I took mom for a 3 day conducted tour arranged by the Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation to Mysore, Ooty and Coonoor. I never thought of very highly for state conducted tours but when it’s just two people traveling, it’s not very economical to hire a cab. Surprisingly, the whole trip went great and I was pretty impressed by KSTDC services and arrangements.

The Delux Non AC bus tickets costs you INR 1930 approx and covers 3 days journey and 2 night stays in pretty decent hotels.Our guide told us, they actually put the tourist in Hotel Mayura which is under renovation these days. We started on 31st Dec at 7 am from Bangalore Corporation Bus stop near Unity building. The itinerary included Secundrabad, Tipu Sultan’s fort, Mysore, Mysore palace, Vrindavan Gardens, Bandipur wildlife sanctuary (we only passed through this while on our way to Ooty) Ooty and Coonoor.

Amongst the places we saw my personal favorite is Coonoor. Amazing scenic beauty with views of mountains, river and tea plantations. Coonoor’s main attraction was Sims Park.

Tea plantations in Coonoor

We also took a detour(we paid the guide INR 125 per head for it) to this place they call the mini Switzerland of southern India. The journey back from coonoor to Ooty was particularly mesmerising. I am not very good at expressing nature’s beauty in words, so my pic will tell.

Coonoor

Mysore palace was magnificent although I have heard if you see it at night it’s even more stunning with all those hundred thousand bulbs lighting up the palace.

Mysore Palace

Vrindavan Garden was a huge complex but nothing great about it. The musical fountain was quite funny, it was playing Bollywood hits from the likes of Rangeela, Roja etc. The crowd their totally freaked me out so I stayed away from it. Mom went out of sight for a while amidst that crowd adding to my worry. Clicked a few pics standing far behind the crowd.

Vrindavan Gardens, Mysore

Mom was very happy to see the places, she just loves traveling but it was tiring for her. The first day was particularly hectic and all the tourists on the bus were wishing they had more time in hand for each spot.

Although I felt, the fact that you have a limited to spend at each spot, is actually a pro at times. When we travel on our own, we travel at leisure, which is good but then these are places which you can actually cover in a day. Being on your own you end up spending more time than required thereby spending on lodging and boarding. But I managed to do some street photography too amidst the tight schedule.

We had two Israeli women with us in the bus. They both are teachers of English literature in their country, visiting Bangalore for a conference on English teaching in the Bangalore university.

I obviously got quite friendly with them. I am friendly and extrovert, but those are not the reason why they liked talking to me so much the ease in communication . One them said, “I must ask you, where did you get your English from.”

I didn’t know what she meant, I said, “Well, I just went to an English medium school.”

She didn’t quite agree it was that simple. “But how come you don’t have an accent, how come your English is so different from everything I have heard ever since I came to India. You know it’s so embarrassing people talk to me in English and I can’t understand one word”. She particularly couldn’t believe I have been taught by Indian teachers.

Wow, I didn’t know it was that big a deal. There were other things about India they were absolutely overwhelmed about. Like, just how big is this country, that when they have only traveled from Bangalore to Ooty. Israel they said can be covered in a day. I could only say, “welcome to my Incredible India”

The symmetry, Incredible India

9 of us are on our way to Coonoor. Right now we have stopped over at a Barrista. Behind the wheels we have Vinayak in his Honda City and Vicky in his Honda Civic. Amongst the other let’s goers we have Snigdha, Myself, Danish, Sanjay, Sunil, Sree and Suresh.

Suresh is the most quiet guy, followed by Danish. Sunil and Vicky are like the pranksters, I and Snigdha are the glamour factors. Sanjay is one guy I can communicate in pure Delhi style. We have ordered for coffee. Time for a group photo.

Vicky seems to be the center of attraction here, everybody is trying to guess the place of his origin. (No he is not a wildlife item)

The Let's Go gang on the way to Ooty and Coonoor, we have stopped over at Barrista

8.46 am

Fields of Gold, on the way to Coonoor

We have crossed Bandipur Santuary, Mudumalai, Masinagudi and now we have stopped at a small tea snacks place in Mavanalla. Ooty is another 15km from here. Only thing available for breakfast is Masala dosa and Puri sabji. All busy hogging.

That cow won’t move no matter how much the shepherd would pull, those kids on their way to school wearing tri-colored badges are still sleepy, an old woman carrying a basket of hay on her head another on her hand, worn out but she has work to do, men wearing whites distributing toffees, far away in the fields a man is doing his morning task, a bunch of cyclist carrying vegetables and newspapers – I am looking outside the Honda City which is zipping through a Tamil Nadu village on an Indian Independence day morning. Morning tells you so much. Each one’s morning is so different from the others.

On the way to Coonoor, zipping through fields and villages of Tamil Nadu, India

4 pm

What better way there can be to spend your Independence day than watching millions of tricolors in every nook and corner of the routes you are traveling, saluting to every stranger coming across and saying it out in your loudest voice – Vande Mataram and see how they jump up in joy looking at us strangers saluting at them.

Children carrying the Indian Tricolor on Independence day

That’s what we did as we traveled from Mudumalai to Ooty to Coonoor searching for our home stay a little ahead of Coonoor town, the Devashola Estate. After stopping over for some photography here and there we finally reached the Devashola Bunglow at around 2 pm. On the way we were joined by the 10^th member of this trip Hari Menon, a professional traveler photographer.

We could have reached a bit early but there was a terrible accident on the way which created a huge traffic jam. A jeep had colluded with a vegetable carrying van. The front of the jeep had been smashed beyond recognition and the van had overturned. Happened on the narrow road towards Coonoor from Ooty. I can imagine what must have been the speed of the vehicles otherwise how can one explain the overturned van. Why do people do this? Why don’t they understand, it’s no big deal that they died, we all have to one day, but the people they left behind to shed tears for the rest of their lives, they so don’t deserve to live the death.

Why do most of us presume ‘accidents happen, I see them everyday, but it won’t happen to me.’ Why do we think that we are invincible, why the over confidence?

Something or the other had to remind me of Kakan, whom we lost to overconfidence on a similar trip same day 2 years ago.

The Devashola Tea Estate Bunglow, Coonoor, Tamil Nadu, India

The Devashola Bungalow was quite great. A big hall, 3 large bed rooms and some simple yet elegant wooden furniture. Each room opening to the view of the jungle, mist mountain range and a peaceful vastness.

The moment we entered we were served home made vegetarian food. Anna the caretaker cum homemaker of this Bungalow is an old man. He had prepared food for 6 people only but we are 10, so he was at it again once the first round of hungry souls were fed. Poor guy never left the kitchen ever since we have come.

After lunching we were idling in the balcony when we spotted a few bisons. The photographers immediately ran outside and trekked a few meters down the Bungalow to shoot them but the bisons very politely chased them away. And when the brave shooter returned home after being chased away by the bisons, they narrated their story of heroism over pegs of whiskey and papar to the wide eyed listeners (or so they think).

6 pm

The mist is all over inside our rooms now, the photographers have gone out to shoot some more wildlife. Rest of them are sleeping and I am blogging. Anna is cooking dinner in the Kitchen.

These photographer guys, the Sunil, the Vicky, the Hari they only talk about camera, lens, focus, object, subject, light, dark – man I can’t believe them. How dry are their conversation I thought. Vicky among them is a newbie to the amateur club. So he talks the most. While Hari is a professional, so these guys got all the opportunities to get that valuable tip from him.

Meanwhile, Suresh has been replaced by Danish in being the most silent traveler. I and Snigdha discovered Sree does Ham radio, something we thought of doing before a lot of things didn’t happen in our lives. But meeting Sree our desires to be Hammers have been renewed.

6.40 pm

Just asked Anna to close all the windows of the house – mosquitoes are here. Am thinking I should wake up the guys now…dang I feel like a mom.

The place is affordable too, tarrif being Rs 1000/- per head per day which includes the following besides the stay:

• Morning Tea/ coffee
• Breakfast (south Indian vegetarian)
• Lunch (south Indian vegetarian)
• Evening Tea/ coffee
• Dinner (south Indian vegetarian)

We can also do activities like Bonfire and Safari in the Estate at NO extra cost. Then there are options like – trek along the Nilgiri Mountain railway tracks and reach Hillygrove, visit the Beulah Farm, Bison valley, tribal settlements etc and at an extra cost the homestay people can arrange for a tea factory visit and a tribal dance show for us. The photographers amongst you would love it.

Reaching there.

We are planning to drive down to this place. We have one car as of now which has 2 vacant seats. Depending upon number of people joining for the trip we can arrange for another car. If any of you are willing to drive down that would be great. The route to follow is this – Ooty  –>  Devashola Bazar –>  Kaikatty –>  Manjacomby –>  Kollacomby –>  Pallaniappa Estate

Budget: Travel + Stay + Food = INR 3,500 (Roughly)

Confirm By Monday, 4th Aug

We have done a booking of 5 – 6 people already. The homestay can at the most accomodate 10 people. Interested letsgoers are requested to confirm their availability by Monday at the earliest. Below is a rough itinerary.

————————————————- 
Friday, 15th August
————————————————-
Leave by car early morning – 2am
Enter Kalhatti Ghats by 630
Reach Ooty and have breakfast
Head for Coonoor
Reach Homestay around 11.
Lunch
Rest
Trek around the place / Drive to acres wild or beulah farm
Return to homestay
Bonfire
Dinner
 
Saturday, 16th August
—————————————————————————-
Leave EARLY morning 8 for Coonoor Railway station. Should reach there by 10.

Cars parked in Station. We trek down the Railway line to Hillygrove (19Kms), Catch the Nilgiri mountain railway train chugging along near Hillygrove

Take local bus back to Coonoor
Lunch at Coonoor or Riga hotel in Wellington
Take the NMR (Nilgiril railways) to Ooty
Shop for chocolates
Take NMR back to Coonoor station
Back to Homestay
Dinner
 
Sunday, 17th August
—————————————————————————-
Breakfast
Leave for Beulah farm / Bison valley trek / Go to some tribal settlements
Buffet lunch at the Taj Savoy in Ooty
Leave for Mysore
Reach Bangalore by 830

———————————————

——————————-

I had pre warned all my twitter followers that I would be frantically twittering the whole trip. So here’s the summary of the trip as obtained from my twitter log. Pay attention on the time stamp, time is the essence this story This is inspired by this post of Thejesh.

• @ All, those getting my updates on cell, beware am gonna be frantically twittering the pondi trip.. 06:06 PM August 17, 2007

• me and snig just done with our dress rehersal.. tried all sorts of bandana, caps, hats.. me wud start to pack now am a last min packer 07:24 PM August 17, 2007

• 10 of us are here at vinayak’s place.. about to order chinese.. these guys r amazingly quiet..lull b4 the storm?? 2 veg 3 non veg 09:11 PM August 17, 2007

• just allocated official posts.. vishal accountant, suku assistant acnts, sunil d entertainer, snigdha bar tender (she knos nothing of bar..) 09:44 PM August 17, 2007

• 8 of us in the qualis and 5 in the honda city 11:44 PM August 17, 2007

• we are at a check post now.. between TN and karnataka.. had some beers 11:43 PM August 17, 2007

• we had a tire puncture that’s fixed now… now we are stuck again on the highway am not sure why… its quite humid 01:44 AM August 18, 2007 from web

• these guys won’t let me twitter.. 01:51 AM August 18, 2007

• oh forgot to say..its also anupama’s birthday who is suddenly very awake now…they r all making fun of twitter.. 01:58 AM August 18, 2007
• ok am back. Ashwin says no twitter for last 8 hrs.. see people are waiting for my updates n these guys r not taking my twitter seriously.. 10:07 AM August 18, 2007

• not much happening here.. we cudn’t figure out wht to do yet.. went around the gandhi statue 02:00 PM August 18, 2007

• went to auroville.. wht is so grt about it? architecture i hav seen in IHC delhi.. calm and serenity go to Ross Island, Andamans or Havlock 06:29 PM August 18, 2007
• unless u are spiritual and religious and all that crap..there’s nothing grt bout it… only unique thing that golden UFO.. that’s not open. 06:30 PM August 18, 2007
• we r finally at the beach, quite a dirty one..planning to drink all night here.. 06:31 PM August 18, 2007

• sukumar’s interesting line on twitter.. twittering is littering online 06:52 PM August 18, 2007
• i have waited for this day for so long.. sitting under the moonlight at a sea beach and working on my laptop..connected to d world 06:56 PM August 18, 2007
• bunch of prospective Mr. India’s doing swim suit rounds at the beach.. okay i need som beer 06:58 PM August 18, 2007

• 4 bongs sitting at youth hostel roof top doing something..that cannot be mentioned on twitter..listening to Md rafi in Guide… 01:10 AM August 19, 2007
• this hasn’t been backpacking trip Let’s Go is supposed to make.. d shoestring budget got upset..grp ws split for a while.. 01:18 AM August 19, 2007

• couldn’t twitter since morning..5 of us woke up late rest were gone for sunrise..did ashram n church etc.. while we lazed around.. 08:32 PM August 19, 2007
• just done eating a mutton matha bullet beer and kutu parantha at a dhaba.. 02:12 AM August 20, 2007
• sunil is driving us to blore at 150 kmph.. am being the DJ here to keep him awake.. playing remix dhamal.. hai re hai tera ghungta 02:16 AM August 20, 2007
• trying best to keep eyes open… 04:59 PM August 20, 2007
• can’t concentrate… need som sleep 05:00 PM August 20, 2007

Some of the pics I have taken are on my Face Book account.

Some of the Pics taken by Vinu, on his Flickr Set.  

The trip started with some shopping plan. Wanted to buy a pair of shorts because I and Sanjukta wanted to cycle around the city but when I saw myself in a short, I thought I might as well, stick to jeans lest they stop me from entering  a pub in Pondi because I was looking like a school girl in that silly shorts. Never the less bought a red duffel bag.

After a lot of planning, 12 of us gathered at Vinayak’s pad, well, apart from being a group administrator he also had to attend to our occasional tantrums. A nice cozy house, where we all ate fried rice and Manchurian, and I tried to feed wasabi to many people but only Sunil liked it and found it sweet.

As usual I allocated jobs to various people. Vishal was the official accountant, Sunil was our official showman, Sukumar was the assistant accountant, I wanted to be the official bar tender but my talent was never really appreciated, Sanju was the official real time message twitterer which I was finding very bugging and Sukumar concluded my thoughts by saying, “Twittering is online littering.”

2 cars, 13 people…but we all were eyeing Lola.  In case you do not know who Lola is, lemme take this opportunity to tell you that Lola is our administrator, Mr. Das’s girl friend, a red Honda City.  He is head over heels in love with Lola. Vinayak, me, Sunil, Vinu, Srividya hopped on to Lola and the rest went in Qualis. Before that we all had paid 1000 each to our finance head Vishal.

Srividya whispered to almost everyone, “Tomorrow is Anupama’s birthday.” And I whispered back, “Yes, and we all stop at 12 midnight to celebrate her birthday.” Everyone agreed. Usually, people do not disagree with me.

We bought a cake from a cake shop near Ulsoor lake and then rolled. All through the way, Sunil was being bugged by me, as I kept pestering him to play different songs. I kept screaming, “Volume, Volume” and Sunil looked bewildered and was continuously giving blank looks to Vinayak, who was at the steering.

At the back seat Vinu got beaten up by me and Srividya for no apparent reason. At 12 we stopped and waited for the Qualis to reach. In the meantime, we decorated the cake with jeera (yes you read it right “jeera” means cumin seeds) which Vinu had got. As soon as the Qualis arrived I ran towards it and told Vishal and Danny to carry Anupama to the cake which they were too scared to do.

After the cake cutting ceremony and usual photos I smeared cake all over Anupama and got the taste of my own medicine from her. The ha-ha hee hee continued for 20 minutes then we started again. We heard, the Qualis guys had beer also (Sanju will talk about it later) and we, the Lola gang,  had jelly beans again thanks to Vinu.

The blaring music continued and it started raining all of a sudden when I asked Sunil to pull over. We all stood in the rain for 10 minutes and I and Vinayak ran in the rain. After sometime, we had tea at a local road side dhaba.  In the mean time we received a call from the Qualis guys that their tyre is punctured and that we need to wait. My reaction was, “Stepny nahi hai kya? Stepni lagao aur chal pado, ismei tension karne ka kya hai.”

Morning we reached ECR beach to catch the sunrise while the Qualis guys were far behind us and they had to be far behind us after all we were at 150 to 160 km/hour. 5 of us started walking towards the beach and saw how it is to be a part of community beach side potty collective.  Ok, lemme put it straight, people  and
potty, that’s all we could see for some time then we kept walking towards the other end of the beach till we found a clean stretch.

Sunil had gone missing with his machine and  Srividya was taking care of our belongings while, Vinayak, Vinu and I were playing in the sea like some 5 year old.  Before all this I had become a little philosophical at the sight of sun rise.

By the time we were done, hunger pangs had already started to knock on our stomach lining and we were frantically searching for food but in vain. Saw the Qualis arriving, and found all sleepy heads coming out of the Qualis one by one.

After a lil chitchat we started again and stopped at a small time eating place, had idlis, sambhar, poori, chutney and suddenly I saw a bullock cart, I had to run towards it, as if the bulls were calling me so that I could hop on to them. I just had to do it. Took a small ride on that bullock cart and again started for Youth Hostel of Pondicherry.

The Qualis guys had already reached the dormitory and were relaxing. After a shower we decided to have breakfast and I went outside the hostel and stumbled upon a small tea shop who had a hotelier friend who could understand Hindi. So the process was, the chai wala calls the hotel wala, the hotel wala then call the PCO number which the chai wala has and then I place my order in hindi. Ok Process complete, results awaited. 30 minutes after, parantha and sambhar gets delivered for the hungry souls and before that I carry 12 cups of tea on an aluminum tray which almost burnt my fingers.

After  all khana shana, I had to return the tray to the chai wala as he had kept 51 bucks as security for it. Confusion begins:- We all want to do different things. Sanju and I stare at “ground zero” read Ayan, who was blabbering something. We wanted to cycle, some wanted to take pictures, we also wanted to party. Vinayak was given the task to find out about a place where we could party whole night. Seeing all this chaos, 2 strange looking men arrive in on their bikes as God’s messenger to our call, with an invitation to some party which had all that we needed plus French girls. Ok now, this looked like a shady party to me and I was not really interested in going to a party where I will be hooked up with a French girl.  After lot of brain storming in the hot humid sun, we started moving here and there.  Finally, like an oasis in the desert, spotted Promenade, a restro bar, to our rescue.

Went inside but again the chaos continued, “to be or not to be, that is the question.”  Meanwhile, our super enthusiastic man, Sunil Kumar wanted to check out this funky place, but was a little skeptical in expressing himself amidst all the chaos. So I see him, coming and leaning over and asking me, “lets check the lounge.” And like partners in crime, the 2 of us sneaked out, leaving all the chaos behind at the mercy of the Moderators, Sanjukta and Vinayak.

Upon entering the lounge, I induced greed in Sunil’s mind, “Sunil yaar ek ek beer maarke ke chalet hai.” And like I had mentioned before, people usually do not disagree with me, so we rest ourselves on the bar stools and decided to have Vodka instead. We had just placed our order and I see Mr. Das entering the scene with a hopeful look in his eyes, as if he has seen God.

The cocktails went on for sometime, and Sanjukta felt all dejected and left in lurch by her school time buddy that’s me. She took charge and managed with the rest of the gang. The sinners along with Vinu and Lavanya had our lunch at Rendezvous while the non-sinners ate at Madame Shanty. Then we went to Auroville, which was already closed, after that to a beach again, photographers took a lot of pictures, Sanju twittered, I again went in water with Sukumar, Vishal.

Later we decided to sin more, so all sinners, read, me, Vinayak, Sanju, Sunil, Danny , Ayan hopped on to Lola while the non-sinners were sent in Qualis to look for a restaurant where we could have dinner. We sinned (censored) laughed like crazy and had dinner till late night. Later that night, Ayan, me, Vinayak, Sanju, we all sat on  the terrace of the Hostel and talked, giggled while a song from the film Guide kept playing in the back ground.

Next day, the photographers were missing when I woke up. They had gone for sunrise. So Vishal, Sukumar, Sanju, Vinayak and me, we lazed around, fought with pillows. Before that Vinayak and I went to that chai shop had cake and chai. The breakfast was at Promenade with rounds of cocktails. Later, we danced inside the restaurant and were called “Polar Beer” by Ayan.

Evening we went to see a Jetty, and on returning I saw an old uncle on a lady’s cycle, so I had to run after him. There is this freak side of me which may shock many. So I ran after him, “Uncle, Uncle Uncle…..(he stopped) huff!! Huff!!, Uncle I want your cycle.”

Uncle replies, ‘But I can not work without my cycle.”

Ok now this was an insult. Uncle thought that I probably will take his cycle never to come back to him again. But then I explained  that I wanted to cycle but could not find any cycle so I wanted his  cycle to cycle. Sanjukta also joined hands with me. I went to a point and she rode back. Since I was cycling after more than 15 years, I forgot to put the breaks and I thought what if I keep going on, it would have looked like a Priyadarshan film. Me on a cycle, Sanju running after me, Vinayak with lady’s
purse in his hands running after Sanju and that Uncle running after Vinayak for his bi-cycle. But that plan did not work, you see I am too humble a soul to do that.

Evening we started for or return journey, Lola had her admirers all over over. But the chosen ones got to sit inside. Sunil, Vinayak, me, Sanju and Sukumar. Stopped at a place for dinner, had boiled eggs from a road side vendor. In the meantime, Sanju lost her cell phone, (it was a pseudo loss actually) and had gone berserk, seeing all this Sunil and Vinayak got scaredand stopped talking, while Sukumar was bearing the brunt of Sanju’s constant cribbing. I was acting like this kewl chick who has seen it all, have done it all..Sanju kept crying, “Waaaa…waaa..waaaa” and I was laughing at her and interrupted, “lets have beer”. “Hum jaise dost ho to dushman ki kya zarurat hai.”  After 30 minutes of holding everyone by the noose, she says, “guys, I just remember that I had kept my phone in my camera pouch. I have not lost it.”  after that, rest is history, she got beaten up by me.

The guys had bullet beer and Sanju played the DJ, while I, Sukumar, Vinayak danced like crazy. I screamed at every 5 minutes, “Volume, Volume, Volume” Sunil drove at 150 km/ hour.  We all behaved like hooligans, lost our way somewhere in Chennai. Found our way back. Stopped at a road side joint again, had goat brain, beer and tea made from cow milk, freshly milked from a sleepy cow.

Later I felt asleep in the car, while the rest of the gang kept singing, screaming, shouting..we reached at 6:30 am and crashed at Vinayak’s place. The Qualis gang had reached way before us.  I went back to sleep, woke at 8, and left for my home.

This was the story from my side. I am sure each one of you would have a different version.  Letsgo and BWS trip to Pondi has been like merger of the equals. Would like to listen to each one of you  about your experience.

And lastly thanks to Sunil, Anupama, Srividya, Vinayak, Danny, Ayan, Vinu, Lavanya, Tanmay, Vishal, Sukumar for bearing with our hooliganism, tantrums and eccentricity. Believe me, I have found some really great friends in you people.

Ok lemme stop now, am getting all senti

Date: 13th Aug Monday
Venue:Koshy, on St. Marks Road, Opp Bible society.
Time 6.30 pm

The trip has shaped up real well. Thanks to snig’s idea of putting it on this Flickr group based in Bangalore called “Bangalore Weekend Shots”.

So this trip is a joint trip by Let’s Go and BWS (although most of them have also joined Lets Go). All pls try to make it to the off line meet, its important.

Check out the Flickr link.
http://flickr. com/groups/ bangaloreweekend shoots/discuss/ 7215760109458810 7/

As of now confirmed members for the trip are as follows

People traveling from here on 17th

1. Snigdha
2. Sanjukta
3. Sunil
4. Vinayak
5. Lavanya
6. Ayan
7. Srividya
8. Anupama
9. Pradeep Dhingra (coming from Delhi)
10. Sukumar
11. Vinu
11 Vishal + friend

People joining us in Pondicherry

1. Prasoon ( Biking it )
2. Malvikaa + 2 Friend ( Might be driving down from Chennai)
3. Bharathi ( Joining us from Chennai )

So see you all on 13th

We can take bus from KSRTC which leaves at 11 pm and would cost INR300/- for AC Volvo. Pondicherry is about 320 kms so we can assume a 6-8 hours drive.

The hotels there are also cheap and are available easily. We can get cycles on hire for 100/- and cycle around the city on Sat, 18thAug. and Check out the beaches on 19th Aug.

Places to see:-

1. The French and Dravidian architecture. Which we can see in the Churches and Chola temples.

2. French Institute of Pondicherry (IFP), It has gathered and preserved valuable ancient manuscripts like the Shaiva, a part of the UNESCO “Memory of the World” Collection

3. Get a feel of the culture by eating out at local joints.

Check out serene beaches

1. The Promenade, stretches about 1.5kms across the length of the Sea is well maintained (spotlessly clean) and has the sea on one side and several old colonial buildings (lighthouse, custom house, war memorial etc.) on the other. Early in the mornings and evenings, traffic to the beach road is restricted making it a walker’s paradise.

2. Karaikal Beach:-Sunrise- watchers can catch their magnificent view over the bay, with the pretty Arasalar river reaching out to the sea. Alternatively, you can canoe or kayak in picture-book surroundings. Have a round of beach volley ball. Or, armed with the angling gear, you can reel in a surprise.

The total budget should not exceed more than 1000 to 1500 at the maximum per person.

Members to confirm via mail. Non Members interested in joining write to letsgowanderers@gmail.com

Offline meet for Pondicherry trip:-

11th Aug, Sat, 5 pm at CCD MG Road.

13th Aug, Mon, 6.30 pm @ Koshy’s on St. Marks Road, Opp. Bible Society.

The first trip of Lets Go [Bangalore]

Date: 30th March 07 (Friday).

We would leave by train in the evening We would leave from Bangalore Cantonment station at 6.30 pm and would return the same station on 2nd April Early morning around 5.

A total of 6 travellers are going to be on this trip.

Snigdha
Sanjukta
Sumit
Joydeep
Ruchi
Sumita

Train tickets to and from Kumbakonam have been booked and has costed each one of us Rs. 500/- approximately.

Rest of the expenses are very unpredictable, eg. the local taxi fare from one village to another around kumbakonam, the stay and food. But whatever it is it should not go beyond Rs. 1700 to 2000.

We are really exited bout this trip and hope to have a rocking time. Once we are back we’d put up the pics.

I feel happy to tell you all that let’s go is growing each day with membership request pouring in. I can no longer keep track of each member, the membership is no longer restricted to delhi based travellers, and i no longer wait for the proposed members to first give all information and then allow the membership.. . so many of your membership have been allowed even though i didn’t get a reply to the automated file ‘before membership’.

Another reason behind this leniency, is that, I understand female members wanting to join the group wouldn’t be very comfortable giving out their phone numbers and real name etc. they would probably first want to join the group and then see if they can trust the other members of not.

Bole to mudde ki baat ye hai (the point is that) membership to Let’s Go has now become more easy and it is more of an open group now.

Members are more free to exchange ideas amogst themselves, they are particulary requested to take more initiative in arranging group events, outings etc. The bangalore chapter sure would be seeing a lot of activities this year.

For Delhi Chapter I personally request Santa and Paddy (they have formal names also, Santosh and Pradeep…eek they are so boring in formals) to take charge. Paddy ji kuch ghode shode dauraiye to sahi… santa ji kuch chidia shidia uraaiye to sahi….

The most important point that all the members need to remember is that you all are moderators here so just be yourself and don’t bother to wait for any kinds of permission.. . bole to bindaas bol

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ankur_gupta10/

By Prashant

http://picasaweb.google.com/prashantbhardwaj/AjmerPuskharFTRPictures?pli=1

By Aneesha

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ansy_flicks/sets/72157594506779190

By Amit

http://www.flickr.com/photos/amit_gupta/sets/72157594507231804/