Travel With a Couple

Not too often you get some unusual travel opportunity where you get to spend on a training session for a bunch of energetic youngsters. To start with, this was not meant to be a ‘trip’. When one of our friends, a terrific training professional, mentioned about a two-day training programme, we volunteered to play some supporting role for him, though only for the first day. And quickly plugged into the itinerary was a drive to Pawna lake (17 km from Lonavala) next day for a dip and swimming.

Spending a day with these youngsters, listening to their aspirations, dreams, their drive & fire, and fears was a learning experience. Participating in their activities was invigourating as well.

Our offer to volunteer was driven by a selfish need of getting an opportunity to learn rather than teach. A well spent weekend for both of us.

Scene 1: Four backpackers – wearing capris and coolers – were taking a walk along the rim of the Lonar crater. A villager grazing his cows wanted to show his hospitality to the tourists. He smiled and asked, “Who is the country?” The backpackers looked at each other, thinking “who’s the country among us?” After a moment they realized the villager wanted to know which country were they from. Seeing the capris, coolers, and backpacks, he mistook us Indians for foreigners. Also, he didn’t expect Indians to walk the 5-km stretch under hot sun. When we said, “Mumbai se he” and started laughing, he too laughed out aloud to hide his embarrassment.

Scene 2: The same four backpackers were trying to locate the remains of an ancient temple and were walking along a narrow road inside a village colony. People stared at them. Fine. But when a father explained to his son – “Angrzi log he” (meaning “They are English”), we couldn’t stop laughing and responding, “Angrezi nahin, Hindusthani he” (meaning “Not English but Hindusthani”). Maybe our brown colour was mistaken for suntan.

There is a road – for namesake. It was ok initially, like any other forest path. As we moved deeper into the forest, forget that the path became narrow; it was nothing but ditches as deep as 2 ft and boulders. Not to mention that it was an uphill climb.

One moment we were climbing up at somewhat 70 degree, followed by a climb-down at a similar angle. At one place, we couldn’t find any track; instead we were climbing a rock face. Throughout this terrific drive, we were holding on to whatever we could to prevent our heads from hitting the top of the jeep. Nevertheless, we were all laughing hysterically and singing a song made for the occasion.

If there was something common between all the passengers, it was an unrelenting faith in the young driver who was doing nothing short of a dangerous circus, albeit practiced well.

(This is a slice from our drive to Manpara peak in Nelliyampathy, Kerala)

‘Palarauvi’ is actually a misguiding name for a waterfall cascading down from more than 300 ft. Or for that matter, for any waterfall. ‘Pal’ means milk and ‘aruvi’ means stream in Malayalam. Perhaps the gushing milky white water in the middle of green foliage resulted in the name ‘Palaruvi’.

The water falls at such a high force that if not careful it could just push you down inside the pool. Nevertheless, bend and bare your back for a great massage.

Preserved by the local villagers, Palaruvi is yet another initiative that drives ‘responsible’ tourism. Palaruvi is in the laps of Western Ghats bordering Kerala and Tamilnadu, on the Kollam – Shenkottai road. A popular family tourist spot, incidentally it has separate falls for gents and ladies & kids

You reach the waterfalls after a long drive through the forest. The most abundant wildlife is as usual monkeys. Not surprisingly, they too come as families. Have a look at this photo.

A 120-m long elevated walkway touching the treetops in the middle of forest! Take this path interspersed with 109 steps and you could try out some adventure activities – all handled by trained professionals.

This is part of Thenmala Ecotourism, a unique programme designed by Kerala Tourism department. A relatively less-known tourist destination, Thenmala is a nature lover’s dream destination. Nestled in the ranges of Western Ghats is the Thenmala Dam and around it is the Shenduruney Wildlife Sanctuary. If you always dreamt of doing something that would give you an adrenaline rush, but could never figure out what to do, Thenmala can be your place for initiation. You could try out Flying Fox, Burma Bridge, River Crossing, Rock Climbing, Mountain Biking and more. Lush forests of Thenmala also hide the old ‘Thiruvanathapuram-Shenkottai’ road, a large part of which is submerged in water now.

Forest department also organizes 1 to 3 days of trekking in the deep forests. We visited the place in April. Monsoon will be more interesting as you could manage a splash in the mud as well.

‘Chicken rises’ from your chicken fried rice – bewildering? Then how about having ‘omblate, seanveg’s, pelpuri, and banipuri’ for snacks? These are some interesting and bewildering menu options at some of Munnar’s street-side stalls. If language is to communicate, never mind these localisation of English. Because it does communicate. Especially if you are hungry.

No price for guessing what a “Seanveg” is.