Trip of the year with my gangster girls
It’s a lengthy blog, so I want to navigate my readers through it. Let me divide this blog into 3 parts. Go to the respective title, which interests, that could save you the problem. If you choose to read from the start, I would say ‘good decision.’
PS: Stay with me till the LAST part. You will get to know something cool from this blog which you could try.
1. The Backstory
2. Our newfound interests
3. Something cool that you cannot and should not avoid reading
The Back story
After a while of being local gangsters exploring local places, one of our masterminds said: “Girls, enough with the local stuff. It’s time to expand our wings. Let’s plan in this regard; if not now, when?“
When you hear something you are scared to say out loud, the time required to jump into action would be less. Thereby with an easy agreement among us, we stepped out, and the success rate was tremendous as we had a great time in GOA.
But after that, the dynamics of the group changed. Our shooter with bullseye got engaged and married on top of that, and had to move to a new place (Banglore). In our hearts, we knew that nothing would change, but it is also foolishness to deny that it won’t.
But after intense planning (Believe me, when I say intense! Planning the whole trip was one side but booking a bus ticket where the rest of us could board at a convenient place and time was another side), when we got dropped and started walking towards the nearest signal to reach home it felt – Love can make you do things. We, a bunch of local gangsters walking in the streets of Banglore to get reunited and all set for another epic saga.
Our newfound interest
Goa was all about making it home safely so that we could have many more trips, not catching covid and passing it on to our families. We made the best of whatever we had. But this time, it’s all good out there. We are more than comfortable with our own company and ready to step out of the house.
BAM! Our gangster group manager pulled out a few makeup products of sugar cosmetics that she had been experimenting with. Within no time, we all, like flies on jaggery, tried and applied all the things. Foundation stick, Primer, lipstick, and lipliner are all on our faces looking in our best possible versions. I say makeup has the superpower of bringing confidence to people. And thus began new camaraderie between us.
Just like you, we are a bunch of morning sleepers who hold their own track records of wake-up time (mine being 1:00pm). But, when it came to trips and having to reach a peak point to see a sunrise, we surprised ourselves with the kind of punctuality and discipline we have.
Our obsession with making the most of our limited time and executing things as planned, we added makeup to our list and
DAMM! We all looked super cool.
Something cool that you cannot and should not avoid reading
Coorg has many places, and one single google search could give you 1000 recommendations. Still, one thing that surprised us was our plantation visit.
We had to start our day so early, at 4, that by 3:30 pm, we were done for the day. But we still have to kill 3 more hours giving us enough time to check out, have dinner, and board the bus. So we left with only one thing the plantation visit. We asked our cab driver half-heartedly: Will he be taking us there? Can we visit and come back to our place at the expected time?
He said – ‘Ya, I will, and it’s nearby too. It costs 200 per head. Is that fine with you guys?’
We were looking for any tiny reason to drop the plan, but none of it was a deal breaker. Soon the raindrops were hitting the car windows, but now it was too late to come out of the plan, and we reached ” Green Way Coffee Island Nature Walk.”
We were introduced to a very good-looking young man who would be our guide for this short tour of 45 mins. After 1 hour, boy, it really felt short. Our constant running from the morning came to a pause. We shut out all the world’s noises in those minutes and experienced nature. Nature might also be wanted to cut some slack for us and pause the rain to give us the best experience we deserve.
We walked slowly – observing the two varieties (arabica and robusta) of coffee, knowing the backstory of coffee’s arrival in India. Meanwhile, holding coffee beans, tasting (one short hot chilli burned our mastermind gangster’s mouth (ass)), and smelling a few spices (pepper, betel leaf), our tour came to an end. Understanding the way of life of plants and breaking our coffee virginity was a refreshing eye-opener plantation for us.
Coming from families of coffee maniacs, we all recalled them, appreciated the great effort of the tour guide, and promised them great google reviews.
Million dollar question:
Hey Anusha, you are from an agriculture background; how could that be a first-of-a-kind refreshing experience for you?
True, can’t deny it.
But unfortunately, when my guide spoke about the varieties of coffee, all I could recall was the difference table in the first chapter of our study material consisting of 10 points and comes as a definite question in mid and final exams. And this happened when we were talking about pepper and turmeric processing.
What made me, in fact, us feel special about it?
Well, our expectations played a considerable role. We thought it would be like one of our school trips with so many people, and we would be left out at the end. That will make us unclear to hear the guide’s (teacher) voice, and we come out with nothing but pain in our legs. Well, it happened to me on many of my field trips.
Having the exclusivity and interaction and learning just out of interest and joy but not to score marks made it absolutely worth it. I had a great time. After all, when I returned to campus and happened to attend the seminar on Agro-tourism, all these visuals flashed, and I felt Damm! I had first-hand experience with agro-tourism, and I didn’t even realize it.
If and when you have an opportunity to experience something like this.
Don’t hesitate. Grab the chance.
Until my next blog, HAPPY GA UNDU MAWA.
#anushawrites 