Anyways, I have, oflate, developed a new passion - Trekking. I feel it is one of the most wholesome activities ever! Let me jot down some of the goods that can come out of it :
1. You meet nature up and close.
2. You detach yourself from the world and leave all your worries behind.
3. You meet total strangers and by the time you are on your way back, you are the thickest of friends.
4. You appreciate little luxuries of our modern civilization and not just take them for granted.
5. You get to hone your photography skills (by trying to capture some figments of the beauty you see infront of you), your writing skills (by trying to pen the whole exprience in those few words)..
AND,
6. YOU LOSE WEIGHT. :)
I was looking forward to the Kodachadri Trek for quite a few reasons - I was finally done with the "formality" of CAT, I was feeling quite lonely and bored and restless and well, there was just nothing at all to look forward to.
I guess I must have been pretty desperate because people actually commented on me reaching out to others :-P
So, anyways, all this led to me and Anoop and Shyam (guyz I met during the last trek to Kudremukh) to register for the BMC trek to Kodachadri. Frankly, it could have even been to Nandi Hills and I would have still come along (I was that bored). Once registered, I set about my research of how the place is, what the previous trekkers' experiences were...and all of it sounded very good. So, I was all excited and raring to go by the time it was Friday.
Preparation for the trek :
It was pretty minimal.. the idea was to keep my stuff as minimal as possible because as per the itinery, most of the trekking was going to be with our stuff on our backs. I did forget a couple of things like a cap but it was nothing one couldn't do without. The important thing was Kodachadri was supposed to be a beautiful place and I had my camera with me (or so I thought!)
Start of the journey :
Reached the designated place of meeting a couple of minutes late and was pleasantly surprised to know that BMC is very punctual about the time. Wish I could say the same the next day! The road wasn't good at all, but I managed to sleep through it all. Got up just before we reached a place called Arsikere for coffee and stuff. Saw the breaking of the dawn though and it was beautiful. After the morning coffee at 6, I thought it wouldn't be long before we start trekking full-on. But it took us 6 more hours and an equal number of times we lost the way, to reach the place we would finally start trekking from.
Day 1:
I was all geared up to trek and I just had one thing in mind.... that I am going to be among the leaders of the pack (unlike last time). But even before we started, we all knew one thing - we won't be making it to the peak by sunset, something trekkers go there for. But what the heck! There is always a sunrise to a sunset and we made our peace with that.
We had hired a guide, Vijay, who was this mild-mannered person with a pleasant nature and stamina of an ox. One hour into the trek,we decided to take a detour and go see a waterfall. The trek to reach the waterfall was a one-of-its-own experience where we had to literally crawl on the rocks to avoid falling down. I wouldn't say the waterfall was the most beautiful I have ever seen but just the way we reached it made up for everything (atleast to me). Coming down was an even better experience because one slip and you won't know where you are going to land. But we all landed safely, thanks to Vijay. We reached our "pitstop" to get started and the worst happened.
My camera refused to take any more pictures by showing me nothing but a white screen no matter what I pointed it to. Oh, my trusty H1! I was in a denial mode that my camera could run out on me... but it had and still continues to do so. Though I must say, I surprised myself by taking it calmly and even managing to joke about it. And in case you think that is not a big deal, let me tell you it is! Because for me, trekking is another way of getting good pictures and now, my motivation for the trek was gone. I guess there was a voice inside me that told me to forget everything and enjoy the trek fully and I did just that.
We started again and continued walking towards our destination. It was a pretty straight forward trekking path so far and frankly speaking, I somehow just didn't feel the distance. One view I can still remember vividly is the river Sharawati spread out across a range of mountains far in the horizon.
Unless you come with a predefined set of friends, you don't always trek with the same group of people throughout the trail. Your group is more or less defined by your speed. People with similar speeds end up together. I remember a group of people who I walked with on the last stretch before we reached the PWD guest house (our destination for the day) - Mani, Rahul, Arpan, Hemant, Rajshekran. By the way, here's something funny - We walked 8 kms to reach the PWD guesthouse when a "sane" person could have just hired a jeep to reach there. But hey, who said trekkers were sane?
Anyways, after long patches of the trail with steep ascent, we came onto the jeep trail which was a welcome relief because it was like walking on a concrete road minus the concrete. We saw the sunset around that time and it was beautiful even from there. We were the first ones to reach the PWD guest house but we chose not to go inside and sat on the edge of the cliff overlooking the vast expanse of the forest and then, a range of the mountains and the river flowing across them. It was a sight I will remember for a long, long time if not forever.
Soon after that, two more batches of trekkers trooped in and we all went to the guest house together. The guest house was a dilapidated building which, infact, complemented the place quite well with its rustic look.
Once inside, some of the people took advantage of the luxury called the bathroom [Trust me, on a trek, it is the biggest luxury you can find]. The bathroom was quite cosmopoliton with a western AND an Indian comode built together in the same space. I do not dare speculate what the builder was thinking of while constructing such a unique design. :)
Some Random Thoughts :
More than being fit enough to trek, you need to be mentally prepared for what is involved. Ofcourse, you have to love the very act of just walking; the tougher the trail, the higher the sense of achievement you have! But you also have to be prepared to stay unhygienic, eat and drink without caring too much about the "safety" quotient. Because it, literally, is a jungle out there. Anything that helps you survive is OK.
Now that I have made trekking sound more like a war (and in a way, it can be looked at as a battle between nature and human will) and indulged in the dramatics that I so adore, let's move on to Day 2.
Day 2:
We were supposed to be up and ready for the trek to the peak to watch the sunrise. I was among the last to get up but since I had no plans to freshen up anyways, I just woke up, wore my jacket and was ready to go. The trail to the peak was 1 1/2 kms but was a steep ascent. However, there's nothing like early morning (or late night) stroll after a good rest. And we (atleast, girls) had had a good rest because we had an added luxury of beds and mattresses. Poor guyz, they had to sleep in those thin sleeping bags on the floor. [There are not many things that a guy can do and a girl can't, and being a girl more than makes up for those :)].
We reached the peak and waited for the sun to rise. All we could see was a thin red line somewhere in the horizon. We were sitting on the edge of the Sankaracharya temple. This was the first sunrise of my life that I was a witness to. Soon, that thin red line dissolved into several and the photographers among us started clicking away.
That glow of sunrise that seemed to engulf everything is so pure and warm. There could be a no better start to the day than be a part of that moment. Once the sun rose a little higher in the sky, you could see its golden reflection in the river water among the mountains. We came back to the guest house after savoring the moment to get ready for a gigantic 12 KM trek. We had our breakfast (lemon rice and upma) and started. The day was perfect for the trek - clear sky and a nip in the early morning air.
I and Kiran (who was called "Gandhiji" by the group because of his wiry frame and glasses and the stick he was using as the support") were the first ones to start. This part of the trek is my favorite because it was early in the morning. The trek was mostly a descent which was a welcome relief.
Not having a camera has certain advantages - being "in" the pictures is one of them. After crossing a small patch of the forest, we came to a place where there was a "dhabha" of sorts. To our frustration, there was a qualis AND a maruti 800 standing right there. Trust me, fewer things can make you feel like a fool more than that sight. But like I said earlier, who said trekkers are "smart" people? Anyways, we stocked ourselves like a camel once again.
After a comfortable walk on the wide trail, we took a diversion and thus, started our "real" trek of the entire two days. There was no trail now. It was just a forest without any signs of any human being having passed through it and without Vijay, we could have easily lost ourselves there (Infact, inspite of Vijay, a couple of people managed to lose their way - ironically, both of them were the ones with the walkies, thus, making it impossible for us to communicate with them).
The trek through the forest was adventurous, in the real sense of the word. The trail was really steep and we had to hold on to every branch or leaf we could use to avoid tumbling down like Jack with a pail of water :) I particularly remember one sight in the forest - after a narrow trail, we came to a shed of sorts made by the falled bamboo trees and a stream flowing right next to it. It looked absolutely gorgeous. The trek, more or less, continued like this and we encountered some feeble leeches along the way, which were nothing like their Kudremukh counterparts. We didn't need salt to get them off us; a flick was more than enough. The pros among us were actually pretty disappointed with this poor show by the leeches which denied them of any more war(trek) wounds. But I can't say I was complaining. After carrying on more 4 hours of trek, we reached the waterfall.... and it was a sight! A height of around 60 Ft, it looked gorgeous. But just looking at it wasn't enough. We had to climb those huge rocks (along the way, one of us found a snake on one of the rocks and got rid of it) to get to the place where the water from the fall first fell and collected into a pool. That place had to be seen to be believe. Rocks all around, a cluster of big and small falls and a huge pool of clear water turned green - HEAVENLY. I sat there enjoying the scene along with the cool warmth of the sun and occasionally, ruing my bad luck with the camera..The swimmers among the group went swimming around all the tricky corners of the place.
After we got down from there an hour later, we all shared our lunch of biscuits and cheeseballs and stuff. I must mention a thing about BMC which really impressed me. We were supposed to collect all the plastic and non-degradable stuff and take it back with us. Now, that's my kind of group!
