I had been excited about the Wayanad trip since the very day my mom announced that she’s taking her final year B.Sc students for the tour. My uncle and cousins had visited the place one year back and I had been waiting for an opportunity to visit the place. I had heard lots about the natural beauty of the place and had even seen the snaps taken by my cousins. So you can imagine how excited I was about the trip.
The 3 day trip was scheduled to begin on 1st December 2009 and my entire family was going on the tour. My father had a hard time arranging his classes and my bro had to miss three classes. Still all of us were full of enthusiasm. It was the perfect time for me as my results had just been announced on 31st November. My Mom was very happy with the results as there were no ‘B’s in my grade sheet.
1st December 2009
So after all the preparations, we started out at 4:35pm on 1st December. There were 21 students- 12 girls and 9 boys, a male faculty, a non-teaching staff member and then my family. Thus our group consisted of 27 people. I had some worries about whether I’ll be able to get along well with the other students who were of the same age as me. But once the trip started, all my worries were cleared.
The students had arranged a tourist bus for the trip. It was very spacious and comfortable. There were students from other classes as well as my mom’s colleagues to wave us off. Amidst all the cheers and excitement, our tour began. At first, I was haunted by the memories of the tour I had with my friends an year back. I suddenly began to miss all my friends. But soon my mom took me to her students and I had the introduction with them. I sat and talked with them. Since it was Karthika that day, we stopped our bus at a place and lighted candles.
Students with lighted candles
We later had our dinner from a restaurant and we travelled through NH 17 from Ernakulam. The students were having fun. We later took NH 212 from Kozhikode and by 2 am we started climbing the ghat area. It was a full moon day and we sat glued to the window enjoying the natural beauty. We looked admiringly at the hills. There were about 9 hair pin bends on the way.
It suddenly started growing colder and some of us put our sweaters on. Soon we reached Wayanad and by 5 am, we reached New Paris Hotel in Meppadi, where our accommodation had been arranged.
A View from New Paris Hotel
2nd December 2009
We took rest and by 7:30am, we refreshed ourselves and got ready. We had our breakfast from the restaurant attached to the hotel and by 8am, we started out journey to Suchipara (Needle Rock) Waterfalls. All along the way, there were tea estates and we enjoyed the serene beauty. We took many snaps and were really bowled over by the beauty of the place. About an hour later, we got out of the bus and started walking through the hilly terrain. It was indeed a long walk and there were any areas where we slipped and were about to fall, but our friends held our hands tightly enough to save us from falling. After what seemed as a never ending walk, we reached near the waterfalls. We admired the beauty of the waterfalls. Some students even went near the waterfalls and washed their hands and face in the cold water. It was a wonderful experience.
After spending some time there, we walked back. Now we were really tired after the long walk to the waterfalls that we found it really difficult to climb up. So we stopped at a place and had some refreshments and then resumed our walk. We later spent some time for shopping and then started on our journey to the next place – the famous ‘Edakkal Caves’.
It took us more than an hour to reach the famous place. Our bus stopped at a place and we took a jeep to reach the foot of the hills. And then we had to climb all the way to the top of the hill. We had to climb through the rocks and in some places where the rocks were very high, there were a flight of stairs. We somehow managed to reach the top and then in one of the caves, we found Palaeolithic inscriptions. After spending some time there, we had to do the toughest part-climbing down. We climbed down slowly and with the help of boys we finally reached the foot of the hills.
A Beautiful View of tea estate
Another beautiful view from the way
The SoochiPaara Waterfalls
After all the adventures, we were tired and hungry. But we were also enjoying all these new experiences. We had lunch from a restaurant and later visited a museum, which was nearby. In the museum, we found various weapons, fishing equipments, ornaments, etc which were excavated from various parts of Wayanad. There were also inscriptions on rock and sculptures that showed battles between humans and animals.
From the museum, we started to our next destination – Pookot Lake. We reached the place at about 4:30. There was a small but beautiful lake. Some of the students went for boating in the lake. We later went for a walk around the lake and by around 6:45pm, we started back to the hotel. We reached the hotel an hour later. After refreshing ourselves and having dinner, we went to sleep.
The Pookot Lake
3rd December 2009
The next day, after breakfast we started our journey to the famous ‘Kuruva Islands’ by around 8am. We reached there by around 10 o’ clock. We crossed the river by a boat and reached the islands. We had to cross the river to go from one island to another. The river was quite shallow. And then we had a guide who helped us. We formed a chain by holding hands and slowly crossed the river. It was fun but a bit dangerous too. Some of the rocks in the river bed were slippery. And so some of us actually slipped and fell, but then the fall was not that severe and we were back into action soon. We even splashed water at each other. We crossed the river 7 times and were back in the island we had started from. We took rest for some time as we waited for our dresses to dry up. Later we had lunch from a nearby place. Finally after spending some exciting and adventurous time at the Kuruva Islands, we started on our journey back to Ernakulam by around 3:30 pm.
As we entered the ghat section, we were taken aback by the wonderful sceneries of the hills. We even stopped the bus to get some snaps of the breathtaking sights. The view of the hills surrounded by fog was indeed amazing.
A Wonderful View from the Ghat
4th December 2009
We reached Ernakulam by around 2:30am. Our stay was arranged in Veega Land – the amusement park. The whole of next day was spent at Veega Land. The students had lots of fun. Finally we started our journey back to Kollam by around 6pm. And by 12:30am, we were back in college.
The trip was indeed awesome. I got some new friends and we had lots of fun together during the trip. Everyone had been so
All thanks to the Almighty for making our trip possible without any difficulties. Also my sincere thanks to all the final year B.Sc students of TKM College of Arts and Science for letting me be one among you. You were indeed very friendly and caring. I wish you guys a very bright future. And then thanks Mom, for giving me such a wonderful opportunity. …
Life- My Take 
