4 years back she split my life in two – Pre 2008 and Post
2008, as my first visit then ignited the hidden passion inside me with her stimulating
wilderness. Henceforth as I think about
the walk over the past years of my life, I have been altered to look at 2008 as
a nostalgic junction that sparks the most romantic thoughts inside me.
She’s filled with certain ambience, unique to herself, not found anywhere else and
that unique character is overwhelming to humble anyone who has understood her
well. She has everything to make anyone
forget the intricacies of life and undergo unadulterated relaxation for as many
days at disposal through her addictive landscapes, weather, wild life and
food. After two visits in 2008 and 2010 this was my third attempt to see her in
the best mood but, the most important objective of this Jaunt was to capture a
shot of the place that’s been evading my quest for over 3 years with its
peculiar geography. This place is so natural
and pristine that it imparts the feeling of walking close to the creator when
present there physically. To be right, I get the feeling of being near him
(Creator) when near her (The place) and this is exactly the reason to align
this jaunt with the theme “Near Her, Near Him”. But this place is also so
uncertain with its powerful natural elements that for the past 3 years she
didn’t bother to reveal her beauty despite my concentrated efforts. I didn’t have the power to take in another
blow and all I prayed for was, to only have a glimpse of her overwhelming beauty
for few priceless seconds. With a big burden on luck I kicked off the 610
Kms drive to Sultan Bathery on an extremely rainy October night with Dave and
Aneesh, retracing the path taken way back in 08. If its luck or fate, which Iam
not sure off, each of these three drives were stressed to extreme by rain and
traffic rendering the departure frustrated and exhausted. NH46 was undergoing a
massive six lane conversion and this slowed down the pace causing sleep to
gradually creep in, as a dangerous miss landed the car in a closed lane filled
with iron rods and concrete blocks. This melted the sleep instantly and
imparted more caution to ensure we reached our usual hang out, the Coffee Day,
safe for few minutes of relaxation. Repeated
visit to a place forms a strong bond and you eventually begin to feel at home,
as was the case with me when I thought about how estranged I was during my
first visit and how comfortable I felt during the third. I wanted to reach
near her soon the next morning but, the fact that the rains were poor this year
did dampen my hopes and enthusiasm. Nevertheless, the nostalgic events
surrounding this place and my past fed unending thrust to keep me going;
irrespective of the outcome over the next three days. When morning emerged we
were nearing the city of Mysore
The Gundlupet to Sultan Bathery road winding its way
through the mystifying Muthunga pushed me to the back seat as Dave took control
of the wheel over the last 50 Kms of the drive, 50 nostalgic Kms. The best ever entry to any our jaunt
destinations still happens to be our 2008 entrance into this stretch of
national highway when rains were ravaging the seducing NH212. NH212 connects
Calicut in Kerala with Kollegal in Karnataka and to do that; it passes through
Kalpetta, Sultan Bathery, Gundlupet and Mysore Sunrise Sunrise
Valley
In my life number 3
is both a lucky and an unlucky one – if something occurs right twice, it would
go wrong the third time and if something occurs wrong twice, it would go my way
the third time. It was with this hope I began the 1 Km walk towards the edge of
a 2000 foot cliff after parking the car safe near the last settlement
inside a coffee plantation. The signs were optimistic and as I neared the edge
she was ready to blow me away with her unconquerable beauty, arrogant natural
elements, life threatening height, balance disturbing air currents, soothing
mists and never could be forgotten frame of perfect photographic setting. I sat
quietly (Photo 20) on the edge and
paid my respect to this priceless natural creation (Photos 1, 4, 8 and 12), as she began to overwhelm with her inherent
beauty. It was like being sucked into a
vacuum and only the emerging darkness and the rapidly converging mists (Photos 9, 16, 21 and 23) helped me recover as her beauty vanished
beneath these bigger natural elements. I felt lost and now there was an
endless stretch of emptiness before my eyes, as Dave and Aneesh prompted me to
depart. With the biggest content ever I left SRV and as we reached the Ghat
road, my conscience began to question if I really wanted to leave her behind?? Holding to a cup of tea back in
Vaduvanchal, we were watching a communist party speaker propagating their
political agenda…as I wondered what my real agenda was for existing on this planet…to
travel and live with her?? Later that night back in Isaac’s I was involuntarily
murmuring my favorite song in native language “Unnai vittu thannam thani paathai ondru ennakillai, ennidathil yen
kobam” as I mesmerized my body and mind with a soul elevating 10 hour sleep
under the cold, romantic darkness of Sultan Bathery. Early next morning as I was fighting beautiful dreams Aneesh left me
and Dave to be all alone in Sultan Bathery to visit his Parents at his
native in Calicut
The next morning I woke up to see Aneesh back in SB as we
three hastened our activities to depart from this lazing town tucked between
seductive forests. This was my third departure from Sultan Bathery yet; I felt
the same amounts of pain as when I left her the first time way back in 2008. As
I left SB and drove through desolate Ghat roads my conscience was crying to let it settle here for ever alas, it didn’t
have the freedom to do so as my mortal body carried it away. Couple of
major attractions in Wayanad, Kuruva
Islands Ghats ,
for she wasn’t to be blamed. On reaching Vaduvanchal we incurred the best
of our efforts to hire a guide who could guide us through pristine forests to
near her, but in vain. Disappointed, we spent few minutes in a nearby bakery
and wondered what was next?? With no immediate answers, we made the move and
caught up with the road that leads to Ooty across the Tamil Nadu border. Few
Kms from Vaduvanchal I noticed a sign
board depicting the frontal view of Meenmutty and that was the big break we were
looking for. I was now sure the
chances of getting near Meenmutty were remote and my only hope of getting a
glimpse of her arrogance was through an alternative, not any alternative but a
more powerful substitute. We climbed down near that sign board and were
instantly approached by few locals who claimed it was dangerous to trek alone
to Neelimala, the view point that was depicted. Initially I ignored them under
the assumption of marketing but, on looking at the 4 wheel drive Jeeps parked
ready it was understood they meant serious business. You could walk the “about” 2 Kms wild path on your own if your ego
prevails but, I would advice to hire that jeep for this adventure and there’s a
valid reason. The first 1 Kms or so is a steep incline and the moment when
that Jeep puts your life on a balance there’s tremendous adrenaline rush then,
you cover distance much faster while losing less energy and also, there isn’t
much to look at in this sector. The jeep
drops you at an exotic point from where you begin to hear a distant, faint and
addictive noise and this only gets stronger as you begin the hike to lose
yourself amidst dense vegetation. 2 months before our visit I read in a news
paper about the capture of a 14 foot King Cobra in these forests and the vegetation
surrounding us (Photo 28) instantly endorsed that. There’s rapid drop
in gradient and you are pulled by gravity towards the edge of a 3000 foot cliff
that appears abruptly. I couldn’t comprehend where I was standing and there was
a massive natural white blanket in the form of Mist separating my eyes from the
majestic Meenmutty. I waited indefinitely on that 3000 foot edge (Photo 33) as
my heart was murmuring my favorite song in native language “Entha oru inimayum enekendru kondathillai,
innum enna pidivatham”. Then, she revealed slowly (Photo 31) and in a matter of
few seconds she was all there before my lusty eyes (Photos 2 and 32). It was
a sight much worthy than my 4 years wait
and all I had to capture her in this exotic mood was less than a minute as she
pulled her white clothing again. She never revealed once during my 20 minutes
wait further as we called it a day and began the trek up. As a fitting
conclusion to this mind boggling hike, a fleeing “Naja Naja” (Indian Cobra)
hissed its way between Dave’s legs so fast; that he even didn’t know what that
was as I screamed from behind. This incident taught me how fast things happen
in the wild and it was only matter of seconds that demarcated life from death.
Content to brim, we began the long drive back home through Mudumalai,
Masinagudi and Ooty as rains were ravaging the other side of the Ghats , in my home state of Tamil Nadu.
Once past the border Check post it was a rapid
drive towards Mudumalai and the day was windy
with temperature and human presence plummeting as I stopped the car and walked
on the desolate road for few minutes, back and forth (Photo 24). Like in the past, Masinagudi didn’t let us down as we
were rewarded with gorgeous wildlife sightings (Photo 3) and terrific ambience that sent shivers down the spine. This was my third drive through this tiger
reserve nevertheless; I feared each and every corner as like I was hitting them
the first time. From Masinagudi there’s a 10 Km forest road that connects
the last village on the Nilgiri Plateau, Moyar, and it’s always only a matter of minutes before you spot something. In 2010
we were rewarded with a Sloth Bear that walked along with our car and now, we
were surprised to shivers when a Mommy Elephant emerged out of the bushes right
in front of the car while on an evening stroll with its cute calf.
Mesmerized by the wildlife indulgence, we stopped
for a moment in a tea stall at Masinagudi town to look back at the Ghats and refresh our thoughts from the past two days
but I couldn't, for the towering 2200 Mts Nilgiri peak ahead induced a thought
of terror in me. Add to this the challenging Kalhatty Ghat road that
connects the Masinagudi plains with Ooty in the shortest distance by ascending
almost 2000 Mts in just 20+ Kms and the fact that I broke my front/ rear
suspension arms during my previous attempt, the damage to my confidence was
already at its peak. This road is also closed to traffic between 9:00 PM and
6:00 AM for the same reasons as the SB-Gundlupet section of NH212 and this hastened our departure from
Masinagudi, a pure wild life haven that’s capable of humbling the most arrogant
of persons. Just as we neared the Ghat section, 2 Audi’s (Both A6) and a Merc
(S class) humbled me out of their way and pierced up the Ghats
with their powerful diesel engines and Xenon head lamps. It was a sight to
behold as their bright LED tail lamps distracted my vision for quite sometime, and
I wondered how pleasure inducing it would be to drive one of those expensive masterpieces
of German engineering. With 36 hair pin bends remaining I drove patiently
preserving the engine temperature and the brakes, as there was much less
traffic than anticipated which also made the job easier. On reaching Ooty, I
noticed one of those Audi’s parked by road side with the Bonnet lifted to
allow the Engine cool and I was surprised to learn that even the mighty A6
couldn’t withstand the steep ascent. The climate was fabulously cold
supplemented with a sharp freezing drizzle, forcing us to hasten our departure
from above 2200 Mts mean sea level as the clock showed 20:30 hrs. It was my favorite 60 Kms now and like
cocaine to a shot of Tequila, arrogant fog and downpour stimulated that long
dormant aggression as I began my most desired driving indulgence. The rains
and fog were relentless and it was only the 100% perfect reflectors installed
on the sides of this gorgeous and dangerous Ghat road which guided us to the
plains that night. When we reached
almost sea level, I parked the car on quite a wide portion of this manic stretch
(Photo 35) and walked out in the rains shouting at the plains below – Iam coming
babe, it was a sight capable of making us stand forever there, should that
night last eternally (Photo 34). On
reaching the plains at 22:30 hrs I was confident that I will see the day next
but, I never could reinforce the hope that I’ll see again those wonderful 2
days just passed by. More strange, as I reached home the next morning and
slept relentlessly for the next 10 hours never once were my dreams graced by
the thoughts of Malnad…the region that controlled my dreams and actions till
now…would that mean she’s replaced?? I have to wait for another year to answer
this…maybe…
Parameters
Refer the 2010 Nov posting - 2 years Later.
