In God's Own Country

Indeed, that phrase befits the description of the beautiful state of Kerala to which I had a lucky chance to ‘escape’ to during this last weekend.
Kerala being only 1 of the 2 states (other being Gujarat) that I’d never traveled to, this 3 day weekend was a good time to satiate the traveler bug in me, as well as get away from the stress of city life.
So on Thursday night, I along with 2 of my friends, Prabudh and Jeetu, took a Volvo to Kochi. We reached there next morning and had a few hours before we could catch the next bus to Munnar, so we thought of checking out some local landmarks like Fort Kochi and the old Santa Cruz Basilica built in 1505.
We reached the beautiful hill station of Munnar late in the evening and checked in to a room in the “Kanan Devan Hills Club”.

‘Kannan Devan’ is the name of Munnar special brand of tea. There are tea estates spread around all hills in this region, and we were told Tata’s have tea estates in an estimated 37,000 hectares of land here.


We had a nice dining n chat session in the open lawns of the club late into the misty night where we discussed almost everything from Indian economics to Global politics to the entertainment industry!
The next morning we checked out and left for a place called Top Station which was supposedly the highest point in the region and where we intended to camp for the night. The drive to this place was absolutely stunning, and I would not be exaggerating if I said it was better than any other hill stations I’ve seen in South India(Ooty, Kodaikanal, Coorg).

On the way there was a dam with a huge lake on the other side almost 10 kilometers long, and it offered a stellar view, arguably even better than a similar lake in Nainitaal.
Though the destination “Top Station” in itself was a kind of disappointment since we couldn’t find an open grassland where we could pitch our tents. Since this was a dense forest area with no other hotels to stay, we decided to move back to Munnar.

I think there’s something about places near coastal areas; probably the moisture and humidity in the air, that gives brilliant shades of orange, red and purple during sunrise and sunsets here, and which I somehow managed to capture even though a little blurred due to the moving jeep. (These pics have all natural colours....no modifications!)

Back in Munnar we were faced with another problem, since we arrived late and it was a festival holiday season, all hotels were fully booked. By sheer luck we found a guide who told us he could take us to an isolated cabin in the forest just outside the town. We were told that this place was normally preferred by foreigners who’re never scared of trying a (mis)adventure of this sort, and since we were anyways out for some thrill, we decided to give it a shot.
When we reached the place, it actually did look like a haunted house in the middle of nowhere. 1 of my friends immediately backed out saying he would rather return to the town with the guide and look for a place there, moreover he had to leave back early next morning due to some urgent work.

Anyways we 2 stuck to our guns and decided to spend the night here itself. The guide arranged for a bonfire just outside the house and then they left for the town.
We even found a pickaxe in the house which we kept with us and somehow at this moment, all those long forgotten horror movies of a group of friends dying in old jungle rest houses came alive in our minds.(Friday the 13th, Evil Dead, Blair Witch, House on Haunted Hill etc. etc.) And we were not even a group… just 2… easy job for any killer. Lol.
Thankfully we were carrying some “Somras” (divine nectar :p ) with us and loads of snacks, which helped soothen our frayed nerves. Pretty soon we got engrossed in another discussion on life, the past and the future, and this kept us occupied till late into midnight.
When we finally decided to have lights out I saw an ancient looking b/w picture of an old man in the back room who must’ve lived here some looong time ago, and it did unnerve us a bit, but thankfully the room we slept in had a poster of Goddess Durga on the wall, which was reassuring indeed. So cracking jokes and laughing at ghost stories, we ultimately fell asleep.
Next morning we trekked back to Munnar across 4 hills, and were captivated by the stunning views all across the way.
Post lunch it was time to bid farewell to this beautiful place and back to the artificial city life…..though rejuvenated with a thrilling trip!