We started driving to Wayanad amidst the lust green forests covering Tamil Nadu & Karnataka… We crossed lots of small hamlets in Karnataka and I was the interpreter to ask for the route to Sultan Badri using my butler Kannada…
We crossed over to Kerala and it was immediately visible with the lust green cover, big houses, good & clean roads… I adamantly demanded for toddy & 1st being a dry day in Kerala we had to hunt for toddy in black… I must really thank Rooban bro for taking pains for getting toddy….
Then we had lunch at Sultan Badri but unfortunately 1st & 2nd being dry day in Kerala we were asked to travel 20 KM to Tamil Nadu… We promptly stocked things for next 2 days… En route we found a little puppy on the roads… We took it along with us as it was wandering on the highways… We named him Kunnu…
From there we drove straight to Coffee Aroma Resort in Wayanad… This place has only added my attraction and fondness towards Kerala… Wonderful place for retreat and to burn the stress… Cottages were that clean and the atmosphere and nature view made me feel very much relaxed… Behind the resort there was a water falls and a small stream… All these were well utilised by the resort folks…
We didn’t take bath that day as it became that dark… We sat in a hall played with our Kunnu, had some discussions with friends, had my dinner and I went to car to watch some movie… Again I slept in the car though the cottage was good because of space constrains…
Next day went for a walk in the small lane along with Karthi… Then went to the falls to take bath and we spent couple of hours… Then we came back had our lunch, left our Kunnu in the resort and we started back to Chennai…
En route we came thru Nagar Hole forest reserve in Karnataka… After crossing 90% of the forest cars were attacked by elephants and we were diverted thru another route which is 30KM long and had very bad roads…
We reached Mysore by 10 PM on 2nd… W had our dinner there and we started driving to Chennai… Karthick took over driving from here and I navigated him till HP petrol bunk in Soolagiri which has Cafe Coffee Day… I refreshed myself and had some coffee and I crashed immediately…
Finally we reached home by 7 AM on 3rd Oct… Over all in all three days we were only driving half the time… But over all it was a nice experience and a much needed break from routine…
Here are some memories….
AnandNataraj 