An eventful holiday - in Ooty - Part 1

Its been more than a year (almost two years) since we went to Ooty. It was really adventurous, so thought of sharing with you.

I was posted in Chennai at that time; All my friends in Bangalore, including Priya, my girlfriend at that time. Everytime we decided to go somewhere, the plan would fail, for one reason or the other. So we were determined we won't let this plan fail - and all of us were up for it.

Getting leave from Office.
Since I was posted in Chennai and we had planned to start the journey from Bangalore, I needed an extra day off from Office, which would meantwo days, Monday and Tuesday. So, with all smiles on my face, I went to my manger's cabin to ask for two day's leave. By the time I came out, the smile was long gone and replaced by a sad grim on my face. I had been given only one day holiday. Just as it seemed this plan is also gonna fail, and as usual, the responsibility would be mine, a colleague of mine suggested a GREAT idea; I could reach Bangalore back by Monday evening and leave for Chennai at night. I looked at him, I saw a MESSIAH in him at that time. The first hurdle was crossed.

Getting a transport.
It was holiday season, or may be, as our luck always plays games with us, it had done that again, we were not able to get a single cab. But this time, we all were determined to win against our luck, We won't get intimidated by history!!!
Finally, Atul was able to book a cab out of nowhere on Thursday (We were supposed to start on Friday evening) and he became an instant hero. Stage 2 over.

Reaching Ooty.
We had heard it's around 7-8 hours journey to Ooty. Well It took us around 14 hours. We were on course till Mysore. As we reached Bandipur, we saw Monkeys Deers, elephants, etc. and were enjoying the wildlife that nauture has offered us. The driver told that we should not make noise and its a government rule that we drive slowly through the forest. We are good citizens and understand the laws of the land; so we obliged. We expected the same from the tiger which came on our way. But, it was no human and came really close to our vehicle. Even rowdies would have obliged to the rule of not making noise at that time. Our hearts in our mouth, we were praying to the almighty to save us -"We would never ever in our life, this and the next one, travel through a forest". Although it was just a GOLI to the GOD. as it turned out, he listened to us and the tiger left after about 1-2 hours. We asked the driver to go as fast as he couldn't, although we knew he could not go fast enough, thanks to the government rules. Thankfully, there were no more adrenalin pumping events on our way except the one when the driver fell asleep and almost tipped the Qualis off the hill. (I am writing this post because nothing happened and we are all hale and hearty. Thanks for you concern, though.)

Finding a hotel.
Now came the most intersting part of our journey. Atul had booked three rooms, one for the three girls and two for the 6 guys. The journey, no matter how adventurous, had taken its toll and we wanted to doze off for two three hours. We went into the hotel which Atul had booked. The receptionist gave us the shock of our lives - "I am sorry Sir, I dont think We do not have a room booke in your name". We looked at Atul - He had become a villain faster than he had become a hero just a day before. He tried to convince us that he had booked a room; it didnt matter if we were convinced or not, the receptionist wasn't for sure. So, we came out of the hotel and started searching for any hotel, any room. It took us about two hours to finally find two rooms in a hotel; We took them without even looking (Beggars cannot be choosers). All of us finally died for three hours.
To be continued...