The memories of that one lovely weekend in July 2006 when five of us (a pair of cousins, three B School batch-mates, a pair of friends for life) decided to drive down from Bangalore to Wayanad, Kerala. The plan itself was hatched out of the air and was relatively inadequate considering the amount of planning all other trips of mine have had. We just knew we needed to get to Wayanad in approximately 6-7 hrs of driving, we were not sure of the actual route we were going to take, we were not sure of where we were going to stay in Wayanad, we were not sure of all the places we wanted to visit in Wayanad, we just knew we needed to get into a car and drive. Well actually, one of my friends A wanted to drive and wanted some company and thus the group of enthusiastic travelers was formed for this trip.
We left Bangalore on early Saturday morning in A’s Hyundai Verna (the old non-aero dynamic one, mind you). Our first stop was Maddur Tiffany’s. Now anybody who has ever driven from Bangalore to Mysore would surely know this iconic restaurant on the highway in a small town called Maddur which is famous for its Maddur Vada [Link to Wikipedia article]. Ever since I can remember, my family and friends have always stopped at Maddur Tiffany’s for restaurant in the 40 odd trips that I have done between Bangalore and Mysore and this trip was no exception. After quite a sumptuous breakfast (which obviously included the Maddur Vada) and some hot piping coffee, we were off on our way again.
Since we had left Bangalore quite early and were making good time due to A’s awesome driving, our first real stop on the tour was the Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary situated on the border of Karnataka and Kerala. While the forest officials told us that the best time to go for a jeep safari to see some really wild animals and more specifically the tiger, since we had stopped, we still took the safari to see whatever animals our luck would allow us to. We didn’t see too much other than a few wild elephants and some deer, but suffice to say that the sheer stillness and peace of the forest was completely disturbed by the damn, noisy forest officers’ jeep in which the safari was conducted. I am sure that the animals were scared by the noise that the vehicle made that they decided to stay safe within the forest itself.
Our next stop was Meenmutti Falls in Kalpetta , Wayanad. We pretty much drove almost 500-600 mtrs away from the falls where we parked and walked down some pretty decent step-like depressions in the ground. The falls was packed with weekend tourists who had tossed all the remnants of their popcorn, potato chips and all other assorted snacks ending up in dirtying the place quite a bit. All the garbage however did not deter any of us from entering the water and playing to our heart’s content in the falls.
After all this exertion in the form of walking through the sanctuary, playing in the water and also in finding a decent resort to stay meant that the evening was planned to be a quiet one. G, a good friend of mine and myself decided that we were in Kerala and an ayurvedic massage was in order. So we searched for a Arya Vaidya Shala, got ourselves some awesome full body massages followed by a wonderful warm water bath. We couldn’t have asked for a better ending to the day.
The next day was a little more relaxed. All of us woke up a little late. While 2 of us were exhausted from the drive, the other 3 were a little hung over from the previous evening’s rum drinking session. The only destination on our agenda for the day was Soojipaara Falls. While we couldn’t drive the car very close to the falls, we stopped at a particular place where we saw at least three other cars parked. Given that the road itself was very narrow and slushy due to overnight rains, we were not particularly excited about where we had parked the car, but it turned out to be quite an experience. With the half broken Malayalam that I could speak, I managed to get us a guide to take us on a trek through a small forest to the waterfall itself. What none of us bargained for was the fact that while the forest was not very thick and dangerous, it was quite steep climbing to the falls themselves, and we realized that all the efforts were worth it when we had our first glimpse of the falls. The water falls from around 200 mtrs up and the effect it has when it hits the bottom is simply awesome and has to be seen to be believed. In any case, we had loads of fun at the falls.
A sumptuous lunch later, we headed back to Bangalore, and given that it was a Sunday evening, the traffic from Mysore to Bangalore was quite crazy. But the feeling that one got in this scenario was that a huge ‘train of cars’ (for lack of a better term) was headed from Mysore to Bangalore.
This trip was made 7 yrs ago, and in that time too many things have changed. 3 of us got married, 2 of us had kids, 2 of us went to the US (and other countries), stayed there for a while and came back to India. Life has changed, priorities have changed, we have changed as people, but one thing remains constant. All of us have wonderful memories of the trip and would do the same route again, visit the same places again. In fact, 3 of us are already making plans for a similar road trip and are exploring the option of getting at least 1 more on board. Who knows I might be putting up another travelogue of that sometime soon…
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Image courtesy: Google Image search for ‘road trip cartoon’
