Bandipur part - II

Just outside Bangalore, the Tempo stopped for fuelling the tank. Just as that was happening, We noticed a two wheeler's tyre getting burst, while pumping air into the tyres. The boy who pumped the air went pale. But, to his shock and to a greater extent our's too, the owner of the vehicle spoke not a word to the boy and silently pushed off considering the incident as just another accident. I am not sure how many of us would have done that. Atleast, I would have unleashed my anger on that boy and torn him into pieces. But, the damage had been done. No use in cribbing about it. The repair had to be done. The Two wheeler rider's attitude surprised me. But, I thought he was only giving himself enuf time to get the tyre changed. An argument with the bunk guys would have only caused further delay !!!!!!!! Even a person passing by on the road can teach us a lesson or two :-)

More funny was the desription given by one of my team members when he went on to categorize the boy as an "Amateur air filler". Sounds really funny. aint it??:-)

The tempo Moved on. Swades movie songs were playing. Until then, We never realised that We had not consumed anything for Break fast. We slowly started to feel the pinch though. The only thing that we could feed on was the biscuit packet that was kept for the child. It would sound strange and clumsy. But, We knew we'll soon come across a gud restaurant and we can get as many biscuit packets from there. But, for the moment we had to satiate our Hunger with biscuits. We wanted to have food at a lovely restaurant on Blr-Mys highway called "Kamat Lokurchi". This place is just after the famous "Ramghad" village of sholay fame. That was the place were a major part of the film was shot.

Some 1 hour later, We reached the restaurant. It was a lovely place to be in. The costumes worn by the waiters, The ambience of the restaurant and the type of dishes served..... We could feel the nativity that is truly characteristic of this part of the country, in all of them.

2 hours later, We had just gone past Mysore. Mysore is a place that will remain very close to my heart, for, that was the place where I spent the first four months of my career as a software professional. I can't resist sayin "Those were days........." whenever I am reminded of this wonderful city. But thats not the topic here. So, am moving on.

Just as we came closer to Bandipur, We found a subtle change in the climate and it was getting cloudy and the threat of rain was looming large. That would be the worst thing to happen when one goes for a wildlife safari. But, the climate was as pleasant as it gets. The resort we had booked was another 3 kms from the entry point for the sanctuary. Lots and lots of deers on the way .....and the serene location was a photographer's delight. The restaurant in the resort was kept open just for us. So, soon after check in, We proceeded towards the Restaurant. The food was simple and delicious too ..Not surprising this, After all We were paying a huge sum for our stay :-)

The next thing that caught our attention was the Swimming pool. Due to time constraint, We decided to suspend our decision to swim for the time being. After a quick walk around the picturesque resort, We moved on for the Jungle Safari. The type of vehicle chosen was the kind of vehicle that would allow us to move around inside the vehicle and give enuf room for videos and photography.

Just as we entered the forest, I could smell the unique fragrance/smell of a variety of rare flora that could hardly be seen outside. Most often, the focus in any Jungle safari is so much biased towards fauna that We tend to overlook the rich flora that we come across. The climate was really pleasant and cold and that made me enjoy the flora all the more. I might not be the right guy to be commenting on the kind of flora that I came across, but I am quite sure that I did come across a rare breed of them, that I ve never seen before in my life. The safari had lasted for 2 hours. It was a bumpy ride throughout that took us quite deep inside the forest and back out of it. Wild buffaloes, Deers, sambars, Wild squirrels, Kingfishers, peacocks were all over the place.But, the worry that we could not meet an Elephant or a Tiger loomed large in our minds. Considering the fact that the sanctuary boasts of 8500 Elephants, We sure must have been the hapless ones to have not seen an Elephant during the safari. But, overall the safari was a thoroughly enjoyable one. It was all the more enjoyable as I was visiting a forest as dense as that for the very first time.

The moment we were back, We set out to swim. It did seem a li'll crazy to us to be swimmming at 6.30 pm in that cold weather. We kept swimming for close to an hour and Gawd !!!!! Wasn't it getting reallly cold as time passed. It got cold enuf for us to decide against swimming further at 7.30 Pm. We changed over and followed it up with a display of our TT skills. TT needs some special mention here. For a person who had hardly touched TT bats before, I had come a long way in playing tt after joining Infy.

I can't forget my first time experience with TT during my 10th std, when I claimed to be knowing to play TT to my house captain(despite the fact that I had never touched it before :-) ) . Wat followed was a disastrous loss in my first doubles match to an average team. Wat was more disastrous was that We failed to score a point. That my house captain, who partnered me was a champion player, made me the sole culprit for the loss (which I was). My house captain was my big bro's classmate and forgave me for his sake . It s always a nice thing to have a few of u'r folks among the seniors in any institution :-)

But, post Infosys, My TT has got really better. I see myself as an aka Sania Mirza with TT. My winners will be as gud as it gets , but my unforced errors are a disgrace to even a person who plays against :-)

Just as TT started to tire us out, We proceeded for the camp fire. can't ask for more in a cold climate like that. We had a variety of cameras ranging from the lower end ones to the most sophisticated ones. So, it was time for every1 to put their cameras to test, as they tried capturing photographs of the camp fire.

Next to us was another group of foreigners seated, enjoying their campfire. As if to disprove one of my team member's comment "Bandipur mein bandhi hee nahee hai", We did have a few lovely looking grls in that group :-)

The campfire proceeded with lots of jokes and pranks among ourselves. It was time for dinner. We had taken our food items outside and started to have food around the campfire itself. Just as that was happening, Myself and Akash(One other team member) put forth our intentions of waking up early in the morning at 4 o clock and travel down the ooty main road, in tempo, in search of the wild elephants. After all, wat s a wildlife experience without a wild risk :-). People were supportive of the idea, but at the same time were also circumspect about it.

We enquired the Resort Manager and he sounded quite comfortable with the idea and lastly added in a very casual way(as if it was no isssue) that "Please dont press horn and shout inside the tempo or ride past the elephants if u come across any on the highway". I asked him why???? His reply left us pale " Well it's just that the elephants dont like that and might chase u down" Gawd, I was shocked and so were the rest of the guys in the team. He has told such a big thing with absolutely no signs of warning at all. After all, He is no stranger to this part of the country and for him, it is nothing adventurous. But for us, It surely was an adventure that We had never tried before. The next question that popped out from us was what was the likelihood of coming across elephants. He replied in a typically Malyali accent "Elephants are happy now(HeHeHe, I suppose u got the underlying meaning of this very polished statement) . They sure will come down to the highway. "

I was prepared to bite the bullet and made sure that every1 else was ready too. I had put a word to our Tempo driver also about it. Just as decided to bid Gud night for each other, in came another suggestion from the Resort manager asking why were we planning for 4 o clock in the morning. Late night would also be just as much the right time as early morning. Suddenly, People started thinking of going for it that night itself, that would atleast give us a break from waking up early on the next day morning. We immediately fixed our plan and decided to go out that night. Before that, My Pm wanted me to be doubly sure about the Driver's confidence level. When I approached our Driver, he, with a cigar in his mouth, replied in a slightly offhand and superiorly confident manner "Haan haan patha hai, haathi aathi hai, tho kyaaaaaaa???" That was a confident enuf answer for us. So, thus we set out for our wildest experience on the trip yet......But, U guys keep waiting for more updates :-)