Cheetal walk - Mark Davidar's place. I had never heard of it until Pinky mentioned it one evening. Apparently her uncle, who is now settled in Australia used to go to this place some decades back(!) and had a lot to say about the place. And so, as Pinky was about to leave for the US (its been a month and she is still here :D), she says she has got one weekend free and really wants to go to the place. Some people who were interested backed out, some broke their legs and others had other plans. So we had to make frantic last minute calls, somehow try to get four people because the bloke (Davidar) says four people only. Nothing more. Nothing less. With some last minute calls, we manage get four people on board.The team: Pinky, Adithya the Jadoo, Arvind and yours truly.
How to get there?
The place is about 8 kms from Masinagudi. Continue from Masinagudi towards Ooty. After crossing a village called Mavinhalla, there is a road to the left (there is a sign board saying Wild-Haven). Continue on that road and u'll reach Mark Davidar's place. Book in advance. His no. is : 0423-2526256.
The place is about 8 kms from Masinagudi. Continue from Masinagudi towards Ooty. After crossing a village called Mavinhalla, there is a road to the left (there is a sign board saying Wild-Haven). Continue on that road and u'll reach Mark Davidar's place. Book in advance. His no. is : 0423-2526256.
The place is good for armchair naturalists. The place is right in the midst of the corridor for wild-animals. Hence, wild animal spotting is a sure thing here, most prominent ones being elephants. He doesnt let u go out of the verandah, and rightly so, there are wild animals all around the place. You cannot go out even if you want to. We spotted a wild elephant (which kept visiting the place), wild boars, a huge sloth-bear, deers, sambars, snakes, bysons etc. The elephant came just outside the verandah. Davidar says he can "connect" to the elephants there and has named them after Brazilian footballers and the elephant who kept visiting us during the weekend was a bloke named "Roberto Carlos".
Roberto Carlos
What a figure! :D
What a figure! :DWhile there, be prepared to listen to his rants also. The guy is perpetually drunk and keeps saying shitty things. Also, when we were there, he used to keep jackfruits for the elephant. Although he doesnt do it regularly, I dont know if its a good thing to feed wild animals.
The rate is about 1000 per head per day, but dont expect any luxury at the place. Be informed that you'll get a good enough discount if there is a chick in the group :-)
There is nothing much to do there for more than a day (unless you are a very keen naturalist) and we decided to head back the next morning. Since we had the whole of Sunday, we took a small detour to Gopalaswamy Betta, where the wind and the mist have always fascinated me.
Atop Gopalaswamy Betta
Stopping for lunch at the now customary Fish Land Mysore, we realized we had enough time to kill and went to Kokkarebellur. Unfortunately, it was off-season and we hardly got to see any birds (season is from January to June). And we headed back to Bangalore. End of the story.
A few photos are here.
Thus continues the quest...
Atop Gopalaswamy BettaA few photos are here.
Thus continues the quest...
37 comments:
Hey, how come there's no mention of the Pinky incident in the blog?
Did she ban you from writing it?
What pinky incident??
The one where Mark Davidar asked her something..
hey friends,
I was there in the same place for 8 yrs.Still in love ...;)
This place has lot of treasures if u explore.
Go to moyar u have falls.
Go to masinagudi u have a dam.
Go to singara u have atream flowing from mountain and good place to treck and a wich to climp glenmorgan
Go to Ooty road bridge - u have a aweseome river from oooty where u may relax or trek
Go to teppakad - u have jungle safari , sanctuary ..
etc
etc
this place is heaven in other words atleast in my view.
sorry for the typo / gramm mistakes
"The bloke" does not give u a discount cuz there's a chic in the group. It's cause he doesnt care for the money. Jungle trails is heaven on earth for ppl who r actually interested in wildlife. And I find it hilarious that you go to MARKS place and then think its your right to comment on him being drunk.. u have a prob with tht? dont stay thr simple. go to some fancy jungle lodge or hut..stay in a fancy room with fancy food and no drunk ppl.. but sadly no elephants in your garden no tigers, no leopards, no bears or bison either. you make your choice and if you choose marks' then dont say shit yea?
Ooooo well put "bacpactraveller".. Even i find it hilarious that you visit my blog and then think its your right to comment whatever u like. You have a problem with that? Don't visit my blog, simple! Go to some fancy website/blog, read articles where they dont say shitty things abt ur MARK. but sadly no reality. you make your choice and if you choose my blog, then dont say shit yea?
And yes, it would be good atleast if you can reveal yourself.
Well a leaf outta ur own book for u to know wht it feels like. And if ur keen on keepin it private then limit view to ur friends yea?
Anyway its sad that reality is saying shitty things abt mark cuz then i'm glad i live in the surreal. MArks place is about the place and the place is wht it is cuz of MArk so I believe he deserves respect for being the crazy old man tht he is. Cause without ppl like him we'd lose out on so much so fast.
*Hoot Hoot * I know who u r bacpactraveller, gettin defensive are we? for good reasons I must say. But y waste ur time on some losers blog. Tcha!! Tcha! Driving down to Marks for the weekend. Come! come!
oh and did this blogger just quote you all the way?!?! nice!!! ur worthy of being quoted! *hoot hoot*
Hello peepuls..Bhatta u really shudnt be saying "shit" about "our" MARK on an open forum and expect to not get an honest opinion in reply..if after staying at Marks..ur only opinion of him is that he is a mad raving and ranting drunk..then u obviously have not understood the man..or enjoyed the place and u definitely will not be seen close to Marks again. We the faithful are thankful for Marks drunken rantings coz it ensures that people like u stay out..leaving that paradise on earth for like minded people to enjoy all the magical wonders of nature from the comfort of Marks verandah.
Bacpactraveller: well said!! i loved reading ur retort..we definitey will meet each other at
marks..hopefully soon!!
Sherekhan: if you do read this befor u leave to marks this weekend..tell himm all what u read..it will amuse the crap outta him..and u can listen to some fun rantings about..(to quote mark) "that b§!#%n ch§!@#th"
Bhatta: if you are a sensitive soul who cant deal with a lil verbal riling..then u really shoudnt be visiting "wild" places like Marks, and u definitely should keep ur comments bout Mark to ur dinner table conversations where u may amuse a few friends of urs.. but if u wish to amuse the whole world with ur comments..then do expect the few who are not really amused to give u a piece of their mind!!
Well thank you all for ur hilarious comments.. really made my day!
@bacpactraveller:
>> Well a leaf outta ur own book for u to know wht it feels like
Do you understand SARCASM?!
@Sherekhan the baagadbilla:
trying to get under my skin? making a pathetic effort.
>> oh and did this blogger just quote you all the way
glad you realized! the dim-wit bacpactraveller didn't.
@Rivaldo: This is not an open forum as u said. This is MY domain. You can keep all your criticism up urs.
>> Bacpactraveller: well said!! i loved reading ur retort
again, do you understand SARCASM!?
And what verbal riling are u talkin about? YOU seem to be the one who cannot take any criticism of your loved ones. I for one, am not even deleting your comments (which I can).
And yes, keep your comments short, I almost fell asleep.
Also, revealing your true identities would be a good idea.
Hey, btws, here's a good explanation one of my friends came up with:
He suspects all the three of you are females, who didn't get a discount at his place (he offers discounts to chicks only you see!). And that really pissed the three of you off!
hahaha!! omg!! u guys crack me up.. hahah!! brilliant sense of humour...NOT! sarcasm..u get? If tht pissed us off y we on mark's side u nitwit?
*hoot hoot* sherekhan.. i know u too..oh n bhatta ofc sherekhan and i r women...either tht or we're really gay men :).
sigh..im not in the mood for a nice retort. and hello rivaldo. with the language i'm guessing ur the guy i met at marks tht extremely lucky day... hoot if u r :).
bhatta, u jus got lucky.. i'm bored as hell replying to u cuz ur retorts are so fkin boring... damn and i was lookin at a fun war of wits but i guess ur too sissy for tht. so lucky u.
oh and rivaldo let me know when ur headin to marks next. i doubt i'd forget u and ur brother.
ok now im hopin u r who i think u r!
damn! the cat is outta the bag... so much for being anonymous.
Mr/Ms/Mrs. (take your pick) bacpactraveller alias tina: stop making funny mating calls at your brethren in my blog. "You have delighted us long enough!!" (that btw, is sarcasm).
and i got lucky? lucky from what you friggin' bigot. You too talk nothing but shit, just like Mark (and thusly your love for Mark). Now just shove it up.
My retorts are "fkin boring". And thats your excuse to shrink away from what you call "fun war of wits"? Now look who's getting sissy you hypocrite.
Look. There's something called opinion. Criticism, constructive or destructive, is welcome as long as its not derogatory. I have some opinion of Mark and that'l stick. You have some opinion about my blog and you comment and Iam fine with it. But if you can't stop yourself from being a derogatory ass, stay out of my blog. I don't write to please idiots like you.
You have been entertaining me well enough and thank you for that! I am having a good laugh :-)
Now this blog doesn't allow anyone to comment without a valid google account. So you and your friends baagadbilla and chapaldo cannot leave anonymous comments.
tch tch.. hasnt ur mother ever taught u how to talk to a lady...
Yes, only to someone who behaves like one :-).
As i said in my previous comment, I don't know what your English honorific is. You don't even have access to your profile!!
So no apologies for now.
ah.. and just cause I defend a friend and call you boring.. u think i dont behave like a lady..lmao..how typical.
A very easy way of wriggling out of situations!
On a serious note, yes, there's a way of doing it (defending your friends). Your initial comments were nice and me too wasn't offensive.
But when you start using words like "fkin" an "sissy", you need to be ready to take them as well (especially when you dont reveal your true identity.
For my part, I just used the tone you were using.
This ain't going anywhere...
true. the end
Aah. I dint hear no fat lady sing. How can this be the end?
Continue. This could end when you two walk down the aisle at Mark's place, hand in hand, and taking the vows.
You can honeymoon at Bhatinda..
(Bhatta, tina .. Bhatinda; get it?)
Shit yea, hell yea!
you would make a super bollywood director, bhardwaj. You'd definitely end up making one of those terrible sloppy hindi movies that make me wanna barf.
Huh! You couldn't be more wrong.
Any movie that I plan with you and bhatta would have to be called 'Kaminey'. Suits the two!
Btw, whats the guys name who made that movie? Oh yeah!
quoi? je ne comprende pas.Repetez-vouz en anglais, s'il vous plait.
I think ppl wld understand french by the time they try to figure out wht you jus meant.
Vafa-napoli :p
Bragging are we? French n all?
Never mind if you dint get that.. was very straight forward. You are a local, aren't you?
still dont understand you.
ROFTL !!!
unos..dos...tres...quadros..CINCO..
~subbu
PS: just left some spanish numbers as it looks like must to leave some foreign blabers as part of the comments :D
Very well. Her comes the explanation to the dunces.
"Huh! You couldn't be more wrong"
The author meant that the person that he is referring to is absolutely wrong.
"Any movie that I plan with you and bhatta would have to be called 'Kaminey'. Suits the two!"
This sentence is intended to convey that 'bhatta' and 'you' are absolute rascals and hence if the two were to be part of a motion picture, then the name of such a motion picture has to be 'Kaminey'; which is the Hindi word for rascals.
"Btw, whats the guys name who made that movie? Oh yeah"
The author expects too much from his readers here. He first expects people to understand that the 'movie' he is referring to in this sentence is the aforementioned 'Kaminey'. Then he hopes that the readers would know that a movie with the same name is about to release this Friday in over a 100 cinema places around India. To top all this, the dumb wit author thinks that the readers would know the name of the person "who made that movie" (supposedly, the director of the movie 'Kaminey'). As such, the pun here was that the name of the director of that movie happens to be 'Vishal Bhardwaj' who is a namesake of the author. Blows!
"Vafa-napoli :p"
Author thinks that the above is some form of french or italian, which actually has no meaning in this context. The sole aim of having this remark is to show his readers the handicap he faces with foreign languages. This intent is further substantiated by the smiley coded ':p', which is a sheepish smile with the tongue hanging outside ones mouth.
"Bragging are we? French n all?"
Authors wants to confirm whether the out of context usage of foreign language (claimed to be french) by the other person in conversation is meant to be a way of boasting their language superiority?
"Never mind if you dint get that.. was very straight forward. You are a local, aren't you?"
Author thinks that all the vile he writes is quite easy to comprehend for anyone, provided they are of the Indian origin and have an acceptable level of IQ. Since the IQ of the person in conversation seemed acceptable to the author and yet the person claims to have not understood the writings, the author wants to find out if this person is Indian at all (local here means a citizen of India).
What the duck!
hahahha ok now tht cracked me up. definitely indian but not from the north.
I'm sure Bhatta didnt expect this kinda response on his blog.. :)
Indian? Oh. Then it must be the missing IQ!
@Bharadwaj: You forgot to mention that the 'Vafa-napoli' was a Friends reference.
@The rest: Yawn!!!
Yes Sikandar, I did not forget; I intentionally left it out. It was already very complicated passage to key in..
"There is nothing much to do there for more than a day (unless you are a very keen naturalist)".
That's a good line and very true. Mark's place is for genuine lovers of wildlife. He may be a drunk and all of that... but he knows how to live along with the animals. They feel comfortable enough to come up to his doorstep. People who don't value that shouldn't visit his place. Hence, am grateful if your blog keeps other people like you away from Cheetal Walk.
Ok.
Do you have an up-dog?
What say we visit Mark's next weekend?
Good idea. Lets go.
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