Let’s start with the introduction of the crew, Here I go with(will go with BIG ppl to minions ): Guna a.k.a.Pedda Muthaiduvu; PC, the Path Finder; Arif, the BIG SHOW; Raja, the SHOW MAN(telugu version of Sivaraj kumar); Kranti, the RED(I donno why ); Anil, the man of the Millennium; Basha, Daullat Basha; Vinod a.k.a “You-Know-Who”; Sreenu a.k.a Indian pie; Shayer a.k.a man of creativity(item); Lucky a.k.a MR. GUN POWDER; Bhanu a.k.a Kaminey; Naresh, the captionist(look at his tees); Suman a.k.a. Mr. Bean; Hemadri, Gudumba Satti and Last but not the least Hemakumar, the Org. So that’s the intro to the Incredible Indians

Incredible India

We all have gathered 25th September night; and we had ppl come all the way from Hyderabad, chennai, Mysore and Bangalore also   So the adventure started on the same day night around 9:30 with all the crew on board; we have started towards Sarjapura road to enter Tamil Nadu, later realized no one knows the path, and somehow managed to reach Hosur; the boarder of Tamil Nadu and Continued the journey, making the first adventure successful.

Oops! I really forgot to mention where we are heading to; actually this is kinda same experience we had under the organization of our beloved organizer ‘Hema Kumar’, the org; we had two r three plans announced before we started but no one knows what’s finalized; even to our Path Finder PC (that’s the reason for some  hiccups in the start), but bravo to ‘Hema Kumar’ the way he coordinated the troops and organized the trip. We all very thankful to him/Hem ( Will explain it later why..!?)

After a long journey for about 14 hrs we reached Alleppy and the Boat house; we were all excited after seeing it from outside and rushed inside as we already reached there little late(by afternoon);

boat house

deck

That’s the first halt in our Kerala trip and started boat journey on the back water; everyone settled on their rooms and got ready in short time(some took bath and some didn’t).  During the voyage,  in the narrow canals between the wide range of lavish green paddy fields and the villages en-wrapped with coconut trees; trust me it was wonderful experience.

I was eager to perceive the flashes of toddy tapping (natural soma), traditional techniques of shellfish gathering, village walk, and the flocks of cormorant, egret, herons, four species of moorhens, water ducks, Siberian storks, purple herons, seagulls, teals, and the different types of kingfishers(courtesy: some boat house sites); but little disappointing we would happen to experience only few among them.

banks

boat

okay that’s all the boat the journey in boat house till 7:30 night on the same day; we reached to one end where all the boats will be stopped by and halting for the nite till tomorrow; and the interesting thing is we had fish for both lunch and dinner; and that tasted awesome. Actually I had to fight for my piece as ppl are after it and thank god I got it at last

For the dinner, ppl started boozing in the dim moon lite, and cheers to every one and had fun till 11′O clock  as the boat is stopped as there is prohibition of traveling during night time.  we watched cricket for some time and later everyone gone to bed.

There were many restrictions like, no light should be turned on in the boats after 11:30 as there is vigilance by Kerala boat police. Our boat was already stopped and kept in a row with all other boat houses and we do see nothing from the windows except the paddy fields and can’t get down too.

Don’t had any option left at 11:30 and went to bed and got up in the early morning (just to have break fast; as there were rations in the food they supplied, it is like First come First serve ) Good job who ever has made it on time and thumbs down to who ever not!

Finally the time come to bid adieu to boat house after spending almost 18 hrs there and perceived some nice scenes last snap in boat house before leaving to Tekkady.

That’s all about the first day spent in Boat house(Kettuvallom)

Day 2:

So the journey started again, cab started around 9 – 9:30 to Tekkady, to see the wildlife (someone might think it’s crazy, one race is traveling all the way to see other). About to enter the ghat section, driver learned some problem and stopped at the nearest auto repair shop to get it repaired; and no one was clue less what’s happening; everyone looked at HemaKumar; where is he?? He’s Gone, Gayab, poye pooche.. Finally we found him at the shadows of big tree, NO!! he is not resting, but having cool drinks in the near by shop. When I reached there, he asked me whether I would also join for the drinks (lime soda ) and said that it’s a tour money no need to pay from our pockets (as if I haven’t paid the charges). Slowly people have gathered and suddenly everyone catch the sight of water flow adjacent to the road

though not very good but happy to see water flowing (as most of the people in group Picture 105are from drought areas like Chittoor and palamaner). As don’t had any task till the cab gets repaired we get down in water to take snaps and do “some yo-yo man!”.

Oops! Sorry, I could’ve missed it Okay never mind, better late than never. Here I take privilege to call Raja, the Helping Hand for all the charitable work he has done while everyone is away enjoying in water to taking the snaps. He was doing s]ome charity work there; actually a lot but this draft is not enough to explain everything, NO doesn’t mean I am not telling anything about him, his great work, I do share some of them. Okay, no more suspense, he helped the blind to cross road (he is so kind that he did that 2 ppl twice, i donno whether they really crossed the road or they back to the place where they were , and also helped the drivers and mechanics in the shop to get it repaired fast So kind of him! That’s why we call him Gandhi of SVU.

I know you guys want to ask him, “Nee ooru kadu, nee basha kadu, emi chusi ra nee dhairyam!”

Yeah, u r rite , this is the one I was describing as the innovative thought!

Okay Guys, At last after a struggle for 3 long hours, the cab is back in normal condition.  Kudos to Raja, and his assistants. Resumed the journey and headed towards Tekkady. All the way towards Tekkady, it was heavily raining and the deep curves in the ghat section; perceiving the tea estates from the vehicle while its raining, nice experience no..!?

Well, here the same thing happened that every time used to, we have estimated a 40 km avg of journey from a place to place and that’s how, we had stick to the plans. But because of the ghat roads, and the rain it was only 20 km avg. Okay, finally we made it by 4?O clock in the evening to Tekkady. Everyone is starving, so looked for food, actually for restaurant, which won’t use coconut oil for food preparation, as everyone had a bad experience with coconut-oil prepared food already. Finally we got it, and had the food, it was different, but kinda okay, no one had complaints like other days..

okay, now realized the reason we all have come here! trust me some one thought we just came all the way to have the food here (guys startred gossiping and guna managed to make three bakras believe the same, perhaps that’s what happened ), now started searching for the wild life sanctuary, but that was closed by 4 and didn’t get chance. Well, we all went to Tekkady to taste the food there, yes we have critics in our team and it impressed them too.. Now, don’t want to get disappointed as nothing was happened today, so we all went to some sight seeing place which is near by.

some one told me that we are all standing in Kerala (border) and the sight we are having is Tamilnadu (look at the valley behind us )

So it was a nice place we had a great see and had some nice snaps; nice view point from the valley; everything is nice. About to head back now, as its getting dark and cold. We reached the Munnar guest house, which was reserved in advance a day ago! bravo to Hema Kumar again, for organizing it so well and well planned.

Time to have a camp fire, though it’s pouring and the boy there said, it is too late to have the camp fire, everyone was insisted him, and finally we won People had opened up their bottles to start boozing at the camp fire.

well that’s all about the second day, it’s hill station(Munnar) and so cold and everyone was tired already. Gone to beds early.

Day 3:

Good Morning Indians! So after deciding to stay in back in Munnar, and visiting all the over places, HemaKumar woke up little early (infact din’t sleep last night , how sincere… hmm, HemaKumar Murdabad! oops.. sorry!), we hired a guide there to check all the places near by.

Photopoint:

Well, the name says it clearly, best place for taking the snaps, after got down there, immediately, busy with their cameras to flash on each other, but one did differently, here I introduce..

you called him, Knight Rider, hmm.. this guy look lika..

but no one escape from flash..

and we have some cowboys here …..

cowboy1

and the master piece

 

MR. GUN POWDER

Mattupettey dam:

Mattupatti Dam, near Munnar in Idukki District, is a storage masonry dam built in the mountains of Kerala, India to conserve water for hydroelectricity. It has been a vital sources of power, yielding along with other such dams, huge revenue to the states. The large amount of perennially available water allows wild animals and birds to flourish. However salinity caused by irrigation and water-logging are of concern to environmentalists. (courtesy: Wikipedia)

Speed boating:

Here the great adventure comes (of course greatest ever for Guna, the phobist ), everyone enjoyed a lot and a great experience with all the boating with enough high-speed twists and turns to resemble a chase scene in a James Bond movie. Amazing experience it was!

Elephant arrival point:

Yup, we are all reached there (oops.. I din’t mean that )

Film Shooting Point:

Well, all I have remembered is, some cabs with the baords “For Film shoot only”, were coming back in the opposite direction to us. Someone guessed it is ManiRatnam’s “Raavan”, (ManiRatnam knows.. )

Echo point:

Again the time has come to show the guys creativity here, gathered, Mexican-Stand-Off (our own style) and jumped and have taken the snaps in a different, I m sharing one of them here…

Luckom Water falls:

Final stop for the day (Day-3) ,  its damn chill the water is, couldn’t manage to spend more time in water and it is getting darker. After spending some time there, we started back to Munnar.

well, came to end of Day-3, back to guest house in Munnar, we tried the fire camp again, but this time, its raining completely couldn’t get chance.

that’s all for the Day-3