I’m still hanging onto the Bug!

Chimony came with lotsa mysteries and questions. We had no idea what was in store for us! Like they say “Ignorance is Bliss”.

Anyways lemme start from the beginning .It was the GANG again (the full GANG-minus Kiran). JK gave his car a break and we headed to Thrissur in a TAVERA.The journey was quite uneventful, the highlight of the journey being KK’s cozy bed in the backseat. Looked quite comfy!!!Oh and before I forget, Pint suddenly decided to join us on the trip. Pint was quite unknown to me. His name figured in many of the GANG conversations, but I didn’t know him personally …. So the next highlight of this trip was getting to know PINT!!!!And by the end of the trip I was in debt, I still owe PINT some numbers!!!!

We finally reached Chimony (I still don’t know the right pronunciation and spelling) the next morning. I was in total awe of the place, since it was my first time here, unlike the rest of the GANG.

The first half an hour was Mallu-Mallu bonding with the forest department. They were extremely friendly and nice though my only means of communication with them was Expressions and some soundsJ.

We took a short ride to the IB .There were some dorms which were quite sparse but sufficient. The horror for me at that point of time was bath rather the lack of it…There was no possibility of having a bath. Me being the ever optimist was hopeful of a nice long bath later during the day. It so happened that all the guys (influenced by the bath maniac KK) had a nice bath before we set out on the bamboo raft ride (Bamboo Raft Ride - This was one of the temptations which PINT could not resist).

The reservoir was amazingly silent and serene. The bamboo rafts were very well designed; really cute with small kutti chairs ……The raft ride was relaxing and refreshing.

JK was acting hydrophobic and was trying all kinds of tricks and antics to stay put on the raft. But he wouldn’t have thought in the wildest of his dreams, he would be in water clinging onto the raft! The first one to make the dive was PINT (which was expected) and Sid followed suit and
swam to the other raft – I have no idea who he was trying to impress!!!!!!!

And within the next few minutes everyone wasinside water and it felt reawwwwwy good! And this made up for the lack of bathing in the morning ;-)

Once we reached the other side of the reservoir, the camping adventure was to begin. The people (tribals of that forest) put up the nice tents in no time in addition to setting up the kitchen etc.

We had a small trip to two very picturesque waterfalls. DCMs photography madness reached new heights!!!!!

By the time we reached the camping area we were pretty much soaked. All of us huddled up in one camp eating biscuits.

We had nice sumptuous dinner which our fellow companions had cooked (We were amazed with the skills of these ppl who lost no time in making us as comfortable as possible). There was some corny cousin related jokes which made Pint, JK etc hysterical (I still haven’t understood what made them so hysterical).

A small discussion on the next day’s trek happened. The guys were very optimistic of DCMs and my capabilities but we were not!!!!!. We retired to our respective tents .1 tent for 4 guys (including the. one with an abnormal height) and 1 for DCM and me .At this point I had a crisis which I had to discuss with DCM in undertones (coz of the proximity issues between the 2 tents).The guys argue that they could overhear us but we prefer not to believe them ;-)…..

We had an unexpected visitor at night – a wild boar- but we couldn’t tempt our guest to stay for too long. The night was somewhat uneventful except that I hardly slept a wink. I am still curious as to how the 4 Giants snuggled in a single tent – I would rather not imagine wat was going on.

The boat ride back to the IB cannot be described in words. The pictures speak for themselves.

If I don’t end this blog here, I am sure none of you will read what happened next. So let me store the most happening trek to the next blog!!!! I am sure there will be one more ;-)

Until next time ADIOS……..