Today is as good as any day to tell about my memorable trip that I went on a week ago.
Some Introduction.
There was a little plan to start with, we decided that we’d go to Kerala but did not decide on as where to go to Kerala. It was an Industrial Visit incentivized by our college and anyone who ever knows how an engineering college works in Tamil Nadu, IV is just a name given to fun trip. In the name of visiting an Industry, we’d go on an excursion and visit a company when we have time. But it is a must that we should visit an Industry and the problem arisen for us in the search for a company. It was difficult to find a company to visit in a tourist spot and after some days of searching and talking we decided to visit Vagamon in Kerala on the first day and Cochin on the second day to see a company while touring Cochin.
We strongly determined that our final year CSE department should go for IV, it is a must for us as we’d never get a chance like this to tour as a group, have fun and laughter after our life in college finishes. We got a lot of support from staff who also knew what happens on an Industrial visit. But the time was not on our side as the trip was postponed due to an unavoidable circumstance as a real company visited our campus on that day for placement drive, this stamped a doubt, that will the trip happen as we have planned for a long time. After mildly successful placements for our mates, we went on our with our trip after few days with little hope that everything will happen as we’ve planned.
August 4, 20:15 Hrs.
It was a decent Saturday night as I enjoyed my second half boiled egg in my life in a cheap, street hotel. My classmates had started to assemble in our college and were in the IV mood. To truly understand a building’s beauty experience it at night and in alone and that’s what I got with my college building that night. It was calm, chill and peaceful as I strolled through the pavement in my college and suddenly a loud noise was audible and was moving around the college, As I strode with my friends to see it, I was awestruck by the thing that caused the sound.
It was all lights, sound, disco and it was supposed to take us to our IV place. I already knew it was supposed to be like this yet I couldn’t control my excitement. Before I could think of anything my mind was in a party mood I named the bus ‘disco bus’. You must have guessed, yes, it was all dance, songs, laughs the night. I loved it thoroughly, to describe how that was, book a disco bus and get on with a trip with your friends. As we entered the Kerala border, we slowed down our dance and watched a peepy movie about friends. To sum up that night I wanted to not to sleep the whole night and the night was just that.
August 5, early morning.
The Sun was giving us a warm welcome as we ascended into the mountains of the Western Ghats. Everyone on the bus woke up from sleepy dream to a dream. Mountains, Morning sun, clouds, it was everywhere I looked. I didn’t know much about Vagamon then and as I smelled the nature, breathed fresh oxygen, saw some dazzling display of mother nature, Vagamon and I had our first moment of love.
We walked our way to our hotel as the road was too steep to travel on the bus. No one imagined that our place of stay would be Magnifique but Vagamon was defying my expectation from the start. The hotel was located on a beautiful side of the mountain with an exquisite view. I totally loved that hotel cause that had enough rooms just for us, the rooms were neatly designed with all the necessity. It was not my home yet it didn’t make me long for my home.
August 5, 10:30hrs.
After finishing a quick, mediocre breakfast, We started our trip and the whole trip around Vagamon we traveled by mountain jeep. I got to be honest about this, it was totally awesome to cover by that vehicle. I argued with my friends to get the seat by the window to snap all the exotic location on the way and exploring the places in Vagamon. The jeep ride was quite an experience.
Beautiful Meadows.
Have you seen TV advertisement about branded packet milk where there’ll be cows eating fresh grass on an infinite meadow? I have often wondered where those beautiful meadows are and that day I have found where it was hiding. It was our first place of the visit, and there were some cows too.
I was feeling free in those meadows, I can shout, scream and it’s just mountains and some random tourists to hear me. I can travel anyplace there no questions asked. That’s the kind of freedom I want in my entire life.
Random waterfall.
Then we visited this waterfall on the way, it was good but not so good that we have to stop there and see it for nearly half an hour. We had to see it from some distance and also there were many falls along the way, yeah it looked big and beautiful than others still I didn’t get the reason why we had to spend so much time on that.
Pine forest.
This is where I started to realize that I am afraid of height, I was careful about taking the next step in a tricky way through the pine forest. I could see the bottom where I’d end up if I fell and it gave me chills.
Coming to our pine forest, It was just as I expected, full of pine trees. I didn’t go in the usual way instead found a small hill and rested there until everyone comes back from seeing a lot of pine trees. I didn’t know how time went there, I didn’t care to look at the time, I felt like there is no end to this life as there’s freedom everywhere I go.
August 5, 14:20hrs.
Quick pit stop for lunch. The lunch didn’t disappoint me like the breakfast.
All the jeeps suddenly stopped on the way, it was a small bridge with water flowing under it. I thought we stood to view the place however it was reserved for our lunch. Yes! I was stunned by our lunch place. Our decent meal was made memorable by that spot.
August 5, 15:02hrs.
The travel by jeep really got excited when we went to our next destination. The route was narrow, craggy, mountainous, and we purely loved the excitement of travel by the jeep. After an exciting jeep ride, we went to this place that I have no words to describe…
It was this beautiful view of the western ghats from a viewpoint. It was only mountains that I could see. The experience was scary plus beautiful for me as my fear of height reached its limit there. I was really at the top of some mountain, it was really steep from there. I took my steps carefully there while my friends were strolling around the place. Every hill I could see from that point were perfectly aligned, brushing the clouds, immersing all the nature it can to give our soul a much-needed refresh from cramped up buildings and noise filled society. I could sense my mind wanting to fly from the edge of the point to reach the freedom only a bird or water bubbles could do. As I was a mere human, I settled on imagining I was one of those water bubbles floating from the cliff to never-ending mountains.
We are not constrained by our body limit, Our imagination is more powerful than our body. This was true for me at that time.
Next, we went to a small waterfall. You could climb that fall and test your climbing skills. I didn’t have the guts to surmount the fall though I was surprised by watching one of our professors surmount.
August 5, 16:15hrs.
So we ended up at another mountain, this was different as it was a holy mountain. There was a temple at the top of the hill, we had to climb it to see the temple. First I thought about why we had to go see a temple on an excursion, later it was made clear to me that it was not the place but the journey to it that really mattered.
I didn’t know how well I can climb at that time and I thought the mountain would be small therefore I started climbing with others. There were no steps or any path to the top, it was only rocks, plants, trees and we can choose any path. The route was growing hard for me as I mounted, my feet were becoming heavy, I wanted to rest more often than I could climb still I surmounted only a part of the mountain. My mates who traveled past me shouted that we still have a long way to go and this didn’t help me to surmount. At one point I rested in a big rock and looked down, the way I progressed looked enormously to me. I had a fear of whether I could really climb the top and travel back. I was really exhausted and weakened at that point, I took a decision that saddened me for the rest of the day. I started descending my way back to the end without reaching the top with a sprained ankle. It really hit me when I heard from the friends who reached the top that the climb was really worth it.
From the pictures and stories that I heard from my friends, I think the top was like heaven. There were clouds all over, we could literally touch, smell, feel the clouds moving past our mortal body. The feeling that you get when you achieve something like surmounting a mountain will energize your body and mind. Unfortunately, I didn’t get that feeling.
As I was resting in the mountain unable to climb furthermore, I saw this beautiful view of all hills that spread Vagamon, the shadow of the cloud covered everywhere except a place where there was sunshine. I don’t know why I thought it was a sign from God to stop surmounting or was I just making peace with myself for not able to climb anymore?
The night.
Feeling a bit disappointed I wanted to enjoy the rest of the night like crazy. Initially, we prepared for a campfire near our hotel however the plan was changed to a disco party.
I heard this crazy loud sound coming from somewhere then one of my friends came to our room to say that disco has started in the top floor of the hotel. The crazy sound was coming from our hotel, I was lit with all sorts of happy hormones in my brain when I knew that sound was really coming from my hotel. I had a doubt whether I could jump or dance with my sprained ankle. The pain was moderate, but I was afraid that it’ll increase if I give additional strain to my ankle. The hoofer sound increased with my heartbeat as I entered the disco room. I made my first jump with the beat, and I can no longer remember the pain as I danced like crazy after that. I danced with all my heart, I am not a great dancer, but it didn’t stop me to enjoy like insane with all my friends. I didn’t stop dancing, I danced with all, I danced until the end of the music. That wasn’t me if you have known before me, but there I was having all the fun, dancing like there are no worries. I didn’t want to take pictures at that time, I saved the memory by living in it. It was a fun filled time that I will never forget for the rest of my days.
I knew the day wasn’t over because the real party started only after this. It was I’ll leave it to you to guess what would’ve happened in this party because I have no words or mind to describe it.
End of the day.
Finally, I can’t remember when I slept, but I knew I should get up at around 5 to start the next day excursion. This day wasn’t planned but the day became more than everything even if it had organized. This day was important to me that I wanted to write about it to share, but mainly because to read and relive the moment sometime after.
The next day is here.
This has taken an awfully long time to finish, I started writing that I went on a trip a week ago and now it’s already become more than a month. I’ll surely write the next day of my excursion and to give a preview of what happened the next day it gave fulfillment to our trip, strengthened our bond, revealed some secrets, had the same amount of fun as the first day.
Originally published at myshit11.wordpress.com on September 9, 2018.
