CTC picnic (Nagala/18), Apr 18-19, 2009

Picnic -- 1: an excursion or outing with food usually provided by members of the group and eaten in the open; also: the food provided for a picnic – Merriam Webster

That’s literally what the trek was meant to be as defined in the dictionary, word-by-word. One of the longest email threads I have ever seen. Discussions were only about food and drinks while vegetarians and Non-vegetarians were throwing flame war at each other. In fact I took print outs of recipes for Zang’s grilled Chicken and Thai grilled lemon chicken. I could visualize how great the weekend’s going to be. Definitely no trekking but just pure and unlimited fun. Eat like a pig, dance as if no one’s looking at you and sleep like a baby is what I was intending to do. I called up Peter at 11:30PM to confirm everything’s all set and I went to bed dreaming about the great CTC picnic. A nice game of rugby in the cool pool, awesome chicken barbecue, cool beer, a good swim in the pool, wow, weekend can't get any better!!

Rugby ball, paper plates and cups, recipe print outs and pair of dress to change -- Those were the contents of my backpack. An ideal picnic back pack, isn’t it? Three cars zoomed by and I jumped into Peter’s car to find Amal, Senthil and Vikki with Divi at the front having two cute plaits. She resembled a kinder garden school girl. Does anyone still remember your first school picnic? Mine’s still fresh in my mind. Parents used to pack up lots of snacks, water bottle filled and I could be all curious waiting to get a seat by the window in the bus with a cute little girl sitting by your side, waving parent’s good bye as if you are going on a space tour to moon for a very long time. J

En route, we were discussing about taking a new route this time to reach the pool. The closest village to that was Digavakandiga, a village not too far from Pichatoor. We stopped by a small hut where they served hot Poori, Idly and Vada and hot tea for breakfast. It was about 8:30. En route to the village we stopped by to ask directions to a guy asking where the place is in the map. Guess who that guy was, AP forest officer in charge of the check post. He was skeptical looking at us and repeatedly asked why we are heading with a map. Somehow managed to tell him that we are going to see a relative and since we don’t have good directions, we took a map of the place. He somehow got convinced ad let us go but I was thinking whether he would make a few calls to alert anyone. We’ll know only when we are back from the picnic. On our way, we met the village sarpanch (Village head) who was very helpful and kind and in fact offered to help us with food and provisions. We parked our cars at a nearby village and the villagers were extremely compassionate and helpful and offered to take care of our cars. Distributing the food was a big task and everyone had a bit more than their usual treks this time. No sweat no gain. J

We started our trek, with our heavy backpacks and a cool box full of yummy chicken breasts and sausages. Yummy. We crossed a school on our way and Indira awed the kids by her cameo performance. While the rest of us where sitting along with the kids and enjoying the show. Felt like back to school days. Without wasting much time, we headed towards our destination, our exotic picnic spot.

We walked past a very dry ground for quite some time trying hard to figure out which way would take us towards the valley. We walked past the trail couple of times but Peter pointed us towards the right direction in no time. We headed towards the direction, but since the beginning of the trek, sun showed no mercy, I mean no mercy at all. It was cruel and soon our water reserve was going down drastically. Shilpa already started cursing Sheetal and Amal for the nice picnic and she had no clue what was in store for her for the rest of the day. We all were completely exhausted by now, basically because of the heavy backpack. Off we marched to the base of the mountain that would take us to the pool but the climb aint any easy one though, at least not with the heavy backpacks. Peter, Guru and I decided to go ahead and find some water while the rest of the group can take their time. Huge boulders over a dry stream which had a very steep inclination gradient as we moved forward was sucking everything out of us that we had to take constant breaks. After some time we found some water dripping through a vertical fall where we filled couple of water bottles for the group and I decided to move forward. On my way, I saw a long snake skin and it was fresh which showed signs of snakes around. I regretted for not carrying my camera. I started and moved quiet some distance and waited for the group. Sunitha, Indira and joined me in a while. I was glad to have some company but our frequency of taking breaks increased. On my way, I found a ‘Pitch black’ 3ft long snake crawling through my way just couple of feet apart into a small hole by the mountain side. It got me shocked for a moment though but I kept moving. The cool box with chicken was so damn heavy and at time I felt like abandoning it, but at the same time I loved it so much that I told myself that I’ll go any extent to carry it. Indira and Divi carried come grapes and it tasted heaven. Man Vs Wild, Survival skills, Into the wild, was the part of the discussions Indira, Divi, Sunitha, Senthil and I were having along the way. After couple of hours of walk, the rest of the group joined and we reached the peak. The flat surface in front of us looked inviting after the steep hill climb. The ground was filled with ashes of the tress and leaves because of wild fire and there were still some fire devouring the forest at some distance. Peter said that we are going to soon find the water, which gave us some hope which eventually found out as false hope J

We reached a shady place which looked like a stream and found a small pool but the water was not too good to drink. We quenched our heat by washing our face and had cucumber. We finished most of our water supplies here as we were so sure about abundant water supply ahead of us. But whatever happened after this point, I didn’t even dreamt that something like this will happen.

Part 2: Cast Away, not for long….

We headed from the shady trench leaving the pool and climbed to a flat ground from there as the ground ahead was damp with the little water left out in the stream. Walking straight lead to a dead end offering a spectacular view of the valley in front of us and proceeding from here to the stream 50 mts down below, is only through razor sharp vertical rocks. It was 4:30PM by now, with no lunch and no water, we had to find a way to head to the stream below and race towards our picnic spot. 'Heading straight down and following this stream will take us to the picnic spot' Peter said with great confidence and I never doubted those words. It got inscribed in my mind. Vikki and I attempted to head down through the vertical rock to see whether there are any possibilities to get every one down. The climb was so steep and risky that I knew very well that once we start our descend, there's no turning back neither coming back. With Vikki ahead of me, I was being careful about m grips and footholds. The rocks looked solid but they were so deceptive. Some of them were so porous that I missed the grip couple of times and was just hanging by holding onto a rock. With still 25 mts to climb down, it was getting more challenging. Finally reached a place where there was a huge tree inclined to the mountain. Vikki clanged to that tree and headed down, but again, the soil was so loose that Vikki had a good 5 seconds sliding on his stomach yelling "Nareshhhhhh". I asked him to keep both his hands intact to the ground and catch hold of anything that he comes in contact with and in no time he got hold of a root. Else it would have been a fatal fall to a good 15ft solid rock below. I was being careful having learnt my lesson the hard way and moved through thorny bushes, red ants and finally we reached the solid ground below. The view was so beautiful. We looked upon the route that we took to come down and decided that it's definitely not possible to get the whole group down even if we lower the back packs through ropes. I heard Peter saying "Guys, come up, there's an easy way out to the stream", "Damn", I told to myself. Guru asked us to come up but we decided not to do that mistake and risk our lives. We deiced to take care of the back packs later. I was more concerned about the cool box though and you all know why. It felt like as if I am leaving my girl friend back. After a point we couldn't hear Guru as well. Assuming they would have taken the easy route we decided to head straight hoping to catch up with the group somewhere mid-way. It was 5:30 by then. We walked, jumped, ran, across the boulders and streams. After a while we came across a pool and we had no choice but to dive and swim. It was 6:15 PM and started getting dark. With no sign of the team around, we hollered our lungs out but no joy. The stream was covered with dense bushes and tress that though the mountain was looking brightly lit because of the setting sun, but inside it felt like it was night. I suggested climbing uphill and see if we can catch our guys but the climb just looked endless. We decided to descend down again to the stream and follow it as that would offer us a chance to survive the night. Crazy crazy thorns, runners, bushes, loose rocks, were taking its toll on our flesh. It got pretty dark by now. We just headed straight. "The pool is definitely at the end of this stream" was Vikki's statement initially which later became "I guess it is at the end of this stream". When you are left by yourself, our mind starts playing games with you. With no skepticism, remembering that Peter told that the pool is at the other end of the stream we headed straight. We were jumping with so much joy when we finally reached the top of the waterfall and down it looked like the place where we decided to camp. Off I dived into the pool. God, it was so refreshing. I could feel the pain because of the water washing the bruises on my skin but it was short lived. The water pool felt heaven. Swam across the pool to the flat rock and lied down there for a good half hour. 7:30PM and no sign of the team. We took turns and shouted "Peeeetttteeeeerr" "Guruuuuuuu", we heard nothing. Just the gushing sound of water from the nearby waterfalls. I was giving hope to Vikki that the group will definitely be here by 9, they didn’t. Then I told him 10. Still no joy. Just to beat boredom, we discussed about our lives to get to know each other. it was 10:30PM b now. I still had my hope high. I was looking through the deep dark forest around expecting flash lights to appear and to see the group. Well Hope is a good thing and best of all things and I definitely didn't want it to die. No flash lights, no matches to make fire, no mats, no food, nothing at all. Just my digital watch and a companion to talk to.

I wish I had collected some real dry woods on my way so that I would have made some fire with all the knowledge that I gained from reading books on how to make fire in the wild. It was so difficult to go anywhere to look for woods at that point of time with no flash light. Rats were running in my stomach. I am sure the pool had to offer lots of fishes but we had no ways to catch them. Vikki was worried about missing the group and missing the fun and was getting anxious, I asked him not to worry but to enjoy the moment as he won't get experiences like this where he would get lost in the wild. I told him that now he has one great story to tell his kids. He giggled hearing this. I knew why Tom hanks was talking to a Wilson ball when he was Cast Away into an island. Wonder what object I would have been talking to if Vikki wouldn’t have been there. I was thinking about food. The group must have set the grill by now and the chicken breast must be dancing on the grill soon to be devoured by the group. Such thoughts increased my hunger. Huh, I just got up and drank some water.

The next 5 hours was the most beautiful time/night of my life. With no one around, of course Vikki was there but he was sleeping sound and loud, in pitch darkness, with loads of fireflies fling around, pleasant sound of the waterfall. A feeling which I have no words to describe. The feeling of completely lost. A state of mind where I was enjoying the solitude completely and thanking God for having landed myself in such a situation. I was lying down on my back gazing the dark sky above me, full of stars, trying to make up constellations. A dog, Umbrella, smiley, when all of a sudden a shooting star flashed. I tried to wake up Vikki but he was in his sleep world thoroughly enjoying. Between 12-3AM, there were so many shooting stars and one of it came so close that it barely lit the mountain side. I was hoping it to fall but it got burned out even before. I was making my wishes for every shooting star that I saw but none came true. But it was so much fun to believe in such things. I slept for a good two hours when I got woken up b some weird noise. Looked like the wild animals had a huge fight between them. Staying close to Vikki helped me in fighting the cold as the temperature around him was quiet warm. I wonder why though!! By 4'o clock the moon was up and it brightly lit the pool and I slid into sleep until 6:30AM.

No signs of the group still. By this time we were really getting concerned. While we were pondering as to why the group didn't make it to the pool. Even if the group hasn't made it, why didn't Peter come looking for us knowing that we don't have anything? I was so sure that some thing's definitely gone wrong and I was guessing that it must be to do something with Peter himself. Like I said, mind plays games. Vikki said that we should follow the stream that runs parallel to the main pool to look for the group and we did, but no joy. We returned back to the pool and decided to stay there until 11:30AM. If we don't get to see them, then we head straight to the dam to the civilization. Clock was ticking. Each of us looking for a shad place to beat the rising sun. Lost in our thoughts. Silence prevailed.....To let the group know that we were there, I tied my cap and my watch to a tree there while Vikki took a piece of charcoal and wrote “We are heading to the dam”!

Part 3: Cast away….Once again….

At the very moment when we were done writing on the rock, we heard someone yelling at a distance and our joy knew no bounds when we heard the group. Yes, they were there looking out for us. I could see hope when I saw Peter walking towards us. Huh… My mind was completely blank and I had nothing to say but just dived along with Peter into the pool and Guru and group soon joined us. Finally all the mind confusion was gone and I could enjoy the cool water pool. But it didn’t stay for long when Peter told me that Guru got bitten by a snake. His leg was evidently swollen but he looked just fine and was out in that pool swimming. Definitely it must be a non-venomous snake still we didn’t want to take any chance. Then I crossed the pool to visit the group. Everyone was so happy looking at us fit n fine and were asking what we were doing all night. I devoured food after about 30 hrs and it felt heaven. After giving them my story, we decided to begin our trek to the dam. Divi told me that chicken bar-b-q just came out too good and they missed me a lot. Huh, still we had chicken nuggetsJ. On our way we decided to take a break, cook some food. Sunitha and group decided their menu and soon hot veg-bisibelle bath was ready along with some chicken. Peter and Senthil decided to leave ahead of the group along with Guru while the rest of the group followed. It got too late and we were no-where. Vikki and Amal tried locating the trail to the dam, but no joy. We were stranded up above away from the water stream on a highly inclined mountain surface no knowing where to go. We even decided to stay back that night. Darkness everywhere and LED’s were dying out slowly. I got fearsome after locating couple of rats. Rats mean possibilities of snakes around. Mind takes over again. While we were just deciding where to head, out of nowhere, Peter shows up. Everyone was so relieved and happy and looked hopeful. Peter said that he got doubts since we didn’t make it out by dusk and he located our LED’s from a distance and decided to come. If not Peter, we would have never made it out. It was a very steep and difficult climb down and it took a while but we all made it. Meanwhile Peter said that Palani has taken Guru to the Chennai. Finally we reached the base where Senthil was waiting along with a share auto. Too nice of him that he cancelled his ticket to Bangalore and preferred to stay back and if not for him, we couldn’t have got an auto to take us to the car. All loaded, we headed towards Satyavedu. People were so tired that they slept on footpaths and roads and bust stands upon reaching Satyavedu. My attempt to find a Sumo was successful, but 13 people stuffed in with backpacks was giving us hella time. We barely stopped at a place when everyone wanted to stretch out badly, and some of us slept on the road again, by then, police stopped by and started their interrogation. I wonder how these guys can smell CTC. After explaining him and showing my ID for about 15 minutes we were spared to leave, and we headed straight to the village. No cops, this time. Villagers were kind enough to provide water. They took care of our cars too. After tipping them handsome, we headed towards Chennai. Bala, Selva and Indira were behind the wheels. The next thing I remember was being pulled over neat my stop point.

This experience would flash through my mind every time when some would say the word “Picnic”. This is one hell of a picnic to remember and one story of a life time.

Written by: Naresh

I started with a mindset of taking bath, sipping wine/lemon juice inside the pool from Bangalore. I reached Chennai by 3.30 AM . Sometimes the SETC buses are too fast. I wanted to get down by 4.30 but the bus was fast. Slept on one of the Koyambedu benches for an hour and couldnt sleep courtesy mosquitoes. Then I went to buy my favorite weekly (Ananda Vikatan) and got a call from Vikram that the team will be at Koyambedu in another hour. I guessed the team didnt sleep dreaming about the first ever CTC Picnic. First Sunita arrived Koyambedu. Later in next 10 minutes the whole team arrived. I got into Verna along with Bala,Selva and Samyak. We started around 5:45 AM and guess that was the earlier start to any of the trips to Nagala. Super Mami (Indira) was already made up her mind to drive with Peter's Scorpio and she was taking some wild turns too!!! Super Mami. Reached a small towm(Donno the name where we stopped for breakfast) and had Poori, Idly and Masal Vada in a small shop. Meanwhile Divya bought few mangoes and sweet (supposed to be GulabJamoon).

We headed towards the other side of Nagala (Pichattoor). From there a deviation along a small road and into the village. We were taking few U turns before we reached the village. Vikram gave the sense that this will be a trek and Peter and Guru were already giving directions to reach Nagala pool in a new trial.

Atlast we reached the village and dumped few things and took all the food items/ drinks and others in our backpacks. We had fresh vegetables, rice, dal, cucumber, apple, grapes, salt ,pepper, buns, breads, olive oil, cooking oil, wine, beer, vodka, etc. Too many food items. Everyone were asked to carry 2 litres of water. Assuming this as a picnic, I poured out a litre of water and carried one litre of water.

In another 5 minutes we reached the village school, were our Super Mami started giving dance show to the school kids. We joined the school kids and Peter went up the water tank to get a peek at the Nagala Trial. We all had a few photos there and started the trek.

The Sun God wasnt mercy to us and he greeted with his bright sunlight and taking away water from our bodies as sweat. Shilpa along with Sheetal were already cursing Amal for this Picnic. We had few stops as we were draining with sweat and emptying water bottles one by one. We reached the base of the hill where we started climbihng up in the dry stream. Peter and Guru already went ahead and analyzed the scene and said that it is a 440 meter high and we can reach the pool in another 2 hours maximum. We believed and started climbing up the dry stream. We were slowly climbing up the dry stream and we saw Guru and Peter coming back with water filled from a small stream. I joined with the 3 other people who were just behind Peter. They were discussing Man in the wild and other series discussing how to save water/food in a forest. The 3 people were Naresh, Sunitha and Indira. Meanwhile others along with Vikram already finished the fruits and I was in the dream of having grapes up the hill. Finally before the final upclimb I was drained and made my mind to accept this as a trek and had few sips of water and cucumber. The grill carried for toasting fruits/chicken already tasted few blood from my body and made my progress slower.

Finally we reached the top of the hill and Peter told that we will hit the pool by 3 PM and started walking in the grass. We could see some fire happened and could see some of the forest was still burning. There were no water streams for a long time and we were draining our bottles quickly. By 4 we hit a place where water stagnated but clear. We had a refreshing stop where we washed our faces and poured water over heads to reduce heat. By 5 PM we were sitting on one of the valley and enjoying the views. There was a running stream near we sat and filled our water bottles. GPS showed only 800 metres away from the pool and we were excited.

Now 2 persons Viki and Nara went to check the path in a direction and Peter in another direction. Viki and Nara said that they found the way down the valley keeping their backpacks where we were sitting. Peter said the other one is easy to climb down and we went in that way. We found that climbing down that valley was very tough and the way viki climbed down should be hell of the way. We finally reached down the valley by 6.30 PM. We werent able to move to the pool even though the pool was 600 metres away. Peter checked the path and said it is difficult crossing the boulders on the stream.

Meanwhile Viki and Nara never returned to take the backpacks. So Peter , Guru and Amal carried their backpacks to the base camp. The we were preparing dinner (Pulav) . Meanwhile Guru, Amal and Peter went to find Viki and Naresh. They couldnt find anyone and they returned back. While returning, Guru became the first victim of snake bite.

Others including me didnt know about this and we thought that it was due to a fallen rock on his legs and swollen. We were very much worried about Viki and Nara and didnt had good food. Indira and Sunitha prepared Pulav. Sheetal was serving soups and few slept before food was ready. Peter decided to search for Viki and Nara for next day morning. Later Divya, Selva and Peter prepared the chicken grill with sausages and had food. We woke up few people to have dinner. We were in between shouting Vicky and Naresh names.

The place was full of frogs and we could hear them a lot in night. We heard few birds which were different. We slept on the irregular rocks and were much worried about Vikram and Naresh. Vikram was telling that he was hungry where we stopped for last water refreshment in stagnant water and we were sad.

I woke up few times and found Guru, Amal and Peter doing something . I thought that they were worried about searching Vikram and Naresh and making plans to find them.

Morning we woke up and Guru asked to wake Peter by 7.30 AM. I woke him and Amal, myself and Peter went searching for Vikram and Naresh again. We took the way where Naresha and Vicky should have descended and Peter went up the valley and descended from the exact place where they did. We couldnt see any traces of them . Its scary but we were searching if any blood stains are there and checked the pool had any one got slipped into it.

Finally Peter decided to take all the people to the Pool and get all down the Nagala. If we find Vicky and Nara on the way or in the pool we would be happy or else Peter was telling that he will come up again and search the whole place as he cannot leave those just like that. Peter was worried that we missed 2 people even though we were discussing about safety the last week.

We started dumping all the extra food and took only the food item to cook for lunch and we abandoned lot of food items in that place along with Naresh,Vicky , Peter and Guru's backpacks and we climbed the other way up. We decided not to take the stream path. Gurus' leg was swollen and Peter helping him climbed up the hill. All the time Guru was smiling and enjoying the way up. Also we saw the path it was a vertical wall should be 80-85 degree climb up which the two people climbed down yesterday. Divya was very much worried to leave Halwa there as Bala promised to buy her Original Tirunevelli halwa once we reach chennai.

We had few photos with 800 m peak in the background and started descending in a dry stream towards the pool. We had few amlas on the way which had fallen from the tree.

Finally we reached our destination pool by 11 AM which we were supposed to reach by 12 the earlier day. Guru Divya and Peter swam to the other side of the pool where the water falls. They found Vikram and Nara writing something on the rock and atlast we found them. Vikram and Naresh finally had some food after 15 hours drinking only water. They were telling about the experiences and were really sorry for missing the group. Naresh and Vikram need to explain this section about the night and other experiences

We had few dives and swim in the pool and we regained our hopes and were happy. We moved away from the pool quickly as we need to take Guru as soon as possible down the Nagala. We decided to stop down one hour late from the pool and have lunch. Again Sunitha, Indira and Sheetal started cooking Bissibella bath. All others had few sips of wine and beer.

Then we decided that Peter and Guru will descend down the hills ASAP to get Guru in the hospital. I joined with them and the team started 10 minutes back.

All along the way Guru was discussing with Peter about the different trek paths of different Nagala and smiling. We reached the place where we need to swim and crossed it. We had few 5 mins break all along the way. We tried to reach any of the CTC members but we had signal at few places. One point Peter called Palani (our Savior) and he said that he will be on his way in another 1.30 hours. It was 5.30 PM and Guru was insisting peter to get back the team as it is getting darker. But Peter stayed along with us and we reached the dam site. Peter and Guru were talking about buying backpacks for DOA2 and how to prepare during walking. Amazing. Guru was happy to spend 2 days in hospital as it would help to enjoy some TV.

The locals who were working at the dam saw us and they said that the treatment will be available at TP Kotta which is 2 Kms away. Also four of the people joined walking along with us. We reached the small village where the locals treated Guru with few medicines and said treatment will be available at Satyavedu. When the treatment was getting over Palani was there. Amazing guy. Peter decided to go back and get the othe people who were late and I and Guru to go to Satyavedu along with Palani for treatment . Then I take a share auto back to this village to pick up other guys.

Again a turn, the auto's headlights went off. The driver stopped at a place and I went calling Peter and luckily the phone rung. I said Peter that the auto will be at village and Peter said that he would take another 2-3 hours in reaching village as team were way long. Team please explain your experiences during this time as I dont know what happened.

I waited for another two hours at the village and finally found Peter and team coming to the auto. We had a jumpy,little space drive from Village to Satyavedu. One guy had to stand outside for some space. Selva, Peter and few others were sharing standing.

We reached Satyavedu and the auto guy helped in getting a Sumo till our cars parked near to Pichattoor. We started another drive in Sumo to our cars. We stopped in the middle and the police guys coming sniffing us. How come these guys always smell CTC? Naresh explained to those guys and they got convinced.

Finally we reached the cars around 3.30-4 AM without any food. People were screaming to locate a Dhabha but none found. Finally we started our way to Chennai through SriKalaHasti. Peter wanted to take this route as he alone knows the reason. On the way we found another obstacle . A tree had fallen and we removed the tree for space for cars to pass away. After a power drive by Bala, Selva and Super Mami we reached chennai by 7.30 AM.

We were laughing about ourselves and I took a bus to Hosur.

Team please review and add the experiences to this . I had never written so much after my college exams . I might have missed few things . Please add to that.

Team You are wonderful and never in my life will have this Picnic and looking for the Rescue mission of the food items and bags we left. And Peter it is unbelievable story for all others and it is done only because of YOU. Thanks Peter.

Written by: Senthil

Happy to be part of the wonder full picnic… turned out to be a trek and ended as DOA part 1.5 J thanks peter for giving such a great experience.

Thanks for indra, sunita, senthil, sheetal for the wonderfull dinner (veg) and lunch (veg) and for peter for chicken barbeque...

First time in history.. divya carried a bag with good amount of weight(obviously with food items) and also helped cooking…. unbelievable but believe it J

Never seen a guy carrying 3 bags during climbing… yes its guru.. and the bag belongs to viki and naresh.. who planned for hide and seek game and apparently lost or rather reached the picnic spot before us, these guys also made some sleepless nights as no body knows their status.

First time myself carried 2 bags…. God… I can feel the viki, guru, baskar, palani pain during the time… cant include peter in the list or even compare… he does carry people some time…

I am not sure how many first time trekkers can complete this trek… but shilpa proved everything is possible… though its first time she too completed the trek.. thanks for amal for supporting and motivating her.

Senthil.. adventure enthusiast.. only guy from bangalore… came from bangalore with picnic dream.. enjoyed the lot…. if it’s a real picnic… for sure he wouldn’t have enjoyed this much.. :-)

Written by: Selva

Thanks a ton to Peter for the wonderful weekend.

This weekend trek had everything in it like, adventure, thrilling, vertical climb, dry leaves skidding, sleeping on boulders, Night trek with a ton of mental energy, swimming (I dived into the deep pool and swam across J), Team Sprit and so on and on; we have learnt a lot of lesson out of it. A very good experience experienced. I would seriously say that am very proud to be a part of this weekend trek which explored a new trial and a new entry to Nagala.

The sad part was missing our guys in the night; the happiest part was when we saw them the next morning. The sprit showed by Guru was fantastic, he never even panicked even 1%, and I really learnt something from him.

The care showed by Peter upon us was really amazing; it is something like he did Nagala trekking twice on a same day by dropping Guru on the base camp and coming back to pick us up. We all were amazed to see Peter that late night coming back to rescue.

Viki and Amal, the amount of energy they showed in terms of driving the whole group throughout the forest in that late night with just a GPS device.

Indra, Sheetal and Sunitha, the best cooks who cooked our dinner and lunch even after the tiresome climb and walk, the both enjoyed and never hesitated to say yes for cooking.

Shilpa, was on a dream to a picnic and ended up in a typical trekking. Hats off to her for competing throughout the trek with us (Amal pls forward my appreciation to her)

Samyak, lazy photographer; but I enjoyed trekking with him during the night for the light he showed to me while walking (Torch), lol. Waiting for you photos buddy.

Naresh and Senthil, known for their flawless helping to others right from the start and till the end.

Last but not the least, a wonderful human being who was flying all along from Chennai to Nagala immediately after getting a call from Peter to CAR-LIFT Guru. Thanks a ton Palani.

On the whole a wonderful experience, waiting for the photos.

Written by: Bala

Life is for us is out there in the wild

Hey Freaknic guys,

It took me more than 48 hours to recover from the PICNIC! I have been with CTC from July 08 and my first trek was Yelagiri. I was struggling a lot in my first trek. Ok, why do I say all these things now? From then to till now I have done 25 treks with CTC but nothing like this PICNIC. It has given such a wonderful experience and the obstacles we faced are a lot!

Friday night, I called up Divi and told that I will be reaching her place by 10. God damn, my bike got punctured and thank god I found a puncture shop to get my flat wheel fixed. Reached Peter’s home by 12 after having nice Pizza J Peter advised me to get some sleep and I couldn’t sleep. This is a typical syndrome for me! The previous night of every trek, I have never slept and I just said to myself, it’s just a PICNIC and not much of strain will be there. So, I switched on the TV and found RAMBO 3 was running. Pretty excited I started watching the movie and it got over by 3:00AM in the morning. Just an hour of sleep I opened my eyes and saw Peter packing up the stuffs. I woke up and we all packed our stuffs and got ready for the exciting PICNIC. Called up everyone and all were set to the long weekend waiting. The new comer Shilpa did not even have a clue on what is waiting for her!

I messaged Baskar saying that “Life is for us is out there in the wild” and I didn’t even have a clue what is going to happen for us! All set and stopped near pichathur for breakfast. With the US and Russian topo maps, we were able to get the village name where we are supposed to go! Man, believe it! This is not the usual Nagala entry and I could understand Peter’s smile about the surprise. First time in CTC, Nagala conquered from Western side. Yah, we are tired of Eastern entries: P We stopped near a place to ask for the village directions and Guru popped his head out, Peter!!!! We stopped in the Forest department check post! Thank god, Naresh told we came to PICNIC to one of our friend’s home in KV puram! Reached the village, packed all our stuffs! Believe me; we guys were carrying almost 20kgs of weight in all our back pack!

The Sun as usual no mercy with CTC! It started to rip off the sweat and very soon everyone got dehydrated. The steep climb reminded me of Tada, but this is steeper than we expected/calculated! By 2PM, we just checked the GPS and we covered almost 7.5 kms which is not at all bad phase. Soon the souls started to get tired and it’s time for me and Guru to carry the double bag job! Me and Guru exchanging the bags for long time and then Peter came down, Guru went ahead with Peter to find water and got water to the team! Then again we started to trek more, steeper the path, we covered more altitude which is only the good news for us. By 4PM we reached on top the hill and from there it was a flat walk on the grassland :P. Still, the crew does not even have the clue where the pool was and they just kept walking. Everyone forgot their lunch too and we survived with grapes and cucumber. After an hour of walk, at 5PM we found a small stagnated water pool were we refreshed ourselves. Peter promised that from now in 15 minutes you will reach a running water stream which made everyone happy. Soon by 5:30, we reached to a cliff of the mountain and it was a narrow steep rock and the stream which we need to join runs down. I believe to my knowledge, the steep drop was around some 70 feet? With Peter’s instruction, me and Naresh went ahead to check if it is possible to get down.

This is the most fatal mistake we have done. We left the back packs and went down to check the trail. We almost got down and it was just 30 feet left in the drop. I was trying to get hold of a tree, it slipped and for next 15 seconds I was screaming “NARESH”. I lifted my head up so, I prevented my face and was putting my fingers hard on the mud to get hold of something. At last, my leg struck in a rock and my sliding stopped. Naresh got down slowly. I was badly hurt on both the legs. It was 5:45PM, we were down. The game started and we were calling out Peter and Guru’s name! As per Peter, I calculated that the camping site is the PICNIC spot pool, so I decided to take Naresh to the pool. I saw from the cliff were the stream takes a 90 degree turn and where the Pool should. With that calculation, I started to follow the stream very fast. I should thank Peter here. With all the treks in Nagala with him, I gained the knowledge of navigating inside the new trail, my intuitions went very strong. I started to implement the lessons which I learnt/observed from Peter.

1) Did not panic – I stayed cool and started to tell Naresh that we will reach the pool soon!

2) Since we did not have the torch, we decided to reach the pool where we are supposed to camp.

3) We lost our bag packs, so the survival rate is very low. Decided to stay near water which is the only savior for till we meet the crew.

4) I believed and accepted myself that we are lost. I did not get tensed and kept following the stream and alas we found the pool. We jumped and crossed the pool. Reached a flat rock!

5) No camp fire, no food, no mat, no sleeping bag. Just water was the only resource.

Next to myself, I trust Peter! It’s not blind, being with him in the field, navigating, helping, wow, he is the one man army!

Back to story, we reached the pool and started to shout for Peter, Guru and Amal’s name. Every 30 minutes me and Naresh shifted the shouting job. Then we drink some water and then again we started to shout. It was almost 11PM, I lost hope that the crew will never find us here. But again to Naresh I just told Peter has to pass this way and he too assured that he will think the same. We both convinced ourselves and I told Naresh to sleep for a while. I guess Naresh was little scared as we were only two and he heard some fox fighting by 3AM in the night. He holded my hands and slept for rest of the night. I was not afraid and I was very much worried about the team. I know they will be missing us and we were worried as something happened to Peter. That is the reason they did not find us.

It was Sunday morning, the sun woke us up. I quickly decided and told Naresh that only known possibility way of camping is a dead end pool before this PICNIC pool. We started to trek and reached the pool, but we didn’t find any traces of the crew. We were much worried and then we decided that 12PM is the worst case we are waiting. If we are not meeting the crew by 12PM, we will start to move out of this place before it gets dark again. Since, 2 weeks before I came to expat trek with Peter in the same way, I was very confident in getting Naresh out before the sun goes down. It was 11:50PM, we took some charcoal (N10 camping remains) and started to write on the rocks “We are moving to DAM – Viki/Naresh” When I completed the “H”, I saw Peter’s face! Guru scolded me and Amal almost hit me! I could see a gentle satisfaction on Peter’s face. It was first time I felt very bad to see Peter’s and rest of the crew face. I apologized myself for the confusion and immediately we jumped in the pool to relax. Then Amal told me what happened to Guru which made me to feel guiltier.

It was quarter to 1PM and Peter decided to go ahead and cook something for lunch. After 27 hours, me and Naresh saw the food! After 17 hours, we saw our peoples face and everyone was very happy. This core group is not something which is formed by regular trekking, it is more than trekking! The bonding, the courage, the camaraderie shown by them made us really happy. I could see couple of souls shedding tears for me! Peter, I say here that Trekking is my life and for CTC, I am ready to go or do anything on field! I just mean it! Being regular with them and the friendship developed between us has no words! I sincerely thank CTC and my friend Peter.

After a good non-veg meal, Peter decided to go ahead with Guru to get him some medical help. Senthil also joined with them. Rest of the crew slowly started to pack the things. Peter gave the trail responsibility to me. I just Amal, before it gets dark, we need to reach the first pool were we have couple of diversions which is very easy to miss even in day time. Though the GPS has Google map marked trails, it does not have the actual trekking trail. I just closed my eyes for 5 minutes and got ready for the navigation. We have 2 dead end pools and one we need to swim across for sure. I was little worried about the crew as it was already 3PM. By 3:30PM we reached the first dead end pool with narrow gorge and no possibility of swimming. We decided to climb uphill and avoid the gorge and pool. The climb was very steep and one big rock would have blown Naresh’s face and he just escaped. The rock which I was standing moved and it pierced me on the same wound which I got from previous day sliding. I somehow managed to climb up first and went ahead to check the trail without bushes. After 20 minutes of search, I found a decent climb down without loose rocks. The first batch waited for 20 minutes and rest all got down. From there I made a quick check of how many torches were left out. We were totally 11 and we had just 3 torches.

I decided with Amal that I will move little fast and at last I went very fast losing 6 people behind me. Then myself and Samyak went back to search the lost one and found them. Team getting lost got frustrated too! I got scolding from couple of people J but still I stayed calm as I know we have a very long way to go! After 30 minutes of walk, we met the dead end pool where we have to swim. Indira, Sunita, Bala, Selva can swim and cross. Sheetal, Samyak, Shilpa have no clue on swimming. Myself, Amal and Naresh decided to ferry the bags and people. So, we tied the mats together and started to ferry the bags first. For the 3rd round of ferry, Naresh got a cramp badly and we asked him to stay near the shallow region. Then we ferried people and when it was Shilpa’s turn, she slipped from the rock where she was standing. Fortunately myself and Selva were near that rock and she fell on me and I was able to hold her!

It was 6:00PM and I could sense the darkness is ready to play the game with the 11 souls! I asked everyone to take their torches and started to trek. Soon it was pitch dark and as I expected we missed the right turn which we are supposed to take in this tricky trail! Thanks to Amal for getting the GPS and he found the right which we need to take. But again for next 2 hours we were walking on the hill horizontally which was not right for me. I saw the hill on the left and I was very sure that we should start descending now. But it was intuition and I was very strong in it. But still the crew liked to move with the GPS directions and we decided to check the trail. By 10PM, we started to hear a wild life sound moving near to us and it was none other than Peter! He went ahead, dropped Guru with Palani and came back inside in search of us! I could see the smile on people’s face when they saw him and he took us immediately down the hill to stream. From there for 2 hours walk, we reached the village where Senthil was waiting for us with the share auto. His Banglore bus was on 11:45 and he intentionally missed his bus, went ahead with Peter and again waited for us with the Auto! Such a selfless attitude guy!

All the 13 people boarded on one share auto! And then we started our journey to Sathyavedu. Since 12 were fit in the auto there was no place for the 13th guy to stand. So, with shift basis everyone hanged out for a while in the auto. After 45 minutes of travel, we reached the Sathyavedu bus stand and the share auto guy called his friend who has a sumo with him. Just 15 minutes, the sumo came and we all 13 dumped ourselves in the sumo. Dumped means literally dumped! All were damn tired. After 30 minutes people started to ask for break as their legs were in a bad shape. We got down and Peter and few just slept on the road for a quick nap. There came our friend (AP police) and Naresh managed with them and got us out in few minutes. We reached our cars by 4AM in the morning and luckily the villagers were awake and they were so nice to help us. Soon, we got into our cars and started to search for the dhaba for food. No hotels were open on that time and we are almost dead. Suddenly the Scorpio started to do a zig zag and in few minutes Peter stopped and asked Selva to drive the car. I switched to Indira’s car and I was talking to her for a while. On the highway, we saw a tree blocking the road and our guys cleared the tree. I asked Sunita to come in the front seat and I went in the back seat and closed my eyes!

It was 7AM, horns honking everywhere and I opened my eyes it was Koyembedu. I switched to Scorpio and Peter dropped me near Saidapet. With my boxers and Hawaii slippers, I reached my home. Our back packs (Peter, Guru, Viki and Naresh) are still waiting for us up there in western Nagala. My bike keys, our office ID cards, RSA and all other STUFFS are left as it was very heavy for others to carry since we both lost in the jungle.

I came home and sat for a while, recalling the entire two day weekend. The 17 hours missing the crew was an amazing part. We both staying near the big pool, talking all non-sense to keep ourselves awake and I bet none would have called Peter, Guru and Amal’s name more than us! 27 hours of survival with water only. It was another terrific experience. I got dressed my wound by Baskar and all set now. Back to civilization! This was the amazing PICNIC which no one could give us other than the Captain Peter. He is the man and we always learn from him a lot. Keep observing him, but don’t disturb him J this is CTC and I am loving it! Trekking keeps me alive.

Written by: Vikram

Organized by: Peter

Image Galleries:
Selva
Peter

GPX trail (can be used for Geotagging)

KMZ file (click to see trail in 3D in Google Earth)

Bandajje Arbi - Jan 24-26, 2009

"Three days" said Christopher Columbus to his crew during his voyage to discover India. He further continued "Give me three days and I will find you a new world".

72 gracious hours, 11 indomitable trekkers, 3 magnificent locations, 1 team spirit - we can and we will

"Three Days, give us three days and we will discover a new world every day" challenged the indomitable eleven members of the Chennai Trekking Club Bangalore chapter when they began their three day long Trek venture to the pristine Western Ghats over the R Day weekend.

Finally the Friday evening was there. There was a sparkle in every trekkers face and the fervor and vigor couldn't conceal the tiredness after a long tiring week at workplace. The journey had much to offer. No deadlines to meet, only new path lines to discover; No campus, only camp fire, No BlackBerry to crank, only berries to crunch; No Lap top bags to carry, only sleeping bags.

The objective of the trip was very clear - to conquer two forts and the rising point of a waterfall which falls in the Western Ghats range of Karnataka. We joined NH 48 in a hours time braving the traffic, incomplete road construction work and the city traffic. The excitement couldn't deter despite we were forced to listen to a hot Kollywood number song 'Kakinada Kaja Kaja'. Those who were in sleep were assuming it was a nightmare and those awake were searching for cotton plugs.

After a sumptuous breakfast in Kukkavu, we marched towards base point of our first mission – Discover Bandaje – The Rise and the Fall. The Government school children Kukkavu greeted us with their naive smiles much before we knew we had a six hour ascent awaiting our way. We climbed the forest between the whistling woods, chirping birds and crunching the dry dead leaves. We finally braved the toughest part of the journey when we had to climb two hills in a grassland area right under the thirsty hot sun. It never looked like nature was happy to welcome us but nothing could stop us from discovering beauty for that day and the next two days. All of us had a nice time dipping, getting snapped and watch that merciless sun setting behind the mountains.

The evening was crafted beautifully for a campfire night. Hot Noodles and soup coupled with discussing craziest moments of the day de-stressed us and we were all set to sleep on top of the world. The inky black sky was congenial enough to display all the twinkling stars with pride.

Next day we woke up early to witness the great sun and pray for solace. We finished our breakfast and headed towards Rayana Ballala Durga fort. Located atop a hill, the fort that was built centuries ago is now in ruins. The journey was extremely pleasant with the serenity flaunting in all directions with strong winds flirting to make our ascent comfortable. The serenity around couldn't resist the photographers to click around with so many options. Later we discovered our own path to descent down through a rough terrain to reach the estate house which was our picking point. From

On our way to Jamalabad, we stopped over at a small food joint in Kottige Hara to gobble Neer Dosa, a local dish which is eaten in abundance in this region. 120 dosas made way to all our appetites that evening without making us think twice about it. We later called it a day at the foothill of Jamalabad fort where we camped up besides the Nethravathi river for yet another peaceful night.

Next day, we woke up early before the sunrise to conquer the last of our third destination – Jamalabad fort. A bit different from the earlier one, this spot is quite famous and well known and we have to climb roughly 800-1000 steps to reach the fort. Though the journey was tricky, we managed to climb within two hours. As we completed our breakfast we were fully charged to descent down and celebrate our accomplishment of conquering all the three locations without any hassles and incidents. As we climbed down, Nethravathi river was spreading her arms to welcome us and take the final dip before we returned to Bangalore.

They say "To believe it, one should see it". A visit to these places is once a lifetime visit for us. The descriptions and the photographs will keep one guessing. A trek teaches you a lot of things along with teamwork and strength. We came, we saw, we conquered not only the forts and places, but also peace, endurance, patience, perseverance and of course FUN. So much for our despise, while returning we played the the song 'Kakinaada, Kaaja Kaaja' twice, recorded and boogied along.

Today, as we post this blog, we are all separated and back to our world, caught in the web of routine work and activities. But these three days will bring smiles to all our faces whenever we reminisce about this great trek venture. We look forward to relive these moments with newer destinations, spirits and cherish them in our memorabilia.

Written by: Ajit

Organized by: Ramakri

Participants: Ajit Pai, Anala, Azad, Claudy Rayan, Esh Nachappa, Prashant D, Rajesh KR, Ramki, Ravi, Senthil K, Vinod Hari

Image Galleries:
Prashant, Claudy
Claudy_People, Ravikant_1
Ravikant_2, Ravikant_3
Ramki, Esh

Nagala 20 - May 9, 10, 2009.

Nagalapuram 16 - the weekend of 9th n 10th May 2009

No two bottles of a Pessac Lognan or a simple Chardonnay / Sauvignon blanc tastes the same even if from the same vineyard...... But then ... therein lies the essence of reliving the better of the best of moments and asking for more from the second one when the time comes ... and hey... am never gonna complain if the third one tastes any different either ...

And so it was that Nagala befittingly came to my aid for the second time – from a wonderful client of mine who wanted to get mauled n pasted for petty reasons and close to being smashed on his head.. the murderous intent was at its peak when i finally got to hear from the team of my place for the weekend’s rendezvous ...

Nathan’s cafe was up and running when we moved outta the city and we started feeling at ease once we entered the familiar surroundings. A lotta new faces with a heady mix of veterans and a doc added to the fan fare and our familiar hoopla of jumping on the Scorpio and waving onto the haplessly curious onlookers on the Nagala Highway and our adrenaline was slowly pumping to dizzy heights when everything came to a standstill ... what looked like a regular follow up check turned out to be a little more than an adventure. One of the bikers, Ramzan had skidded onto the treacherous Nagala highway and had scratched, kissed the ground, missed by a few nanoseconds in breaking a few bones during the skid.

Waseem - the doc in our group was summoned immediately and he observed that all the injuries suffered were superficial and Ramzan was good to go. I would never have surmised after all this that Ramzan would go gung ho with all the injuries and there he was doing all things wonderful that only few of us were capable of.. a new hero for the club was born .. Not to take away anything from the rest – mind you!!!

We were therefore late by a couple of hours and after a momentary impasse for rationing & instructions.. We set out on the foothills of Nagala, easily whizzed past the check dam and set foot on rubble n rock – the team was more than enthusiastic and we reached the first pool in no time.. and thankfully, there was enough shade and water to keep us moving ... the dead end pool was at our reach a little beyond noon ..

And in typical CTC fashion, all back packs and non swimmers were ferried across the pool; a quick lunch after crossing the pool we set our sights on the final pool – and for the third time, I landed up in a new problem altogether – it was cramps this time... and each step that i took later was reassuringly close to getting my calf muscles ripped apart and thanks to Waseem once again – his presence and walking the talk helped clear steer most of my pain at the moment. And by the time we reached the target point – our other mates had already jumped in the fray.

The enthusiasm and the fun that we had are for you all to see in the pics but I tell you what ey – you simply weren’t there mate!!!! Just weren’t there - to bear witness to the amazing time that was spent in the evening like jumping jacks with an add-on spring under our boots for extra fun.. And soon darkness descended upon us and it was time for cooking... Soup was served piping hot sumptuously followed by noodles cooked by the expert hands of Anita. A few games of Uno after dinner, while the rest of us went off looking for a place to crash..

A few minutes of search later, Doc. waseem, madhu n me found a good place to hit the sack and soon, I could see the highlights of the day on the skyline above flashing in my brain like a mini SD card and then ... Silence hit earth – ever so poignantly that there was no need for an instrument nor a vocal recitation – the water flowing through the valley was more than enough to soothe, cool and put ourselves to sleep. As luck would have it, my cramps had not given way and i had to get up to dowse my thirst every couple of hours.

Experience is a sore throat mate but what it can give you is the feeling of goodness that we could have not appreciated otherwise – I was so looking forward to the moon coming out of the rain clouds and what a click – that would have been – a full moon lilting the valley with an incandescence so romantic – no words can describe the feeling – and I was woefully ridden of such an event during dinner and a little chat with the other homies.. It was only here that i could fully appreciate my cramp as they kept me awake time after time ..

Midnight had come and gone in darkness and it happened all of a sudden ... it was like pure radiance had descended down upon us from the ethereal skies above; Ms. Moon had indeed arrived in full bloom and the whole place lit up in silver and white light... my laziness would not budge and I let go of his highness for another day to come by for the rendezvous – for a better moment and fully prepared i.e .. Wishful thinking ha!!!

Disturbed sleep indeed – but a glimpse of the skyline, the breadth and the expanse of what could simply could never seen from just one side of the line – and each time i woke up – the collage of stars, clouds n the skyline kept changing into an altogether dramatic window – n kinda kept me thinking – Life is indeed beautiful in an equally vast and immense proportion – its left to us to choose what we want to be every other time...

My tryst with sleep that night was a wonderful little ‘sore throat’ so to speak – the last I remember doing this was in my university years ago, whilst after dinner every night on a Sunday – me and few of my friends would simply walk to the basket ball court – lie down on the concrete base and watch the skies glitter in glory and all we could think was a vast ocean of Happiness up above us at that moment!!!

Some of the best moments in life just choose to be grand if you want it to be and here it was – a cramp , disturbed sleep, cloudy skies to start with , starry later and a full moon to show what light really means to us all and darkness yet again to put me to sleep n a few hours later – it was time for the Sun Gods to lilt the horizon. I had woken up at 5:30 – chose to lie down and relish the moment – it was twilight still and not an inch moved within my grasp of sights ... thankfully – none resonated the sleep induced harmonic symphony ala snoring – what a moment it was !!!

Imagine folks – Just close your eyes and Imagine for a moment - when nothing around you moves – you hear not even the creepy crawlies walking on earth or a whiff of the breeze blowing around you – and only water – just water - flowing a few inches away in a synergistic rhythm and the horizon slowly lights up in front of you and all the while keeping you in waiting of the surprises and the cheers that could just come up from nowhere –

Folks!!! - LIFE ... was unfolding in front of me –
A new day had just begun...

And in a flash of another aura of brilliance - the silence just gave way to an altogether beautiful decibel level – it was like an automated switch turned on all by itself – the insect world had come alive in seconds and was in-sync and harmony with the perfect opening notes of yet another grand morning at the jungles of Nagala. I so wished that nobody woke up and the moments lingered on into eternity..

My experiences were short-lived, however breathtaking they were – My bottle of wine was almost being emptied by the sound of human footfall on rock n rubble... I so wish you could wire my axons & the nerve centre to see through what I had seen mate – and i bet the world would not have been the same !!!

Back packs were set right for the return journey, volini was generously spread on my knees to keep me going and there i was – ready for yet another brilliant day with the CTCians... I chose to light the fire - chai time had come – black , lemon, and white tea with sugar was served alongside a breakfast of everybody’s choice.. Some chose to stay afloat on water while having their little cuppa chai -

Jumping Jacks were on the prowl again looking for new faces to join them and as i said earlier – you would never know what really happened unless you were there yourself - and yet the full story would never unfold – Until mate – you choose to be the moment!!!

I was the subject of an abject surrender to pain and the after math and although i would wanna curse myself for what i did - you would not have been able to see what my EOS chose to see ey !!!

After a brilliant solo encore of my Canon with the telephoto lens as well, I chose to take a dive in a safe n sedate pool nearby with a small water fall to gently massage us back to full bloom; a game of American football – the CTC way ala hitting the opponent with the ball if you can i.e. – was played in complete team spirit and those changing lanes were treated with equal respect – KD and Ananth would exactly know what this means folks.. They stand proof to being target practice and probably hit an equal number of times.. although pun intended...

And if you thought – we were to pack our bags and leave – it wasn’t over yet – folks just shifted from the safer pool to the diving podium with equal vigour – kicking the ball in the air became the new form of football – bicycle kicks , lateral n sidekicks and then there was catch practise too... during all this time – Balaji was patiently cooking dal rice – with cut mangoes by Radz, Maya n Akshaya for flavour – radz stepped in and chose to fill the rice with jalapeno n chilli sauce to spice up our taste buds – whilst me and Balaji were busy discussing a better way to cook rice with what we had , suddenly, from nowhere came the cabin crew member of BA – gave us a quick fire lesson on how to boil rice without burning it and boy – it worked to a tee – Maya – Am proud of your teachers and your Mom matey – mera bharat mahan !!! They have taught you the basics of heat transfer really well!!!

Peter – to me – for the first time did not think of the time that had passed by – a time that was spent well in helping people de-stress from the unnecessary work related hazard posed by targets set and an equally stress filled effort to achieve it that goes in vain sometimes .. Such was the case that even after the group click was done – Non swimmers chose to dive from even dizzier heights holding onto the safe hands of either peter or guru – and they just climbed back for more ...

The time was 11:30 when peter chose to call it a day and as time demanded – one cluster after another chose to climb the cliff and we chose to walk back in the afternoon sun – dehydration could have easily set my cramps on fire again – thanks to the doc yet again who chose to advice me to take lots of fluids – and i prepared myself a good mix of lemon - sugar – salt for rehydration and it helped a great deal to restore normalcy in me .. So much so – i chose to successfully dive and swim my way outta the dead end pool – which although sounds cliché at the moment was not easy for me..


And if this was not enough – how about losing your way in the jungle and find your way back in – courtesy – Guru – the bare footed giant of a gentle trekker – who kind of remembers every step in the trail – and we soon set sight on the first pool – a moment’s rest and we soon were trekking in the dark to the safety of the world that i would so love to lose for something more primitive even though savage sometimes would restore the human being and would help you appreciate what we are made of and made for .. and that our very purpose is to define this vision and ensure that we act upon it ...

And what better way to salute our Mother of all Mothers – Her Highness on such a grand scale, A wine bottle – that she is – would never empty out and every sip of her beauty n simplicity treats me to a completely different experience –

I wish you a great Mother’s Day - O Mother Nature and I have no words to thank you for showing us what you are within and thereby showing us the way within all of us...

So – How’s your weekend mate!!!

Kodai-Munnar Trek (May 1 - May 3, 2009)

"To follow a trail is to establish a link with the history of man. It is at once the most primitive and the most civilized of activities. A trail may well have been followed first by animals seeking food and water; Indians following the game wore it a little wider. Explorers followed the same paths, to be followed in turn by soldiers and settlers and men who poured concrete over footpaths. The concrete now goes just about every place we need to go. But we now have the leisure to travel just for the sake of traveling, and there is no better way to do it than by trail."

- Lennon Hooper

Let me take this wonderful opportunity to pen down few of my relished, wonderful experience that I went through the Kodai-Munnar Trek…….

This was my first trek with CTC and I absolutely know, no one in the group, when I enrolled for this trek. Myself, with a group of 14 people started from Bangalore at around 9:30PM, Thursday evening, 30th of April 2009…. Eventually started a bit late, picked up the whole group of Bangalore folks on the way and hit the outskirts of Bangalore by around 12ish…..We stopped over the way for a quick dinner and started our travel again….

Ravi Ghosh, (the man behind the scene) was always with the Booklet of participants, phone numbers, calling the Chennai team to make sure they had left the destination and was all through coordinating on the plans…. He apparently did not have a seat in the van, and found the best place in the van, put his sleeping bag and slept in the path way…..

Indeed lot of us realized later, that’s the best place in the van to stretch and relax, sleep in peace….We infact envied Ravi………..

Reached Kodai lake side after a struggle of traffic jams up hill, around 11:30Am and started to have some activity round the lakeside… Some went for a cycle ride, some went shopping and few others started enjoying the nature around….

We had to wait for the Chennai Team to arrive, and proceed towards cap’s valley to start our Journey for the next three days……

Few of them finished quick lunch in “Meenakshi Bhavan” Kodai, and again started waiting for the Chennai Team….. By around 3:30PM, we met the whole team and proceeded to the Trek Point and started our Journey by around 4:30PM….

1st day – 1st of May 2009 – Friday - of Trek, was super scenic, so much of greenery, and we passed through wonderful Trek range…

Reached the camp range, Berijam Lake around 10ish (late evening), did a night trek, found our cottages to rest, put our bags and got back for a super hot hot dinner.. I have no words to describe the dinner, as we never expected such a sumptuous dinner in the Mid of a forest, which was well prepared, right ingredients and awesome taste…. This could be the perfect Dinner for all the Hungry trekkers….

"There is an intense but simple thrill in setting off in the morning on a mountain trail, knowing that everything you need is on your back. It is a confidence in having left the inessentials behind and of entering a world of natural beauty that has not been violated, where money has no value, and possessions are a dead weight. The person with the fewest possessions is the freest. Thoreau was right."

- Paul Theroux…

2nd Day – 2nd May 2009 – Saturday - The whole team was ready by 8:00Am, waiting for the hot hot Breakfast, eagerly awaiting to continue the Trek Trail…. It was Lemon Rice and Sambar for Breakfast..which was super delicious, and Biriyani for Lunch… Packed our Bags, lunch boxes, like the typical school kids, and started our Journey….

We walked and walked and walked……………… the day was more of a walking experience than a trekking experience… But all said and done, we covered the beautiful range of valleys, hill points, Pine forest and ended our trek at a small Village point…. At the last point, we got to grab some fresh carrots to eat from the Villagers….

As we reached the village point to take the cabs to the camping destination, the rain god wanted to show her Magic to all of us and it started pouring cats and dogs…. It seems that was the first shower during the summer for the village….. It was heavy rains and we all were enjoying some tea at the small shops waiting for the showers to rest………

Most of them took the vans, climbed on top of the vans and continued to the camp site and few of them, started walking along the road, again grabbing some fresh carrots on the way, sssinging situational songs along the trail….and reached the destination around 6:30PM…

The dinner was getting ready for the night, as all the trekkers took their respective cottages, settled down.. getting ready for another walk trail to a nearby village… where we had some rumours, that there was some tribal dance Happening… Balaji would know the exact details of the dance program that was supposed to happen, but apparently did not ;-)

Meanwhile, how can I forget the superb Kabaddi match that took place between the Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Daredevils, Royal challengers, Bangalore, Deccan chargers, hyderabad..… ( I hope did not leave any team behind)….

Completed our Village visit and campaigned for the coming elections, gathering good amount of votes (I hope if we all start a party together, we could manage to get good response) and returned back to the camping destination….

Now comes the highlight of the day… “paatukku Paatu, Airtel/Hutch/Vodafone.. Super Singer (whichever network it is)… Without any FM/AM bands, we were able to sing a variety of songs in all language possible….

Highlight of this show was samyak.. who just went on and on, singing in all languages possible… Amazing talent and a great entertainer in the camp fire which went on till 12:30PM… Few of them continued later with UNO and rested around 2:00Am…. (early hours)…

3rd Day – 3rd May 2009 – Sunday -Infact started pretty early, completed our Breakfast, packed our lunch boxes, we were sharp out of the campsite at 8:00AM….Started our trail….. Most of us were under the same impression, to the last two days, thinking could be one of the easy days of trek, complete by around 4:00Pm and wind off for the day…….

For all our surprise, this day was the longest trail of trek and a difficult day too… We had to cross too many forest ranges, up and down hills, through greenery, bamboo ranges, forest fires, Pine ranges…and what not…… But certainly all said and done, this was the best day of the trek….

Kodai Mani kept up his word mentioning the last day will be a memorable and unforgettable experience… OH Man…. Mr. Mani, we will never forget you in our lives, nor this great trek…

The stretch of Kerala range was really a breath taking view, and ofcourse our official Guide, Mr. Mani, literally took our breath away…. With the long trail……

Completed the trek by 8:00PM reached the village point, down munnar town… took couple of local jeeps to go up Munnar Hill, to catch the respective Buses/TT’s to return back to our nests/Destinations……

Infact, at the last point, the Chennai team had to rush back to catch the local bus to reach to their bus point, as that local bus was the last one to go down Munnar for the day…..

Bangalore team, had their own Tempo traveler arranged, as we relaxed for a little while, finished our dinner and started our journey back to the destinations……

Reached, 4th May, at 11:00Am and started feeling the real pollution all way through, after a three long day of Nature, fresh Air, amazing greenery……. L

Finally, to conclude, great trek, great team, amazing coordination….. Perfect weather for a three day long Trek……

Thanks to all of them, and specially to the organizers for taking such great efforts and coordinating this trek for a great success…… Special Thanks to Ravi Ghosh, Samyak, Vivek, Jassi for making this trek such a memorable one…….

Kudos to Chennai Trekking Club!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Written by: Chitra Subramanian

Organized by: Ravi S Ghosh

Image Galleries:
Mithun
Prabhu T
Madhu
Ravi Gaja
Ramesh V
Ramani
Anand
Ravi Kanth
Ravi Ghosh
Ashok - 1, 2, 3
Samyak
Ramesh

Parvadhamalai 24th Oct 2008

Oct 24 4:00 PM...

Hey dude Its raining cats n dogs, you think we're gonna make it, Rads uttered those words at the other end of the call. "no thinking abt canceling come wat way, no looking back unless that mountain itself is gonna vanish. we are gonna get there, even in the worst rains and thunder. rains cannot scare us frm having fun!" is what I precisely replied back....these text flashed on my screen from Rad's end "lol what about thunder and lightning? thats the highest point there" for which I replied "we ll fight, we are spartans :)" (I know its so filmy) for which rads sent these smileys ":) lol"

(Flashback: I was so looking forward to Nagal/7 with Peter and group but unfortunately it got canceled as Peter had a costly deliverable at hand (Which I totally understand). So somehow I wanted to make it to Parvadamalai)

Oct 25 00:00AM...onwards

Adventure started for most of the CTC'ians on the 24th itself. Beating the city's traffic with our mighty motor bikes in the water clogged roads was the biggest challenge and I was no different!! I slept at Kalai's place that night and we started at 3:00AM to Guindy Rly Stn!! But stars weren't favoring us!! More adventure waiting for us!!  A lorry was parked in the middle of the highway with its side stand ON :)!! We are Spartans, so we lifted the bike onto to the foot path and started riding it!!

There was Suresh and rads in one bike following (Though I haven't seen either of them before) and Rads shouted "Paravada malai trek?" I was like "Well...Yeaahh...You Radha.....?" in a doubtful tone for which she nodded her head..."We gave a high-five with a wide smile on the drive in total excitement"!! This was my first trek with CTC and I was glad about this cool reception!! Off we started to trek at around 4:35AM, not knowing what's in store but were so sure that it's going to be a great day!!

Most of CTC'ians dozed off which is when I started talking to our mighty scientist Rekha. A mycologist, a geneticist, biologist etc etc etc. She was telling me about the myths behind the "virus" shown in the movie Dasavatharam. [Facts guys: The ebola virus doesn't kill anyone instantly, but it spreads to a radii of about 1 km and kills the infectious person in about 5 days -- Courtesy: Rekha :)]. We talked about so many things including the places we have trekked since we were in Karnataka for sometime. We had yum breakfast and started right away to Parvadamalai.

There it was standing majestically right in front of our eyes as we stepped down from the van. We were welcomed at the ashram. Excitement meter was in its high level for all of us and we made no delay in proceeding further after taking our group picture. The initial walk to the mountain base was very pleasant as we crossed several paddy fields and our photographers capturing nice shots. It gave me a chance to get to know everyone, more and it was pleasure knowing every one of them!! Zoom...we started climbing the mountain and the trail signs were pretty neat!! No chance of losing track. A cute little dog joined out trek, though Rekha was freaking out a bit and was scaring the dog :), rest of the gang were enjoying its company :) (You can infact see the dog in our group picture in Nidhi's album and in mine too). Moments after, 3-4 people came with guns and I my devilish mind started thinking....Off I took the guns from them! (actually requested then to give it to us) we took all the guns from them and took pictures...as we were posing with guns pointed towards the photographer, I said what if we pull the trigger by mistake for which some one was said "Shoot the shooter"...huh, but truly I couldn't resist the temptation to pull the trigger!! (Barrels were empty though). I showed the pictures to Rads and we started walking. Rads had difficulty in walking as she had a wound in her knee which was bothering her much. We applied band aid and she was all bright with a big smile all set to walk!! That was the last I saw her during ascend :)

I and Kalai moved up together stopping by every 10 minutes to catch breathe. It was a sunny day and our lungs were gasping for more air. We pushed our self asking the localities how far the mountain is and them replying that it's very close. That thought kept us pushing though the destination was miles apart. Took Glucose's help to get some energy. Somehow reached this store where several others joined. Tangy Goli Soda with Lemon and Salt added to pep it up was heaven. We relaxed there for sometime and off we headed again!!

But energy levels dropped drastically which is when I sought my music player's help. Eminem came to my rescue when glucose and chocolates failed :)

'Cause sometimes you feel tired,

feel weak, and when you feel weak, you feel like you wanna just give up.

But you gotta search within you, you gotta find that inner strength

and just pull that s@#t out of you and get that motivation to not give up

and not be a quitter, no matter how bad you wanna just fall flat on your face and collapse.

How true are the lyrics!! You gotto search within you and find that inner strength. Wow!!

Till I collapse -Eminem and other songs of Timberlake, Black eyes peas etc were a treat as I was walking, also to mention Hans Zimmer with his electrifying music. Kalai was with me all the while and walking walking we reached the Gadaparai rock in no time! Gadaparai rock was like a giant looking at us and laughing!! So meek we felt. But we ain't no cowards :) Off we started climbing. Kalai was freaking out but with little push he was all set. What seemed like a 15 minute task took us a good 1 1/2 hr climb. The walk through the slim ladder, metal bridge was truly exciting. Mission accomplished at last!! Yay, finally we reached the mountain top. Our legs were aching so bad that we laid in that hot concrete floor with burning sun singing lullaby!! Sun was merciless and got medieval on us that day!! It got lot better moments after we reached. The rest of the team joined in about an hour.

The view was spectacular. Treat for your eyes. Now here's the moment. I crossed the fence line and sat on that huge rock facing the blue sky with cool breeze blowing on my face. I was watching the distance mountains and the depths in awe. Solitude is bliss :) It was so beautiful. It was like a moment that you could freeze and live in it for a long time. Radha, Gopi and I had a long chat there. I was endless. Thanks for listening to me patiently guys!! We were sharing our lighter moment at that mountain top, 4500 ft above laughing and chatting!! Life is indeed beautiful :)

Now enough of philosophy and sentiments!! Back to business. Anna thanam at the temple was pretty good. When it wasn't sufficient, out came our breads, jams and chapatis. Our tiff with the monkeys started. I should say they were truly daring. A small cute pussy cat was bothering us on the other side. Keeping them away from our bags and food was a big challenge though we tipped them handsome before leaving :). After spending some more time, off our journey started downhill. Captured some beautiful shots and lied on the lush green grass for some time before getting on top gear to descend. Getting down was tough as well but our funny conversations and stories kept us light and moving. All of us reached down safe and sound. Only thing we missed in the entire day was the rain which finally showed up the very moment we were about 5 mins from the van. Everyone had a great time getting drenched. Rest rooms at the ashram came to rescue for changing. Nothing like hot cuppa tea in that pouring rain sharing the moments about the trek with your fellow trekkers who are all friends to you by now...

It was a fun-filled overall which was organized and executed perfectly!! Rads, Jegan, Nidhi, Santhosh, Bhagath and the team...Kudos to you folks!!

Naresh

===============================================================================

The day before Saturday, it was poring in Chennai and Tiruvannamalai received flood warnings.  Here in CTC a handful of amateur trekkers joined together and decided to go on with our plan to touch the Parvatha peak come rain or shine.   We had 14 people in our team and no vehicle; thanks to some brainstorming sessions we decided to hire a tempo and move on.  The day before the trek one person dropped out and 13 moved on, since we had jammed this trek to a one day event we decided to start early and managed to start just 4 minutes late from the scheduled time, at 4.34 am.  All the Gods seemed to be smiling on us, the weather was crystal clear roads were good and we reached Kadaladi our destination by 9 30 am.  Spent 10 minutes talking to locals, did photo shoot and were on our way to the top.  .  It all started with the guys complaining that the ratio of gals and guys not being proportional, there were just 2 gurls J.

The trail was well marked and clear to follow sadly the place was littered with a lot of plastic wrappers.  It was a sad sight to see, we moved on.  We were all carrying 3 liters of water and a raincoat thanks to our Meteorological department's flood warnings, but the sun showed us no mercy as it continued to heat us up.   The climb was upward all the way and soon some including me started to lag behind.  Soon we encountered some local folks with guns and speculated if they were hunters or terrorists J but who ever they were Naresh was not ready to go without a photo shoot with them.  The walk goes on and we could see that the trail was clear and there was no way that any of us would miss it.  Some people were fast and would start going ahead while others follow from behind.  We were drinking water, glucose and eating chocolates and pushing on.  The view below was awesome as we gained altitude every now and then I would ask people if we were close and they would say yeah you are very close, encouraging answer indeed J.  It was really amazing to see people covering this mountain with loads of wood, food items and other stuff on their head and walking with a rubber slipper.  There were also pilgrims who would walk in Dhoti and a carry bag in one hand.  We would look at ourselves and our gears compare with each other, laugh and move on.

Thanks to the height of the mountain the more we walked the less sunny it felt and the weather was getting pleasanter by the day.  We had a lot of photo sessions and we got so relaxed that we started shooting photos of shoes, and a scenic view with the shoe as the center piece J.  Gotta give credit to Shrinidhi and Rudra our photographers with their state of the art digi cams!  The views got better and better as we climbed.  We could see tents which sold yummy Goli Soda, we decided that we would treat ourselves with this after we touch the peak!!  On the way one of us had a bad knee and decided that he couldn't do it any more and sadly we had to leave him behind.  From this point on we decided to speed up the walk and took lesser breaks and the altitude and the low heat helped us too or maybe the sun shined less I don't know what exactly was the syndrome but the heat was pleasant and soon we reached the Kadapparai climb.  So far we have been hearing different reviews from different people now we saw the rock for ourselves.

It was an amazing view the rock was pretty vertical with nicely carved foot holds and iron rods, chains and what not on the sides to give us support.   We could hear shouts from our fellow partners in crime who had managed to go to different stages of the huge rock.  Some where trying to scare us off while others were encouraging and over all I was pretty excited seeing this rock formation and was all set to climb it.  We said a small prayer to Shiva and started our climb, it was a bit exerting but pretty nice.  Soon my friend started looking down and got pretty scarred.  It was funny to see him get hysterical we laughed it off once we reached the peak.  We all reached the peak between 12:30 to 1:40 pm and it was nice and foggy and warm and cold in the peak.  So slowly we climbed and climbed and finally reached the peak.  …and what a view it was!!  It looked like you could see the entire world from out there and soon us greedy ones were not content with reaching the top of the mountain.  We wanted to be in the middle of the mountain J and Naresh started talking about para gliding, rock climbing, bungee jumping, rappelling and what not... maybe we could have an episode of one of these soon.

The monkeys were all around giving us company and taking special care of our bags and making sure that they enjoyed our bread more than we did J.   Soon people started the puja inside the temple and went for the Prasad our lunch yummmmmmm.  Once our stomachs were full part of us decided to start the climb down, none of us wanted to brave the Gadaparai in the night, and we missed the sun rise and set L.  The climb started with some hysteria from my friend, there were quite a few funny dialogues like why did I listen to you, why did I meet you and not once did he look anywhere other than his hands and foot and he was climbing down with his front body facing the rock and making life more miserable for himself.  We were looking at him and silently laughing as we found the downward climb pretty interesting.  Sadly not many photo shoots happened because we wanted to be the first to reach the ground.   Soon we made it past the Gadaparai, looked back and promised ourselves that the next time we come here we are scaling the Gadaparai twice.  Then stared the downward decent we were all pretty fast here we soon reach our prize for the feet, Goli soda.  Nothing tasted better and it was so darned cheap on the top, just 8 bucks!!  We decided to do the decent non stop with very short breaks, by this time our legs started shaking and we moved on with more GluconD, water, chocolates, fruits and peanuts.  We went on and on and met our guy who we had left behind, over took him and went on at a nice pace.  After 2.5 hours of the downward climb we see flat ground and some of us started running and a call was taken to go for a group photo shot.  We waited for the rest of the lot and posed for the camera and go to the van and loo it starts raining heavily and all of us have a nice bath.  Soon we changed had some piping hot tea and started.  By 6:45 pm we were moving back towards Chennai, Chennai here we come!

Thanks to the comfort of having a driver we could get a lot of sleep and watch movies in the Tempo, boy it was luxurious and fun to travel together!  We never felt like we traveled 10 hours the movies and talks were great fun, we watched parts of so many movies and the driver was nice enough to change all the dvds; comments would flow every now and then.  We have dinner on the way and reach Guindy our destination by 11 30 pm and go home ready for a dreamless sleep and share our experience with the rest of us.

The day before Saturday, it was poring in Chennai and Tiruvannamalai received flood warnings.  Here in CTC a handful of amateur trekkers joined together and decided to go on with our plan to touch the Parvatha peak come rain or shine.   We had 14 people in our team and no vehicle thanks to some brainstorming sessions we decided to hire a tempo and move on.  The day before the trek one person dropped out and 13 moved on, since we had jammed this trek to a one day event we decided to start early and managed to start just 4 minutes late from the scheduled time, at 4.34 am.  All the Gods seemed to be smiling on us, the weather was crystal clear roads were good and we reached Kadaladi our destination by 9 30 am.  Spent 10 minutes talking to locals, did photo shoot and were on our way to the top.  .  It all started with the guys complaining that the ratio of gals and guys were not at all proportional there were just 2 gurls J.

The trail was well marked and clear to follow sadly the place was littered with a lot of plastic wrappers.  It was a sad sight to see, we moved on.  We were all carrying 3 liters of water and a raincoat thanks to our Meteorological department's flood warnings, but the sun showed us no mercy as it continued to heat us up.   The climb was upward all the way and soon some including me started to lag behind.  Soon we encountered some local folks with guns and speculated if they were hunters or terrorists J but who ever they were Naresh was not ready to go without a photo shoot with them.  The walk goes on and we could see that the trail was clear and there was no way that any of us would miss it.  Some people were fast and would start going ahead while others follow from behind.  We were drinking water, glucose and eating chocolates and pushing us ahead.  The view below was awesome as we gained altitude every now and then I would ask people if we were close and they would say yeah you are very close, encouraging answer indeed J.  It was really amazing to see people covering this mountain with loads of wood, food items and other stuff on their head and walking with a rubber slipper.  There were also pilgrims who would walk in Dhoti and a carry bag in one hand.  We would look at ourselves and our gears compare with each other, laugh and move on.

Thanks to the height of the mountain the more we walked the less sunny it felt and the weather was getting pleasanter by the day.  We had a lot of photo sessions and we got so relaxed that we started shooting photos of shoes, and a scenic view with the shoe as the center piece J.  Gotta give credit to Shrinidhi and Rudra our photographers with their state of the art digi cams!  The views got better and better as we climbed.  We could see tents which sold yummy Goli Soda, we decided that we would treat our selves with this after we touch the peak!!  On the way one of us had a bad knee and decided that he couldn't do it any more and sadly we had to leave him behind and move on.  From this point on we decided to speed up the walk and took lesser breaks and the altitude and the low heat helped us too or maybe the sun shined less I don't know what exactly was the syndrome but the heat was pleasant and soon we reached the Kadapparai climb.  So far we have been hearing different reviews from different people now we saw the rock for ourselves.

It was an amazing view the rock was pretty vertical with nicely carved foot holds and iron rods, chains and what not on the sides to give us support.   We could hear shouts from our fellow partners in crime who had managed to go to different stages of the huge rock.  Some where trying to scare us off while others were encouraging and over all I was pretty excited seeing this rock formation and was all set to climb it.  We said a small prayer to Shiva and started our climb, it was a bit exerting but pretty nice.  Soon my friend started looking down and got pretty scarred.  It was funny to see him get hysterical we laughed it off once we reached the peak.  We all reached the peak between 12:30 to 1:40 pm and it was nice and foggy and warm and cold in the peak.  So slowly we climbed and climbed and finally reached the peak.  …and what a view it was!!  It looked like you could see the entire world from out there and soon us greedy ones were not content with reaching the top of the mountain.  We wanted to be in the middle of the mountain J and Naresh started talking about para gliding, rock climbing, bungee jumping, rappelling and what not...

The monkeys were all around giving us company and taking special care of our bags and making sure that they enjoyed our bread more than we did J.   Soon people started the puja inside the temple and went for the Prasad our lunch yummmmmmm.  Once our stomachs were full part of us decided to start the climb down, none of us wanted to brave the Gadaparai in the night, and we missed the sun rise and set L.  The climb started with some hysteria from my friend, there were quite a few funny dialogues like why did I listen to you, why did I meet you and not once did he look anywhere other than his hands and foot and he was climbing down with his front body facing the rock and making life more miserable for himself.  We were looking at him and silently laughing as we found the downward climb pretty interesting.  Sadly not many photo shoots happened because we wanted to be the first to reach the ground.   Soon we made it past the Gadaparai and look back and promise ourselves that the next time we come here we are scaling the Gadaparai twice.  Then stared the downward decent we were all pretty fast here we soon reach our prize for the feet, Goli soda.  Nothing tasted better and it was so darned cheap on the top, just 8 bucks!!  We decided to do the decent non stop with very short breaks, by this time our legs started shaking and we moved on with more GluconD, water, chocolates, fruits and peanuts.  We went on and on and met our guy who we had left behind, over took him and went on at a nice pace.  After 2.5 hours of the downward climb we see flat ground and some of us started running and a call was taken to go for a group photo shot.  We waited for the rest of the lot and posed for the camera and go to the van and loo it starts raining heavily and all of us had a nice bath.  Soon we changed had some piping hot tea and started.  By 6:45 pm we were moving back towards Chennai, Chennai here we come!

Thanks to the comfort of having a driver we could get a lot of sleep and watch movies in the Tempo, boy it was luxurious and fun to travel together!  We never felt like we traveled 10 hours the movies and talks were great fun, we watched parts of so many movies and the driver was nice enough to change all the dvds comments would flow every now and then.  We have dinner on the way and reach Guindy our destination by 11 30 pm and go home ready to sleep and share our experience with the rest of us.

Radha

Written by: Naresh, Radha

Organized by: Radha

Image Galleries:

link

Bhagath

Santosh

Arvind

GPX trail (can be used for Geotagging) 

KMZ file (click to see trail in 3D in Google Earth)