January 1, 2010… Unlike all other years I have taken a New Year resolution this time. It is…. “To break free from all the routine works… Not to run the rat race at least one day every month”.
The next day was Saturday and the noon Sravan wanted to have a refreshment trip and it was part of my new year resolution too. So I have agreed immediately and he reminded me about an article published in The Hindu Metroplus Weekend issue dated January 2, 2010.
The content of the newspaper article was… “The estate is a sprawling 650 acres, with plantations of tea, coffee and spices. It is the perfect place for quiet strolls at night. Lyricist Vairamuthu is known to retreat here for inspiration. Gaurs freely roam in the estate. The area also has cheetahs, panthers, tigers, bears and elephants and the estate is surrounded by electric fences”.
Mettuplayam to Coonoor road was not in use due to the heavy landslides during the November 2009. So we have decided to take a ride through Kothagiri to Coonoor and then to the Kolakkombai region. We have booked the cottage over phone and we have planned to reach the destination by 9pm. Sravan decided to take his Royal Enfield motorbike for this trip and we have started the journey by 4.15pm directly from our office. We felt this trip will provide a quick recharge for our batteries. But due to piss poor planning, we got stuck on the mid way of Kothagiri due to the ignition pickup problem in his motorbike. Immediately he called up the service engineer over phone and tightened some mechanical parts. Well we improvised a bit, adapted, and overcame. We have started riding again slowly in the hills. Sravan needed a little more careful ride. We have started riding again slowly in the hills. We are fortunate enough to avoid a major crash. A bus was about to hit our vehicle due to the poor enfield engine pickup and unbearable traffic; fortunately escaped from it. This negligence might had cost us heavy toll on our health and wealth. We finally hit Kothagiri at around 9.15 pm; the only company till then was the music of Enfield Engine.
We stopped at Kothagiri and didn’t want to take risk at night since we are not even familiar with the roadmap and of course the poor motorbike bike condition. Nothing went according to our plan, but everything happened very well and smoothly.
I always feel like I am born to roam around.
It was so fantastic to walk in the main roads of the misty town.
We have started our journey again in the morning. I told Sravan that "A perfect Rider has 100% responsibility not only for his life, also for others life as well". Magically, the ride through Coonoor was awesome without any problem in our bike. We stopped for breakfast at Selas village and we were chatting with the people on the animal habitations. We crossed Selas and rode through the dense Kolakombai forest region where no human habitations existed for another 10kms.
After this, we faced a very steep climb on roads with marshes and it was a tough time riding down at a speed of 10 kmph. Its unfortunate that the Royal enfield's pickup has comedown and there was a problem with the clutches too... Finally we reached the Devashola estate by 11 am.
The Bisons' Valley Cottage
Common food court... Fortunately noboy else have booked the other 3 rooms of Bisons' valley cottage. 
We started the trek by 12.30 pm approximately, walking through the estate clicking few snaps. 
Sravan taking few micro breaks bcaz of his 108kg body weight. Nikes and Reeboks made no difference, the guide trekked with ease in barefoot, and we struggled.
The trekking path... 
We continued on our way, the path was much steeper and the view was breathtaking.
The peak... Sravan afraid to take few more steps in this place considering gravity force and his body weight. I was literally begging him to come up and then I have taken a video shot to convince him; after seeing the amazing location in my mobile video he has taken that extra steps.
We were now at 2000 feet above sea level. 
It was cloudy, but did not rain, lucky enough to carry out the trek. The guide and Sravan frequently warned me about the "gravity force" and adviced me not to go to the edge. So I was not able to take some beautiful shots...
The serene atmosphere with a cool breeze in the sun, was an uncanny experience and we being the only group to trek at that time made the trek more enjoyable. 
During the trek I had real good times with the native people. Meeting tea pluckers was great experience.
An escape from the crowded city.
I was struggling to carry the backpack any more...
Self explanatory... Relaxness in Sravan's walk
Beauty of Devashola...
We took a much-needed hot water bath. We have spoted the first bison here(seen between tea leaves). It was foggy and cold with a bit of a drizzle and the Green Tea we had there was heavenly. We both were planning for some reasons to take leave on the next day work.
We were offered hot water and nice dinner. I tried to catch up some sleep fter that.
Woke up around 6.15 am and for the first time in my journey I have seen herd of Bisons (The Gaur); more than 20 at the same time. I couldn’t believe my eyes…
I wokeup Sravan and we both have started enjoying the beautiful sunrise..........
Sudden change in the climate for few minutes...
Estate manager has taken his jipsy and shown us the entire estate. Two more gentlemen joined us the second day...
The authorities told us that this is one of the oldest male bisons and can u imagine its weight... Its 2 tons !
Tea root... people told us that the average age of a tea plant is 100 years and we can't pluck the tea plant without using machines like JCB. But an angry bison can pluck this plant with it's long curved horns it seems... 
Coffee plantations... 
Bubblimaas Tree... 
Rainbow (behind me) from the water sprinklers...
We have started back our journey by 3pm through short route via Pilloor dam and Mullikaadu. But we had to negotiate through more than 30 hairpin bends in this Mullikadu way
Horrible mullikaadu road... just imagine how will be the Hair-pin bends in this road !!!
View of misty Pilloor dam... 
Hydro electric project... 
This was the real enjoyment and we decided to have a trip once in 3 months like this...(If u r managed to read this fully please spare ur comment)
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