Since Santanu had classes and exams this month, it’s been a grueling month for both of us. For this reason, I too was not getting some time off from our little one. There was an absolute need for a break.
Two days before his last exam, Santanu suddenly said that he had leave and if I was interested, we could go somewhere nearby. He then started reading on the net and ended up saying we would go to Wayanad, Northern region of Kerala. Word of mouth was the major source of procuring information for undertaking the trip. Being at Bangalore, Wayanad was a good option since it was only about a 275 KM drive away.
Earlier, he said he would go via Nagarhole forest and return via Bandipur forest. My major concern was about our stay. As with Aarush, if we don’t look for a proper place, the journey is not peaceful.
We looked for two homestays, one near Nagarhole and the other near Sultan Bethary. Looking does not mean that we will stay there, but then also we sincerely jotted them down in MS Word with phone numbers and all. I wanted to be sure where I was spending the night, otherwise I was not going anywhere.
At that time, he said we would do a night stay at Mysore and then leave early morning for Wayanad. So, I took down hotel contact details and the address of the frill-free Ginger hotel of Mysore.
Since that weekend was a long weekend and Saturday was Santanu’s exam, I was not sure when exactly he wanted to leave from home. Because by the time he would reach home after the exam, it would be late afternoon. Then also, on Friday late evening, we packed our things with a “just in case” thought.
On Saturday, he called me up around noon saying to call those homestays to check if there was any availability or not and to be ready to leave immediately within an hour after he returned home. When I called those homestays, only one was available. I gave a call directly to her for availability, otherwise pricing would vary then. Thereafter, I remembered that we were not supposed to stay at a homestay that night, but a frill-free hotel in Mysore.
Later, after his exams, I called him to clarify those doubts, and that time he said no, we are going straight to the one that is available at Wayanad. I was a bit stupefied on hearing that. I was really not sure whether he would be able to drive that evening or not, but he sounded quite confirmed in his answer. Oh man! he is so adamant about not making any proper itinerary before any trip.
Route
Bangalore - Mysore - Nanjangud - Gundalpet - Sultan Bathery - Wayanad
Drive
We set off on Saturday at 4.10 PM from home and touched Mysore by 7.15 PM. Since it was already dark, we missed the signal of Ooty and ended up going to Mysore palace. Luckily, from far we saw the whole palace being lit up. So we made a halt to take photographs. Some open-air music function was going on on the eve of Ugadi. Around 7.50 PM, we happened to ask a police officer the route to Ooty, and he was startled seeing me and Aarush, saying it was too late to go there. It would take around 9-10 hours to reach, and the road was not that excellent. He suggested that we stay at some hotel in Mysore only.
Then we said we actually wanted to go to Wayanad. Hearing that, he seemed to be quite relieved and said the road was very good and gave us directions. By 8.05, we were in the car and in no time were on the route leading to Nanjangud. Our excitement was in the air.
The route to Wayanad had to be traversed through the hilly terrain highway. We could not speed up much, although Aarush was sleeping, but the dazzling lights from oncoming vehicles were very disturbing. We made a few more stop-overs to confirm the route and then take-away dinner on the route. Crossed dense jungle of Bandipur at night. We had to be very vigilant throughout. As this was our first night drive, there were lots of check posts, and in one check post Santanu had to get down to give his driving license and car registration details.
Lady of the homestay, Ente vedu, told me that once I reached Sultan Bathery, I should give her a call for further directions. The route to our homestay was another 45 minutes from Sultan Bathery.
We had to leave NH 212 and drive on a connecting road towards Mananthavady. This road was completely dark and had many winding up-and-down roads, so we couldn’t accelerate much. As it passed through villages, there were no cars or people on the road.
We found a few night owls to confirm that we were on the right track. Ente vedu’s guide, Nash Jose, directed us, even though we felt uncomfortable disturbing them so late. He gave us directions based on the location, buildings along the road, and the distance from where we were calling. At one point, we couldn’t figure out which route to take, so he came to that point himself to guide us. He was really nice gentleman.
INFO
Our homestay was located in Panamaram, Wayanad.
Despite arriving at the homestay quite late (after midnight), he showed us to our room and other facilities and said goodnight.
That night, we were given one large room (like a dormitory where many people can stay together with a bathroom, but the toilet was outside). Thank goodness we didn’t have to share it with anyone. All the other rooms were booked, so we got this one and were told that we could change to a room of our choice in the morning.