Wayanad

When two years back I came down south for job; since then I had my eyes on Kerala.
Always wanted to go there and see what the whole hoopla is about?
Twice plans were made with friends and cancelled. I always felt doomed of having lived so near to Kerala (i.e. Mangalore) and had not yet laid my foot on the land of the spices.
I waited for my call from God’s Own Country. And finally it did come through when I got a chance to join my office trip to Wayanad.
To say that it was fun would be a major understatement. It was darn crazy trip.

We started off a little after 4am on 24th March 2012 from our office. And as son as the bus full of 45 of us crossed the office gates there was music blasting off the speakers and the inevitable dance just followed in minutes.
The very enthusiastic lot danced through out the travel time in bus. We only stopped for breaks, sight seeings and check-posts.

We danced our way to Wayanad and reached there by lunch time. There we had exactly 30 minutes to check in, freshen-up, have our lunch and leave for Edakkal Caves.
And surprisingly 45 people in a group did manage it in an hour!!
Edakkal Caves, none of us were prepared for it! And none of us had bothered to google it out!!!

To say it in one line, there was a girl in our group who trekked up the caves in heels. None of us knew that it was a trekking spot.

All said and done, each one of us; the girl in heels to the guy with plastered foot made it to the top in the scorching heat of the bright sun! And none of us fell ill at the end of the day. We all drank gallons of water and made a successful day out of it to end it with the camp fire at night back at the hotel.

Next day we were all set to visit Kuruva Islands. Now this is when I felt that I was in Kerela. We crossed Kabini river in the local made raft out of bamboo trees. The sight itself elated me!

Walking along the perimeter of the public area of the island, I could hear a constant loud creaking sound. It was bamboo trees swaying in the wind.

Further ahead came across water pools with lots of people frolicking around – tempting to jump in on the hot day. And so we did. Only one splash of water on a friend was enough to start the endless fights over water splashes and all the kiddish fun in water.

There was a long way ahead on the island and much more to explore of the dweep. But time constraint had us return from this point drying ourselves on our way back.

On the other side of the river traditional Kerala food was all ready for us. We sat in groups as per veg and non veg preference and relished our taste buds with delectable traditional food. I for one will never ever forget the taste.

Probably it wasn’t the best of trips from sight seeing point of view. Yet, it is definitely one I will always remember and cherish in my memories because of the sheer energy of the group!