Waynad HomeStay Experience

My second visit to Waynad and that  too just 2 months after the first trip. 6 of us – Myself, Ujjwal and 2 of our seniors from college with their spouse accompanied us for 3 days trip. This trip was little different from my last trip to Waynad. This trip was more like relaxation. With lots of complexities going in mind, I wanted to be away from Bangalore and relax .

Chembra Peak

6 of us packed our bags and started our 6 hours journey to Waynad by road early morning. On reaching Waynad and having a sumptuous Kerala meal we visited Edakkal Caves. Not very much interesting we started towards our homestay. Yeah this time we had booked a homestay. Waynad is famous for homestays and this was my first stay in a home away from my home. Sundar Mahal as its called was actually beautiful in the interior with a big garden surrounding  it. You will feel as if you  are staying in the middle of a jungle with all types of sounds in the night.

As soon as we reached our homestay, there was Prabha (our host) waiting outside to welcome us. The warm welcome from Prabha and her husband Murali was accompanied by the banana chips and a hot coffee. Though I don’t drink tea or coffee but if you been to Waynad and you don’t try the two beverages there, you would miss something.

The homestay was a  nice blend of traditional and modern. The house was 100 years old with the old gramophones, old phone. We were served a nice dinner prepared by Prabha – mixture of north indian and keralite dishes.

Tia- The Graceful Lady Dog

The food had a taste which would make you feel homely and if the hosts themselves serve you then it increases the homely factor. After a delicious dinner, we had a long discussion with Prabha and Murali on all types of topics ranging from travel, politics, education, agriculture, tourism, kerala drinking problems and the conversation seemed unending.  Even our hosts were so much fond of talking that we didn’t feel like stopping the interesting conversations.

The next day morning started with soft idlis and a hot coffee. After recharging ourselves with the idlis, we headed towards Chembra Peak.  With the pleasant weather favoring us, we trekked on the peak till we found the “heart shaped lake” on top of the peak. After the trek we wanted to be back to the comfort of the homestay. On getting back Murali showed us few of the memorabilia of the house – the gramophone, the record signed by Gandhiji and Sarojini Naidu, pics of Shashi Tharoor with the family and few articles which featured Murali.

Vishnu, son of our hosts, was on his visit to his home for  his vacations. The night was spent with again a sumptuous dinner prepared by Prabha and 2 of our lady accompaniments . I preferred not to join them in preparing the dinner as “Too many cooks spoil the broth” :). The night was spent again with a delicious dinner with nice home made sweets and again a long conversation. Prabha is a very keen learner and was very much trying to learn Hindi and also doing a course of tourism. Though we all were tired, we didnt want to sleep as now only one day was left in the homestay.

Next day we stayed back in the homestay . Ujjwal, very fond of dogs, got a friend Tia. She was a very graceful lady dog but being very much afraid of dog I could just admire her from far.  Though Ujjwal tried a lot to get me near to her, I could gain the strength only to just sit and pat her from back.

Our Lovely Hosts

Finally we had to end our trip and get back to Bangalore. We had few photo shoots with our hosts. It was really a nice homely feeling in the homestay. It was a home away from home in true sense. If you are planning a trip to Waynad with a small group, just catch hold of the host of Sundar Mahal, bring in few books with you and just enjoy the time with the family, reading books with the coffee. An ideal place for relaxing.

Enjoy another blog by Ujjwal on the HomeStay Experience!!!