That resembled the same natural landscaping of the scenery picture hung in my parent’s bedroom. It has been hanging there since the time we shifted into this home almost 15 years ago from our Army Quarters. And I really did feel awkwardly delighted when I showed the pictures that we had clicked during our trip Calvary Mount in Kerala to my ex-military dad, as he had a few tears in his eyes after that. I still could not figure out why was it so. Ah, anyways, it was decided during our yearly family meet at Durga pooja holidays last October, as they are now settled in different parts of the country. That is Reghuram is in Delhi, Pooja Akka and his younger brother Gokul in Chennai, Maneesh in Ahmedabad, Soorya is in Kochi, Abhijit Annaya in Guwahati and the remaining people Ranghat and Laya are the only ones in our native town Hyderabad. I being a single child, I was always close to my dear cousins even though we had to move to different places as the years went by. But anyhow, I feel that I am on the top of the world whenever I am spending time with them. This year when we met, we thought of making any bigger and it was quite incidental to pick that mesmerizing picnic spot of Calvary Mount in the easternmost parts of Kerala for the same.
Our very first move was to decide the time of our vacation. As all of the 9 people in our gang could not wait for more, we finally decided to set out during the winter vacations. The senior-most of this cousin gang, Abhijit Annaya who is just out of the college had always been very adventurous in everything he does. But he had never caught in any grave issues that had halted his wanderer kind of living. Every now and then he goes for a trip along with his friends for which he receives scolding from Sridevi Auntie. But he never cares about that. It was he who suggested the name of Kuttikanam on our discussion, as it would be best to visit the place during winter days in cold misty weather conditions. But due to some technical issues, our major destination for our tour had to be changed. Nonetheless, we would never regret that decision. Fate had brought us here.
It was my overprotective dad who insisted on vacationing after booking any appropriate packages, and we were to travel to some unknown place. To be frank, he does not believe in the ways and plans of Abijit Annaya. After some thorough research, he finally decided to send us safely to Kerala with one of the best tour companies that he could trust. It was the Lelagoon Holidays based in Kochi who made our trip worthy in every aspect.
We reached Hyderabad on the previous day of our trip as we had an early morning flight from the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport to Cochin Airport. Later, we did not have to plan much in the flight hours, as our tour operators had already done everything for us. So we were having our own time by talking continuously. Within 2 hours of flying, we arrived at Cochin Airport. Once cross-matching with our names listed in the placard, we spotted our driver-cum- a guide from the crowd. As it was during the beginning of the vacation, Keralites all across the country and over the globe might be coming to their home. Anyhow, we moved to our cabs by which we traveled to our resort in Idukki, which was the next adjacent district. We were most thrilled about camping in the hills of Calvary as they were one of the most interesting things included in the packages that excited us.
We arrived at our destination almost at noon, so we had our lunch from the restaurant of our resort itself. The food served there satisfied both our tummies and heart. The tents that we were to stay are under the supervision of the resort we checked-in initially. After that, we moved to our major destination, which was on the top of the adjacent hill of the resort. The trekking was not that challenging as we were helping each other especially the elder ones in the gang. The real unity of we the cousins was now more proved. So we could truly enjoy the beauty of nature at this part of the state while mounting up. After some time, we reached comparatively a flat portion.
From that space, the views behind were sheer captivating. It seemed that the verdant hills of this Calvary Mount were merging up to the scenic lake formed by the Idukki reservoir at some point. When we got to know that we will be staying overnight at these tents, the youngest one Maneesh were jumping in the happiness knew no bounds. Even though the time in which we reached the top of the hill was not that late, there were misty fogs all around and the temperatures too were dipping down. Later at the night, they had arranged campfires for us in the middle of the 3 tents we got to stay in. We the girls were made to stay in a tent facing the lakes on our special demands. Therefore, Pooja Akka, Soorya, Laya and I could spend the remaining time talking and gossiping for the whole night. Our brothers had their time together in two other spacious tents.
The very next day of this trip was most worthy, as got to experience that we never had before. The rays of the risen sun were in front of us in a somewhat different mood. To our surprise, one side of the sky was beginning to shine brightly, whereas the other was a bit moody with dark clouds. The views on the sunny side were truly awesome and could find indeed some distance. I think we got to see the entire district from there. As we were at the summit we find behold at the play of these clouds clearly. It seemed that the sun was playing hide-n-seek with us. Without much time, Gokul spotted a herd of wild elephants at a side of the lake. All of us were trying to click pictures of it, after zooming our cameras to its maximum. Everything around us impressed us in every possible way they could. We feel fortunate to have visited Calvary Mount and chosen our tour company to make it hassle-free and enjoyable.