Mission – SAVE TADA, November 1st, 2009

Post Mission Media Briefing

On November 1, 2009, the Chennai Trekking Club (CTC) collected 2 tons of garbage in Tada, a well known and scenic picnic spot, 2 hours North of Chennai. 230+ volunteers of CTC traveled in 4 buses and spent the entire Sunday collecting plastics, broken bottles and other pollutants from the crystal clear water streams in Tada filling up more then 500 large garbage bags. The volunteers put up "Do not pollute" boards to spread environment awareness among the tourists visiting Tada. The team was welcomed by officials from the forest department whom were visible touched to see so many volunteers from different states and countries cleanup the local tourist spot. During the cleanup effort the volunteers encountered a large presence of gangs of drunkards who travel to this reserved forest to get drunk, break bottles of alcohol in the scenic stream and actively harass families and regular tourists visiting Tada. The volunteers made a strong appeal to the officials to strictly enforce an no alcohol ban and restore Tada again to its original beauty so that this natural paradise becomes safe again for families and regular tourists to visit. CTC also ran an online petition and collected more then 1200 signatures which will be presented to the forest officials. The team is planning to return periodically to follow-up on the garbage and drunkard problem and bring any continued issues to the attention of the media until the responsible officials take proper action.

In the link below the team collected substantial photographic & video material documenting this major cleanup operation, the pollution of Tada, the presence of drunkard gangs and the restored beauty of Tada after the cleanup operation -

http://delicious.com/savetada

Photos - various photo albums covering the cleanup operation

Videos - videos of drunkards on their best behavior

Media - various articles which appeared in the media to announce the cleanup effort

Report - various detailed pre- and post-cleanup reports on the effort

Petition - online signature petition

The Chennai Trekking Club (CTC) is a 4000+ member non-profit group of trekking enthusiasts. The club is run by several passionate volunteers who organize treks nearly every weekend to nearby and further away places around Chennai. It's one of the largest and most active group of outdoor enthusiasts in South India. They completed more then 150 treks through various locations in South and North. All their adventures and photos are published on http://www.chennaitrekkers.org/

Tada is a well known trekking and picnic destinations just 2 hours North of Chennai. It is known for it's crystal clear water streams, lush green forest and beautiful mountains and falls. It used to be frequented by many families and trekking enthusiasts from Chennai and other surrounding places. In recent years however this scenic spot has become mutilated through pollution and a dangerous place to visit due to the presence of drunkard gangs. Tada's clear water streams have become a dump yard for garbage - plastics, broken alcohol bottles, families and innocent visitors are being harassed by drunks, cars are being broken into and valuables stolen.

On the spot interview to the Media

Acknowledgement from the Government Officials

Mr. Mallikarjun Rao, the CCF of Tirupathi under whom Tada falls come by, acknowledged the fantastic clean up effort of CTC and wanted to have a meeting with the CTCians and the locals at the Forest itself to find a permanent solution to this problem. This meeting is planned on Sunday, 8th Nov at 10.30 am at Tada check post. CTC would be designing awareness boards and get them made to be put there with corporate sponsorship, with forest department logo also. Design samples are to be shown to him to get his suggestions during the meet.
The FRO, Mr. Nagabhushan, said that after the clean up, the forest officials met yesterday and decided that they are going to strictly enforce the ban on alcohol inside the forests by checking everyone after the parking lot. They are also planning to give name tags to each of the locals and keep a complaints book. Public complaints about the guards are going to be dealt seriously. After notice and warning, if anybody gets a third complaint, they would be sacked by the department, said the FRO.

Whole event coverage write-up

  No matter how insignificant what you do may seem – It’s important that you do it.

Written by: Hari Kumar Balasundaram

November 1, 2009 will go down in the annals of CTC as one the many “1st to be there” events in its history. Whilst the world slept comfortably on a Sunday’s eve – CTC’s first battalion numbering about 230 plus marched into the reserve forests of the TADA waterfalls with one single objective – Clean the jungles of all muck & dirt replete of what the human minds have come to be and restore its natural self back in place.

The spark for this phenomenon of an event had hit us a few weeks ago and what began as a droplet soon spiralled into momentum that finally culminated at TADA on Nov 1. And just like a droplet of water that would seemingly look insignificant and disproportionate in front of the Ocean – Every member of the team, No matter from where he or she came from, No matter How insignificant an act of theirs might have sounded to the rest of the world, No matter what the future had in stock for TADA – All that mattered at this juncture was we complete the cleanup of TADA successfully. And so it was that when Peter announced the event, a leader’s vision soon sparked a few hundred souls to reach out and stand by the side of Mother Nature;

After all – Without Her, We would all be lost in the wilderness of the concrete jungle that there is !!!

No event of this scale can ever be achieved without any plan in mind and kudos to Peter and the team yet again for showing excellent spirit and enthusiasm for not letting the scales down and pushing forward the agenda with so much happening in our professional and personal side as well. For those of us who just took part in the event, the behind the scenes operation were ample proof of what we really wanted to achieve. Be it meeting the Forest Officials both at Tamil Nadu & Andhra Pradesh and explaining to them of what has been happening at TADA and the need to restore it back to its pristine self, was in fact welcomed with praise and pomp. Elsewhere, another team embarked on catching up with the press and broke the myth apart that the young & educated here in India do not care for their country however inconsequential it may seem to be. We soon saw the press breaking the news apart to the rest of the world in their own inimitable way and slowly but steadily – the world had finally woken up to what CTC was all about;

Another team began work on spreading the word around through Posters & banners for the final showdown. With such a group brimming with energy – would new ideas be any far from reach; the thought of an online petition to Save Tada would sound like a cliché to most of the ignorant and the docile lot but for those of us who believed in spreading the word across – the journey to the mission was as important as the event itself and it was imperative that we let the World knew all about it. Mission SAVE TADA was soon everywhere – From Newspapers to the new age media, the news had indeed spread like wild fire. From Now on – It was all about execution.

Logistics for any such event is an unwritten & highly demanding prerequisite and do we need to spell its importance more so when it comes to achieving the objective such as cleaning a place that has been marred by negligence & greed for almost 3 years until now. CTCians are a diverse lot driven by one single passion – to be in the presence of Mother Nature and be one with her whenever and wherever possible. And this single determinant beats all anomalies & differences that exist in any communion for that matter; the socio economic factors simply diminish into oblivion when it comes to Mother Nature. With such a wealth of experience & selfless souls to boot – Nothing ever is impossible. Food was organized keeping in mind the scale & the objective of the event; Transport although typically is a ‘carpool and share’ basis this time gave way to Buses that would reduce the dependencies of transporting such a huge number of CTCians whilst also keeping in mind – the delays due to breakdowns amongst other things.

The countdown to the event had finally begun.

With everything in place, however there was one major proponent who would determine the success of the event. It was Mother Nature herself. Weather conditions in Chennai had worsened to indicate a possible deluge throughout the week before the event and possible chance of rains at TADA as well. Those with prior trekking experiences would completely concur with my thought on what the rains can do to you apart from wetting the rocky- mountainous paths and make trekking a lot more difficult to accomplish. One good deed deserves another and it was for a good measure that Mother Nature chose to bless our day with ample sunshine and a clear day with not a single drop of Rain. We began our day from Tidel Park picking up all CTCians on the way until NH5. Breakfast was distributed on the way up to reduce downtime. Gloves, Lunch and other essentials were distributed and we were finally on our way. Mission SAVE TADA had begun.

The group was split into 15 + teams and areas were clearly demarcated for garbage collection. Group leads were responsible for the overall harmony and success of their group. A team of Photographers were assigned the complete responsibility of documenting the event apart from lending a hand or two when needed from time to time. The Bill Board team went about its way of putting up sign boards every where possible to create awareness among the general public. The media management team ensured that the press and the local media were fed with enough information to ensure that the right news reaches those who are yet to know what’s been happening in their town. At about 11 AM, the various teams had closed in on cleansing their respective areas of garbage and dirt. Without being too modest about our effort – About close to a ton and a half was collected and we were not finished yet. With so much garbage strewn around the place & collected for a decent two hours, they still had to be moved from the respective areas to the common point where it will be taken out for disposal.

 

And therefore the collection of garbage had to come to a stop somewhere. The local media had finally arrived, Peter addressed the team in a clinical fashion and we wish that the information trickles down to the general public and bolsters a much needed impact to save TADA. Post Lunch – The CTCians were back to familial territory – Jumping Jacks took to the rocks and water as their home turf – Our version of having fun amidst Mother Nature had just started. A good hour in the TADA waters later– Come 2:30, we began our way back to civilization. The Garbage bags were bought back to the final collection point, but not before the group snap was shot and a final drive to collect some more garbage at the entry point of the water pools, did we bid adieu to TADA.

It’s always been said that any vision even of the highest order if driven without a purpose is a life spent wasted. And thankfully though, those of us who took part in this event can hold our heads high in adoration and reverence for all that was done on the first of November 2009. No word of Thanks can be said to that one person - Peter, for that single spark and a visionary who chose to drive us to this hour of glory – where every human who took part in this campaign paid his highest respect and tribute by doing what best he could however negligible it may seem, collectively contributed to the overall success of the campaign. I can’t wait to see how TADA will fare from this day on. Our pent up frustrations during the course of the day would never wore out like the night of the hour and I sincerely wish that we derive new meaning out of this whole episode – A purpose that shall not end at TADA but spread across other states as well.

Mother Nature needs us as much as we need Her with us if not for anything else, Lets restore her gorgeous self to pristine grandeur and amidst this all, May we endear on and seek what our purpose is for a lifetime to come...

Save Tada

The Chennai Trekking Club (CTC) is a 4000+ member non-profit group of trekking enthusiasts. The club is run by several passionate volunteers who organize treks nearly every weekend to nearby and further away places around Chennai. It's one of the largest and most active group of outdoor enthusiasts in South India. They completed more then 150 treks through various locations in South and North. All their adventures and photos are published on http://www.chennaitrekkers.org/

Tada is a well known trekking and picnic destinations just 2 hours North of Chennai. It is known for it's crystal clear water streams, lush green forest and beautiful mountains and falls. It used to be frequented by many families and trekking enthusiasts from Chennai and other surrounding places. In recent years however this scenic spot has become mutilated through pollution and a dangerous place to visit due to the presence of drunkard gangs. Tada's clear water streams have become a dump yard for garbage - plastics, broken alcohol bottles, families and innocent visitors are being harassed by drunks, cars are being broken into and valuables stolen.

CTC has decided to step forward to expose this mutilation and restore Tada to its original beauty and to create awareness among the locals on the local eco-tourism project. On November 1, 2009, CTC will organize a "Save Tada" mission, more then 200 volunteers will collect all garbage, take photos and videos of the pollution and drunkard gangs and expose the same in the news. We need help from the press in three possible ways - one, before Nov 1, to publish our mission before to the general public so more people can sign up to join our effort. More details on the trek and how to join are in the link below -

http://groups.google.co.in/group/sachennaitrekkingclub/web/save-tada-nov-1-2009

Secondly, we require members from the press to join us on Nov 1 to cover the cleanup event in Tada. Thirdly, we need the press help after Nov 1 to publish the experiences, photos and videos taken during our cleanup trek and draw the attention of the concerned authorities to take action and prevent further deterioration of Tada.

A signature campaign is also being run here - http://www.petitiononline.com/savetada/petition.html - Please cast in your signatures and support the cause.

Beach cleanup, Turtle walk - Feb 8, 2009

25 people (20 CTC members and some of their friends) meet at the Madras Crocodile Bank, ECR for some educational/awareness program on turtle conservation, wildlife spotting, beach cleaning, GPS mapping and full moon drooling activities.  We were supposed to meet at 2:30 PM but due to traffic and delays, we could finally meet an hour later.

"Save the Olive Ridley Turtle"
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We were welcomed by Soham Mukherji, Asst. Curator - Madras Crocodile Bank, and given a short introduction about the MCBT (Madras Crocodile Bank Trust), their role and the research activity they're into.  A video session followed where Shekar Dattatri's 45 minutes film on Olive Ridley was screened: "The Ridley's Last Stand". It was sad to watch and was a real eye opener.

The Olive Ridley population and nesting activity is dwindling by the day mainly because of the following:
1. Fishing Nets: Trawler activities are banned 5 km within the shore and yet they continue to kill animals (turtles) and humans (remember 26/11 ?). There's a special net wherein the turtles can escape leaving only the other marine animals to be trapped. This is provided free of cost but still fishermen don't use it.
2. Lighting around the beach: The young hatchlings are extremely sensitive to light. They're guided to sea by the light from the sea (moon light). Any stray light from beachfront residences, highways, etc. with mislead the young ones which may get eaten by dogs, birds or die as they should get into the sea within 24 hours.
3. Casuarina Plantations: Any other vegetation other than the natural grown ones is fetal. We plant this casuarina right on the shore but this robs the turtles of nesting grounds. Also the young turtles get caught in the plantations and die.
4. Garbages: This is a no brainer. The young ones might eat the plastic or the female can't find suitable nesting place. Please keep our beaches clean and don't litter.
Out of the hundreds of egg laid, less than 10-15% of them actually survive the first week of their life. Turtle nesting is an amazing phenomenon. The female travel hundreds of miles to come to the shore and lay eggs. The hatchlings, if survived, will probably come to the same place where it was born to lay eggs!

Now is the time to correct our mistakes and save the turtles.
Nikhil Whitaker, Curator - Madras Crocodile Bank, give us a presentation on how to use GPS handheld and map sites.

Around the Madras Crocodile Bank
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Post the video session, we took a tour around the park with the MCBT volunteers. The MCBT people were in good humour and were giving commentary about various things and we got to know a lot of stuff about reptiles. Pramod gave us 5 minutes (but we extended to 10 minutes) to visit the IRULA center. We were given a crash course about snakes. We saw 4 poisonous snakes found in Tamil Nadu (Krait, Cobra, Russell's Viper and Saw-scaled Viper) and saw irulas extracting venom. There was this one snake which looks like it's a baby but it was 10 years old and it gives us only 2-3 hours incase of a bite! Myths was dispelled such as snakes doesn't eat egg or milk but small animals. They bite as the last resort to protect itself. They try to escape if threatened. Don't panic in a case of snake bite. Some snake bite just give you 4 hours to receive medical care. Panicking will give you half the time. I've always wanted to pose with a croc in my hand and this wish was fulfilled. Crocs are totally cool creatures and their scales are soft and it will seem as if holding a plastic toy. A small crocodile was our specimen to see it up close and hold it. Some 8-10 brave CTCians achieved this feat of holding it. All is fine until the baby fella wriggles which means we have to switch hands! Crocodile Bank is a must visit place. They have hundreds of crocodiles, snakes and other reptiles which just seem to lie idle all day until it's food or mating time!

Beach cleaning and Casuarina mapping activities
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After a brief talk from Soham about the DOs and DONTs we set off south of the crocodile bank to clear the garbage and plastics.  Soham and a MCBT volunteer were mapping Casurina plantations with a GPS handheld. We mapped the clusters using 'polygon' feature and smaller plantations with 'waypoints'. The waypoints were marked and later would be transferred to PC to facilitate further research. We were totally surprised to find the crap that we wouldn't have imagined to find in a beach. Some samples: Ariel washing power cover, kitchen spatula, a women's footwear, tooth brush, Jet Airways' security tag besides the usual suspects of plastics, water bottles, alcohol bottles, chocolate wrappers and cigarette packet.  We filled up nearly 25-30 bags of garbage. Note that this is a lonely beach with not a soul in sight, we walked just for 3/4th of a kilometer and we didn't scout to interior places. I'm sure we would need 2-3 trucks to pick the garbages of the popular Marina and Elliots beach! After a 775m walk, we decided to shut stop the walk as it was getting dark. We then had refreshments, fooled around in the beach water and took group photos.

The entire 1.5 Km walk was total fun though the "rag picker" job would seem boring and monotonous. We took loads of photos with "sovereigns" (skeletons of animals, shells, and other interesting objects), fighting for space ("This is our area. Only we'll pick rags here. Keep off!"), exchanged reviews about the recently released movies: 'Naan Kadavul' and 'Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu',  gave a crash course on photography, and made new friends.  The walk was punctuated by beautiful sights on both sides. On our right hand side, the sun was setting. When it got dark, the full moon's light was reflected on the sea. Perhaps the most beautiful, romantic sight!  A sight to behold.  On the way back, we got split into 2 groups (why this happened is a mystery). The others got to see glowing crocodile's eyes in the dark (the thing to watch out for during night safari).
It was a totally rocking afternoon-evening-night! A big thanks to Pramod, MCBT and CTC for this wonderful opportunity.

Written by: Ashwin

Organized by: Pramod

Image Galleries:

Rady
Bhargavi
Jobin

Posted by: Karthick Sundararajan

Parvathamalai, September 28, 2009

An enthusiastic group of 17 members, after being picked up from Tidel Park and Guindy circle, left from the last pick point Koyambedu at about 5.30a.m. on Sept 28, 2009. Took a breakfast break at Saravana Bhavan,Vellore and left for the foothills of Parvathamalai at around 8am. Parvathamalai as the name suggests is a hill standing tall at approximately 3500ft above sea level. The hill is located south-west to Chennai close to Thenmathimangalam village  in Thiruvannamalai District, Tamil Nadu about 20Kms from Polur which in turn is 35Km from Thiruvannamalai. Kadaladi which is about 25Kms north of Thiruvannamalai, is another route to reach the base of the hill. Atop the hill is a Shiva temple apparently 2000 years old and an Ashram which is quite recently constructed. The presiding deity of the temple is Lord Mallikarjunaswamy. One of the most popular theories attributed to the origin of Parvathamalai is that it was formed when a part of the Sanjeevini mountain that Lord Hanuman carried, fell down to form this existing hill. The hill is also popular for its medicinal plants. Devotees mentioned the hills hosts 119 varieties of medicinal herbs.

We chose the Thenmathimangalam route to begin our trek. We CTCians reached a temple very close to the foot hills at around 9.50am.. We began trekking from this point at 10a.m after filling our back packs with lunch, snacks and essential drinks. We got quite lucky with the weather. It was neither too hot nor raining. Rain was a matter of concern or most trekkers. The trek began from a check post close to another small Hanuman temple. By the check post, we saw a board put up by the Government of Tamilnadu welcoming devotees and also showing the route to the hill top. From here we started walking on a cemented road up to a Km until the beginning of the steps. There is a shelter at the start of ascend.  Although the group started together, it slowly dispersed into smaller ones and some singles too owing to the fitness level of each one. About 10mins after we started the trek, we caught up with each other as we took a coconut water break while some chose to carry on without a break. After a nourishing natural drink we got back inching forward towards the top. The steps are well laid and well maintained. The steps route extended to only about 1/3rd of the entire distance. Although the existence of steps may sound like a boon, most of us felt trekking up the boulder path was far easier and quicker.

Some portion of the flight of steps was quite steep and strenuous. All along the steps route one gets to see numbers like 400, 1000, 900 with arrow marks pointing upwards although it was hard to guess whether they indicated the distance in meters or the number of steps left. Along this path we came across many kinds of insects and some monkeys curious to know what our bags contain! A little before getting to the boulder path, we stopped by a tea stall for a lemon soda break. Very refreshing and essential! Soon came the end of steps and start of natural trail! This path was nice and a little steeper. At least we were catching up with height faster. Along this route one gets to experience cooler breeze which is a soother. As we breathed deep, the difference in air was evident! The air out there smelt very fresh, raw and green. Some ardent devotees owe it to the medicinal trees and shrubs. Along this path we took rest at a couple of points to enjoy some beautiful hill views and clicked some pictures. We heard the hills running parallel to the Parvathamalai was Javvadhi hills. At some points we also could see patches of cultivated land offering different shades of green view. The last stop before the big steep risky ascent is famously identified as "Sarasamma kadai" - a tea shop! Generally people are expected to leave their footwear behind here as some devotees think its disrespectful to wear them any beyond. It also suited for some of us as the climb henceforth was easy to accomplish barefooted. We saw some devotees made it barefoot all the way!

Some devotees heading back from the hill top kept hinting us on the path and tasks that we were to encounter. The climb further was with the aid of different kind of steps. As we trekked up through some loose stones and pebbles, we came across a rocky path with some carved space for footing. The chains supported by metal rods on the sides were meant for support. It’s called 'Gadapaparaippadi' in Tamil. This helped us cover quite some height although quite steep and tough! And then came 'Thandavazhappadi' or the track steps resembling a rail track with some slim metal plates laid in between for preventing any slip. I tried gazing on the side as I crossed the track steps and I was scared to death!! And then came the carved rock path with metal rods, some in the shape of ‘Vel’, to hold and climb. Then came 'Agayappadi' or sky track. Like a metal carpet held by cross rods under. Soon we took some rest under a ‘mantap’ built out of big cut stones. This place was really cool! And gave us a much needed break before heading up to the last leg of steeper climbs. As we ascended we came across a combination of paths mentioned so far and also 'Yenippadi' or ladder steps and then a small narrow stone step path sandwiched between two huge rocks!

Soon we breathed a huge sigh of relief as we saw the Ashram building. One could either go to the Ashram first or the temple with just a few more steps up. Only a part of the group reached the top ahead of target time while the others reached much later. The ones who reached the top had almost decided that the others had given up mid-way! There is plenty of breeze one can embrace atop the hill. The summit also offers some breathtaking views. We sat near the temple to have lunch while some of us took lunch at the Ashram. Then relaxed for a bit before retracing the path downward. And that's when we were in for a big surprise! We saw the rest of the members had finally made it to the top!! The members who reached the top earlier decided to leave earlier as they did not want to be stuck in the rains. As we started climbing down the groups split again into ones and twos. Of this some of them chose to climb down through the Kadaladi route and some through the same path they came by. It drizzled for a couple of minutes after we started descending. Luckily not when we climbed down the different kinds of ladders! But later we heard that some members who started climbing down later did get stuck in the tough parts and did find it scary as the path got a bit slippery.

As we got down the hill, we observed some dilapidated structures of wall leading to something like watch platforms, like in a fort. We took a small deviation from the downward path and walked to the edge of one such raised platform and sat there to enjoy the spectacular view it had on offer! After a few minutes of enjoying the view got back to our climbing down. The climb down appeared tougher on the knees. We did take a few photo and tea breaks in between. The plastic cups, bottles, covers etc., thrown by the devotees, mostly in close proximity to the tea shops, was a picture of utter disregard devotees have for this pristine green hill. Really wish something could be done about it.The walk downward was slow and got slower for some of us although some of the members who choose the Kadaladi route had made pretty earlier. Slowly one by one members trickled back to the van by about 7.30pm. The group left for Chennai around the same time after a long, tiring, tough and most of all enchanting trek. We stopped by the Saravana Bhavan for dinner. And finally reached Tidel park around 1am and dispersed to our residences.

Written by: Shanthala Subramanyam

Organized by: Ravi Alagappan

Image Galleries:
Ravi Alagappan
Patanjali
Srinivas
Pradeep
Aneesh
Srikanth
Arutchelvi

Posted by: Karthick Sundararajan

Nagari/5, March 21, 2009

Confession of a Lazy Trekker

The worst invention of mankind 'The Alarm' was ringing at 4 am. The cacophony of my favorite song coming through the alarm followed up with a big fight. A fight with myself.  'Why shall I go? Is it really required?  Surely will go next week. Think again man. No….no…no…'. But finally my heart managed a win. I was looking for a get-out for a long time and this time It all became possible thanks to my friend Deepu,however  as lazy as me, that he agreed to accompany me on the trip. At 4:10 AM, I called to wake him up and as expected, the first 3 letters were ‘Are you sure?’  Somehow at 5:00 AM on my Pulsar, Deepu and me reached Tidel Park stop. There we met John Kingsley aka ‘John the Driver’, Selva, Raj and other fellows. Thanks to some last time cancellations, we got a seat in John’s car. The Journey started. Quickly let me tell you about myself (Lalit) and my friend Deepu are from TCS. It was the first ever trek for both of us. We picked other people enroute and having joined by One Scorpio, One A-Star, One Santro, One Fiat  and a minivan, we left Chennai for Nagari. Alongwith machines, stomach was also asking for fuel and as planned we stopped at a Dhaba at around 7:00AM. Just outside Chennai, this Dhaba offered a quality b’fast.

As we were waiting for the minivan to come back, we started interacting with the other group members. I was amazed to see how easy it was. Bala, Selva, Ragz were visible everywhere making plans. There was IBM ki Vaani, who after listening to Deepu and me was surprised how these lazy fellows gonna trek today. Then there was a humanitarian IIT’ian (Student of Humanity from IIT-M), I don’t know the name of South Indian actor his long locks were inspired from. Next I met a Satyamite; sorry dear forgot your name. In our trekking group there was another group ‘Truckers’, a team from Ashok Leyland, a truck manufacturing company.  Finally around 8:30AM we started from the Dhaba for our destination. We reached the base camp at around 10:30 AM, parked the cars, picked our lunches and straightaway started for the trek. We carried with us 4 ltr of water, one Glucone-D (orange falvour – my fav), and a bag of Thepala (Gujarati dish, basically Daal ki Roti). On the dais, we were joined by DAI’s, team from Department of Atomic Energy. We had 33 people in our group, 30 boys and 3 girls when we start the trek, 2 more guys from kalpakkam managed to join the trek in the last minute (after we started to trek) so boys count increased to 32 and now we got 35 trekkers. Start of the trek was very difficult, a very steep incline. I was hoping that just climbing this up is our complete trekking. But I was wrong, instead very wrong.  One of the kalpakkam guys actually returned to base once he saw the incline.

Selva leading the trek with Bala as a sweeper and Ansar who was helping the people in the middle, end of incline was the start of a long journey, an endless walking in the mountains. Don’t know how many we crossed. Climate is definitely not in favor for the trekkers, it was very hot, humid, without any breeze and the temp was around 40c and not much shadow as most of the trees are destroyed by fire. 7 mistook the trial and diverted from original path or completely lost, this should be a lesson for all the trekkers to always be in a group and be in touch with lead or sweeper.  3 people stayed in the middle and not able to continue the trek, 23 people not ready to give up and continue the trek, patience was running out along with my 4 ltr of water.  My boring but a/c office was in my dreams now. Suddenly, there started a steep descend. I heard we are nearing the temple and the waterfall. Finally when we reached the fall, sight of it was just amazing. There was a spring waterfall forming a pool. It was the best gift you can expect from Mother Nature. Water was so crystal clear that you can clearly see the stones over its bed. Like a 10 year old kid, everybody jumped into the pool.   It was so cold in there that everybody was shivering.  There were monkeys everywhere. One group was we, jumping in and out of the pool.  Then there were originals who were robbing our food items like the Pirates of Caribbean.  I don’t know swimming but looking at Selva and the Satyamite jumping in the pool, I couldn’t resist the fun. I trusted both my lifeguards and enjoyed 3 jumps. The guy from Satyam came up with a brilliant idea to bail out his company, 100 Rs for one jump. In came Bala with ketchup and Pickles and we had our poolside lunch. Now it was time to go back. It was 3:30PM and Bala left first with waters for group who couldn’t reach the temple (the only place with water), saying let’s meet at the base by 5:30PM.

Trekking back was not at all easy, rather much more difficult because of our relaxed bodies.  The steep incline was looking like a Mount Everest. After crossing it I was really feeling myself as Sir Edmund Hillary. Thoughts of the back seat in John’s Palio for sleeping kept Deepu and me going. We reached the base around 6:30PM, thumping fists like Dhoni was doing after winning T20WC. It was almost 25 kms in total that we trek. I was wondering how we did it and that too in such a good time. Not a bad start to trekking. Last group came back at around 8:00PM. Bidding adieu to everyone we started our journey back. Though having a cramp in the leg, John managed a very good speed and we reached Chennai at 11:00PM. To our delight, Sarvana Bhavan was still open and we had a nice dinner. A great trip came to a great end.  Having met so many great people and the pleasure to exchange thoughts with them, I really want to thank CTC for their continuous efforts to provide us these opportunities.  Sincere thanks to Bala and Selva for organizing this trek. Looking forward for the next trek (my mind is fighting again).

Written by: Lalit

Organized by: Selva, Balamurali Krishna

Image Galleries:
Mathan
Rajesh

Posted by: Karthick Sundararajan

Velliyangiri Trek - 6th Sep 2009

[Deepak]
This was my first trek with CTC, and I am glad it happened with the Velliyangiri hills. I've long had a fascination with these hills and I always wanted to trek up to the 7th hill. Though we couldn't complete it, what transpired was quite worthwhile by all means.

Kirthi introduced me and Naren to CTC. The plan was to start trekking by 8:30 AM on Sunday, but we three delayed the group by 45 mins. By the time we started the trek it was 8:45 am. We were a total of about 13 folks about to trek up hill. The plan was to reach there by 1PM, take a one hour lunch break and start the trek down by 2PM. Needless to say, weather had other plans. The basement from where we started, near the Poondi temple was 550 AMSL (above mean sea level). Right from our journey from Coimbatore to Poondi, there was a mild drizzle and the climate was very pleasant. Senthil distributed our lunch packets - an apple, one packet of "paruppu poli" and one packet of coconut "poli". He also handed out a glucose packet for the trek up. He kept the extra lunch packs and apples with him. I still wonder how he managed to trek with those up. Monkeys in the area got a whiff of humans with food and were surrounding us. They also employed some cute team work to snatch an apple from one of the trekkers hands. So, we were almost all set. Last set of instructions were to not leave plastic bags anywhere, and off we started up at 8:45 AM or so.

The gradient uphill would have been about 0.7 or so. It was at this level almost 90% of the path. I've never seen such consistent and intense gradient before. I also learned a lesson the hard way. Yeah, CTC listed "travel light", but some lessons are better learned through first hand experience. I was travelling with about 5.5 kgs or so (two water bottles, my cam, towel, lunch provided by CTC, two cookie packs, my mobile + wallet). Any optimism or confidence I had at the start of the trek, the mountain dismantled them effectively in under two minutes. The weight of the bag soon started telling, so I was trekking up slowly. It was continuously drizzling at this point. First stop at 700 AMSL. This checkpoint was the breather and I think at this time, everyone effectively knew the trek wasn't going to be easy. We were also waiting for everyone to assemble so we could move as a group. Eventually, people with differing average speeds got separated naturally and some were ahead. I was consistently among the last three in the group. The steps were also quite high. I was musing with Kirthi about the level of commitment the people who constructed this all the way up to the seventh hill! One area was a "vazhukku parai" (slippery rock) which would have made the following area inaccessible to 90% of the population if not for the chiseled steps. I think about 45 minutes had passed by this time.

The next stop was 856 AMSL. This was a Ganesha temple. By this time, the rain picked up intensity and never faltered thereafter. At this point, there was a hut to take shelter in. The group also was divided based on speed, and Senthil was trying to play anchor to sync up every one. I hadn't packed for rain (I think only 2-3 were planned for this anyway) and was throughly drenched. Here, there were priests chanting and offering to Ganesha on account of full moon day. I thought it was amazing dedication for they couldn't have been expecting any visitors. I think about 1 hour 45 mins had passed and time was about 10:30 AM now. Next stop was 1000 AMSL. It was still raining. Senthil took his topography map and was checking the target. It was close to 1600 AMSL - quite a long way to go. I was able to pull my camera only once in a while when rain slowed down to a drizzle. Feroz was the true journalist most of the times and was even shooting in rain. Unfortunately, at this point I learnt that one of them decided to stay back. I also got to know that two trekkers started late because their bus came late (10:30 AM). They must have started trekking up now. The time was about 11:15 am now. Once in a while, we had majestic view points of the valley below. Mostly marred by mist, but occasionally clearing to offer a grand view. We could make out lush paddy, distant buildings and even cleaned up ground below. The far away mountains adorned with greenery and the occasional stream made for a grand sight. You could trek up to this height just to view them! From this point on, we made occasional stops at 1100, 1250 and finally 1400 AMSL. The rain was intensifying and I had perhaps drenched to that extent never before in my life. The trail winded mostly on the steps, but occasionally, it would offer some respite in the form of a horizontal walkway. We passed by some makeshift temples (under mountain rocks), mostly of Lord Shiva along the way. We assumed we were crossing a "hill" at each of those temples. At 1500 AMSL, it already felt like a major accomplishment for me. My back was aching so badly and my legs were tiring very fast, but my enthusiasm was quite up. I was ready to go until the last. But at 1560 AMSL, I reached a small hut that offered standing room only for the 13 of us. The rain was lashing so badly that we all got in. For the first time, it dawned on us how cold our bodies were. We had walked quite comfortably till then until the contrasting temperature the hut offered showed how cold it really was. I am not sure how much the temperature would have been, I am guessing about 10C or so. Few were shivering. Time was 13:10, and we had a priest who was walking towards the temple. He estimated another 30 minutes for the final destination. Senthil took a vote, and under the circumstances, we decided to have our lunch and head back down. I was mildly disappointed, but it was in everybody's best interested to go back down.

So we at our polis (surprisingly enduring in terms of keeping away hunger) and shared some chips other trekkers had got. The rain seemed to have abated just a little but it was quite misty outside. We finally started the trek down by about 13:45. The trek was easier down, but I had to account for two new problems. Some areas, your body picks up so much momentum with just a few steps, that it is crazy! Another was that it was very slippery. I fell down thrice. Once in place, once face down, but fortunately on a bush, and third, flat on my back. Only when I reached home later at night did I saw two cuts, one on my leg and one on my hand, and the blood had already clotted. No sensation whatsoever! The rain was lashing so madly - but it was such a long time now that it seemed abnormal to not be drenched. The valley was misty mostly and on occasion showed up. One of those moments, we got view of a might stream flowing down hill at a distant mountain. Unfortunately, it was raining and I couldn't pick up my camera. I assume it was the Siruvani river [anybody have a pic?]. This time, me, Kirthi and Naren were among the first and we trekked at steady pace without stopping. Most of our trek was accompanied by mindless chatter. I think we stopped twice to rest. When we reached the Ganesh temple [856 AMSL], it was about 3:45 PM. We ate what was left of the food and then started down. Our plan was to visit the temple before the rest of the troupe arrived.

Finally, we were at the basement by 5PM. But my legs were damaged so badly, that every step down ached. My legs couldn't take my body load any longer. Any intense step put it off balance (even a joke cracked by Kirthi caused my leg to lose balance). After we reached down, we had tea. It was incredibly welcome for the weathering my body had taken. We then visited the temple below, and by about 5:45 every one had assembled. So had the monkeys. But they started leaving once they probably figured they weren't getting any food. It was getting dark as well. We departed by about 6PM and on the way back, well it was still raining! We shared some snacks Senthil had and were viewing some pics on Prashanth's camera. Rest of the journey was just random musings among seat mates. Finally, we off boarded by about 7:30 from the van. And that's it! The trek was officially over. As I write this now, two days later, my legs still ache so badly and I am not able to climb stairs without holding onto a railing. But the steps are so joyous. Mainly because I attempted something so huge that I had never tried before. And failed! :)

Written by: Deepak

Organized by: Senthil, Balu

Image Galleries:
Krishnan
Balu
Deepak
Pheroze Lawrence

Posted by: Karthick Sundararajan

Social Cause Trek/6 - Kids Trek/3 - August 30, 2009

...with the children from Nalandaway foundation, Chennai.

I accepted the moment I received a mail from Peter inviting me to organize a one day trek with kids of NalandaWay on 30 Aug 09 to Nagalapuram. I spent the whole of the week planning the trek and the details despite the fact that I had never been to Nagala earlier. I was depending on one of the fellow volunteers to guide the party [We had six volunteers for the trek ].  CTC  had joined hands with NalandaWay to take underprivileged children on a trek, and the first trek in the series of trek was on 30 Aug 09 to Nagala. Though we did not respect the meticulous planning, despite the last minute dropouts, road block after a delayed drive through road traffic, nothing could stop us from having fun the CTC way.

“25 kids walked trough the narrow trail dodging thorn bushes and thick undergrowth, walked on a narrow path along a precipice accompanied by 3 volunteers from CTC, 7 from NalandaWay foundation.”

The group started at 1000 hrs at Royapuram, Chennai. Rough calculation told us that we should be reaching the Dam at Nagala at 1230 hrs.  The traffic after Periyapalayam [On the puttur highway off the red hills toll post] and the road block on the road to Nagalapuram after Utthukottai delayed us. We hand re-trace a route and had to take a route just before the Kaveri River Bridge. Thanks to Balu for his excellent navigation.Do I need to mention the dance party we had on the way to Nagalapuram inside the bus. The party reached Nagalapuram at 1330hrs and was received by Peter who had stayed back  along with 6 other members  after the Social trek with children of Hope foundation on 29 Aug 09.  The kids had their lunch atop the dam and were enquiring every one who came with in their earshot if they were to be permitted to bathe in the dam water through mouthfuls of food. They had no idea of the beauty of the  first pool of Nagala, so we did not blame them for getting exited at the sight of the meagre water in the dam.

One would need to cross a temple and two streams to reach the first pool, and the kids demonstrated how inquisitive they could be. They peeped in the well at the temple, a couple of them even tried to fish using their towels at the first stream which had ankle deep water. It took the kids 40 minutes to reach the pool, and they did not wait for us to permit this time. I had never thought any one could enter the water that fast, in a matter of seconds more than half the group was in the water wading at the shallow water , doing back flips from the rock jutting out in to the pool.

Their joy knew no bounds, even the less confident ones were persuaded in to the water at the sight of an inflated rubber tube and sleeping mats being used as buoys . We spent the rest of the evening playing and swimming in the pool with the kids.

Though my other treks gave me a pleasure from seeing the natural beauty of mountains this trek made me happy seeing the contented smile in the face of the kids.

Written by: Stalin

Organized by: Stalin, Peter

Image Galleries:
Karthick Ramalingam

Posted by: Karthick Sundararajan

Social Cause Trek/5 - Kids Trek/2 - August 29, 2009

...with the 8th to 10th class students of HOPE foundation school, Thoraipakkam, Chennai.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s famous quip on hope - “If you want to build a ship, don't herd people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea” perfectly sums up the children’s trek on Saturday.

By helping the kids who cannot afford and those who do not yet understand the raw beauty of what Mother Nature holds for them; by simply hiking them into the wild woods of Nagalapuram and helping them breathe & experience nothing but pure, sun kissed - heavenly landscapes & fun unlimited in the first water pool; CTC has given the kids a new leash of fun and friendship to cherish for their life time.

What more can you ask for as a first timer!!! 10 – 12 year olds allowed to run in the wild with gay abandon in the pristine forests of Nagala and returning home with their hearts filled with pure bliss n joy

Social Treks unlike the regular treks require equally meticulous “if not more” detailed plans as we deal with kids and those who do not have prior experiences in the wild. Safety alongside fun remains utmost priority. And deservedly so – the organizers of the trek deserve an extra pat on their backs for making this trek work perfectly well within the limits of the group;

My plans to travel to the Bannerghatta reserve during the same weekend fell short and thankfully – Nisha & Angel were kind enough to accommodate us as wanna-be photographers for the trek. The usual pomp & fan-fair admittedly was a little low profile as the first timers took time to ease out and gratefully though, our first ice breaker point began with a good breakfast at periyapalayam and uthukottai respectively.

Moments later, we had reached the base camp, food was distributed amongst the CTC members in a jiffy and we were off in a flash to the first pool. Free Flowing Energy boosters are a given to any kid and what more can we say when it comes to having fun out in the wild. The kids were only too eager to jump into the fray and they did with such ease and panache; some of us CTC members were left to dry out in the wild and trot back behind the kids as they were running a marathon of sorts alongside Peter and the rest of the team.

We had bought Glucon D and Electral anticipating tired little ones during our modest hike to the first water pool and shamelessly though – It was us CTCians who drank all the energy drink instead. No heat and an ever increasing hot burner in the Sun could stop the kids from reaching the first pool. With the ice breaker and a little introduction to most of the group complete, the chanter banter was nonstop all the way to the water point.

What good is a water pool without fun and so it came to be – Entertainment to the max with volleyballs, lorry tubes to ferry kids to the little water fall and back in the safe zone – the banter echoed across the valley for a good hour n more. The camera crazy ones like us would never wanna miss an opportunity like this. Our pics are ample examples of what it was like during the whole day mate and if we have missed a good shot or two – well... Blame it on making a choice ey … we were indeed spoilt for a good too many…
As the day wore on, and the tireless ones continued their tryst with water – the organizers called time out and a phenomenal lunch was served to fill ourselves for further games in the water. Whilst some of us dozed off for a small measure – the kids continued their onslaught. Come 3:30, with accounts settled by Nisha, It was time to say goodbye to Nagala.

Back in the safe confines of civilization, I can’t help but think of this simple act that could probably create a lifetime of impact on some of the kids.

The Hope foundation in its own little way probably has lit up many a life by creating opportunities for learning & growth amongst the needy and the poor. CTC in its own inimitable style could not have had a better platform to build on – Hope – and by showing the kids, the true essence of what the wild means to all of us – we have hopefully created a young lot of explorers who would probably step into our shoes when the time calls for it …

Until then As Andy Dufresne says – Let us Hope – that Hope is a good thing, Perhaps the best of things – And no Good thing ever dies!!!

Written by: Hari

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From,
Manjula Saraf
Program Coordinator
HOPE Foundation Nursery and Primary School

Thanks a million for organising the trek.Both the students and the teachers enjoyed a lot. It is very nice of you and your entire team to have thought of making the day, so special for these kids. I also wish to appreciate the efforts made to organise the event so meticulously.

Thanks once again.Best wishes to you and your team.

Report of Nature trek undertaken by Hope foundation Nursery & Primary school as sponsored by Chennai Trekker’s club.

Chennai Trekker’s club arranged a trekking trip to the students of Hope foundation on 29th of August 2009.The location was near Tamil Nadu – Andhra bo0rder, close to Nagalappuram Village.

A told 23children and 7 teachers participated in the trek and were escorted by 18 members of the Chennai Trekker’s club. The club arranged the transport and food.
The team left the school area at 5.30 hrs on 29th August 2009.

From this moment the trekking started. We all covered a distance of 3 Km of hard terrain vegetation, small hillocks and river bunds to reach a report of beauty. It was a large pond where water flowing out of a national spring was enjoyed by all the children.

The (children) students swam around in the pond with the help of the volunteers some students and teachers learnt swimming from the volunteers. The pond was full of fish and students loved the natural surroundings. 

Later we had out lunch around 13.30hrs. At 15.00hrs we had a gathering of all participants Mrs.Gruhalakshmi proposed a vote of thanks by profusely thanking the organizers whole heartedly, not only for organizing the trip but also helping elderly members of the team to climb rocks and small hillocks. They took special care for certain student member who felt sick by providing glucose and nutrient salt to revitalize their energy. Both the parties took photographs.
We started on trek back to our Conveyances at 15.30hrs and reached the school around 21.00hrs. All the students were taken to their home and delivered at their doorsteps by the volunteers and teachers in the vehicles. Family the report of safe return was informed to the Head mistress Mrs.Manjula Saraf at 23.00hrs.

 

Organized by: Angel, Karthick, Nisha

Image Galleries:
Peter
Hari
Karthick Ramalingam

Posted by: Karthick Sundararajan

Nagala/30, August 2nd 2009

[Prasanna]

N30!!! This is not any Nokia Advertisement. If you dont belong to CTC, you wont understand this and if you belong to CTC, you cant miss this one. I went trekking again after 3 long months.

After V9 in April, i was scared to walk there in the jungle with hot sun beating down. So i didnt have any plans to trek on May. June and july just went past quickly. So I decided to enroll for a trek again. As I do work on weekends, i was not able to take part in 2 day treks. When Muthukumar sent out an invitation for a one day trek to Nagala on August 2nd i just called him and confirmed whether it would be a one day trek. Then when I saw the co-organizer Santosh, i immediately signed in. Santosh and Muthu both of them were with me in Nagala 15. The Nagala series is called N series and we the CTCians frequently trek to Nagala. Its like a home away from home for CTC. Friendly village people, not so difficult to reach, crystal clear water, deep pools make Nagala ever interesting one. As one more trek was happening in Nagala that weekend (though in a different trail), we were forced to start half an hour advance of planned time. By 4:15 I was in koyambedu, getting acquainted Patanjali and Ananth, the cricketer. There were so many Ananths in this particular trek. My buddy from N15 Raghavendra joined me for my excitement. There were few known faces.

We got in to Jigar’s car, who was a wonderful driver and a great guy to be with. He made sure that everybody is comfortable in the car. We started playing songs in his Ipod touch and the cars began to zoom to Nagala. There was a procession in a village which we should cross to get to Nagala. As this is Aadi month there was quite heavy rush. Jigar managed to catch up with the guys near the foothills though we were far behind them for some time. Then everybody came together. We had even arranged 2 private cars to transport us. I just had a rough head count and it was like 51 guys. N30 is a men majority trek and there were only 2 girls who came to the trek. Janani and Nomita. Once we parked the cars, organizers got into the action. They started distributing the water bottles, breakfast, lunch and fruits. This was the first time I saw CTC distributing Poppins. Most of the people had some yummy bisibelabath and curd rice which was left over in the parking place itself.

We started walking to the first pool post the temple. It was fun to walk with Ananth, Karthick and Paari who had been there before and in no time we reached the first pool. As usual the guys got into action. I am no special. I stepped into the cold, crystal clear first pool of Nagala. I dont know swimming but still i enjoyed in the pool. Thanks to Paari who ferried me with the help of sleeping mat to the water fall.  Thats the best part in CTC treks. Everybody will get their share of fun. We had our breakfast here. Then we started to climb up the slippery mountain to get on top of the waterfall and follow the stream from there. This time it was really scary. So many slippery rocks. We cant even trust a tree when we were sliding coz they came with us. At this point of time some stone hit Karthick’s legs and he had to stay in the first pool till  we returned. We missed you Karthick. If you were there trek would have been much fun. Similarly Nomitha was hurt and she stayed back with her bro making Janani the only girl to trek. After a number of thorn stitchings and slidings we reached the top of the waterfall. Guys were really happy to be back on their feet. We then started following the stream. Paari did the leading while Santosh and Muthukumar were sweeping. I was kinda in the middle getting introduced to everyone. Then came the second obstacle. We had to climb a very steep and narrow gorge kinda thing with water down there. People were not afraid of water but they were more concerned about their camera’s. Janani passed her backpack and took the water route while we took the steep narrow route. The great thing about the group  is they didnt need much encouragement. They themselves were so enthusiastic to cross all the obstacles. Then we took some rest in the bed like pool on the way to the sliding pool. Had some nice time talking with Vipin, Varun and Gautham.

As in all CTC treks the participants were friendly. I had no problem in mingling with them. It so hard to find the like minded people meet in a same place. I had to tell about Simon, who had three big tattoos in his arms, rides a royal enfield, have killing European look and still talked nice tamil. Then we again had to climb a slippery, somewhat steep and narrow gorge to reach the sliding pool. Nothing mattered now as the trekkers had already seen the sliding pool.  They were very excited and they climbed to top of the slide in a giffy. Being a non swimmer i just went and planned to take a nap till these guys finish. But I learnt from Muthukumar that we are stopping there and not moving further.  Though little disappointed, i was surprised by their understanding about the group. I am sure this group which consisted of lot of new comers would have been in  trouble in the dark. I spent quality time lazing around in the small pool near the sliding pool. Had lunch in the rocks with yummy potato chips. One should say about the food. There was lot of cashews in both Bisibelabath and Curd rice. We even started searching for cashews in gravy and chappathi. It would be nice if we could retain the same caterer for senior and family treks. :)

We started to walk back around 3 in the evening and it was very easy to climb downhill. Not so much problem. People didnt need sweepers. They themselves were energetic. When other people started to think of the dreadful slippery mountain we had to cross, Muthukumar and Santosh had different ideas :) . Like N15 we planned to get down through the waterfalls. It was so much fun. We first formed a human chain to transport the bags. Karthick who was injured and waiting for us in the first pool joined to help us. Great many thanks to Dr. Varunkumar, Patanjali and Karthick to pass all those bags to shore without getting wet and even passing the shoes. Everybody got down. Here we must talk about a person. “Trust Me” Vipin. This good guy who got down, did not go sit and dry instead he was giving all his body parts for the people who were finding it difficult to get down into water. When they hesitate, these two words came from him “Trust me”. We got down and had a blast in the pool. The water splash game started by Santosh went well like everybody who came to the trek had their quota. I am sneezing till now guys. We started walking to the parking and we were quite More Yay !early.

Way back, Karthick took us in a different route. This was quite quicker than the morning. We stopped for a coffee and then drove back. Should thank Jigar for his responsible driving. He dropped me and Raghu in CMBT, from where i took my bike and came back home. Sundays had never been this exciting, except for my other treks.

I not only plan to join the other treks, but thinking of organizing one too. Let’s see.

[Krishna]

Typical Sunday morning, get up at 10am, brush at your will, laze around for breakfast to come, rub your back at on the sofa….and watch some dumb dubbed English movie without knowing what it is all about.. this is how most of the people spend their Sundays…………………….. Well not the 51 crazy souls who thought the other way…. They were crazy enough to get drunk on Saturday night and still managed to get  up at around 2.30 am and get ready for one of the wildest days in their life…….. Welcome to the party…..welcome to Nagalapuram N30!!!!!!

It was a typical Sunday morning for the CTCinas…. Yeah that’s right CRAZY TREKKERS of CHENNAI!!!!

This trip was well planned (as usual) by the organizers Muthu, Santhosh and Paari….and followed accordingly by the fellow trekkers….

The first rendezvous point was at Tidel park where around 20 of them assembled at around 3.30 am, after a little shuffling and re-location of the food stuff, we started from there….. this was the first time where taxis where also brought for those who couldn’t bring their own vehicle…..the organizers not realizing that they were in for a surprise. The gang started from Tidel park at around 4.10 am and reached Madhya Kailash and picked up the second bunch and then reached Guindy in the next 15 mins, reaching there we had the second shuffle and to the surprise of many first time trekkers there were people who were going to come by bikes..still wondering who will they drive back home after a hard day’s work, unaware that they were not normal people :P.  Starting from there , the cars were on  their way to Koyambedu when one for taxi’s stopped because it ran out of fuel, not as expected, the guys in that car were furious and cursing the driver for being so lame about it…. finally after a little hustle we found a petrol station a few yards away and again on road we reached Koyambedu at around 5.05am. New trekkers not knowing where exactly going, had to convince the taxi drivers that permit would not be required as we were not going exactly into Andra but only near the border, the taxi drivers won’t listen after much argument, they said that there is another place to get the permit and its much near than the one in Andra which was like an hour diversified from the normal en route. So Santhosh told the gang in the taxis to start early and told that we would again meet up at Uthkottai… the other gang started at 5.30am from Koyambedu… it was fun for the usual gangsters who were enjoying the scenery, not for the fresher’s who were already snoring inside the cars. Everyone again got united at Uthkottai junction much for the relief of the fresher’s who were already starting to think that they were lost, their mobile phones also ditched them..the organizers finally reached there at 7.10am.

We reached the Base camp at 7.30am, unpacked the stuff and had the breakfast. Many people, mainly fresher’s were already hungry and found themselves filling with food stuff. After everyone had their share of breakfast, the lunch packets were distributed to the members and many people volunteered to carry the common stuff. We started from there and had anyone seen us from the sky would have mistook us for a giant caterpillar, we went on shouting, singing and whistling…. The organizers did have little hard time trying to keep the gang together, there were the enthusiasts who were far ahead and there were fresher’s who were lagging a bit. We reached the first pool at 8.45am and as if everyone was waiting to get down in the pool started jumping right away into it and some jumped back onto the land finding the water very cold. After convincing themselves they again went into the pool. A few guys were crazy enough to climb up the steep rock wall and jump from there in the pool, many others preferred staying in the pool since they were scared of getting onto the wall. They were on for a big surprise later during the day when they would have to get down the same way… had they known it, guess they would also have taken their chances….

After having enough in the first pool and refreshing ourselves, we started the trek uphill which would last for 2 gruesome hours…at least for the first timers, the people who had already been there were having fun..big time fun. The climb was getting steeper and steeper and loose rocks were a challenge too, but the great team effort and the guidance from the senior trekkers helped the fresher’s a lot. This walk lasted almost 3hrs thanks to the small breaks which we took at the top of the hill, we actually felt that we were at the top of the world, the view was just amazing. After enough jumping, sliding, walking, we reached the second pool much for the help of the fresher’s at 11.30am, everybody sat down there and rested for a small while, many still busy taking photos. We started from there and reached the much awaited sliding pool at 12.30pm, that was our second base camp and the freaks straight away started jumping into the pool, some preferred taking the second pool nearby and relaxing in the cold water. We had our lunch there and slept under the shade. At his point of time we ought to mention Dr.Varun J who help 2 people with slight injuries and help them again jump into the pool. We spent solid 2 hours there and started back to get back to our cars.. we literally had to drag back the gang near the sliding pool because they were so very involved that they didn’t want to go back at all. Finally we did manager to convince them that we will be coming back here again.

The whole gang, at least the first timers were in for a surprise, which was because the organizers felt that going back the same way which we came through would take the whole night and everyone was tired. We came back to the area where the first pool was located, the only difference was that we were at the top of the rock wall like 50 feet high and the pool was at the bottom. The first timers were totally freaked out about the thought that they will have to jump of the top, the organizers convinced us that it was not as difficult as it looked, it really wasn’t that difficult after all, thanks to the brave volunteers who formed a chain on the wall and helped other gets down at ease. There were a few crazy souls who did jump off the cliff, they had fun for sure and the onlookers too. Everyone reached the bottom and man they were happy to get down. Guess after the down trek, everyone had got a boost of energy, everyone jumped in the pool even those who stood back the first time we went there and started having a bash. There were one last group photo and we started towards our car park area. We had a small get together and started back home.

It was a special trek for one good reason that many new friends were made on friendship day!!!!

Written by: Prasanna, Krishna

Organized by: Muthu, Santhosh

Image Galleries:
Ravi
Gavaskar
Karthikeyan
Vyas
Janani
Jigar
Venkat

Posted by: Karthick Sundararajan