Weddings and Wildlife p3 - Bathroom singers

Then it was a long beautiful drive back to Coimbatore through mist and rain. The next day we were in Bangalore, mall-hopping and shopping. We had lunch at this restaurant called Mainland China, where I had this surreal bathroom experience. As I stepped into the loo, we were confronted with just one urinal, which seemed to be full of ice cubes. Unsure of whether it was a actual urinal or a display piece, we hesitated, till the pressure in my bladder forced me to step up. I’m not talking about a couple of ice cubes here; it was full to the brim, and when used created a very nice golden waterfall effect. Even more surreal, just as soon as I started using it, oriental music started playing through hidden speakers, leading me to conclude that it was some sort of Chinese congratulation theme.

I'm never really comfortable in public toilets anyway. I mean, what the deal with those teeny 2 foot partitions they put up between the urinals anyway? It would only prevent a midget from looking over, and if I were a midget, you know I'd be bringing my footstool to get to the right height. Thats why, guys invariably choose the urinal at the extreme end; at least that way they'd only have to worry about the guy on one side peering. Thats another thing, if there are several urinals free, and a guy chooses the one right next to yours, you're in trouble. Thats basic toilet training. Needless to say, if I see the only urinal which is free is between two occupied ones, I divert my direction to the stalls.

We caught our flight back to Delhi that evening, but the story doesn’t end there. As we were standing around waiting for our luggage, we spotted Lucky Ali(an Indian pop star). We were not sure at first, as he was alone, and no one seemed to recognise him, but then he got his guitar off the belt, and turned and it was him! We were like staring at him, and he noticed us, and walked to us and said ‘Whats up guys?’ We were too starstruck for comprehensible conversation, so the best we managed was something like ‘Bla blu bla’, and then he was gone.

Here are a few more pics of our trip

Weddings and Wildlife p2 – Bungle in the jungle

After a good nights sleep, thanks to the mega fabulous weather there, we set off for Ooty, bright and early. Or rather, we left at 12pm (which passes as bright and early for us). It’s a lovely drive through the Nilgiris (which means blue mountains as you can see from the photo), and though Ooty itself is not very clean, the hills around it are lush with trees and flowers.

On reaching, we grabbed a quick cuppa, and then headed off to the botanical gardens, which were quite disappointing, as most of the flowers had not come into bloom as yet. So we headed off to the bar where we proceeded to try to get thoroughly drunk.

We were supposed to wake up early next morning, but getting Loki out of bed and ready takes about 4 hours, so we left for a drive with my uncle at around 12. Along the way we ran into a tribe of black langoors, which are quite rare. The drive was lovely, and we ended up at this beautiful blue lake.

Next, we drove up to this trout fishery, where they are trying to breed and introduce rainbow trout into the various lakes around there. We got to see the whole lifecycle, starting from the eggs to the fry and ending with some massive adult trout.

We set off around four pm down one of the steepest roads I have ever seen (36 hairpin bends in 11 kilometres) to reach this wildlife sanctuary called Masanagudi, while my uncle and aunt regaled us with stories of the various animals they had seen, and of the person we were. This place abounds with wildlife, tigers, panthers, deer, porcupines, and most of all, elephants. The area also teems with resorts catering to the pampered tourist, but we shunned those to make our way to this little place which was owned by my uncle’s friend Mark Davidar. Mark’s place is warm and hospitable; to beasts of the four legged variety that is. Us two legged humans are viewed with deep suspicion and distrust. I was really grateful my uncle (who is a great friend of Marks) was around, cause there was a panther hanging around there, and we had apparently chased it off as we drove in. We also missed seeing a bear by five minutes. Bummer! But the magic had already started; as we drove along the dirt path to Marks place a herd of spotted deer were crossing the path in front of us. A wild boar also kept us company, and trotted along the car for a few seconds, before diving off into the undergrowth. We were already enchanted with the place, and as we sat in the veranda binoculars and cameras at the ready, Mark showed us beautiful snaps of the various animals which visited his house, including tigers which had pushed their heads through the bougainvillea.

Mark’s place, or Jungle Trails, as it is actually called is pretty famous. You can read about him, in Prerna Bindra’s book ‘the King and I – Travels in Tigerland’. The chapter, The Armchair Naturalist is about him.

As we waited, a whisper sprang up; ‘Elephant!’ Two young tuskers were stealthily making their way up to the house. The headed first for the water tank, which Mark kept filled for the animals and then headed for the kitchen, which was a building separate from the main house, It was almost night, and the most eerie thing about the two creatures, is that as they moved through the dusk is that they were deathly quiet, and almost seemed like shadows flitting through the trees.

As we were watching them at the back of the house, Loki shouted, ‘Panther!’. We hurried to the front, but unfortunately I had missed. Suspiciously, Loki was the only one to see this alleged panther. A few minutes later, we watched as a huge porcupine scurried through the trees. It was too late to see anything much after that, and we gave up and bid farewell to Mark and his enchanting place.

We then headed to another resort, this time one that catered to the human species, where we met the owners; a most charming family, who plied us with food and drink till we couldn’t see straight. After talking and singing till 1 am, more than slightly tipsy, we took off through the winding roads and reached Ooty in one piece, where I fell into bed as one dead.

Next morning, we decided to go for an early walk at Cairn hill, which is this beautiful wilderness, untouched since the British left. As we walked through the pine, we saw our most beautiful animal yet, a pair of beautiful giant Malabar squirrels, the richest of maroons, as they danced through the branches in an aerial acrobatic display just for us. We continued our trek to the top of the hill, where a rickety iron machan waited to take us up above the trees where the magnificent vista which is Ooty opened up in front of me.