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Sunday, October 28, 2012

Awesome Panchmarhi

The best part about childhood is that one is quite qualmless. This post is about a climb down to Duchess Falls in Panchmarhi, a small town in Madhya Pradesh.

This was in June, 1997. My brother and I were younger (a good 15 years from now). The driver of our jeep stopped on the edge of a steep cliff and pointed downwards.

"Yes!", said I and my brother, in unision.

"No way", said Ma.

Before Dad could work out a plan of action, the driver, hardly few years older than me, offered to go down with the two of us while Dad stayed back with Mom. And he was a man of the hills - while we climbed with care, he scampered down like a monkey. Some stones were loose, and we slipped for some distance - hurt ourselves; ripped our clothes partially... but looking at the young chap before us, we were encouraged to go on. Soon, we were also scurrying across the rocks free from fear of falling, and absolutely unconscious about our torn clothes, ignorant of the pain due to the bruises.

The driver would pick up a wild fruit and throw them to us, and the three of us went on gleefully.


At last we caught a glimpse of the waterfall - it started like a timid stream (Photo 1) across the rocks but then  fell almost vertically off a cliff in a powerful stream. While we were admiring its might, the driver told us it would be much fuller next month when monsoons arrive. He took of his clothes in the speed of lightning and jumped into the plungepool, which was quite wide.


We followed, and the ice-cold water seemed to heal our injuries and infuse new energy into us. Our muscles felt alive - stimulated and the bathing experience was awesome. The photo on the right shows a shot of my brother in the pool taken from a very long distance.  We returned a rejuvinated lot.

When I saw this video on Youtube, I was reminded of this experience when I was taken down to a beautiful waterfall by a monkey in the form of a driver.

Photocredits: My Dad, with his age-old camera.
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This is a part of the Alive is Awesome initiative launched by Cinthol.



11 comments:

Shilpa Garg said...

Oh yes the enthusiasm is infectious, with somebody who is motivated like your driver, all the inhibitions go away and we start enjoying the journey!
Panchmarhi, a wonderful place to explore! :)

My Unfinished Life said...

yes!..the wonder years..when we thought less and acted more!!!....it was fun time!!

http://sushmita-smile.blogspot.in/

Unknown said...

I stayed a few kms away from the place for all of my childhood, and never got to visit!

Sabyasachi Patra | Tales from Wild India said...

You brought back a lot of memories. In younger days one doesn't think twice about not able to make it through the tough course. Panchmarhi is a beautiful place.

vinay said...

Its good to have such experiences..reading this I remembered and almost relived a similar incident with family some years back. :)

ashok said...

awesome indeed!

R. Ramesh said...

life's a bundle of such experiences..goodd

Anupama K. Mazumder said...

@Shilpa,
I couldn't agree more!

@Star,
Wonder years... indeed!

@Damayanti,
That's an opportunity missed.. where are you from?

@Saby,
That carefree approach is the key!

Anupama K. Mazumder said...

@Vinay,
Travelling with family is great, isnt it?

@Ashok,
Such lovely memories...

@Ramesh,
Life is such a mystery!

Noopur said...

You brought my memories back.. It is among my fav. places... thanx for comming on my blog...
Visit again :)

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