Hi All,
Actually, we sent invite to Bodi-Munnar trek on Dec 2nd week. Since there was issue on Mullai Periyaaru at Tamilnadu border. So this trek was turned down and planned for alternative trek option to Kumbakarai – Kodaikanal in short time period.
I'm really glad and thankful to the team for making it a memorable one.
Please find the videos from Kodai trek below. The Most Memorable moments of entire Trek Video coverage.
The En route from Velakavi to Kodaikanal Most beautiful view Points:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Velakavi Village entrance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Kodai Trek - Thirumal Malai - Five House water falls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Kodai Trek Exit Point.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
The Second view point from Velakavi to Kodaikanal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Kumbakarai Sliding Waterfalls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Velakavi Sunrise at 6.00 Am in the morning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
The En route from Velakavi to Kodaikanal Most beautiful view Points:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Velakavi Village entrance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Kodai Trek - Thirumal Malai - Five House water falls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Kodai Trek Exit Point.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
The Second view point from Velakavi to Kodaikanal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Kumbakarai Sliding Waterfalls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Velakavi Sunrise at 6.00 Am in the morning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Post Trek Mail from Lakshmi:
This is my first trek with CTC and I enjoyed every bit of it!
Special thanks to Vadivel for organizing such a superb trip, it’s not just the trip that makes it, but the people as well. You did a fantastic job. You took excellent care of us.
Food (Maggi, Sambar rice) you prepared was excellent.
I’d be grateful if you could let me know the other treks which you are organizing.
Special thanks to Vadivel for organizing such a superb trip, it’s not just the trip that makes it, but the people as well. You did a fantastic job. You took excellent care of us.
Food (Maggi, Sambar rice) you prepared was excellent.
I’d be grateful if you could let me know the other treks which you are organizing.
Post Trek Mail from Rekha:
Hats off to the organizers. Keeping our big group together was no small feat. The trek was challenging, and totally rewarding - esp the swimming!
My favorite parts
-viewing Vellaigavi from Kodaikanal. I had no idea we trekked so far and high until I looked back at the village
-the copious amounts of black coffee that our kind village hosts offered us
-scaling our way down to the falls.
-meeting others with an interest in trekking
Thanks again to all, esp. the organizers.
My favorite parts
-viewing Vellaigavi from Kodaikanal. I had no idea we trekked so far and high until I looked back at the village
-the copious amounts of black coffee that our kind village hosts offered us
-scaling our way down to the falls.
-meeting others with an interest in trekking
Thanks again to all, esp. the organizers.
Post trek Mail from Manirathnam:
Hi guys, had a great weekend with u all. I really want to thank and appreciate the efforts of the organizers in re-planning (superbly) the whole trek plan in short time without any problems.
The most difficult part of the whole trek is watching "VELAYUTHAM" in the bus. I think the participants should have been warned of this. Organizers please take a note of this.
I'm looking forward for more treks with u all.
The most difficult part of the whole trek is watching "VELAYUTHAM" in the bus. I think the participants should have been warned of this. Organizers please take a note of this.
I'm looking forward for more treks with u all.
Post trek mail from James:
I really enjoyed the trekking, and spending the night in the village was also great. Seeing the village lifestyle was amazing, as well as the beautiful rolling hills, fresh air, and serene views. you guys really did a great job organizing and executing the trip. Both Rekha and I had a great time.
Post trek mail from Mayura:
How r u all? Hopefully we all enjoyed the trek and its innate
austerity, a pre-requisite to survive in the wild. I returned to base
wt sore back,limping legs and yet content heart. Being the eldest
youth,lol, i wondered the abilities and attitude of GenNxt. Even when
we were damn tired to utter a word, deeds never seized.
austerity, a pre-requisite to survive in the wild. I returned to base
wt sore back,limping legs and yet content heart. Being the eldest
youth,lol, i wondered the abilities and attitude of GenNxt. Even when
we were damn tired to utter a word, deeds never seized.
Post trek mail from Suneel:
I don't know what to express. Am I too excited? Have I enjoyed the trek? Have I enjoyed the photography? etc etc.. Too many questions arise in my mind when I think of this trek. The best part is that the new friends in this trek who have coordinated in such a beautiful fashion. A batch lead by Vadivel, a batch lead by Naveen & Rakesh and another by Guru. I still remember Ajai, Kiran and myself struggling to light the camp fire. I remember Ram Kumar's wake up call and his cheers. I remember Guru's entertainment. I enjoyed the company of Naveen, Suresh, Rakesh, Kiran, Neela, Gayathri and Aditya through out the trek. I held my nerves while posing at the suicide point. There were too many moments in this trek. Thanks one and all for keeping those moments memorable. Wish to meet you all guys in another trek.
Post Trek mail from Satish:
Hi frnds, had a wonderful trek. I have went to kodai many times. And i have given the pose to the camera clicks in d dolphin nose point, watched the village with my friends amazingly a year back. But i never,ever guessed that i will be in the same beautiful village, playing d volley ball & cricket with d the village kids, sleeping in the village school and trekking back to dolphin nose point. I enjoyed like a kid seeing the mother nature while trekking. And d the second part of trekking to Five house falls to me its a "Demon Falls". wow,wat a waterfalls. i was really scared on the way to the waterfalls. All the peoples accompanied with me are awesome a friendly peoples i met. Thanks to the organizer.
Post Trek mail from Ramkumar:
Dec 2nd week, Mail from ctc for visiting Bodi to Munnar,
Since there was issue at Tamilnadu Border it was turned down.
Who where the Key players?
Vadivel - Quickly planned the Alternative for Kodai trek as he had visited Already,
Mayuresh- played key role in Scanning the entire area which in turn helped us to decide on visiting Kodi trek.
Rakesh - Gave us new plan after reaching Kodi, visiting Five House falls which no one will forget
he also got a good Travel rate card for Kodai to Betalakundu
Guru - Got all the Food for the entire trek, he also played a role of Sweeper getting people from Kumbakarai to Valakavi.
Without Vadivel the trek to Kodai would have not been come true........good Appulause to quick & alternative plan.
About Velakavi & The Trip
The Village Originated even before Kodaikannal Orginated.
It is 10 Kms from Periyakulam - Kumbakarai Waterfalls.
As per records, 5 families were 1st people in the village.
Now they are 123 families with Population of 500 People.
It was steep climb from Periyakulam and every one skills were challenged.
The batch of 25 people got splitted in to 3 batch
Vadivel Led the way to Velakavi.
The village is so beautiful and the people greeted us well
The Myth behind the Village , No one were allowed to were Sandals inside the village.
Sunday Morning one Man got up early in the Team running around from 4 AM. (Vadivel)
Who got all things in place, while the other person woke up the entire Team of 25 at 6 AM
to see the Sunrise :).
We all started from Velakavi around 7.30 AM, again we had 3 batch of people
1st Batch reached at 10.30 AM (Dolphin Nose), the last batch reached along with Gayathri reach only at 11:30 AM
The Entrance to Kodaikannal we had taken shelter in Tuck Shoes, which Offered us Bread Omelet and good variety of foods...........
The Team left from Kodai to Five House waterfalls at 1.45 PM, on the we had to drop Aditya at kodai bus stand. As he had the bus at 7:00 PM
The Team visited five House waterfalls which was awesome and no words to describe.
I will be soon visiting the village again. The Paradise is beautiful untouched by humans.
Since there was issue at Tamilnadu Border it was turned down.
Who where the Key players?
Vadivel - Quickly planned the Alternative for Kodai trek as he had visited Already,
Mayuresh- played key role in Scanning the entire area which in turn helped us to decide on visiting Kodi trek.
Rakesh - Gave us new plan after reaching Kodi, visiting Five House falls which no one will forget
he also got a good Travel rate card for Kodai to Betalakundu
Guru - Got all the Food for the entire trek, he also played a role of Sweeper getting people from Kumbakarai to Valakavi.
Without Vadivel the trek to Kodai would have not been come true........good Appulause to quick & alternative plan.
About Velakavi & The Trip
The Village Originated even before Kodaikannal Orginated.
It is 10 Kms from Periyakulam - Kumbakarai Waterfalls.
As per records, 5 families were 1st people in the village.
Now they are 123 families with Population of 500 People.
It was steep climb from Periyakulam and every one skills were challenged.
The batch of 25 people got splitted in to 3 batch
Vadivel Led the way to Velakavi.
The village is so beautiful and the people greeted us well
The Myth behind the Village , No one were allowed to were Sandals inside the village.
Sunday Morning one Man got up early in the Team running around from 4 AM. (Vadivel)
Who got all things in place, while the other person woke up the entire Team of 25 at 6 AM
to see the Sunrise :).
We all started from Velakavi around 7.30 AM, again we had 3 batch of people
1st Batch reached at 10.30 AM (Dolphin Nose), the last batch reached along with Gayathri reach only at 11:30 AM
The Entrance to Kodaikannal we had taken shelter in Tuck Shoes, which Offered us Bread Omelet and good variety of foods...........
The Team left from Kodai to Five House waterfalls at 1.45 PM, on the we had to drop Aditya at kodai bus stand. As he had the bus at 7:00 PM
The Team visited five House waterfalls which was awesome and no words to describe.
I will be soon visiting the village again. The Paradise is beautiful untouched by humans.
[Gayatri]
Don expect this write up 2 b a great 1 cuz it aint gonna b
wanna 2 share ma tots tats t.. (More ova mahesh insisted 4 it) so no other way you gotta go thru this..
Day 0 :
Mmm where do i start?!
"Weekend" like every other software person tat magical word spreads smile whenever i get 2 hear t
While everyone in Chennai had already started 2 think about spending the Precious 2 days with elliot n EA
i was standing alone in perungalathur bus stop as awkward as a cow on roller skates..
how horrible it would b :)
2 make the situation more pleasant i got a call from mahesh/guru (stil don’t know whicch culprit was tat ;))
asking me 2 buy food for all
was hunting the near by bistro
me : anna idli iruka?!
hotel anna : iruku evlo venum?!
me : oru 40 idli
h.a : ??!!?? (his expression is still there in ma mind) guess he tot m gonna eat them
me : Parcel (pleading judgment..!!!!)
h.a : Parcel ah?!
me : (whoooo)("relaxed")
then i met Mr.Satish.. we both where waiting for TAT rightly named (Time Already Tapped)
this what happens if you are ahead of the pack
past half an hour , the bus arrived , guru got down
guru : hey enga tiffin??!!
me : hiii..(felt like a jerk for saying hi even b4 he did)
Tiffin in tat anandha you gotta ask h.a
then v headed towards TAT
i'm a last bencher so m habituated 2 choose the last where ever i go..
the moment i sat every 1 started ogling at me
i thought they want to say hi
Mahesh : idli enga??
me : wahhh (i guess people never have the habit of uttering the beautiful word "HI")
bus started (one thing led 2 another i thought the entire trek will make me feel tat I’m a total jerk)
the night was soo gud with guru's snore (Regretting for the first time for choosing back seats) the bumpy roads were even more sweeter
never had a wink of an eye :(
Day 1 : Night gave way to the waking hours of the dawn
"periyakulam vandhachu"
at a time al 23 of us got up (it was jus like rushing 2 our home when we hear the school bell)
sipping the most awaited coffee ("felt so alive after having it")
Ice breaker - the regulars got into a friendly huddle and started churning out the details of past adventures
where i was standing and still wondering how the trek is gonna be
we all got into the van headed to kumbakarai falls
i enjoyed the drive from periyakulam to kumabakarai falls
the van halted met mayur and neela
neela's mother very sweet she came all the way 2 leave neela :)
we get to freshen ourselves not to mention the alien looks i got the moment i took ma brush :P
later
> the undertaking forms signed
> All gears, water bottles, food were split up
> wonder cake, apples , pears , rotis ,pickle, buns and jam, chocolates etc, were grabbed up by everyone according to the quantity mentioned by the organizers other pure souls such as me get to grab extra chocolates
> People with DSLR’s were busy shooting the monkeys
to tel you guys the truth it was all-encompassing trek Experience for me :)
Kumbakarai :) was too gud we had our bf("omg itz breakfast")
dipped ourselves in d water , took snaps ("no making memories")
we started 2 climb up d hill
tat was d last i saw the other part of the crew..
then the whole day was spent wit guru , mayur , neela , naveen , rakesh , sekar babu and suneel
was totally famished in the middle
guru's mantra "Almost" "idho konja dhuram" made me all energized
i eternally owe you for carrying ma luggage.. (wouldn’t let you next time for sure :) )
DJ Mayur was playing us song in the middle
neela was literally crying to the person who brought the horse along (:) same here neela was about 2 ask him if he cud take us)
while i moved forward ignoring the looks of the native ("as if i was performing "HOW TO WALK WHEN YOU ARE EXHAUSTED" ")
it was jus 5 mins to reach the "VElaKavI"
i was all smiles :D
thank god (!! at last)
vellakavi
There was a mysterious board hung up right at the entrance
"please remove your footware"
moving forward i saw mahesh " vanthutengala" ("guess he might thought how did she climb up")
kept our bags and i wanna ta go around the village to find out about the mysterious board
saw natives sitting and talking about politics("whooaa nmt")
still my inquisitive nature made me talk 2 them
the person who i was talkin 2 supposed 2 b the president of the place..
wasnt able 2 b quite was ask'n abt the board as i was realllllyyy curious 2 know y
balakrishnan(President) said it was their ancestoral custom
they were so kind then i met a lovely lady premalatha(people in velakavi fondly call her "chittu" )
she greeted me wit coffee
The taste was heavenly it was like something you'd look forward to all your life
it still lingers never tasted such a great black coffee ever(CCD's n Barista's couldn stand against the quality of taste)
she was over joyed in seeing us she was asking so many questions n she had asked me 2 stay the night in her place as it'l b damn cold
i dono where r these guys al of a sudden vanished..
(Ooo they r playing in d volley ball court)
wonder if they really had one
Volley ball court
wattt a viewwww chanceless it was
heaven on earth
i was head ova heels in luv wid tat place
was listen 2 ma fav numbers for a while ("made me think m blessed")
was in an amazing place , soothing weather, a cool breeze caressing my cheeks , my fav song wat els cud possibly make my day betta than this totally lost maself in it.
then the volley ball warriors of CTC wanna show the natives how tough they ver
Team - A
Ajay
Rakesh
James
Rekha
and a small devil Eshwar
Team - B
Mahesh
shreyas
Gorak
satish
another brat
war started team b totally losing 2 team A
mahesh reaction wen eshwar was playn ("avan epD pottalum Adikran da")
aft a while
v get 2 c the locals play ("THE REAL GAME")
"shreyas"(volley ball hero) was also playn wid them
whenever he slightly touch the ball
v al ver screaming at the top of our voice!!!
kiddos ver sweet enf 2 raise the ashes along wid flame.
Facebook committee:
Rakesh had initially started of wid t
try'n 2 get the contacts was his intension but atlast it turned out 2 b a laugh riot
Naveen did his honours as a part of re-interrogation member
then the long awaited bisibelabath
hot bisibelabath in freezing cold weather was toooo gud
vadi kudos 2 yu dude.. :) seriously yu make an excellent cook outta yorself
v gotta mention aditya for helping him 2 prepare the food
sum how the papad was magically disappeared
now the entire village is in complete darkness
vellakavi is blessed wit dense stars
MLTR's BLUE night song was soul relaxing for me
"when the blue night is over ma face
on the dark side of the world in space
when m all alone with the stars above
you are the one i love"
m totally in luv wid vellakavi <3
the ppl , their hospitality , mother nature , volley ball court evrything (except for d lil brats)
Day 2 :
I'd like my mornings better if they started later
If people were meant to pop out of bed, we'd all sleep in toasters
but thanks 2 RAM :)
Sun rise:
How strange that Nature does not knock, and yet does not intrude
its been years since i saw such a beautiful sunrise
sun amongst the mountains
if you have eyes you will be able to see that yor very existence is meaningful
kiran , ram , rekha n shreyas v certainly captured the beauty
Biding adieu 2 velakavi :
met chittu again jus 2 have a cupa coffee ( how selfish am i ??!) stil d taste made me let go of ma guilt
she was very sweet she gave me hot water , soap , towel and ma fav coffee (red carpet was only missing) els it wud b a complete royal welcoming
v exchanged our numbers
she insisted 2 come back again n inform her prior so tat she can b prepared 2 greet me in a spl way (hard 2 c such ppl wid real luv n affection)
overwhelmed :)
m totally in luv wid vellakavi <3.. wud luv 2 visit again
kodaiiii here i come
started off again , the acclivity made me give up still wanna reach out the place
vadi i stil remeber the 'S' n 'U's yu ver sayn 2 make me climb :D
Dolphin nose :
it was crowded wit just married's n couples
so luv was in d air..
walking towards d destination (not knowing ver it is) :'( :'(
LAst fEw sTeps:
"tat wil b the last few steps of yor trek"
sekar babu utttered the most mesmerizing words he cud eva say 2 me
reached altaf's breakfast spot ( a lunch spot fa me )
happy 2 c "THE TEAM" & was able 2 breathe easy again
a mini van was arranged for us 2 c the places around
v stopped at pillar stone , silver cascade , shopped a bit
DJ mayur started off wid songs again
we ver really in sync
laughter was al i cud hear
we ver lucky enf 2 see a bison on our way back
5 house falls:
this place wass "theee bestttest" part of the trek
birds chirping , the music of the water flow made me speechless n i wanna ta spend tym wit t..
while others went down 2 c d complete beauty of it
venkatesh donated sum of his blood 2 leeches
Love stories :
the later part of the evening was spent listening 2 love stories
lil tips here n there for us
Dinner :
some of them ver raising hands for Thalapa katti sayn "Thalapa katti dhaan venum"
Rest ver protesting sayin evry possible reason for not goin 2 t
atlast v had our dinner n waiting for TAT
TAT :
if evrything goes fine wats d fun in it
sumthin must act as spoil sport
here he comes ilaya thalapathy Vijay n his semma comedy flick "velayutham"
satish was the oly soul who supported vijay
Day 4 :
back 2 chennaiiii
wish i stayed up in velakavi lil longer
seriously vadi n guru i jus cant thank yu enf for organizing such an amazing trek..
i luved evrything abt t..
d rapport among d team was sumthin 2 b appreciated..
not only our luggage was weighing even our hearts ver>>!!!
Mist concealing the mountains , lush green carpets (I wish I magically wake up in vellakavi)
2 eyes werent enough 2 capture the luvly mountains
1 heart is not enf 2 carry the sweet memoriess..!!
wish 2 c yu guys soon :)
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