Nagerhole :)

Our team outing plans had a second name to it....Jinxed...till Nagerhole trip happened :)

Getting everyone's availability and dates for a 2-day trip was always going to be a difficult...especially when one of the days would invariably end up being either a weekend or a general holiday...But we had other non-team related issues as well.....ya ya.....d dates we had planned for had to coincide with tensions awaited in the city due to Ayodhya court verdicts and what not!!!

So, this trip plan has been ON since September last year and finally we ended up going on Jan 26th, this year!!
D trip made me realize a few things I was strangely getting to be unaware of...tat no matter wat ...d songs Sheila ki Jawani and Munni badhnaam huyee are the most popular songs ...when it comes to dance or anthakshari...
Nagerhole is close to 250 kms away from Bangalore. It takes a good 5-6 hours to reach the place. We were staying at a place called "Holiday Homestay". Now this place was suggested to me by my friends who had been to the same place before.

I had only spoken to Mr.Narendra, the owner of this homestay place regarding details on the place..and I was happily looking forward to seeing Mr.Narendra in village folk avatar .complete with dhothi/panche....blah blah blah...

We were greeted at the homestay place by a man in jeans and a cool T-shirt, sporting a goti..n when he called me "Seema Madam"....I knew at once tat Mr.Narendra had just arrived!!..hehehehe..
Holiday Homestay is actually a coffee estate located in close proximity to Nagerhole's Rajiv Gandhi National Wild life park, Irpu waterfalls in South Kodagu district and Wayanad district.

It is a beautiful place with good accommodation and outdoor games facilities. After lunch, it was a basketball session in one corner, cricket, the hot fav as usual, badminton in another corner doing the rounds.
We then left to see the wildlife in Nagerhole National Park in a 1-hour safari ride that takes you into the jungle only to catch sight of some deer and peacocks!! Our drivers who had parked the bus near the main road entrance got to see some leopards atleast :)

We were told that during general holidays, it would be very difficult to spot wildlife as they venture further deep into the jungles...far far away from mankind...
We returned back to the homestay only to be greeted to an amazing experience of "star gazing"
All credit to Subhankar who got his telescope and lenses and who set it up to let us see some of the starry wonders of the skies:)

It was not long before there was a huge queue piling up to view the sky thru Subhankar's lenses :)
It is amazing the amount of knowledge the man has when it comes to stars and also his patience in setting it up multiple times for close to 25 people...
Simply coz u had a Saturn, which was viewed at 5am early the next morning and which kept vanishing from view ...so just when u think to get to see it at the telescope...Saturn wud time its vanishing act ..right then..n then v wud cast a helpless "Want to C Saturn @ any cost wallah look" at Subhankar who kindly obliged ...
I wud call Saturn, with its rings the most beautiful celestial body in the sky closely followed by Jupiter and its 4 moons.....I remember viewing Mars or Venus, Pleiades/seven sisters-the question mark wallah constellation, Andromeda galaxy and the Milky Way....n for the very 1st time gotto c some of those shooting stars they show in the Karan Johar movies..n I didnt miss the opportunity to make two instant wishes ...I dunno if those 2 wishes wud get fulfilled or not...But no harm in making them..right :D
After all tat star gazing n some dinner..it was time for a campfire and some leg pulling n almost close to 20% pole dancing!!

The next day unfolded in us taking a stroll around the estate and then heading to Irpu waterfalls. What I liked about this place is tat u dont have to do any high fundu or even normal trekking to get to the waterfalls...thr r steps leading all the way...d water was clean n it was pretty easy to play in the water...

The highlight of our trip was little Vandya, our colleague Somya's two year old daughter who undertook the trip journey with us...and kudos to Sanjay who took such good care of her all through the trip....it was also amazing to see our teammates take turns to babysit dear old Vandya while her mother got to attend to other things...

V had a Naresh who clicked photos at each n every moment ..n a Subhankar who had ll of us flocking together or in singles posing for his camera..not only coz he has an amazing camera...but his sense of photography can make anyone look beautiful :P...right, Subhankar?


Our last stop was in Ranganathittu, a bird's sanctuary located pretty close to Mysore...tat it made me wonder so many times tat inspite of having lived in B'lore all my life..I had never visited such a beautiful place before!!

This place was infested with all kinds of birds...lemme try n show off..tat I can actually name some of the most exotic birds inhabiting our skies...so here goes:...painted stork, black heron, white pelican...n ya..I shud have written this blog right after the trip..coz I have happily forgotten the names now!!


We were taken on a boat ride to view the habitats of these birds...n v got to pass by as many as 5 crocodiles...it made me wonder at times..ki wat if it attacks or something...But they were tamer n lazier than I had ever imagined!!


All in all...the trip was a good break and a lovely getaway amidst the wild with fresh air and loadsa greenery for company!