One Night @ Chorla Ghat

Komal: A CA student, wildlife enthusiast, my classmate since 8th std, we've been together for many treks- in Goa and in the Himalayas. Quiet, generally non fussy, average in stamina, a team player! 

Sharvani: My best friend, non fussy, high stamina, high enthusiasm, when excited- talks a bit too much! a Bored CA final student  .

Janaki: Low stamina, high enthusiasm, when excited talks non stop whether anybody understands or not, suddenly turns extremely fussy when tired, a confused law graduate.

Sangam: Our wildlife expert that night. Supposedly knows the ghats inside out. A fellow Geminian, calm and composed, the only guy amongst us with a SLR that me and Sharvani eye all the time, I call him "Pappa."

 From Left: Sharvani, Komal, Gauri, Janaki and Sangam.

19th June: We spent the saturday night at Khokral, Maharashtra at Manerikar's Residence.

20th June: On sunday morning we visited a waterfall that was close by. We weren't tired since we hadn't walked too much and as I was to leave for Bangalore in 2 days, I wanted to do more than just 1 trek. So I , coaxed Sangam ( pappa) to coax the other 2- Komal and sharvani to come to Chorla Ghaat.

And so the adventure began....

Pappa had told all of us that it would be only a drive on the ghats since we reached late at around 6.15 pm when the sun was almost about to set in a few minutes time. The ghats in monsoons are foggy, wet, green and dark.

We crossed the Swapnagandha Resorts and the Wildernest Resorts in the Goan side of the ghat and crossed over to Karnatak side. The roads were bad, full of pot holes and at around 6.40pm, one of Estillo's tires gave up!

Apart from trucks and state transport buses, there were very few private vehicles passing by, mostly on their way back home on sunday night after a well spent day in the Chorla Ghats.

As the other 3 got down to changing the punctured tire, I spotted a beautiful and cute waterfall some distance away. It looked close enough to reach in around 15-20 minutes by foot. Pappa, knowing the area very well opposed the idea since the area is infested with leeches and other big and small known and unknown creatures, but poor thing couldn't do much  in front of the excitement of 3 girls who wanted to "Complete" their experience of a weekend with a bath in the spotted natural Jacuzzi!

And so we left the car near the main road, and trekked down to the waterfall. All we had were 4 mobiles which were all out of range, 1 umbrella with torch and a  jacket.

In the forests, as opposed to a rear view mirror of a car, images that appear close by are actually further away.

It took us 40 minutes to reach the base of the fall, the sunlight was almost fading, the fog was rising and Pappa was tensed about the safety of 3 girls.

When we finally reached the Jacuzzi, we couldn't dare to enter the water which in the dark looked scary, dark, mysterious and so was the rest of the forest....suddenly the horror of the situation seeped our brains about what Pappa had been telling all along.

"Pappa, we'll reach up to the road in time no?" I asked cautiously.
Pappa exploded!
"Don't you dare ask me this question now...you girls have no idea how dangerous this area is at night.....!"
Janaki: "It's not night yet...we still have plenty of time to get back!"
Pappa: In the forest, when the sun sets, it is night! Understood?

We quickly took a U-Turn and decided to head back to the car. By now, there was no sunlight, thankfully it wasn't raining though it was foggy and there was sufficient moonlight that at least let us spot each other.

It had been almost an hour we were walking back and we hadn't reached the road. We could hear the vehicles pass by on the main road but could not find our way up. It was around 8.15pm when Pappa hopelessly declared: We are lost! 

This was followed by a long tense silence. Such statements have different effects on different people- Komal went into a shock, Sharvani started the blame game and I was over excited about the prospects of getting a new adventure experience.

Sim: Sangam you said you know this area well!
Sangam: Yes! That's why I begged you all not to get down the main road, but you wouldn't listen.
Janaki: Wow! We are actually lost! I remember that song , Is kaal kaal main hum kare dhamaal!
All: SHUT the F*** UP!

Another half an hour and we still couldn't track back our way up. And then it started raining heavily. We took some shelter under a huge tree. We were by then completely wet, my cell battery as always was out, I always forget to charge it. And it's my Sony Erickson that has the most powerful light facility, others all had their fading screen lights now to guide us.

While we waited for the rains to slow down, I thought it would be a good idea to entertain the others to distract them a bit. So I chose some special stories my grandma told us which I always found creepy.

Janaki: You know my Grandma once told me a story about this one girl who went out into the forest at night and the leeches sort of all attacked her and got on to her , you know in all creepy places in her body!

Komal suddenly started scratching her body all over...
" I don't think it's a good idea to stand in one spot for such a long time. We are inviting trouble with those leeches!"

Sangam: And while walking if you step on to a snake , then? At least the leeches are not poisonous!

Janaki: And do you know, how those leeches finally had to be removed?

Sim: Shut up...you just shut up! Is this a kind of thing to tell at this time? You are scarring the hell out of us Janaki.

Janaki: Bravery lies in one's heart Sim, you either have it or you don't!
Sim: Yes I can see that! You are the one most protected with a full pant and a jacket. We are in 3/4th's here!

The fog was making it increasingly difficult to step anywhere and so we decided to spend the night under the  tree till favorable circumstances allow us to find our way. We all wouldn't dare sit down after the leeches story, so we stood in silence, watching the night eat up the forest , and the rain drops shunning all other sounds around us.


Suddenly in the dark, we could hear some sounds, the breaking of some branches, soft rustling of leaves.....My imagination started running wild, the party and the adventure excitement was now over....my heart was beating so fast, I could hardly breathe. Sangam stood in front of us shielding us,  I was really scared so I chose to stay right besides Pappa, Komal followed me  , Sharvani remained at the back. While Sangam was trying to see into the dark with the little light that he had, Sharvani was subconsciously stepping behind in fear of what lay ahead!

Suddenly Sharvani screamed so loudly, we felt our ears go numb for a while. She ran in the opposite direction, Komal followed her saying "avois , avois" and other exclamations in konkani . There were sounds from all directions, and I did not know where to run but I knew I had to make a move, so I ran.

The figure that Sharvani  had spotted was a herd of Bisons and they were 10 times more scared than her with her screaming, they ran into the forest.

I kept running. Behind me, I could hear Sangam asking me to stop ,saying that it was just a herd of Bisons.  In a few tense moments I'd actually climbed a difficult terrain leading to the road.

I brushed through some bushes and branches and could see a house-like with lights in front of me. Others followed behind me.

Later we found out that it was some Gopi's Dhaba.

The dhaba was closed. We walked to our car, finished the job of changing the tire and the 4 of us cramped up inside the car to take a nap till dawn.

We woke up to the sweet whistling of the Malabar Whistling Thrush at around 5am, and started our journey back home.

I've been lost in jungles before, but there were more people and we were well equipped so the situation wasn't as bad as this one. Now that I am back on safe ground, I can look back at this experience and add it in my "Most exciting days of my life" List!

Some more clicks of our trekking days:

Ooty In Pictures!

Am not much of a photographer, I wonder what pictures one could click in a location like Ooty if he has the right skill and the right camera, because the possibilities are many!

I had visited Ooty as a child, and this was my 2nd visit after more than a decade, and what I saw of it completely broke my heart!

Ooty or Udagamandalam, has beautiful weather and is rich in natural beauty! It is one of those places God makes with great care........unfortunately, our Indian brethren has not respected this god's creation!






I saw these boards at every place I visited! Does our Government think that putting up such warning Boards excuse them of their responsibility to clean up the area in a country like India, where more than half of its population cannot read and write in their own native language and especially in a state like Tamil Nadu where people don't understand English??














This is supposed to be a pine forest! Look at the plastic thrown around. Those Boards were put up in the left side of the road, you turn right and you see this!
























This is the same Pine Forest! And people sell all sort of things wrapped in plastic!

















Dustbins of International Standards ! It's open from underneath! No wonder nobody threw any waste inside. Why bother when the strong winds will blow out everything within seconds??















Tibetan Market packed with people!

Summer being a season, Ooty is packed with Indian tourists! If you are amongst those who hate crowds and pollution- do not visit Ooty during summers, I don't know what it's status is during other seasons!

The main town is filthy with gutter water flowing everywhere! We Indians just don't deserve anything beautiful!! We have absolutely no civic sense, we care about nothing other than our great Traditions, that teach us to do Honour Killings!!


I wonder, are we Humans or Vultures killing and destroying our own species??

Anyway, on a lighter note, Udagamandalam is still a very beautiful place. Just stay away from the crowds and the main city, and go trekking in the woods- you'll find peace immediately! The local people are very friendly and accommodating!



These young fellas helped me find my trail while trekking in the woods!














Lovely location for a dream house!












A formation at a lake in summers when the water level drops!













A View from my Hotel Window!























It is frustrating to see a place as beautiful as Ooty dying a slow death just like many other places in India. How come we Indians act so carelessly in our motherland and the same "us" when we go abroad, are at the best of our civility?


How many more decades till we see a change in this careless Indian attitude?

Creative Ganesha

This Ganesha Idol is made out of bottle caps (metal) that are used on glass soft drink bottles! Its a big idol and sits right in front of my house ( Sarvajanik ) . Every year, our local boys succeed in coming up with a new idea to make the Ganesha idol. Last year they made an idol out of coconuts, year before that out of cloth and so on.

People come here from all the corners of Goa to see this creative Ganesha Idol!

Photography Blog

Well! Let me step into a new category , a new creative zone called photography! I havent been much of a photographer ever, I always thought it was too technical, and I still feel so! But I agree that you need an eye to capture great photos.... you need to observe what others ignore! So , even though a camera is a machine, there's always an eye behind the camera which decides what should be clicked, and what is better ignored!

So, hope you'll enjoy what I click!


To start off, I chose this picture, its a caterpillar....... Actually its the one which will soon become a butterfly! I found it on our lemon tree, this little fella has eaten all of the leaves, no lemons grow on it now...... its a breeding ground for butterflies, and once in a few months I always come across this caterpillar before it flies off as a beautiful butterfly!