tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-230880652024-03-07T13:05:46.998+05:30travel memoir's de confused malluI Travel, I Forget, So I Write.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09608967706733895867noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23088065.post-65188177364857599892009-01-25T09:21:00.003+05:302009-01-25T09:47:48.865+05:30Kemmanagundi – Red soil, leeches, dogs and lots of funFriday nights always bring out the best in me. Kemmanagundi was one such idea born on a Diwali eve. <br />The raw material: 2 Cars, 6 guys and 2 days to spare.<br />The output: Total Fun.<br /><br />Kemmanagundi is situated about 250 K.M from Bangalore in the Chickmagaloor district. <br />Route: Bangalore->Tumkur->Arisikere->Kadur->Birur->Lingadahalli->Kemmanagundi.<br /><br />Thus on Saturday morning (25 October 2008) we found ourselves on the Tumkur road with Anand and Rajeesh at the wheel. The road was terrific and we made good progress, till we reached about 20 K.M from Tiptur where Anand had this bright idea of climbing a hill which was being demolished by a quarry team. “The next time we come over, this hill might not be there at all” was his reasoning. Everyone agreed. After some chit chat with the laborers who were surprised to see us climbing, just for the sake of climbing, we reached the top and were pleasantly surprised to find a temple and associated paraphernalia.<br /><br />Lunch and beer as is our custom was at a roadside Dhaba which had surprisingly good food. The road between Tumkur and Lingadahalli is an absolute treat to ride on. It is a normal state highway, but with no potholes and near zero traffic. The road from Lingadahalli to Tumkur is really bad, but fortunately it is only 20 Kilometers. We reached by 4:30 P.M which meant that trekking to Hebbe falls, the main point in the itinerary was out of the q. <br /><br />We booked a four-bed room at Kemmanagundi for just 850 Rupees. This was a steal deal and meant that the trip expenses remained well within limits (If only we had some cheap fuel too!). The Govt. guest house has a well maintained botanical garden but we decided to give it a miss. Instead, we went to a small 10-foot falls about 2 K.M from camp on the way to Z point.<br /><br />Immediately on starting we saw people returning from the falls. Everyone warned us about leeches on the way. But since we had nothing better to do, we went forward anyways. A scrawny looking dog started following us. It seemed harmless, so we didn’t chase it away (good idea!). The view was amazing and the weather perfect, but we couldn’t care less. Everyone was obsessed with their shoes and the number of leeches that had hitch-hiked on. These little beings pack a fair amount of spook value!<br /><br />The 10 foot “falls” were rather un-impressive, but unknown to us, the most interesting part of the trip was silently unraveling. I noticed a small forest path ahead of the falls, most probably, the path to z point. We took it and immediately found ourselves at the foot of a very steep climb. The soil was slippery, the climb was tough but somehow we managed to reach the top. From then on, it was an easy path through flowing grass meadows, alongside a cliff overlooking some very beautiful forest area in the valleys beyond.<br /><br />Even the steep side of the cliff was covered with grass, with a single tree in the distance. A photographer’s paradise! We climbed leisurely to “peak” only to find that the actual peak was about 100 meters ahead. We reached this second peak to find that the “actual” peak was again 100 meters ahead and so it went. Unfortunately, the <span style="font-style:italic;">pinthiris </span>(read sane people) in the group pointed out the lack of light (it was about 6:20 P.M) and forced us to come down. <br /><br />As is normal in these areas, darkness fell with surprising suddenness and we found ourselves doing a night trek, totally un-prepared. Moral of the story -> The light of a mobile is simply not enough! On the way back we lost our way (Big surprise!). We didn’t panic, but the tension was palpable. The path was slippery and we kept falling. Finally, one genius (also known as author!) in the group found out that walking on the grass was less slippery than the path. That was a good decision, people stopped falling for a change and were just worried of breaking their legs in some pot hole in the grass. Thankfully that didn't happen!<br /><br />Finally, with some luck we got back on the right path. Enter the drama queen, err sorry dog!.... (thought it was a side kick with no role in the story, huh??) The dog, which was quietly following us till then, with not so much as a woof for miles and miles, suddenly moved to the front and started barking at top volume at something ahead of us in the dark. Fear as they say, is about the unknown, if it had barked at us, we would know what we were facing, we would be scared alright, but in a decent scare-able manner. But it was not barking at us, it was barking at something in the dark just ahead of us. <br /><br />The phrase “Scared shitless” assumed realistic proportions. Was it an elephant? A tiger/leopard? Or a snake? Theories flew thick and fast, but after about a minute, the dog stopped barking as suddenly as it started. We stayed rooted to the spot for another 10 minutes though. Gathering courage is a slow process...:) Finally, we continued on with the last part which was filled with leeches. This time, nobody was bothered, since you couldn’t see a damn thing anyway. All the effort was on getting back alive, funny, how priorities change so fast! In the mean time, Deepu almost managed to kill himself, when he misjudged and nearly fell into the cliff side. Sadly, that was not to happen!<br /><br />Back at the room it looked like a war scene right out of Hollywood, once we removed our shoes. Blood everywhere and people leaking it like water! The only solace was the food in the canteen. We ate like crazy and gave some for the faithful dog too. We even named it Tony (a take on Pullachen…:D) (I hope it was not insulted by the insinuation!)<br /><br />Mokri agreed to set the alarm for the next day when we would be trekking to Hebbe falls about 13 Kilometers from Kemmanagundi. Turns out that the mobile did not go off due to some weekend-alarm-off setting and we wake up 2 hours late. Since nobody wanted to trek all 26 K.M’s on the same day, we hired a jeep which would take us to 5 K.M from the falls and a guide who would take us through the shortcut. This trek was beautiful, we had to cross small brooks everywhere and re-cross them before reaching the foot of the falls.<br /><br />Hebbe falls is simply majestic at 150 feet. The water is crystal clear and unlike so many waterfalls in south India, there was no plastic or other waste. Best of all, there was nobody at the falls, except us. We had reached the falls at perfect timing. It was early and the crowds had not yet started to come in.<br /><br />The only problem was that it was horridly cold. The water seemed to have just melted from ice and it pained us to stand in it for any long time. I and Anand swam up to the base of the falls and sat below it. I tried climbing up the rock face of the falls and when about 10 feet up, the force of the water suddenly increased! For a second there, vivid images of my leg in a cast flashed all across Grey matter land. I had some really tense moments before making it safely back to ground (water) 0.<br /><br />The trek back was tiring since we had to climb back all the way. But finally we made it back safely and started our drive back to Bangalore. This time we did not make any stops till Bangalore and fortunately there was hardly any traffic on the roads. We reached about 1 hour ahead of expectations. One of the better trips, I had had in a long time!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09608967706733895867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23088065.post-67489155128782112172008-10-02T13:37:00.000+05:302008-10-04T15:58:26.147+05:30Wayanad, waterfalls, angels in black പിന്നെ സ്വല്പം കണ്ജാവും*1) 5-April-2008 1:30 A.M we start from our home to <em>Pullachen’s</em> home at Bellandur<br />2) The buggers at Bellandur think that we will not reach on time as usual. We reach 10 minutes early, donate our blood to the mosquitoes of Bellandur, curse <em>Pullachen and co.</em><br />3) 2:20 A.M we start for the ultra mega trip of the century (yeah I am exaggerating it...:D)<br />4) 8:00 A.M we reach our hotel, freshen up and by 10 A.M leave for the first destination, <em>Edakkal</em> caves.<br />5) The climb to the cave itself is only reasonably tough. The place is infested by people from Bangalore. <br />6) We reach the caves only to hear that the peak is actually 1000ft higher than the cave..:( It is just not that the climb is steep and tough, but you got these very narrow paths and people coming up and down. Traffic blocks in Wayanad!!!! Half the time you feel like you will end up at the bottom.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN9qBvt-xJ2gVFUsZw3QBePPItUIWhsXTh8J3nOG83icx9h5l0A44Dscfo-pz5BfrlPB7NW6mmC1Jw1ad81CwjR8OvQUpYz9MmfXdTe72U0kEOyf4nzL77JcIjJVBTTywuxSQWqA/s1600-h/DSC_0150.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN9qBvt-xJ2gVFUsZw3QBePPItUIWhsXTh8J3nOG83icx9h5l0A44Dscfo-pz5BfrlPB7NW6mmC1Jw1ad81CwjR8OvQUpYz9MmfXdTe72U0kEOyf4nzL77JcIjJVBTTywuxSQWqA/s320/DSC_0150.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253240885936452418" /></a><br /><br />7) I and Pullachen are the first on the peak. Rest of the gang take photos and come up in their own time. <br />8) In the meantime, I befriend a girl from Fidelity Bangalore. She shows interest in talking with us poor sods, looks quite attractive and even laughed at my seriously hopeless numbers. The dawn of a new era? I asked myself. Well hardly so, half an hour later I learn that she is married and hubby is quite nearby. I made myself scarce.<br />9) On the way back we come upon a shop which sells the best snacks ever... salted mango, salted pineapple, <em>morum vellam</em>, the works!! The salted mangoes were divine!!! I am salivating right now just thinking of em....:(<br />10) Seriously tired by now, we ask a local guide the "next best place". As it turns out, it is a waterfall called <em>suchi para vellachattam</em>(needle rock waterfalls).<br />11) We hit <em>suchi para </em>by 4 P.M in the afternoon. The falls don’t look so attractive. Should we jump in or just take some quick snaps of the bathing beauties is the million dollar question.<br />12) All of us jump in. We take prime time positions at the bottom of the fall. Absolutely <em>kidilam </em>experience... The water hitting your body feels like it is going to rip you apart... Such force!!!<br />13) Anand climbs half way up the falls and urinates!!! Bloody dirty <em>mallus</em>.... and to think that I bathed there!!<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNdJr0loVoMm-hY7-sihxHJqEihwHXt0LQ4wSe4XPKe-DbHl4TpKV1vrUXJmX0p1OF-9P2r6tEV2WAMVzCOW2M5VkCjf54WFRe5YdUs8wLWVVU9hm2YnEfvmyZOe1HYqJefuo9uQ/s1600-h/DSC_0236.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNdJr0loVoMm-hY7-sihxHJqEihwHXt0LQ4wSe4XPKe-DbHl4TpKV1vrUXJmX0p1OF-9P2r6tEV2WAMVzCOW2M5VkCjf54WFRe5YdUs8wLWVVU9hm2YnEfvmyZOe1HYqJefuo9uQ/s320/DSC_0236.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253241464757031570" /></a><br /><br />14) A group of Manglorean students(doctors) come to bathe. The lady doctors are beauuuuuutiful! This angel in a black dress and a falling neck line sits just in front me... and as she moves hither and thither, the force of the water whipping her clothes in all possible directions.... I catch glimpses of utopia...:D <br />15) We lean on this huge boulder as the lady doctors bathe in front of us... Akbar comes to mind..."if there is a heaven on earth… it is this, it is this, it is this!"<br />16) Trust Shyam to break the spell! He dishes out comments like <em>"ho evidae ittu avalae rape cheyyan thonnunnu" "da, njan avalae kettikottae.. pleeese"</em> etc only to learn that most of the male doctors bathing with the ladies are good old <em>mallus</em>!!! Later <em>Vali </em>is missing, we find him behind the falls, sitting like a f**** yogi farting to his hearts content.<br />17) We buy cake for Shyam and print on it "happy 50th birthday", give him a card with absolutely funny lines penned by lolan. His jaw drops in surprise. Somebody pushes a piece of cake into that dropped jaw. Everyone is happy.<br />18) Search for a decent <em>Kallu shape</em>(Toddy shop) at night ends in failure. We are disheartened and make do with some boring food from <em>Aryaas</em>.<br />19) Totally tired by now, the first day ends with us slumbering into a coma.<br />20) Day 2 dawns and to nobody's surprise we get up an hour late. We check out from hotel, have an excellent breakfast from <em>udupi </em>restaurant and are on our way to a jungle safari.<br />21) When on tour don’t be late is the moral of the story. Safari is over by the time we reach..:(<br />22) Plan B is <em>Kuruva dweep</em> and believes me, plan B in a place like Wayanad is better than plan A in most places.<br />23) Kuruva dweep is a series of small islands, with Cauvery water flowing all around. A beautiful place!!<br />24) We order lunch and plunge in to the water. It is a photographer’s paradise.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7ZPC88_Kq8_WmKqecsqm4gJQ0EEQSodel4Dzbmd9QHqSo5QaIX3c5fbp90UzNt6HCtRSbZ0TXuooOqzNRkpcpdF9F4OLVmEMW-6BeZ2Vz9NTC8m-GoBwfCScZO2VAsrAi6tmDiw/s1600-h/DSC_0323.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7ZPC88_Kq8_WmKqecsqm4gJQ0EEQSodel4Dzbmd9QHqSo5QaIX3c5fbp90UzNt6HCtRSbZ0TXuooOqzNRkpcpdF9F4OLVmEMW-6BeZ2Vz9NTC8m-GoBwfCScZO2VAsrAi6tmDiw/s320/DSC_0323.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253242071924068130" /></a><br /><br />25) The best part of <em>Kuruva dweep </em>is that it is not very crowded. We find an isolated spot, take out some <em>ganja </em>and fix two joints. Photos of Shyam smoking his joint...well he looks a <em>pucca </em>addict!<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbR4RrmKcvVhbMcbPGZn7Ai1q5teVYYY_cKM_fldR785yZkGgF90wu5-9SsDPIzEfqpwyKOHShFJPkKjDfGQK5eX2WjBrEfLablWDqHqsdGL3yLmrbzZBz_FJ7eXfKavRfon4ZHQ/s1600-h/DSC_0347.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbR4RrmKcvVhbMcbPGZn7Ai1q5teVYYY_cKM_fldR785yZkGgF90wu5-9SsDPIzEfqpwyKOHShFJPkKjDfGQK5eX2WjBrEfLablWDqHqsdGL3yLmrbzZBz_FJ7eXfKavRfon4ZHQ/s320/DSC_0347.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253243018550272338" /></a><br /><br />26) Pullachen goes bonkers after his puff. Falling here and there and everywhere. Fortunately he doesn’t break anything. We find a quiet spot for bathing, turns out that it is not so quiet… a girl, her boyfriend and two more guys walk in on our privacy...:( The girl is beautiful so we don’t mind them.<br />27) All treks I am part of, has this part.... losing our way!!! We wander for two kilometers without a man is sight. This was the "best part of our trip" I, Shyam, <em>pakkan </em>and Aneesh Rajan fall behind... we are high on <em>ganja </em>and walking slow. Shyam starts humming a tune (<em>ee mizhi pozhkayil</em>).... it was FANTASTIC, the tune, our slow easy steps, the rhythm in the song.... we felt completely in "tune" with the surroundings... <em>nirvana</em>!!<br />29) We take the boat back but Aneesh rajan and Shyam swim across the river at its widest point. Crocodiles in the river were fasting… they reach safely.<br />30) Absolutely good food when we get back.... with some <em>naadan kozhi kari </em>(chicken curry) thrown in. Again no <em>kallu</em>...:( next time, I am packing toddy from Bangalore!<br />31) Driver irritates an elephant herd with persistent honking in Nagarhole and waits. An Indica comes behind us and the bull elephant sensing a smaller prey charges it. The <em>madammas </em>in the car are petrified. Fortunately their driver steps on the accelerator and everybody is safe.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggxXA97sbyMUMJ1pxi3KvthoC0-vUX9iMw27qFNj5KFPDPICT4NE7afNw7U7ONMzjb3bhV9MkkSMOwooguL71SdPPrgjQIfcjGJ3m4SYnnpKr9uFBieD9I4-iYkqsQVVyQ_7f3Ow/s1600-h/DSC_0408.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggxXA97sbyMUMJ1pxi3KvthoC0-vUX9iMw27qFNj5KFPDPICT4NE7afNw7U7ONMzjb3bhV9MkkSMOwooguL71SdPPrgjQIfcjGJ3m4SYnnpKr9uFBieD9I4-iYkqsQVVyQ_7f3Ow/s320/DSC_0408.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253243511626534018" /></a><br /><br />32) Stop for beer and food on the Bangalore-Mysore highway. Good beer ok food. Reach back in Bangalore by 11 P.M. Total cost Rs.1050 per head including food**. The experience… priceless! <br /><br /><em>*Don't try this at home!</em><br />*<em>That was because Mohana Kris dished out 100 dollars into the fun account.....:D</em>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09608967706733895867noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23088065.post-52007453875524628652008-06-18T12:37:00.000+05:302008-06-18T12:52:50.165+05:30Bicycle diariesI wasn’t born in the sixties, so I couldn’t take part in India’s Green Revolution. Not one to be left behind, I did my bit for the green stuff this past week by buying a bicycle. “India’s oil import bill will be smaller this year”, I proudly told myself as I pedaled home in my Hercules Turbo Drive 6 gear “mean-machine”.<br /><br />I don’t know why my tragedies involve Shyam as a rule (maybe he is the tragedy!), anyways this time was no different. Our initial plan was that I would ride up to Nandi Hills and he would ride back since we had only one cycle. Shyam, however vetoed this idea and insisted that we rent a cycle.<br /><br />(Un-)Fortunately the dealer from whom I got the cycle (R.R cycles, Madivala) generously agreed to rent us a 21 gear cycle and that too free of cost! We started on the morning of Sunday 15 June 2008 at 5:45. The initial part of the ride was terrific, the cold morning air and the free roads were perfect condition for a ride. We made good progress during this time and reached M.G Road (10 K.M from our place) in about half an hour. <br /><br />Suddenly, our target of reaching Nandi Hills seemed so easy, a mere 50 kilometers more. Both of us were new to gear cycles and the only stops we took were when the chain came off due to our vigorous gear changing. 7:15 A.M, saw us famished and on the brink of cannibalism when we spotted a run down roadside restaurant near Yelahanka. The food however was good and I was glad that I didn’t eat Shyam (Would’ve given me indigestion, no doubt!) By 8:30 A.M we were near the new airport at Devanahalli. Slowly, but surely we were getting tired. We had covered about 50 kilometers by now. This was the high point of our trip.<br /><br />Our feet started aching like hell. My “thunder thighs” seemed to have lost all their thunder. So, we decided to rest. Which was a good idea, but what we did next was not! We called up every Tom, Dick and Harry to announce that we were just 10 kilometers away from the foot of Nandi Hills and that they were all bike loving, petrol splurging un-patriotic Pakistani spies who should be hanged!<br /><br />Shyam had this sudden urge to drink a popular apple drink “Appy Fizz” which saw us searching high and low, but to no avail. Finally, when we found the shop that sold it, the bottle had an expiry date on it which was sometime last year!<br /><br />On this last leg of the “march to Nandi”, we had to stop many times as our tiredness had just shifted gears to exhaustion! One would expect that when somebody reaches a long sought after goal, there would be woops of joy and bursts of cracker or at least a general ululation to the skies. But since we were mature adults, we rode in like zombies. Dog tired zombies!<br /><br />The time was 11 A.M. By then, Shyam and I were seriously thinking about putting our cycles in the bus and riding back till Hebbal. But as we were seriously discussing about this America-Iraq like problem with ramifications that included starting the third world war, the bus quietly left.<br /><br />With our bridges burnt, there was no choice but to pedal our way to glory. Steel entered our hearts and we didn’t stop for the next 10 kilometers. <br />Shyam’s list of woes ran thus <br />1) A painful (possibly arthritic) knee<br />2) Shoulder muscles that could be used as jelly<br />3) A lower back that looked like it never gonna be straight again<br /><br />But none of the above discouraged him. What however did discourage him was the friction… between his bottom and the cycle seat. The seat was rubbing away at what little he had and this was upsetting him no end. His solution to the problem however showed all the ingenuity of an engineering mind. He filled our small bag with grass, tied the bag on the seat and used it as cushion! The grass was the first martyr of our little green revolution.<br /><br />My list of woes was plain old leg ache and a thigh that felt like a hundred little men chipping away at it.<br /><br />Learning1: Heart of steel and legs of water are incompatible.<br /><br />The last straw on our feeble backs was the wind. It blew as if in the Alchemist and even on downward slopes we had to pedal hard. Finally, after about 10 more grueling kilometers I flopped down on a small road side barrier. This was a terrific co-incidence, coz the last time when we both had tried to walk till Nandi Hills* it was on the opposite side of the road at the very same place that we had flopped down like this!<br /><br />We swallowed our pride and dialed out to Rajeesh and others to come pick us up. The very same guys whom we had abused on our way here! Yes, God works in strange ways!<br /><br />Learining2: A tired body has no ego.<br /><br />Finally it was Kamal who attended our rescue call. But it would take him another hour to reach. During this time we dragged ourselves to the nearest hotel and had our afternoon meal… at 3 P.M. We had cycled 80 kilometers by then, far short of the 120 we planned.<br /><br />Kamal came in his Maruti Swift, (it has good mileage, else one can only wonder about India’s oil bill!) We had a tough time packing both the cycles into Kamal’s car. Unfortunately, there was no room for us! We had to take a bus back. It turned out to be three busses and an hour and a half journey (No comments about the oil bill)<br /><br />But our ordeal hadn’t ended, the cycles were taken to Pullachens place in Bellandur and we had to ride back to home from there a good 8 kilometers. We only took the rented cycle back leaving mine at his place. I pedaled half and Shyam pedaled half, with Pullachen kind enough to drop us each on his bike (Oil bills come and oil bills go! Haven’t we in India seen all this, eh?) to our respective destinations.<br /><br />Finally we made it home and were given a heroes welcome, with dancing girls and free beer… don’t mind me, I am just hallucinating.<br /><br />I applied some sort of cream on my muscles and on the back side of the tube, it said petroleum something. My last thought, before I fell asleep was… “Screw that bill!”<br /><br /><em>*Yes, twice we had tried to walk up to Nandi.</em>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09608967706733895867noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23088065.post-31656840735651484002007-05-17T20:25:00.000+05:302007-05-21T18:09:55.225+05:30Trek to MukhruthiA photo in Orkut was the culprit this time. The picture was well taken, with a blue sky background and nothingness in front. It was a girl sitting on top of a mountain. I couldn't resist to scrap how nice the picture looked. She replied, and in a short time I learnt that the place was called Mukhruthi, very near to Ooty. I was hooked immediately. In due time, I got four more guys "hooked" and so was born this trek to Mukhruthi (Date: 12 May 2007 to 13 May 2007).<br /><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5066904927003609426" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8T305YrcuWo0ZdtevMAQmYwaTZR37rSMHPUw1bzPgjnZaKIISZqX9P6MKnmnjJafLSRkwgs1HwyhWikg2lr5A9SCKIIsowCtpkrnB21flpHHg1IrKxhOMkAeR1NSBn4LDpqshoA/s320/Mukhruthi+409.jpg" border="0" /><br />The trek was conducted by <a href="massindia@gmail.com">mountaineering adventure sports society</a>. The cost was 2750 rupees including pick-up and drop to Coimbatore, food, guide and lodging. The person to contact would be Frederick Mob No: 09894380167.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiABZzwhHqtlCEXP4wi7y36Wpk4Or67bnU0543skYhG0uh5TXZIkBWN0Mbrqx5j-SPk8MTObPFZPNtXcP4orEO5fgDtts63DqPf9RKVJpvGY1K0WjDW7MRnH4cDnYsM7kIfHNSM2Q/s1600-h/Mukhruthi+350.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5066905326435567970" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiABZzwhHqtlCEXP4wi7y36Wpk4Or67bnU0543skYhG0uh5TXZIkBWN0Mbrqx5j-SPk8MTObPFZPNtXcP4orEO5fgDtts63DqPf9RKVJpvGY1K0WjDW7MRnH4cDnYsM7kIfHNSM2Q/s320/Mukhruthi+350.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The trekkers were<br />1) Tony Joseph a.k.a Pullachen<br />2) Abraham Menacherry i.e. yours truly<br />3) Anish Chandran a.k.a chandru<br />4) Juwal Bose<br />5) Anoop H.L Dev a.k.a Hl<br /><br />The pickup from Coimbatore was at 5:30 A.M in the morning. The duo from Kerala, Juwal and Chandru were far ahead of time reaching Coimbatore by about 2:30 A.M. Hl coming from Madras was also on time. I was the official organizer of the trek, so I had made sure that everyone came on time. The only problem being that Tony and Me, starting from Bangalore for reasons quite beyond our control (read lazy to start in time) were late by about one and a half hours. To our credit we caught the last bus from Bangalore and for the better part of the journey we sat in the cabin/slept on the floor and suffered other such indignities to reach our destination. I was received at Coimbatore with snide remarks on something called punctuality, but I put all such trash talk to rest with a pathetic smile and an arched back (I did not arch it. The bus did that for me).<br /><br />With the normal dose of leg pulling, gossip and other chit chat we were soon on our way to Ooty. We had two voluntary breaks, one for tea and the second for break fast. Involuntary breaks were on of<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI-DIivV7bOgDPLaXGMn0yXhXO9XoBMB1wiDaIpKwyFP49v1mCowaotL78YLAlU0Iz8ox7rnw9McpbOSaaLVs8T079-5X-eaBX83zXhSWVgtsKSEJRmrv5naAIT13iFVRZ4-6XUQ/s1600-h/Mukhruthi+214.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5066905725867526514" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI-DIivV7bOgDPLaXGMn0yXhXO9XoBMB1wiDaIpKwyFP49v1mCowaotL78YLAlU0Iz8ox7rnw9McpbOSaaLVs8T079-5X-eaBX83zXhSWVgtsKSEJRmrv5naAIT13iFVRZ4-6XUQ/s320/Mukhruthi+214.jpg" border="0" /></a>fer due to the heavy traffic to Ooty. A word of advice for anybody traveling to Ooty, for years (decades?) this place has had a traffic problem so it’s better to add some extra time into your planning.<br /><br />We reached Ooty by 1 P.M in the afternoon late by 3 hours. The person accompanying us from Coimbatore told us that we couldn’t stay in the Mukhruthi fishing hut. It was as per the new forest regulations it seems. We were late, nothing had happened till then and already this bad news! To tell that sprits were a bit down would be perfectly appropriate at this juncture. I was already thinking that this trek was going to be a washout. Fortunately things started to look up the moment we left Ooty.<br /><br />The route to Mukhruthi is through Ootacamund, Fern hill etc. On this route one can see the famous Good Shepherd School also.<br />Except for one small photo session along the route we did not stop till we reached a sign board saying "7 kilometers to Mukhruthi". The small problem being that the route was closed. We came back some distance and then stopped at a small cluster of houses and shops in a place called Pothmund. The Pothmund Dam is very near this place, but at that time we did not know it. After much dilly dallying here we were finally given clearance to go to Mukhruthi fishing camp through the jeep track. If we had reached earlier we could have actually trekked this route, but since it was already late we went in our Sumo.<br /><br />This cobbled muddy and ill-kept jeep route is really an experience to drive on. On the way the going was so slow that we walked along with the jeep and only climbe<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirpN9Cej3MuRxo7Q-Lk_crU4VXM0RHCkIes5Nw7AJ45HbkYh5jPWPon7WTLsn3JZmQ4exJcItZ57Tm9V8ew8tuoqv1pxY9SPYZW8n82OhzaUdV55kvhPrKl_1OUF6Sq4gy6MRxQw/s1600-h/Mukhruthi+290.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5066906340047849858" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirpN9Cej3MuRxo7Q-Lk_crU4VXM0RHCkIes5Nw7AJ45HbkYh5jPWPon7WTLsn3JZmQ4exJcItZ57Tm9V8ew8tuoqv1pxY9SPYZW8n82OhzaUdV55kvhPrKl_1OUF6Sq4gy6MRxQw/s320/Mukhruthi+290.jpg" border="0" /></a>d on after it picked up speed. The darkness set in very suddenly and as if on cue from a horror film director our jeep developed a problem. It was a minor one so our going was not affected too much. The ride was truly cool, on either side stood the eerie dark forest, with all its creaky-croaky sounds. Most of the route was hidden from sight due to the branches jutting out and the thick grass. Anyways after about an hour of this fantastic ride, we reached the fishing hut at last. Only to find that it was locked! Our guide assured us that the key was on the way through the cook and forest guard.<br /><br />Not wanting to miss an opportunity, we went ahead to scour the surroundings. It was pitch black and we only had our mobile displays to guide us and on top of it, when we were about to leave on this <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTda5ca9ja3bN-zt9QMTdjcczOTaA1m3p3iMrOc0EmesOIkul40kyl06fxVwhz8YUcYkz5ua8vDpafhbpOLIRk2Bw4hAXoEkSsdrCMYDDGtPglH63tgL-FfAjeMoJWUo1jutvjjg/s1600-h/Mukhruthi+297.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5066907151796668818" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTda5ca9ja3bN-zt9QMTdjcczOTaA1m3p3iMrOc0EmesOIkul40kyl06fxVwhz8YUcYkz5ua8vDpafhbpOLIRk2Bw4hAXoEkSsdrCMYDDGtPglH63tgL-FfAjeMoJWUo1jutvjjg/s320/Mukhruthi+297.jpg" border="0" /></a>adventurous expedition the guide warned us "Inga tigers erikka, be careful!" We took this new piece of information without batting an eyelid... yeah, I am a good liar! Even though our spirit of adventure was not what it was five minutes back, we decided to press on a little more. My Orkut contact had told me about a brook nearby, about how she could hear the water trickling through it and I was determined to find it somehow. It took us some time to find any sort of route though. It was Anoop who did it in the end, all those night shifts he is doing must be adding to the night vision I guess.<br /><br />Hardly had we gone ten steps when we came across another ghostly looking house. "Let’s go in and check" I said, "You are crazy!" my friends said. I must be a persuasive guy, coz in two minutes time we found ourselves inside the house. Me being the instigator, I was also given the honor of opening all the doors. Believe me, they creaked and made all kinda funny noises. But I refused to give up my nerve, mainly because I had four equally afraid guys standing behind me and running forward was not an option.<br /><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5066907435264510370" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUlF5iaLsQ4R4KOj4Gv_upY9R6YgaRubbXRfboQjPyiScgN7rXd0pS0IcEotLggAfTMaZ4vjUC_zaedN1T2d4P55qP6uMdKscJwlhwz_gevvCGid__9Lya9TYQjSAEhB6FEVasBg/s320/Mukhruthi+296.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br />After this we went about finding the promised brook. It was quite nearby and once we got out of the house, we could locate it by the trickling noise. We took some photos at this place,<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXMbpQcRVQrxUK7Gx3eq8Mq1awKQm2Eyod7YmuxP0cR-wkVQVBaG1L9DBA3fyUmIU8HYpBNyOZ3BJeLtt2aso3DLEUe8p91h_b2dWpN0iH_Nxf9VwJynHNcVxAR4Zupl0sI6hJPQ/s1600-h/Mukhruthi+299.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5066907881941109170" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXMbpQcRVQrxUK7Gx3eq8Mq1awKQm2Eyod7YmuxP0cR-wkVQVBaG1L9DBA3fyUmIU8HYpBNyOZ3BJeLtt2aso3DLEUe8p91h_b2dWpN0iH_Nxf9VwJynHNcVxAR4Zupl0sI6hJPQ/s320/Mukhruthi+299.jpg" border="0" /></a> which was a bit tough considering that you couldn’t see anything through the camera. It involved a lot of approximating but in the end we did get one or two good shots.<br /><br />When we came back, we found the driver and guide still sitting on the verandah waiting for the key. In the end it was decided that Juwal would accompany the guide back to the village to see what happened to the key. In the mean time we found out an outdoor toilet just outside the fishing hut and were busy utilizing this God-send one by one.<br /><br />Within a short time they came back with the key. Our guide for the next day was one Kishore. He was a B.A in economics and had a colorful career before he dropped everything and started this enterprise. It was a good experience talking with him. Even though alcohol was strictly prohibited we had brought one Johnnie Walker Black Label along. We asked his permission to take a swig, which he graciously gave. I guess good Scotch whisky is what the doctor ordered for these cold conditions. Two shots were enough to keep us warm for the rest of the night. Kishore lit us a small fire in the fireplace but then, that was just superfluous. We had the fire within us already....:)<br /><br />I have gone to treks earlier and had their food. Mostly it is good, but ALWAYS vegetarian. This was the first exception and I hope not the last. We were given absolutely delicious Chapattis and chicken curry by our cook. It was really very tasty. We were all tired by the day’s adventures and t<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3GzCuqmMe_9NnFiz6N-UqpxQLt9zKhuTQTNJjl04VvWOeMF8X8gU3szc0Kpxk0MdXBAs-xUigH29IRyAH50fOpaWAwGPvZgeIA2G7ZERXyP-VsIZ13ZraIzTJh4oSqOrSIE6XkA/s1600-h/Mukhruthi+301.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5066908629265418690" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3GzCuqmMe_9NnFiz6N-UqpxQLt9zKhuTQTNJjl04VvWOeMF8X8gU3szc0Kpxk0MdXBAs-xUigH29IRyAH50fOpaWAwGPvZgeIA2G7ZERXyP-VsIZ13ZraIzTJh4oSqOrSIE6XkA/s320/Mukhruthi+301.jpg" border="0" /></a>he next day we were supposed to get up at 5:15 A.M for the trekking. So we went to bed and in no time our sonorous (monstrous say some) snores could be heard all round Mukhruthi.<br /><br />For a change every one got up on time and as requested by Kishore we were all ready by 6:00 in the morning. Unfortunately, the cook was not ready and we had to wait one more hour to get our breakfast and I think this was a crucial mistake on our part. If we had left earlier, I am sure that we would have spotted many more wild animals. Anyways we spent this time taking photos of the fishing hut and surroundings. At 7:00 we finally started off with the trek. Kishore set a very fast pace and he asked us to be quiet so that wild life wouldn’t be scared away. I being the camera man had the unenviable task of taking photographs as well as catching up to the fast pace. Fortunately I was able to manage since the trek was not too tough to begin with.<br /><br /><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5066909148956461522" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjFrFUHiPzYH5KwSS7z2Cz5knezOSeRWRTYHEMAfvRqxVNYaELc38kxzr_6b739OnX5KN8vDBPRVbL7IRVw9SzXsD84MQo_yPuUANkaWzWgUrxeIQ2slvExs9yfwOhGi1QO0g8TA/s320/Mukhruthi+330.jpg" border="0" /><br />En-route we came across tiger pug marks. It was a thrilling experience to see it. I am personally very unlucky at spotting any wildlife in my treks. In fact in all my tre<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE4yhy31Ps4S-oBJr1g70SMQ0LYoQ4VEGK70hEVexYuq3nbnjCuKowcLBIP3Rp3N-X_MzPBdRpqGFJBv0Xtq5iFZF87rxoX4nu25wrIl76agSfzL5XcLUQdV33OMt_HIW2BLv4VQ/s1600-h/Mukhruthi+334.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5066913448218724834" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE4yhy31Ps4S-oBJr1g70SMQ0LYoQ4VEGK70hEVexYuq3nbnjCuKowcLBIP3Rp3N-X_MzPBdRpqGFJBv0Xtq5iFZF87rxoX4nu25wrIl76agSfzL5XcLUQdV33OMt_HIW2BLv4VQ/s320/Mukhruthi+334.jpg" border="0" /></a>ks put together I have seen nothing more interesting than some antelope and elephant shit. Tiger pug marks were definitely an improvement but hardly close to my day dreams. At this point I dared to hope. I was somehow confident that we would chance to see at least one tiger. This confidence was unfortunately misplaced….:(<br /><br />Shortly we came upon the catchment area of Pothmund dam and took some great snaps and the Mukhruthi peak also came into view. It looked so far away. But in truth it was not so difficult to reach till there except for a few patches which were steep. On the way we spotted an antelope that ran across our path. But since it happened very fast, I was not able to get a good pic<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7EEoKTh3UgQmB6OgdSCeknLuy71Ild4CsQO5NHMrgqAjws3FZMd_7t1NTdTibDPXoxCOc3OHaolBUAEn8N0Me96nZ4HqOY1h22GoNqpmNttAL6QlVXO079FVGuYpa2IFWL1Dfiw/s1600-h/Mukhruthi+397.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5066914178363165186" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7EEoKTh3UgQmB6OgdSCeknLuy71Ild4CsQO5NHMrgqAjws3FZMd_7t1NTdTibDPXoxCOc3OHaolBUAEn8N0Me96nZ4HqOY1h22GoNqpmNttAL6QlVXO079FVGuYpa2IFWL1Dfiw/s320/Mukhruthi+397.jpg" border="0" /></a>ture of it. Once we reached the foot of Mukhruthi peak we rested and had some chocolates and glucose for the final effort. It was only reasonably tough and in no time we were on <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzpqbFJu1aQY47u0q_ihtA5X2Psawrj3sQKwXsDLx-LtlmrRwghQAHyIYyCvuOMEqMQ8PgjOTTBJg3DxzdDd2iUFxDeyy_xQLKfUAPFYmZjQ2r0HXvMEk2-s1xvmp6-xpArxpj_A/s1600-h/Mukhruthi+388.jpg"></a>top of the peak. It must be mentioned here that due to the lack of other veteran trekkers like my roomie Shyam, Yours truly had the honor of reaching the top first. Here the most interesting thing that happened was that we saw a small snake "Shangu varayan". As soon as it saw us, it scooted off. Again, another interesting moment came when I asked Anoop to photograph me while sitting right at the edge of a cliff and he stood there contemplating whether he should push me down or take the photo. Luckily for you people he decided the latter and I am still here to write all this trash.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5066914728118979090" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh3h9TiVgolk8AqEuRN6GSHI1pyR5MtTCRNLsB-1GRBHZEMn0gomlE_13zi1Y7BKWS6Oj5T1nZj2qAB_uvxGb0RiKv4hoXHzXSoYo-9wslnXRjGyKSmEwjuQHmI1OmjzRpCkjovg/s320/Mukhruthi+411.jpg" border="0" /><br />The return journey was a breeze. We were all quite hungry by this time and our snacks had finished except for some bread and butter that we were carrying. We stopped only once or twice to <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOAfgTLos4HZIGWk0ylx_KzVz2mhjkiJwTpCKqAw6XHKQe2bN7Z3GEo25oox6s-Lu1Zw7imr-YHVdrukIzD2Wdya60aKgLbTzi74JpnO8msk90Bxi78x-afVnGBaPuMXhgddrN-Q/s1600-h/Mukhruthi+454.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5066915136140872242" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOAfgTLos4HZIGWk0ylx_KzVz2mhjkiJwTpCKqAw6XHKQe2bN7Z3GEo25oox6s-Lu1Zw7imr-YHVdrukIzD2Wdya60aKgLbTzi74JpnO8msk90Bxi78x-afVnGBaPuMXhgddrN-Q/s320/Mukhruthi+454.jpg" border="0" /></a>take a few snaps and drink from the brooks here and there. But close to our destination we came back to the catchment area of the dam and decided to take a bath. The most hilarious moment was when Pullachen remarked "da, if they open the dam now, we are all gone cases right?" It took a bit of effort to explain to him that we were "up-dam" and not "down-dam". The cold water had positively made me ravenous and I gorged on what was left of the bread-butter left. By 12:45 P.M we were back at the fishing hut. We had our lunch but somehow it was very much below par. There was only sambar and rice. Our expectations were rather high, based on the previous dinner.<br /><br />We had successfully completed a 16km trek. In all modesty, based on my Brahmagiri experience I felt it was far lesser than 16km. Others in the team felt the distance was correct. I am still not so sure whether it is actually 8 kilometers one way from the fishing hut to Mukhruthi peak. Anyways, we got an interesting piece of news now. Our jeep had a small probl<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie4j2M3kExCiCGFNEG9I1LHqxigI0vBBN8mpKy_Bn6y73yQP3OTlsat12ybmDw6L_dODP5eF2sx2qpeaaenHicjAjkISHzNf7GSjyFjQ0gzkKbqt4wYFVezyD837a0-dMc3SeixQ/s1600-h/Mukhruthi+460.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5066915484033223234" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie4j2M3kExCiCGFNEG9I1LHqxigI0vBBN8mpKy_Bn6y73yQP3OTlsat12ybmDw6L_dODP5eF2sx2qpeaaenHicjAjkISHzNf7GSjyFjQ0gzkKbqt4wYFVezyD837a0-dMc3SeixQ/s320/Mukhruthi+460.jpg" border="0" /></a>em and it wouldn’t be able to carry all of us along with our baggage. Hence it was decided that we would walk back from the fishing hut to Pothmund village with our cook James. The jeep track was 8km, but James knew a path through the thick jungle which was only 4 km. It was not such a good decision since Anish, who was already tired found it very tough to do this new bit of trekking. Fortunately for him a jeep came along and he was able to go half the distance in it. The rest of us, took the forest path, went to the Pothmund dam and took some photographs (prohibited, but we couldn't resist it!). Later we lost our way but not seriously and in a short time we were back in Pothmund village.<br /><br />The trek finished here. Lter that day we reached Coimbatore from where we left back to our respective places. We had some more misadventure, but that is better explained <a href="http://rantsandramble.blogspot.com/2007/05/pat-on-head.html">here</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09608967706733895867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23088065.post-11082888835357186522007-03-13T15:09:00.000+05:302007-03-15T19:56:23.525+05:30Dalhousie trekAs I sat in flight sj-109 en-route Bangalore to Delhi, I thought to myself "You are ACTUALLY going to do it!".<br /><br /><br />And now for the background. For quite some time, I had wanted to trek in th<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA3muEkmbAhW-WFWPpVemVNFWbN-lBXaatSHx2UZVwSEHz4Nu-ijiNzU4KJqE2f2OCV-X1BOOHIeNYcLL8Nl9Rd079__BPd2HfKrdga8Fqa1n7O7RH4o2b2Gi7vWzKcqL2ZE2Z6g/s1600-h/Clouds+and+Mountains.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042139810586418082" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA3muEkmbAhW-WFWPpVemVNFWbN-lBXaatSHx2UZVwSEHz4Nu-ijiNzU4KJqE2f2OCV-X1BOOHIeNYcLL8Nl9Rd079__BPd2HfKrdga8Fqa1n7O7RH4o2b2Gi7vWzKcqL2ZE2Z6g/s200/Clouds+and+Mountains.jpg" border="0" /></a>e HIMALYAS(yes Himalayas). alas! it was but a dream, the reasons against it were many... time, money and the host of other normal issues that tie up a normal human being from his normally abnormal dreams. My mediocre life reminded me every now and then ..."you ain’t gonna do it dumbo!". Fortunately, the guy up there or somebody down here did some major conspiracy and here I was on the threshold to achieving my dream, the start of a trek, which I hope will be the first pearl in a really big necklace.<br /><br /><br />The trek was organized by YHAI(Youth Hostel Association of India). This is a pseudo-gov<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZDk4hgrF4Bbq2C5oYCY402ZqEQInsk9MqQ2ORZuCx60YU_43wnk2iw9Y_BpTvKrfueHLLkFnxiLgjYzCFq2kCoq3V9sIttyCpUd1yoUUkVrQnGxwafuWUwWs8LaehLALm-GqLYw/s1600-h/Lonely+Tree.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042140137003932594" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZDk4hgrF4Bbq2C5oYCY402ZqEQInsk9MqQ2ORZuCx60YU_43wnk2iw9Y_BpTvKrfueHLLkFnxiLgjYzCFq2kCoq3V9sIttyCpUd1yoUUkVrQnGxwafuWUwWs8LaehLALm-GqLYw/s200/Lonely+Tree.jpg" border="0" /></a>ernmental organization and it operates on a no-profit no-loss basis. The trek was for 5 days and the whole cost for it including, food, stay, bags, guide charges and what-not cost just Rs.1550(Abt 35 U.S Dollars). Its home page is <a href="http://www.yhaindia.org/">http://www.yhaindia.org/</a>. The only problem is that you may come across some archaic rules like men should not visit women's tents/accommodation, trekkers should march in two lines etc, fortunately they were not very strict on the latter rule or it would have spoiled the fun of the trek, everyone has his own pace and I hate it when somebody asks me to "march" instead of trek.<br /><br /><br />The date was 30th Dec 2006, Time 11:30 AM. I and my friend(and room mate and college mate and office mate and...) Shyam boarded SJ-109? flight from Bangalore to Delhi. It was after a long gap that I had flown, my last flight(about 18 years ago) was just a jumble of memories covered in the mist of time. I was really thrilled by the acceleration just before take-off, the banking and rolling before touch down and the odd turbulence in between.<br /><br /><br />Our college mate Nishanth had come to pick us up at Delhi airport. Keeping up with our college tradition of procrastinating anything and everything, we had decided to buy all our winter wear from Delhi instead of getting them from Bangalore. Nishanth claims to be born and brought up in Delhi, but does not know Parliament House from India Gate...:) Fortunately for us, his father had come along.<br /><br /><br />We dumped our stuff at his place, had a delicious lunch and then went on to fish for stuff at Sarojini Nagar market(of bomb blast fame). The stuff there is cheap and of really poor quality. Almost everything we bought there turned out to be next to useless. I got the worst bargain of all, on being offered a sleeping bag for Rs.750 I smugly bought it for Rs.500 and later came to know that it was worth only Rs.250!!.<br /><br /><br />In Saronjini market we linked up with the other two people in our party, Sandeep Raja from Hyderabad and his sister Rashmi Parvathy.<br /><br /><br />Our train to Pathankot was from Old Delhi Rly Stn at 11:30. As we were waiting for our train, another train "Jammu Mail" came in. we were astounded to see a mad rush to get into the compartments. The "Great Indian Ticket less Traveler" seemed to be having a field day. Rashmi excusably had a few butterflies in her stomach. Our train was 2 hours late but even though there was the initial mad rush to get into the train, we were able to "secure" our own seats through some heroic infiltration operations that would give any self respecting Jihadi a complex.<br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042157153664359794" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuHLfTgHWkFrQH0fUYJ9hs9XbWwrFpToZ_j2Ga_JKRbsOobe4aUfdJmC7lwP9hIC-qbN68lqmD-QiKpLvOndD5qVTYax7HTpY1puLQzQw6L5nFilCqUyUtkGQyeZPHaIsj1oajTg/s200/Mountains+at+a+dist.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br />The journey would have been quite eventless had it not been for one crummy TTR. We were traveling on a ticket booked by my friend(correction enemy no:1) Tony K Thayil. This bugger was to come from Pune but could not make it. Anyways here was this uptight ticket checker who wanted to see Tony's face no matter what. He gave us a tough time for close to an hour. It seemed that the only TTR in Indian Railways who did not take a bribe was this guy... fortunately for us another TTR came along and read the printout we had, misinterpreted it and told our villain TTR that we only need to pay a fine of Rs.50 per ticket. Anyways we later found out that this guy did take bribes.. He asked us for a Rs.50 hafta!!! bugger... could have asked us in the beginning itself and saved us a lot of worry, after all we are all co-operating Indians right.<br /><br /><br />The train was quite late and it was afternoon when we reached Pathankot. From there we took a cycle rickshaw to Pathankot bus stand(Rs.10 fare) which is about a kilometer away. While waiting for the bus in this supremely dirty bus stand, we were befriended by some guys from Delhi who too needed to reach Dalhousie. They suggested sharing a taxi. The fare was Rs.1200 for a Sumo. It was a nice arrangement and we were able to reach Dalhousie by about 6:30 p.m. The 80 kilometers to Dalhousie took us about 3 hours, the only unfortunate incident being that Shyam left his much loved film camera in the cab and lost it for good.<br /><br /><br />Dalhousie was extremely cold when we reached there. The temperature must have been 5 to 6 degrees with a modest wind to make matters worse for us sun baked South Indians. The first formality was to fill out a form. Our hands were frozen stiff with the cold and to add to it the wind picked up while I was writing, I remember that my last signature was nothing but a curvy-shivery line. Next we had to collect our sleeping bags, two blankets, rucksack and an inner. Even though the place was dark and I could not see the rucksack, by pure luck I got a good one that had all its buckles and zips intact.<br /><br /><br />The rooms allotted to us had bunk beds and looked a bit gloomy but it wasn’t all that<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKNUqaTLmr_MFMIj0lyrn8BsvMNEdcCe7NZQ-BkOKVvL-w_j52_pHl0iluW0vB9HnADP5sQ-48Irt-8R6EljrtO6q5bWF_Z5f-qAmaNLSHaVekHz4kaXG6y-4qG4lo2bDA4AnIfQ/s1600-h/BUNK+Beds.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042137787656821602" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKNUqaTLmr_MFMIj0lyrn8BsvMNEdcCe7NZQ-BkOKVvL-w_j52_pHl0iluW0vB9HnADP5sQ-48Irt-8R6EljrtO6q5bWF_Z5f-qAmaNLSHaVekHz4kaXG6y-4qG4lo2bDA4AnIfQ/s200/BUNK+Beds.jpg" border="0" /></a> bad. We quickly got friendly with the rest of the batch(about 32 of us + 7 who would join later). The first to befriend us was Mr.Ramesh. He is working with the Railways. The rest included one big family "Vaghelas" from Gujarat, Amit and Umesh Mittal from UP(the first a singer and the second a poet as I would find out later), A big group from Bombay, they were engineering college kids on their final year vacation and the odd Rajasthani and Bihari. It was a motley crowd, but one that was to jell well in the few days that followed. YHAI's pre-eminent goal is "National Integration" and that was what really happened.<br /><br /><br />The din<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSZK_X2qTuAMzXHV3FAFd_CxhCQdY6O6mdoVnsDbRZudsnZO7FMJEZmZYKCmpcZEztcCn0Y-6-15Co_gnIl4Y_ppzEzZXs3I-rv3vmveTxNEyd_CV_fI_Wp4nbFHPoIlEvIzzTkA/s1600-h/D+Gang.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042138324527733618" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSZK_X2qTuAMzXHV3FAFd_CxhCQdY6O6mdoVnsDbRZudsnZO7FMJEZmZYKCmpcZEztcCn0Y-6-15Co_gnIl4Y_ppzEzZXs3I-rv3vmveTxNEyd_CV_fI_Wp4nbFHPoIlEvIzzTkA/s200/D+Gang.jpg" border="0" /></a>ner was served right on time and it was VERY tasty. In fact the food served at YHAI is exemplary whether it be the simple chapathees and dal or the slightly more sophisticated custard and soup. We had a proper campfire that day. The indoor cultural activities included singing, poetry and even mono-act. We were the only Malayalees in both the batches together and since nobody would be none the wiser about our songs, we sang one fast number(boat song) that was very well received. The outdoor round saw the the Gujjus taking an upper hand with their "Garba" number and about our attempts to follow them, the less said the better. We were all bone tired by then and hit the sack in no time. The next day(sorry next year) would start<br />quite early... at 5:30 a.m for us unlucky souls.<br /><br /><br />Jan 1, 2007 was reserved for acclimatization..... as expected we were late for the morning drill, but since others were even more late we were let off easily. The drill included a 15-minute talk on the virtues of punctuality which was boring but definitely not life threatening. The next was a 1.5 km run from YHAI hostel to Subash chowk, which was clearly an act of attempted suicide on my part. The early morning air was biting cold and each breath I took seemed to burn my lungs out. I was half dead by the time I reached Subash chowk, and behold there stands our Drill Master with that sadistic smile on his face.... he had that "let's-see-you-city-brats-sweat-a-bit" look. To cut a long story short, he choked out whatever life was left in me. But I loved the last part of the drill. We were all wearing woolen stuff to cover our ears from the cold, at the end of the exercise he asked us to remove it, and when we did, I really felt warm! acclimatization, it seemed was happening quite fast.<br /><br /><br />The vicar at the St.Francis church in Subash chowk was my fathers cousin, I went to meet him, but could not because he was giving the Sunday sermon. I left word with the d<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhttkq9LktGdQ7c2QcdCeO9UAf8gXCjHlj2IUVl-ZDGPQh3XjCDAzy0dC8f5wjXMGFadLb5gO2FIr1MkqXc9AVhxQrUK057-gqQN8ivNQLlaBuu9ni4LZnObLAms5A1op0dvdZ6Pg/s1600-h/Trek+Group2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042140811313798082" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhttkq9LktGdQ7c2QcdCeO9UAf8gXCjHlj2IUVl-ZDGPQh3XjCDAzy0dC8f5wjXMGFadLb5gO2FIr1MkqXc9AVhxQrUK057-gqQN8ivNQLlaBuu9ni4LZnObLAms5A1op0dvdZ6Pg/s200/Trek+Group2.jpg" border="0" /></a>omestic help that I would come along in the afternoon. After breakfast, we set out on a 10km acclimatization trek(which the instructor later claimed was just 6kms). It was from the hostel in Dalhousie<br />to Bhagat Singh's Grandpa’s Samadhi. It was not really a trek, just a casual walk and all of us enjoyed it after the exertions in the morning. Umesh(from UP) was selected Group leader, Poornimaji(A veteran trekker) was selected second in command and I was given the un-enviable task of being the "environment leader" which in plain English means "Garbage<br />collector". We were back by afternoon and went to meet the vicar once more. This time around, I was able to meet him and have a fast chat. I promised to meet him on Friday and left.<br /><br /><br />The rest of the day was spent very leisurely. We did some last minute purchases that we could not in <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc2A7aRjkPIFnJ-8tstAnhpFhQcjg0VJcHJchQSakbLl2ug7j1I0xrLM5GhIsSV7B-FWCBBSZ-xdronQzA83nvXAgS8BKZoK8sfDsjWYquxsp-cFhDgzWHyQTLtuWQmFk0kZM9yA/s1600-h/Lone+Traveller.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042141378249481170" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc2A7aRjkPIFnJ-8tstAnhpFhQcjg0VJcHJchQSakbLl2ug7j1I0xrLM5GhIsSV7B-FWCBBSZ-xdronQzA83nvXAgS8BKZoK8sfDsjWYquxsp-cFhDgzWHyQTLtuWQmFk0kZM9yA/s200/Lone+Traveller.jpg" border="0" /></a>Delhi, filled our stuff in the rucksacks provided, took bath(after two days) and checked in our luggage into the "extra luggage" tents. By this time the next batch had started filing in, there were a number of mallus in this batch and we did some gossip and chit chat before hitting the sack.<br /><br /><br />Jan 2 was the official start date of the trek. We would be climbing from Dalhousie to Kalatop(8000 feet) which was also the highest point of the trek. The distance to be covered was about 8-10km. The first part of the route from Dalhousie to Lakhadmandi was partially throug<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7ys-MWnaKtHEsj7PzsyRCa3gYcqjSuZYvM0D7DMRG12L0RS-joZP3GDkKRgxJatRtkhZZy8c92RfwnOyccTJ8YwJ2dBFg2hG26wjyMGdZ134eMl87exXgy2BI0X-sFmJhE6DFcQ/s1600-h/Camera+Buff.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042141756206603234" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7ys-MWnaKtHEsj7PzsyRCa3gYcqjSuZYvM0D7DMRG12L0RS-joZP3GDkKRgxJatRtkhZZy8c92RfwnOyccTJ8YwJ2dBFg2hG26wjyMGdZ134eMl87exXgy2BI0X-sFmJhE6DFcQ/s200/Camera+Buff.jpg" border="0" /></a>h road and partially through the forest. The second part to Kalatop was almost completely through the forest. This area was famous for its wild bear but they acted like reclusive celebrities... too shy to show themselves. The rucksacks were only moderately heavy and we did not require much effort to carry them. The route was extremely beautiful and in most places I had to drag Shyam along, His camera-oriented mind was too enchanted by the surroundings. He was happy clicking away and recording all the scenes. Sometimes I hate camera buffs...:(<br /><br /><br />Just before w<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKTyMXpDEYQmP5PvLpsS1TjVwrIYMZ6zHNCCBfbHLqbUv_zT4jpYfCzIvmXMQx1ahSnPT9pz9zOtCoD3sQ6k8cJe3QLEyixN0qjb97WRnxOkEvkCV06pT83vwMjMPsHgGeW4rH2A/s1600-h/Snow+Patches.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042142138458692594" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKTyMXpDEYQmP5PvLpsS1TjVwrIYMZ6zHNCCBfbHLqbUv_zT4jpYfCzIvmXMQx1ahSnPT9pz9zOtCoD3sQ6k8cJe3QLEyixN0qjb97WRnxOkEvkCV06pT83vwMjMPsHgGeW4rH2A/s200/Snow+Patches.jpg" border="0" /></a>e reached Lakhadmandi we saw the first patch of snow, for all four of us, snow was a first time experience... with whatever little snow was there, we took a number of snaps... and made it look as if there was snow all around. I tasted it and re-proved the ancient theory that ice is tasteless. To tell the truth I was waiting with baited breath for some "real" snow. These patches were not going to satiate my desire. By this time I had collected quite a pocketful of plastic wastealong the route. But at one point I had to stop collecting because I was carrying too much scrap already.<br /><br /><br />The next stop was Lakhadmandi. There we found that whole houses had been cov<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2SIvj_eeGXAFIp8CtOWtBPRhsJAi4KKBbgfZjCRA7eqa6SWhF6o5Guesuw6rS_K15_zmw8cyIBog07lEglbJZOy0O3OQzPLQH_ptkEvyPauSzqUuZkQMjdoyA8PLo74SPmKHaIA/s1600-h/Dirty+Snow+on+roof+tops+.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042142907257838594" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2SIvj_eeGXAFIp8CtOWtBPRhsJAi4KKBbgfZjCRA7eqa6SWhF6o5Guesuw6rS_K15_zmw8cyIBog07lEglbJZOy0O3OQzPLQH_ptkEvyPauSzqUuZkQMjdoyA8PLo74SPmKHaIA/s200/Dirty+Snow+on+roof+tops+.jpg" border="0" /></a>ered with snow. But a closer inspection revealed that the whole snow was very dirty. Almost all of it had foot prints of previous batches. We spent a lot of time taking pictures and fooling around. One whole ground was filled with snow. I tried a bit of skating but was not very successful.<br /><br /><br />Even though it was mid afternoon, it was very cold and windy. We had our packed lunch and ordered tea and omelets from the nearby shop. After lunch, I cleaned my plate with some cold water. In no time my hands were freezing and almost immideately it turned bluish, a phenomena that I would see throughout the trek.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042143826380839954" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8LwrJW4GCtr9pN1a0Hsb3FeMbt86itsNq_OVfF9fEnCx9CiaaJxwpyOE1pXSQkiId7caRJ6RWO0MjSdZ6tKHz69s9x6bwlJ4Uoei6JQjmQPrH0L0Er-iz3oR2MEef-NhoUz_nUQ/s200/Snow+Patches+2.jpg" border="0" /><br />From Lakhadmandi onwards to Kalatop, it was almost completely through the forest. Two dogs started accompanying us during this part. It was interesting to see their tactics in the forest. Whenever we reached a bend, one of the dogs would move ahead and sniff the air. Then it would move to one side and see if the coast was clear from bears.<br /><br /><br />The trekking as such was very easy and we went at a very gentle pace taking in all the sights and sounds. We reached Kalatop by early evening and was a bit disappointed to see that there was not much snow around. While we were having tea and soup, Umesh came up and told me and Shyam to come along. I went along without knowing where it was to. On the way up, we saw a sm<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtsZiPZ4m1hdnNnrL1VbIeZ5e5D3WaMrKku6bcXp_4Un-99mxK3VQnpYDY2tuhrc1c_n-sby54wNSIFUGb3A53L56Xtiu6go4Ap30_Qhbx_C1dvs1K19UY5yDezOBwgeI_MTBRFQ/s1600-h/Amit+Sliding.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042145016086780962" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtsZiPZ4m1hdnNnrL1VbIeZ5e5D3WaMrKku6bcXp_4Un-99mxK3VQnpYDY2tuhrc1c_n-sby54wNSIFUGb3A53L56Xtiu6go4Ap30_Qhbx_C1dvs1K19UY5yDezOBwgeI_MTBRFQ/s200/Amit+Sliding.jpg" border="0" /></a>all frozen pond. Somehow I felt elated. Here I was doing what I wanted to do. I started running along the wooded path, with Umesh by my side. We ran for quite some time before noticing that we had left the group far behind and had to trace our way back.<br /><br /><br />It seems that while we were running ahead a bear ran across our path, just behind us!!. Only Amit was able to see it and we missed the golden opportunity to capture one on camera completely. Our destination was a secluded hill just behind Kalatop.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoPNpEFNTbaabRw1i6FJsYs_3RbuyG8R2dydrmK9x7s1qMxfzaBRtn2lOP92yKw1b5X7PXJGYvy4OEtboOHAFzNycw3vlbn5wF1XOsotBJnxnWszBVkpH1IbVJ84u5X0M2B7W9kg/s1600-h/Sandy+is+thrilled.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042145278079786034" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoPNpEFNTbaabRw1i6FJsYs_3RbuyG8R2dydrmK9x7s1qMxfzaBRtn2lOP92yKw1b5X7PXJGYvy4OEtboOHAFzNycw3vlbn5wF1XOsotBJnxnWszBVkpH1IbVJ84u5X0M2B7W9kg/s200/Sandy+is+thrilled.jpg" border="0" /></a> It was very well hidden from view and one can see it only at the last moment. I was thus astounded that not 10 meters from the path we had taken there was this hill covered with snow. It was my near perfect snow-dream come true... virgin snow, untouched by anybody else... I was just too thrilled.... I clambered up and started throwing snow at Shyam and Sandeep. This was followed by one long photo session. Everybody was thrilled, Anish bhai and I took some photos in our undies....:). This was easily the best part of the whole trek for me.<br /><br /><br />We came back and showed the "censored" photos to Rashmi who was rather crestfa<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTDQiLn5bNYzglR5au_ZW5epHQSAmip4wtk4lRg3mE0iuBaYWAz3HHkLAcHOh7uyynRu5MqETzv-5b3aGlDBuVxcynBNJjeBBDMrkNwAAIpn2QAL0SzrqYqkB4Rm1HCCY1dKeU5w/s1600-h/Kalatop.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042145668921809986" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTDQiLn5bNYzglR5au_ZW5epHQSAmip4wtk4lRg3mE0iuBaYWAz3HHkLAcHOh7uyynRu5MqETzv-5b3aGlDBuVxcynBNJjeBBDMrkNwAAIpn2QAL0SzrqYqkB4Rm1HCCY1dKeU5w/s200/Kalatop.jpg" border="0" /></a>llen about being left out. I begged Shyam to come along once more to take a shot with us wearing lungis. But the bugger did not and we missed a golden photo op. I had even planned to name it "mallus on snow" ah... some dreams are hard to fulfill I guess. Next we went to inspect our lodging. It was on the first floor of a rock building and it was very cold in there. YHAI provides sleeping bags and blankets at each camp, hence you don’t need to carry them around from one camp to another. The females had much better accommodation, with carpeted floors etc. Anyways after the usual round of joking and gossiping we hit the sack. Because of the cold I got up one or two times during the night but overall this rugged experience was very much within our limitations.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042147107735854178" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAND9uK-FONDDJ4AhLg2LedmAx_gimYulBaSmRiTCLoGEZAM4wvbnl8nh1Ke854GPJat535R6-ipOgZAfYd7JbjC5UOGLvYVw72k6RYmL491zkUC8-pvDeS8k9klFZiC0xYJcdsQ/s200/Sandy+and+me.jpg" border="0" /><br />After Kalatop, the climate became warmer but the trek harder since there were so<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-LQX5f8wQpLQFbqWKrgSE1hqZ0nQUmLX_7BBXLo9-VtxkA7k2lQSJ8eLNtPPfuKk6DmNQrvPUQ7sHthqCYMkWnORlyzyoz3nthhA8XCxG1IJl9gL5Pj82NcsDXtnS-g4ZWABvOg/s1600-h/Mallu+on+Snow.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042146076943703122" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-LQX5f8wQpLQFbqWKrgSE1hqZ0nQUmLX_7BBXLo9-VtxkA7k2lQSJ8eLNtPPfuKk6DmNQrvPUQ7sHthqCYMkWnORlyzyoz3nthhA8XCxG1IJl9gL5Pj82NcsDXtnS-g4ZWABvOg/s200/Mallu+on+Snow.jpg" border="0" /></a>me steep slopes. The next day(Jan 03 2007) morning, the camp leader informed us about that day's itinerary. The trek was to a place called Khajjiar an exceptionally beautiful place. It was a naturally dying lake covering a huge area bounded by deodar trees on all sides, a scene right out of the movies.... in fact a lot of Hindi films are shot at this place. The path through the forest was exceptionally beautiful and we found patches of snow here and there, on one of these patches I took a snap dressed in my mundu. It was a cool snap but not really up to my expectations as I wanted to take one pic with lots of snow in the background.<br /><br /><br />On the way we met some local children selling flowers and pine acorns. Most of it cost about Rs.5 per bundle. Umesh who owns an art gallery back home bought the whole franchise and the kids were very happy. The trek route until lunch point was moderately tough, but with all the amusement provided by Rashmi(her particular dialect of Malayalam is very funny to hear), the various photo ops and the regular complaining from Sandeep about his shoe bite we reached there just behind the main group.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042148366161271922" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrOX9NTNNsXS2HfOLFtvy8rLGLKVe9E98eulmtoS3nJCs61TkmuDCPAB-uNY3TBN8d7cCeRRFbNEnVcxxA07zkvwNxuPJAa427xRN5Ylhz_7Dj484tul3E56f8nYXsG2dvSCiL6A/s200/Mountain+Trail2.jpg" border="0" /><br />As Shyam and I crossed over the last curve we saw a brook far below. Our lunch site was on the opposite s<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnilv_5LSjdhMCulXt8jpnFtYPVw0rgjF4pmfN6kj5fKeQeVDbxlu2mjf6fMOmEaDTBQlG63NmKup1J7IIAfFkyqom7y0ODIGTXz6jqOs6WwYBXGi3X5BoZ2gXVMAXrpYMJY6i7Q/s1600-h/Bridge+an+Brook.jpg"></a>ide of the brook. For the first time since I started the trek, I had actually sweated a bit, it was mid<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_2ar7-r23NDBLaokz5wkKIZ8HAN8APCLEpfZDxq6pGrZdk5x-Ci6Cn8l_luoWN3qRUUnMgElzvCj5fAh6Kp-T-JPwXoeCZdkHvCo3qvU_ffL6mHjh4jP7sfn5hbmmCQNUR-stVg/s1600-h/Brook.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042151608861580498" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_2ar7-r23NDBLaokz5wkKIZ8HAN8APCLEpfZDxq6pGrZdk5x-Ci6Cn8l_luoWN3qRUUnMgElzvCj5fAh6Kp-T-JPwXoeCZdkHvCo3qvU_ffL6mHjh4jP7sfn5hbmmCQNUR-stVg/s200/Brook.jpg" border="0" /></a>-afternoon and the multiple sweaters were proving to be quite warm. I had this brilliant(lunatic say some) idea to take a dip in the brook. Shyam was all for it and even Sandy agreed to join in. After we reached lunch point, we quickly removed our clothes and I took the first jump, I knew that the water would be cold, but I really was not expecting it to be sooo cold. It literally gave me an electric shock!!! I just couldn’t stay still so I swam to the other end and back in a jiffy and climbed back in as fast as possible. The experience was terrific!. After I toweled and put on my clothes my body felt quite warm but my hands were in for some trouble, they turned bluish, swelled and gave me a tough time for the next half an hour. Shyam followed immediately with much the same results and Sandy backed out seeing our antics of getting out of the water...:)<br /><br /><br />After lunch we embarked on the hardest part of the trek, the climb to Khajjiar from lunch point onwards was quite rugged. But even this section did not prove to be too hard, overall I was a bit dissatisfied with the toughness of the trek, we were never in that "cant-get-breath" situ at any point. My trek in Brahmagiri(Karnataka-Kerala border) was much tougher compared to this one. Rashmi though was having a tough time since she was not so accustomed to trekking. I and Shyam are very chivalrous by nature so we made things worse by pushing her on through "short-cuts" which were actually tougher than the real route...:). For reasons quite beyond my understanding she vehemently refused to be part of our next trek....:)<br /><br /><br />By the time we reached Khajjiar we were all pretty tired, the whole group just lazed on the grass, listening to some music and seeing the other tourists take horse rides. The accommodation in Khajjiar was very good compared to the one in kalatop and w<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvsuemFinVnlEAeQgbqnWw2Q7ObEUnLkpfm5wAI8LypcbKNjL0wX0_uHA6r12-t0vN1Gp_ViY4FoKz9bXsMguC_JeQVA_w45xPUyfUue8_bZGi7eKMKMgXvI1r5-1kt-pZcOZS_w/s1600-h/At+Khajjiar.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042149542982311058" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvsuemFinVnlEAeQgbqnWw2Q7ObEUnLkpfm5wAI8LypcbKNjL0wX0_uHA6r12-t0vN1Gp_ViY4FoKz9bXsMguC_JeQVA_w45xPUyfUue8_bZGi7eKMKMgXvI1r5-1kt-pZcOZS_w/s200/At+Khajjiar.jpg" border="0" /></a>e were able<br />to get good carpeted rooms and attached toilets with hot water for a change. The food as usual was very good. Later in the evening we took a stroll to the Khajjiar lake, A small bridge-cum-house is built right in the middle of this shallow lake. It is an exceptionally peaceful place. We were a small group, about 7-8 of us sitting in the middle of the lake and nobody(except Rameshji) felt like uttering a word. So we decided to keep quiet for two minutes, I can't really explain it but the feeling was so beautiful, silence is sometimes so important. I did not think, I did not talk, I just sat there and felt the peace. But then nice things do not last too long, Rameshji had to blurt out after sometime....:) he was suffocated by the silence I guess!<br /><br /><br />After returning from the lake we all just stood in front of the hostel and gossiped, I got to know more about the college kids from Bombay, I felt a bit envious that they were able to do all this trekking in their<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibInfg_1eIGjc6EdNUYqJekl031pmMsHloAb6M1EwTXT_gASg0x2OO2oXOOOzTltaGnGuvQxOfip9CtK8G1or0oaY71OgI0dV_6wrIrcxmIV60kgWKJT11Zxlp1cMafZYKRgAAtQ/s1600-h/Moon+Rise1.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042150178637470882" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibInfg_1eIGjc6EdNUYqJekl031pmMsHloAb6M1EwTXT_gASg0x2OO2oXOOOzTltaGnGuvQxOfip9CtK8G1or0oaY71OgI0dV_6wrIrcxmIV60kgWKJT11Zxlp1cMafZYKRgAAtQ/s200/Moon+Rise1.jpg" border="0" /></a> college days itself.<br /><br /><br />But I guess I will remember this day as the sun-set-moon-rise day.... just as we were taking pictures of an exceptionally beautiful sunset in the mountains, the moon started rising. It was a full moon and it rose from behind the mountains wh<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTwPPw20fA003EChqGBQNtyj0h5orhnTBHq_JUI0TeH0h6YpB7IsYGg9uN5KgGNS4MA9S5iblDCSX_3OlzbAuGlxUUcUBDMCtptlCh_6JJND2qLj33VH5X_M-XXnVZnsySYBMctA/s1600-h/Moon+Rise2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042150453515377842" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTwPPw20fA003EChqGBQNtyj0h5orhnTBHq_JUI0TeH0h6YpB7IsYGg9uN5KgGNS4MA9S5iblDCSX_3OlzbAuGlxUUcUBDMCtptlCh_6JJND2qLj33VH5X_M-XXnVZnsySYBMctA/s200/Moon+Rise2.jpg" border="0" /></a>ere the sun had set.... it's quite beyond my language skills to express the beauty of the scene. It was just pure magic.<br /><br /><br />After dinner we had another round of chit-chat and then hit the sack. Next morning we were a bit late to get out of bed, things were a bit laid back since we were nearing the end of the trek. Jan 04 2007 was the last day of actual trekking, the trek was fully downhill about 12 km, to the town of Chamba. It was quite easy and not so beautiful as the prev<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglzkP3vDKU43dFuU9_wMqtK6JZOJuAiHos55ZHZdkPSY5RrOmUruHIGChkM46SzUZ0nqt2nPaYANIL2U9YNPf_dxPf3tflrh5ySeF0kaPdjGfhyvdCWLUcSIw7VdNXdK82b6f0qA/s1600-h/Smiles+all+round.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042151226609491138" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglzkP3vDKU43dFuU9_wMqtK6JZOJuAiHos55ZHZdkPSY5RrOmUruHIGChkM46SzUZ0nqt2nPaYANIL2U9YNPf_dxPf3tflrh5ySeF0kaPdjGfhyvdCWLUcSIw7VdNXdK82b6f0qA/s200/Smiles+all+round.jpg" border="0" /></a>ious days, Shyam and I took quite a number of short cuts just to get the feel of having done something. Most notably we pushed Sandeep and Rashmi to do the same thing. Poor folks, I guess they will never make the mistake of coming with us again...:)<br /><br /><br />Halfway through the trek, I befriended Piyush(from the Gujarati group) I had not interacted with him much(which was a mistake). All the Gujaratis were chewing "thumbak" whic<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7fPw-4e4FQexxi41XbmmagyBl_YdQx3ZiFU-vEff8undgNi-rVAjfFnyNIJguCF96Sk0CExtTzLoi9EdD3J_IqRWXtXQ7H4vulPHu8MIMjeWd4RxIjzbzw_J_ZXGZAS7fCsePDA/s1600-h/Steppe+farming.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042151926689160418" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7fPw-4e4FQexxi41XbmmagyBl_YdQx3ZiFU-vEff8undgNi-rVAjfFnyNIJguCF96Sk0CExtTzLoi9EdD3J_IqRWXtXQ7H4vulPHu8MIMjeWd4RxIjzbzw_J_ZXGZAS7fCsePDA/s200/Steppe+farming.jpg" border="0" /></a>h gives you a minor kick and gets you going. He offered me some which I took, I did not feel too much effect, but from then on the climb down seemed to be even more easier. At our lunch point we saw a village school nearby. Himachal Pradesh is well known for its literacy, but I really admired the school settings. The kids sitting in open air under a tree shade, the teacher on a chair in front of them and some classes did not even have a black board!. The scene seemed to be straight out of the epic "Mahabharata".<br /><br /><br />The camp leader greeted us at Chamba and asked me for his "gift" which was the garbage that I was supposed to collect en-route, unfortunately I had forgotten about it on the third day. Fortunately for me this was no army and I was not court-martial led for "dereliction of duty". That evening we went to visit Chamba town and museum, the museum was small but quite interesting it gave us a good insight into the history of Chamba.<br /><br /><br />That night we had a long drawn out campfire in our room, we got away with another mallu number but <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjRp-oKWId9j-612JYo5rvtkjSo3zV3WJAGBCNg1uWgPr5VVqDTYe8F4H4QCoY1dvAPkEFyP-EixiLumlCB3WZHNext9ttprH1QViMA1j_SZS3H-gPB3tiS7E4-QF3d4fBKt6u8A/s1600-h/Hydel+Pjt.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042153009020919026" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjRp-oKWId9j-612JYo5rvtkjSo3zV3WJAGBCNg1uWgPr5VVqDTYe8F4H4QCoY1dvAPkEFyP-EixiLumlCB3WZHNext9ttprH1QViMA1j_SZS3H-gPB3tiS7E4-QF3d4fBKt6u8A/s200/Hydel+Pjt.jpg" border="0" /></a>Rashmi had to dance some Kathak steps to satisfy the audience. The camp leader was a good singer and he joined us in the fun. I enjoyed the whole affair very much everyone was relaxed at having finished the trek successfully without any mishaps and joined in with relish.<br /><br /><br />The next day, Jan 05 2007 we caught the bus back t<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXjx8KyZ3u8-ltrKylnGwf5SPbQFZtSTQcZ68dsom7TBOSNJNe6Ib65CEAJu9zSqfBT8FhcqiWmctziY4TqmRGZRp0-Rb1BXpbpurQJCk4MOzzGxyQU9EInJR1d8Liy-hehEsKhg/s1600-h/Bus+Top.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042153240949153026" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXjx8KyZ3u8-ltrKylnGwf5SPbQFZtSTQcZ68dsom7TBOSNJNe6Ib65CEAJu9zSqfBT8FhcqiWmctziY4TqmRGZRp0-Rb1BXpbpurQJCk4MOzzGxyQU9EInJR1d8Liy-hehEsKhg/s200/Bus+Top.jpg" border="0" /></a>o Dalhousie, it took us about 2 and a half hours. We were not very sure about what to do with the rest of the time we had on hand, our return train was Saturday night. Ideas flew thick and fast, we decided on Patni Top in Jammu and Kashmir, I was very thrilled about it. But once we reached Dalhousie, I went to meet the vicar again, he was at one time stationed in Jammu and he advised us not to go to Jammu since the traveling itself would take all the time, so we revised our plans and went to Dharamshala.<br /><br /><br />We got a contact for a hotel there which was just opposite the local Gurudwara. The lodge did not look too good from outside and we had some misgiving there but once we met the owner we decided to take the rooms. It was run a very fine Sikh gentleman in his seventies, He thoroughly impressed me with his fine manners and pleasant conversation. I had a chat with him about Sikh history and othe<img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042153623201242386" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfH3xqNAKcoKELgv9dh3ahAn45Gu4BaHmC9hIMBsL-iDpkPMDCYJbZl1bAAy7gAGM-if4TcdDsopYJCZ_IKMW3HmItacOSye1i7kP20fOEa9wmdiRVEcIxYHtNCUxSnYuxf0ZNyQ/s200/Four+at+Daramsala.jpg" border="0" />r stuff for quite some time. While traveling you meet many people, almost all of them you forget the very next day, but some people live on in memory and I am sure that this Sikh gentleman will be one of them as far as I am concerned.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9s3m9m0KBOgnBSjgFj5s54FXxmVi4CJZWXxbh3aabVW453wpYQVOqQIqgeJhhFW_1SjH0FdzruvLULBYN2VbCrEKs96nMLwbcRpLYXiyU7drngO1ahKHwtqCTFG3dIqAUIOXHow/s1600-h/budha.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042154125712416034" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9s3m9m0KBOgnBSjgFj5s54FXxmVi4CJZWXxbh3aabVW453wpYQVOqQIqgeJhhFW_1SjH0FdzruvLULBYN2VbCrEKs96nMLwbcRpLYXiyU7drngO1ahKHwtqCTFG3dIqAUIOXHow/s200/budha.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The next day we went in a taxi arranged by him to see the sights around Dharamshala(Rs.450). The first was the Buddhist temple, where we spent about two hours. Later we went to see a local waterfall and some temples, it was a rather un-<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh8ghPGY_-MlvKCBQ9XwxbYD8R_Z2WT0TfUP1uyDpYogiUCsy1n9-17bsz8qoGUwDgxLJGPhyphenhyphenrS6JQ8jyzaSOQoYmEF5NmOtUnv4KWQTPzn3MsgBX-d5_R2-_06FV5o5h2A2FIDw/s1600-h/Slate+Hermit.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042155190864305458" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh8ghPGY_-MlvKCBQ9XwxbYD8R_Z2WT0TfUP1uyDpYogiUCsy1n9-17bsz8qoGUwDgxLJGPhyphenhyphenrS6JQ8jyzaSOQoYmEF5NmOtUnv4KWQTPzn3MsgBX-d5_R2-_06FV5o5h2A2FIDw/s200/Slate+Hermit.jpg" border="0" /></a>eventful visit, We caught the bus at 4 P.M and reached Pathankot by about 8 p.m our return train to Delhi was at 10:15, so we had<br />dinner, Shyam went to check with the travels from where we hired the taxi to see if they had got his film camera, unfortunately they informed him that they too had not seen it. The journey back was un-eventful, this time we had tickets proper so no TTR bothered us.<br /><br /><br />We reached Delhi on Jan 08 2007 in the morning. We took a taxi to Shyam's place in Noida, had our breakfast(ate like I never saw food before), refreshed ourselves and then went out to do some shopping. I had told my mother that I would cut my hair on the way back from the Himalayas, Shyam was totally against it, so were<img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042156114282274130" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVXH7xlxOTottIxf4ZviSOGRxB65V_nALqS6dvi9KZ304I04yi_n_nIg2c-1DiraCa8tNyc22dCaRDAF2nI3wplIInDUMP0cEVRhm8DKtIV03aCSw67wb7IGYlBhmw53XWIL4Pgw/s200/Hair+cut.jpg" border="0" /> the others except rashmi who was supportive. Anyways I was too exasperated with its maintenance and add to it the emotional blackmail from ma mother, I had firmly decided to cut it off and so I did. I "lost" ten years after the cut according to Shyam, the new style was received with mixed <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-6T5wUDRsi3grAGTx02n-bPDjHnpuhOymS3jRcYjKPywNxqnv5EjQRzP7nbmlv1HxF_gODBIfkyorLeIpZKvJCk13bDjVP0osYVdjKcWw3ye2C8Ru7wFeWa2tFnJbo87NKrDVcA/s1600-h/Hunk+at+Haat.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042156389160181090" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-6T5wUDRsi3grAGTx02n-bPDjHnpuhOymS3jRcYjKPywNxqnv5EjQRzP7nbmlv1HxF_gODBIfkyorLeIpZKvJCk13bDjVP0osYVdjKcWw3ye2C8Ru7wFeWa2tFnJbo87NKrDVcA/s200/Hunk+at+Haat.jpg" border="0" /></a>reactions from friends and family. With most of them saying that the old one was better....:(<br /><br /><br />Later that night we went for some shopping at Delhi Haat, the stuff displayed there was quite good, most of the handicrafts were of real good quality but I was in no mood to buy, I just wanted to sleep! after having a look around most places, we left. Our flights back to Bangalore were scheduled in the morning, I was by this time feeling quite depressed thinking of going back to office and daily routine. Early morning next day (Jan 08) we bid farewell to Shyam’s parents and took the flight back...."back to the grind"....:)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09608967706733895867noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23088065.post-1152197361165225782006-07-06T20:18:00.000+05:302006-07-06T20:19:44.370+05:30Goa TripDate:28 April 2006 to 31st April 2006.<br />The Goa tour plan was the brain child of Shafeeque, who decided one fine Monday that we should go to Goa that fine Friday. Like most under-prepared and non-planned ideas, this was a major success.<br />In those short 4 days he got hold of 6 friends to travel along with him though he did not get any tickets!<br /><br />Participants:<br />Shafeeque alias captain<br />Rohit alias ulta<br />Azim alias azi<br />Suraj alias cheenja<br />Joseph Antony alias poolu-vayan<br />Shailesh alias Muniyandi<br />Abraham Menacherry alis abru<br /><br />Muniyandi started from Madras, four of us from Bangalore joine<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/1600/Train.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/320/Train.jpg" border="0" /></a>d him in the general compartment of "Chennai-Vasco" express and two others came direct to Goa from Kerala.<br />Train ticket cost from Bangalore to Goa (Vasco) was 150 per person.<br />The overnight journey was tiresome coz we did not get any berth to sleep in. Five of us had to share one berth. It was un-eventful except that the train started late and we drank a bottle of Vodka in the train (Punishable under Indian law!) and spend most of the time near the door (again punishable under Indian law) with the cool night wind in our face. Two of my company were ardent smokers and they smoked their fill all through the night (punishable again, but the law be damned!! with a few pegs in one's stomach everything is lawful).<br /><br />We reached Margoa at 12 Noon sharp. It had taken us 14 hours to reach from Bangalore.<br />In the Rly Station we met up with the other two traveling from kerala. Some local bike-taxi men came up and told that they knew the best places to stay around Goa, anyways we went along with them, 3 in each bike to Colva. On the way the Goa police flagged us down, but due to the law being an ass the intelligent bike fellas were able to talk out of that one.<br /><br />They took us to a very decent looking place called Caza Roiz, very near Colva beach. It was a very "family" type place with the room rent being 200 per person per day (after haggling). This is the off-season rate though. During season time it could be 4 to 5 times higher. The rooms were very neat and tidy and spacious, the bathrooms very clean. I would recommend this room to anybody traveling with their family, but bachelors really have other options. These guys don't entertain any sort of rowdy-behavior or loud noise or getting into drunken fights, anyways we came back to our rooms only for sleeping so there was no problem.<br /><br />Goa is gem of a holidaying centre. The people here really understand the concept of holidaying. Like most tourists we too had come with a big itinerary of places to visit but the itineraries go for a toss in Goa. The whole "laid-back" attitude can really get into you. For example on the second day of our visit we went for a biking trip, our plan was to visit 4 beaches and one port we ended up visiting one beach and no port.<br /><br />We started of our visit with a dip in the sea. It was terrific; bathing in the sea is not so common for land laggards from Bangalore, so we enjoyed it to the hilt. Of course we had downed many a bottle of Feni before we went in for the dip; there was a sign on the beach saying "bathing after alcohol consumption is dangerous". I tell you it is a load of crap, just don't go too far into the sea and you will feel right on top of the world... water all around you, water inside you.. ah the feeling is too good.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/1600/Restaurant.0.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/320/Restaurant.0.jpg" border="0" /></a>Next was dinner an outdoor in a restaurant just outside Casa Roiz. I forgot its name, but the food there was terrific. We went there for most of our meals on each day. As night "dawned" we decided to go to some discotheque, and let loose all that bottled up energy. But to our dismay we found out that the real good discotheques were about 60 km away in Calangute. But then when did a mere 60 km stop us from our destiny, we booked a cab(Rs 1.8k after haggling, usually it is 2k and during the season, you will have to sell you home to pay for it), went to Calangute and paid an entry fee of Rs.600 to enter the Titto's discotheque. Saturday usual rate is Rs.800. We were all rather pissed off by that time coz it seemed that we had already spend twice our estimated quota.<br /><br />Initially it seemed that the entry fee was not worth it, coz, there was a distinct lack of the fairer sex on the dance floor. But as the night progressed they came in droves... to cut a long story short we had one "rocking" time. Each and every muscle in my body ached as we left for home by about 2 a.m in the morning.<br /><br />Sunday must have dawned beautifully; I was in bed so can't vouch for it. After having a late break fast we decided to go biking. When we went to get rental bikes (Rs.400) at the Colva beach, we were shocked to hear that there was not even one bike remaining there, all of them being rented out to some big group that had come before us. This was a blessing in disguise, for in search of bikes we reached Margao and to our surprise found out that the going rate there was only 250.<br /><br />We made some really ambitious plans about visiting a number of beaches and ports, but the less said about the plan the better. The Goa'n charm permeated our very being... infact the speedo hardly ever went over the forty mark, you really dont feel like doing anything fast in Goa.<br /><br />The ride was from south to north of Goa, we covered about 150 km or more but at a gentle pace, soaking in all the sights, taking time to drink Feni (but not too much of <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/1600/Beach.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/320/Beach.jpg" border="0" /></a>it, we may be irresponsible but not criminally so) at most stops and generally getting a feel of the Goa'n way of life.<br /><br />We went to Calangute the only beach we could actually visit, an we just about reached Vagator beach but it won't count as a visit coz we spend too small a time there and missed sunset by a few minutes. Calangute is considered to be "The best" beach in Goa, but as happens to "The best" beaches in most places it was heavily overcrowded. If you ever visit Goa you must visit Calangute but make the visit very short coz the crowd there is a big turn off.<br /><br />The two who had come from Kerala departed that night. Unfortunately they missed out the best part of the trip. After their departure (at about 12 pm in the night, some train from Margao) we decided to take a stroll through Colva beach. It was an absolutely exhilarating experience. There was a cool night wind as we walked through the sands; it was thoroughly refreshing, soul-cleansing stuff. I felt as if I were alone in this world, at peace with myself, as if everything was right with this world. Believe me a night like that could make Attila the Hun philosophical. Another thing of interest that we noted was a number of people sleeping on the beach, with the sand covering their entire bodies. We gawked when we saw the first guy buried in sand and snoring away happily but later we saw that this was a common practice, the beach was littered with these "sand burials".<br /><br />Monday must have dawned beautifully, again I was in bed... but today was the day of our departure, and we had to leave at 5 p.m. We could book bus tickets to Bangalore from the Margao bus stand. bus ticket Rs.400 per head, bribe given to official to get the tickets - Rs.100.<br />breakfast was from a hotel near the beach. I had had enough of Feni, and the others too wanted to try something else for a change. So we decided upon wine. We had two bottles of champagne (local stuff but real good) some pegs of Whisky and then I ordered "Peach Schnapps" a really cool drink, it tastes good, smells like spirit and gives you a very laid back kick. It's a good drink when in Goa. <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/1600/paraSailing.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/320/paraSailing.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Later we visited the beach again, this time a guy came up and told us that we could do Para-sailing for Rs250. It was Rs500 in Calangute beach the day before, so we jumped at the offer and went for parasailing. It was an awesome experience, the sea below you, the wind in your ears and the roar of the waves all combine to give you a real thrill. It's really worth for 250.<br />Later we took another dip in the sea and then it was time for departure. We reached exactly on time for the bus, and had to jump in fast. Unfortunately during the hurry we forgot to buy any drinks that we had promised our room-loving friends back in B'lore. This later caused some "avoidable-injuries". Anyways we were back in B'lore by 7 pm the next day, with some good memories and a nice tan.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09608967706733895867noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23088065.post-1152197209850265312006-07-06T20:16:00.000+05:302007-09-24T15:07:41.822+05:30Bangalore Yelagiri Bike TripThis post is dedicated to that lunatic fanatic biker "Rameez Latheef".<br /><br />"ollathu kondu onam polae"<br />-Malayalam proverb meaning live like a king with what you have.<br /><br />If you have a Yezdi bike and enough money for filling the insatiable hunger of that powerful beast then you really can become a king on the road. No wonder they named one of the versions "RoadKing".<br /><br />On a fine Sunday morning(29-May-2006) at the unholy hour of 6:30A:M I found myself sitting on top of a Yezdi bike, the sole reason being that I had not got a ticket to my <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/1600/yoyoGuys.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/320/yoyoGuys.jpg" border="0" /></a>native the previous Friday. The destination was "Yelagiri" in TamilNadu. 6 more guys came along for the trip. The cast and crew included, 2 Yezdi bikes, 1 Bajaj Discoverer and one Honda Unicorn. The people who participated were<br />1)Abraham Menacherry(me)<br />2)Rameez Latheef(Crazy Yezdi Bike owner)<br />3)Isaac Cheriyathu (Even more Crazy Yezdi Bike owner)<br />4)Shyam Chand Kalakad(Unicorn owner and my adorable roomie)<br />5)Jiju K George(My hostel-mate and hmm... the odd man out)<br />6)Naseeb(Poor Bajaj owner)<br />7)Jagadish(Poor Bajaj Pillion rider)<br /><br />at abt 7 A.M we all had congregated at K.R Puram. The streets were deserted, we made good way in a short time span. Our first stop was at Hoskote on the Old Madras Road. We overshot it by a mere 7km before somebody got the idea that we were on the wrong track. The next recognizable spot on the map (yeah we had one) was the village called Malur. With all due respect to the utterly useless guys in BDA(Bangalore Development authority) the guy who made/maintains this road is even more incapable than you guys. In fact one shouldn’t exactly be calling it a road, it was more like a bit of tar spread around the potholes.<br /><br />By 9 we had covered 100km even on those inhumane tracks. Our next major stop was at Bangarpet. It’s a small town like any other in south India. Here we had our breakfast from a small vegetarian hotel that was very overcrowded. The crowd was there for a good reason too, the food was very good.<br /><br />From the map we saw that it was easier to go via "kuppam". But at least 4 people testified that there was no such road. We were crestfallen but fortunately just as we left the hotel we ran into a guy with an Enfield bike. He looked like the sort who would know the road to kuppan and he did know it!!!.<br /><br />The route to be taken was via the Kolar Gold Fields. And what a road it was! This is what one will expect from a country road. Smooth surface, non-existent traffic, green surroundings and flowing curves that will satiate the thirst of even the most eager biker. It was a breeze from KGF to Kuppom and from Kuppom to Nattranpalli. Only difference was that ‘Halli Darigalu’ turned into ‘Uri Darulu’ and then into ‘Kramathu Salaigal’ in a matter of a few kilometers as we crossed two state boundaries.<br /><br />Kuppam is a model town in Andhra, it is a beautiful serene place with flowing green fields having who-knows-what-crop and golden hay stacks bunched all along its roads, in fact its one village that would definitely get my vote for the "model town thingy".<br /><br />On the way from Kuppam to Nattrampalli we stopped our bikes to take some snaps; we had not seen even one vehicle in about 20 minutes of traveling on that road. In our over-confidence we<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/1600/kuppamroad.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/320/kuppamroad.jpg" border="0" /></a> parked the bikes right in the middle of the road. Shyam's bike was right in the centre, after taking the snaps we were all climbing back on to the bikes and shyam was taking a leak when one Indica came zooming up the bend, Shyam (with his fly open) jumped into the middle of the road and waved his hands to stop the car, it was totally hilarious, actually the car driver had seen us and had slowed down so there was no real danger.<br /><br />Another highlight of the ride was the much awaited battle between Rameez’s Roadking and the Unicorn. But again, it turned out to be a no-contest as the four-stroke Honda could not match the mind-boggling acceleration or the top-end speed of the sturdy quarter-liter Czech crotch rocket at any time during the ride. Both the Roadkings were miles ahead in the hills as well as during the highway run. One thing noted was the discrepancy between the speedometers of the bikes. When the Unicorn speedo was showing 120kmph, Rameez’s Roadking was showing 110kmph while my bike’s speedo was showing around 100kmph, all at the same speed. Both the Roadkings clocked 125kmph according to <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/1600/Roadkings.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/320/Roadkings.jpg" border="0" /></a>Rameez’s speedo and that would have been over 135 in the Honda speedo. Only thing that marred the image was the pearly Roadking’s engine getting seized after a long stint of speeds over 120kmph.<br /><br />Due credit should be given to the Discover, which has not a 125cc heart, but a 110cc one, and still coped up with the other bikes boasting displacements of more that twice. It is not to say that the Discover was competing with other steeds, but it never got too far behind for us to wait for it at any time.<br /><br />Having bypassed Jolarpet town we reached the foothills of Yelagiri by about 12 P.M. Next was the 14km ride to the top of Yelagiri. True biker that he is, Isaac left us all far behind, and then waited at each bend for us to catch up. The view while riding to the top is stupendous, you can see the valley below stretching for miles on end with rolling green fields and water bodies between them, and the thread thin roads, snaking through them. We stopped at many points and took a lot of snaps, with this view as the background. Actually the only thing we got in the background was the blue sky and the clouds. The valley was too far below.<br /><br />By 1PM we had reached our destination. Lunch was from a tidy little hotel called "Surabhi" right next to the road leading to Yelagiri’s small lake. We had tomato soup, chicken fry, chili chicken and chicken fried rice. The food was ok, the soup was not. The options we now had were a trek to swami-malai and boating on the lake. We decided upon trekking.<br /><br />On the way was this giant banyan tree, all of us got down and rested in its shade for some time, but the primate in shyam awoke and he took some snaps of himself hanging up-side down on its hanging branches. The trek would have been a non-starter if not for shyam and Naseeb who pushed us awake from the all empowering seduction of a siesta. After much bickering on the benefits of a good sleep and a good trek, we were back on our way to the village called "Mankalam". After losing our way a couple of times we reached the village. We parked our bikes and left our helmets in the care of the villagers there and started off on our 4km trek. After about 1km Jiju, Rameez and Isaac backed out.<br /><br />The rest of us continued, initially the climb was ok and we were able to make good ground, but after some time all the junk food, late nights and no-exercise regime that we worship started taking its toll I was finding it hard to catch my breath. The path itself was not very arduous; it had some widely spaced stone steps and well beaten path in other stretches. Fortunately everyone who was climbing along with me except for Jagadish (who seems to be in prime form) was as tired as I was. We would climb for 5 minutes and take rest for 10 and this would continue. The villagers who had seen us going up had rightly judged us to be pampered town brats so they send up a kid to keep us company. The ease with which this guy was climbing gave a mighty complex. He offered to carry my bag for me after some time, but I declined, I was tired but I did not want to muddy the reputation of us town brats!<br /><br />After climbing for what seemed to be forever (it was actually just over an hour) we reached the summit. There was a small temple there between two huge boulders (each one would be twice the size of my office) we took more snaps and rested for some time. Another strategic point on the hills had a boulder and an iron ladder attached to it. We went up the ladder and the view from there was...... well to experience that you have to be there, words are inadequate to explain the thrill we got. On top of this boulder was an iron railing to prevent any misadventure. It is really steep on three edges and I did lose my balance on the top so it was there for a good reason.<br /><br />By this time the climate had chilled and there was a strong cold wind blowing at us. It rejuvenated us completely. After spending about an hour there, we went down, the climb down was a breeze, we almost ran the whole distance, and met up with the other three. <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/1600/hut.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/320/hut.jpg" border="0" /></a>We had tea from the local chai shop of the village, and one thing that we noted about this village called Mankalam was how neat the whole hamlet was... every little road was swept clean, every courtyard was spic and span all in all another good candidate for the "Model-village-thingy". Next destination was the lake, but since the time was already nearing 6pm we did not go boating.<br /><br />On our way back the skies opened up with a mighty roar and we were pelted with furious rain. Each drop felt like a tiny hammer on our skin. This was really the most thrilling part of our bike ride.<br /><br />The only major incident that happened during this rain-ride was a dog jumping in front of shyams bike. I and Rameez were just behind him so we were able to get a clear picture of what happened. When the dog ran into his front wheel shyam showed terrific presence of mind, his bike did not even waver, in the rain, with that speed, if he had braked or tried to take a sudden turn it would have meant disaster. Jiju was the pillion rider, he also did not move or jerk around even when he felt that the dog was going to crash against him, fortunately it did not. Anyway the dog got dragged for about 2 seconds and he slid for another two in front of our bike before he came to a stop in the middle of the road. It seemed that only his front leg was injured. Within one hour the rain had ceased but the wind was still very chilly and I felt like I had nearly frozen on my seat.<br /><br />With ought any more incidents and with God's grace we were able to reach back safely.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09608967706733895867noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23088065.post-1152196515850754952006-07-06T20:04:00.000+05:302006-07-06T20:05:26.896+05:30Kodai Munnar Trek<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/1600/Group%20Photo.0.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/320/Group%20Photo.0.jpg" border="0" /></a>Participants:<br />Shyam Chand<br />Sandeep Raja<br />Pavitra Rao<br />Vimla Mothi<br />Malini Narasimha<br />Mihir Joshi<br />Kabir Joshi<br />Abraham Menacherry<br />Dev Balaji(Guide)<br /><br />Hosted by Nature Admire, cost 3500 rupees, including food, stay(in tents/guesthouse etc) and pickup and drop to Bangalore.<br /><br />Was it worth it? Since we could not complete the trek I can’t say for sure. Its a three day 10 + 21 + 10 km trek starting from Perijam lake in Kodaikanal to Top station about 30km from Munnar. Perijam Lake is situated about 30 km from kodaikanal. It’s a forest area and you need the forest dept's letter to go to that place.<br /><br />We started the expedition from Bangalore on the night of 29th of March 2006. Transportation was in a Swaraj Mazda, it was a reasonably comfortable drive. We reached Kodai by 30th afternoon and had our lunch at a reasonably good place called "Goldan Parks Inn". Now we went to the office of the Forest Dept to get our letter. They acted like true govt: office and gave the letter after a long delay.<br /><br />Next stop was Perijam Lake. The road to <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/1600/TreeFallen.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 384px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 260px" height="240" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/320/TreeFallen.jpg" width="341" border="0" /></a>this place is along a forested area; fortunately it had a good tarred road through it. Halfway through our journey to the lake, we were stopped because of a tree that had fallen right across the road. We made good use of this opportunity to take a lot of snaps; also we packed our backpacks with all the necessary items for the trek and put the rest of the stuff back in the vehicle. Within half an hour the workers had cleared the tree off the road, and there was this woman working there who was kind enough to give us good "walking sticks" which she cut off from the fallen tree.<br /><br /><br />On reaching Perijam Lake we disembarked and started our trek, we made slow progress because of the weight of our backpacks. It is tougher than it seems to walk with a 15-20 kg load on your shoulder. You get tired pretty fast and your shoulders and back ache like mad. But after about 20 minutes you will get into a rhythm and then its fine.<br /><br />The whole area is absolutely beautiful, the Kodai section of the trek is more of a pine forest and it’s near the Munnar section that the forest turns into a tropical evergreen type. I have always considered pine trees to be the "celebrity-good-looker" in the family of trees and here was a whole forest of em.<br /><br />On our way to our first tenting point about 10 kilometers from Perijam Lake there were two <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/1600/Skull%201.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/320/Skull%201.jpg" border="0" /></a>occasions that really stood out. One was when we found the skull of a bison, it was really huge and heavy and it had such majestic rounded horns that it must have been one of the alpha males during its life time. We took a lot of snaps with the skull in different positions. The second situation was that we were lost in the forest at night, this arose because of a number of factors, we had started our trek late, we were slower than our guide expected and there were two kids with us (Mihir and Kabir are just passing on from 8th to 9th standard) who got a bit scared as the pitch black of the forest night descended on us. Anyway to make a long story short we had to trek a little bit extra before we could reach our destination.<br /><br />I liked this "getting-lost" part, its where all the fun and adventure is, not knowing whether we will reach our destination, and what to do for the night is a rather funny feeling to be had, but looking back its such situations that make an expedition more memorable.<br />At our destination we bundled ourselves into a 6 by 7 foot room and had our dinner. There were two sparrows in the room before we arrived and we had to get rid of them before we could get in. It was an open room with no door and broken windows. Balaji had noticed elephant dung outside the room and this caused a bit of worry for everyone. Fortunately none of the jumbo’s came visiting during the night.<br /><br />Since we could not all fit in to the room, it was decided that the "<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/1600/Tent%203.0.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/320/Tent%203.0.jpg" border="0" /></a>boys", me, shyam and Sandeep would sleep out in a tent. It was my first experience of sleeping in a tent. Balaji fixed us the tent in hardly 15 minutes and then we put in our sleeping mats and sleeping bags and went to sleep, well not directly to sleep coz we were all a bit scared about the elephant dung or at least its owner. It was very cold during the night but we managed to brave it. I had a reasonably good sleep and since I am one big snorer I am sure that the other guys did not get too much of the same.<br /><br />The next day I awoke and did my morning rituals in the forest, we had our breakfast and were all set to start off on the second leg of our tour. This would mean about 21 km of trekking to a forest guest house. Till now we were following a jeep trial but going ahead we were to follow a single-man path through the thick forest, also the altitude would change dramatically from about 5000 feet to a high of 7500 feet. At this high altitude breathing is tougher especially with the loads that we were carrying.<br /><br />I was very thrilled regarding this second leg of the trek, unfortunately one of the girls fainted just before start of the trek and Balaji decided that it was too risky to carry on. So we decided to retrace our steps back to Perijam Lake. The poor girl was real crestfallen but then it could have been anyone, we were all still tired from our night-trek on the day before. The way back was as good as going through a new route since we had not seen the surroundings in the pitch dark of the previous night.<br /><br />This time instead of using the jeep track we used short-cuts through the forest to reach Perijam <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/1600/Hill%20Top%201.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/320/Hill%20Top%201.jpg" border="0" /></a>Lake, we lost our way a couple of times and most of our short-cuts turned out to be long-cuts but anyways it was fun. Also since we had the whole day with us to complete the 10km trek we stopped here and there to take a lot of snaps, climbed atop a huge rocky hill to get a view and stopped by a brook to take a long break, in short the trek was more like a picnic in the woods. By afternoon we had reached Perijam Lake and had our lunch from a local canteen.<br /><br />We rode back from Perijam to Kodai on the back of a truck which had none of the flaps to cover its three sides... it was an absolutely thrilling experience, it was a first for everyone and all of us enjoyed this ride to the hilt. I think this will be one of the experiences that I will never forget about this trip. Thinking of the way we tossed around on the back while the truck negotiated hairpin curves at high speeds still brings on the goose bumps. Fortunately we took a photo/video of this.<br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/1600/cycling9.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/320/cycling9.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />We spend the night in Kodai in a hotel called "Clifton" it also had the name "JH Residency" don't know why both names were displayed together. This was a rather cheap but very cozy hotel. We had to pay only Rs500 for 9 people, and we easily fit into two rooms. Am not sure about the in-season charge for this place.<br /><br />The next day was more of a picnic with the kids going for boating and some of us going for cycling around the lake in Kodai. We took a lot of snaps, did a bit of chit chat at a local hotel and later that day we returned to Bangalore.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09608967706733895867noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23088065.post-1151333732877480932006-06-26T20:15:00.000+05:302006-07-06T15:56:26.903+05:30Brahmagiri the Indian Switzerland*Brahmagiri – “the abode of Lord Brahma” lies on the border of Ker<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/1600/Brahmagiri%20a%20Close%20Up.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/400/Brahmagiri%20a%20Close%20Up.jpg" border="0" /></a>ala and Karnataka. Believe me Brahma chooses his abodes well; the place is really worth its name in gold. Standing at a majestic 1800 Mts it is one of the higher peaks in the Wayanad range. This had been our dream trekking location for the past several months, but for one reason or the other it always got put off. Fortunately Brahmagiri was written into my rambling fate and on Friday the 16th of June, 2006 we (I(Abraham Menacherry), Shyam Chand Kalakat, Sandeep Raja, and Nazeeb) set out to conquer the Brahmagiri peak.<br /><br />Two more guys, Jean John and Jagadeesh Bashkar were to come along but could not make it, Jean because of a very infectious disease that affects most people before a trek called laziness and Jagadeesh because of a phone call from home asking him to be at the side of his ailing cousin. Jagadeesh, a highly enthusiastic guy was extremely excited about the trek; he had bought stuff worth 20k including a camera and a shoe during that week and was totally disgusted that he could not make it. It must be noted here that his “ailing cousin” was so sick that he went to office on the very next day.<br /><br />Anyway the remaining members caught a KSRTC Bus from Majestic to the place called Gonicuppa on the way to Kannur in Kerala. Ticket cost Rs.120 was the lowest possible fare available. The bus lived up to its “cheap” expectations rattling our bones to powder before we reached Gonicuppa. It took us 6 hours and we reached around 4 A.M.<br /><br />First we had to get permissions from the SriMangala Forest Range office before we could go for the trek, the forest ‘Babus’ would be up and about only by 10 A.M so we had time to catch a wink. We walked straight ahead along the road and about 50 meters from the bus stop there stood ‘Yatri Nivas’ as promised in the blog we had read before we undertook the trek.<br /><br />Showering a silent blessing on whoever had written that blog, we trooped in. The rate per bed was Rs.40. It was a decent sponge bed, in a decent little dorm. We had an un-eventful 4 hours of sleep, well, not everybody, Sandeep dreamt that there was a daemon standing at the top of the bed holding him down and when he tried to shout to me for help… surprise of surprise no voice came out. At this point he woke and then went back peacefully to sleep. I told him later that it wouldn’t have made much difference even if he had found his voice; I was dead to this world.<br /><br />After the morning rituals we had our breakfast from a decent hotel, cannibalized a local dept. store for food and provisions and then caught a local bus to SriMangala. Ticket charge - Rs14. The route to SriMangala is lush green and though we were hardened with all the greenery of Kerala it was still eye-popping.<br /><br />We reached SriMangala by 10.15 A.M. Wrote a requisition letter to the official in charge, paid a sum of Rs220 per head(which included trekking fees, forest entry fees, guide fees, tax, what not).From SriMangala we caught an Ambassador taxi to Irippu falls, the base location from which the trekking starts. The road was not very bad, but wasn’t that good either.<br /><br />At Irippu we were introduced to Laxman our guide. He was assigned the duty to accompany us in the trek to Brahmagiri. He was a forest guide. About 40 years old. The guy was very helpful; n he legibly cleared all our doubts and also helped in cooking food. As per our schedule we would be visiting the falls on the way back so we gave it a miss on the way <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/1600/Bridge%20Near%20Iruppu%20Falls.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/400/Bridge%20Near%20Iruppu%20Falls.jpg" border="0" /></a>up.<br /><br />At Irippu there was a Rameshwara Temple which is built in Kerala style. Shyam and Sandeep had a roundabout in the temple around the sanctum-sanctorum. Then we started out for our real ordeal in the jungle around 12 noon.The initial part of the trek really took the breath out of me, the pizza and late-night culture were catching up on me, I found it extremely difficult to climb up the steep slopes, it was a thickly forested area with blood sucking leeches all around, waiting for my precious blood. Fortunately the guys with me were in my same condition so we worked well as a “team”.<br /><br />After about an eternity of climbing (it was actually about an hour) we reached the grasslands at the top of the hills. Suddenly as we took a curve we came upon this vast expanse of grass on all sides, the thick foliage had cut us off from the view till the last moment. To tell that the view, as sudden as it came was “breathtaking” would be an understatement. We took some snaps, rested and then moved on.<br /><br />Next we came up on a brook named “Lakshmana Theertha” it had nice cool water, we drank from it and felt completely refreshed, after climbing for another hour we reached the Narimalae camp at 2.15. I must have lost 5kg’s on the walk; it was really tough for me.The camp has 2 bedrooms, a hall, a kitchen and a verandah. A shed is built outside were you can cook. The kitchen had all the utensils required for cooking and it was also the home of a huge rat family. Seems that Lord Ganapati had come for a visit too, atleast his "vehicle" was parked in the kitchen.<br /><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/320/Pakshi.jpg" border="0" /><br />We had lunch and by 2:45PM we set out for ‘Munekkal’ caves (“Pakshi Pathalam” in Malayalam) which are 3 km’s from the camp. The caves are actually about 50Mts into Kerala territory.It is easy to see the border, the forest dept. has pruned the grass in two wide lines all along the border and that line snakes over distant hills for as far as the eye can see. On the way to the caves we saw the mammoth Brahamagiri peak in the background it stood tall and proud among its lesser brothers, from a distance the hills around it seemed to be bowing to it, awed by its majesty and regal stance. To tell the truth I was a bit dis-heartened in seeing this sight, it seemed too big an objective to my tired body.<br /><br />After an hour of walking we reached the caves, it was as if the guy up there had shoved some huge boulders and put them in geometrically impossible po<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/1600/A%20pose%20On%20the%20Rocks.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/320/A%20pose%20On%20the%20Rocks.jpg" border="0" /></a>sitions just to make us lesser beings drop their jaws in wonder. The “cave” as such was not very big, much like a hole in the rock, but the boulders around it were huge and imposing, we took some risks and climbed up some of them, looking back that was a plain stupid thing to do, one single slip and it would have meant a first class train ticket to hell/heaven.<br /><br />Laxman informed us about animal sightings near the base camp; we left caves around 4:15 pm, so as to see them. We reached camp back around 5 pm. Nazeeb was all set to have a bath, he was by then utterly tired and wanted to freshen up. There is a small brook near the Narimala base camp, but to reach there one had to pass through a “leech empire” the whole area was covered with those abominable creatures. Anyways we all went for the dip and it was an absolutely fabulous experience. I knew that if I dipped in my foot I would not have the guts to go in, so I took the plunge directly without testing the water temperature. It was as if I had received an electric shock… The water felt as if it had just melted from ice, it rejuvenated every single cell in my worn out body, an exhilarating experience to say the least.<br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/1600/looking%20out%20for%20Animals.0.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/320/looking%20out%20for%20Animals.0.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />After the bath around 6:15 pm, Shyam and I set off to watch Wild animals. Nazeeb was down with cramps and Sandeep was too plain tired to come along. Anyway they did not miss much as the mist came down which blocked our view, and we had to return disappointed, but Shyam did take a lot of beautiful pic’s with the mist as background.<br /><br />Later we cooked our dinner and ate it by candle light. The food was too spicy and even though we were hungry we could not eat much, our eyes watered and our hunger was left un-satiated but our bodies warmed up, the chili had at least that good affect. By this time Shyam found out to his dismay that he had been donating a lot of his blood to a leech, “sucker” was the expletive he used, if I remember clearly…:). We then went to bed by 9 PM, and had a long discussion or argument, I fail to remember clearly. Sandeep’s daemon was taking a break so everyone must have slept peacefully. Anyway we got up by 6 A.M, had noodles for breakfast and set off to conquer his-majesty, the great Brahmagiri peak by 7:15 A.M.<br /><br />The peak is at distance of 5km’s from the camp. We crossed a thick forest on the way, really frightening place, it was dark, with all the sound affects that you hear in horror films. Fortunately it was only a small section and we crossed swiftly. The speed was for a good reason too, there were leeches everywhere, waiting with their demonic suckers to suck us dry… Shyam was seen venting his fury on some of them, in his words they were the “Vampires” of our trek. Naseeb was also bitten during this melee. Infact the only guy who escaped "martydom" was Sandeep, I myself being bitten on the way back.<br /><br />Now I must put in at least a para about these leeches. In my research on leeches I found out that<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/1600/Leech.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/320/Leech.jpg" border="0" /></a> they could be split into two major categories, the psychological leech and the real leech. The former, is the more dangerous of the two. The psychological leech is very versatile and can get into any part of your body and move to any other part at will, whereas the real leech usually attacks your ankles and stays there. Unlike the real leech which you wont feel till it has sucked out your blood, the psychological leech is very much discernible by the itching it causes. In truth these creatures have only a nuisance value, most trekkers are well fed city-brats and can easily risk giving blood to these poor underfed creatures. The only complaint I have against them is that they usually ruin your socks/pants etc beyond repair with your own blood.<br /><br />Here and there we spotted herds of deer, but they <em>flew</em> away as soon as they saw us, totally un-co-operative fella’s, don’t those idiots understand that the only thing<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/1600/A%20sea%20of%20clouds.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/400/A%20sea%20of%20clouds.jpg" border="0" /></a> we ‘shoot’ ‘em with, is a camera? On the way to the peak we came across the most beautiful scene during this trek. As we were climbing, Shyam suddenly asked me look to the right, at first what I saw were some hills at a distance with a huge sea-like lake between them, since I had not expected to see any lake and since the lake seemed to be a bit too “high” among the hills I scrutinized the scene again.. This time I was totally spell-bound, the “lake” was actually a sea of clouds so thick that they looked liked the foam on a never ending wave. The interesting part was that at the points where this cloud-sea and the mountains merged it looked like the clouds were trapped between the hills, trying to get through. Funnily, on our side of the hill the sky was, well, sky blue, without a single cloud. Sandeep a veteran of many treks and who has been to more places than you would care to know certified that this was something that he had never seen before in such majesty. We did take snaps, but the magic of the scene was there for only those who witnessed it with their own eyes.<br /><br />At 8.25 A.M we finally reached the foot of Brahmagiri peak. Next was the climb to the top and it <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/1600/TopOfPeak.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/320/TopOfPeak.jpg" border="0" /></a>looked very much a daunting task. There were many paths to reach the top, and we all took different paths, the way I was climbing seemed to be a bit steeper that the others but all in all there was not much difference, it was very very steep whichever way you climbed. The distance to the top of the peak would have been about 500 meters; we took about 25 minutes to climb that half kilometer. I was on all fours at one point, for the record it was Shyam who reached the top first, among the four of us, he was by far the “best-trekker”. The exertion to reach the top and the fact that I had not been able to fulfill my morning obligations now took revenge on my bowel. I did some ultra high-speed download and if what Discovery channel says is true then I have “marked my territory” right on top of Brahmagiri peak (Hope that’s a record!).<br /><br />Having conquered the “final frontier” we started descending at 9:15 A.M. Nazeeb took the lead this time round. We reached Narimala base camp at 11:15 am. We filled our fuel tanks with biscuits and chocolates and then bid good bye to Narimala camp. Nazeeb penned down a 4 line description about the trek which was by far the best that any one of us (including the veteran) had ever had. We started the journey back towards Irippu falls at 11:45AM, traveling at a scorching pace we reached falls at 12:40 AM.<br /><br />Next was a refreshing bath at the Irippu falls. The water fell with such tre<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/1600/Taking%20the%20plunge.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/320/Taking%20the%20plunge.jpg" border="0" /></a>mendous force that you could hardly go near the falls. But Nazeeb the adventurer found a way to the back side of the falls. I, Shyam and Nazeeb went behind the falls and crouched in the cramped space between the wall of water and the real rock wall. It was a thrilling experience as if right out of a phantom comic strip, but then there was no secret world behind the falls… at least we didn’t find any.<br /><br />After thoroughly enjoying our bath we went down to the parking area. Later we hired a jeep to Kuppa (the bus to Gonicuppa from Irippu was at 3:30 but we were too tired and hungry to wait). During the jeep ride Nazeeb told us of his experiences of eating fried cocoroaches and other insects when he was in Thailand. Fortunately the driver stopped at “Madeena Hotel” in Kuppa, there were no fried insects on sale so Nazeeb was disappointed but he did manage to gobble up half a chicken.<br /><br />We were told that there is a KSRTC bus to Mysore from Kutta at 3:45 P.M. The villagers <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/1600/Deer%20herd%20in%20NagarHole.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/320/Deer%20herd%20in%20NagarHole.jpg" border="0" /></a>tempted us telling that it will go thru Nagarhole Wildlife reserve, where animal sighting’s are common. Hence instead of taking the Gonicuppa route we boarded the Mysore bus at 4 pm. The villagers were right; there were as many deer in that sanctuary as there are dogs in the streets of Bangalore. We even spotted an elephant so all in all it was very much worth taking that route, unfortunately Shyam was not able to take a clear picture of the elephant.<br /><br />At 7:30 pm we landed at Mysore, had dinner at a Malayalee hotel near KSRTC bus stand. Later we called up Jagadeesh and told him an exaggerated version of events, thus driving the last nail on his coffin… poor guy he really missed the whole thing. It took us about 3 hours from Mysore to Bangalore and then we caught an auto till Madivala, we were back home by 12:30, having completed a hugely successful trek. The whole plan that we had laid down had worked out wonderfully well, each every single part of our itinerary had been realized. This trek verily deserved the “Best Trek Award”... at least till I go for my next one.<br /><br />*minus the snow.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09608967706733895867noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23088065.post-1150813062259960332006-06-20T19:40:00.000+05:302006-06-20T19:47:42.293+05:30I am a bit Philosophical todaylife is a celebration,<br />where each temptation,<br />needs realization,<br />society is a villian that holds us for ransom with machination,<br />against our will it does this subjugation,<br />but do not look at it with terpidation,<br />for it can neither control our destiny nor our imagination.<br /><br />Sometimes I wonder what I to do with this gift of life that I have got, do good to somebody else? just live it out? become a hermit and get to know the secrects of life?<br />Whatever it may be I crave to find a meaning for my life, a destiny to work towards.<br />Life really is a mystery!<br /><br />some people do one thing all their life, others do all things in one life. I always wanted to be in the second category, to be a jack-of-all-trades rather than a specialist. It could also be the reason that I could never decide upon one single thing as my destiny....Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09608967706733895867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23088065.post-1141024995412852892006-02-27T12:36:00.000+05:302006-02-28T17:57:12.406+05:30Pune Mahabaleshwar trip"My eyes are covered with dust,<br />My feet are tired beyond limit<br />My tongue is parched and yet<br />I feel light in my head and joy in my heart"<br />-Abraham Menacherry<br />I am no poet as you would have found out by now, but I do like to travel. Fortunately I am blessed with friends who think alike. But my memory is a bit weak after using all the electronic aids which remember for me, and I am afraid that I will forget the little things that gave me such joy during my journeys. I have hence decided to take the advice of a good friend and post all our experiences.... and that is how this blog was created...:)<br /><br />This weekend (24-27 Feb 2006) I and my friend Tony K Thayil decided to go on a bike trip to Mahabaleshwar which is about 120 km from Pune.<br />We started off by 5:30PM and were immediately caught up in traffic which fortunately lasted only till the city outskirts. By 6:30 we were making good headway on the Pune Bangalore highway.<br />Except for the breathtaking scenery nothing of great interest happened during the ride, yet we enjoyed it every little bit. It took us about 3 hours to reach Panchgani which is about 20 km from Mahabaleshwar, we booked a room at hotel "Mount View", this hotel is a renovated version of an old Parsi Bungalow. It had photos of Zoroastrian god(s)? in the hallways. The room cost us rs.800. <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/1600/DSC00784.1.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 238px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 182px" height="223" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/320/DSC00784.1.jpg" width="267" border="0" /></a><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/1600/DSC00784.jpg"></a><br />After booking our room we went off to Mahabaleshwar, on the way we stopped at a reasonably scary looking place to take a few snaps, one needs these snaps to motivate other dummies to come along in the next trip! Fortunately the snaps came out good with the background looking scary enough to evoke interest.<br />We were low on fuel and decided to refuel at Mahabaleshwar where we reached around 9:30PM, unfortunately the only single "Bharat Petroleum" gas station had already closed. Since our journey back was downhill we weren’t much bothered. Anyway we bought a bottle of human fuel necessary in cold conditions, next we had our dinner at a cozy little place(The food there wasn't too good) in the market and then came back to our place of stay.<br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/1600/DSC00811.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 267px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 185px" height="190" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/320/DSC00811.jpg" width="299" border="0" /></a>Saturday we woke up late and after the morning rituals went out of our room, to say we were surprised would be an understatement, we had seen the hotel at night and hence I had got the idea that it was nothing but a big house on a hill. But come morning and we saw the view around us to be truly amazing, we could see a huge lake (don’t know its name) below in the valley, the whole surrounding place had a look of a "forested area" with cemented roads in between. We took out our camera and clicked away....<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/1600/DSC00850.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 243px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 175px" height="233" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/320/DSC00850.jpg" width="277" border="0" /></a><br />Since check-out time was 12 we left at about 11, our first destination was "Table point" about 5km from Panchgani, this place is named table point for a good reason.. it was so flat and that too at the top of a hill it simply did not converge with our ideas of a hill which basically tapers towards that top. Funnily this is not the only hill in this area with this property it only happens to be the largest "table". Truly a table of the Gods!.<br />This spot is a rather well frequented tourist location so it came along with all the paraphernalia of such a place, there were hawkers of all kinds, also there were people with horses offering a ride for anywhere between rs40 to rs150. There was this camel also, anyways we opted for the camel ride (cost 80 rupees after bargaining) and it came along as a surprise, the ride on a camel <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/1600/DSC00855.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 254px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 185px" height="199" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/320/DSC00855.jpg" width="268" border="0" /></a>is a bit rough and the swaying that you see in films is not one bit made up... you actually sway like you are sitting in a swing. It was a terrific experience and since we have a sense of reporting we urged the camel driver (what do you call him?) to take our snaps.... with our helmets on! Unfortunately the digital camera proved a bit too much for him and he did not click the pictures properly..as we later found out :(. Fortunately he was good enough to re-take our pictures.<br />Tony went for a horse ride, and came back claiming that he now had extra bones in his body...:)<br />having "made his bones" he wanted to take pictures of himself zooming on his bike on that dusty surface, those pictures came along well...so well that the dust cloud was all you could see...:)<br />We had lunch from a local hotel but again food wasn’t up to standards and then refueled our bike. Next stop was Wilson point as per our earlier decision however on the way to that point we saw a signboard saying "Rajpuri Caves ->" since we had time on our hands and a bike between our legs we decided to go to the caves...:) I was expecting some black rock with a hole in it, actually this was my previous experience with other "caves" but we were in for <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/1600/DSC00863.0.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 250px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 187px" height="220" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/320/DSC00863.0.jpg" width="273" border="0" /></a>a surprise. The way to these caves was along a rural area we felt like we were traveling through the "Soul of Maharashtra" their villages were rather different from those in other parts of south India, but we saw most of the children going to schools, and affluence creeping its way in even to these remote areas.<br /><br />But half-way through our journey to the caves we were struck with doubt, the road ahead seemed to be leading from one isolated place to another and deteriorating in between... anyways we continued and at last reached the small temple town below which the caves were situated.<br />Well laid stone steps led until the cave and at its entrance stood a Sanyasi(hermit) clothed in kavi(saffron). Now a little detour from our story, both of us are from the state of Kerala, and it is one state where you don’t find much sanyasis nowadays, and Malayalam(local language) films usually depict them as frauds and only rarely as the holy men that they really are. This prejudice was with us too since we were ardent movie watchers... and this is one prejudice to which I said goodbye during this trip. The man standing at the mouth of the caves had such a pleasant countenance that one was naturally attracted to him; he showed us the caves, the sculptures and told us a bit of history. It seems that the caves were one contiguous link till Mahabaleshawar about 20? km uphill, and then there was this earthquake in 1947 that blocked them off.<br />He also showed us three ponds, one for each deity, Shiva, Vishnu and Datta(not sure of correct name). It was a near magical experience; the ponds had crystal clear and cool water in it. We drank till our fill from it. Unfortunately since photography was prohibited inside the caves we had put our camera outside and we forgot to take a picture of this sanyasi.. anyways it was the experience that mattered.<br />This was also the best part of our trip.<br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/1600/DSC00887.0.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 157px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 201px" height="276" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/320/DSC00887.0.jpg" width="187" border="0" /></a>Continuing on our way to Wilson’s point we again saw another signboard "Triveni point beautiful sunset" since the old conditions still applied we decided to check it out. However this time around we found that we could not take the bike along as it was a mud road that led till the point. The whole area was forested and it had narrow winding paths leading through it. Our sense of adventure awakened and we took the path, our only worry being that we could easily lose our way, fortunately we did not. As we climbed the hill we came to a portion that stood apart, the <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/1600/DSC00878.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 178px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 191px" height="185" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/320/DSC00878.jpg" width="212" border="0" /></a>rest of the forest was mainly bushy in nature but this portion(which we called beauty spot) was having a number of pine trees and the sun shining in between the pines created a visual delight.... this was the most beautiful part of our trip. We took a lot of snaps but we were unable to capture the magic of the moment in our camera.It was there for only those who were present to see it.<br />Next destination was Wilson point. It’s a rocky hill top which has remains of some old buildings, the govt has built some barrel shaped structures on which we can climb and take pictures of the valley <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/1600/DSC00901.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 246px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 181px" height="240" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/320/DSC00901.jpg" width="266" border="0" /></a>below. The view from there was good, and also the road to this place is really narrow but beautiful. We also saw the house were Mr. Wilson (who ever he was) lived from outside. It’s a bit run-down now, nothing much to see.<br />While we were taking photographs we befriended a local who told us the general directions to a place called "Arthur’s seat", he also said that sunset was best seen from a place called "Bombay Point".<br />We decided to go till Arthur's seat and then come back to witness the sunset at Bombay Point. However this did not work out since by the time we reached "Arthur’s Seat" it was already dusk. Arthur’s point is a must see for anyone coming to Mahabaleshwar, it is strategically situated and gives a magnificent view of the hills surrounding it. From afar these hills seem to have sheer rock faces with sand covering the jutting out portions.. but on closer inspection one finds that it is not sand <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/1600/DSC00896.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 235px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 162px" height="201" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/320/DSC00896.jpg" width="278" border="0" /></a>but brown grass. It's actually the contrast that strikes us, because one side of the hill is lush green with a lot of trees and the other face has sun baked brown grass on it.<br />Since it was already late we decided to go back to Panchgani. On our way back we saw a lot of strawberry farms, and also shops selling strawberry fresh from the farm. We stopped at one such hang-out and had strawberry with ice-cream and cream. It was absolutely tasty stuff which prompted us to buy some syrup, jam and toffees from the same place; after all one should do his bit to boost the local economy right.<br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/1600/DSC00946.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 174px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 222px" height="287" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4440/2359/320/DSC00946.jpg" width="204" border="0" /></a>Our initial plan was to go back to Pune on Saturday itself but since we were bone tired we decided to spend the night at hotel mount view and also decided to get up early so that we get some real good pictures of our beautiful surroundings. But as fate would have had it there was no room available. Fortunately the place was run by a very nice Parsi couple and they were kind enough to call up another hotel nearby and get us a room.<br />The next day we left early back to Pune. The morning ride was terrific these rides really rubbed in the point that it is not the destination but the journey to the destination that is exciting.<br />Pune at this time of the year is hot and dusty and the sun scorches your skin, so we didn’t enjoy much of our "city-trekking" due to the weather. To escape the heat we went to a book shop "crosswords" and spend a few hours there. By 4:30 it was time for me to leave.... back to Blore back to work....(:Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09608967706733895867noreply@blogger.com15