jerryharry's travelogue

For the Love of Nagala : 2

2011-02-16T21:24:00.000+05:30

“Kaapaathunga”... echoed all through the jungles of Nagalapuram... Not your regular frantic S.O.S calls, mind you!!!... Amidst rip roaring laughter & mayhem, jumped Krishna Kumar into the crystal clear pool with a sleeping mat closest to his heart n chest – wonder if he would have even held anyone/thing else that close people!!!

Until thence, little did we know that this Chennai grown Andhra kiddo was capable of such sense of timing... that only a few hours earlier, was he ragged in near cold-blooded fashion by one of our very own [let me not name him as yet] to share his cosy little sleeping mat and the blanket too... ;)... could only have added a certain punch to his deft touch of humour folksies...

Krishna was not the only Hero amongst us though, The King – self proclaimed singam, Mr.Ladakh - Karthikeyan, himself announced his arrival with a Honda Activa at the start of the trek and kept our laughing bones broken literally by his wry sense of humour..

I could go on & on; leaving all of you with a big wide smile on your face thinking what could you have probably missed - For the Love of her Highness has always been very dear & near to our soul. Nagalapuram has never been the same every time we have stepped into her fold.

Count-down to year 2009, N12, when we [Paari, Karthik Yadav and Sujai] began trekking with a big bang, thud n splash [read as follows – a huge boulder rolled down our path splitting me and Paari safely and splurged into the Nagala stream], our sojourn ever since has been a fantastic one indeed – a picnic that showed us a glimpse of what flash floods could be like, the silver jubilee trek that tested the mental stamina & acumen of some of us – a few social treks & one day treks to the other side of Nagala later – She has never left us thinking about being something that we are so used to on a weekly basis and rightly so – She remains the Home of CTC.

It can only be befitting that we show some of the freshmen & Ladies, an iota of what Nagalapuram has in store for them. The distinction this time though was to split the teams into two batches – early morning & post lunch - and let people join in their convenience – the afternoon batch of course was the preferred one to most of the Chennaites. Logistics issues notwithstanding – the trek was converted to a post lunch start & end a day laters trek. A few hiccups & stop overs later, Nagala was in our sights. A moonlit evening was a blessing in disguise – food was distributed amongst the 37 member team and around 7 PM, the ascent to magic pool had begun.

To sleep under an open canopy lit by Moonlight & star filled skies is always a dream come true for most of us. Nagala 20 has been the best trek till date in that sense... the difference every time has always been people to add to the best of memories. Winter nights & camp fires are an awesome twosome – a perfect valentine couple... which most of us realised at 5 AM in the morning... J ...

Day 2 began with a lazy walk to the crystal clear pool – an hour n a half later, plans for lunch unfolded. Chapattis, noodles n soup – a super two course meal followed by leaps n jumps into the magic pool; Come 2 PM – the descent to first pool had begun – yet another dip in the clear waters – a customary group pic on a farewell note. FLN 2 finally drew curtains on a very happy & satisfying note.

Come to think of it, As we step into our 3^rd year at CTC, the only thing that could ever remain constant and what would possibly drive us, teach us, help us learn – Mother Nature – could not have been summed up better than this song:

It is in you, to carry on

It is in you, to lay down fears that hold

It is in you, to find your way home

And this time around & forever...

Is it love that you crown?

And this time around & forever...

You'll be more than who you are

For the Love of Nagala 2: Paari, Yadav, Rock Bala, Ram & Hari

Mission - SAVE TADA

2009-11-03T05:20:00.001+05:30

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

November 1, 2009 will go down in the annals of CTC as one the many “1^st 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 infact 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 organised keeping in mind the scale & the objective of the event; Transport although typically is a ‘carpool n 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 [Nagala 21 for e.g.] 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 n dirt. Without being too modest about our effort – About close to a tonne n 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 civilisation. 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...

Until thence, Thank You CTC for yet another humbling experience.

Nagarahole - Chasing the Butterflies

2009-10-06T14:08:00.036+05:30

Home of my favourite cat – the king of the Indian wildlife food chain – mesmerising & numinous – Panthera Tigris beckoned us to the Valley of Nagarahole national reserve this Gandhi Jayanti. The objective of this mission, although, was to document butterflies with an NGO aiming at spreading awareness to the ignorant & the placid lot could not have come at a better time.

The Western Ghats although safely ensconced, is no stranger when it comes to the N.E Monsoons. Lord Varuna played his tunes flawlessly well and just for a brief moment though we were done for, but then, our spirits rose to the challenge, History was in the making – Already!!!

Our compatriots – Ramesh and Krishnamurthy who had synced up the 3 day affair for us were in for a surprise right from the start – thanx to “Mad Max” Selva Pandian – awesome driving bro... Wham-back action synergised perfectly well with the mind of a hunter’s head to boot – we eased to Bangalore in no time at all.

The team gelled perfectly well instantaneously; ‘Mission – Chasing the Butterfly’ had begun!!!

Day 1 : Took a detour to Ramanagara n Ramadevara paada to check out on rock climbing with maestro Krishnamurthy. Post lunch – headed straight to the camping site at kurimande doddi in a school adjoining the muttatti reserve forest teeming with Elephants and the odd leopard who seemed to like the little village so much..

The dinner that night was one of the best moments yet in my life – At 2040 mts, Villagers who would need to walk about 6 – 8 kms just to reach the foothills for even trivial needs everyday offered fresh Raagi Balls, rice n sambar to fill our empty tummies and by selflessly declaring that the money offered would only disgrace their hospitality however little it may be, filled our hearts with immense joy & love for our country.

The Mahatma would sure be smiling from up there somewhere. India lives on Ladies & Gentlemen – the proof lies in all our blood stream those who made it out there..

Amidst such glorifying moments, bad news travelled through the air putting all our plans to a halt. We had but one choice – To head to the reserve forest and seek entry ourselves. So began Day 2 !!!

Green – “pure, dark, olive, pristine, untouched & colourful” lit all through our way to the Nagarahole reserve. A brief stop for breakfast at Sri Ranga patina ,the rain n the sun intermittently hitting the wind screens and our souls so to speak equally warmed our hearts and cooled us from the inside wanting us to be prepared for the next best moment – a tete-a-tete with the Great Cat Himself... Whatta conversation that would be – watching him up close n personal live his life, with such panache and gay abandon. Words just crammed my head & thoughts overflew in all directions.

It was only after reaching the reserve that the second bad news stuck us. The RFO decided not to send us in as it rained all 3 days previously in the forest and the risk of getting the vehicle entrapped was alarmingly high but hopes were kept afloat as he assured us of an entry the next day.

So it was that we had to reorganise ourselves and change directions yet again. The Iruppu Falls was the target destination this time around. There is something about FUN people... No matter what happens – If you choose to have fun, it simply happens – Just Happens !!

It was the darkest afternoon ever, rain clouds seemingly looked like they were gonna fall right down below and all hell’s gonna break loose. With rains hitting the Ghats continually for 3 days, forget water flowing up there ... it was pouring – ripping apart everything in its way – ominous signs for any traveller not to step in the waters but would that stop any CTCians nor any wanderlust from diving deep into danger. Come to think of it, it was only in the noon – a guy trying to photograph the waterfall fell down tumbling 20 feet below and broke his femur.

All said, this was easily the best noon ever – enhancing the previous evening’s experience – water – super cool & crystal clear - Rains pouring in buckets and buckets full –Water, water everywhere - filling our hearts to the fullest for a change – helping us leap into the mountains of joy n ecstasy.

What’s fun without sharing and to be honest with yea all – we did try n remember what it would have been like if some of u had been there... May be – the next time around – If you choose to have fun i.e.!!!

Rains and more rains in the night could not stop any of us dreaming away into the abyss of sleep. The Sun Gods heard our prayers and wafted through lazily in the wee hours of the morning and stayed with us until we left the forest. A befitting testimony to our never say die spirits – but would the human mind ever play to the tunes of it; The RFO denied yet another appeal of ours sighting incessant rains the previous night. But our levels of perseverance deservingly put him in a spot and he offered to let us walk in the forest to document whatever we could.

Speckled, spotted & weird-skulled spiders; rainbow coloured butterflies, mystical looking dragon flies and of course our little winged friends from the top of the trees eased our way into the forest. Pug marks of wild dogs, elephant droppings were strewn all around the place. Word came through the wireless that a tiger had passed through our path last night in the rains. Our destination was a 26 feet wide, 600 plus year old Teak Tree humbled all our senses – redefining the very purpose of existence!!!

The wild and the out of towners’ in a span of 72 hours closely wove a tantalizingly special moment of moments in our lives – an unfulfilled objective beckons us for yet another journey of self exploration & freeze frame the extraordinary wilderness out there.

Karthick Ramalingam’s brilliance came to the fore yet again – If some of us have narrowed him down to a portrait kid .. I dare say think again. His capture speaks for himself.

And Beware yea all – ‘Mad Max’ Selva Pandian is not new to the party of mavericks – His adventures with the macro style deservingly so earns yet another title as “King of Macro” for the trip and may be beyond this one as well.

Back home, I can’t help but miss the phenomenal moments with Mother Nature during the weekend... A singular event spanning 72 hours - almost passed off by like one brief moment - a lifetime left to cherish - what would i be without U - O Mother Nature!!!

Kids Trek - August 29, 2009 - Nagalapuram

2009-09-03T02:11:00.010+05:30

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!!!

Nagala 25 - Silver Jubilee trek , Andhra Pradesh, India

2009-07-24T01:53:00.023+05:30

“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 ...

The Biking Trip - W.Ghats, India

2009-06-02T15:07:00.016+05:30

The Biking Trip – MAY 22nd to May 24th 2009

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Day 1: May 22nd: Madurai to Nedumkandam: Apprx 180 kms

Day 2: May 23rd: Nedumkandam to Munnar to Aazhiyar Dam: Apprx 220 kms

Day 3: May 24th: Aazhiyar Dam to Vaalparai to Coimbatore: Apprx 200 kms

Terrain – Plains and City traffic to start with - Hills and Ghats Section for most of the 2nd & 3rd day and close the formalities with city traffic at Coimbatore

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Road runs on and on

From thy doorsteps – begins its journey

To pursue it – be our destiny

The Road runs on and on

Only to meet a larger one

Where another thousand roads meet

This in summation – was how our bike trip across the Western Ghats began in earnest; the goal being not just in mere pursuit of a reaching a destination in time nor taking known roads to ease our way through the Ghats but by breaking this single minded vision into a kaleidoscope of little simple breaks ala be it stopping for a cuppa chai or for a walk through the tea estates – Every step into the wild and the greenery was taken at a sedentary but childlike fashion that simply bought nothing but sheer joy in the minds of the lucky few who chose to tread into this taming of the machine trip – that believe me – on a paradoxical note bought nothing but sheer peace and tranquillity into our otherwise cranked-up confused minds.

The journey although chosen to look like a walk-through a maze in an uncomplicated fashion was indeed planned in detail from the start to finish – the ‘ifs and the buts’ villains showing their nasty ways of what could go wrong and the team ever so clinically addressing the issues in clock work like fashion helped us ease through the last stages of the trip with little or no difficulty at all.

Elsewhere in Kerala – Monsoon Magic had begun already and while we were counting in hours to the D-day – News had already begun ‘pouring’ in from Kerala of an impending burst of showers across the Ghats – And would you ever lose heart being a CTCian – what better way to romance the monsoons than be there when it arrives on the shores of God’s Own Country – Kerala. Such was the mood and the mindset that nothing could have ever stopped us from breaking into the wild with our beasts of a machine and a beauty to tame him on the tail when needed!!!

We had packed our bikes off to Madurai in advance to avoid last minute blunders. Our problems of carrying excess baggage on a bike trip was finally addressed by a brute of a machine – the Verna - driven by equally ‘mad-max like’ brothers – Selva n Bala who drove all the way from Chennai to Madurai to Coimbatore – quite a ride ey !!!

Monsoon Magic worked in my favour with my clients delaying payments – we chose to stop work at the site and Voila – three days of no work meant – no phone calls and superfluous masti on the road trip and with nothing to stop me now – I was on cloud nine waiting to see the heavens meet earth in the beautiful western Ghats and watch life begin all over again.

The sleeper coach bus from Chennai to Madurai helped revive ourselves for a gruelling start in the Sun; Madurai finally was in our sights at 8 in the morning – Periyar Bus Stand on a Friday morning looked deserted – strange in’ it !!!

Our bikes were safely ensconced at National Travels – a healthy breakfast and filling our beasts to the brim with fuel – We were ready to take off but for the fact that our machine of a man – peter had to attend to his beamer with a minor glitch. Arun, Ramya & Senthil joined us at Madurai from Bangalore - We finally hit the roads at around 11 not wanting to look back at the civilisation for anything at all. Our sights were now set for the theni – kumuli highway – via counties and beautiful sun kissed fields of paddy, corn and bananas – the journey was very comforting indeed – given that my machine would not do more than 60 an hour – I was more than happy to listen to him rather than push him to the limits and was fully rewarded the next two days with one hell of a ride with no complaints whatsoever..

My Canon kept egging me on to stop wherever possible and being the last of the herd – I did not want further delays therefore kept my canon in the sacks until we reached theni for lunch. A sumptuous lunch that sure would have put us all to sleep if not for the drive ahead – we strode off in a typical Harley Davidson fashion ‘vroom - vrooming’ all other vehicles out of the way until we hit the highways yet again.

Peter’s monster hit yet another snag and we were given a well deserved break off the highways and some of us chose to hit the sack for whatever possible time we got – whilst Guru n Nisha chose to jump into the well with aplomb n ease. Amal in his very own ‘characteristic’ apparel chose to dive in the well too and they all clambered upto safety. Peter’s two wheel wonder was finally ready to take the roads and we were all back to where we belong finally...

A break at the vineyard, a pit stop, and a heart-craving stop for mangoes later – we had reached kumuli – Our journey into the Western Ghats had truly begun.

Kumuli – the sleepy little town plays host to thekkady - a beautiful little nature reserve that forms part of the Mullaperiyar dam and also plays host to the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary. We were to take a right to our gateway to the Western Ghats and our road to Munnar.

Our first break in the Ghats thankfully bore fruit as we chose to trace the tracks for our first rendezvous in the night. Cutting chaaiya, vada and sweet bun on the menu added to the fan fair.

Now Began our journey into the unknown – a road that led to a sedate soothing outgrowth soon gave way to a watch tower; a glimpse of the little town below that could have been theni for all we know and we were back to the roads treading our way back to Munnar and may be – on the way – hit the sacks before another exciting day out.

We soon hit upon a resort where we hogged as much as we could on a buffet menu replete with keralite and south Indian specialties and toasted the dinner with a special kheer and chocolate pudding dessert.

And all the while – the Rain gods chose to stay put in their alcoves drizzling a bit here n there but no significant monsoon shower had come upon us to scare the living daylights outta us.

Just when you thought that the day had been successful in terms of zero incidents; Paari and Balaji misread the median of a newly laid road completely and skidded down to a halt. Preliminary scrutiny revealed nothing serious had occurred and we were off in a flash to find a spot soon.

The event of the day however - irrefutably belonged to the mist that covered us pan 360 degrees whilst our ride down to Nedumkandam – near-zero visibility and no fog lights to help show the way further - Peter simply led the way as if he could see through almost anything in thin air.. Me right behind could make out nothing and the only thing left for me and Petra was to bang our heads with our head gear and laugh all our way out of the mist amidst eerie silence from the rest of the team.. Diwakar suddenly strode across in non chalant fashion reminding me of the importance of tailing Peter and he chose to lead the rest from Peter’s tail – A red light can be seen even in zero visibility and Diwa’s tail lamp was the shining armour at that moment.. I needed no further excuse but to follow RED ... we cleared the fog in minutes; me n Petra banged our head gears yet again to announce the successful arrival outta the mist.

As a CTCian, the rule of thumb when hitting the sack is to find a place in the open and be one with nature – in ‘it ... Our problem here was not that we could not find a place but to be invisible in the ambience that surrounded us, which you would have guessed by now, was near impossible with 11 bikes and a Verna to park their boot on. A school, a residence with a big front yard and church that offered to show the door to 25 mavericks – we finally hit the jack pot at yet another beautiful church with a big enough front porch – but the catch was that we leave the church premises at 6:45 as mass would start moments later and so it was that we slept early that nite and who would ever complain after such an eventful day.

I would – with Rumble in the Bronx competitor – Paari to my left and add a voice-over to the proceedings – Arun Gowda had taken his place in history – the man with the gift of gab would not even shut shop while sleeping and such was his panache that I had to wake up to see if he indeed was on the phone explaining how the trek went – “The trek was amazing – ahem ahem ... yeah yeah ... you should have been here” – at 2:30 in the morning – would you ever find such beautiful company in an otherwise peaceful and silent as a dead leaf wilderness – I forced myself to sleep and thankfully though – Paari this time roared back in delight at Arun’s comments – the music and the mayhem was too much to bear for me – and when the clock stuck 5:45, the tinker bell had raised its alarm in the jungle. The insect world came alive yet again and my sleep went off in a flash – I had to sit up and listen to the roars of Paari and the incongruent yet clear blabbers of Arun went unchecked by everyone else but me lying next to him.

So much so for a good night’s rest – not a trifle of a recollection from either of them only made me go mad on a beautiful misty morning. My canon chose to help me this time and I was only happy to get the group together and click a moment or two outta them.

A new day and a new partner – Nisha joined me for what I chose to be a great day for my Canon –Fight unto death option!!! And so it was – the tea estates and the lilting landscapes adjoining the forest reserves to choose from – devikulam was at our sights early morning and we chose tea over breakfast – an hours’ drive separated us from Munnar and we jauntily drove out to meet her highness in the hills of Munnar. Meanwhile a king fisher and a cormorant toasted our presence in a small jeel for company – we had reached the outskirts of Munnar when Peter chose to trek one of the hills adjoining Mahindra Resorts.

The trek bought bloom n sparkle into our tired legs – it was “breath – taking” indeed in every literal sense of the word – the climb steep enough to accentuate the proceedings – was worth every penny not spent on a puttu and aapam curry - How else would you dictate the terms of endearment when a couple of chai and biscuits would drive u up the hill – Peter delightfully called it the test of mental strength – and indeed it was – fun on the run as I call it – my canon for company delivered some of the best pics here – Arun as ‘kaaka kaaka’ – the police man – would sure agree with me.

The return was as eventful; with the local guide announcing the presence of a lake nearby and no water goes untouched by CTC – jumping jacks and hobbits took to the wild side of things and our sound was too much to keep the officials away. It was later known that the lake we jumped in was private property and it was a drinking supplement for the tourists visiting the resort.

Our return back to the machines was uneventful to say the least and soon we rode out yet again – this time with only one thing in mind – FOOD.. Munnar finally came to the rescue. A sumptuous lunch yet again with no limits of time this instant – we were full and ready to take on the Ghats yet again.

Our destination – Chalakudy – was misread and misdirected and we ended up touching the outskirts of Marayoor instead – a tranquil county that housed the forest reserves of chinnar and also home to the thoovanam water falls; which we could see from the point where we chose to decide on where we were to head next.

Although wanting to stay back in the Ghats section but without an iota of information on Marayoor and its rich environment – Nothing could have been done anyways and with the forest guard ruling out any chance of trekking to the thoovanam waterfalls alone by us – there was little chance of doing it without any consequences so to speak. After deliberations within the group, a decision was made to head to the Aazhiyar Dam – stay put for the night and head to Vaalparai early morning. We drove out into the night – half expectedly to catch a glimpse of any wild life but none really came to our aid.

A final stop for dinner about 45 kms from Aazhiyar; with our fill for the night complete – we rode into darkness of the night looking for a place to crash and rise early to begin the ascent to Vaalparai. As luck would have it and it’s a known pact anyways with the local community around udumalpet, hell bent on keeping strangers away to the maximum in the nights i.e. – there was little chance of us finding a safe shelter in the open. The Balaji lodge – the only one in the Aazhiyar County opened its doors with whatever space was left and we chose to hit the sack on the parking space for a cost whilst the ladies were given safe cover to rest within a room.

All our thoughts about meeting the Sun rise at the heights of Vaalparai were now nonexistent considering the time at which we crash landed in Vaalparai. My sleepless nights continued with me waking up to charge my camera batteries and for drinking water. I woke up yet again at 5:45 to welcome the insect world for yet another beautiful day and with the local chai wala up early helped every bit. A cuppa chai helped ease myself a bit and I soon was ready for the next day clean and comfy.

With plenty of time on our hands, some of us chose to ride down to the river to take a bath. Fresh water, curious locals and a pink fly made it a memorable outing and I was further enthused when a scarlet minivet / black bird which I still know not chose to pose for the camera for a very long time - a rewarding experience in the end.

The team finally ready for the ascent rode into the valley of now barren Monkey falls & attakatti waterfalls. Professor Ramya chose to ride with me and we were soon chatting away about our last trek experiences and life otherwise.

My last visit to Vaalparai was in 99-00 with my schoolmates whilst we also drove up n down the hill in a Yamaha RX 100 & all I could remember was the drive around the numerous hair pin bends and the Balaji temple. The roads were fresh and well laid and inviting nonetheless to put our machines to the test.

If you aint doing it – you aint riding it – and with no requiem to drive slow around the hills – I cautiously chose to drive the hills with a very little freedom that you seldom get from a pillion who would otherwise taunt you to choose a safe path rather than be sorry about it later. Ramya had no qualms about the drive otherwise and thankfully – I had found a great pillion for the day – no disrespect to any of the other members – mind you!!

But then – she gave me enough rope to play around – just enough to a point sometimes that I was actually having fun with my bike – a nonexistent synergy suddenly opened up in the vestibules of the numerous hair pin bends – Me and my little Honda Shine were now one soul in two different revved up modes – the zone , the moment , Nirvana – that very altar that very few seek it and so less achieve it was finally there for me to feel and live within – my bike was driving me into soulful bliss and here I was with one heck of a pillion having it all without remorse or guilt and yet whenever I chose to ask her how she felt – Am perfectly fine - came the answer.

Breakfast at Vaalparai was pretty much a local affair – dosas and chicken for some while the rest chose to happily gobble chutneys and sambar instead. At around 11 – we still had time to go around Vaalparai. Sholayar dam was the chosen destination – Some of our bikers lost track of the lead team and woefully fell back - Being the last of the group and having known the destination – it was decided that we join the team at any cost and not make our own way instead. The confusion did cost us time nonetheless – the group managed to stitch together and a tea break ensured we all had our minds set for the return to the native.

Peter thought differently and he chose to drive down the Ghats with 3 and then 4 pillions. It was a pretty sight alright with only the primates and I waiting for them to cross my Canon – and Ramya with her camera readied up for the challenge and we did end up winners in the end.

After a nice drive down the Ghats – would it be aright if you aint swim and chill in the Aazhiyar waters – we rode into the residence of a local and the dam waters was soon in sight. A quick dip and a cross over to a mound across the waters – we were all ready for a group click.

It was the return from the rock that taught me yet another lesson in swimming – No matter how half baked you could be as a swimmer – you are no better than a non swimmer when it comes to panic attacks and the moment when you think you are gonna drown; No amount of reading or practice of floating in the safe waters can help you when your brains decide to switch off everything else but the panic mode. I had fallen into the deep yet again without proper practice and this time there was no respite atleast for a few seconds when I could have drowned both Nisha and Maelle – two brave souls who chose to escort me safely back to the shores. The sleeping mat in my hands from Bastien laid my brains to rest and I could finally feel air filling my lungs yet again.

A moment of panic so uncalled for, which could have been duly avoided if I had chosen to put my brains to use rather than test its strength with impudence and ignorance in the deep waters - although happened in a spur of the moment – remains etched in my head for another day to erase it completely – the day when I shall swim across free as a fish would in any waters – and this to me – is the ultimate task at hand right now – Go Kill yourself swimming – but no more excuses about drowning another brave soul trying to save yours.

A few moments of rest to breathe easy and we were finally off to the target point – Coimbatore where we would board our bikes and bus back to Chennai.

Although – an indifferent end to the proceedings marked the last part to an otherwise brilliant biking trip – I soon had to shrug it off to ensure that we reached Coimbatore safe and sound on time. A group click on the way bought me back completely to the group’s content and we drove off comfortably to Coimbatore touching base just in time to load our bikes and board the bus to Chennai.

Looking back – there has never been a dull moment – Be it the pre – prep mode when emails were shot at almost every minute – to the first day drive across the valley – sleeping amongst T-rexed nosed snoring competitors and a somniloquist who blew my brains apart at 2:30 in the morning – to the sun kissed tea estates and the little birdies and homies who posed every bit for my canon – From a moment where I was in Elysium riding my new Honda Shine and to one where panic and blood gushed into my veins and arteries of almost every blood vessel in my head – the effect was pretty much similar – the only difference was that – whilst one moment - was calling for action to help save myself, whilst the other - was driving me nuts and I loved every moment of it.

There was nothing amiss from the whole trek and I can’t help but think – And with the Monsoons playing perfect hosts this time choosing not to wish us good bye in their alluring fashion - If, How would it be – If we had lost way yet again in the night on our way to Aazhiyar?

Until our next biking trip when we chase the Athirampalli waterfalls – Dream on folks and think of the various adventures we could have really had by taking the road not taken!!! Only to meet another large one and who knows where we would have gone from there on!!!

The Picnic - Nagalapuram, Andhra Pradesh

2009-05-19T03:15:00.015+05:30

The Picnic on Election Day - Nagalapuram - N21

It was the darkest hour in Chennai and our brightest moment yet in the day; the city was coming to a close and winding up in anticipation of the elections the next day but for the 20 odd CTCians out – the city would have felt the heat for nearly four hours while we drove our way out to the wilderness of Nagala yet again – in the name of chilling out in the dead end pool that had offered so little a chance to open up our tensed and barb wired heads to chill in the crystal clear waters when needed.

Erstwhile, I was still on de-tox mode savouring every moment of the weekend trek and recovering from a very bad cramp when we were summoned to take on yet another journey – and would you ever say no – even if my leg needed amputation – I would not have thought twice to be there AGAIN...

There was however a little surprise in the package – in the name of Anjali – a live wire of a darling she was – she bought back memories of yet another kiddo in my life – my friend - Divya’s daughter Tanvi – whilst Tanvi would go about asking you question after question – “What it is” – Anjali had no airs about her when it came to be doing exactly what had to be done in the picnic..

The pics are ample proof of what she is capable of ey ... Achtung Baby!! We have another younger breed of CTCians in the making...

We began our journey from Nathan’s Cafe yet again – traffic was minimal – picked Naresh at Koyambedu and our cars uncharacteristically chugged along the NH4 and in a couple of hours time we had touched base at the check dam – Food and other essentials were split in a jiffy and soon we were on fire power mode heading east into the Nagala mountain ranges.

Yet another 36 hour marathon work day luckily did nothing as the weather had chilled down quite a bit. 30 – 40 mins later, with guru on the lead, we had reached our target for the night – camp fire and Uno was on in full swing while I chose to crash land in one of the nearby rocks – in memoir of the flowing waters nearby hoping to repeat the heavenly “second by second” experience of the birth of a new day during Nagala 20.My physical self however desperately wanted to rest and so it was that I slept intermittently yet again watching the moon rise to glory and somewhere in the middle lost my senses completely to darkness and left the Sun alone to lit up the day.

With sleep still pushing me for more early morning, I chose to have enough of it and join the rest for a good cup of chai and breakfast. Paari chose to crack his head slipping from a safe height into the waters while jumping and there was a minor break in the proceedings while we dressed him up for safety. Sunita’s masala added further pep to our ginger black tea with whitener and soon we were all hale n happy for a walk in the woods.

And all the while, the kiddo was not to be seen and her presence was soon felt when we took to the shades for a break. Viki’s ‘candid’ subject was undercover for a long time and neither did I get a good chance of a perfect frame of the kiddo in motion. Finally, it was time for us to take over the safety of the little princess and she was only too happy to oblige and walk along side by side and with equal vigour & enthusiasm

The rest of the team had already reached the pool – the party had begun, jumping jacks took over the pool in a splash, the weekend trekkers were on in full swing having their share of the water alongside peter whilst Naresh, Nisha and Guru chose to rise higher in the cliff wanting more of the dive and the depths that they could fathom from the inside.

The tyre tube was soon put in action for the little princess and off she went with Guru n Akhi as aide de camp. Her Highness had climbed the rocks while we were busy framing every other jack out there.

Guru suddenly erupted from nowhere – Hari, Hari!!! And there she was – ready for the jump with Peter – in a non chalant, simple, dive like much ado about nothing typos and she was off, splash, and thud!!!; moments later emerged yet again on the cliff - this time with Akhi and Peter by her side. I would have hardly imagined doing anything like this and it still gives me jitters climbing dizzy heights for a jump – an awesome kiddo for sure!!!

It was soon play time as a group in the water – teams split – a game of throw ball slowly changed gears to more like a water polo match – but strictly no rules applied first – you could hit the wall even at 10 feet height and adjudge that as a goal – such was the camaraderie out there that what you did out there was of no consequence in the end.. Fun is what we wanted at any costs.. And from nowhere team spirits took a grip on the proceedings – rules came into place..And what good are rules for CTCians when it comes to fun.. Peter went underwater pulling anybody down having a go at his goal post and Akhi and Bala were safely routed to the floor of the pool knee deep to get a good hold on the ball and ensure they hit the goal.

Amidst cries of foul and dirty tricks, the game was on in full momentum for about 30 mins or so when hunger pangs struck. Sunita quickly took centre stage – served some awesome soup n noodles to kill the hunger. And like a ticker, everybody hit the sack for a quick nap before a final rap up for the evening in the waters.

Lord Varuna had other plans though – what started as a flutter first started blowing our mats away and then the rains poured like a power-hose opened up from the top. We soon jumped into the dead end pool for warmth and comfort and the winds blew yet again like we were caught in a wind tunnel of some kind.. i had to rush to get the mats back in place on our back packs – meanwhile Balaji and angel chose to stay put in a sleeping mat in a coy n comfortable fashion .. After having set the mats in place ... i suddenly felt the rains had got harder - faster and they were thoroughly giving me a massage on my shoulders and the back.. Little did i realise that it was ice flakes from the top hitting me from all directions and until thence, some of us wouldn’t believe that we were caught in a hailstorm.

Birmingham had given me a glimpse of what hailstorms could be like but this one was in an altogether different dimension. Rains alternating with winds speeding like they had only one purpose to solve if you know what i mean – and the hail at the end of it ..

We finally chose to stay under the rain shadow region of the cliff and i had the little angel in my sights. The YUP and NOPE came in a flash before questions were complete and she finally settled into a rhythm of sorts.. alternating between singing , chatting and playing with the water .. the cold in the wind was slowly getting to us and the kiddo was no different either ..

she found the water too cosy to come outta it and somewhere in the midst hit upon my neck strings ... HANUMAN .. she beamed ..

Me : Who is Hanuman

Anjali : Monkey God

Me: why is he called Monkey God

Anjali : cos he looks like a monkey

Me : Who was he with !!

Anjali : Ram

Me: And what was Ram doing !!

Anjali : he was trying to save Seetha ..

Me : Who is Seetha

Anjali: Ram’s best friend and they broke up .. Ram wants her back .. Hanuman is helping him get her ..

I had to hold all my splits in the tongue - hold onto my laughter but hey .. she kinda gave the crux of the story if you can actually read between the lines .. the break up only meant somebody could have taken her away – and hanuman indeed was trying to help ram .. To me though, this was the best part of my day ... having a kid in your hands and let her do all the talking – be herself – is an amazing - amazing experience.. never mind the discrepancies in history and the mythology – i mean how many us really knew the story so well at that age ey !!

And all this time the rains came down from afar without a moments break – peter and guru who chose to climb the cliff after lunch emerged from under the water next to us – our thoughts finally turned to hot mozhagaa bajji and masala tea served right there with the rains showing no signs of letting up. An hour n a half utmost later – the rains did give way and we had our chance yet to play throw ball for some time ..

Flash floods are a norm with rains like this and little did we realise that it could get precariously close to being a hazard on the walk back to the base camp. The water levels slowly rose in the dead end pool and it was only when it reached our back packs that we saw the danger in it .. we quickly summoned the team and chose to return immediately. The water levels by then had risen to perilous levels and we now had a new friend for company amidst us – FEAR ..

What you value exactly shows up at the most endearing of times and the flooding was hardly anything close to it but yet – here we were as a pack of civilians without realisation of the complete potential of what flash floods are capable of, probably waited it out - just enough to help ourselves into another D.O.A type situation. Luckily though, we chose to return the moment we sensed danger and water – the elixir of life – was ominously flowing ever so proud of her strength and gaining more of it every second.

Our first crossing was important and we had to make it out clean as that would stamp the right frame in all our heads until we touched base.. Which we successfully did and all the way in the return did we see water rise in levels that we could have only imagined during monsoons. Red ants and Sunita were a cosy twosome for some time to come.

Whilst in our previous treks – we were devoid of clean water and the sun beating down on us tested our thoughts of invincibility and endurance to splits – this was a different situation altogether considering that we were out there to picnic and not trek our way out of an adventure hardly thought to be possible during this time of the year. Therefore the added sense of déjà vu of an unassuming quantum of danger that could crop up from nowhere; the trail was now immersed in water . Peter and Naresh chose to jump into the water to find a way out and we successfully trekked our way out to safety.

To me though, there was this one moment, when a madness of a different kind hit me, it showed me what i did value at that moment – it was a crossing from one point to another and water was flowing at a good enough speed to pull you down with it if you did slip whilst jumping from one end to the other. I could have drowned myself in the afternoon trying to swim a long stretch holding my breath when all were having lunch... but that did not deter me really – but now - a meter of a crossing – what would have been easily cleared by taking a stride forward held me back for a moment that stretched like a dark hole in space sucking all my thoughts and leaving nothing but fear in me ... fear not for life but for my Canon EOS 400 D and the telephoto lens that i so adore these days ... I knew then what i had to come to love during the treks .. And that am not gonna give up on my "precious" for nothing on this earth. And at that very moment - just like Da Vinci’s painting – Peter’s outstretched hand broke my pattern of thoughts and i hopped onto safety.

It might sound too shallow and cliché but hey.. Try and get this straight – if you did love something in the first place – what would you do to make sure it stays with you even in the darkest hour – and more so if it means to put your life at risk ... not an easy question to answer in’it - mind you and may be – just may be – some of you would have thought a step or two more than i did and i hope you were only happy to steer clear of the danger and tread to safety back home.

Night trekking was back again as a standard operating procedure at Nagala these days and we had to step into knee deep water again n again n again during the walk back to base camp. With the check dam in site, we were only too happy to hum our favourite numbers in celebration of a safe return to a jungle of a different kind.

The Picnic am sure was fun for everyone of us until the very end when some of us felt that a tinge of adventure could make this complete.. The rains did exactly that – showed the raw power of nature even in the minimalistic levels could have hampered a perfectly fine picnic.

Add to that – deterred us from taking any further steps for the next picnic i.e – and if that’s what you thought ey – i suggest you put your boots back on and start jogging away from CTC right away cos it aint gonna be like that any which ways we see it.

We love the adventure as we see it fit and the spirit of being a human – be it our little Anjali or our very own trekking machine - Peter for that matter revel in the test of endurance and putting our strength of mind and body to test to its very end. And we aint gonna stop for nothing cos in it lies the true value of what we are made of – try us once and you will never wanna go back home - Aint I right Pallavi n Divya!!!

http://picasaweb.google.co.in/harikbalasundaram/ThePicnicOnElectionDay#

Nagalapuram - N20 - Andhra Pradesh, India

2009-05-15T04:39:00.017+05:30

Nagalapuram 20 - 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!!!

Venkateswara Reserve Forest - Mamandooru, Andhra Pradesh, India

2009-04-08T00:37:00.001+05:30

Venkateswara Reserve Forest - V9 - April 2009

Of the pool, by the stream; the 90 ft gorge and the ravines that house the beautiful little water fall; and of course our very own 30 ft diving pool that every CTCian swimmer & non swimmers alike would love to dive deep into the crystal clear waters – add to that, a toast of elephants letting you run loose in the wild just by the sheer presence of them in the vicinity. With just amounts of fun and an equally adrenaline pumping dose of elephant attack from nowhere and garnish that with enough number of CTCians to scare all other wild ones away, We have a perfect cocktail of a weekend in the Venkateswara Reserve forest...

Such is the history of the forest reserve and with all the hype and hoopla that surrounds it, the Sun Gods inadvertently decided in their usual inimitable style to play their part to keep us away from what was justifiably deserved at the end of a 12 km scorching marathon to the beautifully carved deep gorges – water – the elixir of life – finally was available just enough to quench our thirst and a dip to chill ourselves.

To begin the proceedings though, we had nonchalant participants declining in the last minute after a week long effort to ensure food and safety for everyone; and with one bike to follow 7 cars – we set off at a frenetic pace to ensure that we enter the forests before the ‘Sundance’ starts. Almost predictably though – the bike punctured and was left in the shelters of Renigunta and we were now left with 7 cars to catch up with the heat that will soon set foot on the horizon.

We started exactly at noon and no points for guessing this one – Andhra Pradesh is the darling of the Sun and our tete-a-tete with the Sun Gods had begun. While some of us were on a back to back trek – afresh with memories of Kolli 3 – the experienced CTCians formed the core of the party – with Ravi, the forest guide forewarning us of possible elephant activity around our trail, the group moved cautiously in the parched woods and river bed full of pebbles and stones beaten and smoothened further by weathering; expectedly though, the group had more pit stops than the amount of time spent walking towards the destination.

Our first big stop – the 30 ft deep pool – now looked like a trench of algae infested green pit with traces of clean water. A cool dip – a quick brunch – and minutes later, the group set on the march again – only this time to stop by another fresh water trail – with butterflies to add colour to the party; this time our stop was a little longer as most of us finished our lunch; a couple of hours n a half later – with minor stops to ensure that none left the trail, we had reached the gorges of the reserve forest;

We took to shelter within the gorge, whilst some took to the trail further to the water fall, some of us contented with chilling out in the left over pools. Soup and Maggi were served sumptuously – thanks to prabhu & Ganesh, and more importantly – there was plenty for everyone cos of the drop outs. The moon struck 8:30 and I was off in the most unusual of fashion – dozing off into Elysium, and did not wake up until 6:30 in the morning. Paari & a handful of others kept the rest occupied with wild roars of laughter until 11 and then there was the usual sync of sleep orchestrated symphony in perfect harmony DTS Ver. 5.1 – And Oh! In lame terms – we refer to that as ‘snoring’ mate!!!

Day 2 began early and we were off to a very energetic start – a couple of breaks and a stopover before the final lap cos of a leopard crossing our path – we were back in the cuddle of civilisation post noon. To me though – this trek was a reminder of many things –

That no matter what we do, it’s the people that we are with who define the outcome irrespective of our choices sometimes... Mrs. Usha at 55, in that respect to me is clearly THE HERO of the trek, for having taught us a lesson or two about strength from the inside... when the younger ones complained about being pushed to the limits & so on and so forth, She with all her courage and strength made it to the destination, took a dip in the pool and walked back the next day with equal vigour in double quick time even though she needed help with her knees...

This in essence defines a CTCian – what passion cannot do to you just cannot be done with another thousand minds working for you overtime when you are just NOT into it... the zeal, the energy and the strength to be what truly deserves to be called a CTCian comes from the inside and no matter what – nothing can bring you this aura and passion of travel, of being amongst people and becoming one of them.

Although oft repeated – Ranjith, Samyak & Lilford did one hell of a sweep job – we all know how important this is and never mind the oddities and the idiosyncrasies of the ignorant lot – you guys truly deserve a badge of honour.

This camping of a trek would not have been fun if not for Balaji and his ‘dostana’ escapades with almost everyone in the group – Samyak and his truly mellifluous numbers on and off the trail – braghadeesh & his flute – waseem and sriram for bringing alive how tollywood pics are made when they discovered that they were neighbourhood pals from adjacent street and got lost in time – Lilford for falling in love with my Canon EOS and effortlessly exploring the aspects of photography – Libu, Bala n Co for a super smooth camp fire and me finally coming to grips with free speech and freedom of choice by adopting a sister in Vinodha - and of course Paari with this so so cool attitude, settling off accounts in a jiffy...

This summer holds the key to the test of endurance and am more than happy to be a part it and no second thoughts mate – when it comes to CTC ... All hail Trekking & Travel!!!!

Kolli Hills, Salem, India

2009-04-01T00:58:00.001+05:30

Kolli Hills, Salem, India - March 2009

Diego Maradona, Anil Kumble, Nadia Comaneci , the number TEN – Do these names spell magic and revere to you. So does Kolli Hills in my books.

Turn Back The Time - the year 1999 when about a handful of souls from BIM took a deviant turn into this unknown tranquil little country side via Mettur, the rest remains etched in history – be it the steep climb down the 1 – 2 foot rock cut steps and for that matter – the water levels would never let you closer to the water fall – from exhaustion to ecstasy to exhaustion & relief – all rolled in a little carnage of a trek that was befittingly close to the end of our student life – what a trek
that was!!!

Kolli 3 therefore was a return to the good old savage self wanting nothing but being in tune with nature and that could only mean that the toughest and the fittest could survive and so it was.

The camaraderie in any CTC trek is a given and take nothing away from this fact cos therein lies the true spirit of a CTCian. The opening notes at the Central Station in Chennai were the usual normal self greeting fellow pals until some chose to take the wrong train in their own hands and guess what – two jumped out when the wrong train was just zipping outta the station and the rest were stuck until Arakonam to join us.

One can only imagine what the ticket checkers would have thrown at the rest until Arakonam and any thoughts of things heading in misdirection were finally laid to rest at Arakonam.

Come Salem – and we were joined by the rest of the lot – Palani, the speed racer drove a wild country race with himself to reach Salem in time, bags were loaded atop the vans and we were finally off to the jungles of Kolli.
We were to take a different trekking route this time and that meant extra fun cos of the surprise factor. The vans would drop us at the foothills and we were to climb about 1000 metres to reach the top of the hill from where we would drive out to the base camp – Atop Aakasha Ganga water falls;

Peter played sheet anchor ably supported by Viki, Kartik, Bhagath and one hell of a sweeper in Bhaskar and a whole host of the experienced lot playing their tunes well did help us start the trek aplomb in typical CTC fashion. The Sun God however had different ideas – the soaring heat and dehydration that followed soon sapped our energy to the maximum; It is here that we tend to live our survival test to the fullest although there were helping hands at large – the mind plays over your body and pretty soon – you are a spent one mentally and physically;

The ascent to the peak therefore was never going to be easy – the fitness levels comes to the fore and to me – it was a serious wakeup call as my stamina had touched abysmal levels this time around and I was soon left to rot with a weakening left knee and ankle, but the fun part was to drive a woefully energy sapped lot to the top and to their credit, none of them beat me to death for what I was trying to do would have otherwise been close to insanity in the concrete jungle.

Water was the final selling proposition to reach the top. If ever there is any reason to write off water, you better give way cos there is nothing to beat a parched one’s throat – Water is indeed the elixir of Life. Ranjith & Palani frequently ran down to replenish water stocks whilst Peter effortlessly drove down every now n then to check on the movement of the herd.
It was about 6 PM when we finally reached base camp and the group finally gobbled up whatever they could find at the potti kadai next to the temple. We will hit base at the chatram of the temple for a much needed rest later that nite.

The group split here – few of us choosing not to go down the steps for a dip in the cool waters of the Aakasha Ganga falls in a starry night while we would hit a smaller water fall to chill and massage our worn out self.

Then came the surprise package for the nite; we were to camp out in the forest with a fire to warm ourselves instead of the chatram. I soon hit the sack without a blanket and was woefully woken up by cold and frosty winds at about 2:30 AM – the welcome reception was attended by a zillion stars beautifully laced in the sky and what a sight it was. Unable to withhold the frost any longer, I soon moved to the chatram, thankfully though – I was helped with a blanket this time and slept peacefully thereafter.

My knees and ankle were nursed to partial health ala volini spray. The morning session would be a descent to the caves that was discovered in Kolli 2 amidst scenic getaways and lots of water for fun. I had to play down my fears and therefore chose to cautiously tread down the beaten track alongside Bhaskar who chose to stick with me and ensure I reach the waters safely.

The wow factor finally kicked in and my EOS buzzed with excitement at the sight of 76 delightful souls choosing to bring out the child in them. It was ecstasy finally after a day of being baked in the sun and it did add to the WOW factor. Food and fun brought all the energy and spirits back into me and while the rest chose to explore further – I chose to remain amidst tested waters and keep my EOS buzzing with the rest of the souls.

Amidst all this fun and frolic, Sujai and two other poor souls lost their way in the middle and went about trekking for more than 3 hours in the ruins of the jungle until they finally managed to catch up with the rest of the team.

I chose to leave early with a few others not wanting to be a liability myself at a critical juncture. Surprisingly though, the trek back to the base camp was easier and less painful – oh n add to that – the visit to the Aakasha Ganga falls bought back good old memories – the rock we sat on for lunch and the view point to name a few places.
The climb up the concrete steps to the base camp was uncharacteristically boring to say the least but hey – we all made it to the top in good time and I guess that matters most.

A quick shower in the smaller water fall near the temple and a quick fire lunch to keep our energy going – we were finally starting to leave from Kolli – the hills of sages and mystical aura would never be the same in my mind again.To sum up – Kolli 3 was an extension of what I had missed 10 years ago and it had all the ingredients of completing a perfect 10 – or should I say – a complete cocktail of a bollywod movie replete with comedy, emotions and adventure – oh! and a perfectly happy ending

Kolli did teach me a few important lessons though; First of all – what you do at the Gym or the swimming pool matters little when it comes to the jungle and the Sun - What matters here is a big heart and a head strong enough to break stones with a single hit are simply a given when it comes to difficult trekking situations and to CTC’s credit – the undying passion in every individual has been an omniscient reason for the success of every trek – not to take anything away from the organisers mind you – but then - you gotta do what you gotta do when it matters most and we did at the end.
Any trek, be it simple or a DOA, the critical parameter is for everyone to understand the seriousness that also comes with the fun of being part of Mother Nature and the jungles in India. Seriousness not just in terms of the safety of self and fellow CTCians but also act responsibly with Mother Nature;

And to me, CTC simply comes up trumps in both these cases, and if there is a better way to say it – “Nature's loving proxy, the watching mother” and as you may know it now yourself –

Let us play proxy Mother to the most endearing and heartening, second to none Mother of all – Our Good Old Mother Earth.

Nagalapuram - N12 , Andhra Pradesh, India -

2009-02-18T23:23:00.002+05:30

Nagalapuram, Andhra Pradesh, India - Feb 2009

“To be is to do” said Kant and I say – life is not just doing it but living it in the real sense of the word and what better way can it be when you team up with total strangers – a totally incoherent lot when it comes to defining boundaries on differences yet united for one common reason – Being one with Mother Nature and doing it the right way – all in the name of fun and adventure that is so so missed in the concrete jungle.

And what a trek it turned out to be in the end – the descent session, post-lunch, am sure will ROCK all the first timer’s minds for a lifetime to come.

The Valentine weekend could have been a simple dine n date routine to most of the placid lot but it wasn’t meant to be so for the Chennai trekkers. Having missed the Tirumala trek, the photography session and the beach cleaning one – I was desperately looking forward to this one and finally made it too;

We started from Koyambedu at about 5ish after the morning routine of picking people up at various points. A cuppa tea at periyapalayam and about an hour later, we reached the base of the foothills. After receiving instructions from the organisers and getting a glimpse of everyone, we started off in earnest to check out on what was store for us.

From the moment’s blink of an eye with a glimpse of the silent valley and the hills that lay ahead of us, it began from nowhere and started to grow on us and wouldn’t stop until we touched base at our first rendezvous’ point. A dip in the ice cold waters and gobbling a couple of idlis finally bought my mind back to rest from the heights of excitement it truly deserved for a very long time to come. And if I thought this was it – there was more in store.

The climb up the hill was an unusual affair for most of us techie-zombies and it sure was a test in the first place. Nothing really mattered when it came to reaching the heights as long as there were helping hands when ever in need and this kinda set the tone for the entire shape of things to come culminating in a grand finale of sorts.
Attitude seeks altitude and so it was – an extraordinary teamwork and with one hell of a sweeper in Balaji to push everyone when in need, ensured that we reached the peak and the drop zone in time. A good lunch and a moment’s rest later, we were on our way back to climbing a 15 deg drop [ if am not wrong ] although just a few feet up, only a few would have been through it until thence.

Amidst from nowhere - came the boulder spiralling downwards and a few seconds later missing Paari by a few inches, thudded in the waters like a meteor. This was enough to put our thoughts of invincibility to test and we did come up trumps in the end.. Thanks once again to a phenomenal team driven by a very thoughtful young brigade; the whole team made it safely up the hill – a momentary scare soon gave way to a scintillating view of the valley helping us loosen up a bit and trek down to the safety of our own civilised-savage world.

I would never have made it to the trek if not for a beer and a bellied mate who kind of questioned the logic of travel and the madness that comes from being alone while travelling, courtesy – the movie – “Into the Wild”. The Hindu fittingly came with a reply n voila – it was the Chennai Trekking Club.

After a few misses and finally making it through a successful trek, I can safely vouch that a traveller no matter what can never be alone for a moment when the whole world shines upon himself and even better – when you have a group like the CTC – It can only get better ..

Kudos to the organisers and the team for having shared a great valentine week with each other.. Moving on – I can’t wait until the next time I get to close the gap with the rest of the team. Until then – Let me dream on – Rocky Mountain High...!!!

2007-02-13T16:28:00.000+05:30

Tiger Trails -Part 1 - Images of Bandavgarh

This was shot during the second morning of our rendezvous with the Tigers at Bandavgarh . Olympus Digital C 750 at work - shot taken on the move ...

Our first sighting in three days
Rajvanshi Female - From the Elephant top ...

2006-10-31T13:32:00.000+05:30

Tiger Trails - Part 1 - Bandavagarh

Target destinations
Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh
Jim Corbett National Park, Uttaranchal
Ranthambore Tiger Reserve, Rajasthan
Bharatpur National Bird Park, Rajasthan
Kanha National Park, Madhya Pradesh

Mode of travel – by road – Honda City Vtec [old version]
Total kms covered – approximately 8000 kms
Days of Travel – March 1st to March 17th - 18 days

The world in the eyes of an entrepreneur never comes to a stand still. The limits to his search for orderliness are directly accentuated by the eccentricity of chaos he experiences on a day-to-day basis. Until the day, He only wished – that life could come to a complete standstill – and the world at large be oblivious of his presence.

And if you wished this happened to every entrepreneur ONLY once in a lifetime – Think Again!!!

To break free of such a clutch is never easy. Luckily – this trip happened in March, the financial year-end for most organisations and everybody was on a cost cutting spree. NO business meant extra fun for a team that only wished to forget for once - the logic of why the earth revolves on its own axis and not in the hands of the great Gods. Our ONLY wish to be lost in the jungle was finally taking shape …

Arun [my business partner & creative head] and me were to drive down to Bangalore from Chennai earlier that weekend to make the final preparations for our tour de Tiger. Our chariot - the Honda City - went through its final tweak to take us on a humdinger of a drive. This was our first cross country special and we were to cover 4 tiger reserves and a Bird Park, thanx to Arun n Divya [our classmate from BIM, Trichy] ornithologists to the core. As for Dinesh [Divya’s hubby] and me, the enchanting and awesome Tigers were our mainstay – any other cats were always welcome to the Party.

The plan was to first head to Bandhavgarh for a little rendezvous with his highness and then head to the highest & largest of the Tiger reserves in the country – Jim Corbett National Park; from there on head to Bharatpur National Park – The grandest of all bird parks in India as it also houses the highest number of migratory birds known to visit India. From thereon head to the jungles that resemble the savannas of Africa – Ranthambore Tiger Reserve and return home via Kanha National Park.

Our journey would eventually start from Banglore to Umaria via Hyderabad for food and refreshment and then drive nonstop into the night through Adilabad and reach Nagpur early morning. From there on – drive via the picturesque Vindhya Range of Madhya Pradesh through Jabalpur to a cosy little town called Umaria – the last known railway station before you head into the wilderness.

A marathon 24-hour non-stop drive ensured that we reached the park just in time for an evening tete’ a tete’ with the Royal Highness. Resorts are aplenty within the park and they conveniently organise jeep & elephant rides at a cost.

From Rudyard Kipling to Anderson – stories are aplenty on sher khan and his treatise with the human folklore. Reading can never make a complete man until you have experienced it all - And our circle of experience was finally heading towards its grand climax - a one to one with the royal highness.

The jungles of Bandhavgarh form part of the Vindhya Hills and it consists of a core area of 105 sq km and a buffer area of approximately 400 sq km of topography varies between steep ridges, undulating, forest and open meadows. At the center of the park is the Bandhavgarh hill, rising 811 meters above sea level and surrounding the hills are valleys that end in small sloping meadows called ‘boheras’.

IF only you could trek into the jungles of Bandhavgarh, the difference could be so obvious; You are offered no such luxury and the 4 wheel driven Maruti gypsies hum along reminding you of the concrete civilisation amidst the hosts of the welcome group in the jungle - the rose ringed parakeets, the mynas and koyals; not to forget the babblers – who I believe are just there to wake you up from a dream you would have just entered into. So much so, you wanna shoot them dead right there!!!

Morning or evening, the park basks in the glory of the sun and the forests are replete with Sal trees. Dense thickets adjoin the little streams of water that flows through the valley; grasslands, hilly terrains & rugged pathways seamlessly entwine within themselves; you could almost sense the synergy within the elements of the forests. Red wattled lapwings receive you joyfully when you enter the park; these guys are much like road runners and prefer to nest on the grounds and I bet you cant stop smiling at the way they walk n run around trying to protect their eggs. The red wattled lapwing soon became my favourite bird.

Bandhavgarh is famous for its tiger population; the density per sq. km is the highest known in India. Those of you following the National Geographic and the BBC would have definitely seen the episode on Sita, the empress of the hills of Bandhavgarh. Such was the reputation of this reserve and we were highly charged to catch up with them in our first safari. Prepared or an unprepared mind – fortune never favoured us and we were on an unscrupulous search for two days and every time we returned from the park- we had foreigners gleefully counting the number of sightings they had that day.. Our patience was running out and Bandhavgarh’s reputation came under scrutiny, until the last day; when our ranger drove us closer to a small canal nearby. An elephant ride was under way; the mahout from kerala is a famous guy here and he had finally spotted the elusive cat.

Elephant rides are slower than normal but they take you to the best spots for a one on one with the cat. Elephants given their size are astonishingly agile through the forests. They can reach the most impossible terrains where 4 wheelers can’t and it’s this mobility that helped us get closer to our first sighting in three days – A pregnant female

Believe me when I say this – Nothing; Just nothing can prepare you for the sight that beholds you in his presence- Her Royal Highness. It’s that moment when you are in the zone – when nothing surpasses between you and her highness; a moment that stretches beyond the realms of history and time, so much so that you actually want to be there for the rest of your life.

Time waits for none and so was the mahout; our trip to Bandhavgarh finally was a success. A pregnant female is a happy sighting indeed. To think of what remains to be seen whilst our return a year later brought to our minds a lot to cheer about. Tigers indeed are the king of the food chain in the jungles. Without them, there would be no forest cover left to cherish.

A shower, a good meal & a refreshing nap through the night later – we were finally ready to game for the next long drive to the highest and the biggest reserves of all – The Jim Corbett National Park

To be continued…

2006-10-31T13:28:00.000+05:30

KULTI & NATHULA PASS

If you are in the service Industry , Be it Advertising or Immigration- Understanding the nature of work is one; your soft skills should to be in the right place to keep your clients happy. Imagine managing both at the same time and you know what I am into everyday. Obviously , running between two firms did wear me out quite a bit and it was about time to take a break when a good friend of ours invited us to his family function in West Bengal.

I have never travelled to the North East and here was a chance waiting in the wings, being an ardent admirer of the Himalayan jungles & the visual spectacle it had to offer - I quickly lapped it up

Our flight to Calcutta was a mundane affair. But the city is a feast really- my impressions about Calcutta was that of a dark - dying breed with inmates who still are nostalgic & wouldn’t let anything change. What unfolded was completely different - the city simply had its old charms and seems to have seamlessly blended with the new one with panache. New constructions all over the place and hoardings of deepalika padukone adorned the imperious skyline.

What you cannot take is the humidity - even at 8 in the evening.

We were to take a train to aasonsol about 4.5 hours from the city; Indian train journeys are never easy if you are travelling without a confirmed ticket. The dhoon express with its usual heavy load uncharacteristically chugged along. Being an Indian and feeling completely alien in your own country is not new to me - the language just added to the fan fair.

An hour later - A 50-rupee note to the TT confirmed our seats and we reached aasonsol in the midnight. Our next two days were spent in kulti - a little known town close to aasonsol - this place bridged the states - West Bengal & the newly formed Jharkand [erstwhile bihar].

It is said that the British built the first steel factory of India here [little wonder cos the states bordering kulti are rich in minerals, add to that - a very favourable climate to suit the British niceties]. What remains today speaks so much about socialism and its jest for equality. The factory is a ghost town and is now being encroached by people of all walks of life; the government’s efforts to change anything but this would be a welcome sight…

Kulti is also home to the Maithon Dam – India’s first multi purpose dam built by Nehru. Bengal’s sorrow was indeed tamed by this mighty reservoir. The dam was built in 1958 and is 15,712 ft long and 165 ft. high. Built over a period of 8 years, this dam is the first of its kind to house an underground Hydel power generator. The Hydel power generator is housed about 100 feet below the ground level and water is piped, 80 ft from the surface to rotate the armatures. The power generator is an awesome sight to behold – three armatures generate about 60000 MW every day; the safety measures are world class with each and every detail being attended to – you gotta see it to believe it! The Maithon dam today stands as a fantastic model of Nehru’s vision of a self-sufficient India

From Kulti, we took a 12 hour-long road journey to Siliguri, the last point from where you could either head to Darjeeling or Gangtok; You could either hire a taxi / or hop along half a dozen enthusiasts in a Sumo / Qualis to be driven to either of these destinations.

Our drive to reach Gangtok was nothing short of breathtaking. The Teesta River – a paradise for river rafters curled her way amongst the beautiful Himalayan mountains, intermittent showers gave way to a fresh aroma of the flora that encircled us and the higher we went – Mother Nature covered herself with her never ending white veil – I could only hold my breath and wait for our forthcoming encounter with the Himalayan ensemble cast.

We reached Gangtok in 4.5 hours, the city is well maintained given its geography- – food and water are easily available and you could find a comfortable place to rest from 600 – 1000 Rs, depending on your needs. Our next day began at 7 in the morning - destination – the famous nathula pass via Changu Lake

Yup, if you think you’ve heard it on the news channels – you’re spot on. The Nathula Pass was recently opened to facilitate trade between India & China. Situated at an altitude 0f approximately 14,900 feet, the nathula pass was traditionally used by traders from India and Tibet.

Our expectations to reach the pass in style were soon grounded – First the rains and then the white misty veil just covered everything from our sight. Our first stop at Changu Lake bought us some respite from the icy showers and the mist. You could rent winter jackets for as little as 20 Rs. here and return them on your way back.

Nathula pass until July 16th has been under dispute for the last 44 years between India & china. The pass is open to tourists on specific days only and is heavily guarded by the Border security force. At –2 degrees and icy cold winds and rain, I am forced to think about the rationale of fighting for such an inhospitable place, whatever the reasons – I could only complain to mother nature about her unpredictable self. Our trip to the Nathula Pass could have so much enjoyable if only She had given way a bit. On my way back, I just wished if the next day could be a little better.

Day 2 – Local Sight Seeing
Gangtok is truly a mix of two ancient civilizations and it was indeed ruled by a monarch before it became a part of India.The Tibetan museum offers a rich perspective about the religion and culture prevalent during ancient times.A flower and crafts exhibition run by the Government offers very little scope to relish the true spectacle of the Himalayan flora.

The unpredictable nature of the weather could only add to our worries as our mobiles kept buzzing every other minute. Frantic clients wanting us back did not help the cause either. Our real experience was waiting to unfold on our way back The Rumtek Monastery – abode of the Buddha is a spectacle to behold. Numerous Buddhist monks court the lord in his blissful state as they keep chanting the mantras. The Rumtek monastery is also known to be as one of the Dharma Chakra centre and envisions spreading the teachings of Lord Buddha to the world. This was the only place where Mother Nature played a true host to us.

Our return trip to Siliguri saw the worst rains ever, Visibility was reduced to almost a few metres – the downpour wouldn’t stop until we reached the foothills. Thanx to the heavy downpours, River Teesta was in spate and it was a scary sight indeed. Flash floods am told are very common in this part of the world and the people living here have to come to accept mother nature’s unpredictable behaviour. Nehru’s vision could be seen bearing fruit here, River teesta was indeed being tamed to generate Hydel power and work was on full swing come rain or shine.

Thanx to our never - say - die customers – we had to unwillingly advance our plans to get back to work. On my way back home – A silent recollection of the events that unfolded the last two days was never fulfilling.

Some how, I had missed the fantastic and the breathtaking view of Mount Kanchandzonga [am told it can be seen even from the city]. The river rafting experience was sorely missed and so was the 2-day trek to the foothills of the world’s third highest mountain.

The only bird I saw was the yellow-breasted Green finch in its plumage. A tete-a- tete with a jackal on our way back home was the only fauna I could recollect.

DO NOT visit the Himalayas during the monsoon season. It’s a complete waste of time considering the beauty and experience you’re gonna miss at the end of the day. The best time to visit is between January and March when the peaks are snow covered and view is crystal clear.

Guys – Never ever carry your mobile if on a vacation. Its such a pain to have a client call you and bring you back to the concrete jungle when all you want is to be lost in the wilderness – Your experience is never quite complete!!!

A few days later after my return home, The Hindu ,a regional newspaper, featured an article on the trek to the foothills of Mount Kanchandzonga. Talk about rubbing salt into my wounds - I could only vow to myself that I WILL some how be there to complete my experience with her royal highness – subtle yet sublime, pristine yet risky – Our Beautiful Mother Nature.