Since I have, as yet not figured out how to put caption under my photographs I am writing a description of the photographs here.
The first 12 pics are of the place where we lived. We lived in a small institute away and when I say away I mean far far away from civilization. It was a decent accomodation but I do need to mention that the loos did not have any flushes, but none of us really cared about that. We had amazing food cooked on a chulha ready whenever we had to leave, be it 6 in the morning or 8. Though the people there tried their hand at North Indian food but not to much avail, but it's the thought that matters right!.
Then comes the pics of our first hike. God! was it thorny out there! We started out at 8:30 am in the sun. The thorns really slowed us down as they would hook into our clothes and skin and some of them had some amount of poison in them which discoloured our skin. After sometime the narrow walkway we were walking on also vanished, we were left with no guide as to the trail whatsoever. But we had work to do, so on we trudged, with the sun making it no easier and all we had was grasses to hold on to and to save us from falling down, though there was little possibility of that happening as there were so many thorns, we were sure that if we fell we will probably get stuck in them some five feet below us. At 12:00, after 3 and a half hours we reached our destination, had some food there did our work and then started our walk downhill which proved to be more treacherous than the uphill one. Finally at 2:30pm we reached back. But the work was not over as yet as as soon as we reached we were asked to take a bus to Kodaikanal, so at 4:30, after packing our stuff we were off again. But buses are not that easy. After waiting for an hour, a bus comes but with people hanging outside it we decided against that option and took a taxi instead.
Reached kodaikanal, Sacred Heart College at 9:30 pm and were welcomed by some especially disgusting south Indian food. The pic comes after 4 hike pics and 6 bird pics, boy! was it creepy. I am generally not afraid of the dark and do not have a wild imagination but all alone on an entire floor in this place did give me goosebumps, but that still did not stop me spooking others around me. Will tell that story later. First the rules of this place- No talking loudly on the phone or otherwise, absolutely no noise after 9 and no joining of the beds.
It was spooky to the extent that people used to go together wherever they went at night even if it was just to get water. With the loos being on the far end of the corridor and absolutely no light to show the way and the wooden floorboard reaking under my feet one day I decided to go to the downstairs bathroom as atleast there was a light on there. And for this reason I rechristened the place as Bhoot bangla. But two good things ! my room had a skylight and slanting roof, so I never had to get up and open the door to realize whether its morning, just look up.Man I wanted to live in such a room. And awesome birds and you should be there to listen to the concert they hold in the morning. The 6 bird pics mentioned above are Kodaikanal Birds. An interesting fact about them is that some of them are found in the Himalayas and then in Palni Hills and not anywhere in between.
Then lastly come the pics from our second hike, though not as hard as the first one and not thorny at all this was fun too. I fell in love with the moss covered trees over there, hence you see a lot of pics of moss. Also saw a snake there and some of the lucky ones saw a Hornbill. Alas! I wasn't in them. This was where I realized i have some of an uncomfortable feeling around heights, but that isn't going to stop me from climbing to the highest point now is it? This hike was our last day of the trip which we thoroughly enjoyed and every little imperfection just contributed that much more to the memories.
Hope you enjoyed reading it as I did reliving those memories while writing.
The first 12 pics are of the place where we lived. We lived in a small institute away and when I say away I mean far far away from civilization. It was a decent accomodation but I do need to mention that the loos did not have any flushes, but none of us really cared about that. We had amazing food cooked on a chulha ready whenever we had to leave, be it 6 in the morning or 8. Though the people there tried their hand at North Indian food but not to much avail, but it's the thought that matters right!.
Then comes the pics of our first hike. God! was it thorny out there! We started out at 8:30 am in the sun. The thorns really slowed us down as they would hook into our clothes and skin and some of them had some amount of poison in them which discoloured our skin. After sometime the narrow walkway we were walking on also vanished, we were left with no guide as to the trail whatsoever. But we had work to do, so on we trudged, with the sun making it no easier and all we had was grasses to hold on to and to save us from falling down, though there was little possibility of that happening as there were so many thorns, we were sure that if we fell we will probably get stuck in them some five feet below us. At 12:00, after 3 and a half hours we reached our destination, had some food there did our work and then started our walk downhill which proved to be more treacherous than the uphill one. Finally at 2:30pm we reached back. But the work was not over as yet as as soon as we reached we were asked to take a bus to Kodaikanal, so at 4:30, after packing our stuff we were off again. But buses are not that easy. After waiting for an hour, a bus comes but with people hanging outside it we decided against that option and took a taxi instead.
Reached kodaikanal, Sacred Heart College at 9:30 pm and were welcomed by some especially disgusting south Indian food. The pic comes after 4 hike pics and 6 bird pics, boy! was it creepy. I am generally not afraid of the dark and do not have a wild imagination but all alone on an entire floor in this place did give me goosebumps, but that still did not stop me spooking others around me. Will tell that story later. First the rules of this place- No talking loudly on the phone or otherwise, absolutely no noise after 9 and no joining of the beds.
It was spooky to the extent that people used to go together wherever they went at night even if it was just to get water. With the loos being on the far end of the corridor and absolutely no light to show the way and the wooden floorboard reaking under my feet one day I decided to go to the downstairs bathroom as atleast there was a light on there. And for this reason I rechristened the place as Bhoot bangla. But two good things ! my room had a skylight and slanting roof, so I never had to get up and open the door to realize whether its morning, just look up.Man I wanted to live in such a room. And awesome birds and you should be there to listen to the concert they hold in the morning. The 6 bird pics mentioned above are Kodaikanal Birds. An interesting fact about them is that some of them are found in the Himalayas and then in Palni Hills and not anywhere in between.
Then lastly come the pics from our second hike, though not as hard as the first one and not thorny at all this was fun too. I fell in love with the moss covered trees over there, hence you see a lot of pics of moss. Also saw a snake there and some of the lucky ones saw a Hornbill. Alas! I wasn't in them. This was where I realized i have some of an uncomfortable feeling around heights, but that isn't going to stop me from climbing to the highest point now is it? This hike was our last day of the trip which we thoroughly enjoyed and every little imperfection just contributed that much more to the memories.
Hope you enjoyed reading it as I did reliving those memories while writing.
you should change the color of the text that overlaps that background picture...I can hardly read the text on the margins.
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