Weekend at 'Corbett..!!" - 20 Feb'09 - 23 Feb'09

Friday - 20 Feb'09


When I entered office in the morning, with all my baggage, so that I could go home directly from the office later, Who had thought.. the whole planned out weekend had something else to offer.

So, the day started with the usual work, gossips and pressures, and with the Friday being the busiest my mind had nothing else to think except work, work and more work and a determination to complete my work, so that I could leave for home a bit early, and get complete three days of the extended weekend to myself.
Ever faced a situation when you know, you have completed your task, but there is one task remaining for you to finishing, but that final task is not happening due to someone Else's delay. Phew... it actually gets very frustrating for me, when adding to it - its a Friday and I have plans for going home, which makes it for me a 1 and a half hr journey. Just imagine how irritating it gets, when you know, you will get late and may be even have to cancel your plans.
So while, whole these ideas were on my mind and were making my concentration levels to fall, one of my friend colleague, invites me to a weekend holiday trip, and I very sweetly - thinking it to be a big joke, shun the idea. " wow..sure!! here I am sitting idly and waiting to get my job finished, to run home, ASAP. And 'She' is busy cracking Jokes".
But she was apparently not joking and, putting me into a state of big time confusion, was waiting for my response, which obviously became a yes after a bit of mindful thinking. The plans I had decided for the weekend could happen even the next weekend but who gets to go to a trip every weekend. So there I was all geared up and now eagerly waiting for the job to get finished so that I could leave with her for the Trip.
So the idea for the weekend Trip, was to go to the Jim Corbett National Park, and dedicate the days to safari and wildlife. seemed cool... eh..??// And not every time you get to go to a Trip, where the plan's already been laid out and your part of the effort is just to make a presence, that's all.



Saturday - 21 Feb'09


My Day began at 3:20 am sharp, and with us getting ready to be able to hit the roads at 4 am, including picking up the others. So we left Delhi on Saturday morning 21st, all the way to Corbett. The best part about the whole journey was - 1) i love long drives and when 2) I was the one who knew all the directions and also helping the group with my immense knowledge of directions :D.
So, guys if anyone out there still thinks that girls are bad at directions, then you are being wronged and even if you decide not to agree then I have just one thing to say "At least don't lie to yourself" ;-P

So the journey starts at 4:20 am sharp, with 5 of us on the road. The funnest part about these journeys is that my mischievous mind gets to work, and clicking pics being my favorite hobby i got loads of chances to do that. Best still being, when half of the people were fighting their sleepy heads, and giving in to the most cherished sleep., clicking their gone to dreams faces is the best shot you can get ;) So, being busy the whole way is a task, with idle chatter and photographer in me keeping me well occupied :)
Such journey also give you the pleasure of eating out at 'Dhabas' on the highway. And anyone who's tried this knows why I am making a special mention of this roadside luxury.
My directions also tuned out to be effective where even the Google maps dint have a listing of the roads. And according to the GPS we were driving on the blank space.

We Hit the destination at 10 in the morning, and got busy with regular check ins and bookings for the Jungle Safari, which luckily turned out to be starting the same day at 1:30 pm. So we had this luxury of being ahead of time. :) So the first Safari ride was booked and yeah to top it we got great deal of time to rest, eat and get ready to hit the jungles.

The Safari ride was a great experience and would have been greater, had it been a night Safari, but then very sadly that's not permitted, and to cover that up that an early morning Safari ride on the canter had been booked, which was scheduled the next day.

The safari obviously had the vast jungle to offer and its own share of wildlife, with many species of deers, wild boars, elephants, bird species and so on. And the credit of spotting most animals goes to my friend, whose name too is, Nidhi. Throughout the journey, as I have already mentioned, the photographer in me was super active. So that makes me the owner of some really good pictures and videos.
The Safari journey gave us, a view of the wildlife, tired us, made us feel hungry, bathed us in ounces of dust and dirt and forced us to miss civilization.

Coming out of the tiring Safari actually gave everyone of us a great sigh of relief and made us realize the importance of civilization and cooked food. After giving ourselves a good dosage of Tea & Snacks, all of us the contented souls - started towards the resort we were staying in, totally oblivious that a great shock was awaiting us there.
So, adding up to our shocks and hysterics, there waiting for us was a totally different place, from the one we had left a few hours back. From being a completely nice and peaceful - quiet place it had turned into a complete fish market of sorts. The place now had 100's of children shouting and jabbering and running around. Just imagine how hard it would have hit us all, the poor holidaymakers who had been dying to relax after the strenuous jobs and long journeys, were again put on a test. So, this shocker compelled us to take refuge in our rooms and wait for the little devils to finish chores and go to sleep. So that even we could get some part of the campfire laid out for us. :( .
The dinner and late night chats had to be rushed as the next morning ride had to start from 5:45 and to catch it, we had to be up early, adding to the fact that everyone was already too tired and sleep deprived.


Sunday - 22 Feb'09


The morning call, came too soon, and I felt as if I had hardly slept and was up in no time.

Leaving the beds was actually a task and for a split second also reminded me roadies. So we were all ready in some 10-15 minutes, had breakfast and left for the much awaited, early morning canter ride, The Canter ride actually turned out to be a trip around the jungle starting from the Bijrani gate to the interiors till Dhikala, on an open Bus. So here starts the most tiring and painful safari ever. It was actually chilly out there and with all of us atop an open Bus in the Jungle, offered the best amount of adventure. It had its own share of fun and put offs. We actually spotted many new animals in the early morning, but still coulnot track the must glorified Tiger. I mean out of those 164 Tigers we couldnot spot even one, not even the tail of the tiger, adding to the joy ride kinda feel of the bus, made the fun part complete. The next stoppage at Dhikala, some 31 km away, helped us to treat our hungry bellies a bit, with egg cheese omlettes of which we coulnot place the taste of either, and I still have those doubts alive - "Was it actually Hen egg?". Lol. Dont kill please (To whoever who had the portions :P)!

After the tiring and not to forget adventurous safari ride, the end of the Safari was what everyone was eagerly waiting for and maddenningly wanting to get the glimpse of even a speck of civilization.

Having had enough of the wildlife, we had already decided to set back, so that we could all have a full exclusive day of the Monday to us. Before that just one trip to the mostly glorified Corbett Falls, by one of the friends' was what remained. So, here we were again all set to hit the roads, and go back. So here comes yet again a change in plan.

The Corbett Falls, were some 30 km from the place we were staying and so seemed stupid for us to not take a look at the place. Gaining entry was a well played art.
I t was a really decent place and surely a place you could dedicate an hour or two. what I liked most about it was, it was on very interiors, and not commercialised, which made it still a clean and a quieter place, with a few people scattered here and there. I liked the place as it was beautiful no doubt and i got quite a time for my photography sessions. Also, the place being small, and falls being not that massive, we got to go really near to the falls, without drenching ourselves.

Now the turn of the plans was that, as Nanital was again a few 30 km's from the place we were, it would have been a mistake to skip that, so yet again, we hit the roads towars Nainital, A beautiful hill station, A lake district - as it is called. the plan was to have lunch there and spend a few hours, before starting for Delhi.
Finding a place to treat our bellies, became a task. After finding a decent looking place to eat, we could just think about food and food. So finally whenthe food arrived....cut it..... The food was.... huh..... I'd rather skip the food. We ate like animals, and then did we realise how hungry and food deprived we actually were. No one would have done that in that restaurants' history.
Nainital as I said is a beautiful place and very much commercialised. the major attraction still being the Mall Road and Tibetan Market, which offers all sorts of trinkets, memorabilia and also the usual stuff. Spending a few hours and fighting our minds over what to take and what not to, it was already time to say good bye to the chills of Nainital.

It was 6 pm, that we left the place and then began the hours long night drive to Delhi. I seriously feel sad for our friend who was driving, because he was the one who did most of the driving and dint get any rest throughout the road trip, and I would actually like to credit him for that.
The tiring journey back home, had losen out appetites and the lunch also had a great role to play. We hit Delhi-Noida at 1 am, morning of the 23rd. Decided over eating something there before going back home was a good option, and so we found a small cafe joint open at the late hours, waiting to serve us :)

The main thing that actually was on everyone mind: When would we be able to snuggle in hour beds and get that much longed after good nights sleep.


And trust me sleep came in as a bliss! :)


(You can check out some of the pictures in the 'Captured Moments' section of My Blog - 'As I Ponder Over' )