I had been asking my college friends to visit me for quite some time. Ajish, Nithin, Anand had promised me that they would come one day. But that day not arrived till now. So, when Vinod called me and said that he was coming, I was really happy and excited to finally see someone from college. We had met up for a New Year bash at Bangalore and really had a great time. That day as we were busy hunting out places where we could celebrate our New Year, I had constantly pestered them to travel to Mysore, so that I could show them what Mysore has to offer. That did not work out at that time but I was glad that he came. He told me he would be leaving Chennai on Wednesday morning and would reach Mysore by the evening. However, he started at Tuesday night only and was here by Wednesday morning. I was a little worried at that as he was travelling on his bike and it’s more than 500 Kms from Chennai to Mysore.
Anyways, I met him at the GRS Fantasy Park, took him home and left for office as usual. I planned to finish my work early and then take him to Planet X. I got a delayed getting out of office (as usual) and was expecting to hear quite an earful from Vinod. When I finally got to him what I saw to my amusement was this guy sitting comfortably with two beautiful girls at Cubs. I suddenly became a bit uncomfortable as I thought that I might be disturbing them. But I did join them. I learnt that Tulika was Vinod’s classmate in school and Megha was Tulika’s friend. “Hmmm, so that’s why, Mr. Vinod, you have biked all the way from Chennai to Mysore” was my instant thought. However, little did I know that the following days were going to be the most memorable days of my life.
From Cubs we went on to Chamundi Hills, situated in the outskirts of Mysore. You can see the whole of Mysore from up there. It was chilly but a very good ride; we went to the temple (not me but the other guys) and then had some tea with our hands shaking. I even spilled some of my tea. Soon, we went to Planet X, and not too surprisingly we wanted to kart. We soon got into our karts and were soon ripping the tracks apart (at least I was doing so). I went crazy karting as I had not been on a go-kart for about 3 weeks and did a decent job of 40.58 sec. The girls were watching us, and I felt that they really must have gotten bored.
Next evening, we went to Hookah, the famous pub at Planet X. I had the most embarrassing moment of my life. Everybody, except me, knew how to dance. I on the other hand had never danced in my entire life. I was being asked constantly asked to dance and I was coming up with new and unique ways to just say no.I started Taking calls, showing that I was busy on my phone, etc, etc. Then, to my horror, Tulika just came over and took me to the dance floor. That was it! I knew I was doomed. I tried to dance for some time, but was feeling awkward and out of place and soon ran back to the couch. I decided then that “Beta Justin, Ab to dance seekhna hi padega!”. I tried downing a few drinks and getting back, but nothing was happening. Usually, I just need one to get high but this time somehow nothing seemed to happen. I had just embarrassed the most beautiful lady I have ever met. Embarrassing!!! Looser!!! I know! I know!
The next morningthe four of us (Tulika, Megha, Vinod and I) planned to go biking. We decided to bike to the Dubbare Forest area in KushalNagar near Madikeri (Coorg) which is around 60 kms from Mysore. Waking up was difficult, but since Vinod knew where to hit to get me up ;), we were up and running by about 7:00 AM. We picked up the girls and started towards Kushalnagar. I did my first bike trip to Coorg and the sight of the roads made me nostalgic. Last time I was on this road, most of the road was rugged and we had a real bumpy ride. However, they have repaired the roads and the ride this time was just awesome.
As we were leaving Mysore, it started to drizzle and soon we were pretty much drenched. But the ride was great; I especially like riding under a slight drizzle. Soon, I just removed my helmet and was enjoying the cool breeze against my face. I do not know how Megha felt behind me; I was just looking around remembering the time when I first took my bike out and was burning tyres at 100kmph to Coorg. We reached Kushalnagar by around 10:30 AM, and were soon looking for the Dubbare Forest. I was keen to see the place as we came to know that they had White Water Rafting there. We reached the Chiklihole Dam, and spent some time there. The view as it turns always was just awesome, especially because of the drizzle.
After a while at the dam, we again started for the river. We reached there in about half an hour. Seeing the water, I was just ready to jump in. However, the moment we jumped out of our bikes, we realized how cold it was. My legs were shivering like I would fall down right away. We quickly ran over to a Hotel, and had some real hot coffee. Once, things normalized, we had another problem. We knew we were travelling, but we never thought that we would be rafting; and we did not have spare clothes. Rafting was ok, but how are we going to get back in wet clothes. What the f…, we are doing this. It was Plain and simple.
We were soon into our rafting kit with all the life jackets, helmets and the CHAPPU (paddles). The guy who was going to take us Rafting, Johnson, strapped on the jackets so hard that it almost blew the wind out of us. We got into the water which was unusually calm; it was later told to us that this was the Kaveri river waters and hence did not have turbulence as you have in the Seethanadi, Mangalore as the water rush is created by releasing water from the Dam there. Nevertheless, we went in and started boating around. Tulika was skeptical and a bit afraid at first as she had never done this before; and Megha was fine, ready to rock n roll. Johnson soon had us in the groove with his “forward”, “stop”, “fast forward”, etc. etc.
We had to raft a stretch of about 7 kms and we were told that it would take about 1-1/2 hrs to do it. The waters were mostly calm but we did have some rapids in between. We all went ecstatic when Johnson would ask us to paddle harder and harder to get us to the rapids; and then the sudden burst of water from all sides as we went into the rapid. As we became comfortable with the waters we were just asking for more. Then suddenly, Johnson asked if we wanted to jump into the water. Vinod and I quickly obliged and jumped into the water. I do not know how to swim and hence we had quite some very good moments; “some people” would be rolling over laughing thinking about that now. There was one stretch where we rafted against the current and came to a rapid where the raft gets stuck in the rapid. That was a real kool moment as Johnson would say forward, forward and then fast forward and we would like put in all our efforts. This time the girls were sitting in front and every time water rushed in they would duck down into the raft. I and Vinod were busy laughing away at the sight. Johnson was very friendly and took us to the same rapid again and again till we all got totally exhausted. As we started with the current, we just laid back on the raft and let Johnson take control and paddle for some time. Soon, we again reached a safe spot where we could jump into the water again. However, this time it was Johnson, who was like throwing us all into the waters. I remember he just threw Tulika and Megha into the water. The thought that we did not have spare clothes and had to bike back home completely wet never came into our minds.
Soon our rafting finished and I was really horrified when we were told that I and Vinod would have to carry the raft back to the road. Nevertheless we were too excited and did carry it over. The girls were behind us and had that look on their faces like we were just going to drop the raft and trip down taking them with us. We reached the road and got into a small shop to have some tea. I cannot express our joy when we had the hot tea as we were already shivering. I finished the tea and had to go to get some money from Kushalnagar. I slowly climbed into the jeep and was off towards the city, …shivering.
I came back after a while only to see that these guys had been provided with a matka of burning coal from the shop. The people there had been very helpful; especially the woman there. We thanked her again and again while we were returning to the base. It is very rare that you find such hospitality; from people you don’t even know. We returned to the base and it was then that we realized how cold we were. We just wanted to have a bonfire; again the Jungle Safari guys helped us out and built us a bonfire out of hay. While they were putting in the hay for the bonfire, a couple of cows started towards us. And Megha was like, Hurrrr, Hurrr, Hurrr, trying to shoo them away. We just had a riot laughing at the sight (I am sure Megha will kill me for this). We stayed there for some time to get ourselves heated up and left the place at around 5:30 PM.
The return was not eventful as the only thing on our minds was to get back as soon as possible and get under a hot shower. We rode fast and reached Mysore in record time, taking less than an hour and a half. We dropped the girls home and soon I hit the shower. It was a hell of an experience and I am definitely going to remember this for the rest of my life.
Johnson, I have learnt that is a part of Jungle Safari and roams around the country to places like these for taking people out for unforgettable experiences. He is from Goa, and travels to all these rivers based on the season. I found him to be a wonderful person, very helpful and ready to go that extra bit for his customers. He has suggested a place near Goa, where you can find rapids like in the Rishikesh river. I am making plans with my friend and would soon be going there.
After all the fun, the best part of the whole weekend at least for me would be meeting Tulika and Megha, who have become very good friends of mine. It is quite interesting to see that you meet new people, completely strangers, and yet you find a connection. It’s like I have never met these guys before and yet we find so many similarities; even some of the experiences that we’ve had till now are similar. I guess that’s what is called LIFE!!!
As for dancing, I have joined Salsa classes and am waiting to hit back on the floor this time knowing what I am doing.
Anyways, I met him at the GRS Fantasy Park, took him home and left for office as usual. I planned to finish my work early and then take him to Planet X. I got a delayed getting out of office (as usual) and was expecting to hear quite an earful from Vinod. When I finally got to him what I saw to my amusement was this guy sitting comfortably with two beautiful girls at Cubs. I suddenly became a bit uncomfortable as I thought that I might be disturbing them. But I did join them. I learnt that Tulika was Vinod’s classmate in school and Megha was Tulika’s friend. “Hmmm, so that’s why, Mr. Vinod, you have biked all the way from Chennai to Mysore” was my instant thought. However, little did I know that the following days were going to be the most memorable days of my life.
From Cubs we went on to Chamundi Hills, situated in the outskirts of Mysore. You can see the whole of Mysore from up there. It was chilly but a very good ride; we went to the temple (not me but the other guys) and then had some tea with our hands shaking. I even spilled some of my tea. Soon, we went to Planet X, and not too surprisingly we wanted to kart. We soon got into our karts and were soon ripping the tracks apart (at least I was doing so). I went crazy karting as I had not been on a go-kart for about 3 weeks and did a decent job of 40.58 sec. The girls were watching us, and I felt that they really must have gotten bored.
Next evening, we went to Hookah, the famous pub at Planet X. I had the most embarrassing moment of my life. Everybody, except me, knew how to dance. I on the other hand had never danced in my entire life. I was being asked constantly asked to dance and I was coming up with new and unique ways to just say no.I started Taking calls, showing that I was busy on my phone, etc, etc. Then, to my horror, Tulika just came over and took me to the dance floor. That was it! I knew I was doomed. I tried to dance for some time, but was feeling awkward and out of place and soon ran back to the couch. I decided then that “Beta Justin, Ab to dance seekhna hi padega!”. I tried downing a few drinks and getting back, but nothing was happening. Usually, I just need one to get high but this time somehow nothing seemed to happen. I had just embarrassed the most beautiful lady I have ever met. Embarrassing!!! Looser!!! I know! I know!
The next morningthe four of us (Tulika, Megha, Vinod and I) planned to go biking. We decided to bike to the Dubbare Forest area in KushalNagar near Madikeri (Coorg) which is around 60 kms from Mysore. Waking up was difficult, but since Vinod knew where to hit to get me up ;), we were up and running by about 7:00 AM. We picked up the girls and started towards Kushalnagar. I did my first bike trip to Coorg and the sight of the roads made me nostalgic. Last time I was on this road, most of the road was rugged and we had a real bumpy ride. However, they have repaired the roads and the ride this time was just awesome.
As we were leaving Mysore, it started to drizzle and soon we were pretty much drenched. But the ride was great; I especially like riding under a slight drizzle. Soon, I just removed my helmet and was enjoying the cool breeze against my face. I do not know how Megha felt behind me; I was just looking around remembering the time when I first took my bike out and was burning tyres at 100kmph to Coorg. We reached Kushalnagar by around 10:30 AM, and were soon looking for the Dubbare Forest. I was keen to see the place as we came to know that they had White Water Rafting there. We reached the Chiklihole Dam, and spent some time there. The view as it turns always was just awesome, especially because of the drizzle.
After a while at the dam, we again started for the river. We reached there in about half an hour. Seeing the water, I was just ready to jump in. However, the moment we jumped out of our bikes, we realized how cold it was. My legs were shivering like I would fall down right away. We quickly ran over to a Hotel, and had some real hot coffee. Once, things normalized, we had another problem. We knew we were travelling, but we never thought that we would be rafting; and we did not have spare clothes. Rafting was ok, but how are we going to get back in wet clothes. What the f…, we are doing this. It was Plain and simple.
We were soon into our rafting kit with all the life jackets, helmets and the CHAPPU (paddles). The guy who was going to take us Rafting, Johnson, strapped on the jackets so hard that it almost blew the wind out of us. We got into the water which was unusually calm; it was later told to us that this was the Kaveri river waters and hence did not have turbulence as you have in the Seethanadi, Mangalore as the water rush is created by releasing water from the Dam there. Nevertheless, we went in and started boating around. Tulika was skeptical and a bit afraid at first as she had never done this before; and Megha was fine, ready to rock n roll. Johnson soon had us in the groove with his “forward”, “stop”, “fast forward”, etc. etc.
We had to raft a stretch of about 7 kms and we were told that it would take about 1-1/2 hrs to do it. The waters were mostly calm but we did have some rapids in between. We all went ecstatic when Johnson would ask us to paddle harder and harder to get us to the rapids; and then the sudden burst of water from all sides as we went into the rapid. As we became comfortable with the waters we were just asking for more. Then suddenly, Johnson asked if we wanted to jump into the water. Vinod and I quickly obliged and jumped into the water. I do not know how to swim and hence we had quite some very good moments; “some people” would be rolling over laughing thinking about that now. There was one stretch where we rafted against the current and came to a rapid where the raft gets stuck in the rapid. That was a real kool moment as Johnson would say forward, forward and then fast forward and we would like put in all our efforts. This time the girls were sitting in front and every time water rushed in they would duck down into the raft. I and Vinod were busy laughing away at the sight. Johnson was very friendly and took us to the same rapid again and again till we all got totally exhausted. As we started with the current, we just laid back on the raft and let Johnson take control and paddle for some time. Soon, we again reached a safe spot where we could jump into the water again. However, this time it was Johnson, who was like throwing us all into the waters. I remember he just threw Tulika and Megha into the water. The thought that we did not have spare clothes and had to bike back home completely wet never came into our minds.
Soon our rafting finished and I was really horrified when we were told that I and Vinod would have to carry the raft back to the road. Nevertheless we were too excited and did carry it over. The girls were behind us and had that look on their faces like we were just going to drop the raft and trip down taking them with us. We reached the road and got into a small shop to have some tea. I cannot express our joy when we had the hot tea as we were already shivering. I finished the tea and had to go to get some money from Kushalnagar. I slowly climbed into the jeep and was off towards the city, …shivering.
I came back after a while only to see that these guys had been provided with a matka of burning coal from the shop. The people there had been very helpful; especially the woman there. We thanked her again and again while we were returning to the base. It is very rare that you find such hospitality; from people you don’t even know. We returned to the base and it was then that we realized how cold we were. We just wanted to have a bonfire; again the Jungle Safari guys helped us out and built us a bonfire out of hay. While they were putting in the hay for the bonfire, a couple of cows started towards us. And Megha was like, Hurrrr, Hurrr, Hurrr, trying to shoo them away. We just had a riot laughing at the sight (I am sure Megha will kill me for this). We stayed there for some time to get ourselves heated up and left the place at around 5:30 PM.
The return was not eventful as the only thing on our minds was to get back as soon as possible and get under a hot shower. We rode fast and reached Mysore in record time, taking less than an hour and a half. We dropped the girls home and soon I hit the shower. It was a hell of an experience and I am definitely going to remember this for the rest of my life.
Johnson, I have learnt that is a part of Jungle Safari and roams around the country to places like these for taking people out for unforgettable experiences. He is from Goa, and travels to all these rivers based on the season. I found him to be a wonderful person, very helpful and ready to go that extra bit for his customers. He has suggested a place near Goa, where you can find rapids like in the Rishikesh river. I am making plans with my friend and would soon be going there.
After all the fun, the best part of the whole weekend at least for me would be meeting Tulika and Megha, who have become very good friends of mine. It is quite interesting to see that you meet new people, completely strangers, and yet you find a connection. It’s like I have never met these guys before and yet we find so many similarities; even some of the experiences that we’ve had till now are similar. I guess that’s what is called LIFE!!!
As for dancing, I have joined Salsa classes and am waiting to hit back on the floor this time knowing what I am doing.
saale... so thulika is the one eh??
ReplyDeleteand BTW did i read u were ripping n the go kart?? dude ur pics show tat u r holding the steering lik a loory driver.. and 40.85 is NO GOOD!!!
hey justin , to start with the blog has been very acuurate....
ReplyDeletewell lemme start my comments...
thanks for mentioning the chasing away of those cows....y din u write the other part, u were right behind me while i was chasing...heheheh......n of course...i wud never forget all my life how u were pushed out of raft.....n thnx to vinod who did a real good job for it... n a chill running thru ur spine;)how can u forget that... but this trip to dubbare i'll never forget..i had a great time with u guys..
ya u hav been quite generous in writing good things about me n tulika too...so lemme write something good about u too....well i hav got a good friend n i enjoyed the bike ride with u ...when we r all together we rock.. i wud hav killed u for those comments but i thought this was a better idea.
we better catch up with some more plans to go out...
Those 3 days were the most memorable for me...having fun with my good friends n not worried about anythin else.... dont know when will that happen again... hopefully soon...
ReplyDeletei feel like reading this agin and again.....this is one of the best experience i hav ever had in life.:)
ReplyDelete