Glass Hills 2

hello guys...sorry about the break...
lets go on with my travelogue...
The guy Sahnkar took us in...the old house was old..very old...and v were given a huge cot...for all 4 of us...and it was heaven after the 6 hrs of driving...i crashed into it without a thought...and others followed suit soon after moving all the gears from the car to the old bungalow.
when we woke up, the rain was gone.it was sunny,a surpirse and welcome change for that area and weather.the river was my target for the day as i had never been inside water after i went to work in that concrete jungle.It made me ecstatic and brought out the packed energy within me.without a thought, i went and jumped inside the water with my shorts and for a minute my body was numb.only after a minute i realised that the water was freezing my blood.my jaws started tittering and it simply wud not stop.with a sheepish grin,basically trying to conceal my shivering and jittering jaws i turned to my buddies who were getting ready to jump into the water.i waved at them and said...hey its too good...jump in....Thomas jumped in without hesitating but dinesh was a bit cautious.The other guy who lives in pollachi knows these areas in and out...never came near the water...he sat on the edge taking a safe side...yeah...as you could imagine...thomas was cursing me all time.but after sometime the cold was gone as the body temperature got adjusted to the surroundings.
after some playing and swimming in the water for about an hour...we were lying on a rock..trying out a sun bath...but as we were watching the non polluted sky with the fast moving spongy white clouds..it became dark and the sun was out in some 20 mins...teh rain started pourind in from all quarters.We scooped off all the clothes and towels and started to run to the house.once inside the house we dried off changed and came and sat in the balcony in some old rocking chairs..the sight was too good and absolutely priceless...it'll take so much of energy to describe that as it was.i was sitting with the green element of nature.eyes were cooled off and i was in my own world again ... fighting with my mind to stop thinking... and leave me in absolute tranquility...
then the inevitable happened...i started hearing some growling sounds... i had no apprehension by that but was more interested in knowing what it was.Suddenly i realised that it was coming from me...i mean ... my stomach.It was raging with hunger.we had not had anything from the morning and it was already 2 in the afternoon.i had denied the idea of buying snacks as plastics are prohibited inside the forest by law and i know my buddies would be the least interested in maintaining the law.Even i was not keen on that,but i always made it a point to clear of the plastic wastes if i use them and deposit it in some dustbin after i get back home.And this time i was warned by my dude back in the concrete jungle and she calls herself an Environmentalist..so why disobey her orders...so followed whatever i was doing back there in chennai...veing obedient!!!.. leaving all that behind now... the guys were also hungry and we were about do the harsdest thing in our lives...cooking...
after struggling for some 45 mins we were finally done with it...the rice was cooked.but i think i poured in some extra water..so u know how it would be.then came the chicken curry...we were mixing something with something and finally made a curry..atleast it looked like one.when i tasted it...it was Yuck!! but i never said anything to the guys.And the temperature was around 6 or 7 out there and it was already freezing.So the guys had taken the hot curry from the boiling pan and ate it almost then and there and because it was too hot for taste,they never complained..and we were relieved.one meal was over.Saved from criticism.Then we went for the packs bought earlier in the day.The ITC products...and much needed for that weather.We all enjoyed it after quite sometime.The white and Brown Cylinders were quite useful...i would say.The day went off yapping about school days and fun we used to have and ofcourse girls.Thomas had made a great contribution in breaking a good relationship of mine with the only girl i liked so much in my life.Poor Me...she is married and setled now with a kid...so that was discussed with great enthu as i was the only one who stayed away from girls during school days.And these guys had had their experience from then on...infactuations,love and all other BS's. But it was nice to hear about those stuff from them.They used to remain surruptitious about these things during that time.But now they were all childhood fantasies and nothing was clandestine anymore.It was a nice evening and memorable one too.
Soon the evening passed into the night giving way to the moon and the stars.But they had no chance of being seen in that weather as the rain was adament on pouring down.As the time was nearing to 9,butterflies started to fly inside my stomach as i was wondering how to carry on with the next meal or rather cooking.Then came the great saviour...Shankar who had been out into the village all day for visiting his house was back. i glad enough to hand over the charge to him.This thing has been running along all my life.When things are supposed to happen they will happen.After eating the delicious dinner, and with the rain had decided to relax a bit,we decided to take a walk in the jungle.Armed with torches and our good ITC packs .. we started off in the pitch dark.We could see nothing after some 4 feet in front of us in the mist and darkness.
I had not seen a wild animal in years.I had last gone for a trek in my College days during the first yr sem hols.That was the last time i had seen a wild animal in front of me.We had been shown a place frm our house by shankar.The place he had shown us was a bit weird.The River after joining back,runs straight for some time and then takes a sharp 90 degrees.You cannot see anything of the river beyond that corner. At that sharp bend there lies a huge rock which blocks most of the view from the house beyond this corner.We were told that there will be a lot of activity around the river in the night time by the animals.So we went to the rock sat there making very less noise and started our chatterboxes again but in a very low tone. Thomas was very keen to look out for any animals and we were making fun of him for being so cautious.But he was looking into the other side of the river looking out for some life there.He had caught the eyes of most probably a bison or a wild cat on the other side.V cud make out nothing other than that due to the darkness.
It was around 1030 when we returned back to our rooms..and other two guys already went to bed,me and thomas were talking for quite a long time about my college,cts life and also about his college and law practices and weird cases his senior had got when he was an apprentice with him.Then after sometime he went off too.Then i was in alone,the loneliness i always liked and longed for.And for the first time after a week,i missed my terrace..the phone calls and the easy chairs...
Sorry dude's.... i've been given some urgent work...so the GLASS HILLS 3 will follow suit soon...adios!!!

Glass Hills 1

the day was too good.nature gave people some tmie to enjoy their diwali in a clear and bright sky.and when peolpe started to pull out their hard earned money on crackers...polluting the air,sound and what not...nature closed the party down for these freak outs.i was thankful for it had proved to settle down the smoke and ash all over the roads.when it started pouring cats and dogs, probably i was the only one to be happy and sad for te rain.happy for the cracker thing and sad cos i had no clue how v cud go on with our plans of trekking.

Then the miracle came.with the face of my friend.this guy had come once with me to the silent valley and wanted to visit the Glass hills.but time was short.and this time he suggested that v will go there.i thought abt it for a second.it was definitely not better than the planned Avalanche trip.but a good and safe one considering the land slips and the torment rainfalls.

the ford endeavour was pretty tough inside the city with double roll bars and 4wd which would suit the potholes and the occasional road stretches here and there.it was 2 in the morning.and once we crossed the city and entered the suburb's the drive was quite peaceful.all except the driver were busy with their own work,including me.what do you think??? ofcourse we were sleeping.Thomas wanted to drive and we were happy to give him the chance.i would have preferred to drive but given that i was in cbe,and not in chennai where i wud be impervious to sleep.but here i cud not open my eyes once the cool country air started blowing in my face with the pleasant smell from the groundnut and paddy fields.i was going into my own dream world.

when i woke up we were still driving.but crossed pollachi and somewhere near the western ghats.i could feel the chilling mountain air, but cud not see anything in front other than the stretch of road for some 10 or 15 metres.it was pitch dark and misty.i felt so romantic and started thinknig about the girl rather started to day dream about the girl i like a lot in recent times.we were sitting in in my favourite place...not talking...jus watching each other's face.we both believed that we say it best when we say nothing all...and after sometime of staring into each other's eyes, she called me in her husky voice...Arjun....Arjun...but i felt like...she was screaming in my ears...i said why the hell was that...and suddenly she gave a good blow on my head...and i woke up from my day dream and found that it was thomas who was screamin at me...gave him a sheepish smile..and he stopped the car for the nature' call and asked me to drive.as other two were already in deep slumber,i had no other choice.i had to do it and it was thomas turn to dream..i envied him and continued to drive in the ghat roads..

given the experience with driving cars,i drove pretty fast and cool...and we reached vaalparai around 630.made a small stop for tea and to shop a few necessities.and then raced off again to our destination.Beautiful tea estates and small stream guttin out of the rocks and the early morning sun made the place a heaven.jus wat i wanted and anythnig that would be better than the polluted and concrete jungle called CHENNAI which rocks in its own style as proclaimed by the great Thayir Saadam's.leaving the civilisation behind we ventured more deeper into the woods.and the way after vaalparai was like smoother than the city roads,a bit slippery though with the dew and rain from the previous night.We soon crossed the infamous Sholayar dam, known well in my school days for the death of my juniors during a field trip,that too they jumped in water to save a stupid girl who cud do a simple thing called HOLDING THE RAILINGS..and the result was...she was saved and the 2 guys were drowned instead...man..2 priceless lives lost for 1.

leaving the toughts behind v exchanged seats on the driver side as i was getting tired and irritated as i cud not watch out the plaesant hills.it was almost 8 when we finally reached our destination.the place is called Manamballi.A century old Hydro power generator is the only reason people are living there , that deep in the forest.we stopped at the only hotel or mess or watever where u can get some food.already the stomachs were growling in hunger.so had a nice fill to our tanks.while my buddies were looking to fill their tanks more, i came out looking at the place.i had been there once before but never remembered anything other the two huge black pipelines running down the hill from the reservoir.i had no clue to what it was at that time.but now i after getting the bachelors in electrical i could recognise that was the method used a century ago.The village was totally out of place in TN state.The buildings were all colonial architecture with 3 r 4 bungalows which houses the higher officials of the power plant.and the labour's shed had been cleaned and made up into living quarters somewhere in the 60's and all of them stand strong till date. damn these guys...they r never patient.they wanted to get to the forest soon..considering this as the last civilisation we would c for the next 2 days.

The Ford 4wd was handling exceptionally well with its powerful 2.8 litre engine.and we disturbing the eco-system by passing thro in this huge diesel powered - british designed - indian made black metal beast.i cud see some black macau's and lion tailed macau's playing blissfully here and there before reaching the forest guest house.Our journey was over.

The village was far behind.some 5 kms from the place i was standing,but consider the dense canopied stretch of land and no civilisation around you, that's a bit far.The forest bungalow was its own class.The river which runs through the village from the mountains go towards kerala.i honestly don know the name of the river.And at this time of the year it was raging like a bull altough the water level was tolerable...around some 8 feet max.this river after running liek a snake for some 5 kms bifurcates into 2 and joins back into 1 after some 200 meters.This forms an island in the middle,big enough to house a big spooky forest bungalow and its servant's quarters.It was earlier used as the summer house of some stupid general of the british raj and now it was forest bungalow.Good thing Thomas had an uncle in the forest dept and the acces to this place was cleared soon enough for us.The river forms a deep ridge around the house and the only way in and out of this island is through a rope bridge...and man were we glad for that??

i was jus cursing me for forgetting my wifey...the Canon EOS 300 back at chennai lying in my suitcase...useless...anyways nothing could be done at that time.Cursing myself we crossed the rope bridge one by one as it was shaking a lot.then we were greeted by the surprisingly young house keeper of that bungalow named Shankar.

Sorry guys...sudden work has creeped up...The Glass Hills 2 will soon follow...take care till then...urs arjun.