Travel Diaries - Terrific Thekkady - Part 1

As the Goan adventure was drawing to a close, it was time for me to say 'Hola' to yet another place to travel and discover positive fresh experiences that will eventually free me from the shackles of my necessary and unnecessary psychological burden. Since I had no set plan to visit the places, it was indeed a streak of fortune that the couple next to me on the flight from Goa to Chennai were talking about Munnar, Thekkady etc. I had already visited Munnar earlier in my life with Mom. So, I decided then that the next stop after Chennai would be Thekkady.

The flight trip also had its share of pleasant surprises. Yesteryear's famous and dashing Kollywood actress, Khushboo boarded the same plane as mine @ Hyderabad, or was it Vishakhapatnam?! I forgot the stopover place now. But, she got in and occupied the very first row amidst selfies taken by her fans with her. Obviously! But, one thing was certain. The amount of money I had spent on the transportation - be it the train, bus or flight - was far more than I had expensed on my food. In hindsight when I reasoned why, it was extremely evident that the reason was attributed to a single and solid fact that as I was going with the flow of things, there was no time to pre-book for any mode of travel. Though the fares were expensive, whatever was cheap and best at that moment I afforded to commute. A BIG learning experiential lesson to the adverse effects of no planning which was bad, in fact, worse than bad planning. 

The trip to Thekkady wasn't smooth sailing at all. No, I didn't actually sail!  I caught a couple of last minute trains to Kochi only to find out that there was a strike happening when I arrived there. It was a classic situation "When it rains, it pours". Bad luck was following me like my shadow irrespective whether the light was there or not! After enquiring from the bus terminus, which was close to the Kochi Railway station, that all the buses would ply only in the morning, I had no other alternative but to stay for the night in a decent hotel near the bus station itself as the bus to Thekkady was due in the wee hours of the morning. 

Hurriedly rushing to the nearby terminus in the morning without even having a glass of coffee or tea after a good night's sleep, I got the bus at the eleventh hour. No, it was around 6 am in the morning! Excusing my appalling joke, with window seat, unpolluted air and music, the trip to Thekkady was not bad. But, the real problem started after I alighted at Thekkady's Tiger reserve.    

The accommodations were well over my budget and if it weren't for a local automan, I have no idea where I would have stayed. The magnanimous autowallah took me to a safe place in a residential area which had restaurants nearby and the main bazaar which was a stone's throw away from the place.

I was amazed by the business model for the accommodations apart from the standard hotels in Thekkady. Most of the house owners had constructed extra rooms on their land and were earning additional income by letting it to tourists and travellers for a comfortable stay at prices relatively inexpensive than the actual hotels. As the autowallah was a local, it was also easy for me to traverse around the place and find out from him the main attractions. He was also polite enough to escort me to a properly approved booking centre where I was able to choose the main deals without burning a hole in my wallet. Of course, he may have earned a commission from both the house owner and the reservation office . No questions on that. But, he had the heart at least to help a person in need.    

What I did not know then was that an unforgettable and excitable turn of events was in the stars for me.

                                                                       X---To Be Concluded---X