On two wheels to tada

'Things always look good in retrospect' - is what a friend told me and i think thats true... after-the -event recollections tend to weigh down the "bad" while the "good" always dominate... maybe as a part of the process to console ourselves - which makes me wonder, people who want revenge must find it so difficult to hold on to all that anger going for years and years ... anyways i am digressing and all i wanted to say was this effect surely applies to this trip also... in the safety of my room, the heat, the buzz in my head doesnt seem all so painful!

We started off at 5 in the morning ... my friend had a map ( can u believe it, someone in india uses a map! :) )so we decided to ride via beach road - ennore - nh5 - tada and we started off. How come tada??? it was a place a class mate of mine had suggested for class 8 excursions and she described it as 'lush place with waterfall'... and now that i am in the explore chennai mode, it was on my list... while my initial interest had wanned, my friends was sparked and i thought ' what the heck, i might never get a chance again'.... so we were off!

The day was beautiful and hot... all the clouds conviniently dissappearing and dashing my hopes of a pleasant weather - the early morning and the sun over my head were already creating a buzz in my head and i kept hoping it wouldnt get worse. The NH5 is beautiful to cruise on.... smooth sailing is the word that comes to my head .... one thing that i noticed ( and i seem to be noticing very often these days )was the dull blue cludy sky becoming a beautiful azure blue with the whitest of clouds... looks like my demand for beautiful blue skies in India also got answered tht day!

Everybody around the place seems to know of the waterfall , so getting there wasnt a problem .... what was described as a dirt road is nothing like that - its more a stony road covered with rocks, small ones, with smooth surfaces , evenly laid out into a road- and a pain to drive on... at the end is small pond (??) and this is where u should stop- driving beyond here is a pain, which we soon discovered the hard way.... then we started up on the second road- more a trail... no trees, it was sweltering! Then came the temple, and the lady over there who told us the falls was just 1 km away - my heart leapt with joy. But she forgot to tell us that the 1 km was going to be a rock climbing expedition and not a cake walk ...

After half an hour of "rock walking", drinking crystal clear water from the river, some snaps, and some breaks, you come to a point where one needs to climb almost vertical rock faces of 7 ft in height. And this is where i stopped...just like that - and nothing in this world would induce me to move a step forward, and for soome reason i didnt mind it - not mind coming all the way and not seeing the falls! my friend tried goading me... unfortunately something that doesnt work when my heart has no regrets i have to say... so after chilling out for a while we turned back.. ( i did tell my friend to carry on ... but he didint!)

The trek back ofcourse was much longer than the one to the place... as always! on the way back, we saw lots of people, some chilling out at the initial river crossing with lots of booze... the one thing that did spoil the trip for me was the encounter with couple of guys who passed lewd comments about me and were acting funny - and while i had my swiss knife open to slash him i realised, ' i never ever want to use it'! The combination of my tiredness and my headache just freaked me out that moment - and in saner moments i thanked god that i hadnt made this trip with just another girl... things like this is what spoils the adventure of travelling alone, for women especially! yea, please come in big groups - and this place is certainly not family outing spot. and yep, pepper spray - ur on my shopping list...

We did manage some nice snaps over here as the water was ammazingly and beautifully transparent with lovely shades of green...and ofcourse, the stop at ennore, both in the morning and evening was something i'd never regret!

PS 1: biking isn't all that easy as it seems!

PS 2:
My dad when i told him i was going biking with a guy

D : ' who is this friend - he has a name'?

N: '...'

D: 'ok ... you want to take the car? its more comfortable '

N: 'dad, u are givin it to grand ma'

D: 'yes... cool- carry on! dont wake me up early morning when u leave... cos i cant sleep after that ' :D :D

and after the trip when i told him the story..

D: cant stop his 'i-told-u so' laugh 'Good good... go on more trips - how will u become tougher otherwise'

my mom...

M: ' you are going off with a guy on a bike?? why dont u understand ... u understand , but act like u dont'

typical of moms :)

Well, if only u knew .... ....