A trip to Hogenakkal !! My first fun trip after joining TATA Elxsi Limited..

Hmm.. The time is 7 AM in the morning on June 6th 2009 ! Am waiting at Marathahalli bus stand, waiting for our crew of members to have a blast that day !! What are we upto ? Well.. its a fun trip to Hogenakkal, man.. A cool place near Dharmapuri in Tamil Nadu. Hogenakkal – A tourist destination which lies on the border between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, has been attracting tourists for so many years now, and especially during the rainy season when the scenic beauty of the waterfalls increases manifold. There are so many waterfalls throughout the place, so many as if water is flowing through cracks of a broken wall. During the rainy season, which was exactly the time when we went there, the serene beauty of the rocks, the grace with which the water creeps through them to the bottom, the charm of the surrounding forest all make any tourist wonder if there are more wonderful places on earth than this.. Probably, for more details, you can refer this link – I guess this is my blog, and not another wikipedia :-P

Anyways.. I got into the bus finally and then the actual fun began. There was a gang which was dedicated in providing the morning breakfast to everybody and was preparing a so-called bread-sandwich, which in such a journey went a long way in fulfilling our appetite. Thanks a ton to those people for that.. Apart from this, the main part in the bus was the dance which everyone managed to perform, though not very pleasing to the eyes. But, that was never the intention, as it was fun and frolic all around the bus. Everyone enjoyed watching everyone trying to dance, and even our cameras couldn't resist catching the moments, as snaps passed into it click by click. Finally, we reached Hogenakkal at around 11.30 am in the morning. We were just 3 Tamilians among the gang of 17 members, and we had to take care of bargaining with the boatmen regarding the tariff and other stuff, which plucked some of our valuable time. But, once everything was finalised and our lunch was done, we were all set to quench our thirst with the serene beauty of the surrounding. We started off, with the boatmen leading us in each boat. Off we went into the waters between the trees and it all looked as if we were upto some kind of a Nat-Geo adventure trip ! But still, the charm of the surroundings still lies in front of my eyes, when I type these words...

We got to an intermediate stop for change of boats wherein we snapped some extraordinary clicks with the excellent view of waterfalls at our background. Can't forget that location... This is one of those.. :-) Then came our long ride towards the other parts of the place – on the way, we even saw some boys jumping from the cliffs into the water! Audacious lads were they!!! We finished our games there at the water, finished a short photo session with the boatman and then started our way back. Fish lovers would love this place as the bank had many shops with spicy fish varieties, which all of my non-veg eaters enjoyed! Our return path was another fun-filled boat ride and with the rain pouring down on us in torrents, it was probably the exact way to round up our trip to the beautiful place. Never had the mood to come out from the boat, but we had to.. Afterall, life has to move on! This trip, though a very short one, taught me the real sense of nature and how one can enjoy the grace and charm of nature – the fresh water – the green forests – the beauty of the cliffs – the extraordinary boat ride – can't forget any of those in my life! Those memories stay green in my life for a long time! Thanks a lot, my friends, for arranging this trip !!