After all the chaos and doubts, 12 of us made it for the trip. With just one sweater I started my journey towards the Queen of hills, Ooty - as it is known. Cooly booked tickets in AC 3 tire, stepped into the boogie at 8:40PM for the train scheduled to depart at 8:45PM :) Train started on-dot, and as-usual we started our sarcastic jokes and chats! Hmmm we missed the essence of Mr. Bravo Robby :( But that dint stop us from chatting aloud and creating a Buzz in the coach! Time striked 6:30AM - 12Sep2009, and we got down at Metupaalayam Jn. Ah, cool breeze welcomed us with both hands wide open!

The next train to Cunnor is only at 7:15AM and all of us had a quick refreshment with hot milk & coffees as we waited for the so called toy train to start! With the usual Indian fights of rural public, we at last got our reserved seats!!!! Thanks to the TTR. Ah again here we had good companions, but this time they were not Indians. A French Guy & Girl on one side and a German Lady & her son on the other side! The toy train started climbing the hill in its usual pace. With windows wide open, it was a treat to watch the scenary all through the journey up the hill! Chatting the way with the Foreigners, understood their purpose of visit and kept ourselves busy in clicking the pics of beauty hills. Lush green mountains, small lakes flowing across the mountains, ah beauty can't just be expressed in words!!!

After a tiresome 3 hr jouney for 50Kms, we got down at Cunnor to the beating Sun :( Dint expect that kind of an arraival at the hill station! With empty stomach from last night, all of us rushed to the Dormitory, we had booked, in a Sumo - crumbled for space...!!! With just one bathroom and 2 toilets, everyone stood in queue, thank god I was the first :) After a nice shower in warm water, we all got ready for a stomach filling lunch! Got into the mini bus we hired for sight-seeing and yup, the climate changed! Awesome drizzle and cool breeze all around you, thats the real Ooty! Went to 3* hotel and filled our stomach with south-Indian meals. Bought a Adldas jerkin for Rs. 650 only (don't look wiered, the name is tweeked ;) ) With the warmth of wearing the jerkin we started our sight-seeing!

First, we went to the spot called 9-miles where Karthik & myself hired a jockey for horse riding! Over curiosity of Karthik made us guide the horse by ourselves, hmmm the horse showed its true color, both of us on the floor :( The jockey was not interested to take half the amount we negotiated for just half the distance we covered. Hmmm wat to do, I claimed the horse this time with Balaji to complete the round. But not to complaint, this time the jockey did his job to perfection. Showed us the shooting spots of movies like Thalapathy, Raja-thi Raja, etc,.

Secondly, we went to a lake and boat-ride. Ice cold water running down stream with high velocity, very cold that Prasath went out of the world for a minute when Karthik splashed it on his body!! Then by the time we clicked few snaps and videos, the boat ride counter was closed from where we returned with disaapointment. After this we decided to kiss the mist by climbing through Doddepetta, and drove for about 20 minutes before pausing for a hot milk/tea!
After sipping the taste of Ooty in tarms of tea and chocoloates, we proceeded to Doddepetta and yes second straight dissappointment was waiting for us! The forest officials were so strict that they cannot allow up the hill after 5:30PM. Had we not sipped tea we could have kissed the mist! Just from the far entrance of the hill, the scene of fog & mist were awesome and we badly wanted to enter! Unfortunately none of our pleading worked with the securities there
so we directed the driver straight to Ooty markets to shop some tea powder and home made chocolates.

Thanks to the driver, he took us to the heart of Ooty shopping spot at 7PM where there were good bunch of people shopping! Nice time pass, we were just window shopping till they left! Finally, bought some tea packs and chocos... Hmmm the chocs really munched tasty, real taste of choco....!!!! Roamed for a while, then gathered to-gether for a dinner at a nice restaurant! Can't forget, Gopi's stomach started crashing ;) Went straight to Dormitory beds and started our usual non-sense chats! No playing cards to disturb our flow of speech. My parter, Guru and myself were at the helm of topics such as Yoga, Life, etc,. Meanwhile Gopi was counting his turns in to the toilet ;) And booked the bed close to the toilet, dunno how many times he did wen we were
sound asleep!!! Rose to the chill breeze of atmosphere at 6AM to start our journey down the hill to attend our Colleagues Reception at Metupaalayam.

On the way down, took few snaps standing inbetween the mist. Stood with no fear on the mid-road as if we were in the gully streets and took some beautiful snaps. Continued our journey downwards and suddenly it started to sweat like anything, just a 30 min journey changes the climate, ah silly world! Took off the jerkin and sweater and rushed straight to the hotel booked by Pravin, appa an awesome room after a struggled dormitory stay!!! Ah ah, our beloved Mr.
Bravo Robby was waiting for us! Took a beautiful head bath and went to the reception to wish one of the Perfect couples! Then our nose started to search for the dining hall!!! Oh super, super-o-super kerla-tamil meals...!!! Ate till the food is filled till nose! Clicked few snaps of the couples and left to hotel room for a small nap. Hmmm we felt the presence of our Robby now, started the chats by lying down in bed and reached our peak of sleep (dunno when). Got up at 4PM and decided to go somewhere nearby...!!! Identified a temple ( South-Tirupati) and hired an auto. Its always a mind satisfaction and peace when you darshan Lord Venkat :) Slight drizzle started when we came out of the temple, took the local bus and reached the hotel! All set to start our journey back to the Capital City of TN.

Our Train was scheduled at 11:45PM and it is from Coimbatore. Decided to take a train from Metupaalaym to Coimbatore. Took another train to reach Coimbatore. Reached station and decided to go to Prasath's house for dinner. We saw Sridhar-Sridhar-Sridhar on the way, hmmm machhakaran da nee!!! ;)Thanks to Prasath's parents for arranging a wonderful dinner at their house. Hmmm can you eat 11 idlys and 3 aapams? Our Robby can, yes he did it that night!
Came back to station, and boarded the train to start our journey to Chennai. Late night already, nothing to chat - clibmed our respective berths and slept nicely. Reached Chennai around 9AM and there ended our memorable trip as we all seperated to reach our respective houses to gear-up for a next week at work!

Don't go away, please have a look at the snaps clicked during this tirp and recollect the spots mentioned in this blog.
http://picasaweb.google.com/vijayshankarpk/OotyTrip1213Sep2009#

Keep peeping into my blogs, next journey is soon!!! Meet you soon, bye and take care!