Travelogue - Of Palakkad, Tabula Rasa and Birthday Celebrations

Next was train journey, from the start, Soma was the one who was very excited about the trip. I liked it too. I must say, Soma's friendship is the biggest plus of the trip. Everyone got close to him. Followed by Ramya's honesty, which we'll talk about later. Soma was constantly repeating that he was having a surreal feeling, of us all being together. It wasn't surreal for me but I felt happy. I felt content. I felt safe. I feel unsafe, insecure at most places. But with these people it felt like a family. Smitha and John too shared the same opinion. As the 3 R's were not there the fun element wasn't much. But Smitha and John too shared the 'nice' feeling that I had. Thinking of it, the ghost stories, without lights, with train sound, it all felt so nice. Feel like relieving the moment again.

As I had slept in the afternoon I wasn't feeling sleepy. Smitha, the machine that she is, wasn't feeling sleepy too but as usual irritating me saying that she wanted to sleep. And only I and Lakshman weren't having any ghost stories to share. But soon Lakshman, Soma and John set off to sleep so Smitha and I too slept. We talked till 12.30 AM and I slept off hearing songs from Smitha's mobile, velli kolusu pola... Little did I know that John was to constantly hum and reverberate our ear drums with that song for the next two days. Apart from one other song we kept on listening in awe was 'yeh jo des hae tera..." I don't know how it came but we watched it first in train, the MTV video and kept on listening to the song till the end. But more than anything, the important point to be noted here is, a girl giving her mobile to someone else and sleeping. Smitha Seriously? I hate to appreciate you but had to. Kudos!

Day 1 - Silent Valley

I had asked Soma to inform Raja to call him when he boarded but whenever the train stopped in any station I was having a mental image of Ramya and Raja entering the train. Being the daddy of the gang, I woke up without an alarm in Coimbatore station. Made Ramya and Raja sit in our coupe. Ramya once again surprised me, she was a rocker at 4AM. I was expecting a sleepy faced baby girl giving a quirky smile when she sees me in station but she was like... a stunner. All 'yo' with sweatshirt and jeans. As soon as they settled in the coupe Smitha woke up, followed by John, Lakshman and Soma at last. I didn't feel sleepy; guess it was due to excitement. We decided that we'd take a room and then go to silent valley.

In an hour or so we reached Palakkad, had tea, Ramya had milk, the next day she had Horlicks (bring feeding bottle next time girl) and set off to search hotel. In first hotel we were looked as a group of pimps carrying a couple of girls with us. He was okay to give room but it wasn't to our satisfaction. So we rejected. Next was an overtly open minded hotel guy who was again and again insisting on having two 3 beds instead of one 3 + 2 bed and a two bed for women. In spite of me repeatedly hinting that there are 2 girls so the rest 5 had to take other room he was mentioning that we were 7 and we could share between two 3 beds. Next time I'm coming with my girlfriend I'm coming there my boy.

Rooms were pretty decent and we quickly got freshened up, ate tomato rice brought by Raja which was divine. Good thing was he also had Tamarind Rice for lunch. That meant that we don't have to worry about restaurants in the afternoon and food would be healthy. We started off to Mannarkad by bus. From there we had to change bus to Mukkali. The second bus journey was awesome, sitting in last row, with twists and turns.

We reached Silent valley in couple of hours, as we had booked our jeeps there we got into in quickly but to reduce cost we had to share the jeep with others. Raja and Soma got into a jeep. I, John, Lakshman, Ramya and Smitha got into another jeep. I got the front seat, and was satisfied with the camera. I was happy that Smitha was getting a feel of the surroundings. That's something which you have to experience. It's so easy to say, what's there? Just trees and rocks. You either experience or not. There is nothing in between. She loved it. I could see that.

It felt nice to sit in first row, keep quiet and trying to pluck leaves, there were a lot happening behind but I wasn't interested. Only after seeing the photos I could know what all had happened. It was okay, my experience was in front of me. I relished it, when Smitha behind me was also looking outside, being silent, I liked it. In every trek, travel, one from the group walks with me silently for about 30 minutes. They generally say that they like the stretch, I too do. It was a similar feeling. Another good thing about the group is, anyone could sit with anyone. Raja and Smitha are supposedly best friends (I envy that) and here they were sitting in separate vehicles.

In between the journey we were thinking of eating Tamarind Rice which Raja had brought. We were constantly raving Raja's decision to have brought food for us. But only when the car stopped we met each other during a waterfall point where we filled our bottles. We got the biggest shock of our life when we got to know that Raja missed the Tamarind Rice in bus. Within minutes he became a villain from being a hero.

Next we were to get a jumping photo. That's the highlight of the day. People were supposed to jump off from the stage in front of the falls and Raja first tried a trial jump. People who were not there, if you had come to this point of the article, wouldn't find this paragraph to be amusing but the ones who were there, I'm sure that they couldn't be reading this paragraph without a constant grin on their face.

What happened next was history. I asked them to jump on the count of 3. Raja asked, should it be on 3 or after 3. 'On the count of 3' got a new meaning there. I replied, "It's on 3". They all jumped. Most fell off. Raja got hurt in his tail bone, John rolled to my side laughing and we were all laughing. Little did we knew that Raja was going to hold his hips for the forthcoming day like a carrying woman.

Okay coming back to the story. When John and Lakshman who had taken the long route joined us, there was one of the families who were coming down in the path which we were afraid to take. As we all joined together and the sound of buffalo had stopped we took the route and walked the final 750 meters to falls. The falls was nothing great, but by the time I reached. Ramya was already inside getting scolding from the security there. I also went inside and sat near the shallow water but again security shooed us off. We then took the path to the top of the falls were there were no one.

For the next couple of hours it was pure bliss. Everyone was there in their own world. I could see them happy. They really were happy or not I don't know but I could see happiness in their face. We liked few photos; I clicked few of the best photos I'd ever done. It was Soma's idea though. We were there. On top, carefree, happy, feeling our breath, thinking, retrospecting. On top of everything living, for once, we were living, for real.

My thought was mixed; I don't know, sadness stuck me. I watched everyone. I tell people that they shouldn't judge but I do it all the time. I was thinking about the discussion we had the previous day. How harsh I was on Laskhman. How harsh I was on Ramya. How harsh I was on everyone. I was thinking about my negatives, how I choose the best seat, or decide for the others. Or whatever complaints that I got from people whom I like or the comments that really stuck me. I was observing John, he was clear but was sad. I was observing Soma he was happy but was insecure. I was observing Raja, couldn't guess much, he was satisfied. I was observing Lakshman, he had a lot to tell but was afraid. I was observing Ramya, again couldn't guess much but she was deep in her thoughts. She was the one who had biggest space around her. John was the only one whom she allows at least around the circumference. Felt like taking photo, but again why spoil the moment. She likes being alone, let her be alone. Then there was my yaar Smitha, she was in deep thought, may be kind of sad, but she was clear, like the water she was staring at. After sitting alone for a lot of time, I was thinking where to go, whom to talk to. I felt only like sitting next to her. Remember Smitha the Arun incident that I told. I thought I should be the Arun with you being Vikram and you'll like it. Sometimes people want to be disturbed but I don't know maybe I'm over analyzing. May be I intruded into your privacy. But I didn't know who else I should go to. If I start thinking, it's a problem for me. I start talking. Nowadays I feel I'm talking too much. May be I should become mute for some time. See it's all coming down to me now.

Let's move forward. That is downward, actually. Don't know what I was thinking, I was wearing shoes to walk down. Raja or Lakshman I don't know, asked me why am I wearing shoes as there was water in front. That's how much absent minded I was. Ramya doing such a thing is natural but look at me, a guy who sees the cinema ticket like some 10 times before going to movie. I was absent minded. We then reached the top of water falls where we were wearing our shoes. Without my knowledge I was staring at Ramya tying her laces. Thanks to Smitha again for pointing it out. I turned away but I wanted to look. You might think I'm exaggerating but you should see her tying her laces. This scene would go well in a Karan Johar movie, remember Hrithik in KKKG. May be that's why I like his movies. Again it came back to me, damn it!

We then climbed down, I had to be alone, I took the road straight down, I'm awesome at decent, I've noticed this every time, when people are tired and exhausted, I become really good. I didn't want to boast about it to people when descending. So I thought I would walk alone. I was kind of sad too, I wanted to alone. I make it a point to walk alone at least for some part of the trek. It was nice. I was talking, talking to myself, exerting a lot of pressure on myself. I could see the other people being happy. I was confused, am I actually troubling them, would they be happy like this if I had not been there. "You lead," said John when I said that I was afraid about my role without camera in a group. I felt good. This mirage of thoughts flow upon you when you walk alone. It's a great way for self-introspection. Being an honest person it's a problem. I tell everything to people when I experience something. May be they are not going to like this paragraph too but I have to write. I feel this is the honesty which people would like to read in my work. With Arun and Jeeva I've never had the problem of being honest. They could understand. John kind of adores me so I think he can understand. Smitha I don't know whether I'm exerting too much pressure on you. I mean you can tell me when I should stop. Of course I'll feel bad. No denying that but I'll be okay. I think I've known what life is about. It's not getting something or losing something. It's about being there, being there at the moment. Taking in everything, the happiness, the sadness, the irony, the depression and still living. There is hope. There is always light at the end of the tunnel. May be there is not. May be there is no tunnel at all. But we live. We have to. We ought to. I don't know how many are going to come to this part of the blog but that's how it is.

Again treading away. Once we came down we were scrutinized by forest guards for getting into the water. One of them was lecturing us with bad English. John came sometime later and kind of eased the situation. For a long time I was trying to get into a fight. But these people are a bad choice. But one thing I was sure, if they had asked to apologize I wasn't going to. Actually I was happy for the incident. It made me get out of that sad loop.

Next part was the best part of the trip. This is not with respect to me but as a whole, as a group. Thanks to John. It was his decision of going to movie which made us take our own path. He went to movie. Ramya and Lakshman wanted to rest. They did. Rest all went to Malampuza. Anyone could have done anything. That doesn't happen easily. I would have even gone alone to Malampuza without feeling bad that day. I would have been fine if Smitha had not come. I was fine that Ramya did not come. I don't know. May be that's the introspection that I was missing. We got the bus to Malampuza. We got to the cable car. Raja was a sport as always but I was starting to feel bad for him, he was under severe pain. I could see that. In spite of that he was creating situations either intentionally or not, to make us laugh. One such incident was when the security personnel who was directing people towards the ticket counter, talked in Malayalam to Smitha and in Tamil to Raja and Soma. I think he was confused with my identity. They seemed to have asked him about how he knew where they're from. Then they asked about Smitha. He told that she's a Malayali. Raja then said that he too is a Malayali. Security replied saying that, "nee pandi..." Made us all laugh.

When Raja asked Soma to give the bottle to Smitha. Soma asked, "En da Pavam? Naan pudichiiraen" Raja was like, "Dei Nee enna pudi da" it was funny. I laughed. It was a carefree laugh. I was seeing them three. They were fine. For once I felt people were genuinely happy with me. Soma was the biggest plus of the gang, being excited all time. Along with it Ramya's honesty came in as a surprise package. I don't know whether I had told it before but I'm not in a mood to scroll and look back. I liked it. Cable car with Smitha, teasing people, being honest was good. I said it here, "it is my favorite moment with you". I think we should do this next time, tell about favorite moment with each one. We should definitely cut off negatives this time. Only positive talk and dance. i.e. if we trip again. Soma was the enthusiastic one who was asking me to plan but rest I don't know, looked tired. Then we took a walk around the dam. I did something which I regret doing. Got on bus and came back.