(from left: krishna, sidhu, visak)
(photo taken by: anbu)
Where? : VAITHEKI falls - 50 kms approx from Coimbatore city
Who all? : Anbarasu(anbu), Krishnaraj(gilli), Sidharth(sidhu), Siva visakan(visak)
When? : Thursday, May 29, 2008,
How? : Visak's car
For what/why? : !!!!!
First, the photo. Was it taken in a 'falls'?why this photo? Because this was the only photo taken in the trip. (follows the presumption that we didn't take any good cam).So why are these guys walking in such a weird place?
Answer: you ll know it at the end. But i cant help myself becoming frenzied even now, when i think of the "WALK", the above featured guys in the pic including me, had had for the next 1 hour, then. I mean it. We walked for an hour in an almost dense forest, which forgot the term:"a trace of any human inhabitation".........
We started from visak' house(visak,gilli,sidhu: my inmates in coll!) at around 8:30 in the morning. Our plan was to go to SIRUVANI falls(cheers kovai). Its such a good place. Everyone was desperate to hav a shower in a falls. It was a quiet comfortable, pretty decent driving by visak. No pit stops. We reached there at 9:30. But we have to walk through for some 15 mins to reach the falls, from the parking. On our strode, a guy coming back told its of no use going there, the falls is been flooded. holy s**t, told us in a sync :( But i insisted the guys to see it through. We walked to the falls. No surprise. Falls flooded. The weather was too good to leave from there. Nothing could be done there. We left the place. Walked back. Got in the car. Sobs. We began to depart. Grave silence.
gilli: "machi its noway that we are going back without being in a related sort(paused). We are going to VAITHEKI falls right now....
visak:"great.You know the route gilli?"
gilli:"No. I barely know there exists a falls of the name?"
others:"podaaaaa"
gilli:"I heard it is somewhere near siruvani hills"
others:"so much for a clue. but what dov we do if there isnt a falls anywhere?...."
(somebody started, 'hope for the best' philosophy....)
20 mins later:
me: anna how to go to vaitheki falls?
Passer by: (smiles) You wanna go there? Its very dangerous thambi. I think its almost impossible to be there. Lot of elephants.Moreover its been closed by the govt for safety concerns..."
me: "We ll manage na. just tell us the route..."
Passer by: (laughs again) there isn't a road to Vaitheki falls.....
(Did he say,a road to eldorado?) We were wondering. But a lot of "go straight-take a left-take a right's", took us somewhere near the farthest spot from the falls. The people on our way wondered at the 4 wheeled Opel's product with awe. No sign of a tar road. If I were to describe the road, which barely existed, 'under cons(truct)ideration' would be the word. But visak managed a mile or two. Only when we saw a 'road breaker' in the path. It was as huge a gully, a rift decent enough to be formed after a considerable explosion. A huge 'U' in the road. But there seemed a road after the rift. We were ought to cross the rift to keep our falls plan alive. After so much deliberation, our obsession decided rationally to take the turn, to cross the gully, what so ever. visak pulled from 1'st gear. full throttle. rpm at its max. tyres rolled slowly but steadily. finally we were up the the rift, and onto the road. We managed to drive some 5 to 6 kms in the road that followed. But we were stopped again, but this time relentlessly by a stream.We decided ,Its no way we can go further, but somebody completed 'in the car but for the legs'
We parked the car under a 'tree'. Took a wash in the 'stream'. Walked with our 'legs' towards the 'mountain' with the 'plants' across the 'rivulets' with one word 'hope'. So we were in the 'nature'. Completely within. Into the jungle. four of us.
One endless thought ran in our minds
"mother nature never betrays her children, if she does, its because she needs us in her lap....."
(the rest is definitely not a history. But in the next post)
