It was a long time dream for the Cargill team to be at a waterfall outside Kerala. Giving thoughts to various suggestions we finally planned for the Hogenakkal falls in the Dharmapuri district of TN. Hogenakkal is a riverside small village with plenty of vegetation and is famous for the series of waterfalls. It is located about 750 feet above sea level amidst the Melagiri hills.
It was on November 13th that we started and there were 15 guys to board the cab around 3AM from office for the long cherished Hog falls. Travelling 425 plus kilometers was never tiresome as we had Arun & Sajeev to keep us entertained with their ‘tried & tested’ evergreen songs “kayalarikathu valayerinjappol” and other classical ones. The whole crew joined them as chorus and I wouldn’t be doing justice if I failed to mention the ‘generally silent’ Antony’s Tarzan-kind YELLING (purposely capitalized to show the impact!!) at the end of each song which overtook the applauses and howling. (Thank God that nobody stopped us for noise pollution!)
By the way have you ever had Masala dosa for Rs.50/- from a local ‘star-less’ hotel? If not, contact me, I will tell you where exactly this hotel is! Yes, we were so taken aback when the hotel at the Salem express way charged us a meal cost for a masala dosa, so mean of them! Morning by 11AM we were welcomed at the Dharmapuri village border by a few policemen; I am wondering whether to mention here that they settled for a ‘tip’ of less than Rs.50! Dude, you won’t even get a dosa for that.
An hour journey through the narrow village roads with vast barren landscape which stretched as far as the eye could see with the only splashes of color being a few dwellings dotting the area were pretty new for us. On reaching the location, we checked into the first floor of a house and accommodated ourselves in 3 dormitory-kind rooms. After a shower and lunch, we moved towards where we could make the coracle ride, the main purpose of our outing! (Coracles are circular basket boats covered with black plastic sheets and carry the ferry tourists across the river) We hired 3 coracles and went along the shimmering, rippling river. The light ups and downs in the roaring river and the waters splashing into the coracle made the trip a bit adventurous. It would have been even more exciting and adventurous had there been less water and we could go to the foot of the falls. The ‘coracle-man’ then took us safe to the other side to the shallow waters where we took a bath, swim, roll and what not!!
After the ride, we reached back to our room by 7 and the terrace opened for the cooking skills of Febin, Sarath and myself. The 3 chefs were supported by the team to cook Ghee rice, Chicken curry and veg salad. Gals, please don’t giggle, it’s boys who are testing their skills on cooking and that too for a whole lot of 15 members! All said and done, the group effort made the food tasty than expected. The venue was entertained by songs and dances from Hollywood numbers to Tollywood ‘dhappankuthu”
Sunday morning on the way back to Kerala we halted at Yercaud which is again a hill station like Kodai yet not much explored I guess. Way back home all of us were so refreshed and high that we never stopped singing and dancing in the cab to the item numbers and romantic duets, not to mention the Antony-Sarath duo for “nenjukkul peythidum maamazhai..” It was really an exciting and memorable outing the Cargill team ever had!
It was on November 13th that we started and there were 15 guys to board the cab around 3AM from office for the long cherished Hog falls. Travelling 425 plus kilometers was never tiresome as we had Arun & Sajeev to keep us entertained with their ‘tried & tested’ evergreen songs “kayalarikathu valayerinjappol” and other classical ones. The whole crew joined them as chorus and I wouldn’t be doing justice if I failed to mention the ‘generally silent’ Antony’s Tarzan-kind YELLING (purposely capitalized to show the impact!!) at the end of each song which overtook the applauses and howling. (Thank God that nobody stopped us for noise pollution!)
By the way have you ever had Masala dosa for Rs.50/- from a local ‘star-less’ hotel? If not, contact me, I will tell you where exactly this hotel is! Yes, we were so taken aback when the hotel at the Salem express way charged us a meal cost for a masala dosa, so mean of them! Morning by 11AM we were welcomed at the Dharmapuri village border by a few policemen; I am wondering whether to mention here that they settled for a ‘tip’ of less than Rs.50! Dude, you won’t even get a dosa for that.
An hour journey through the narrow village roads with vast barren landscape which stretched as far as the eye could see with the only splashes of color being a few dwellings dotting the area were pretty new for us. On reaching the location, we checked into the first floor of a house and accommodated ourselves in 3 dormitory-kind rooms. After a shower and lunch, we moved towards where we could make the coracle ride, the main purpose of our outing! (Coracles are circular basket boats covered with black plastic sheets and carry the ferry tourists across the river) We hired 3 coracles and went along the shimmering, rippling river. The light ups and downs in the roaring river and the waters splashing into the coracle made the trip a bit adventurous. It would have been even more exciting and adventurous had there been less water and we could go to the foot of the falls. The ‘coracle-man’ then took us safe to the other side to the shallow waters where we took a bath, swim, roll and what not!!
After the ride, we reached back to our room by 7 and the terrace opened for the cooking skills of Febin, Sarath and myself. The 3 chefs were supported by the team to cook Ghee rice, Chicken curry and veg salad. Gals, please don’t giggle, it’s boys who are testing their skills on cooking and that too for a whole lot of 15 members! All said and done, the group effort made the food tasty than expected. The venue was entertained by songs and dances from Hollywood numbers to Tollywood ‘dhappankuthu”
Sunday morning on the way back to Kerala we halted at Yercaud which is again a hill station like Kodai yet not much explored I guess. Way back home all of us were so refreshed and high that we never stopped singing and dancing in the cab to the item numbers and romantic duets, not to mention the Antony-Sarath duo for “nenjukkul peythidum maamazhai..” It was really an exciting and memorable outing the Cargill team ever had!
