Our 7 day long Kerala trip brought us to Thekkady. As we entered the city, we were welcomed by innumerable authentic Kerala spa experience boards accompanied by a distinct vibe of the town, lets just say, we loved it.

Highly recommended activity at Thekkady is the early morning boat ride at Periyar Lake in the Periyar Wild Life Sanctuary. Everyday, the Boat does multiple trips but each one of around 2000 tourists aim at getting one of the 120 spots available for the morning 7:30 slot. It has a valid reason though, as the early morning mist and quietness of the wild adds so much more to the experience.

Thus, with a probability of 120/N where N is the no. of tourists for the day – Game to gain the that elusive morning spot begins!

Your KRA is divided into 3 parts (Welcome to Incredible India Tourism!):

1. Outside Gate Ticket Arrangements

2. An F1 Race with Middle class Cars (Oh Yeah!)

3. A Sprint to the Boat ticket

Planning starts the evening before when you are advised to book an auto for 4:30 AM just to be ahead in the line for the entry gate ticket, where counter opens at 7 AM. Auto is preferred over a Bus or a Rickshaw because it can maneuver traffic like there is no traffic and you can trust an Indian Auto to pull off some James bond stunts much required in the second round. Hence, long before sunrise, we waited amidst several Gujju groups already forming business strategies for the upcoming round while sipping tea loudly & pulling their pants further up nearly touching their nipples.

At 7 AM, Ticket counter opens followed by the sanctuary entry gate and it seemed as if a silent rifle has been shot in the air. Multiple engines ignited together, switched on their Indian style turbo boost by firmly pressing the accelerator in up and down motion. A completely different mist filled with dust and gas is formed within 10 seconds but who really is bothered about the environment at this moment.

Our humble Auto driver suddenly turned into a monster driving a weapon of mass destruction as he bypassed Buses/Jeeps/Cars while we volleyed from left to right at the back seat as if our whole body is watching a Wimbledon final live. He didn’t care about the gravel road or any road at all. He justified his charge in the final few seconds in which he nailed the break peddle hard and turned the auto steering to the right in full throttle eventually positioning me to a perfect slot to jump out of the auto for the upcoming sprint. So i adhered but not before my wife screamed “Run Sumit Run”. I still believe that day, given a chance, i could have brought an Olympic medal for the country.

Boarding continues here