Let me continue Day 3 (3rd Nov): We decided to get up at 5.30 am, as we expected the guide to come by 6 am, and everyone was ready to enjoy the final day in the forest, especially the most expected Varagiriyaru forest, with lots of hype created by people in and around the forest dept. and especially by our Cheenu. But till 6.30am, the guide didn’t reach our place, everybody was ready, our great friend Cheenu went to the bathroom, as he found out the hot water coming from the tap, he decided to have a quick bath. By the time the guide reached our place, and he asked us to immediately start as it was already late and it’s difficult to spot the animals. Everybody was there except for Cheenu, as we searched for him, finally we came to know from Lux, that he was taking bath. We were all pissed off, especially Parthy shouted Lux for telling Cheenu about the hot water. Poor Lux patiently listened for none of his faults. Finally everybody was ready to start. Cheenu and the guide sat at the front. Cheenu put his arm around the guide’s shoulder, he thought being so friendly with him, he can take us to the place where you can spot wild animals, also we started asking about the forest and the forest life. The guide once he opened his mouth later he never closed it….. Parthy got irritated, later he told us that if this guy sits next to him then he can’t drive the Sumo. Believe me, the forest was so beautiful and serene, also the route, as morning sun rays peeped through the trees, we drove our vehicle through it, the weather was chill outside, but the road was bumpy and not good. Parthy did a wonderful job in driving. Finally we reached the destination after a long ride of more than 25 kms inside the thick forest, it took around one and half hours. We saw a guest house there, where you can stay only with “Special permission” as I said earlier. We brought the ingredients for our brunch, the localities were asked to prepare Chapathis and Potato Sabji. We were all ready for the trekking to a water falls which is around 5 kms away from there. Before we started for the trekking, we relaxed and enjoyed the beauty of nature for sometime; we also witnessed a massive wooden cage to tame wild elephants. (Me and Parthy were playing with a bamboo stem) Then we all started our most memorable trekking of the trip, the forest was really very dense, as we need to cross river streams, walked on the rocks, went through difficult paths, expecting from any corner animals to appear. Cheenu recorded the trekking in his mobile. It was around 10 am, we finally reached a lovely water falls, though it was not huge like Kutralam, but still the place was extraordinary. Everybody was ready to plunge in, except for me and Cheenu. I was not keeping well so I decided to skip this enjoyment to avoid further complication. Soon I started taking photographs of others, they started enjoying, that really tempted me, soon I gave the camera to Cheenu and I decided to get into the act. We had lots of fun in the falls, especially the rocks were slippery. I fell down more than 10 times when I tried to accept Parthy’s challenge to reach the other side of the falls, which was extremely slippery, but Parthy could do the same twice because of his massive (Godzilla like) feet. Initially Lux fell down many times followed by Cellman and then it was me who fell down the maximum. (Parthy giving a sexy pose, Silk Smitha thotha) (On top, you can see Arnold and his pregnant wife) We even noticed lots of big fishes near to the falls, Parthy and Cellman tried to catch them using their towel but returned back in vain. We started again from the falls and walked back to our place, (me and Parthy set a challenge by ourself to cross a river stream by walking on top of a log) as we walked further, everybody felt hungry and tired. When we were almost half way through by walk, that was the moment, we all heard the roaring sound from a near by bushes, then we saw lot of pigs were running for life, and the guide said that the roaring sound was of a panther. We were all started starring at the bushes and we were all thrilled, but we couldn’t find anything as the bushes were thick. Soon, we reached the place from where we started; we were all damm tired and hungry, as you can see from the photograph itself (see the face of Lux). We had a good lunch and left from this wonderful place, while coming back we asked our guide to sit at the back side of our Sumo, near to the luggage. This time he stopped talking and was silently sitting behind. As usual we were all chatting, that was the moment he suddenly asked us to stop the vehicle, and told us to get down from the Sumo. We walked back few yards, not knowing exactly what he was trying to show and then he whispered that he had seen the movement of wild elephants in distant, but no one could see anything. So, we started again with much of frustration and disappointment. Just after a km, he again told us to stop the vehicle, this time again we walked back, that was the stunning moment, we saw a herd of wild elephants along with calf, I utilized my high zoom camera to click more photographs. Soon, elephants moved out of the sight. We were all satisfied with our Varagiriyaru trip, it was fun and excitement. We finally reached Top Slip area, before settling the amount for the guard and the guide; we experienced the final excitement of the forest, ‘The Elephant Ride’. Cheenu didn’t come as only four were allowed to sit on top of the elephant, his name was Tusker. We went for that memorable ride; believe me, the elephant really found very difficult to walk, (aparam eppadi da nagarum, yaana maela oru yaanaya ukkara vecha, andha yaana ennathuku aavaradhu) as there was a mahout sitting on the top and a mahout behind the elephant. We were taken inside a very narrow path, dense forest; we noticed a wild black squirrel. Also we witnessed a huge honey comb. When the elephant was asked to climb up on a steep, the Tusker released flatulence, and we all closed our nose, including the poor mahout who came behind the elephant, covered his entire face, hahaha, it was real fun. We also witnessed an elephant taking bath, with the help of her trunk. Then we settled the money to the officer and the guide, from there we started, it was really difficult for Parthy and Cellman, as they have to ride the Sumo for the whole night, after our tiresome trekking. Initially Parthy started later on continued by Cellman and vice versa. When Cellman drove the Sumo, all of a sudden, an old lady (aachi) swift across the road in a village, we just missed her by a whisker. We scolded the oldie using all good words in the world. Great work done by Karthik, his presence of mind is appreciable; he made it only because of his experience in driving. (Idhae vaera yaaraavadhu oatirundha, andha kezhaviku sangu dan) Also, we rectified the bumper problem of our Sumo, which was there even before we started our trip. We dropped Lux from where we picked up (Krishnagiri). Later we had our dinner on the way in a small road side shop, myself, Lux and Parthy ordered for the dinner, Cheenu didn’t get down from the Sumo as he slept inside, whereas Cellman tasted only biscuits, After our dinner, they claimed around 240 for that useless mutta dosas and 2 pepper chicken (kaevalama irundhudhu), avana asinga asingama thititu angirundhu kelambinom. We again started our Sumo with full of energy, Parthy initially started and later on he asked Karthik to drive. It was around 4 am, as everybody were fast asleep, Karthik suddenly stopped the vehicle; he got down from it, walked here and there, drank water, I asked him what has happened, he said that he almost slept while driving, you know its very difficult to drive during that time, moreover he is not a pro in driving. We all should appreciate both Karthik and Parthy, for bringing us safe to the place where we started. The memories are colourful like this photo, and it will never fade away from our hearts. The following statement has become a myth now, “It’s impossible to plan a trip for more than a day in our IC group” –we proved it wrong, that we are all capable of planning for more than a day trip. We are all successful in terms of planning and execution, thanks to Cheenu, who did a good job in calculating the expenses, which is very important in any trip. Hope, our next trip should be along with the rest of the guys, and its exhilarating even while I think. Am sure everyone enjoyed my narration as the way I did, again am reminding you that please mark your comments and your feeling about this trip, if you are a part of this trip, then you please add some more moments, which I would have forgot to mention. Share your feelings. Love You Guys!!! Joy