Apr 26 Kallar forest trip
– by Cris
Been wanting to write a report for long. But decided to make this a blab-entry.
April 26 2009. Morning came. Twelve TidyCity members woke up from their Sunday beds looking longingly at the cots they left behind. But what waited for them was a much bigger haven so with no qualms, our heroes and some gorgeous heroines (ahem) left their houses.
Sharp on time – there was noone but the bus. Late on time, there were a few latecomers waiting for the more late. ‘The late and the later’ joined together at last to start that wonderful trip. Bindu, WWF worker Mr Sivakumar and family joined us on the way.
Bus journey to the forest was not quite active. Unlike normal people, TidyCityers were most active at the end of the day – so our return trip was Lord-love-a-duck!
But the to-journey was limited to Anil’s Ray-Ban sunglasses, Sreenath’s KF jokes, Cris’s amazing camera skill exhibition and a 7-month old darling’s stunts J. This little bundle of joy continued to be the major highlight of our trip all the while.
We reached a small eat-out our guide and tutor Sivakumar Sir took us to. We all had coffee and tea – I think. I am confused – we ate too many times.
From there we packed off to reach our beloved most-awaited forest. Now as I see the photos taken, I am surprised that I took it in like just another place. What a wonderful place to be in… just walking there or sitting there doing nothing for hours is enough to fill a whole life of experiences. But then I cant tell it in words – how it felt – like I told in the end when giving feedback. You had to be there to know what it felt like – no one can tell it to you.
For me, I cant decide what I loved most – was it all that green that covered you from all sides – or the streams that kept flowing touching my legs on its way, – or all those bird chirps and leaf rustles you get accustomed to in a matter of minutes – just like you got used to living in the midst of car horns and bus brakes all day long in cities. Only difference is you get to come in touch with a 5-letter word all those car horns and brakes deprive you of: p-e-a-c-e.
Walking is something I am acknowledged to be an expert of. And natural settings have always been an area of comfort. But I ended up the slowest to move across all those wet rocks and slippery stones. That was lame. I grudgingly admit at this point that I wish I had legs like Aneesh or Anil, both of whom seemed to fly as they took each big rock one step at a time. One day, I am telling you, one day I am going to beat them at a rock climbing expedition. Without bribing.
But I am someone who gets fascinated by anything that remotely brings an aura of forest or any natural setup for that matter. So a whole jungle full of green leaves, pebbles, streams over rocks is more than what I could ask for in 10 lives! The best part in such trips is sitting there doing nothing. We got to do that too with Mr Sivakumar’s help. We meditated! Yes believe it or not – we the bunch of hooligans that we looked like – sat in the midst of that heaven, listening to the birds, the breeze, the waters and our breathing – thoughts of what-nots crossing our mind – “a connection” in Jay’s words forming within us. This is where we came from. This was us. The real us.
I will not try to explain how it all went. But I am sure none of us are going to forget the time we spent head to toe dipped in pure water – the purest we could get according to Mr Sivakumar- that flowed across the rocks. We splashed water at each other, we sang songs together, played water games and went as low as possible in terms of age, and all that was considered “dignified”.
The ‘An’ brothers (that’s what I am calling Aneesh and Anil from now – An bro 1 and 2) seemed the most active of all. They had rocked on a swinging twig on the way – which I secretly plan to pursue on a future secret trip. They kept leading the way and Anil specialized in making the loudest noises. I am sure he has a name for it. He later produced it when we played Anthakshari though he claims it was singing.
Anil’s Ray-Ban in the meanwhile became a hero as every member of the team took turns wearing it, and getting every small fragment wet. But the hero managed to live till eod.
Lunch came. It was great but some of us had the misfortune of confusing a mulaku (chilly) for a bigger grain of rice and having our eyes filled and throats burned. Sniff. Post-lunch, we sat around and talked about TidyCity future plans and discussed bringing a song in.
Next venue after a lot of confusion was decided to be the golden valley. Nothing much about it but then again it was another piece of heaven that fell on earth, when you compare it with the rush-n-hush cities we come from. We sat on some steps in front of “the valley” and talked about TidyCity. Mr Sivakumar told us about other trips he has had and about how our group could do more.
Final stop after having coffee and settling bills was a ‘Thooku Palam’ (Hanging Bridge) which should be named Thoongiya paalam – because it was in no condition to be used. Or so someone said. It still looked lovely in that setting – stretching lazily over a stream that flowed in no haste or hurry. We took our places in rocks and talked about our experience in forest. I couldn’t express it since like I still feel, words are simply not enough to tell your thoughts all the time. This was one such time, at least for me it was.
This was when we had our second leech attack. An brother 1 killed a leach. The first attack was when Jay brother killed a leech.
Feedback done, we were on our way back. The trip was entirely loud and cheerful! Enthusiast-award of the day undoubtedly went to Anil. I had no idea he was so talented in the art of creative-noise-making. But really, its when we have people like that, that such trips become more alive. Singing and brawling filled the bus.
Mr Sivakumar told us that we were a good group – we didn’t buy extra plastic bottles for one! And he said he went on a semi-educational line since we were bound to see things for ourselves and learn ‘em. And then about the total absence of animals, he said thats what happened when bigger troops turned up. Visibility problem, I think its called?
Take-back-home from the trip is a Kings’s wand that An brother 1 found somewhere. Seeing that Mr Sivakumar told us “When you leave forests, you should leave nothing but footprints behind you and take nothing but memories”.
Well said.
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feel like visiting the forest once again after reading this. well written cris
Wow…now i really really miss the trip. Put my name first for the next trip…
grt report….
to be technically correct ,’AN brother1′ didnt kill the leech. That ‘pathukam’ was done by sivakumar sir…:D
“The late and the later”??? Grrrr!!! I reached home only that morning
btw.. There was another leech killer? I didn’t know!!
And great report, Crissie! Wish we all could go there again