place to let my cut-out sized ego come in the way...and so here i was trying to get the thing started again...After some heavy selling of the idea, a decent number managed to turn up a good 57 out of 120. Very poor compared to the previous trip to Munnar....the team wanted to send a message and in the few conversations that i had can assure that it did find the person and touch a real raw nerve (a sadistic grin on the face)...the days moved quickly and there we were a motley bunch at Chennai central on the night of the 1st of July