Kerela (Kochi – Alleppey – Kumarakom – Houseboat – Kochi)
&
Lakshadweep (Agatti)
Honeymoon Trip
18th February 2009 – 3rd March 2009
DAY 1 – 18th Feb
After having a couple of tips on the previous day from Papa and on this day from Papa ji and Baba ji, we were all set to go to God’s Own Country – Kerala.
We set out for Sethan Gali at 8:30 A.M. After spending about an hour there, we picked Rohit ji and Sonia ji and started for the airport. Accompanying the four of us were Prachi (with Rohit and Sonia ji in Honda city) and Rohan (with Priya and me in Scorpio). We had to board an Indigo flight to Kochi which was to depart at 2 P.M. We reached the airport at around 12:30 P.M. We had a quick lunch at the airport terminal – pooris and aloo matar (the same matars which I brought from Guru Nanak Nagar in my Jodhpuri suit. Imagine someone buying peas in a wedding dress! I remember other customers staring at me like anything. ) Having done with lunch, we queued up for cheking-in the luggage. Our luggage, comprising of four items, weighed a whopping 69 kgs which was 19 kgs in excess of the permitted free capacity! But since we had negligible hand baggage the airline staff allowed us to carry all the check-in luggage free of cost.
The flight was on time. It was the first flight for Rohit ji and Sonia ji. Our seat numbers were 15E and 15F. Rohit ji and Sonia ji’s were 14A and 14B. Priya was sitting on the window seat and I was in the middle. To my left was a gentleman working in BoA who was going to Hyderabad (I initiated the conversation with him!)
indiGo’s “Ek Cup Paani” Cost Cutting Strategy – Prior to boarding the flight, based on my past experience with indiGo, I had told Rohit ji that we need not take water since it would be provided in the flight. Inside, we (Priyanka and I) came to know that indiGo had done away with gicing free water bottles. They were instead giving water in thermocole cups! Slightly embarrassed (coz it was not quite what I had told the couple accompanying us), I purchased a water bottle (for Rs. 25!) and asked the air hostess to give it to Sonia ji. They did not know that we had paid for it (which was what I wanted. Later, Rohit ji told us that he was wondering whether one bottle was being supplied to each couple (!!) because neither he nor their co-passenger on the aisle seat had got it.)
All this and some other discussion as to how they could further reduce costs by supplying water in innovative ways (carrying a jug and refilling the cup, in case a passenger needed water again, instead of giving a new cup!) kept me and Priyanka engaged for about half an hour and we had a hearty laugh during this time.
We reached Kochi on time (about 6:30 P.M.) and got out of the airport only to see a Heritage India guy carrying a placard with ‘RAHUL MAHESWARI AND FAMILY” printed on it! This made me and Priyanka dad and mom respectively and Rohit and Sonia ji our kids for the next 3-4 days. All of us wondered what people would think of guys getting married now having kids of age older than the parents’!
In the cab (Tavera), I was sitting like carrying the laptop bag in my lap thinking that we would reach hotel in 10-15 minutes. But 5-10 minutes after getting in, when Priyanka asked the cab driver (Subhash) how much time it would take, we came to know that we were to travel for another 45 minutes!! I placed the laptop bag onto the floor to sit more comfortably.
On way to proper city, Kochi seemed to be a very neat and clean, quite, properly designed city. Cannot say how much of it is true as we were mainly confined to M.G. Road and had only explored Broadway on March 3, the day on which we were to return to Delhi.
The hotel was much better than I had expected in that they had taken care of any and everything that one may need – the room had sewing kit , shaving kit, comb, shoe shiner, executive kit, stationery and a refrigerator (the only hotel/resort where we had a fridge during our trip).
About an hour after we reached the hotel, Mr. Ubaid from Heritage India had come to collect the Remaining amount for the tour. He also gave me coupons which were to be shown at each hotel/resort at check-in. This was one of the greatest advantages of having a tour operator – no hassles at all during check-in and check-out (only extra bills to be paid at check-out, if at all any).
DAY 2 - Feb 19
We were to leave for Munnar today. Yesterday we were confused whether we should see Kochi today or after returning from Lakshadweep. We were also planning to skip it altogether in case there was nothing worthwhile to see. When I told the cab driver that we would leave for Munnar straight without seeing Kochi, he told me that it would take only 2 hours to see all things.
Besides, the sightseeing today was included in the package whereas it would be charged another 600-700 bucks in case we were to see it later. Finally we finished seeing Kochi before leaving for Munnar. We visited St. Francis Churh followed by Chinese Fishing Nets (What was so Chinese about them and what were they to be seen for will have to be researched on the internet). From there we went to Santa Cruz Basilica which was much beautiful than the two we had visited earlier. Then we proceeded to the Dutch Palace which was a museum and not a palace from any angle! The entry ticket for it was Rs. 2 but inside it wasn’t worth even that (may be I am biased as I rarely like any museum – Salarjung in Hyderabad was OK types). After coming out of the “palace” we had coconut wate - the only one time during our entire tour (Oops we had it once again as welcome drink at the Agatti Beach Resort).
After this we started for Munnar at about 12 noon. It was supposed to be a 4 hour journey. The driver halted at a small restaurant and asked us to have lunch there. When we asked if there was a better option ahead, he said there wasn’t any. So we sat down and looked into the Menu. There were very limited options – We ordered a paneer dish and an aloo dish. The aloo dish came out to be kind of potato wedges. Paneer was ok and so was the “parantha” (the ‘Chennai’ parantha) – These two items helped us fill our stomachs quite liberally.
On our way, we had some lean waterfalls. But the most striking sight-seeing was the Spice Garden. With Rs. 100 as the entry fee, some of us were in a dilemma whether to enter or not. But we went ahead and saw a number of known and unknown spices, fruits and vegetables. It was in this garden that I came to know that “amla” is called “gooseberry’ in English. We came to Munnar at 6:30 P.M. checked into the hotel and locked ourselves in the rooms only to see each other next morning. (We tried to wake Rohit and Sonia ji for dinner (puris) but were unsuccessful at our attempts. They had slept early only to wake up late night when they did not deem fit to wake the two of us for taking their dinner). Priyanka and I had a dim-light dinner that night (instead of the usual candle light dinner!). This was the night when I had answered one of the questions asked by Priya.
DAY 3 – Feb 20
Today I got up before Priyanka (or had I planned to?). And so I took the opportunity to write ‘I LOVE YOU’ on the bathroom mirror with red “close-up”.
We had breakfast in thehotel and left for Munnar sight-seeing. We first went to Matupetty Dam. We could have done boating there but the thought that boating was the only activity that we would be doing during the later part of our trip made us skip it. There we had candy floss (‘gudiya ke baal’) and had snaps taken in various poses. From there we went to the Echo Point. There I had to do “something” for “some” reason. Then we proceeded to Kundala Dam where we hired a row boat and spent about an hour under the sun on water in the boat.
On our way back to Munnar city, the driver spotted a snake and stopped the car for us to have a closer look. This snake seemed to be an offspring of the one I encountered while cycling in IIT Madras - same colour but smaller in size. We had already booked an elephant ride when we were going to Matupetty Dam. While returning, we got to experience it. It was for Rs. 400 per couple. Our elephant was a male and had both its teeth intact while Rohit and Sonia ji got a female (who was going off the track when she spotted the male on which we were resting!)
Our hotel Edassery Eastend was situated right in the market which gave us the flexibility to have dinner outside the hotel. This made us reach Hotel Sarvana Bhavan where we had an average north Indian cuisine today. The restaurant was, no doubt, famous in the region as many foreign tourists could be seen there. I also noted that besides our hotel, Munnar Inn, and Issacs Residency were also within the Munnar town.
DAY 4
As Priya was taking bath, I opened the box of small dairy milk chocolates which I had brought with me all the way from Meerut for this purpose – writing “I LOVE YOU” on the bed. I had written it today morning but we could not take pics as we were in a hurry to go out for sight seeing. The driver took us to a Tea Museum where we were explained (so to say) how tea leaves were processed into the tea which we get in the market. I had earlier seen the same in Ooty and my interest in it was the same – nil. We also watched a movie as to how tea estates came into being in Munnar and how finally Tata got the control over those estates. Interestingly, Munnar once had a railway and a ropeway but both had been washed out by a rain. Since we had already covered all sights, the driver took us to a ‘view point’ discovered by himself. The fact is that any point in Munnar is a view point. On our way to this ‘manufactured’ view-point we came across a forest kind of an area. This was much more interesting than the view-point. We took some snaps here. As we were were about to leave a group of college girls along with their faculty came there and started showcasing their athletic feats on a tree which had fallen down. This entertained us for about 20 minutes after which we started back for the hotel. The evening was at our leisure.
We purchased a ball, home made chocolates, coffee beans, a scrub and a coffee filter in Munnar.
The four of us had dinner at the same Sarvana Bhavan but we ordered dosas instead of the usual north Indian we had been ordering earlier. The dosas were crisp and you could gauge how much we liked it by the fact that the waiter got a tip of Rs. 20 from Rohit ji.
At night, when we returned to our room, we thought of taking photographs with “I LOVE YOU” written with chocolates. To our surprise, the chocolates had reduced in number. No doubt, the housekeeping person had pocketed some of them. He would have thought them to be a very minor thing which would not come to our notice. I was hurt. Probably she was, as well. “I LOVE YOU” turned to just “LOVE” due to lack of chocolates. We also tried to locate those chocolates in quite a few confectionery shops in Munnar but to no avail.
DAY 5
After our three nights’ stay in Munnar, it was time to bid it goodbye. The journey to Alleppey would take 4-5 hours. We left Munnar at around 10:30 in the morning. I was sleeping for most of the journey only to get up when the driver stopped at a restaurant. We went inside, had a look at the menu, got ourselves fresh, did not find anything worthwhile to order and came out. Please note that I haven’t mentioned that we had our lunch there! We started again with the hope of finding a better restaurant but to our dismay we founded none. But we realized this in time and took out our pooris and ‘achaar’ to have a meal sufficient enough to suppress our hunger for the next couple of hours. The time when we had our meal would be around 3 – 3:30 in the afternoon. The driver told us that our resort was 40 kns away from Alleppey town. It was on an island so he asked us to take any fruits, soft drinks, biscuits we wanted to as we would not get anything at the resort. We did as per his instructions.
We reached the resort at around 5 PM. It was literally on an island which was not even connected to the “mainland”. We had to load ourselves and our luggage into a boat and then reach the reception. Thankfully, the reception, restaurant and our cottages were on the same island so we did not have to take the service of the boatman often. (There were rooms which were on an island different from the one where the restaurant and the reception were located!).
In the evening, we asked the boatman to take us to another island (just opposite to ours). We sat there on the grass and started playing cards. We also took some random snaps there. Realizing that it could be late and that the boatman would leave for the day and we would get strangled on an island(!), we decided to head back for our island. After reaching back, we had dinner in the restaurant which was just good enough for us – Sonia ji as usual took out achaar to have it with ‘chapathys’. Following this, we went to our rooms to sleep.
DAY 6
This day was planned to be a “rest day”. What I had thought while planning the trip was that it would be hectic and would involve extensive traveling. So this full day in Alleppey was meant to be a relaxing day. On the contrary, we had ample time to be at leisure during the whole trip.
I remember that we had asked the man at the reception the previous day the charges for a backwater trip. It was Rs. 150 per person. Our cab driver had given us an idea that we could get this as ‘complimentary’ from the resort. On requesting to get it as ‘complimentary’, the man agreed. He asked us to be at the reception at 5 P.M. We were there before time. Four of us and another couple (six people) plus the boatman were seated in a narrow but long boat which seemed unstable. After about an hour on the backwaters, we were back on land safe and secure!
At night, before dinner, Rohit ji and I somehow had Kingfisher beer followed by a 15 minute “nautanki” which would make us get offers from Bollywood J! It was serious fun. The climax was my planned fall from the tree “swing” (donno what it’s called). After our wives were about to leave us outside the rooms for night, we decided to end it. We had dinner and went to our respective rooms.
As far as I remember, Alleppey was the place where we first played cards extensively, even at the table in the restaurant while our order was being “processed”.
DAY 7
We were to leave Alleppey today. The driver had to come at 9 A.M. We first went to the Alleppey beach. For Rohit and Sonia ji, it was their first beach trip. Priya had been to Daman during her stint at AC Nielsen. I had spent 2 years of my life just 5-6 kms from the beach. Going to the beach is always fun. You can spend as much time there as you want listening to the pleasant sound made by the waves. At least I never ever felt like returning from a beach. But there are constraints. And you have to be ‘back to work’.
On the beach, Rohit ji had taken his slippers off. A wave came and carried them with itself. The scene where Rohit ji was trying to save his slippers from going into the sea was worth a watch. As he was trying to ‘rescue’ his slippers, his goggles slipped from his shirt pocket. We all had a “LOL”!
Since it was hot, we had ice-creams. One each wasn’e sufficient and so went for a second one. We took quite a number of photos there – while having ice-creams, with something written on the sands, with different patterns of waves and waters...
After about more than an hour we decided to return to the car to move for the next and the biggest attraction of Kerala – The Houseboat. Just as we entered the houseboat, all others (the three of them) started to thank me. This was a kind of delight we were experiencing. The houseboat had 2 AC rooms with attached lat-bath, a kitchen, a lobby with a dining table and a kind of a living room. The very sight of the houseboat as well as noting the details of the interior was fascinating. The houseboat was to take us from Alleppey to Kumarakom. Our driver would leave us at the jetty and he would reach Kumarakom by car. As the houseboat started to move, we all felt elated. It was an experience of a lifetime. If I were to travel to Kerala again, it would be for the houseboat. On our way, we could spot innumerable of houseboats – it was just like traffic in a not so populated area like Udaipur (I remember it as being a famous city with least traffic I’ve seen in my life). I was able to spot a milestone on the waterway. Similar to the school buses we have generally, here we could see school-boats – children travelling in boats between school and home!! As some motorboat passed by the side, our houseboat would start to move up and down (forgot the technical word for it, there was one in mechanical engg!).
In the evening the houseboat was ‘parked’(!) by the side of a field. We took a lot of pictures witht he houseboat. We were supposed to stay here for the night. It seemed strange to us – had this been in U.P., the houseboat would have disappeared in the night with no evidence that it was there the previous night. But all states are not as “great” as U.P. We were safe till the morning. In fact, when the AC had stopped functioning, I wanted to go out. But Priya asked me to stay inside. I thought for a while and then it came to me – we were in Kerala and I would be returning safe to my room. So I went out and asked the boat wala to start the AC. He did the same. It was only then that we had a sound sleep.
DAY 8
The boat started for Kumarakom at 8 A.M. We had our breakfast on the houseboat and reached the resort in Kumarakom by 9. We entered the resort from the back side as we had come by a houseboat! Initially, we were given normal cottages. But then I realized that we had paid an extra 500 bucks for the lake-view cottages. I went to the reception and told the issue. We were shifted to the lake view rooms in about 2 hours time in which we got ready to go out to see the bird sanctuary. Till such time all four of us were to stay in the same room. Priya and I decided to venture out while Rohit and Sonia ji would get ready. We took some snaps in the meantime.
After sometime, we switched positions – Rohit ji and Sonia ji would venture out whereas we both would get ready. After all of us were ready, we proceeded to have breakfast following which we left for Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary. There was nothing much to see there and as Priya wasn’t feeling well we decided to return to our resort. There we spent the afternoon sleeping and the evening in the swimming pool. We also lost our ball which was carried away by the wind into a “drain”.
Since there was no a-la-carte system of meals at the resort we decided to have our dinner outside for which we had to specially call Subhash, the driver. He took us to Lakshmi Resorts (the same place where he had taken us for lunch) which wasn’t quite near to our place.
We packed most of the stuff at the resort at night as we had to leave for Kochi Airport next morning to catch our flight to Agatti.
DAY 9
It would have taken us about 1.5 hours to reach the Kochi Airport. It was a small but we could see many foreigners. Kochi is one of the two gateways to Kerala, the other being Thiruvananthapuram.
There was only one flight to Agatti - from Bangalore via Kochi. The plane to Agatti was smaller – an ATR 72 rather than a Boeing or an Airbus. The propeller had three wings without any outside casing which made me feel a bit jittery when I thought of a bird hit! This plane was also different from the bigger ones in terms of seating. There were two seats on either side of the aisle.
The flight took off on time and soon after takeoff we were served with goodies – pen, wet tissue and toffees followed by lunch which was better than some of what we had on land! We also took some snaps of the HIDESIGN bag shown in one of the magazines which was the same as the one which Priyanka was carrying that day. In about 1 hour 20 minutes, we were at Agatti. The view of Agatti and nearby islands from the top was amazing. I could get only a glimplse of it as Priya was sitting towards the window. She had offered me the window seat (and she also said – “dikhawa to karna padta hai” L).
After we landed we were made to stay in a room which wasn’t so comfortable. There was no AC in it. We had to wait there for quite sometime before our luggage came. In the meantime, we met the resort representative there who collected our travel permits. He told us that we would have to walk to the resort which was just a 2 minute walk away. It literally was!
We were served coconut water as a welcome drink and were allocated rooms which were not so well positioned compared to a few other ones. We had booked non-AC rooms in Agatti. We had a good afternoon nap and “warmed up” during the evening for the rest of the days to be spent in Agatti.
DAY 10
We went for a glass bottom boat ride for 1.5 hours in the lagoon and to the reef. It was a sunny day. We were to be under the sun for more than an hour. We could see a number of corals in the crystal clear water. In Agatti, one could also go for scuba diving to explore the world under water. But I did not quite feel like exploring it (I have an anathema towards sea creatures!). Initially, we were all very enthusiastic about the clear water etc. But as time passed and with sun’s fury, the ladies expressed their desire to go back to the land. Rohit ji and I insisted that we stay in the boat for some more time as we had to get value out of what we had paid! (Rs. 1000/person is not a meagre amount for an hour and a half). In the resorts list of water sports, turtle watch was listed as a separate activity for which they were charging about 400-500 bucks per person. We asked the boatman to show us some turtles towards the end of our time thinking we would save some money (or rather get some more value for what we paid!). We found that watching turtles at Agatti was no big deal. One could see them while kayaking (which is the only free water sport at the resort).
So at the end of our boat trip we were a bit happy (about seeing the aquatic life which we had never seen earlier) and a bit miffed (as the ride was long (30 minutes ride would have sufficed) and we were sitting direct under the sun (although there was a cool breeze flowing)).
All in all we were satisfied for the fact that in our life time the probability of coming to Lakshadweep again was close to zero. So whatever we were doing here was for the first and the last time, at least this place.)
It was almost lunch time as we finished our boat ride. We had lunch and then went for an afternoon nap (this was almost of a daily affair as it wasn’t very enjoyable during the hot and humid sunny afternoons).
In the evening we turned a little adventurous and ventured out in the lagoon for Kayaking (How can Indians not taste something that’s free, right!!??). I had already done kayaking once at Phookote Lake in Waynad (It was also Kerala!) Those kayaks were air-filled balloon type, bigger and looked safe. Here in Agatti, the kayaks were made of plastic and very thin (low height) and looked as if they would sink if water flowed into them which was a definite possibility given the increased turbulence in water during the evenings (water was usually calm in the morning). I was the first to kayak with an uncle ji who was already kayaking with his wife. I found it safe! So Rohit ji and I went again in another kayak. Meanwhile, Priya had also gotten ready for kayaking. Both Soniaji and Priya were apprehensive of kayaking (It looked so!).
Priya and I would have kayaked for hardly 5-10 minutes when I got to see a turtle. As already
mentioned, I have an anathema towards aquatic life (not when challenged!!!), we turned our direction towards the land. And I decided not to get into a kayak again. The irony of the kayak scene is that we did not take a single photograph sitting in the kayaks.
In the evenings the weather in Agatti became extremely pleasant. Once we came out for dinner, we did not feel like going back to our rooms. It was in Agatti that we played a lot of playing cards sitting on the “beach beds” (not sure what they’re called) after dinner under the moon light with the music of the waves.
DAY 11
We had plans to go out for an island tour this day. But when we came to know that 16 people had already registered for the same trip, we dropped the idea. What fun in going to uninhabited islands with so many people? So we decided to do something else – to take a “sight seeing tour” of Agatti. We hired an auto for Rs. 300 (the same bajaj auto which we have here). All four of us could easily fit into it. On enquiring the auto wallah he told us that there were 10 such autos in Agatti. Petrol cost was around Rs. 65 per litre. There was no petrol pump on the island. We observed that the vehicles carried a LD number (Lakshadweep registration number). We wondered how many vehicles would be there in all islands put together (we could see a jeep, an ambassador and a few two wheelers on the island).
The prior information I had about Agatti was that it had a population of about 8000 – all muslims (cannot be very sure of this as the source is ‘internet’). The length of the island was about 8 kms.
We first went to the museum. We were the only four people to visit it that time. On our way to the museum, we could see some kids waving towards us. We realized that we were like aliens to them. They would hardly get to see someone from the mainland of India or a foreigner. The reason for that being that although a plethora of visitors thronged the Agatti Beach Resort, few thought of exploring the island itself. All museums are alike to me – so was this. After the museum, we went to a jetty. We also saw a new jetty (Eastern jetty) being constructed, dredging going on, a coir factory and a sight (this was the best).
It took us about 2-3 hours to see the whole island. The most memorable experience for us was when some of the natives of the island wanted to talk to us as if we were VIPs. They asked us our names and place and tried to converse with us in whatever Hindi they could speak (we couldn’t speak Malayalam) - who would do it to a stranger at a new place!!?? Their reaction made us a bit jittery – why were they trying to be so friendly with us, we thought. Looking back one would realize that for them seeing a new person (outside of their island) would indeed have been a rare experience.
We came back to the resort before lunch time and after having lunch went to our rooms to have a routine afternoon nap. We usually enjoyed the evenings playing cards on the beach in the pleasant breeze. This evening we all “lolled” – Thanks to Kaho Na Pyar Hai and Bakhuda. I am sure all four of us would never forget that evening.
DAY 12
We had booked an island trip for this day. We were the only four people to be travelling on the boat today compared to the previous day when 16 people had gone for the same trip. It was like hiring a private boat!! We were to “travel” to four islands – Bangaram, Thinnakkara, Parali I and Parali II. The boatsman first took us to Thinnakkara and then to Parali I and finally to Bangaram. He skipped Parali II saying that both the Parali islands were similar. What was astonishing was that although there was nobody living on those islands, we received full mobile signals on Thinnakkara and Parali I (both these islands are uninhabited) as well as Bangaram (which has a resort). Hats off to Airtel! (There were only two mobile operators in Lakshadweep – state owned BSNL and Airtel). This was the only time when an Airtel customer could truly distinguish him/herself from the others! (If you’re planning to go to Lakshadweep, have either of these two connections to stay connected with your near and dear ones on the mainland of India – or else use telephone facility at the resort).
I had not anticipated that travelling in the boat could be so fearful. I was literally afraid. Initially we were in the lagoon where there were no waves. As we moved to the deep ocean, waves became so strong that sometimes the boat would leave the sea surface and ‘take-off’ in the air just to land back on the sea with a thump! Initially the ladies were feeling jittery as well but they got accustomed to this very soon. And it was only Rohit ji and I who were yelling for someone to help us! The boatmen were also laughing seeing us nearing the life jackets to ourselves. (Prevention is better than cure, isn’t it!!??)
Finally when we saw the destination island, and as we re-entered the lagoon area of the other islands, we could tone town our anxiety. The fact is that the journey back to Agatti was far less fearful.
The boatman pulled a coconut from the tree and peeled it to offer us the pulp (yes! pulp in coconut! kind of a solid cream, which we had never seen in mainland India!). After initial resistance (pata nahi kya khila raha ho, behosh kar ke paise leke bhaag na jaye kahin – this was what came to my mind – we are from UP!), on his insisting we tasted a bit of it. I didn’t quite like it.
We also saw small shells moving with living creatures beneath them. It was for the first time we had seen something of this sort and it evoked this response from me – yuckkk!!!
After visiting the two uninhabited islands of Parali and Thinnakara, we went to Bangaram. Here we had our lunch. That lunch is perhaps one which none of us would forget – such an ugly one – but we had as much as we could because we had nothing else to eat except for fruits (oranges and apples) which we had carried with us from Agatti. Bangaram was beautiful. We though that instead of staying in Agatti for four nights, we could have stayed 2 nights in Agatti and one in Bangaram (total 3 nights in lieu of four for the same cost!).
After taking snaps at the island we started back for Agatti. In the evening, we explored the area out side our resort. The beach on the other side of the island was much cleaner than the resort beach. I was regretting why we had not been to this side of the island earlier. As it was getting dark, we decided to go back to the resort t come back early next morning on this side of the island to see the rising sun.
DAY 13
This was our last day at Lakshadweep. Priyanka and I got up at around 6 O’ clock in the morning to see the sunrise. Since Lakshadweep is to the west of mainland of India, here the sun rises and sets with a delay of about an hour. After waiting for quite sometime, when we could not see the sunrise due to the clouds, Priyanka went back to the resort. I was still on the beach to capture some pictures of the sun. After taking some snaps, I also went back to the resort to catch on some sleep (getting up early in the morning was like getting up at midnight). We had made it a norm to take pics at our hotel/resort on the very last day only. So it was time for us to cover the whole resort in pics. Both the couples took innumerable snaps after which it was time to finally pack our luggage. We had lunch at the resort and moved to the airport. At the airport, unlike the arrival, we got to sit in an AC waiting room.
We were one of the first few people to get into the flight. As soon as we got in, we took snaps. The food on way back to Kochi was South Indian and it was not comparable to the food which we got on our way to Agatti. Rohit ji and Sonia ji would have filled the feedback form quite opposite to what they had filled on their way to Agatti (all because of the food!)
At Kochi airport we had a cab waiting for us. We went to Hotel Yuvarani by about 5 O clock. After resting for about an hour we got ready to go out and explore the nearby market (MG Road). I purchased the much demanded banana chips (for office guys as well as for ourselves).
DAY 14
This morning we went to Broadway to purchase massage oil. This was for the first time we were travelling there in an auto! Besides massage oils, we also got to purchase “Happy” umbrellas (there was a shop dedicated to umbrellas!), scents and aloe vera gels. As we had to catch our flights at 4, we left for the airport at around 1:30.
After landing at Delhi, the pilot “drove” (!) the plane for half an hour making us impatient. Temperature in Delhi had risen – we didn’t need to put on our pullovers after coming out.
We had dinner at Haldirams’ after which we travelled non-stop to Meerut to land in beds in our HOME SWEET HOME!!
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to only half the height of the tower. I was reluctant to look above or below. The only thing that was running in my (and hopefully others’) mind was – Abe kitna upar leke ja raha hai? Kab rukega? And finally it stopped. And after 5 seconds or so, we were falling with acceleration due to gravity – ‘g’ – 9.81 metres per second square!!! Then was the grand finale – we were at 150 feet – eyes were having a visual treat but the heart was about to 
get an attack. And the machine made us feel twice like we were going to fall but kameene maja le rahe they humse. Sab chupp they. And finally it happened. Free fall from 150 feet to the ground – what a relief it was to place the feet on the ground. And all of us who were on this ride (Arun, Apoorv, Gaurav, Suresh and I) were of the same opinion – that each one was thrilled to the core. 
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