Friday, December 1, 2017

Memories

Today I was having a conversation with one of my friends on whatsapp. Now a days most of our conversations happen online only and as you all know, gone are the days when we had face to face conversations, during the conversation the topic diverted to memories and college life and how people change. It has been a few years since I stopped publishing the posts and thought of starting it again with this topic "Memories".

For each of us, there will be some moments that we treasure and which holds a prominent position in our hearts. Also there will be certain incidents which we don't want to look back at and also some embarrassing incidents that might have happened during our child hood or teen age.

When we look back at these incidents or the so called memories, the effect it has on our mind may be entirely different from what it was during that incident. We might laugh at incidents which was embarrassing to us when it actually happened. Also the incidents which made us laugh to floor may bring tears to us when we remember it after a few years.

Years passes by, people change, every one gets busy with their work, they may not get time to contact or they even forget those guys without whom they once thought their life will be meaningless. But it so happens that at some time there may be an incident or something that we see which takes us back to those golden era, may be an old photograph with the friends or an autograph.

When we are all teenagers, we all dream of growing up quickly and getting a job so that we can get out of the burden of studies and the questioning of our parents. Once we grow old, get a job of our wish, get 5 digit salaries, own a car, then only we realize that life was much better and easier when we had nothing in our pockets. The only thing we had to worry about was the exam results and scolding of our parents and nothing else. We will cherish the moments we had at tea stalls with friends, the small quarrels we had over silly things, making fun of each other, looking at each other in exam hall when we see the question paper. Waiting outside the exam hall for friends and thinking what the hell is he writing till now...is he gonna pass ? We cherish all these moments with our friends and these memories are priceless. We won't get the memories by working hard or earning too much. While working hard we have to find some time that we can spent with our family and friends which when we look back at an old age will give us some happiness. We will be working hard for our company wasting more hours of our youth inside the office than with family or friends, but once our health deteriorates the company won't be bothered about us. They can hire another young person giving him much lesser salary and he may be able to offer more productive hours as well.

Always find time for your family and friends in your busy schedule, they will be the only ones who will be there for you when you are in trouble or need any help.

As Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam quoted "Sometimes its better to bunk a class and enjoy with friends, because today when I look back, marks never make me laugh but memories do !!"

Thursday, February 16, 2017

Kolukkumala - Meesapulimala

We have been planning to explore the beauty of Meesapulimala for sometime but had to postpone the trip several times due to one reason or the other. We had read so many articles about the scenic beauty of sunrise at Kolukkumalai but somehow the trip was not happening. Then one day we heard from one of our friends that there are packages in place to visit Kolukkumalai and from there we can go to Meesapulimala. So we decided to visit both the places.We contacted the person who is arranging the trip to Kolukkumalai, and booked it.

We started the trip early morning. We were asked to reach Bodinaykannur by around 4PM. We reached there by around 3.30 and waited for the person to come and pick us up. He came there and took us to a tented stay which was in the middle of an estate. We spent some time exploring the viewpoints near by. There was nice cool breeze flowing which was refreshing. The view from the hill top was good. We could see a large extent of the Bodinaykannur village and also see vehicles coming in through the hairpin curves in the size of a matchbox. we spent sometime there and then went back to our tents. Our host came with the dinner for us. The dinner was homemade made and was tasty.





He asked us to be ready by 4.30 AM next day so that we will be able to reach Kolukkumalai to see the sunrise. We got up by 3'O clock in the morning and was ready by around 4.30, the jeep came on time and soon we started our trip to Kolukkumalai.

Kolukkumalai tea estate is the highest tea plantation in the world. We reached the gate of the tea estate and there we had to pay some fees for entry and after that the journey became tough and thrilling. There is a road to reach the top of Kolukkumalai, but we cannot really call that a road.It's a muddy terrain, with rocks on the entire pathway. While the jeep driver was maneuvering the vehicle over the rocks we were having a hard time holding on to our seats in the jeep. We reached the top by around 6AM. There was strong wind blowing and it was freezing cold. We were eagerly waiting to see the sunrise and then slowly we started to see the Red light in the horizon and sun started coming up and that was an astonishing view.









After seeing the sunrise at Kolukkumalai, we headed to Meesapulimala. standing tall at a height of 2,640 m (8,660 ft) it is the second highest peak in the Western Ghats and is the highest peak where trekking is allowed. The uphill journey was a bit difficult, and strong wind made it even difficult. We had a few bottles of water and glucose which gave us the energy to climb up, on the way up we saw quite a few people stopping at half way and going back. We were determined to climb up and since we have been longing to see that astonishing view which everyone has been talking about from atop of the mountain. We had to take a couple of breaks in between to gather our breath and finally once we made it to the top we realized that it was worth the effort.

We spent some time at the top of the mountains, took some photos and started the downhill journey. 






We reached the bottom at around 10'o clock and then headed to Munnar after having lunch. We brought Kolukkumalai Tea Packets as well on the way back.