Sangam

Sangam 

Sangam Mekadatu and Chunchi falls

 

06/13/2004 - 06/19/2004

 

   

 

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Tuesday, June 15, 2004

Saturday(12/6/2004) :

The initial drag to the travel spanned nearly two hours.Around 1 0 clock , the biking in Kanakpura road had started.The road was quite deserted and I enjoyed the ride.We bought a pair of glasses on the way.Mithun , Lazar and Mondry were my companions.We stopped over at a military hotel on the way and had porotta and chicken/mutton.Rain started and I was very dearly neatly offered a jacket.The comaraderie was very good.I am more used to a calculated friendship than what I experienced with Lazar , Mithun and Mondry.I myself have both shades and am equally capable of both extremes.The heavy rain just increased my enthusiasm for riding.I looked quite filmy with the wet hair , jacket and big googles.The greenery that kept surprising us with it's innovations evoked ' o .. what a great place .. ' kind of reactions from me and Mondry(pillion rider) alike.We stopped over at Kanakpura to get some grub and a torch.

There were birds along the way as well that added to the charm.The goggles had killed not only the dust but also taken color away from the sceneries as I realised in time.we waited at some splendid spots and took snaps.We reached Sangam at around 6:00.A boy got in touch with us and helped us through the remaining stay at Sangam.There was a bus trip to Mekadatu from Sangam with college students.The college atmosphere evoked nostalgia and a feeling that life is passing by fast.Liked one homely girl in the crowd and enjoyed her smiles.Took some snaps at Mekadatu.Hope to see them good.The bus trip back was studded with a jamming session by Mondry's mouth organ and Mithun's voice.The college guys joined in.

Now , we were at our camping site with firewood at around 7:00 in the night.There were two helper boys - Srinivas and Chethan.Mithun and Lazar went with Srinivas to get naattukozhi(Country Chicken live) and other grub items.Chethan tended the campfire.The fire caught my attention.I started hovering around the fire with my lens trying various angles.I tried to strike a conversation with Mondry encouragin him into giving similar ideas.However , he who is working as a designer treated it more like a job.I took some snaps of the fire in bulb mode at times requesting Chethan to model.

Soon , the grub team was back.Mithun made bullseyes and stuffed them in buns.Chethan and Srinivas cleaned up the chicken and masalafied them.Mithun took two branches and ploughed it into the chicken.We took turns burning them in the fire.The bun-bullseyes kept us busy, rum in between.Soon the chicken was ready.The chicken was followed by bananas and goodday biscuits.Once the dinner was done , the drinks took more of a priority after which it was time for music.My contributions included well-sung Malayalam oldies like 'Karukaruththoru pennaanu ' , 'Alliambal kadavil' and others not to forget an enthusiastic rocking daffli(drum-like , held with one head and played by the other) session with self-composed beats.I felt honored by the attention and the enjoyment that I was able to give others.I had more of rum.Mithun and Lazar went to the river to lie down in the water.

Mondry asked me to put out the fire so that only the embers burn.I liked the suggestion.when the fire was totally out , the embers shone luke ruby mines.I took snaps.Before long , I felt quite drowsy after the heavy food and drinks and dosed off earlier than I had planned.

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Sunday (13/6/2004)

Woke up early and tried to do some birding but the place was filled largely with mynahs.Tried waking others up but could not.so I biked alone for some time around the area looking for birds.At a hair pin bend , the bike did not climb as it was in third gear.In the hussle , I lost control and the bike , the camera and me fell.Felt jittery but moved on.Stopped at spots where bird calls were strong but was not particularly successful in photography.Took the ride back after nearly an hour.As the slopes were steep , I turned the bike off.The bike still sped at 50Kmph.Whenever the ride stopped due to anti-slope , I would try some birding.Eventually I was back at Sangam.Soon we were biking to the Chunchi falls.

The light pleasant green of the falls was welcome.The terrain was also interesting.I took quite a few snaps from the spot , the water falling diagonally from the left top corner of the frame to the right bottom corner , the fall and the splash and a few more.After nearly half an hour at the falls , we moved to the portion where swimming was permitted.

We had more of rum and toddy in the water.Played silly games with the 7-up two litre bottle that had the rum.the bottle floated in the water and we took our sips and passed around.Howmuchever we drank , the rum would not get over.River water was mixing in as we soon realised.Pressed the bottle down the water bed and released to watch the bottle jump unpredictably.Got a shellfish and ate it raw.Mithun and Lazar caught a fish in a towel.Played - who-can-hold-breath max game.I happened to win it.also the who-can-spit-farthest game which Mithun won.Quite drowsy, I tried another bird/butterfly session around the area.I reached a bluetiger habitat but did not take snaps as I already had one and the butterflies were not opening up well.I came back to the spot and tried to take snap of kingfishers one of which was rocksteady but too far and the other that flew off though not-that near.

The bike made complaining noises after the morning accident.Soon it died off amist the 45-50 Kmph ride back.The dope did have a strong effect as I rode adventurously.Once a sheep came and hit the bike but I stayed in control.Another piece of luck cam when a bike in front moved over to the middle of the road and waited for a long time ata gutter.I passed a fraction to the right of them and whooshed off.The ride was exciting because of the speed.Again we stopped over for grub.Before long I was at my Blore house happy about a good weekend.

Posted by cinish narayanan on 04:43 AM