Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Gods Own Country – A trip to Angamali & Veegaland
It’s not just about deadlines, schedules and targets; it’s also about entertainment, outings and fun if you are in our team. Yup, we’ve got a wonderful team which loves to stretch at workplace and beyond.
As usual we were at the mid of a busy week when one of our colleague Greety came up to us to present her brother’s wedding invitation which is to be held at Athirapalli near Cochin. It was a quiet day till the noon till our boss Nixon came up to us to ask if any of us are interested in attending the wedding. It took a while for me to make out his master plans that we could actually visit Veegaland and Angamali falls in the name of attending marriage as it’s on a weekend and is hardly 6 hours journey from Trivandrum.
All set, the master plan is ready and 10 of us decided to go in two cars. It was 13th morning 5 am, Peyush, Geo, Shiju and myself got into Nixon’s car while the rest of the crowd including Deepu, Liju, Nripen and Ajit into Sajosh’s car. We reached the Veegaland, a theme park in Cochin.
Around 11.30 am we all were straight into the action; started off the day with the roller-coaster ride, which tested our blood pressure. The games went on an on until all us were too tired to try out any more. The post lunch session was full of water games including slides and fountains. The highlight of the day was the journey into the dark-deep cave depicting the Malayalam comic characters. Finally we ended the day with a late night blast; with half the crowd joining the party we had a long walk back to the hotel room. Only in the morning we realized that we came walking for more than 3 km J
After attending the marriage next day, we visited Angamali falls. It was one of the best waterfalls I had ever seen. With wonderful scenery around, the brownish water could not stop our enthusiastic gang from having a go at the water for almost an hour. And finally we headed back to Kazhakoottam in the evening.
As usual we were at the mid of a busy week when one of our colleague Greety came up to us to present her brother’s wedding invitation which is to be held at Athirapalli near Cochin. It was a quiet day till the noon till our boss Nixon came up to us to ask if any of us are interested in attending the wedding. It took a while for me to make out his master plans that we could actually visit Veegaland and Angamali falls in the name of attending marriage as it’s on a weekend and is hardly 6 hours journey from Trivandrum.
All set, the master plan is ready and 10 of us decided to go in two cars. It was 13th morning 5 am, Peyush, Geo, Shiju and myself got into Nixon’s car while the rest of the crowd including Deepu, Liju, Nripen and Ajit into Sajosh’s car. We reached the Veegaland, a theme park in Cochin.
Around 11.30 am we all were straight into the action; started off the day with the roller-coaster ride, which tested our blood pressure. The games went on an on until all us were too tired to try out any more. The post lunch session was full of water games including slides and fountains. The highlight of the day was the journey into the dark-deep cave depicting the Malayalam comic characters. Finally we ended the day with a late night blast; with half the crowd joining the party we had a long walk back to the hotel room. Only in the morning we realized that we came walking for more than 3 km J
After attending the marriage next day, we visited Angamali falls. It was one of the best waterfalls I had ever seen. With wonderful scenery around, the brownish water could not stop our enthusiastic gang from having a go at the water for almost an hour. And finally we headed back to Kazhakoottam in the evening.
Monday, May 08, 2006
Pattanamtitta – A Travelogue
It was one of those interesting bike trips around the southern Indian state of Kerala. It was 6th May 06, my friend Sundeep was getting engaged to Miss. Jaya. The Engagement ceremony was to be held at the girl’s place at Pattanamtitta. As I am working at Trivandrum which is about 120 Km from Pattanamtitta he wanted me to be present for the occasion at any cost.
I took off from Kazhakoottam at 5.45 pm on 5th evening; my colleague Peyush whose house is on the way accompanied me till Punaloor which is 25 km before Pattanamtitta.
I said it was one of the interesting bike trips because the road to Pattanamtitta was full of deadly curves. Of the 120 kms, I would have come across at least 50 curves of which some were deadly. We reached Punaloor around 9.30 pm in the night, just another 5km and we reached Peyush’s hometown; I didn’t have a clue of the place as it was deep dark. Another 25 Km to go for Pattanamtitta; I do not know the way, but there were signboards all over the way for me to get going. I reached hotel Rose Mount at 10 pm in the night.
The engagement ceremony went well the next day; I got introduced with Sandeep’s friend Shaji. Both of us decided to go around the city before we finally depart. The hotel receptionist advised us to visit “Aaana Koondu” (Elephant cage) which is just 11 km from the hotel. Both of us flew to Koannhi to visit Aaana Koondu. I am sure Shaji had enjoyed the trip to the best; we didn’t miss the opportunity to have a snap on the way as the scenic river stopped us for a while. Aaana Koondu was a special experience as we saw a baby elephant being fed inside a wooden cage; the elephant ride was the best part of the trip; and I found Shaji the happy man.
I had to bid good-bye to Sandeep & family and Shaji soon after we reached the hotel as I don’t want to miss the 120 km ride back home while the sunlight was on.
I took off from Kazhakoottam at 5.45 pm on 5th evening; my colleague Peyush whose house is on the way accompanied me till Punaloor which is 25 km before Pattanamtitta.
I said it was one of the interesting bike trips because the road to Pattanamtitta was full of deadly curves. Of the 120 kms, I would have come across at least 50 curves of which some were deadly. We reached Punaloor around 9.30 pm in the night, just another 5km and we reached Peyush’s hometown; I didn’t have a clue of the place as it was deep dark. Another 25 Km to go for Pattanamtitta; I do not know the way, but there were signboards all over the way for me to get going. I reached hotel Rose Mount at 10 pm in the night.
The engagement ceremony went well the next day; I got introduced with Sandeep’s friend Shaji. Both of us decided to go around the city before we finally depart. The hotel receptionist advised us to visit “Aaana Koondu” (Elephant cage) which is just 11 km from the hotel. Both of us flew to Koannhi to visit Aaana Koondu. I am sure Shaji had enjoyed the trip to the best; we didn’t miss the opportunity to have a snap on the way as the scenic river stopped us for a while. Aaana Koondu was a special experience as we saw a baby elephant being fed inside a wooden cage; the elephant ride was the best part of the trip; and I found Shaji the happy man.
I had to bid good-bye to Sandeep & family and Shaji soon after we reached the hotel as I don’t want to miss the 120 km ride back home while the sunlight was on.
TN Elections: Opinion poll
As usual it’s another political drama in Tamil Nadu having both the leading parties DMK and ADMK throwing impossible and impractical promises. Let’s wait and see if they keep them all.
The opinion poll conducted by Mr. Sam :-) at the work place shows that DMK has 50% chance, while the rest of 50% says that it’ll be a cliffhanger.
The election results are not far away, let’s wait and see.
But whatever happens is not going to change the fate of TN.
Hence I decided not to travel 160 Km to cast my vote.
The opinion poll conducted by Mr. Sam :-) at the work place shows that DMK has 50% chance, while the rest of 50% says that it’ll be a cliffhanger.
The election results are not far away, let’s wait and see.
But whatever happens is not going to change the fate of TN.
Hence I decided not to travel 160 Km to cast my vote.
