The Dandeli Trip

Before we begin, let me first tell you the cast for the trip... Here they are, in no particular order, ---Ameet, Kunal, Amruta, Devi, Reva, Ketan, Manish, Veerendra and Yours Truly....
The whole trip (well, most of it ) was organised by our in-house encyclopedia, who goes by the name of Ameet Phadke. This is one guy who can tell you everything about everything.
We first had a leisurely dinner at Coffee House around 10 in the night and then walked down to the bus stand, where the bus happened to be conveniently late by around half an hour. So, we now had an hour to spare. Now, it so happens that my new digicam is just a day old and I am itching to try it out. Reva has with her a hat that has been brought for the trip with the sole intention of lending it to everybody who wanted to be photographed in a hat. So, we spent the rest of the time clicking snaps and waiting for the bus to appear.

The next part of the journey(in a bus) stars Kunal, a part time professor-cum-techie, and his beloved Fruit Punch. This fruit punch is commonly referred to by everyone else in the world as port wine. This guy was helped in his mission to finish off the "fruit punch" by Manish, who also happens to be no mean drinker and Mirchi(i.e. if u call someone who had exactly 4 drops of the liquid as a drinker). Unfortunately, the mission could not be successfully completed as the bottle was forgotten in the bus. Every time, Kunal had a sip, the ordinary girl in the seat next to him turned into " a gorgeous item" (to borrow a phrase from Kunal). Also, the bus journey was one in which none of us got any sleep as every bone in the body happened to be in some alien location, thanks to the awful roads all the way from Pune to Dharwad.

The sun rose and we set foot in Dharwad. Ameet, the local guide, arrived an hour late and claimed to be standing at a different bus-stop. We guys had a doubt bcos there seemed to be only one stop in the whole of Dharwad. The first thing that hit us when we got down was that Dharwad had more buses than people, at least early in the morning. We then had a brief stopover to freshen up and then it was time to leave for Dandeli, the promised place.

The roads leading to Dandeli were amazingly bad and narrow. But I think none of that would have registered on any of our minds as the view on either side of the road was just breathtaking. I mean, in how many places do u see lush greenery extendng as far as the human eye can see on either side?

We reached the place where we were supposed to stay around midday. It was love at first sight looking at the beautful tents right in the middle of trees and lawns. The tents were extremely cozy and comfortable and we settled in right away. As it was raining heavily, we assembled in a single tent and sat down for one of India's favourite pasttimes (cards). Afternoon soon became evening as there was absolutely no sense of time passing with each of us completely engrossed in the card games. Dinner was pretty early (around 8 pm) and after that it was back to deciding as to what is to be done next. We settled on dumbcharades, and the next few hours just sailed by with each of us displaying our histrionic skills.

Tue morning: Time to go rafting


This is what each of us were eagerly looking forward to, considering that none of us, except for Ameet, had gone rafting previously. We reached the Kali adventure camp and then just went beserk over there clicking photos in all possible permutations and combinations. The Kali adventure camp office is an awesome place with lots of places to explore nearby and we did just that. We went all around the place and have a few stunning photos as a result.

Next we headed straight to the place where we were supposed to go rafting. For a change everybody paid rapt attention to the guy giving the instructions. Then we got onto the raft fully loaded with a life jacket, safety helmets and paddles. Now everyone had to jump into the water and then be rescued as part of a mock drill. It turned out to be pretty uneventful except when it was Ketan's turn to get in. This was because Ketan decided to do some breathing exercises underwater and was extremely panicky when he surfaced. That was an absolutely delightful Kodak moment. A pity we were not carrying our cameras to capture it. He immediately developed a fear for the water and stubbornly refused to take a dip in the water again even as the rest of us jumped in enthusiastically and had a blast swimming. This was one exhilirating experience that had everyone on board promising that this is not the last time they would go rafting (Ketan included). Ketan has now vowed to learn swimming at the earliest. The way you go over the rapids in the raft is something to be savoured. And considering that it was the first time I had gone rafting, it was absolutely unforgettable.

We then got back to the place we were staying to change over. By this time we were almost starving and prepared to eat anything in sight. We finally managed to go to a nice hotel a good couple of hours later. It was then time for Ameet to show off his college. Just acouple of words about his college. A great place, it actually had everything Ameet said it would have. An hour and a few more photos later, we reached the Dharwad bus-stop and here it was once again Reva's cap that turned out to be the cynosure of all eyes as we once again clicked a few more snaps.

We reached Pune in the wee hours of Wednesday morning.

That's it for now. Will soon post one after the next trip. And I promise the writing style would have improved by then:))

Check out the photos at : The Dandeli Trip Photos