The New Year of 2009

It was the afternoon on 28th Dec 2007.
I was hastily doing my work to finish up things early, actually as early as possible. It was a day for me to start my trip with 4 of my friends for welcoming the new year of 2008 in the lap of Nilgiris in the small cozy town of Ooty.
Spine chilling cold , freezing winds, excitement and enthusiasm was what we had anticipated during the full journey.

We started from Hyderabad by train reached Bangalore early in the morning, a quick breakfast and we headed for Mysore in our previously booked vehicle, stayed overnight at Mysore, visited the Chamundi hills to see the sun set in the horizon
and the twinkling lights of the city of Mysore below us after dusk.
Next day early morning we were all set to start for Ooty when we faced a flat tyre , but it was fixed in no time , and me and Samy swallowed one Stugil each to keep away the nauseatic feeling we might get while taking the hair pin bends on the way to Ooty.

WOW !!!
The route was mesmerising , chilly and warm at the same time, and at 4.00 pm we reached our destination after a short halt at the Piakara waterfalls where we grabbed a quick meal and relaxed for a while. Next morning when we went around Ooty seeing places we started with Dodebeta peak (the highest peak of the Nilgiris) and felt like staying there for eternity.

As night came and the silence of the valley prevalent than the noise of the vehicles which we are so used to (thanks to us all the city dwellers) and the jewelled sky shining brightly , beautifully and proudly made our lips curved upwards. I had not seen such a beautiful star studded sky after i had left my small town for my job.
It suddenly felt at home, reminding me of my old days of staying awake late in the night and gazing at stars and dreaming with eyes wide open...

And now (fingers crossed) its time to get the feeling the of 'Dezavu' when we take the same route visiting the same places...
Its the time when I can relive my dream of gazing the clear sky with tiny bulbs of God set on for welcoming the New Year 2009 while i will be huddled up in my sleeping bag in my cozy tent presented by 'Wildcraft' for my beautiful creation "The New Year of 2009" ; when i complete the 7 days trek from 'Bangalore to Ooty to Bangalore' , the 919 km fully covered by the 'Radio Indigo 91.9 FM' and 'Time Out Bengaluru', with 40 fellow trekkers on their bikes (bicycles) who are the 11 years old to the 50 years young, who are the city dwellers just like me , who come from small villages with big achievements, from big cities with sexy bikes, from the medicine specialists-docs to the documentary specialists-photographers, who will be well fed by the 'Nilgiris 1905', taken care round the clock by the team from 'Manipal Hospital', with special doctors for their bikes too by 'Wheel Sports'.

And then I will be back home with the best ever New Year gift a sweet memory of the trip Courtesy my 'Canon 550A' and 'Flaunge'.

NOTE:
This was for a blogger's contest for http://www.tourofnilgiris.com/
other entries were (total 15 entries but the posts on public are here)
http://geekydood.wordpress.com/2008/11/28/the-tour-of-nilgiris/
http://hsejiv.blogspot.com/2008/11/why-i-should-not-go-to-tfn-and-why-you.html
http://momentumum.blogspot.com/2008/11/le-tour-de-nilagiri.html
http://bangalore.metblogs.com/2008/11/28/tour-of-nilgiris-tfn-cycling-event-25th-december-2008-1-january-2009/
http://srikanthperinkulam.com/blog/?p=156
http://bangalorekaapi.blogspot.com/2008/12/ride-without-because.html
http://aphrodite-2007.blogspot.com/2008/12/dreams-and-journeys.html
http://amitharis.blogspot.com/2008/11/tfn.html
and finally the winner's blogs are...
http://random001.blogspot.com/2008/12/tour-of-niligiris.htmlhttp://shilo70.blogspot.com/2008/12/i-can-hear-bells.html