My parents were here for last 10 days. Also my cousin from Pune and a cousin from Bombay and his parents. Since all were here we were planning for a weekend getaway. Only problem was to decide on a destination.

Till last moment we were planning to go to . We booked the taxi and called up s hotel there to book the rooms. That guy there said it was pouring there and dint recommend to come. So at the last moment we changed plans and decided on . I had been to Ooty before some 7-8 years ago. But that day it was raining and we spent most of the time in the hotel room.

I had come to office at seven in the morning on Friday and went home at 1:30. The taxi was ready and we left at 2. The drive was good. Road was nice. But near Mysore we had a flat tire. Driver, his name was Raju, changed it and we moved again. After some time we got one more flat tire. This time it took time. We were stranded for almost an hour. After that we were again back on the road.

It was getting dark and we knew that the road ahead was through hills with a lot of hair pin turns. Coincedently we were passing through and though that it would be a great experience if we could stay in some lodge in the jungle. At about 11 we found the government cottage and got a room there.

When we were walking towards the room in the dark, we heard some noises. The guard threw the torch light aroung and we found that we were among hundreds of deers! We were thrilled!!! The room was ok. Those guys also made "Sambhar Rice" for us. It was amazing. We also booked for the jungle safari.

On saturday, got up at 5:30 in the morning. Got the first glimpse of the jungle outside. I just cant explain how beautiful it was. Deers were roaming around the room. Monkeys were sitting on the trees and watching us watch them. Birds were chirping. Weather was beautiful. It was awsome!

The safari was nice too. It lasted for an hour. We saw some elephants, deers, peacocks and wild dogs. It is a place where you can spend days without getting bored. But we had to leave for ooty.

We reached ooty and went to . It was very very very windy. There was a small building with a small telescope inside. Those guys were charging 3 Rs. to see Ooty from the telescope. Since we were tourists in a tourist spot, we had to make all the stupid things that tourists usually do. There was a queue of stupids. When my turn came and I put my eye in the telescope, then only i realised how stupid I was. You cant make out what you are seeing there.

Then we went to . Amazing and huge place. I remember I was there in the rains last time. This time it was a little crowded. Its a well maintained garden with a large number of trees brought from all over the world.

We checked in in a hotel. Coincedently it was the same hotel we stayed last time. We had lunch and we slept. In the evening we just went out for a walk. It was pretty cold and after walking for some time we felt better. The hotel manager told us that it was raining for last 20 days and we were lucky to get such a wonderful weather. We walked through the market. I found couple of book stores and had to go inside :).

Ooty is a big town. We wanted to buy something but we could not find anything that is not available in Pune or Bangalore.

For dinner we went to a place where they served some dosas that made us lick our fingers. We also had a lot of home-made chocolates. Yummy!

On sunday we got up in the morning and had breakfast. My shoulder was still aching. But felt better after a hot water bath. We went to Ooty station and caught a narrow-gauge train to . If you ever go to Ooty, DO NOT MISS THIS TRAIN RIDE. Just like , I just cant explain how beautiful it was. You have to experience it yourself. Our taxi was waiting for us at Coonoor station. We came back to Ooty, again bought some chocolates and left for .

Near Mysore, we had lunch and after that got inside the Mysore Palace. I had been there earlier. That time I was pretty impressed by it. But this time around dint feel much. In the end, I had seen so much gold and silver and ivory that i was bored of it. A middle class person like me feels bad to see so much efforts and resources wasted for a kings palace without a good reason.

Last night we came back to Bangalore at about 8:30 in the evening. Had dinner and slept. The cool and memorable weekend was over. :)