Day 2 - Perceptions.

Unexplainable Anomalies

- Hussain Tiewala

300 theplas and 3 hours of sleep after we boarded the train, finally we arrived at Coimbatore, exhausted but eager for a great day ahead.

We had a full schedule planned in the itinerary but unfortunately things started falling apart from the get go as the bus we had booked for the trip was a mere two and a half hours late.

Breakfast was light, as we knew we had a long winding bus journey ahead (my mom used to call these road trips on the ghats as ‘jalebi trips’) and the wait in the smoldering heat was no treat, but amidst all the chaos something brilliant happened.

A Tata photon broadband advertisement provided some shade for all 12 of us to come closer than we had ever come before and provided us with the opportunity to “connect” with each other on a brand new level. There were no longer the walls of discomfort between us all and those two and a half hours spent in the sun gave everyone a sense of belonging wherein we realized that we are all stuck in this rut together.

The flower show was crowded, crowded here being an understatement in every sense of the word, but according to Mr. Satyanarayan that was the objective of the visit, so I guess we accomplished our goal in realizing that, India is in fact a densely populated place.

Largely there has been no experience which has stood out amongst the rest, except the occasional unripe mango eating, or the boiled corn eating or even our dinner at the YWCA.

Hopefully tomorrow will bring us new hurdles and challenges which will create an exciting and adventurous atmosphere and perhaps even give us an epiphany or two about how different being a Toda is as compared to your average neighborhood urban brat. And more importantly hopefully we find some piece of relevant information about the Todas (what we have actually come here looking for) which we could actually use.

Until then ciao.

Day #1.5 – Life Is Waiting

- Yashwant Mundhra

You know that feeling when you don’t know where one day finishes and the other one begins? Me too.

That’s how today was. After successfully dropping off the bags I had to at Salem – a rather pathetic experience, as Salem arrived a mere 2 hours late. And I was up the entire time, with the Train Attendant (a rather nice fellow), barely managing to get any sleep. And before say “supercaliflagilisticexpialidocious” (however that’s spelt), Coimbatore arrived.

You know that other feeling where everything goes in the exact opposite direction of the plan? Me too.

Well, that’s what happened at Coimbatore. We waited nearly 3 hours – in the heat – for our bus to arrive, which was to take us to Ooty. And just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, I had a splitting headache and Ria had an alarmingly high fever.

You know that other feeling, when you’re down and out, and in an absolutely lousy mood, and in the middle of a place you don’t really want to be at, which incidentally is chocker box packed with people, and you have some kind of… life altering… epiphany?
Me neither.

Well, that pretty much sums up the visit to the Botanical Garden at Ooty. It could’ve been so much more had it not been a crowded Sunday.

You know that feeling where in spite of all the shit around you (pardon my language), you end up going to bed happy? You know, just plain simple happy?
Me too.

Thank god for everyone in the group, especially the guys, and their antics. Mindblastingly funny. Dhamu, thank you for the entertainment. And thank you Paul Collingwood’s English cricket team for beating Australia, smashing Shane Watson all over the place, and winning the World Twenty20. What a victory! Phenomenal.

And here’s hoping tomorrow brings us lots of joys. Seriously, we need them. And that we also manage to carry out some interesting research with the Todas we’re scheduled to meet.

May the force be with us.

Excitement in Stress

- Dharmesh Vora

The journey was uneasy as it was too long. The luggage was finally out of the train. The climate was too hot to handle. The journey to Ooty didn’t start that well as we had to wait 3 hours for the bus. The Bus finally arrived with the shock that there was no AC. Then we went to botanical garden where we saw all kinds of flowers. We then went to Coonor and after experiencing the superb weather, all stress disappeared. Fabulous weather.

The Photographer’s View

- Rutuja Mithari

Today we went to the 114^th flower festival of The Botanical Garden in Ooty. Wonderful flowers with unseen natural colors and lakhs of people around us. The journey from Coimbatore to Ooty was outstanding. The waterfalls on the way were huge with ancient bridges on it. Everywhere on the way the banners which said “The Queen of Nilgiris, same as it was 50 years ago” motivated me a lot. Coonoor is one of the most marvelous places I have ever been. The scenic beauty is just breathtaking. I am in love with the Nilgiris.

Ab Bus

- Hemlata Jaitawat

Today we moved from the chaos of the train journey to the road journey. Gayathri showed her bargaining skills and settled the price for the coolie at Rs 300. The next step was to search for a bus to reach Coonoor. And again Serry- Cherry (Gayathri) bargained and settled the price at Rs 22000 for 10 days. We all had breakfast at a nearby restaurant. The bus was late by almost an hour and till then we took buddy pictures and discovered our victory slogan as ‘Ho Ho Baa’.

Finally we got into the bus and it moved towards the destination. Everybody was so tired that they slept as soon as the bus started moving. Around 2 o’clock, everybody woke up and decided that we will go directly to Ooty to see Flower Festival at the Botanical garden. Everyone picked something to eat.

At last we reached Ooty, it was crowded but, we somehow managed to see the Flower Festival. There were different varieties of beautiful flowers. After seeing the Flower Festival we met Mr. Satyanarayan and his son. We could see his enthusiasm and happiness to meet us. After a short meeting with Mr. Satyanarayan we decided to go back to Coonoor because Ria Baa was not well. Locating YWCA took some time but finally we reached there. YWCA is a peaceful and nice place. We went into our rooms and found out that boys’ room had a TV, and they were very happy to see that the girls’ dorm didn’t have it. We all had garma garam chai and then later ate dinner.

After dinner, we all were writing the blog entries, while thinking, ‘ab bus, aaj ke liye bahut ho gaya yar’.

Vanga Madam

- Gayathri Swaminathan

After having a slept peacefully on the train, I got up with a big smile on my face. We were 20 minutes away from the Coimbatore junction. As soon as we reached, travel agents came asking me “Vandi Venama Madam?” (Do you want a vehicle, madam?) and “Vangama madam” (Come this way, madam). I felt great bargaining in Tamil, and realized that I have some hard core bargaining skills. We headed to Ooty for the flower show. Lakhs of people from all over India came to watch this show, and it really was a treat to our eyes. By this time we were so tired that Ria was caught a high feaver. We finally reached YWCA. We freshened up, had food and finally went to bed.

Time out

- Hardik Sheth

We had a first time out as we reached Coimbatore station. We were all planning on how to set the innings after not playing a deliberate power play. After hours of waiting our bus finally arrived at Coimbatore station and we moved towards Coonoor. We decided to go directly to visit the Flower Show. We had a glimpse at various types of flowers which attracted us towards the nature and went to YWCA to follow the rules similar to Flame. The time out ended with the cricket finals and I’m looking forward at a steady play for the rest of the overs.

Beautiful Journey

- Ujjwal Kumar

Our hectic journey from Coimbatore to Ooty ended as soon as a fresh whip of air clubbed me in the beautiful valley of the Nilgiris. My tired body got rife with energy and I appreciated nature for its wonderful appearance. I was fascinated to see the hoardings stating Ooty is plastic free. The beauty of the valley forced me to envy the people staying here. Watching the flower festival did not appeal much to me as I was completely tired. But, I felt very satisfied that we could complete our work even in a very troubled state when our body was not supporting our mind. I wish the stunning valley will spur some interesting surprises in the coming days in the favor of our project work. I am eagerly looking forward to meeting the Todas for an enriching experience.

Ups and Downs

- Ami Balai

We reached the Coimbatore Junction at 8.30 am. Few of my friends were looking after the luggage. Some of us went for breakfast. After a warm welcome at the Coimbatore Junction with Rawa Dosa and a cup of coffee, we waited outside station for three and half hour for the bus.

Suddenly, some of my friends were screaming ‘Ho Ho Baa’. Dharmesh was lost in his own world. Soon he discovered that they all were singing for him.

After all tip and toss
Putting our ass off
We got into the bus
Our comfort world was lost

After an hour long journey, we got news that the flower festival at the Botanical Garden was shutting down two hours before the given time so we headed there. There were many varieties of flowers. Some of the flowers I was seeing for the first time. There was a tree which was trimmed to look like a rabbit.

Nature has given us everything, and I really appreciate all its beauties.

Boring Day

- Ashish Reddy

As soon as I got off the train we went to have breakfast. After this, we started our bus journey from Coimbatore to Ooty to go see the flower festival at the Botanical Garden. I saw many different kinds of flowers, and the trip down there was really worth it. We returned to YWCA, where we were scheduled to stay, and then went to sleep.

Blue Fever

- Ria Nandani

The sudden climate change took its toll on my health. I am extremely grateful to all my group members and my mentor Suniti Ma’am, who besides being very supportive, pampered me to death! What would have I done without you guys?

Ho Ho Baa!

- Suniti Vadalkar

“Come lets all say together Ho Ho Baa” and everyone laughed together. Dharmesh was looking elsewhere, bemused.

We were at the Coimbatore railway station. Around 8 am in the morning, we first ran to get some food. Gayathri was busy sorting out the deals with various transport agents.

Ria was feeling like vomiting and was not at all in her element. The guys were lazily strolling around. Hussein was engrossed in his novel, Above Average by Amitabha Baghchi.

After long hours of waiting, our mini bus, a 14 seater arrived. We all heaved a sigh of relief. We began our second stage of journey towards Conoor – the place where we were all going to stay.

We heard that the rose exhibition going on at Ooty would close at 4 pm and that today was the last day. On the spur of the moment, we changed our plan and drove straight to Ooty without even having lunch, as all of us thought that capturing moments of this exhibition was more important.

The usually silent city had become an ocean of crowed people. 3-4 lakhs of people had come from all over the south. No wonder the hotels were jam packed and we had a tough time getting accommodation. The exhibition was one of its kind.

Throughout our journey ‘Ho Ho Baa’ kept our spirits high. I did not bother to ask anyone what meant. Ever since I had left home, I wanted to have one ‘victory cry’ or ‘group voice’ which would turn to be our group’s identity. And unknowingly, as if reading my thoughts, my students had invented one. I loved to see their enthusiasm and their unity. Even more, I loved to see the manner in which my students had converted unpleasant moments under the scorching sun, all tired and fed up of waiting for three long hours for our bus, to pleasant moments of joy and fun. I truly hope, all of them keep up this spirit till the end of our journey J