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.