A happy full stop to the year

Masinagudi Day I

Celebrating the last week of Year 2008, 6 people went on a trip to Masinagudi forest. Let me introduce you to the group - me, Pranathi and Bhartesh from CGI and Pranathi’s cousin Karthik and two of his colleagues Kishore and Hamsa from Bosch.

We started our journey at 12:00 AM of 27th with Gopalswami Betta, a Krishna temple atop a mountain as our first halt in mind. We reached the place at 5am only to realize that the check post to the peak opens only at 7. Most of us caught up on our sleep while Kishore kept watch against wild animals which may want to party on out carcasses. Finally losing our patience, we bribed the guard at the checkpost to let us in earlier and thus made it right in time for sunrise. The view from above was a feast for the eyes.

Soon we were on our way to our main destination, The Jungle Hut at Masinagudi. The resort was comfortable in the midst of a jungle. We had two adjacent rooms and a common verandah. Our plan was to freshen up and go for lunch followed by a safari run by the Govt. of India. I was the first one to be ready and decided to explore the place with Karthik. We walked though the back of the resort into the wilderness. As we moved forward, the trail became thorny but that wouldn’t deter us. Far beyond we could hear flowing water and that was where we wanted to be. The water was chill and fast flowing. Since we didn’t have too much time on us, we couldn’t stay longer to enjoy our find but rushed back to the resort.

The lunch was a heavy South Indian meal with Sambar, Rasam, Rice and buttermilk. We reached the ticket counter of the safari at 3:00. There was a pandemonium there with everyone trying to be the first person at the counter. The tickets were exhausted within no time and we were left behind. We decided to take a private safari which cost Rs.800 per jeep. The safari lasted for an hour and a half. We didn’t see many animals but those we saw included peacocks, bisons, deer, wild cocks and eagles.

Packing dinner on the way, we reached the resort all exhausted looking forward to a good night’s sleep. Since it was too early for bed time we decided to make use of the facilities provided by the resort. I tried my hand on all games from Carrom to Badminton to TT. The TT games with Bhartesh were memorable with me losing all of them. Yet, the satisfaction remained that it was a graceful defeat. Back in the room, we decided to play a game of Uno cards before hitting bed. ‘Catch’ing Kishore whenever he was on the verge of winning was awesome fun. Poor fellow, we all kept mum and stared at him when he was asking doubts as to what he needed to do after putting a Wild card. But as soon as he dropped it, we all screamed in one voice “Catch!!”

We slept as late as 2:00 knowing well that we had a trek at 6:00 next morning!