Off the beaten path

In the morning everyone looks so thrilled. The 13 women, including this reporter, sitting inside the traveller break the ice by introducing themselves. The bond strengthens once we start playing antakshari, sometimes by beating the other group with quirky insta-songs. By the time the first halt comes, to buy some brined products, a friendship is formed. And, it’s time for selfies.    

We resume the journey in a few minutes, dreaming of Mankulam, a village in Idukki. The landscape changes as we get closer to our destination. From the messiness of the city, we enter the calmness of the village. Most of the mobile networks turn bleak when we reach our place of stay. However, that turns out to be a blessing in disguise. We talk to each other and share stories over the meal.

After noon, Indu of Escape Now, the travel group, which has organised this trip, takes us to a nearby waterfall. We live every minute of the bumpy ride by jeep on muddy road. On the way, we get down at a pool of water and take a dip. Such a funny moment, we celebrate it by splashing, floating and playing in the water. Floating in the water, keeping one’s eyes closed has been absolutely meditative. And, then we walk on a hanging bridge, which seemed to be exciting and at the same time a little scary.

What makes Mankulam unique is its serene atmosphere and amicable people. The greenery, small shops, places of worship and houses would give you a sense of their lifestyle. It is a good place to detox. What is more refreshing than sleeping at night listening to the music of nature?

At night, we return to our stay. It’s game time. Indu and Jeena make plans as the others go freshen up. We are divided into groups and the first game is to make a salad. We brush up on our culinary skills and make different kinds of salads within 15 minutes. The excitement was yet to come — tasting the salads. All of us flock around the table to get a bite of each salad, especially the winning one. After a few more games, we retire to bed only to wake up a little later to go to Aanakulam, where elephants come to slake thirst.  Bad luck, we missed a glimpse of this wonderful sight. No matter what, we make up for it by going for a walk early in the morning, savouring nature’s beauty. The sun rays filtering through leaves and touching the water that flows over rocks has been an amazing spectacle.

After breakfast, we go for trekking in the forest. We take the jeep halfway and then walk - a walk to remember, holding a stick in one hand to keep blood-sucking leeches at bay. Still, we get bitten and then we would run for salt to get rid of the leech. It was fun. But, all pains alleviate once we reach the pinnacle to soak in the beauty of the forest.