Day 2- Wayanad

Started the day with a hot black chai made on a prehistoric electric heater. Although the sun came out, we were still in our jackets and sweaters. As suggested by Stanley cheta, we decided to trek into the forests to the tea plantations above.

It proved to be a hard task, especially with Manu and Eashwar refusing to climb. As always Appu was walking ahead with our guide and even claims to have spotted a tiger which none of us heard or saw. Since my mates had to return to Bangalore that evening, we had to shorten our hike back to the guest house.

Stanley cheta was generous enough to offer lunch at his house. All of us hogged on the delicious hot kanji, thoran, chammandhi and pappadam that his wife had prepared. At about 2 pm they left to Bangalore, while I went back to the guest house.Had a blissful sleep for three hours and when I got up, I realised that I was all alone in the jungle with the creaking Crikets as my only companions. Later I was told that Silent Valley is so called because there are no Crikets out there, not sure if its true though.

Distance Covered- 60 km
Journey- Within Wayanad
Road condition- Good, 10 degrees to 75 degrees slope

Pursuit of Happiness

F R E E D O M ! ! ! the word that best describes my current state, although some may call it UNEMPLOYMENT.

Thats right I have quit my job and started on my long awaited road trip across India. During the last 6 months Ive literally been a laughing stock of my friends, since my so called journey had been postponed a brazilian number of times; couple of blokes even offered to pay me if I ever left..;-)
Anyways all thats history now...13th of Aug was my last working day. Ironically I had to start my road trip on the 14th, a day before our Independence Day.

Day 1

After a small send of party by my newest friends Tharun, Sanat and Syed, I left Kochi on 14.08.2011 at 5:30 am . Sanat accmopanied me until Calicut, where we stopped at his house.

Sitting in the university campus, Sanat's house had a very earthy feel about it. Natural water bodies amidst thick vegetation gave an exotic feel to the whole place; who wants to slog it out in a over crowded polluted city. How can I not mention Sanat's sister Shruthi running around clicking pictures with her child like enthusiasm.

We visited an ancient temple on a hillock, from where one could view the entire Calicut region. A thick cover of Mangrove forests engulfd by the river and the Arabian Sea, utter bliss!

The next stop was at the virgin beach along the Kundalini Bird sanctuary, riding under 5 foot high bridges and knee deep puddles.

Fishermen busy removing their catches and kids displaying their angling skills, this rocky beach is any photographer's paradise.

After a sumptuous lunch, I left for Wayanad to meet my friends who were travelling from Bangalore for the Independence Day weekend.The ride just before the Ghat section, which is the final leg before Vythiri was nothing but a nightmare; not because of the first rains in my ride, but due to the pathetic road condition.It took me nearly an hour to cover this 13km stretch. Reached Parathodu at 4:30 pm, the point where Sanat's caretaker Stanley was waiting to take us to the jungle house. Once Jojo, Manu, Appu and Eashwar arrived,we bought some snacks and left for the guest house not knowing what to expect. I hadnt experience anything like this before- the climb to the house was maybe 75 degrees sloped, a thrilling 5 minute ride.On parking our vehicles, we had to further hike up to into the forest with all our luggage in hand, which proved to be an even harder task.What a relief it was to finally sight the house.

To describe the property, it was a very modest house with two rooms, a kitchen and a sitout, with the loo outside. the only source of water a hose outside the house; The entire hillock had an amazing system of water sourcing, siphoning the natural water though a series of hose pipes laid in the gravitational direction of the hill and we were told that this system had been in place for more than 40 years. Coming back to the description of the house, there were no beds or cots to sleep. Eashwar and I had a sleeping bag each, while the others slept on straw mats. To top it all the power went off as soon as we parked our dead a***s in the portico.

We were sitting in pitch dark in the middle of the forest with only the insects and birds giving us company. Not to be bogged down, we lit up a born fire to beat the cold. Unfortunately even the firewood refused to pay heed to our desperation, due to their wet nature. As we succeeded in lighting the fire, the food arrived to further lift our spirits, ensuring that our get together was a memorable one.

Distance Covered- 300 km
Journey- Cochin to Wayanad with 1 stop at Calicut
Road condition- Cochin to Calicut- Very good
         Calicut to Wayanad- 5% Good, 65% Bad, 30% Worse