Way to Waynad

After much careful arrangement (not by me of course) and planning we set out to explore Waynad in the God's own country (Kerala). With some hectic work, a stomach upset and a bad cold you dont have the time to google enuf abt the place and plan for some decent shopping. Little did i know that the place i was visiting had also magical healing power over the worst disease in the world (common cold).

I wouldnt say that the railway station was any better than ours but as we went into the interiors of Calicut, specifically heading towards Waynad, the cool, fresh, crisp breeze gives you the effect of a dozen facials and half a dozen bleaches. It was like the wind was flavored with spices and herbs that are meant to heal you from all the chronic stress diseases that you tend to carry from the city. You know what i loved the best, people there not knowing any other language but Malayalam, i mean that's so cool as you can talk and comment right on the person's face without him getting offended :) Imagine if there were managers around in office who only knew Russian and dont get a clue of English or Tamil...i am sure we (ppl like me) would love it and they wud hate it.

Being monsoon time there was constant drizzle and periodic rains, though it failed to dampen our (my office team) spirits. Our first item on the itinerary was the Soojipara falls, to which the path was roadless and sometiems pathless. But the falls was the real kind... i mean not like the ones near the city where you might have to imagine that the water is falling though u will be guranteed to find rocks. Even the sprinkles from the falls extend to about half a kilometer. My boss proudly (becos it is his place) claimed that taking a dip in this place wud prolong the life span by 5 years for a person and quick came a witty retort from my friend asking if it can nullify the effect of smoking on human life, now you know why we work in the engineering team of Tata Comm....we may not have solutions but we ask the right questions :)

We tried our best to get the "puttu" that has always been said to be famous in Kerala, but found that it was made to seem famous by our "movies". The next day was some serious trekking to Edakkal caves, which i wud say was the highlight of the entire trip. The lunch we had was a fantastic one in a low lit sticky place, where you will be stared at for asking extra pappads, friendly people you know. Amazingly cool and narrow trekking path that leads to a cave that was used by people in the 3000BC, or so we were told. The male and female stick figures drawn by them on the walls of the cave was funny (even a 3 year old today draws better) but was worth taking a look at. Even worse was the guide who showed the figure of an animal with horns and said that was elephant, now how can the guide be wrong...obviously the stone age men must be wrong!

I bought some spices, honey and nuts only to find that they werent as fresh as i thought them to be. Afterall they are from the Crafts society of Waynad, i cant expect them to be authentic...may be i should have explored some road side shops. No no, come on how can i wind up the trip without some shopping, otherwise what would happen to the Economy and tourism development of Calicut. We went into a small shop in a street similar to Ranganathan st of Chennai and bought some 6 Mundus (keralite sarees). We had a friend bargain relentlessly for us to get us a 20 Rs rebate on our total purchase...wow, claps...probably the shopkeeper wud have given us more discount had the bargain specialist not pitched in.

Anyways thus concluded our wonderful trip to the God's own country. God was so happy for my visiting his place that he thanked me by sending escalations on one of my projects to the managers during my vacation, so that he could in turn help me out tackle the situation and thereby pay me back.So good is he......endless is his mercy!

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