You know that time when you just need a
break from every familiar face out there? In case you can’t relate to
this then you are still in your first year where everything is bright
and shiny. Well, for me it was Oct 31st 2014. I had reached my breaking
point and for me this was highly unusual because I am the bright and
bubbly. I lay on my bed, a thousand thoughts running through my head as I
scrolled through my Facebook hoping to come across some positivity
quotes. Suddenly I noticed a post about a trip to Kudremukh organized by the Photography Club,
Manipal (well MIT). The discovery of the trip was exciting. It was on
2nd November, a Sunday. Without a second thought, I took down the
contact number and the next day I was at Kamath Circle
looking up at a skinny guy who was from Photography club. He briefed me
about the trip. I handed him 450 rupees and I knew it was done.
Our first destination was Moodbidri
which was about 64kms from Manipal. On the way we were given
sandwiches, which were delicious or maybe I just thought they were,
since I was hungry. Some girls were seated in the row in front of ours
and they insisted on some music which had a magical effect on me and I
was suddenly having fun. In Moodbidri we visited the Saavira Khambada Basadi temple.
It was a beautiful old temple with 1000 pillars. It was almost deserted
and we had it to ourselves for an hour. After a silent prayer, I
circled the temple. My tour friends had already started clicking as we
had limited time. I decided to do the same. I, being the amateur
photographer that I am, took a few photos and listened to the pros, talk
about lenses and do the usual Nikon versus Cannon fight. I had no
opinion on the matter since I was using a point and shoot Sony camera
and had never used a DSLR before.
We were back on the bus and that was when the real fun started. It had been ages since I had played antakshari.
With a grandfather who sings, I like to believe that if I had a good
voice I would have sang too. The only time I sing in public is during a
game of antakshari. The cheerful girls ahead of us made two
teams and then everyone in the bus was playing! We played for an hour or
so and I was shocked by how much fun I could have with total strangers.
Next stop was Hanuman Gundi Water Falls,
which was an hour away as well. Everything around me was lush green. As
we descended from the bus, I inhaled the air. I could feel that it was
cleaner and certainly chilled. The only instruction, we got here was to
be careful as it was slippery. Turns out that was an important
instruction. It was an easy climb down to the waterfalls. The sound of
water against the rocks blocked every other thought in my mind. I made
my way through the rocks to the middle of the stream that emerged from
the falls. Before I could stop, I had slipped. Luckily, it has been just
one foot. Now my shoe was drenched with water. I let it dry as I
focused on taking some photos and just enjoying the place in general.
There were some tripods
set up on rocks in the heart of the stream and we took a group photo
with a press of a remote. That was the first time I witnessed that
technology. By the time we started the climb back up both of my shoes
were soaking wet and I was out of breath due to the extra weight of my
wet shoes.
Our destinations as well as everything
along the journey was picturesque. I prayed that my camera battery would
not die on me. Next stop was for lunch. We passed by a dam which must
have been closed as the rocks and pebbles were exposed and shining under
the afternoon sun. It was a beautiful place. We had stopped there to
have lunch. The menu was gobi manchurian and fried rice! Just
as we were done with lunch we heard a local call out to us. It was in
Kannada. After a bit of an argument we realized that we were not allowed
to stop there since they could release the river water and open the dam
anytime. The instructions on the board were in Kannada. How were we
supposed to know? We had senior MIT student with us who sorted it out
and we were on our way once again.
At about 5pm we reached the tea
plantations in Kudremukh. The place was heavenly and the thought of
going to college the next day felt like a sad joke. I learned that day
that leeches could be found in tea plantations and applying salt was the
solution. No, I did not get a leech on me. There was a tea house and
everyone was having tea. I didn’t want any without milk. I bought some
coffee powder (that’s me) and chilled with my junior friend. After a
while I was told that milk tea was available. It was the perfect drink
for the cold weather. After another group photo we boarded the bus once
again for our return journey. We reached Manipal at about 9.45pm. We
said our goodbyes and I returned back to my old life. I had an amazing
time on the trip. That day I learned a lot, including a new song 'Sutta Na Mila'(Hindi: translates to 'We couldn't get smokes') which was the last track for the night as our bus rolled into MIT campus.
Thank you for reading :) Please leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Acknowledgements: The Photography Club, Manipal for arranging this trip. Click on their name to see the full photo album and the best collection from that trip.
P.S This blog was first published on Ideas Pixelated. Credits for the links in this blog post goes to them. It was easier putting the same blog post here on my official blog compared to importing it, which was taking hours.
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