Hitch hike trip to Idukki

Okay, so my friend Anita had suggested I come to the tech fest held at her college, which was at Idukki, one of the few districts in Kerala where much encroachment of civilization has not yet happened. So I told her yes, and set out with my camera, GPS phone and a nearly empty wallet. I had planned to set off for the trip early evening, but you know how boys are with the last minute issue. It was 23:00 when I was finally on the highway, thumbs-upping any truck that didn't seem very spooky. A truck stopped and picked me up. The night time road is a sight to behold, the headlights rushing past, and the street lights waving at me as they passed. The truck driver Mr.Murugan was a pleasant guy with quick witted comments, which made the ride all the more colourful. We deviated from the highway on to a smaller main road, which later gave way to curvy hill roads. This is the amazing part of the trip where one could see clusters of lighting that were the cities that spread beneath the hills. For a moment, I felt like I was a dot of light making it's way upward the snaky roads of the classic Idukki hill range.. The mere vastness of the breathtaking vista that spread to the horizon, that is a sight I would remember for the rest of my life. When my watch showed 2 in the morning, my phone shut down as it ran out of battery. Mr.Murugan dropped me off at a junction as he still had a load to deliver. I bid adieu to the nice man, and looked around. Despite this late an hour, this junction was actually crowded with roadside mobile-restaurants with steaming pots and burning pans. I ate my late dinner to my hearts content, and made friends with the drivers who were already there. One of them was actually going through a route that passed my destination, so I grabbed my backpack and jumped into his truck. This trucker was younger and almost as excited as I am riding through the night. When the sun rose, we were atop one of the hills, and as the sunlight kissed the landscape good morning, I was too marvelled to take my eyes off the sight to even get my camera to make that moment immortal. It didn't matter, this was the magic of nature, and I was part of it. The truck moved on, bobbing over the uneven roads, which was actually cute because the truck had a miniature girl figure that bobbed it's head every time the truck hit a gutter. From where the truck left me off, the college was just a mile away. And I walked, into the misty morning, towards the adventure that lay ahead..