A Summer Spring (travelogue)

The Second One

The bus leaves afternoon at five. We have our backpacks set for three days of long journey. It's the first time for both of us. The bus to Gudallur leaves in a few moments. Ejaz said there are a lot of chocolate wholesale shops in Ootty. I asked a porter having tea near a load of luggage laid on the dirty roadside where the bus would be. He pointed us the direction carelessly as if he was tired of carrying them. The horns of vehicles screamed in the town with anger and bias. Thunder ripped the clouds in half and overcame all of them. But, the people were always in a hurry. When the bus arrived in a corner of the large bus station, we ran towards it, never letting our hope take off without us.

Rain drops dripped furiously against the bus' speed. It didn't stop until the Sun had its way down to the opposite world. The bus climbed the mountain roads, forests and dirt roads. Ejaz fall asleep sooner he got on the bus. I shook his sleep away to the sick reality when the driver put pressure on the brake. The engine rested for a while. He went out to piss. We stayed in our seats.

When the bus reached Gudallur, it was past midnight. There was a taxi stand and two drivers were waiting for passengers. We gathered information about the bus to Ootty from there. There was a lot of time until five thirty in the morning. I looked around and saw a lodge sign. We shared a single room, had dinner and slept. I began to feel the cold descending down the ground.

We breathed cold fog and exhaled warm vapours. A huge white travel bus drove slowly past us. We ran for it. It stopped as the driver noticed us. It was complete darkness inside Airaavath. There were two seats in the very back side left for us. The conductor came along after we were comfortable and asked for the tickets. It was dark and unable to see the numbers on the currency. I handed the cash and he tore twice two hundred sixty tickets. He returned the change for five hundred. After a while, I realised that I had given him just a hundred rupees note and he was deep in his sleep. He technically paid us for travelling.

We breathed fog and the heat inside our lungs produced vaporized warm air back. It felt like smoking a cigarette. We almost took a thousand puffs of frozen air until we found a room to settle things. Matter fact, we bathed and freshened up for a clear day to open up before us. I paid the bill and we headed to the botanical garden a mile away from the bus stop. When we got off the bus a while ago, some men surrounded us offering rooms and taxi services like swarms of flies. We somehow maintained the crowd and made our way to find a room of our own. Anyhow, we checked our cell phone batteries and set out to the garden. There used to be a day of exhibiting flowers in different forms called the flower show.

It was opened at 8 am, and was amazingly beautiful. If one could describe it in one book, he would write one. Soon as we stepped past the gate, the scent of lilies and lilacs oozed into my lungs. And the moist of the morning soil and the grass hiked the thirst for more incredible views. In the middle of a portion of the whole garden after the entrance, I pointed out a white rabbit. Midst the green grass, there was this astonishing rabbit, formed out of white flowers. Ejaz took a picture of me standing beside it. We walked into a long but small greenhouse stuffed with different kinds of plants and flowers. We weren't sure if we wanted to leave this place or should we live in this place. That's how close nature takes us. There were Begonia, Ferns, Cactuses, Succulent Plants and al that attracts a nature lover towards it.

We decided to stay there for a while and take pictures of whatever is in our way. With this little 5 mega pixel camera, I didn't believe I could get an exact clarity which we witnessed there. It was amazing.

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