Emerald, Of the lake and the gems — part 2

Read part 1 if you haven’t already.

I readied myself for any outcome and put on my brave-face. Turned out, it was our neighbour, that Malayali family. The husband was back from work and he had come to check how we were doing. He was bewildered as to why someone would camp outside here in this cold. I assured him that we had sleeping bags, and full disclosure, I was pretty confident that after braving the Himalayan cold a few months ago, I could face Ooty and its chilly nights. But boy was I wrong. Our neighbour whose name I learnt was Radhakrishan, was curious about us, how far we rode, how long we stay away from home etc. I replied rather whimsically that the world was my home, and travelling it obviously would never make me homesick. He did not seem very convinced, but relented on the questions. We wished each other good night and, he headed back home. Baba and I were a little worried about the wild animals as we were not lighting any fire. But our friendly neighbour had assured us that there were no elephants in that region, so felt fairly confident. But 15 minutes later Radhakrishnan had returned with a couple of blankets, saying it would be too cold even with the sleeping bags. I was quite touched by this sweet man and his care towards us strangers. I have found during my travels humanity can be found anywhere and it had nothing to do with the weight of your wallet. We went to sleep feeling warm and happy.

We woke up at 5 in the am the next day, to bone chilling cold. Surprisingly the water in the lake was mildly warm. By around 7 am, we had taken bath, packed our camp, cleaned out the trash and were ready to roll to the next place. We went to Avalanche Lake, which got its name from a huge landslide in the early 1800’s in the region. I guess Landslide Lake would have not made for a very good name and they went with fancier sounding Avalanche. It was a very restricted area and no private vehicles were allowed. Government shuttle services ply to take us commoners on safari, but the queue was humongous. I wished I could take my bike to the lake as the road leading to it is very beautiful and rather adventurous. We saw the origin of the river Bhavani and some bunkers (believed to be built by Tipu Sultan) on the way. Avalanche is a beautiful lake. Blue as it can be, and surrounded by tall, tall pine trees. We spent a little while there before we climbed down and headed to Ooty town with some new friends (fellow bikers). We reached back and literally bumped into a festival of the Toda tribe, who are indigenous to Ooty. That was a lucky coincidence, I guess.

Baba and I headed back to our good old Emerald Lake and met up with Radhakrishnan who was joining us with his home prepared dinner that night. He was feeling bad that we both were out in the wild without proper clothing or food. I tried to explain that we actually were doing this voluntarily and find enjoyment in it, but in vain. He sat with us and shared some intel about the region, describing to us the routes we should take if we wished to be truly adventurous. Being a lorry driver, he knew pretty much every road out there in the region.

We woke up the next day, set to start riding again. Packed in a jiffy and cleaned up the area. We found that despite being rather remote, there was quite a lot of garbage there. It made me wonder how people could litter such a beautiful place. Our collective civic sense as a nation is very poor, I realized.

We bid adieu to the lake, our neighbour and the village of Emerald. I became rather overwhelmed and understood that Emerald was just a lake, the real gems were the people living there. The previous couple of days I had spent there riding, camping near the lake was one of the most memorable events in my life. We had become very much acquainted with this small Nilgiri town, to the point that people indulged in friendly small talk whenever I came down to town. Few people even knew me by my name, and I knew their names too. I had friends in this part of the world too now, wasn’t that wonderful? Real adventure begins when you let go of your comfort zone, and embrace the spontaneity of life. This village has taught me invaluable lessons on humanity, selflessness, and friendship. I was emotional when I saw the entire family waving to us, while I started my ever trusty bike. I smiled and waved back and their waving hands became smaller and smaller as we continued our journey towards the unknown where we could camp next.