A beautiful place I had been to ………

My travel to Chikkmangalore was very hurriedly planned. We left from Bangalore at 9.30am on a Saturday morning. My biggest concern and disappointment was wasting the entire day traveling to the place which I long awaited to see. Had it been a night travel, I would sleep and wake up to find myself at Chikkmangalore. The night before we left, Kavya and I had visited almost all the travel booking offices in and around Koramangala. It was in such a hurry that we decided to leave to this place. I was so excited that I could not sleep the entire night.
Finally the time had come to travel at least 6 precious hours on a Saturday morning. I was so unhappy that I would sit in the bus and waste time till almost mid-afternoon. However, we got on to the bus and started. I did not realize that the journey was so joyous and so much fun. We spent most of the time with some gossip and played with Aanya (Kavya’s daughter). She is so sweet. 2½ year old little kid. She talks a lot which most of the time we don’t understand. However, children are so adorable anyhow they are and can get away with anything they do, so carefree and fine with everything around them. It’s a known fact that as they grow, they become like all of us….just a while ago her mother and I were into big time gossiping. Aanya will do it too when she gets older like us. Coming back to the travel, we enjoyed it. I would have fallen asleep for a maximum of 30 minutes and there I was awake the entire 5 hours otherwise. Someone who hates to travel during the day had just enjoyed every bit of the travel this time. I am glad the start of the journey was great.
Sampath had come to pick us up from the station. Sampath and Kavya are married for 3½ years now. Sampath takes care of the entire coffee estate and Kavya runs a business in Bangalore. They plan each and everything so well. I really appreciate the way they take on with anything in their life. Finally there we were driving down to see the town called Mudigere where the bus left us. Small town just like one of the towns in my hometown. Small roads, small shops, one round and there we are where we started. We picked up some stuff and drove back to the estate. I had enjoyed every bit of it till then and I was too sure that I will enjoy it further after I saw the weather. About 12 kilometers and we would reach the estate- “Koffee Woods”. Misty, cool breeze and drizzling, we stopped at the bridge of River Hemavathi to satisfy my urge to take the first picture in that town. Then we moved on. The roads almost made us sing the Humpty, Dumpty sat on a Camel. It took us up and then a steep and then a big curve and so on. So much of fun and so little time. My worry was that I had to leave the next day evening back to Bangalore. We reached the estate and I walked it up from the main gate. I was lost with such a beautiful world away from traffic and my camera. I went clicking every bit that I felt was special to be captured. I loved every bit of it. Though we traveled the entire day, my energies were high and I felt I was just like Aanya. We relaxed for a while and started with making plans for the rest of the day. It was already 4pm. I made friends with Seethamma. Seethamma has been with Sampath and his family probably from the time he was a small boy. She is almost like his mother. Sampath and Kavya take good care of her and she too in return. We got fresh and started to the River Hemvathi. I enjoyed the walk. It was about a kilometer and a half from her house. I was lost with that rich natural beauty and my camera again. I wanted to capture every bit of the beauty in my Camera. I was so kicked about the fact that I was there. We went posing up for the camera all through our walk till the River. Seethamma also joined us. It was a pleasure for the eyes to look at that beauty all around. We hardly found a house. It is a pleasure to see the traffic free environment. When I see my hometown and places like these, I feel India is still rich with natural beauty. But I even forget a nature of this sort exist in India when I am in Bangalore amidst the traffic for hours at times. I don’t like to be in Bangalore. I would spend my entire life traveling and taking photographs if I need not have worked. However, I was so happy to have made it to Kavya’s place.
We returned admiring the colorful sunset and what it had spread across the skies. I made complete use of my camera and captured every angle possible. We returned back completely exhausted and ready to hit the bed. We got fresh and had dinner and went of to sleep. Kavya’s family no longer felt like another family for me. It was as though I was with my own people by then. We had grown closer since our travel and gossips. We could understand each other well. We felt a lot of similarities were there in us. We could not sit late for a chat as all of us were tired. Sampath was extremely tired as he had some guests just before we arrived there. We did not allow him to take enough rest.
I slept with a plan to wake up early by 6 am, take off into the estates with my camera. Unfortunately, woke up at 5.45 am and found it to be raining. I was disappointed and went off to sleep. Aanya comes in screeching my name as loud as possible and woke me up. I found myself waking up fresh though the previous day was tiring. Fresh breeze, freezing cold and heavy rains, what more can I expect on a holiday at such a romantic place. I kept moving around the house as though it was my house. I clicked as many photographs as possible. We had a late breakfast and planned to visit the Ghat section called the “Charmudi Ghat”. The curvy roads, misty green hills, heavy waterfalls were a pleasure to experience. I wanted to walk down the hills and enjoy the entire day there but there was very little time for all that. I extravagantly clicked as many photographs as I could and we returned from there back to the house. It was already 1.30pm. We returned hungry. Kavya had prepared Caramel Custard and we enjoyed the food. I was still game for some more fun and roaming around. We took rest for some time after lunch. Appa (Kavya’s dad) had come home to visit Aanya. We planned to go trekking to a small hill opposite her house. We took Aanya also. We climbed up and I could see the weather change so quickly. The entire stretch of the sky turned almost black in few seconds. It was about to rain heavily. I drenched in the rain as we got down the hill. Kavya and Sampath were tired carrying Aanya down. They didn’t let her down as she was already running a bad cold. Appa had joined us too. We lavishly took pictures of the different shades of the sky.
I had made use of the entire holiday beautifully. I enjoyed every bit of it and the entire credit goes to Kavya and Sampath for making my holiday a memorable one.
Finally the time had come to leave. My bus was at 12 midnight and we left from home. It did not give me a good feeling. I was intending to stay for long but had to get back to work on the next day. I left the place thinking that I will definitely return some day. I will want to go there some day for a longer period, to relax, laze and enjoy. A beautiful place I had been to………..

Click here and see the pictures.
http://picasaweb.google.com/prathima.we/Balur5July08To6July08?authkey=gqaykLCv28o