A rendezvous with wild(life)

After almost waiting for over an year, our team outing materialized. Most of us did not want a resort type of thing, we wanted to get out of our normal life of deadlines, debugging, fixing bugs. The place chosen was Jungle Lodges and Resorts(JLR, www.junglelodges.com) at K Gudi(Kyathadeva rayana guDi), near BR Hills. JLR @ K Gudi has 8 tent type cottages with twin beds and 3 log huts with 3 beds each. Our team size was 24(only 22 turned up), so all available accomodation was booked by my company.

Log hut

We left Bangalore on Sunday morning(6th Jan, 2008) at 7 AM(We planned to leave at 6, but we are used to missing deadlines, anyway!!). Packed breakfast at SLV and headed towards Mysore, as the roads are supposed to be good via Mysore. But it turned out that road was good only till Mysore.
As usual we played Dumb Charades of movie names. After breakfast Vamsi suggested an excellent memory game. First person tells a word, next person repeats the word and adds another and so on it goes. I was 13th in the order. I thought I would never be able to repeat previous 12 words as the words were very random. Amazingly the game went for successful 3 rounds, with last round coming in the reverse order. All of us(about 17) could remember and recite all 51 words in the proper order!!!
Here is the list of words(re-published): Bangalore, Awesome, Angel, Looks, Man, Great, And, the, Alok, Honeywell, Bus, BR Hills, Camera, Photo, Sleeping, Jaipur, ThagaDadum ThagaDadum ThagaDadum, Leopard, Mysore, Rajastan, Delicious, Tree, Jing Chak, Forest, Rohit, Pappu, Bablu, 661, Idea, Mosaranna, Disco, Banana, Caribbean Islands, Washout, Ganguly, Blank, Five Minutes, Horse, Dog, Safari, Jackpot, Yahoo, Old McDonald, Wov, Bye bye, Bingo, Stop this, Holiday, Khulja sim sim, XYZ, Enough

Dumb Charades!!!

We reached K Gudi by 1:45PM. Checked into rooms(Vamsi and I stayed in the last log hut, beyond which there was only forest!!), freshened up and were as ravenous as leeches(weren't we?). Food was above average. We had about 1.5 hours before safari, which starts at 4:30PM.

Few went to the nearby lake and we thought of having some serious fun. We climbed a nearby treehouse which was about 20 feet high. The tree house was cozy, I could spend my whole life in it, but for call of duty :(. Then we flocked on the Hammock. We were making so much of shouting and noise, all real monkeys were scared away!!!

Nervous and scared Dr. Satya!!

Inside Treehouse.. I could spend my whole life in it, but for "call of duty" :(

Hakuna Matata!!!

After a cup of strong coffee, we headed for the safari. Drive through the uneven terrain of the jungle tracks on Mahindra 4WdD was awesome. I was thinking, if at all I plan to change my career, I would become a safari driver @ JLR. I would give up all the comforts, broadband, my PS2, everything!!!

We did find some animals, spotted deer, sambar, barking deer, bisons and few elephants. Few elephants actually blocked our way for about 20 mins. It is their territory, we couldn't help, we had to just turn off the engines and wait for them to change their mind. Weeds in the jungle was so thick that, any animal, unless it wishes to reveal itself, we can't spot them. Spotting a leopard or a tiger in this jungle, with jeep's engine roaring and people chit-chatting(ignoring numerous protest from the driver!) is once in a life time feat.

All set for the encouter!!

Wondering about curious eyes of visitors!!

Whats wrong with you people?!?
Pachyderms, of course they have right of the way...

We reached JLR by 6:30 evening. I tried my hands at TT using broken rackets, few games of carrom before bonfire. Dinner too was above average. After dinner we gathered around the campfire and started our singing prowesses. It was a wonderful, starry night, I wished this night to go on forever. But almighty always has different plans, firewood was getting over and people started feeling sleepy.

After a bit of stargazing, I too kipped down into my cozy, cushioned bed. Through the window, next to my bed, I could see the dark sky above and thousands of stars. Wov, it was amazing. Lot of noise coming from the forest(ours was the last log hut!!), crackling of wood, insects making all types of sounds and sometypes crunching of dry leaves, as though somebody was walking. I quitely slumbered into my dreams.

I was brought back to reality by my mobile alarm at 5:30 in the morning. It was testing time for me. Can I take cold water wash in real cold(I take cold water bath everyday). It was good, my body didn't shudder at all. I was ready by 6AM for the so called trekking(It was indeed a walk through jungle). We should have chosen another safari instead. It was awesome feeling to breathe the cold air, alone in this serene forest with the comforts of cushioned chair!! I never realized I had spent half an hour savouring this treat by nature.

Our trek started at around 6:45AM. Few photo sessions on the way at various pit stops, we were back to lodges by 9:00AM. After breakfast, which was average, bath, we packed our stuff and were ready to say good bye to JLR which bewitched me to forget all my daily worries and enjoy the nature. One last time, Vamsi and I climbed on to the Hammock to feel the joy for the last time. Well, one never know when one gets a chance to be like our ancestors!!
We departed from JLR at around 10AM.

Serenity!! Art of almighty.

We, the Lesser mortals!!!, yet again art of almighty

Enroute trekking

On the way we visited BR Hills(BiLigiri Ranganatha) Temple. The road from K Gudi to BR Hills was wonderful. Thick vegetation of bushes on either side of the neatly paved road was like a perfect rectangular tunnel with only top open to the sky. The width of the tunnel was just enough for the bus to slip through. Bus was cruising effortlessly through the tunnel easing through the curves, thanks to the skills of the driver and power steering. Before I could capture this wonder in my camera I was once again failed by almighty. We were into civilization. How I always wish I had Dumbledore's pensive to preserve my memories.

On the way, we also visited Shivana Samudra(Gagana chukki falls only) and there was hardly any water. On the way had sumptuous lunch at Hotel Shivalli, just after Maddur. It appeared like nobody else had energy for any activity and many people were already catching Z's and some were watching Gangajal. I didn't want to watch a serious movie and spoil my mood after such heavenly trip. I switched on my mp3 player and don't know how many times Mungaru Male showered through my ears in loop...

We were at office by 7:00PM... Thats the end of our AFS(Architecture, Framework and Simulation) team outing. Oh man, I am feeling depressed as I am writing these lines. I was so energetic at the beginning. OK, let me face it straight, looks like somebody has got a case of mondays!!!

Have a good day.