We are 18 and booked tickets on train and arranged for a van for local commute. We booked a house so that we can stay together and have fun. The plan is
30 Jul 2009 - Start From Chennai in Sengottai Express
31 Jul 2009 - Reach Coutralam and morning and start taking bath
01-Aug 2009 - Visit outside and start train at evening
02-Aug 2009 - Reach Chennai and have a good rest.
One of the advantage in the trip is the light packing. You need only 2 dress, one during taking bath and another to change over. The trip plan is take bath, eat food and then take bath as simple as possible.
Our group consists of
3 young families (including mine) with two kids (Happy and Yaddu)
1 big family including 1 kid (Yeshwant)
6 bachelors
30 Jul 2009
We left office around 5:30 PM and the train is at 8:50. Krithika (my lovely wife) cooked noodles for the night and reached station around 8:20. Slowly most of the friends joined. But 4 friends are missing and they are coming in the local train to reach station. It was almost time and they haven't come yet and finally at lost moment they caught the train. whohhh the trip starts with a thriller.
We were divided into three coaches and families are grouped together. Once everyone settled we decided to assemble in the coach where bachelor's are accommodated. Once we assembled our regular chat started and suddenly everyone started hungry. We bought baroatta and chappati from the train and had it. We were talking more than 1 hour and thought we will play some cards. But Railway Police said no to that they asked us to go their seats. We split again and settled for our sleep.
31 Jul 2009
We woke-up around 6:30 AM in the morning and the train suppose to reach the Thenkasi around 8:30, but was running 1 hour later. We refreshed, had a cup of coffee and settled for another chat. Finally the train reached station around 9:45 and everyone was very hungry. We boarded in the van and headed for breakfast. We moved to the house and settled in.
Our van driver was saying the season is not good in Coutralam and suggested to some falls which is on the Kerala border.
We started around 11:30 from home and headed for Palaruvi falls which is from Palaruvi river. On the way our camera man Balajei took pictures of trees, mountains. After 45 min, the van stopped and We walked around 1 KM to reach the falls. There were separate places for Men and Women to take bath. The weather was also very good, light rain and the water was very cold. We had a good bath for one hour and then headed back to van. Everyone started feeling hungry, but it was later in the afternoon and we didn't food in the good hotel. So we settled for a normal and veggie people are in one hotel and non-veggie people are went into another hotel. I was in veggie group that time and whola we had good food with a tasty curd. My wife is non-veggie and had chicken briyani. The kids enjoyed food.
Asusual my wife got closer to the kids and start enjoying playing with them. Next we were headed to Main Coutrlam falls. What a disappointment, there was very little water and crowd. We managed to take a dip, but we missed the force of the water and the way it massages our body. Anyway we had good fun there.
Next we went to Old Coutralam falls and a big big disappointment. The water falls was similar like in my shower. Few of us didn't loose their heart and managed to take a bath there.
By the time it was evening we settled in the house and again started chatting. My wife with kids started playing this game with lyrics
Munnadi.......
Pinnadi.......
Salute adi....
Chayaaaaaaa Kudi.
My friends kid Happy obsessed with this and started repeating the lyrics with actions.
We started around 8:00 PM for dinner and it's in Border Barotta kadai a famous barotta shop for more than 25 hours. It was pure non-veg hotel and the chicken was yummy. My wife enjoyed it and said it was one of the best chicken she ate. Well we had stomach full and headed back to the house. The plan was to go falls in the night and take another bath. Meanwhile one member in my friends family got sick and they went to hospital.
Meanwhile we thought we will have little liquor, but the shops were closed. We contacted our resource full man Magesh in office and with his friends help he arranged to deliver it in our home. This man has an amazing set of contacts and brilliant in arranging these kind of trips. We decide to have liquor after bath as it's illegal to take liquor and bath in the falls.
Finally the van came and we headed for 5 falls. Water was better here and the climate is chill and the water is cold. My wife said she will take bath and other ladies decided just to watch. We guys went for a bath and it's one of the best in the trip. We took bath for 40 min and back to house around 12 PM.
Now the comedy starts. before we headed our night bath each member in the family was asking permission with their wives for liquor. We made fun of one of our friend saying he participated in the liquor competition in the office and won it and his wife is very amused on hearing that. Later we clarified that it was just for fun, but i still think she didn't believe her husband.
So totally 5 people + out driver decided to have and started having. All other friends sat with us and having snack and enjoying the chat. I was in full mood and am having this after 2.5 years. So finally everyone finished their drink, but some amount was left. I challenged one of my friend and he took all the remaining. God save him.... and then we want back to our room for sleep. Next day morning we came to know that some of us had problem and didn't have a good sleep and my friend was feeling the hang over on rest of the trip.
01 Aug 2009
Our plan was start around 7 AM and we started around 8:30 AM and went for Breakfast. Next we planned to another falls (Manalorutti or Kudalorutti....forgot the name). We have to walk around 1 KM and the path to water walls is full of stones and slippery. We took the challenge and reached the falls. Again ladies decided not to take bath. We reached the falls and it's one of the best in the trip. We had bath for one hour and headed back.
There was another falls on the way, but we decided not to take bath as we have to climb the rock to take the bath. But my friend was very interested and he climbed and took bath. We went to another falls and took bath.
It's time for lunch and we came to same hotel for lunch and had a good lunch and time for another dam. It was a small nice place and ideal for a picnic. We spent a lot of time there and took a romantic titanic like photo. Voww the profile picture of my facebook is this. There was another falls neyy aruvi nearby and some of my friends decided to take bath there. I went with them, but decided not to take bath. On the way we ate a lot of raw mango, nellikai with salt and chill powder. A tasty, yummy snack. Near to the falls we ate the forest jack fruit and it's one the yummiest jack fruit i ate.
Time was 5:30 PM and it's time to get back to the station and board the train. Yaddu was crying that she don't want to go to Chennai and want to stay here in Coutralam. We convinced here somehow and boarded the train at 7:15 PM. We have packed our dinner from Sengottai itself and had around 8:00 PM. Dinner wasn't sufficient and two people didn't get any food. We bought some rice in the train and ordered for dinner. Curd rice was yummy yummy and soon every one settled in their berth.
02-Aug
We were to back to Chennai at 7:30 AM , boarded the public transport bus and reached home around 8:30. The only thing we did on Sunday was eat, sleep and sleep.
The trip was a stress buster and we enjoyed the most. Special thanks to the kids Yaddu, Happy and Yashwant and the whole mates to make it a memorable one.
Wish we could have much more like this in future. No photos in this post. May be i will do in another.
looks like u had a good time! upload some photos too!
ReplyDelete