My World of Food and Travel

My first memory of a bird is that of a beautiful barn owl. I must have been around 3.5-4 years old then. We were in Manas Wildlife Sanctuary at that time and lived in a wooden bungalow. The owl had secured residence in the space between the tin roof and the wooden ceiling of our bungalow. It would come back from its hunting expedition every evening, late at night actually, and strut about sagely in its room. Doop, doop, doop , it walked on, scaring me out of my wits with its heavy tread. The sound it made seemed quite eerie to me and after keeping quiet for some time I would let out a mighty yell. A series of yells, actually. And what profundity in those yells, says my mom. Enough to wake up my baby sister and the dogs that we kept. In no time, there would be a veritable chorus ringing out from the bungalow. My dad had zero tolerance for such antics, especially towards people who were frightened of birds, of all things. Besides, he wanted to have his few hours of peaceful sleep ...

We had visited Wayanad in mid-January this year (2014). Our first foray to Kerala – a dream destination of mine for a long, long time. Although this trip to Kerala did not involve the backwaters, Wayanad was still a memorable journey. We had only one agenda for Wayanad, and that was to relax. No running about sightseeing, just plain lazying around. If you have read about my past trips, you would know by now that we are budget travellers who love secluded places, away from the milling crowds. We might have to drive that much further down the path, but we will do that to beat the thronging tourists. With that view in mind, we zeroed in on a place called Pepper Green Village, located along the banks of the Kabini River. The tariffs were reasonable and within our budget. I read the reviews on TripAdvisor and they were quite a mixed bag. Which was good because I, inadvertently, become suspicious if a place gets too many good reviews. I took the complaints about the resort lightly sinc...