mindmusings

World Wide Web true to it's sense connects everything across the web and shows us things and places which otherwise would never have been known so well. A friend while going through Facebook saw somebody's post on Paragliding in Kerala. He rang me up immediately saying something about Vagamon and I first thought he was talking about Vagator in Goa. And as it turns out many people don't even know this place exists! After some research came to know that this small hill station in Idukki is the Paragliding hub of Kerala!  Fly Vagamon  is the institute we flew with. Even the Govt. of Kerala promotes the activity and conducts a Paragliding festival once a year when you can fly for free! After a call to the Fly Vagamon came to know that the flying season will end in two week's time as weather and winds will not be conducive after 3rd week of April and flying will restart only in October next year. Not wanting to miss the opportunity we packed our bags and headed to Vagam

It was June and I hadn't yet started my Monsoon travels! After a scorching summer where at times days touched 40 degrees, Bengaluru was unbearable. It was still first week of June but literally every homestay we called up was booked for the weeked. After alot of research and calling up more than 15 places we finally got the accomodation at   Hidden Valley . (More about the place and Devigudda in another blog) Homestay guy suggested this small waterfalls called Shankar falls but said there is no guarantee about the quantity of water as the rains haven't picked up yet. We decided to give it a try neverthless and proceeded towards Aldur. After Aldur take the route that goes to Sringeri and travel for some 6 kms (after passing Bannur on the way) comes a small tea stall which is called Shankar falls tea stall. There was only one other car parked and we felt good thinking early morning drive was a good idea! After talking with the shop owner for few minutes we proceeded toward t