"Wayanad" - Infosys, Mysore Diaries - #BlogChatterA2Z

 The project that we had started working on was in full swing. We had 10 days to finish the project and our motto was to try and finish it within a week so that we could relax later. After all, we were nearing our time on the campus. 

We had started working on the project on Tuesday. By the end of Tuesday, we were ready with the analysis. On Wednesday, we started working in groups of 2 on the design document. Anusha and I started working together on some use cases of flowchart diagrams. Though we would waste time once in a while, we were good when it came to completing the task on time. By the end of Wednesday, our whole group got substantial work done. 

During dinner, Anusha said, “We only have 2 more weekends on the campus. How about we go on a trip to Kerala? ”

“Nice idea. But will we get reservations now?”, I asked.

“Of course. Some of my friends from other colleges have recently been to Wayanad in Kerala. They gave great reviews”, she said.

Everybody agreed to this. The best part of this trip was having information on travel, hotel, and itinerary. We just had to make reservations.

On Friday night, the 6 of us along with Chetan, Suraj some other friends of Arjun all started to Wayanad in a 20-seater vehicle. We sang songs during the journey. After a good 6-7 hours, we reached a beautiful resort called the Sunrise Valley resort. The resort had small cottages, a swimming pool, a basketball area, and separate fire pits for each cottage. It was dark by the time we reached it and a few fire pits were lit. The whole area had a serene vibe to it. 

“Let’s spend some time in the resort too. It’s beautiful”, Chetan said.

We went to our cottages. Each cottage could accommodate 6-7 people. All the girls chose a cottage and entered it, the room was spacious and had bunker beds. I chose the topmost berth. We got freshened and headed to the dining section for dinner. The boys also joined us and we had dinner. We were 10 in number and it was nice to relax and have good food. The unique dish on the menu was the pineapple pickle. It was tangy and sweet. After a nice meal, we all retired to bed. We wanted to try the firepit on the following day.

The next day we woke up early, had filter coffee and breakfast (idli), and headed out to visit the Meenmutty waterfalls. This involved a short trek where we had to descend a hill to enjoy the waterfalls. 

“After the Scandagiri Hills trek, this seems quite simple”, Arjun boasted to his friends. They haven’t been to the Scandagiri hill trek.

The waterfall was lovely, we tried being adventurous and enjoyed the falls thoroughly. The magic was in the air which helped us dry our clothes very quickly.

“Let’s go back to the resort and take a shower. We’ll head out to other places after lunch”, Rishi said.

After enjoying waterfalls and the trek, we all went back to the resort, took shower. For lunch, we wanted to eat authentic Kerala food and went to a Dhaba like place which served meals. The food was great, everything had coconut in it. After a leisure lunch, we visited the coffee and tea plantations in the surrounding area. 

At night, we went back to the resort and asked our host to fire the firepits near our cottage. We had dinner at the resort in the same dining area as the day before and after dinner, headed to the firepit area. Around the fire were a seating area and low benches. After a day full of activity, it was nice to sit around it.

After a while, we played music. Soon, the boys started dancing. Arjun danced to the Dabang title song and he had great moves. Soon everybody joined Arjun and we did a mini-flash mob to the Dabang title track. We danced to some other great party numbers as well. After a few hours of dancing and fun, we all retired to bed. 

The next morning, we all woke up with great excitement to visit the Edakkal caves. Also, we were leaving after the caves and we had to check out from the hotel as well. We packed everything, checked out and bid farewell to the lovely hosts. 

We then started to the Edakkal caves. These were supposed to be natural caves representing the prehistoric settlement from 6000 BC.

We reached the caves and were not surprised to see the queue. We joined the queue which was leading a trail of steps down the sea level. We got down the steps and entered the caves.

It was ice cold and the whole area had strong earthy and moldy scents. A tour guide was talking about the history of the caves back to the Stone age and explained some of the carvings on the walls. The carvings were of men, animals, and man-made instruments. 

There was a possibility of connection to the Indus valley civilization. Also, the Edakkal caves were not technically caves, but rather a cleft, rift, or rock shelter caused by a piece of rock splitting away from the main body. 

After a good tour of the caves, we took the stairs and went back to our mini-van. We had a sumptuous meal in a restaurant nearby and went back to the campus. On our way back, we continued talking about the caves. Caves with history are quite intriguing.

But after going back to the campus, all we could talk about was the most intriguing part of the Wayanad trip. And it was Arjun dance moves to the Dabang title track….

-- To be continued

This post is a part of the Blogchatter A2Z Challenge.