Nagala 25 - Silver Jubilee trek , Andhra Pradesh, India

“Miss Mary” Case who redefined the way all ‘nonwhites’ brought to justice, were addressed in the US courts, once said – “No Pressure – No Diamonds”. She did know then that Men would do only things that they “want to” until stretched beyond their wildest dreams to achieve the ultimate.

In retrospect, Nagala 25 is indeed the best of all treks I have been on till date, that our power of the will and the might of a team are unquestionable, the team is only as strong as the weakest in the link and what if – you were the one!!!

This Mother of a trek as Viki so deservedly put it could have easily been a Dead or Alive situation for those including me - who trooped last to the base camp and although barely a few hundred yards left – without drinking water for almost a good mile n a half and not knowing the way still left us handicapped. If not for Karthick who chose to tread back with the elixir of life for the disintegrating lot in the river bed – it would have been fun unlimited to all the brave souls who chose to wait until help arrived at last.

If I was left to think that my wounds caused during the fall in the first day were the worst – I was soon humbled by stories of the rest who had braved similar injuries and yet made it to the base camp – double the time faster. Add to that – My kit lens went berserk and rendered useless when needed the most; this would probably have been a huge loss but then consider this – Karthick – Our Achilles of Day 1, who sweeped, photographed, and like a gazelle moved up and down the trail as if he was born so – dropped his lens and Pentax K 200 D camera in the Nagala waters while helping someone in the last leg of the trek!!!.

And to sum up – this trek was more than just about courage and determination; it was about facing your worst adversary and coming up trumps. The worst enemy in this case was none other than your own self – Read on and you shall know why!!!

The reception to any trek invite on CTC has always been tremendous and a special one such as this warrants no mention. 170 brave folks put their hands up in anticipation – a few screening tests later & drop outs as usual donned the mantle – we had 80 odd souls ready to rock n roll. After the usual pick up routine – we set foot on the first base camp at Nagalapuram around 1ish midnight. The plan was to wait for the Bangalore and the Hyderabad team to join us early morning and then head to our target – Scaling the 800 m peak and climb our way down to the base camp on the other side of the hill and then rendezvous to the Picnic Diving spot that had made N20 so famous.

The prediction of Monsoon rains soon became a reality when at about 4 in the morning – showers hit the foot hills but thankfully though the Tamil month of “Aadi” is always windy and the rain clouds soon disseminated out of our way leaving the moon’s crescent and the morning star to light up our night sky.

Ilayaraja’s music lilted through the south westerly winds as some of us insomniacs could not find anything worthwhile otherwise to do. Come 5 AM, the team from Bangalore had arrived and the morning routine took over – after distributing food packets and a momentary wait for the Hyderabad team to arrive – WE had begun.

The trail was that of Nagala 12 to start with and it was little surprise that we soon hit the first water fall of the day. A dip and a quick bite to boot our energy sacks – the first vertical climb had started in earnest. It’s amazing how the familiar breed confidence into your system – the alter-ego version of knowing what you are doing is so comforting sometimes. N12 trail being a known one made life so much easier for some of us - But better things were in store.

We soon reached the sliding pool at around 8ish, Breakfast and a good dive for some churned our spirits to a whole new level. Whilst some chose to set on foot early, the rest continued to jump their hearts out into the water. It was here that the Devil in me chose to rear his ugly head out and I was left thinking all alone about one issue after another back at work – when we were all supposed to have live in the moment. It’s not that this has never happened but the moment it chose cannot be a given at any point in time cos the hardest part of the trek was yet to come and here I was left contemplating all things in life otherwise.

Sujai saw through me perfectly well and his well meant question of me maintaining a silence all of a sudden put me in the worst reverse gear possible. From there on – the fun part had begun – I had become the fall guy – almost tripping over every ‘rock n rubble’ in the river bed. The worst was to come last before our climb to the 800 m peak.. I had slipped into a small culvert hurting my right leg badly – nursed it with the cool Nagala waters for the swelling to subside and had almost forgotten about it when the nightmare began.

The climb was a moderate one and all hale n healthy could have made it easily but for the absence of water. A good 4 hour climb up and down meant adequate water should be back packed to troop down easily. My first symptoms of the pain not giving way thankfully hit when we had reached about 520 m – we were to tread down from here for a bit and then climb all the way again to the 800 m peak.

That pain is simply a mental projection, of the condition we are in at the moment, by the brain is a well known concept – The worst cases like being stuck in a snow storm can make you lose all the heat in your body in a whiff and the extreme thing that your brain can tell you is to go to sleep – the worst situation possible but that’s the brain’s way of saying – this is the last resort and my only way of saving some energy just in case... Couple the brains reaction with the emotional responses to such conditions, being so cross wired in the nervous system, that we indeed choose to react to situations under pain.

Without being too dramatic here, I chose to sleep wherever possible and dozed off like a new born. Bhaskar and Karthick kept egging me on. The effort was somehow a behemoth of an act. Palani could not have put it any better – Palani had hurt his knee on the second day and he strode of like a champion, estimated that the only difference between me and him was that he knew the destination.

Looking back, Familiar trails would not have made me any worse or better with the injury but a certain confidence would have definitely ensued that I put an extra foot on the gas to tread back to safety. Thoughts wander from cursing yourself for slowing down the momentum to patting your back for the extra effort every time you put in to reach a destination. I had not put my Canon to use until then and therefore was like an excess baggage adding to the woes.

Thankfully though – We had made it to the 800 m peak and meeting the team back always gives back the much needed boost. A quite nap and with Volini as the armour on my back, I warily chose to put my Canon in action and what a refreshing choice that was. Its amazing how when you start doing things you love – nothing really comes to your mind , not even the pain in my legs would have stopped me from shooting all that I wanted to ..

The trek down the hill was a customary one but the pain was back to haunt this time with such vigour – I was a no goner and somehow pushed myself and made it to the gang waiting for me at the foot hills. Peter and Brijesh saved me from the blushes and took my back pack off to help me walk easier. And easier it was – without all that weight on your shoulders, I was jaunting my way back to the base camp and with light dying out – we would soon be left to last in the darkness all by ourselves.

Karthick and Bhaskar – the lion hearts simply chose to stick their boot with us staying all the way back to the base camp. Halfway through, we had to negotiate the stream with a small climb up and walk parallel to the river bed and then step back into the river – walk another couple of kms to hit the base.

Peter suddenly appeared out of nowhere to help us with the directions and he immediately relieved Karthick who was helping Divya out. Peter kept pepping up everyone from time to time and it was almost time for us to reach the base when we hit upon the final bottleneck.

Bala was down with fever and completely dry throated when he reached him. The path ahead was a 100 ft drop which would have led us straight to the base camp but with darkness all over – it was never an easy choice to make and we had to therefore stay put until someone came back to show us the way. Peter who had fallen back with Divya had reached us too by then.

There were only two things possible from here – We either head to the base camp with whatever strength that was left in us and then gorge on the elixir ourselves OR wait with parched throats until some saviour walked our way – helped us with the elixir and then showed the way back to safety.

No words were spoken; not even a single breath of a soul was heard and with darkness looming all over us – there was nothing much left to do but dream of a safe place and all things otherwise... Every minute of waiting here was like a snow storm approaching to kill all the last drop of energy left in all of us.. And just when we thought we were to sleep all nite on the river bed, like an answer to a prayer – Karthick stooped down the hill with a good 6 litres of water on his shoulders.

Our Achilles had finally answered the call. With renewed energies emanating out of pure water, we climbed the hill and about a few hundred yards later – we were finally amongst our lot.

Water, finally was flowing over our feet quietly letting the sands of time take over the process of life all over again. A quick dip in the water to cleanse ourselves of all the heat and the sweat; a quite bite just to ensure that we don’t sleep empty stomach & a painkiller down the throat, I had soon crashed to safety in the cradle of Mother Nature. The tree cover helped every bit by keeping all the cold at bay.

A good night’s sleep always helps, rejuvenates the soul and helps one look forward to another day fit and fighting. I had everyone reason to believe so as the pain killer did its job to a tee. The pain in my right tibia had eased out quite a bit. Morning chores complete and a good enough breakfast helped us clear steer of all thoughts of anything uninteresting. It was destination – Picnic Pool. You can never be far from water here on and this helped as there was no need to carry additional weight meant we can walk a little faster now. With a lighter back pack and a song to hum – “When the going gets tough – the tough get going”– we were on swan song. The group hit the first pool for the day in record time. It was here that I realised my kit lens had given way for God knows what and therefore had to resort to my trusted friend the 75 – 300 bazooka...

Back in a familial trekking location of Nagala 20, and a Canon to go crazy at everything I see, I was finally back in the frame of a happy trekker; Jumping Jacks were the order of the day yet again. Folks hogged on whatever was left in their bags and we were finally on our way back to the second of the water pools – the dead end pool.

The Dead End Pool bought back memories from the biking trip soon enough, where I almost drowned Nisha & Maelle, trying to stay afloat, and here was another chance to set the momentum right. But then – Lessons in humility are never easily remembered until the haunting comes back to show what humility is made of – the core of a human spirit. I could have simply jumped into the outstretched arms of Chris with a sleeping mat and forget the events of the biking trip. More than the humiliation of trying to drown someone – the fear of drowning oneself came back from nowhere.

From someone who could dive from a 10ft board into a swimming pool with gay abandon – here I was, in trepidation and fear loaded to the max, drowning in my own fears although I knew that Chris would save me if anything were to go wrong at all. The enemy was nowhere but within me not letting me go of a fear so ruthlessly stuck to my spirits – Chris kept yelling and I closed my eyes and jumped and it so happened that I had jumped right on the sleeping mat. I was finally swept to safety by Chris.

A few notches later, the first pool was in sight and we allowed ourselves to chill a bit until the bikers and the car drivers came back with their machines to the N20 base camp location. Bala with the rest of the sweepers finally reached the first pool and it was time for us to move on – back to where we would belong until another weekend came crying into our outstretched hands wanting to leave the civilisation for good and return only when needed.

Nagala 25 is a lesson well learnt for me and although, I had suffered an injury – lost my kit lens for some unknown reason – and fear gripped me from behind at the dead end pool, This trek indeed showed me what I possessed from deep below my guts; And am sure – this would have been the story of all those who suffered similar blows at various points in this trek if not in their lives, only to rise again – clear and better focussed to be a winner!!!

And as I have stated time and again in this blog – Life to me is a long lesson in humility – the sooner we learn it, the better the fruits taste and I for one, owe this lesson this time, to the CTC team who in all their might and power would sure have bought me back to safety if I had given up out there in the jungle and this was not the case to be with any of the team members this time around, by letting us stretch a bit thereby showing us what we are within.

I salute you all CTCians who made N25 successful not just by your sheer presence but by reliving and cherishing what we are truly made of – the true spirit of being a CTCian ...