Neeraj's Take On.......

(Before you read this piece, I strongly urge you to read The Journey Begins.... and The Garden and the Horse because they provide the background for this story) After two days in Coonoor and Ooty, it was time to go home...... We got up in the morning, went through the gruelling experience of brushing and bathing (Yes, they were becoming gruelling there) and had our breakfast. My uncle was keeping track of the train in which we had to go back, and the site said at 8 am that the train, which was coming from Assam and we would board it from Coimbatore at 11am, was delayed by over 5 hours. Our initial plan was to get up early and leave. Now that the train was delayed, we thought it was okay if we started off late. Our driver also suggested the same. After all, who wants to rush through the 14 hairpin bends we had to go through when going to Coonoor?? So we leave our housing for the trip at around 9 am on the advice of our driver, who had gone on this route many times and started going ba...

(Best read after reading The Journey Begins) Day 2 of the trip..... Waking up from a chilly night is really difficult. It's like asking me to get off the bed when the AC is on... Real difficult... But I had to get up... Brushed and bathed... Bathing was a different story. The lodging had bathrooms with double valve taps: Hot and Cold, and I didn't know how to use them. Turned on the hot one, turned on the cold, and it was neutral water. Upon pouring it down, I realised neutral water was the same as cold water and bathing in cold water in Coonoor is suicide. Came out of the bathroom desperately trying to hide my chattering teeth.  Came breakfast, ate and off we went......  First to the Rose Garden. I thought I'll see a host of roses, but mostly I saw just bushes. Seems like the season is in May, and so is the Flower show. But we still got to see a lot of other flowers in the Garden. Got to click a few of the roses there (can't remember any of their names. They had spec...