A Nature Trail...

The mini traveler was parked at Domlur stand with me and Mayank waiting for others to arrive. They were happily having coffee at Shiv Sagar when our call made them realize that we were getting late. It was 6:30 in the morning, and Bitsians @ Merc had planned a trip to Hogenakkal Falls. Within 5 min, Alekh made an appearance from the backside of the traveler. A dog also followed him :). We reached a consensus of picking up ‘the others’ at Shivsagar rather than waiting at Domlur. Within no time we reached the hotel, and there they were- Vivek, Chaitanya, Latchumi and Vaishnavi, eagerly waiting for us to come. The next halt was at Oasis Mall where Suyash, Gursheen and Aman joined us making the Team BITS complete—embarking our journey to Hoganakkal with full enthusiasm.

Hoganakkal, located in Tamilnadu 180 Km from Bangalore, is a serene place with Cauveri finding its way from within the gorges and canyons. Being in TamilNadu, the gals were in full enthu and were constantly reminding us of that ‘Arch’ which marked the end of Karnataka and beginning of ‘Their Territory’. The van stopped at the border to pay the inter-state tax and the gals stepped out with a feeling—“A small step by man, one giant leap by mankind”. We all followed—this was our first step on TN soil.

The travel agency had coated a tax of 1500. We soon realized that the tax was 1000 and hence called the driver’s boss….
Aman—Hello, bhaiiya.. aapne 1500 bola tha, yahan to tax 1000 hai. Hum 1000 de rahe hai
Boss – Aap aisa nahi kar sakte, aapne pahile hi bola tha jitna coat kiya hai utna thik hai
Aman—Arre lekin kal hi hamare dost jaa ke aye, unhone 1000 diye.. aap 1500 kaise maang sakte ho??
Boss—Aap “North wale” hamesha aise hi karte ho.. hume bhi business karna hai.. (LOL)
Aman—Bhad me jao.. tax 1000 hai, hum 1500 nahi bharenge...... n he hung the call.

We paid Rs 1000 and the traveler’s ignition key was turned. The route to Hogenakkal Falls is scenic, with lush mulberry fields and giant terracotta guardian deities, as you approach it, the roar of the Cauvery and the abundance of vegetation in the area is sure to catch your attention. Along with this non-stop DumbC going on with ‘not so dumb’ ppl and Suyash’s periodical ‘Emotional Atyachaar’ made the four hour journey very pleasant and enjoyable. After paying couple of more toll taxes (ye tamil log bahut kamate hai) we reached our destination- Hoganakkal.

The main attraction were the Coracles- the bowl shaped boats which took people on a ride in the Cauvery. We had to bargain a lot for the boat ride, with people who din’t understand any Hindi, and here the gals played a very important role of interpreting… we now realized that we had entered “Their Teritory”. The deal was not bad with us getting into two Coracles, 5 ppl in each, paying them 230 per person for the whole day.

The Coracle took us from one rock to other, the boatman steering it so skillfully that we all enjoyed the water showers coming down from the rocks. Me and Gursheen, the only two people having cameras were in different boats, my boat being ahead of them. The result—Under a shower, they took our pics, but on their turn—we said “Bhad me jao :D :D” Soon this mechanical topper (Gursheen) seemed to have realized it and he stopped clicking out photos. Thus we had to snap some of theirs until he resumed. :)

After some time of sailing we sighted an island. The island was surrounded with mountains. We decided to have lunch in the mountain canopies and climbed to reach a suitable place where we would get shade. We realized that we had left Latchumi, Aman and Suyash behind and asked Vivek to look for there whereabouts. Vivek ek tapu pe jaa ke khada hua—n he located them—playing in water. Restless Vivek kept on shouting “Abe aa bhi jao.. ” but it was of no use. :( They took their time but finally arrived in the thick shade which Mayank and Chaitanya had explored—ideal place to have lunch. But in no time we realized that we had forgotten half of our lunch and plates in the boat.. and our ‘jungle lunch’ plan remained a dream. Instead we had a trail in the forest and then returned back to the boat.

The Coracle steered its way through the river and took us to a beautiful waterfall where all of we enjoyed playing in water. Vivek enjoyed the LIVE sight of Mayank’s specs getting carried away by the turbulent streamlines.

Exhausted after playing in water, we started our return journey. We got seated in our van. Half of them fell asleep within seconds. Mayank’s light background singing and Suyash’s periodical (now toned down) ‘Emotional Atyachaar’ made the return journey also pleasant.

P.S. Some Interesting Post-hang-overs of the trip:
Mayank: Lost in No Man’s Land till he wore his extra pair of specs.
Vivek: Got up at 5 and came to office by 6:30 am …. (Uske alava wo code kisiko run karna nahi ata.. isliye ana pada :) )
Suyash: Dashed upon a tree while walking to office.. (Who paani me thoda uncomfortable ho jaata hu!!!)