As I now often have to come to Cochin for my website work, I have really started exploring the wondrous hill stations of southern India. Munnar was just such a heaven, it has the largest tea gardens in the region with TATAs owning most of the gardens. Munnar is lush green and the gardens are covered with mist in the morning. We shot the whole day, driving past the scenic roads of this magnificent hill resort which was built by the British to enjoy during hot summer months. It is mid-April by the way and Munnar was our video destination. This time, we were a crew of three and shot with both the Canon Mark 5 and the GoPro. I made sure that I had got some good clothes with me for the trip and I think I looked fairly good in the shots that were taken. I spoke on technical aspects and the creative aspects of content writing and thus Blogging for Gold videos will start to getting uploaded on the blog soon. I was more expressive in my delivery this time and think I got my content information right all the time. Most of the talking, I was doing out of my head. I pray it all comes out good during the edits. We filmed at almost five to six direct locations, local scenic points and hilltops. Even the local parks were witness to my great oratory as I spread love, knowledge, wisdom and compassion around the streets of Munnar. It is also a great place to enjoy true South Indian Chettinad cuisine. I especially enjoy the chicken and mutton cooked in this really hot and spicy style. The gravel is thick and spicy with not a lot of oil and the mutton tender and succulent. One can also have that with hot appams. I used to often order for appams and enjoyed having them with egg curry.
We stayed in lake view in a hotel named Choice. Then we went up to a place called Top Station to do some more shooting for the videos. This time, we did it professionally and the results will show.
The team aims to shoot over 50 videos in the next ten days or so. That would really kick-start my YouTube channel and I hope to get 10,000 views in quick time. I also spoke about my book Survival and why I wrote it. Munnar was always misty and it was nice to shoot from the hotel balcony.
Next day we rolled down back to Cochin which was a three-hour drive. But it was the evening sunset that we captured and the scenic shots of the sun, the horizon and the water that controlled me the most. “You know, Munnar is such a lush green area blessed with great rains and waterfalls. People should try water harvesting here. Just need a flat roof area and you can put a water harvest filler to then bottle the water after purification.” Shiju explained to me. “Yes and then we could sell it to the Gulf countries. There, water is expensive but oil is cheap.” I added my gyaan to the whole matter. It was a pleasant evening and our work went as planned. Most of my videos have now been shot in Kerala and I am loving it!