For a longtime, solo travel has been on my bucket list. Finally, the time has come 😀 I’ve seen Mayavadi on Airbnb. The place looked so beautiful and not too far from the city. If you are thinking of traveling on a budget then there are two trains and the other in the evening from majestic to Nandi Halt station. From there you can take an auto. I started to the farm in the afternoon, so I was left with no other option than to take a cab. The host Pobala came to pick up from the road which is 2 mins away from the far. There are many pets who would be welcoming you once you reach the farm. It’s a one and half acre farm with many plants and some nice shelter made with dried grass to take some rest. I haven’t done anything there other than chilling out under the shade and listening to birds chirping. It was a wonderful experience as there is no connectivity with the outer world, no network (particularly Vodafone signal is so bad). Traveling alone makes you mingle with others. I’ve also got to meet a very enthusiastic volunteer couple Elisa and Joseph who is from Italy. The night we had some nice homemade Rotis and some native garlic pickle. Off to bed.
The next morning, I thought of going for sunrise but couldn’t get up as the place was so comfy to sleep. Around 7:30, Elisa accompanied me to a nearby pond. On the way, Rufus (one of the pets from the farm) joined to guide us to the pond. Aww, it was so beautiful with mountains, clouds, water, and birds chirping. After an hour we headed back to the farm via villages. We had some nice upma for breakfast and I was trying to gather some information about local and seasonal food from our host and also got to know about some plants present on the farm. One thing that attracted me is the lipstick tree. It Seems they make red shade out from the fruit of that tree.
It was lunchtime by then, and we got to eat some nice south Indian rasam rice and papad. Later, Elisa was trying to make some creative art with coconut leaves. Me on the other side admiring what she was doing and trying to make some stuff with the leftover leaves. There were other guests that day. It was all fun, talking, helping our host in preparing dinner. Ahh, not to forget about the sky. It was so beautiful with plenty of stars, windy nights, some nice simple food and good people around you along with the unconditional love by the pets. My soul was fully satisfied to get a peaceful sleep.
The next morning, we went to the pond again with the new guests and our host and of course Rufus was again guiding us. On the way back, we were able to spot around 10 peacocks and some different birds like wagtail, babbler, etc. I still have to learn to recognize birds.
Back to the farm to have some local food which our host got from the nearby village. Guests started going back. I decided to take public transport. And luckily, my host and the volunteers said that they are also coming to Bangalore. We got to know that for every one and a half hours there is a bus from the farm to Doddaballapur. From there, there are many buses to Bangalore. But, last minute the volunteers changed their mind about traveling to Bangalore and then my host offered me a lift on his bike. By 3:00 PM we were back in Bangalore 🙂 Spent some time there and went back to Chennai 🙂
This trip not only gave me some good memories, knowledge, and friends but, I gained a lot more confidence, got to see how I can handle my things and most importantly I was able to overcome my fears.
It was just not a trip to chill, I wanted to overcome my fears to get my confidence back. But I made sure to take the necessary precautions while traveling. I feel once in a while traveling alone makes you a better person. You get more connected to yourself and you would get to know much more about you.