How do people normally go for any tour/trip? Either they go with their family or close friends.
How about going for a trip with 20 -25 persons whom you have never met in life?
That is what Chennai Trekking club does many times every year ! The most important thing is - it is done with a shoe string budget. Also there will be few who would have already visited that place and will act like a guide to you (Mostly they will be the Co coordinators for the trip).
Recently a 28 member team went to Irukkam Island (which is closer to Pulicat lake) for bird watching through CTC. 7 of us were having cars & we picked up persons on the way and the journey 30 minutes later than the scheduled time. The place was about 100 KM from Koyambedu.
For this trip, Mr. Saravanan and Mr. Vignesh were the co ordinators and Mr. Vishnu was also helping them a lot. All three were doing a great service from start to finish.
But organizers kept track of every car and were giving excellent directions. In fact we were one of the last car to come and another car was coming after us; Vishnu who was coming in that car said that they are the sweeping car (Last one to come after all cars) and he quickly caught hold of us when we were about to go in a wrong direction and made us to come very quickly to the right route.
Since one car went past the destined meeting point, we had coffea in Arambakkam, which is the closest place to the back waters. Coffea was good and we also started interaction with each other slowly.
Once all the cars assembled, we went to the boat jetty and our journey in the back waters began at around 8.30 pm. It was one hour drive in the boat.
The back water was looking beautiful reflecting the moon light and the small waves added additional flavour. The scenery and the mood it gave was so pleasing.
During the boat ride, we had Nakul who is an active travel enthusiast and he started sharing some of the interesting travel experiences in Jammu, Kashmir and North east. Also Minu, another participant was sharing her experience in water sports in Malaysia.
By this time I understood that its not only Nakul, Minu or me, most other participants were equally great travel enthusiasts.
I always believe that it is not money, status or success which defines a person. But how one enjoys the whole life is most important. Travelers normally belong to this category and they find happiness in their trips and in many part of their life.
We reached our stay point around 9.30 PM. It is an open place with no light. Organizers had already asked us to bring torch light and we spent the night with the help of torch light and fire only.
Immediately on reaching the spot, people started preparing for food. Barbaque chicken and Panneer masala were prepared. The organizers had prepared Chicken curry and Chapathi from their home and had brought.
Once Barbaque was ready, we all started eating it and it was delicious. What was more surprising was the comradeship among the participants. There were not enough plates (every one should bring plate themselves; few did not bring) so in every available plate 3 or 4 people were eating.
I have met these friends... just an hour back and now I am having dinner with them in the same plate !
There was so much of fun and pulling each one's leg while having dinner and non stop laughter started from this moment. There were few people with terrific sense of humour and Cilambarasan, Raghav and Vignesh were in charge of humour department :) They did exceedingly well and every one laughed countless times from Dinner till we said Good bye the next day.
We had a Camp fire and was talking many things; thereafter few went to sleep; many had lengthy fun talk & went to sleep very late.
My only worry before starting the trip was how to sleep in open sky. I have always slept under a roof and whether I will have proper sleep was a disturbing question/thought. Also I am quite finicky in my sleeping place/ way of sleep.
Fortunately, that was not a big issue and I could sleep peacefully, as organizers had bought Thar paai and I had also taken Bedsheet. Though the hours slept was less (4 or 5 hours), it was adequate.
We got up in the morning and started our boat ride to see the birds. Few friends knew every birds' names (Particularly Mr. Elango) and they were introducing each bird to us. It was a fantastic scene to see the birds flying low and also immersing in water. The people with camera were very busy capturing the lovely moments.
The boat was stopped at a particular place where we can see many birds ..
List of birds spotted during the trip:
1. Spotted Pelican
2. Black Headed Gull
3. Indian Cormorant
4. Caspian Tern
5. Whiskered Tern
6. River Tern
7. Painted Stork
8. Pacific Golden Plover
9. Black Headed Ibis
10. Greater Flamingo
11. Red Wattled Lapwing
12. Brahminy Kite
13. Swift
14. Intermediate Egret
15. Grey Heron
16. Black Tailed Godwit
17. Red Rumped Swallow
We then stopped again to prepare our break fast, which was done very quickly ! It was Puvva (A kind of Uppuma ) which was very good.
Most of the participants contributed their bit in preparing the food - both in the night and in the morning. This is another trait of these trips: Every one must work/ contribute/ take some responsibility in the trip.
After finishing the break fast, each of us spoke for few minutes: Giving a back ground about themselves and how they felt about the trip.
We all took a group photo and started back to the place where our cars were parked by boat again.
While returning, the organizers calculated the expenses, divided it by total no of participants and informed that the cost per person is Rs. 500. People coming in car did not pay, in fact organizers calculated the amount for petrol and paid the appropriate fuel amount to them.
Just think about it: Going in car for 200 plus kilo meters; having a dinner and break fast; coffea, cool drinks, snacks, Night Stay, Boat riding for an hour ....all put together comes only to Rs. 500 ! Even if we come alone with friends or our family, it can't be managed at such an economical rate. It was possible because of car pooling and sharing of boat expenses, which if we come with our family also, they will charge the full amount.
Another important thing is: Here we are meeting new people; new experiences are shared. Since many are travel enthusiasts, we get to know lot of beautiful places across India from many of them.
We drove back home very happily after a great relaxation.
