Mates, Merry and Munnar

Hi guys, its been so long since I have posted anything over here and so thought of writing about this trip I had gone along with my dear buddies, my school mates , most of whom I have known since my childhood days. I had never gone with them to many of the places they had visited together, so missed a lot of fun and lost a lot of  moments which otherwise I would have loved to cherish.

The last time I saw Anand , I had told him about this desire to go for a trip , all of us together , somewhere, where we can free our minds and souls from the daily routines,tensions and happenings at work. In short, I wanted to enjoy the max. He said he will tell others about this and plan accordingly. I wanted to go to a place where there won't be much mayhem and so we decided upon Gavi, a reserve forest in the border of Idukki and Pathanamthita districts. An apt place , something we were looking out for, but unfortunately a sad incident happened there a week before we were planning to go and the reserve was restricted for the tourists. We then decided to go Vaalpara but that also got cancelled because of some reason. Anand called me and told me about Munnar. I asked him what are the other options we have and he said this was the best option. Now, Munnar is a place where I had been to for some 3 or 4 times last year and now whenever I hear about this place my mind goes blank. All the streets and roads leading to munnar and in munnar were still there blueprinted in my mind and when they told me that we will be going there, I thought "oh no!! not again"...

Deepak was coming along with us and that was good to hear since he seldom used to get leave from his work and it had been a long time since I saw him. Since Anu was also turning up I thought this would be a lovely trip.
Anu is the man you would like to take along with you if you want to enjoy a trip. He could make us laugh with whatever he says, we call him the RAPPER(I think you are not thinking about the other rapper....ok, fine read on), coz he has this beautiful skill to turn any song to a laughable rap song , be it in English or Malayalam. And there is this another guy with whom if you just sit for 5 minutes you will end up with tears in your eyes. No, not because he tells all those emotional stuff but when he just starts speaking we will start laughing like a drain and our stomachs come out. Yes, I am talking about Hashif.....our very own Hashif P M.

We decided to start the journey on a Saturday morning, April 9 2011. I started from Coimbatore on Friday night and reached home at 1 o'clock in the night. Reneesh was there with me from Ernakulam, he was coming back from work. And since we thought of starting early in the morning, around 4, there was not much time to get some good sleep. There were 10 of us and so we went in two cars, Jithin's and Anu's. We reached Munnar by 8:30 and the first thing we wanted was to search for a good accommodation. Jithin had done his graduation from Munnar engg college and so he had some contacts. We managed to get a good house for a day's rent in Devikulam, a small village 6km from Munnar. We talked with the person who maintained the house and settled for a sum of Rs.4000 that included the rent, dinner with chicken curry and camp fire. All in all, it was a good deal, I must say.

After this, we went in search for a calm and serene place where all could have some drinks. Thanks to Jithin, he took us to a football ground, besides which a stream flows by, the other side of it covered by small hills. The place was apt for having drinks by the stream side. There was not much habitation around, so it was calm and peaceful. We spent some time there, took some pics. After that we went to Kundala Dam, a beautiful place with all those trees by the lake side , a perfect place to let your mind go, relax and rejuvenate. We
decided to go back to the rented house before it got dark. On the way back, we saw the shooting of a Tamil film. The scene being shot was a dance sequence, with the Hero, Dhanush, dancing and hopping towards the Heroine, Tammanah. And I must say how beautiful Tammanah is...just like we see her in films, very fair and beautiful...that scene is still there in my mind and eyes, whatever else if  I fail to remember :)

The actual fun started after going back home. We asked the housekeeper to start setting the camp fire. Meanwhile, we had some light dinner and when the camp fire was ready, the party began. The fire was set, the music was put on, cans n bottles were taken outside, the lids were opened, and with that the liveliness. We all let our hair down, danced around the fire, singed out loud, made merry, screamed and what not. Anu and Tijin sang some songs to which Deepak beat drums. Yes, I mean the drums made out of plastic bottles and tins, cans and chairs :). After some 2 hours or so, the fire and the flames got reduced to ashes. We all sat around the ashes and talked about our good old school days.The next day we made our journey back home.

Another journey came to and end. Just like the way the fire leaves behind the ashes , good old days with our friends get reduced to thoughts and dear moments in our heart. Yes, it was fun and unforgettable. You don't get to see all your mates together after you get some job. Its hard to meet even one or two, so these journeys and moments are like precious, priceless jewels. We need to keep them safe somewhere at the bottom of our heart. And every time you revisit those thoughts, you will have a smile in your face.