My trip to Ooty

My memorable trip to Ooty from 15^th May 2019 to 20^th May 2019

This 4_day adventure trip was organize by NALS (www.nals.in) and Amaze Charitable Trust (www.amazetrust.org) for people with disabilities and their families.

My experience on Day 1(15-5-2019) at Bangalore station and train journey to Coimbatore

I left from my home at Yelahanka to station by Ola at 7:55 p.m. and reached the station at 8:45 p.m. I reached the station on time despite heavy traffic. The train 11013 by which I was to go to Coimbatore originated from Mumbai. The train came very late because it was stuck up at Chinnasandra due to heavy rains. I had to wait in the station itself for a long time and was just taking a walk in the station and seeing various trains such as Udyan Express, Chennai Mail, etc. The train finally reached

Bangalore station after a delay of 2 hours at 00:25 a.m. on 16^th May (instead of 15^th May night) and left Bangalore at 00:30 a.m. I kept my big bag under the lower berth and kept my back pack with me on the upper berth.

My experience on Day 2 (16-5-2019) journey up to Coimbatore and from Coimbatore to Ooty

Next day I got up at 6:45 a.m. and brushed my teeth and took a walk through the compartment that is HA1 coach and saw 3 compartments first A/C and second ac 24 berths. I saw lots of greenery outside, factories on the road such as power mills, wind mills, Thirupur factory, Pothys (Aalayam of Textiles), hosiery shops at Thirupur. There were many places where I spotted the advertisement board of Pothys (Aalayam of Textiles). 

The train reached Coimbatore at 8:30 a.m. with a delay of 1 ½ hours. Ananth Mama had come to the station to pick me up. I went to his house and arranged my luggages neatly in the bedroom. I freshened up and had breakfast. At Ananth Mama’s house I was talking about the dates when Ananth Mama had visited my place, my academic performance, my professional qualifications etc. since we were meeting after a long time.

I told Ananth Mama that I was working in SAP Labs Bellandur and doing testing of script execution and instance refresh validation. I also told mama about the camp NALS Adventures Camp which was organized by Amaze Charitable Trust for the specially abled including those who are autistic.

I left at 10:15 a.m. from Ananth Mama’s house and reached Amaze Charitable Trust at 11:00 a.m. by Ola. Upon reaching Amaze Charitable Trust I was just enjoying myself and was waiting for others to come. There were total 13 participants and 4 volunteers. I spotted Vignesh who was my class mate at Lady Andal School, Chennai when I was in Class VI. It was great to meet him after such a long time. After lunch at Amaze Charitable Trust, all 16 of us left by two Xylo cars at 12:45 p.m. and reached Pembroke Estate, Manjakombai which is in Ooty at 5:45 p.m. On the way we saw the whole place was full of greenery, we spotted lot of monkeys running around, saw the hills, forests, jungles. There was a stop at 3:00 p.m. at Katteri Tea Shop. Samosas were given to all and some took only tea at shop and some snacks. The weather was pleasant and not cold.

From Katteri Tea Shop, we then passed through Coonoor station where the toy trains also run on the Ghats road. We saw lot of tea garden estates on the road. The place reminded me of Munnar hills which I had visited long back. There were also many check posts on the way to ensure safety for all. We reached NALS Life Camp and kept our luggage outside in the dining hall of camp where we stayed and took some samosa and tea.

Photo taken of me holding samosa in my hand and also the others sitting on the benches.

Deepak who was the organizer of the camp

Deepak who was the organizer of NALS Life Camp asked everybody to assemble. We took a walk around the campus and enjoyed the greenery, view of the peak, hills, tea gardens, forests and also arrangements like ropes were arranged on trees, lots of trees and houses being made for the adventure activities for next day. 

Group photo taken with us enjoying the view of the peak, tea gardens and nature.

Photo taken of Vignesh and me enjoying the peak.

                             

After walking for around an hour, we came back to our camp and kept the luggage in the room. Post that we just were talking and refreshing ourselves. We had dinner at 8:00 p.m. After dinner there were some fun activities such as ice breaking session, playing antakshari and singing. 

Group photo taken during night ice breaking session and also playing antakshari and enjoying myself with others.

Post fun activities, we went and had a wash and went to sleep at 9:00 p.m.

My experience on Day 3(17-5-2019) at Ooty

We all got up in the morning and after freshening up, we took piping hot tea. Post tea, we took a walk in the tea gardens. We saw the view of the peak, hills, there was a temple on the hills where I  prayed

and we all enjoyed the greenery and serene atmosphere. 

                                                          Tea gardens and ropes.

                                                              Morning walk.

                                                Me taking morning walk.

Temple.

          Group having breakfast.

Post breakfast, we went for high rope activities. The instructors guided us on the proposed high rope activities. They explained that, in order to protect ourselves, we use ropes as harnesses to ensure that we are safe. Even in case there is any damage, we need to be careful and hold and tighten our harness further to prevent from falling. Then the actual rope activity started.

There were two trees which were connected with the help of a pathway made of ropes and cable wires. The activity involved the participants to cross from one tree to another through the ropeway. The ropes were located at high height. Another activity involved participants to climb trees with the help of steps that were put in the trees.

Tree climbing activity.

                                         

      Vignesh doing high rope activity.

   

                                          Me doing high rope.

Rope climbing activity.

Me doing high rope activity.

                                           Me doing high rope activity.

One by one the participants made the rope harness, climbed the tree with the help of a ladder, held the cable wires on top of the tree and crossed to the other tree and slid to the bottom of the tree. All participants participated in this activity. After this activity then there was juice break. Post juice, the rope activity resumed for other participants and post completion we did tree climbing.

After rope activities got completed, then we broke for lunch. After lunch we were to do low rope activities. However it got cancelled due to heavy rains. So we just assembled in the dining hall and relaxed. We simply enjoyed the weather and the nature. Due to heavy rains the soil outside was very soggy and mushy.

In the evening we all had some ball activities and also enjoyed ourselves singing and dancing. 

     I sang a song on stage.

After activities got completed, we had dinner. Post dinner, we were to go for a night trek which got cancelled due to heavy rains. So we all went to sleep early. While I enjoyed the chill weather I protected myself properly to ensure that I did not fall sick.

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My experience on Day 4(18-5-2019) at Ooty

We got up in the morning and refreshed ourselves. We then took some tea which was served in the dining hall. Post tea, we went for a long trek in the morning and enjoyed the cool weather. 

                                   My friends and me doing long trek.

Post completion of trek in the morning, we came back to our dining hall to take breakfast. We had breakfast and little tea. After breakfast we went for low rope activities. During low rope activities we had to wear our harnesses around our body and also helmets to ensure safety.This activity was similar to the high rope activity only the ropes were at low height. 

                                          Photo taken of me doing low rope activity.


After low rope activities got completed there was juice break at 12:30 p.m. We took juice and again the balance participants did same low rope activities which got completed at 1:30 p.m. Post completion of low rope activities we had lunch. After lunch, we went for a long trek that is from the jungles and forests we walked till the ghats section roads. We took a long walk from 2:00 p.m. till 3:45 p.m. We came back to the room at 4:00 p.m and just relaxed. We then had some fun games in the evening with dance, music and entertainment. Post completion of events we had dinner and after having dinner took a wash and went off to sleep by 9 p.m.

My experience on Day 5 (19-5-2019) at Ooty and Journey from Ooty to Coimbatore

We all got up in the morning and took a wash. After wash we went for a long walk till the jungles and enjoyed the beauty of nature. Post long walk we all assembled together to do stretching and bending exercises. After exercises we went to take breakfast and post that we went to the room and refreshed ourselves and went for rapelling.

Rapelling is the process of jumping from the top to the bottom of a hill with the help of a rope (to ensure that body is kept in balance and also to make sure that we don’t fall). We had to wear our harnesses, helmet and gloves while doing rapelling. At the beginning, I was feeling a bit scared but with encouragement from my instructors and also the participants and volunteers cheering and encouraging me, I finished my rapelling and enjoyed the whole process.

                                          My friends and me during and after rapelling.

On completion of rapelling by all the participants, we took some juice and little water. We relaxed in the room for some time and then took lunch at 1:00 p.m. Post lunch we had to fill in the feedback form regarding the camp stay details. I gave excellent feedback about the facilities, stay arrangements, etc.

We left by car from Ooty at 2:00 p.m. and reached Coimbatore at 5:30 p.m. On the way I saw the hills, mountains, beautiful rocks and also nature. The monkeys were not there, may be they were all sleeping. There was a stop at Katteri tea shop at 3:00 p.m where some people had tea. I took Cornetto Ice-Cream and paid Rs.30/-. We reached Coimbatore at 5:00 p.m. since not much traffic was there on the road being Sunday. We reached Akhila Aunty’s house and took some soup to drink. Ananth Mama came to pick me up from her house and took me to his home. After reaching Mama’s home I kept my luggage neatly in the room and relaxed for some time. I wanted to cook something for Mama and Mami and hence made palak paneer and tomato chutney for dinner. They both loved my cooking and appreciated it. I was just talking to Aunty and Uncle in general. We all finished dinner and I took hot badam milk and went off to sleep. 

My experience on Day 6(20-5-2019) from Coimbatore to Bangalore by train

I got up in the morning and freshened up. After freshening up I took breakfast at Aunty’s home and left for station at 7:55 a.m. Ananth Mama dropped me at station. The train 11014 was on time and left at 8:55 a.m. from Coimbatore station. I was quite tired after a hectic 3 day rope activity, rapelling and trekking so just relaxed and dozed off to sleep for some time. I also enjoyed myself in the train, saw beautiful sceneries, lots of trees on the road, fields, greenery, etc.  I had lunch in the train. After lunch I took some rest in the train and also felt rejuvenated.

The train was to reach Bangalore at 3:45 p.m. but due to some other train derailment due to heavy rain near Byapannahalli, the train was delayed and reached Bangalore at 4:40 p.m. The train stopped at Bangalore and proceeded towards Mumbai. I got down at the station and then booked an Ola and reached home at 6:15 p.m.  The charges for the camp was Rs.7000/- per person.

I had a nice and comfortable trip to Coimbatore and also a good and memorable experience at Ooty.