KALLAR- A GORGEOUS PLACE TO VISIT

Recently my friends and I had been to a place near Mettupalayam-a 200 acre estate packed with fun and adventure.It was called Kallar.

PAMMMMM!!!!! That was the blue mountain hooting for its passengers to board the train.A restless crowd of midgets and parents were at the verge of tears(boo hoo!! my child's leaving for 2 whole days!--that was the parents reaction!).Soon it was time for the train to leave.WHOOOPEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That was us-glad to leave the usual routine in Chennai. A series of tamil ghaana songs came floating in our heads! With all our hyper-excitement we sang and danced and clapped,until we became totally exhausted that we blew up our pillows and popped into the berth to have a good sleep.


Click!That was something bright shining from the ceiling....Oh!!The lights!!Fine...it was time to get up..good lord!!Just 3:37 am!! We reached Coimbatore at 4:30 am and boarded the bus outside to go to our hotels. We stayed in Ashoka Inn....a luxourious 3-star hotel(there wasn't any A.C but!).After having a hasty bath we boarded another bus and reached our campsite.There we were welcomed by 2 sweet people-Mrs.Neena Nath and Mr.Nath.They were the founders of the group called THE HIGHLANDERS.They had a team behind them to help us do activities like stream scrambling,river crossing,rappelling,trekking and tree planting.After a rather heavy breakfast of kushboo idli(that was really huge!!) and vada(with sambar etc...)we were divided into 8 groups-The Spirits,The Kallar Kou'p,The Pirates,The Untitled,The Trekkers,The Thrillers and many more like that. I being a part of the Spirits left for tree planting and stream scrambling the first day.Huff! Puff!That was how i walked all along the long distance.But it was worthwhile.Scrambling over streams of pebbles and rocks,slipping your foot on rocks,getting yourself dirty with mud,drinking water from the streams passing by,chatting with those friendly helpers,we ended our day with a sumptous snack of Bajji and Chutney..(we had a lip smacking lunch too).

Then came party time.We had a campfire in which we were made to stand around the fire and dance along with the music that was played.Everyone except a few danced and had a great time!!It was a really good idea!There was also a stage where we could express our talents in dance and plays.

The next day we all gathered in one place called Silver Residency where we were asked to dump our luggage in a room and leave for the campsite.There again we were greeted by the delicious aroma of khichdi and dosa.Burp!!That was what i had to do after the filling breakfast.Then again me. as part of the Spirits left for river crossing..we had to jump fences,bend over the barbed wires over and over again and at last we reached the noisy river.MY!!MY! What a lovely place!!The strong currents of the river made you deaf.The clean water made you long for a wash in it.There was a huge rock where there were 3 trained men standing on it to tie the safety belts and hooks.All we had to do was to go reverse on the thick rope tied about 15feet horizontally away from the river and hug the tree at the other end.It was simply superb!Then we went back for lunch.There again we made fun of many many people and laughed heartily.Then came the best part ever! RAPPELLING!! You had to climb a huge steep rock and come down again with the help of a rope.When we saw it we had shivers down our spine but when we did it we had a lovely time,some of us hanging in mid air,some others gliding smoothly down the rock and some others at the top of the rock worried.We couldn't have another chance as the rains came pouring down.Rappelling made up the entire trip.It's position is no.1 in the topping list of activities.Happily we set out again to the campsite to munch a few Pakodas and some Tea.But at the same time we were sad to leave the place and its friendly people living around.

(An hour later)

Silver Residency was packed with noisy students having their dinner.It was also someone's birthday,so were singing the birthday song too.Later we thanked and had a 3cheer to Mrs.Neena and Mr.Nath and their team members.We left for the station to board the Cheran express.

This will forever remain etched in my memory,I thought as the train rumbled past Coimbatore.