Life becomes easy when you grow up!
One of the most trusted lies about life. Isn't it?
Studies come to an end. You feel grown up, Life seems to challenge you with a new Phase, plenty of mistakes to make and plenty of mistakes to learn from,
But what has life become?
From plenty of time and waiting for money TO a little of money and waiting for time life's just getting tailored!
After a 6 month commitment into work finally got some time to travel and share the experiences to relive the moments again.
So here I am with another mesmerising journey into the woods of Karnataka-Goa-Maharashtra highway. via Belgaum.
First road trip in the Volkswagen Polo. Power to your pace and power to your journey.
Times were beautiful when you had no permissions to ask before you packed the bags, but after you get into a commitment of JOB, things change too drastically.
Managed to get a 4 day off for the New year's travel with continuous convincing from the past month of December. First smile😉
Right after finishing the day's shift on the Saturday night n early Sunday morning which had a gap of 30 minutes, came home to pack bags for the much awaited journey and the smiles were piling up already.
We hit the roads at around 1:30 am on an early Sunday morning....
The journey began amidst the 13° cold in the state and the car had to run on heater to keep us warm all through the 500+ km mark.
It was indeed a shivering journey as long as my hands were not on the steering wheel.
After following a strict speed limit of 140 kmph we reached Belgaum at around 9 in the morning and were due to meet a friend who stays in the locality. We met some mutual friends who were actually more helpful than our sole friend in the locality as they helped us about the secret and some of the most sensitive areas of ecosystem in the woods of Belgaum.
Home to hundreds of vulnerable flora and fauna the Jamboti forest area is a beautiful plain sight in it's own ways.
Piped into the canopy of the trees that have reached the heights more than 50+ feet and huge girths to support the weight even though it was 12 pm with sun in a 90° vertical line above your head, we had to turn on the heater until we escaped the canopy of trees that stretches 10s of Kilometers.
The road through the forest is too narrow and equally dangerous and also risky as you can never say what each turning has to offer you!
Another speeding oncoming vehicle or a Wild animal or a slow moving goods vehicle.
Finally after the highway part of the journey ended, here comes the actual mountanous journey.
Forest officials have an Old school jeep to keep a track of the activities in the jungle as its a versatile zone. But any other vehicle that should travel this path needs an extra set of safety gear to keep it from physical damage, fortunately about which we were very very careful about.
Once the journey to the destination is complete, you will encounter tens and hundreds of natural music with your mind and soul which you would have never heard among the headers and boosters and screeching wheel sounds in the traffic of a city like Bangalore.
It was like feeding the soul with a natural medicine which it was long waiting for.
Uninhabited lands, elevated places, footprints of some of the wild creatures like bison made a terrific day in the place where you could find none but us.
The place is like a peninsula.
Consider you are in the Southern most tip of India, i.e., Kanyakumari,
Then towards Sri Lanka is Goa, towards India is Karnataka and towards bay of Bengal is Maharashtra.
You will see your cell phone going rave with continuos roaming texts from the network of each state when you just keep walking around.
A kid's chat about the funny network messages reminder about the prices they're stealing for setting foot on a different area divided in the name of State😂
After spending a lot of time in the cradle of nature and watching the first sunset and the first moon rise of the year(both of which could be seen simultaneously) the mood to come out from that place didn't go well with me. But the locals advice of not to stay there after it gets dark kept me in the car as we had no weapons to threaten wild animals back if they attacked us which according to the locals is a major issue in the region.. we left the place when it was dark and with some loud sounds of bass and treble we think we have kept the wild creatures at bay or into the hidings of the bush of trees in the jungle
That was an awe-inspiring time we spent there in the cradle of woods, too much oxygen to inhale but less time to exhale..
When the sun went down in the west the moon just woke up in the east and it was a full moon night.
On the occasion of the New Year, it was a spontaneous balancing play between the huge ball of fire and the self-luminous object..
One of the most breath-taking moments I have ever encountered with..
Thanked the woods for every sight they offered..
This was the second day of the new English calendar year and the plan was GOA.
The concert of AJJA!
Being a psychedelic music lover, that was one concert i did not wanted to miss. And I didn't.
Goan plans went different than what we actually had planned.
As I heard the name AJJA!, no matter what, I wanted to be there, but my friends chose casino over the concert!
But me?
No. Never.
Didn't quite catch hold of the gambling vibes since childhood, so it was an obvious NO.
The concert kept me dancing for a full fledged 4 hours and when I felt i couldn't stand anymore I came back to the room to get some sleep..
Goa was a short and a beautiful memory in the history of the short getaway
Our escapade had just come to an end and we hit the roads back to reach Bangalore the next morning.
While on the way back we took a different scenic route with the help of a Google map, which we never expected to be scenic, but what nature had to offer to the thirsty Bangalorian locals was a pure drop of elixir.
Amidst the empty roads on the way, i came across the sight of a Langoor, a beautiful animal of its own kind, troublesome and cunning creatures though!
I could help but shout STOP THE CAR!,
I wanted to capture that Langoor which i had never seen in my life for real in the wild, but unfortunately I couldn't click a picture.
But that was OK when compared to what we found hiding behind the trails of the huge trees was a fantastic and awe-inspiring destination.
There was a water trail coming from nowhere and the path was a parallel trail with water gushing out through the trees and the rocks from the deep and thick landscape filled with trees on one side and the dried path of the same water trail on the other.
The sight took our thirst off the first time when we saw it and felt alive living the moment. But the inner body wanted some water to quench the actual thirst and the flowing water was as pure as it could be and I couldn't help but cup my palms and take some quick sips to make me feel better.
I can tell you, I may not find that place again the same way as it is now, but the way that made me feel as long as I was hidden inside the embrace of the beautiful destination will forever be remembered, and cherished.
Felt alive again, because traveling is what it takes for me to make me feel normal and make me feel alive.
Cheers folks!
Thank you for reading.
Keep the stories coming :)
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