so there we were…. exiting out of Nisargadhama towards the base camp (read Mutha’s place)…. we were cruising along on the Kodagu highway when a block in the traffic…. cars lined up for quite a distance….. a traffic jam in Coorg?!? that too on the highway!??!
in any case, we got down and went to check what happened and there it was… a bus on the side of the road…. with both its wheels stuck in the slush… worst part (for the traffic) and the best part (for the bus)… a tree had fallen right across the width of the road and the top of the tree had just missed the bus (apparently the driver ended up getting into the mud trying to avoid the falling tree)…. so that was that…. vehicles lined up on either side of the tree…. not an inch of space for any vehicle to pass through…. only solution was to somehow get the tree off the road…. mind you… it wasnt a small tree by any standards…. and it didnt look like any rescue would come anytime soon…. so there we were… all the stranded travellers trying to bail ourselves out of this predicament…. a few of the locals and of course the 7 boys from MyDC…. tried breaking a few branches and realised that it was not happening…. so got down to the next best thing…. try n push the entire tree towards the kerb… and so about 10-12 people pushing hard at the tree… heave ho… about 30-60 seconds of major pushing and the tree finally gave way… the tree pushed enough to the side of the road to make it motorable, all travellers rushed back to their respective vehicles lest they should be left behind or be overtaken…. so there we were all back into the van and heading back to base camp….
Madikeri : a brief stop in Madikeri again to pick up booze and some other side munchies as well… quite uneventful actually… a few snacks and this and that later and of course another look at Muthappa’s school we left Madikeri towards Bethri…..
what a contrast it was in the van to the drive in the morning (in the oppo direction)…. most of them tired and asleep…. except the host ofcourse (thank god!!)…. and so we finally reached base camp…. rushed into the room for a clean up and then head for the Dinner… ahhh….. foooooood!!!! another surprise in store…. Mutha’s display of the guns owned by his family… man… amazing stuff… Coorg never ceases to amaze me…. anyways…. time for some grub… all trooped to the dining table for some delicious food prepared by Muthu’s mom and sis… really amazing stuff i must say…. though i didnt have the pandi curry (coorg speciality) from the way the others were gorging themselves it must have been really good…. and finally, the desert…. carrot halwa…. just brilliant….. slurrrrrrp!!!
off for a nighttime walk now… towards the bethri river just about 200 m away from Muthu’s house… man…. its scary out there in the night…. cars, buses and trucks just belting it out on those roads… mind you, the roads are not exactly straightlines…. bigtime curved roads…. so we all walked close to the banks of the road (which was also scary thinking of all the creepy crawlies that could be there more so because u couldnt see a thing)…. anyways… managed to get to the bridge unscathed…. i must tell you…. that was one of the best place to sit and puff away….. a cold night… sitting on a bridge atop a river…. lovely surroundings….. just after a brilliant meal…. couldnt think of a better setting for a sutta… so about half an hour there just chatting away we were back home to hit the sack for the night…. Nishu, Dicky, George and Me headed to the room upstairs (remember the room which had the cozy beds and the windows opening to some breathtaking view)…. so i rushed to this bed to book it for the night… poof!! lights went out…. and suddenly i realised that George had tried to jump upon the bed to book it for himself… but what he didnt realise it was that he’d jumped upon the edge of the bed and promptly crashed back to the floor on his backside!!! Hillarious!!! just couldnt stop ourselves from laughing….
Anyways…. Dicky and george took their matresses and were fast asleep… i was hardly sleepy… so Muthu, Papu and I decided to sit in the balcony for a while…. breathtaking view…. i really felt like i was in a forest resort or something like that…. man…. what i’d give to watch that view again…… idle chat followed and another couple of puffs later… we were off to bed, had to wake up early the next morning to go watch the highlight of the trip that weekend…… well that story remains to be told another day……
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