One Night Affair

Well Hello Friends,

Yesterday night before I went to sleep, I got notification in Google photos which I took in 2016. I reeled back to time when I was working on the foothills of Kodaikanal as Architect in a retirement home.

I still remember the day, actually the night before my birthday. I was in my Villa with my colleagues discussing random stuff and preparing to have dinner. The master Chef who was working there, Andrew came after his work and we decided to go out and eat rather than cooking dinner. By that time I got a call from my wife who wished me and reminded me to visit the temple nearby. And these guys came to know about it, and Andrew revealed that myself and his son were born on the same date. 

By then we [they] started to plan on what to do that night. By the time they were planning Andrew was busy in the kitchen, and came back with this. 

    

A beautiful Flower carved out of Guava. I was really excited to receive this, too bad I can't keep it for long.

Meanwhile the boys decided to visit Kodaikanal and celebrate our there, it was not new for us to visit Kodaikanal, we have gone quite a few times to Kodaikanal after dark in my car or in my two wheeler. But this was something different. We are all broke that night. And we managed to collect less than a thousand rupee. Now we have to work on a budget which includes petrol for car, food for four of us, and most importantly they want to buy cake…

So we started from there and we went towards old Batlagundu from where we bought cake and some snacks and we refueled the car.  It was not much but it’s more sufficient for a one way journey to Kodaikanal. When I told the boys they were OK with the plan I proposed, the plan is simple yet it would be a big wow if I pulled it off without getting stuck in the middle of the Ghat Road.

Tata Nano, its compact car comfortable for city riding, easier to zip through traffic and good to drive in plains. But I felt good driving on Kodaikanal hills, easier to maneuver and compact to park anywhere. Another positive thing is a single person can easily push the car in case it runs out of petrol and I can still drive downhill without accelerating. So I can take risks while climbing down with less petrol also.

We started from there and we bought food at our regular shop just before the police check post in a village called “Kammakapatti” and started to proceed towards Kodaikanal. Since we worked on the site closer to the police checkpost, they were aware of our car and allowed us without checking. 

We started our hour-long journey playing music and chatting about random stuff, after traveling for fifteen min, we reached a view point, ‘Dum Dum Paarai’ From there we can view Manajalaar Dam and Falls, unfortunately it was midnight so we cannot see anything, since we reached there five minutes before midnight, We celebrated the birthday there itself by cutting cake and well technically most of it was on my face. After a few min rest and photo session we again started our journey through the Ghat road.

If you have been to Kodaikanal or any hill road, you will have noticed it. It will be pitch dark, only light will be headlights from the vehicle you are travelling and if there are any vehicles crossing you can see some light. But we were climbing up in the middle of night, so it was pitch dark and only the car that travelled uphill was my car. 

That’s where the fun begins, when the vehicle was on the straight road, I calculated the time I will take to reach the next bend with proper calculation and perfect timing, I switched off the headlight. 

“Aahhh…” everyone except me screamed in the car and begged me to turn on the light. Once the car reaches the bend I will turn on the light and maneuver the car on the bend.

It took them time to calm down, but before they could catch the breath, the next proper stretch comes and boom there goes the light. “Sir enaku bayama iruku sir, light on pannunga [sir I am scared please switch on the light]” 

This way we enjoyed and reached a place where we can take some rest by parking the car off road. Everyone was relaxed but they complained about my dare. 

It’s simple physics, the time taken to reach the bend is based on a simple calculation of distance from my car to the next bend and speed of the car. 

But these guys are pretty much shaken, but they enjoyed it a lot. When we started again they begged me not to do it. But the devil inside me said “no”.

Once we reached Kodaikanal, we went to Kodai lake and took the ride along the road, we parked the car and had our dinner, Parotta, chicken kothu parotta, dosa and we chatted and chatted till 3A.M. 

While returning everyone slept in the car except me, and the petrol warning light was flickering meaning I can push my car to another 25-30km. So I have to manage, when the car is on slope I switch off the engine and the car moves on, thank god it was not power steering, otherwise the engine should be running. At some places I will put the engine on idle and will change gear only if necessary or when I need to push the car a little. I got very much used to that road that I know where to accelerate and places where it is not needed.

Once I reached halfway through I saw a deer like this.

But much bigger, I was amazed to see it. I have never seen deer on this road, couple of times we encountered gaur, but never a deer. 

Since the night was calm it came into the road I guess. So I stopped near to it and tried to take a photo, but it realised it and ran off.

By God’s grace we reached the site by 5a.m. and everyone left for their place. 

By 9:30 a.m. Monday morning we were in the office, full of energy and a new story to share with other colleagues.

We have made such mid night journeys many times. But this one is always special to me.

View of Site the next day...