“Beyond the east the sunrise; Beyond the west the sea
And East and West the Wander-Thirst that will not let me be;
It works in me like madness to bid me say goodbye,
For the seas call, and the stars call, and oh! The call of the sky!”
-Gerald Gould
Thanks to the great poet who instilled in me a longing for journey and I must tell you, there is nothing other than an adventurous trip that can make your life fizzy. If the trip is on bike you would be a body with an ecstatic heart.
As a person who loves bike riding, I prefer trips on bike to hill stations as it can make you feel the real adventure in going on wheels, and feel the fresh nature of your destination as well. The last trip I had on Rozinante -my bike - was to Vagamon, a hill station situated in Idukki district or literally a beautiful young woman.We, a group of six decided to explore her and started our trip towards Kottayam from Vytilla – a place in Ernakulam district – without much preparation other than a thirst to see and ponder.
"It would take merely four hours from Vytilla to get there at normal speed" - a taxi driver guided us. Thoughts of unexplored splendid valleys helped us not to drink on the way even though we carried two bottles of rum with glasses and all necessary ammunition to fight with the chilling cold there. The road is very tough to travel as I said earlier and we started to inch, taking each hair pin bends with precession.
At some view points we stopped to see the whole drive way we covered that looked like a zig-zag line. View of the up coming mountains were also astonishing, with waterfalls here and there that seemed like chalk strokes of a divine hand. Below on the road, we saw vehicles inching up like a line of ants or as the poet said , little butterflies but with different colors. (to be continued...)
As a person working lengthy night shifts, it was really required for me to sort out a way to shed my tiredness. Discussion with friends resulted in the wonderful trekking trip to the enchanting water-falls of Dhoni.Situated in the Western Ghats, Dhoni is one such place in Kerala where travelers could watch nature at close quarters. The reserve forest and its surrounding mountains are rich with wild life including elephants, tigers, deer etc.
Obsessed with the idea, we soon flocked at the drawing table developing a trip plan. Now we are a crew of 5 with a guide in the form of Anoop (colleague), who knows Palakkad and its premises better.
The Way
We started our Journey on one fine Saturday morning. Considering the comfort level, we opted railway as our primary mode of transportation. We ( Anoop, Dipin, Praveen, Mirshad and Shijith)set our first destination as Shoranur. Luckily queue at the ticket counter was not that lengthy and we easily found our seats in the Intercity express frequenting between Eranakulam and Kannur. Shoranur was half way between. By the time of departure, the train was almost filled. We, however, were comfortable at our window seats, which helped us to snap shot some of the way side views. Dipin came prepared with a 7 mega pixel Cannon power shot, while others depended on their two mega pixel mobile phone camera's.
From Shornur to Olavakode
We reached Shoranur by around 9 am. After having a quick breakfast from a vegetarian hotel near by, we soon boarded our train to Olavakode from where Dhoni is just 15 km distant. It took roughly an hour to reach Olavakode. As private bus services connecting Dhoni and Palakkad town were rare, only option left for us was to reach the nearest point to Dhoni called railway station colony, which just 5 Km away from Dhoni. After a small bargaining, we hired an autorickshaw with fare fixed at Rs 50.
The rickshaw made a flying start, with the driver exhibiting certain acrobatic skills on the road, escaping gutters. The ride really tested my strength, as Anoop and Dipin was applying their weight pushing me to the corners of the vehicle.
The ride ended at the foot hills of Dhoni and we were heartily welcomed with a light, cool, refreshing drizzle. coolness of water oozing from the heaven removed all our fatigue. We were also fortunate enough to find a friend of Shijith, to help us around.
Dhoni
There is a check post of Department of forest at the foot of Dhoni hills. After paying nominal entrance fees we inched our way up to the waterfalls of Sapal at Parasuramkundu. Personal vehicles and Plastics are not allowed inside the reserve forest.It would take a four kilometer trek through the dark, tree covered jeep way, winding up the hill to reach the waterfalls. We, however, opted to be adventurous by taking the steep climbs in between, saving us several minutes of walk. But each climb made us tired requiring us to rest at least 15 minutes. There are plenty of small streams gushing down, so we never felt thirst.
Friends
On our way, we met Varghese and Thomas. we met them at the end of one of our steep climbs. While having some water from us, Varghese said, “Once we were ardent travelers like you people. Now, in our 50’s, our body is not resonating with our mind. Beyond all, our beloved friend is not with us too. He ended the journey of his life a little while ago. However, we are trying to maintain our passion, which actually keeps us alive."
After a while, leaving them behind, we went on with our steep climbs, which was making us tired too. Just then the idea of music came on. Energized by some rocking hits of Michael Jackson played out of mobile phone speakers, we made our climb a bit faster.
Leeches
Leeches were a major threat to our climb. They were in huge numbers, making it difficult for us to walk forward. We have had to halt several times to free those blood sucking things from our legs.
The waterfalls
Turning a corner, suddenly our hearts started pounding with the grumbling of water whipping hard on the rocks. The walk way lead us directly to the starting point of falls. Now we were standing above the falls. We wet our feet in the cool gushing water flowing over the walkway. Even though, the water is a bit slow at the begininig, it gathers huge momentum as it flows down the undulating slopes, incarnating it self as the famous Dhoni falls. 
Since we were warned of the danger hidden in the falls, we decided to wet our body at a safer place other than the water falls. The rocks were slippery, which took a toll on Anoop and Dipin. Dipin ended up breaking his finger nails, while Anoop found his Cell Phone damaged with water. Malampuzha and Meenvallam are also close to Dhoni and it is possible to reach there walking through the dense forest.
The return
Our walk back, down to the foot of Dhoni started by around 4.30 in the evening. As we went past the forest station, we were lucky enough to catch a bus riding straight to town. KSRTC got frequent services connecting Cochin with Palakkad town. We boarded a bus to Thrissur and from there to Cochin.
Now, when the trip ended, we could only say Dhoni and it falls, the light drizzle all fills us with some fine memories that could be cherished for ever.