Parambikulam - Valparai - Team Trip 2014
by Srivathson KK
Team Trip 2014, an excitement that started off with a connect post on May 7, 2014 by Parthiban brought up bright faces within the team. It was a list of places - Valparai, Parambikulam, Munaar, Coorg, Idukki, Kodaikanal. But Valapari and Parambikulam was voted the most and majority with "Any Place". After some quick discussions within the team and few contributions from Saroja, Priya, Subramanian and Parthiban, the trip was all set to kick start on October 2nd Week! This decision came by August 28, 2014. And finally it was September 11, 2014 the journey was confirmed with tickets booked!
As the trip date was getting closer Subramanian was very much excited. But Mickey Team was also getting ready for a milestone release. Ganesh was very much eager to work while everyone was ready waiting near the lift. Alas, milestone release was postponed. With much excitations everyone started off by 6 PM on October 9, 2014 from DLF IT Park by cab to Guindy Railway Station. It was Vivekanand who reached there early and bought tickets. Finally a train came and around 15 boarded one train. But after getting into the train we came to know that ticket was with Vivekanand and he didn't get into the train because of Haripriya, Divya and Sowmiya. Seeing this Ganesh and Sakthi too got down. Others reached Chennai Park Railway Station and few got into the hands of the ticket checker. Finally we were caught! When Subramanian was asked for the ticket count, he called up Vinod Kumar (not caught) who was with 9 more people few meters away from the ticket checker. And finally everyone was caught. We waited for about 10 more minutes for Vivekanand to reach Chennai Park Railway Station. As soon as Vivekanand reached there, we showed the tickets to ticket checker and left to Chennai Central Railway Station. It was confirmed that Mangalore Mail train was stationed at Platform 4. Vinod Kumar and Vivekanand was rushing to few hotels at Chennai Central Railway Station to buy some food for dinner. Finally it was Chappatis and Vegetable Briyani at Railway Canteen and Chappatis, Parottas, Idly and Poori at Saravana Bhavan. Food arrangement was shared by Vinod Kumar, Vivekanand, Srivathson, Ganesh and Arun. It was Haripriya's brother who came to station to send off Haripriya. We had 10 minutes left to board the train. And finally we got into our coach (S10) and got settled despite the local rush. Parthiban was well early and waiting for us.
Train (Mangalore Mail) started at the expected time (8:15 PM). Local rush was getting heavy. Saroja sponsored Gulab Jamuns and Rasagullas. Everyone tasted a bit of sweet. Subramanian was very much tensed and tired settling the seats for us. TTR came within a few minutes and got the ticket checked. Everyone was busy with their mobiles calling their home to inform that the journey has started. It was around 8:30 PM, Vinod Kumar distributed dinner to all. Finally he came to know that he had missed Ashutosh and Mohit who were at S11. Finally we were left with 3 sets of Parottas and 5 people to eat. We (Vinod Kumar, Subramanian, Srivathson, Parthasarathy and Athi Nivas) shared the parottas that we had. Surprisingly we got 4 pieces of Chappatis from the other end of the compartment where Bala, Shameer and others were seated. Local rush got down at Katpadi and the train was free. Mickey Team (Vinod Kumar, Parthiban, Subramanian, Srivathson, Athi Nivas, Ganesh, Vijayan, Parthasarathy, Shameer, Haripriya, Divya, Sowmiya) assembled at S10 (9-14). We started playing cards and made huge noise. We also took photographs and enjoyed. After some time, Vinod Kumar left to his seat. It was around 11 PM, a policeman informed us not to play cards. Everyone left to their seats. Two keralites requested us to give them lower berths and we got upper berths in return. Parthasarathy was seen doing some breathing exercise and everyone waited for him to complete. But he slept immediately after completing his exercise. But Vijayan was very much curious and woked up Parthasarathy. Few giggles and finally we slept. It was myself who checked the Train Status and got to know that we are 30 mins early of the expected schedule. We rescheduled our alarms and finally slept. It was Subramanian who woke up early around 2:30 AM and woke us all. We were ready by 3:15 AM and reached Podanur Railway Station at 3:30 AM. Subramanian checked with the cab drivers and got to know that they were on the way. Few started brushing their teeth at railway station itself. Finally cab came to Podanur Railway Station around 3:55 AM. We got into the cabs and reached Pollachi around 5 AM. We had coffee and got into Sitaram Lodge, Pollachi. Finally after setting things, we were asked by Subramanian to be ready by 6:30 AM. Vinod Kumar sent us SMS to know the status whether we were ready or not. Finally everyone was ready by 7 AM. We came out of lodge and settled the payment and started for breakfast. We went to Hotel Gowri Krishna and had breakfast. Most of them had dosas, idlies and poori. It was around 8:30 AM we started to Parambikulam from Pollachi.
We reached Anaimalai Tiger Reserve checkpost and captured few pics. We munched some fruits and got our passes to Parambikulam. We reached another checkpost and got our passes checked. We reached the Parambikulam checkpost at 9:30 AM. Subramanian spoke with the officials there in Malayalam and paid the package amount. We started our trip with trekking. The first animal that we spotted was peacock. We were accompanied by 3 guards. They gave us few instructions that are to be followed during trekking.
Our trekking covered 3 forest regions - Most Deciduous Forest, Evergreen Forest and Bamboo Forest. We saw the Crocodile Bark tree, Cycas Circinalis (food eaten by tribals). Later we witnessed the pub marks of leopard.
We also saw the natural salt that is intaked by elephants, the marking by leopards. We then climbed steep rocks and few got tired after climbing those rocks. We took some rest and continued trekking. We also crossed the forest rivers. We too saw few animals such as Sambar Deer, Bison, Boer, Monkeys, Hornbill, Wood pecker, etc. We too saw a video footage of the spotted leopard on October 5, 2014. We then continued to trek and crossed dense forest where King Cobra can be found. We then reached another forest river. And that's the place everyone started to scream! Many of us got leech bites. It was Athi Nivas who got the biggest leech bite.
After removing all leeches we started again to trek. Vinod Kumar has his shoes soul torn and he managed to tie using the roots to the trees. It was Damodharan who dropped his mobile phone in water and was drying his mobile during the trek. We witnessed the death of trees too. We also experienced the forest rain. We crossed many areas where Tiger Centipede, Common Indian Monitor, Rattle Snake can be found. We also saw how huge a teak tree leaf will be. Bala and Damodharan got some leaves and used them as umbrellas.
We then crossed the Bamboo Forest and few more dense Evergreen Forest. Finally we reached a spot where we were about 50 m high on a rock. It started drizzling and Vinod Kumar was asking us to come down. But everyone was busy capturing photographs. Finally after sometime everyone got down and started crossing forest region again. We then went through some dense regions and finally reached the starting point! We washed our hands well and had some water. Guards at Parambikulam were arranging for lunch. We had Chappatis, Rice, some Potato malasa, Dal, Sambar, Rasam and Curd. Non vegetarians had fish fry and some kuruma. After lunch we had some payasam. After finishing our lunch we got onto our cabs and got ready for Safari. We came across few Deers, Sambar Deer, Bison, Boer.
We reached Thunakadavu Dam and captured few photographs.
We then reached Parambikulam Dam and enjoyed there. Later we went for Bamboo Rafting. The lake was said to consists of many species of fishes and lakhs of crocodiles. The lake was spead upto 8.2 Sq Miles and had a cachment area of 89 Sq Miles.
After bamboo rafting, we had some cup of Tea and Ice Cream. Then we went to Kannimara Tree (largest Teak Tree in the world). We captured some pics and took group photograph. We came back to Parambikulam checkpost by 6 PM. From there we started to Valparai. We stopped at Pollachi for some refreshment. We crossed Valaparai checkpost around 7:15 PM.
Thus our bend journey started! The first bend gave a shake for all. We witnessed the Aliyar Dam lights at 3rd bend. Few felt vomiting sensation and cab was half silent. But Sowmiya, Vijayan, Shameer and Athi Nivas were enjoying with cards. Subramanian kept us informing how many bends were left and Sowmiya kept on enquiring. And finally we crossed 40 bends and waited for other cab to reach. From there on we took some 30 kms to reach Whispering Falls around 10 PM, the resort that we booked for stay. We got into our rooms and kept our bags and got ready for dinner. We had Chappatis, Fried Rice, Peas Masala and Curd Rice. Non vegetarians had Egg and Mutton Masala. We then got into our rooms and took some rest.
We got early by 6 AM the next day. Few were ready by 7 AM. We tested leech bites with Salt and Lime. It was Subramanian and Vijayan who got down to take a bath at the falls inside the resort. Seeing this Shameer too got down. Then it was Bala, Vinod Kumar, Sakthi, Saroja, Priya. Seeing this many others got down. Ganesh, Athi Nivas, Parthasarathy and Arun were too not an exception. Haripriya, Sowmiya and Divya too got down. Parthiban was ready and Subramani kept on calling Parthiban to get down. And finally Parthiban and myself got down and took bath at falls. Ashutosh and Mispah were the photographers! Vivekanand, Joseph, Damodharan, Mogith and Santhosh didn't get down. Shameer got a ball and we played for few minutes (at falls). We then came out of falls and checked ourselves. We found many leeches on our dresses and body. We applied Salt and removed all leeches. Salt packet was almost used. Everyone panicked. We removed small leeches and kept all our dresses soaked in salt. We got ourselves ready and washed our clothes. We took breakfast - Dosas, Idlies, Sambar.
We then started to Sholayar Dam. We witnessed some rain there. We captured many photographs. We then started for a walk from the bridge. Our wildlife photographer, Parthiban, captured many photographs. Vinod Kumar was heading fast. I accompanied him. Others came back late.
They had some fun, dance and experienced walk with mist! Deluge Team came in cab and were playing cards at Room #7 at Whispering Falls. As soon as Vinod Kumar and myself reached resort we witnessed the mist getting dense. We took many photographs and i took many selfies! It was around 1:15 PM, others reached resort. It started raining heavily. We were waiting for lunch. Meantime, we had some fun - Dumb C, Singing by Ashutosh (Tum Hi Ho), Dancing by Divya and Priya. We then had lunch - Rice, Sambar, Rasam, Papad, Peas Masala, Curd. Non vegetarians had Egg Masala, Fish Fry and Chicken Gravy. After lunch we had payasam. We started from Whispering Falls resort at 3:00 PM. We crossed Sholayar Dam region and witnessed the Tea Estates (most of them by Parry).
They had some fun, dance and experienced walk with mist! Deluge Team came in cab and were playing cards at Room #7 at Whispering Falls. As soon as Vinod Kumar and myself reached resort we witnessed the mist getting dense. We took many photographs and i took many selfies! It was around 1:15 PM, others reached resort. It started raining heavily. We were waiting for lunch. Meantime, we had some fun - Dumb C, Singing by Ashutosh (Tum Hi Ho), Dancing by Divya and Priya. We then had lunch - Rice, Sambar, Rasam, Papad, Peas Masala, Curd. Non vegetarians had Egg Masala, Fish Fry and Chicken Gravy. After lunch we had payasam. We started from Whispering Falls resort at 3:00 PM. We crossed Sholayar Dam region and witnessed the Tea Estates (most of them by Parry).
We then got down at Tiger Valley and captured some photographs. We too took some group photographs. But Vinod Kumar missed it. Vinod Kumar, Vivekanand, Santhosh and Sakthi started walking and asked us to pick up when we cross them. They walked about 1 - 2 km from Tiger Valley.
We then reached a view point of Aliyar Dam. We saw few varieties of Monkeys. We too saw a mokey fight too! From there we too saw Monkey Falls. We watched Raja Rani movie during our journey. We reached Monkey Falls around 6 PM. Unfortunately we were late. It was closed by 5 PM. We reached Aliyar Dam around 6:30 PM and it was dark there. We just climbed around 70 steps and saw the dam in dark. We came down and ate some Pineapples and Corn. We then had some bisuits, tea and chilli bhaji at Aavin Outlet. We then reached Coimbatore around 8:30 PM. Vegetarians planned to have dinner at Adayar Anandha Bhavan. But it was full. So we had dinner at Sri Aarvee Hotels. We tasted Soup, Starters, Chats, Dosas, and juice. Non vegetarians had dinner at Anjappar. They tasted all varieties of Mutton, Chicken, Fish, Crab, etc with ice cream. We finished our dinner and reached Coimbatore Junction around 10:15 PM. While Shameer and Athi Nivas left us. We got ourselves separated as we had our tickets at B2 and B5, Cheran Express. Saroja led passengers at B2 and I led passengers at B5. We got into train at 10:30 PM. Our tickets were checked few minutes later. Everyone slept around 11 PM. It was Vijayan who woke up all around 6 AM the next day. Parthiban got down at Perambur and reached home before we reached Chennai Central Railway Station. We finally reached Chennai Central Railway Station at 6:45 PM. Vinod Kumar bought us local train tickets and we boarded the train around 7:00 AM. Everyone reached home safely by 8:30 AM and confirmed it on WhatsApp!
And that's our sweet memories to cherish.
Thanks to all who arranged this trip :)
No comments:
Post a Comment