God's Own Country

Last month I'd been to Wayanad, Kerala on a short vacation. Calling Kerala 'God's Own Country' is an understatement.

Technically this is my fourth visit to Kerala and this is the first time I actually got to see the real Kerala. First time was when I was a kid, I'd been to Malampuzha with my family. Second time I almost made it the border with some friends and the guy who was supposed to arrange accomodation screwed up so ended up going to Mudumalai instead. In the third attempt I stayed in a hotel in the middle of a town and eat in the hotel's restraunt and came back (Thanks to a great ass who was in my team who supposedly knew every nook and corner in Wayanad).

Finally on my fourth visit to Kerala, I was able to experience the REAL KERALA. We found an amazing home stay accomodation (luxurious at the same time affordable and had a great host Mr. Saji Chaco - http://www.tropicalforrest.in/) and drove down for the weekend. The home stay was situated on top of a small hill in the outskirts of this small town called Lakkidi. When we got closer to the town we called the host and asked him for directions, he said "Keep coming straight, when you find mist on the road, just stop and give me a call. I'll come there and take you to the homestay. That's one of the weirdest landmarks I've heard of (besides 'you'll see a cow eating grass, take a left after that') but you know with that landmark you can never miss that place. We witnessed mist only in that area over the next two days we spent there. Amazing!

We took up an entire villa (build in accordance with the authentic Kerala architectural style), the villa and the locality was so good that we didn't want to go out anywhere. When you drive down to Kerala from either Karnataka or Tamil Nadu, you can feel the difference the moment you cross the border and enter God's Own Country! When you drive down, you'll see dry masses of lands, one or two trees here and there, horrible roads, garbage dumps, etc and then as you enter Kerala all of that will change!

You'll know you've entered Kerala,

• The moment everthing around you turns completely green.
• The roads get narrower but better than anyother road you would have driven on.
• When you feel the cold breeze.
• When you hear birds chirping.
• When you hear leaves brusing against each other due to the wind.
• If you see football posters or flags of countries that play football.
• Small tea stalls that also serve beef and toddy.
• Men with lungi's.
• = / > 15 people in a jeep.

Wayanad is filled with stunningly beautiful landscapes, some nice places to visit, great roads to drive on and amazing food. Talking about the food, you should try out the traditional beef fry, if you ever get a chance to stop by in a small road side hotel that serves Kerala - go for it and most of all you have to have to try the buttermilk from a roadside shop. I don't know how they manage to make everything so delicious but you must never miss these things when you are in Kerala. Don't plan on visitng 100 places during your vacation but a select few and enjoy the drive and the mesmerising beauty of God's Own Country!


Some of the places I'll personally recommend: Banasura Sagar Dam, Edakkal Caves, Chembara Peak, Kuruva Island and Soochippara Waterfall. Especially the drive us the coffe estates to Chembara Peak is amazing! Here are some of the pictures of God's Own Country from my recent visit. I'll leave the rest for you to experience when you go there.....

Below are the pictures taken during our drive up to Chembara Peak.

And the Legendary Jeep rides of Kerala....

All in all you'll thoroughly enjoy Kerala if you stay and roam around in the right places. You'll only wish it wasn't as humid as it was else you'll not have any complaints.

Just look at''em

Looks like Gopi is very angry. Got this from a menu card in Wayanad Kerala. Guess this dish was named after Suresh Gopi

From the same menu card as above. Non-Vegitable???

There is no limit to how many people can be transported in a jeep at the same time in Kerala!

Another Sample...

I don't think anyone spoke to the cow before declaring its happy about this whole deal.

May be they should try working withouit yelling for once.

Sorry what was I supposed to do / not do again?

Sign board outside Forum shopping mall, wonder how many times they proof read this before publishing..

Kabbe Holidays

A great holiday destination in Coorg, this place boasts of world class accomodation at really affordable cost, amazing food and most of all great hospitality that always makes you feel at home. Kabbe Holidays is the place to be if you need a perfet holiday. Dilip & Vidhya, the people who run this place are real sweet hearts and they always make you feel as part of their family.


When I first heard of this place I was told that they treat you like a king, I thought that is just for the sake of marketing, like other holiday desitnations advertise, but after vistng this place is when I realised how true that statement was. I have been to this place thrice between 2007 & 2009 (those are the only times we made it to Kabbe Holidays, if you count the number of times we've attempted but did not get booking is probably > 10) and everytime I go there it feels like going back home.

All the friends I have taken to Kabbe Holidays so far have gone back for another vacation sooner or later and they always have great things to say about this place and of course Dilip & Vidhya. Some of my friends even call me the Columbus of Kabbe Holidays coz I found the place first amongst all of us.

One thing you must never miss when you go there is to walk up the hill with Dilip, the view is fantastic and you can actually see Kerala while your foot is firmly rested in Karnataka. Probably you can also go up his cofee estate by evening and wakdown after sunset. There are a couple of places where Dilip can take you for some adventure sports. If you are into adventure sports you can try kayaking, rock climbing, raffling, paint balling, quadra bike, etc.

It is highly recomended that you ask Vidya to prepare the traditional pork fry and the dessert that is made with bread (not sure what its called but one thing for sure is that you can't stop eating it once you start). If it aint raining you can have a good time at the campfire, Vidya now has a new game that she plays in camp fires called "Jab We Met." I woulnd't want to reveal much details about this game here, you should get there and see it for yourself. I've always wondered how Vidhya manages to come up with so many different varieties of food, some of the things I've eaten / drank in Kabbe Holidays are things that you don't find anywhere else.

Everytime we plan for a trip with friends or everytime a good friend is asking for suggestions on a holiday spot the first place we think of is Kabbe Holidays. Not just because of the great place it is, but also because of the great bonding we share with Dilip & Vidya.

If you are looking for a peaceful, fun filled vacation Kabe Holidays is the place to be. But be sure you book the place well in advance so that you are not disappointed (I'd suggest for Christmas and New Year's you'll need to make a booking atleast a year in advance). Here are some of the pictures from my memorable trips to this place, alternatively you can know more details about this place in their website http://www.kabbeholidays.com/

The peak you see is actually half way to the hill top.

Dilip's coffee estate

One of the places where you can involve is some adventure sports

Below are some of the feebacks we wrote on the vistor's book whenever we had been there (There are more of the first impression comments and I haven't updated all the comments we put up in our consecutive visits).

3rd & 4th November 2006 (I came here with my team):

We took the wrong route and had a tiring and long journey. The best thing was none of had a clue about how this place is. We all were kind of getting skeptical as to how the place is going to be. When we reached here the very first interaction we had with Mr & Mrs Dilip was great. We felt like home after seeing the place. Then the food best of its kind, the way the food was served was also great / personalised service. The places we vsted around this place were the best, especially the treking part gave us an experience of a lifetime. This was one of the best refreshing vacations we've had. The only thing that bothered me was the leeches. In a nutshell this place is the "best of the best."


April 2007 (This was when I got my best friends to Kabe Holidays)

This is my second visit to Kabbe Holidays, the previous visit was in November 2006. This time it was much better (greater) that the previous visit because we stayed here for two days. Dilip is a star, he took us to his estate and let us walk back in the dark which was the most adventrous trek I've done in life. The next day Dlip took us to Kayaking and pushed me into the water inspte of me being extremely 'hydrophobic.' I don't know if that expeience was exciting but it was refreshing for sure. We then had a great time at the campfire with some antakshari, some toddy and lots of fun.

The food was exceptionally good and I'm gonna miss this food when I go back. The way the two new cottages were built is remarkable and I don't have words to express the hospitality of Dilip, Vidya & Dev. Now I feel that I'm a part of Dilip's family. What made me very happy was that I brought my best friends here for the frirst time and all of them really loved and enjoyed it to a great extent. I'm looking forward for many more excitng, enjoyable and adventrous trip back to Kabbe Holidays. I want to et my family here once and 'm sure they will love it. I call myself as 'Columbus' among my friends circle beause I discovered this wonderful place!

April 2007 (This is what Leeni wrote on their book)

Its a given this place is beautful, heaven on earth, but what has made our stay memorable were the wonderful people. Vidya is a sweetheart, best hostess I have ever met. Dilip going that extra mile to make memories for us (Late Night Jungle Safari). Dev, smart and full of life and an excellent sot and dancer.
Thank You doesn't exactly say it :-). We will be back.

April 2007 (This is what Amith wrote on their book)

Forget It!!! I never visited a resort I felt like I visted my relative's place and honestly never felt like I am new here. Excellent food (considering that I don't eat) Awesome hospitality. (Dilip, Vdya, Dev you rock).
Thanks for this wonderful experience. Many more visits to come.

My Short Stories

I have all my short stories in .pdf format and have been breaking my head in figuring out a way to upload the pdf files onto my blog. With no light at the end of the tunnel, I figured out the best way to put them up is by converting them into image files and uploading them. So here are a couple of my personal best short stories...

 

 

 

 

Quitting a Job

After serving for 7 years and 8 months in an organisation, I quit my job. I did not have any idea on how to draft my farewell mail, like everyone I looked at the other farewell mails I received and even searched on Google. It was of no use.

Then I thought may be I should look for a suitable line from one of my favourite movies and then draft a note around it. I logged on to imdb.com to look for movie Quotes. I first looked at Ocean's Eleven, Twelve & Thirteen, didn't find anything. And then I checked out Spiderman 1, 2 & 3 still din't find anything. I almost gave up on the movie line thing and that is when I remembered Captain Jack Sparrow! I knew there will be some dialogue of his that will suit my requirement. And I found one. Plus my friend Leeni sent me some lines I could use on my farewell mail. Here is the farewell mail I sent out...

____________________________________________________________________________

Subject Line: Elvis has left the Building ! ! !

Dear All,


“You long for freedom. You long to do what you want to do because you want it. You want to see what it's like. One day you won't be able to resist”
                                                  - Captain Jack Sparrow, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.

And the day has arrived. I quit and today will be my last day in MphasiS; I’m abandoning this ship to dive into the BIG BLUE Ocean to explore stranger tides.

I would like to thank each one of you, who stood by me, inspired me and supported me throughout my association with MphasiS, without which I wouldn’t have reached this far.
I would also like to thank the people that I worked with, who made my career here exciting and challenging.

It’s been a pleasure working with you all, I wish you all the very best in everything that you do and do keep in touch. You can find me on the World Wilde Web, specifically on Face Book and Linked In.

Every goodbye makes the next hello closer.

Cheers!
V
My E-Mail Address: vcygnus@gmail.com
My Blog: http://vipages.blogspot.com

Note: Caution has been taken to ensure regular phrases like mixed feelings, roller coaster ride, wonderful learning experience, etc are not used.
____________________________________________________________________________

Until I sent this mail out everything appeared to be fine only when I got off my desk and started meeting people to say Good Bye did I realise that it is not that easy to bid farewell to the people and the place where you've spent close to 8 years. Here I'm not talking about the difficulty that is a result of an emotional connection but the number of people that one had to speak to in one day. One day wasn't enough. I didn't feel bad about leaving that place or the people because in the world of twitters and facebook keeping in touch is really not a big challenge.

All the people I met wished me luck, a couple of them tried to convince me that I've made a hasty decision, couple of them gave me gifts, some of them expressed disappointment, a lot of them spoke about my farewell mail stating it was indeed a good one, some of them also read my blog and came back with comments and praises, some of them even caught the hidden message on my e-mail which indicates where I'm going next (IBM - the BIG BLUE). So overall it was really nice to meet most of the people I've worked with and they all have left some good memories in me. So its been a long innings and now I have a lot more friends...

Goodbye MphasiS and Hello IBM!