Finally got a good night's sleep! Woke up at 6:15 am and went out for tea with Vj. Outside, in the lap of nature, the early morning air was pure and it was accompanied by a much needed serenity. The chirping of birds and rustle of leaves whenever the wind blew had a truly calming effect on the mind. No wonder these places charged so much: city life is cruel and people will pay anything to experience this tranquility. The previous day had ended in a high and we wanted to make the most of today.
The property boasted of a 1 km long nature trail created within the premises and we decided to start our day with a hike. There are very few better ways to start your day: the vibrant colors, the fresh air, the company of your best friends and long chats about stupid things. Breakfast followed and the food was so good that I overate: puttu, puri bhaji, idli, omlette, fresh juices. God was being too kind and I hoped it stayed that way today as well.
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| Ready for the early morning trek |
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| Along the trek |
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| Mountain view from Banasura |
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| Priceless |
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| The pathway to bliss |
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| The charlatans |
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| Along the trek |
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| Soaking in the tranquility |
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| Route for the day |
We crossed over to Karnataka while crossing the reserve and as expected the roads got better. To save on time and not to repeat the earlier days mistake, we had selected our resort upfront on Dude's recommendation:Kabini River lodge. But we made a big mistake by not booking the rooms.The error proved to be costly. 2.5 hours later, we realized through a sign board that we had actually crossed Coorg. The problem happened as there was no mobile network during most of the journey and we were following a preset path shown by maps which would take us to Kabini. Guess what, the map turned out to be wrong, it was taking us to Kabini through a much longer path and it would take us another 1.5 hours to reach there. To make matters worse, Kabini river lodge wasn't answering our phone calls. So we weren't even sure if there would be rooms available or not.
We had two options, to turn back and go to Madikeri or carry on ahead and reach Kabini and take a chance. We decided to turn back. We took the Kushalnagar route as it showed some promising options to have lunch at. It was almost 3 pm and I could hear Vijay's stomach rumble. We also started making calls to resorts in Coorg/Madikeri to check for availability of rooms. This being a long weekend, all good resorts were full. We halted at a CCD and continued with our search for a resort. Despite being the world's worst CCD, Butts got hooked on to the butts of a Tibetan gal. It's time for Butts to get married. Dude found a hotel finally and it looked promising, but it was at some distance and also to the south of Madekeri near Virajpet which meant it would have set us back by a good 1 hour the next day. We were in a dilemma again and new options were discussed. We were 90 kms away from Mysore and our chances of finding a good spot to spend the night were brighter there. So Mysore it was! No one seemed happy with the destination, but it had never been about the destination in the first place.
None of the hotels in Mysore seemed to have a room available as well and our chances of having fun in the night seemed to be diminishing. That is when Vivek hit upon Fortune JP Palace in Mysore which had a garden suite available for 18k. We decided to go for it though it was expensive. Somehow everyone seemed to be on the edge ready to pick a fight as things had not been going our way again. We reached JP palace around 8 pm and all we wanted to do was eat, drink and sleep.
Vj bought a bottle of Teachers 50 and we ordered a few beers. We also ordered paneer tikka, a salad and few aloo parathas. Let me tell you folks, there is nothing better than a cold beer on a shitty evening. Vj got drunk and was extra polite. Rest of us were trying to take care of him. Our conversations got better and better and the sour taste of the evening was washed away by the sweetness of the beer and the quirkiness of the conversations.
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| Garden suite at JP Mahal |
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| Dude getting comfortable |
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| The garden suite |
Grand plans were made for the next day and everything somehow seemed back on track.
This journey is just like life: it has its own ups and downs, but the beauty is that everyone is together whether its a high or a low.
Quotes:
1. Butts, is room me sirf tujhe hi haq hai ki jo mera hai wo tera hai.
2. Why is there a ze instead of a de in marathi. Dude, because it is Zee marathi.
3. Guys, be ready for the best road of your life.
4. Am I being a nuisance? Am I being obnixious?
5. My biggest fear is that I don't have a fear.
6. I confess that I used to consider Madhuri Dixit as a Goddess.
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