Waves

Ladakh – Below is a snippet of the lyrics from the song “Kanmani Anbodu” from the movie Guna.

Unnai enni parkayil kavidhai kottudhu
Adhai ezudha ninaikayil varthai muttudhu
la la la … la la la …

It roughly translates to, “When I think about you, emotions flow; but when I try to put them down, words fail me.” That exactly describes how I feel about Ladakh and the bike trip. The beauty of Ladakh beats all superlatives. Its memories left me in a dreamy state for days together … making sure that I longed to visit that place again and again.

I totally felt at home at Ladakh. The people were cheerful and friendly. The weather was so cold that its summer was like Chennai’s winter. Mile after mile, we passed through breathtaking vistas, rushing rivers, snow capped mountains, snow storms, bad roads, snow fields and what not! Each of those scenes screamed at us to stop, close our eyes, take a deep breath and take in that scene. Much of those even rendered me speechless. Sunset time was especially brilliant. Though we were never able to see the actual sun set – because of high mountains around – the golden light created so much contrast that everything around us opened up to its purest beauty.

There were 13 of us on the Grand Ladakh Trip and I’m sure every one of us had personal special moments that we will cherish for our lifetime.

Team Poster

If you like this post and my other travel adventures, do subscribe to my RSS feed. I’m sure you will love it!

Read the rest of this entry »

Well… it was a terrific Sunday. I’m not going to tell you the regular story of how beautiful the hills and streams were and how we jumped and monkey dived from top etc. Instead, I’m going to tell you the story of how mental clarity and strength of will helped resolve a critical problem.

By the way, If you like this and other trekking stories of mine, I would strongly suggest that you subscribe to my RSS feed. You won’t regret that decision I tell you.

The Setting

On Sunday morning, the last water point was at around 10.30 AM. I drank about a litre of water, got some water on my backpack and we started moving ahead. We proceeded to hit a side-stream which would (according to the maps) take us somewhere close to the exotic Nagalapuram’s regular first pool. By about five hours after we started walking, all water resources had been exhausted & most of us were thirsty. We hit upon a 15m fall in the stream and couldn’t proceed any further. Straight and butter smooth rocks rose on both sides which made direct climbing impossible.

First Climb on Day 1

The 15m fall didn’t have any place to hold and climb down. But there was water there & we couldn’t even reach it with ropes. Eventually we decided to climb around it and then go down. The direct route was very bushy and thorns started raping us in all places where even a tiny bit of skin was visible. So, we backtracked some distance and climbed an 80 degree incline. Best thing about the incline was that, it had a good number of crevices to keep our hands and legs for balance. By the time we started climbing that incline, it was 3.30 PM. The sun was mercilessly burning down on us and the rocks were hot.

The Climb Up

Many of us were able to do the climb. Some did it slowly, some did it quickly, some did part of it quickly and part of it slowly & some of them had to be helped. But climb up … we all did. It was around this time that dehydration started to hit me. Every cell in my limbs were screaming for water. Blood receded from my finger tips and created wrinkles. Then I stopped climbing and noticed that a good number of people were still way down. That would give some time for rest. I wrapped my arms around a tree to stabilize myself and slept standing for sometime… may be 5 minutes. But that didn’t work out. So I removed my backpack, found a flat rock and rolled over there to get an amazing sleep for the next 1 hour 15 minutes. The sun was burning down and there was not much shade. But with a towel to cover my eyes and arms, sleep couldn’t have come at a better time.

Butterflies

During regular climbing, if I had said that piece of rock as “flat rock”, I would have been called a dumb ass but who cares when you want some rest?

Eventually everyone made the climb. It was around 6 PM now. The sun began to lose its intensity and a cool breeze was drifting around. That pushed me in to another 15 minute siesta. The gang stabilized and was gearing to climb down. After the climb down, we would get to that elusive elixir of life. This guy, let’s call him Jay, was the last one to climb up. Myself and Anand took the responsibility of getting him to the base camp. We were told to give him some rest and then take him to the hill’s peak and walk along the peak until the gradual descent began. That way, there wouldn’t be much pressure and since we would go on to the peak, the breeze would be good too.

The Sunset

After few minutes of rest, myself and Anand pushed Jay to start walking. It was getting dark and being stuck on the mountains during darkness isn’t a fun thing. We pushed, pushed and pushed, with myself and Anand taking turns to carry couple of extra backpacks. After 30 minutes of walk, we rested. The sun was setting just behind us on a mountain. The sight was breathtaking and so wonderful. But Jay’s spirit went down with the sun. The sun going down meant that twilight would be available only for about 30-45 minutes more and that was too less a time to get down fast.

Sunrise on Sunday

We pushed off again and didn’t give rest for Jay for the next 45 minutes. It was pitch dark by then. But we knew where we were because right down the hill, we saw the dam and people could notice our torches too. That way, we were safe and didn’t actually get lost. By around 8 PM, Jay lost all gas and plopped. He couldn’t move much without water and was mumbling something. Anand was beginning to get low because of the current situation. We yelled for a few people from the top of the hill but no response came. Every time we thought we heard a response, it was the wind playing games. Jay’s situation was getting bad.

Stars appeared here and there and in a few minutes, a whole orchestra was being played in the skies.

The Idea

I suggested that instead of waiting for help, it would make sense to walk for 10 minutes and rest for 20 minutes. That way, we would at least reach the bottom of the hill and be near water. We could drink water to our heart’s content and even camp there for the night. But that was not to be. As with Jay, Anand also announced that he cannot move anymore. Some coaxing and bullying didn’t work & that followed by more yelling for Peter, Biju, Alex etc. But no one heard us. Idea didn’t work out. Myself, Anand and Jay took turns showing our torch in case someone noticed. Sooner or later, they would have to figure out that we were missing.

Mushrooms

Anand then called B in the city who told us he would get back to us immediately. I then talked to B, D and P and explained the whole story so far and asked them to come from the city with some water because none of the trekking members were reachable. Then few minutes later Ansar called in and said he would come. I pinched myself literally and asked him to repeat it once more. He said he’ll pick up Sujai and come there for the rescue. Immediately Guru (the ultimate trekking and navigating machine) came to my mind and I told Ansar to pick up Guru also. Guru is a lean and a classic trekker full of stamina and power. While on call, Ansar also spoke to Jay and Jay’s spirit soared to some extent. He went from to … In the time that followed, Anand snored peacefully while Jay and myself were talking some random fun stuff. I was happy that I was able to maintain my cool from a tense situation.

Peter to the rescue

Suddenly, Ramesh (one of the trekking members) gave a call to Anand’s number asking where we were. I shone the torch from the top of the hill. He could see us but I couldn’t see him. He said Peter was looking for us and coming in the direction of the torch with some water. I felt “WOW”. In an hour or so, Peter reached us. Jay’s spirit went from to . He gulped down some water with electrol and his face lit up almost immediately. I drank some plain water and waited for Ansar, Guru and Sujai to make their appearance. Peter had come in through some really dense bushes and didn’t want to go down the same way. Time was 1.30 AM. I couldn’t sleep anymore. The thought of going to the base camp and it being so near was exciting me to the core.

On top of the 800m peak on Sunday morning

Help Arrives

In an hour (2.30 AM), we saw a bright orange light sweeping the ground beneath the hill. It was Ansar’s car. We gave a call to them. Guru woke up some locals near the dam and inquired about the easiest route to reach the torches on top of the hill. With the help of two locals, Guru and Sujai carried 6 litres of water and came to the top. Meanwhile, we packed our bags again and started walking downhill with Peter holding Jay’s hands and dragging him down. We climbed down for around one and half hours. A huge bear hug to Peter, Guru, Ansar and Sujai for coming there on time and giving us water. That was very timely and very quick response. It’s something that I will never forget in my lifetime.

Sunrise and Ochre on Monday

4 AM

The sky was opening up to the sun slowly. It displayed a brilliant ochre that mesmerized me completely. Soon, I witnessed an awesome sun rise on the eastern hills and my spirits were back to normal. It was totally surprising that I could hold on in such a pressure situation & since I was able to handle that, I would be able to do better in other life situations I guess

Any questions?

See you soon!

Note: Click on the pictures for bigger versions.

If you want to see the craziest people in Chennai, it has to be at CTC. We trek on untamed terrain with awesome gangs in search of that elusive elixir of life. Once in a while, this craziness increases up a notch. What was once thought to be impossible or out of habit became a habit … and one such habit was taking out underprivileged kids from many of the homes in and around Chennai for an easy trek in to the pristine jungles so that they can have fun as much as we do all the time.

Thilak and kid. Priceless happiness on their faces.

That Sunday was special. Thanks to Thilak, the kids from SIP Home in Kolathur were taken on a beautiful one day trek to Nagalapuram’s Eastern side. I had taken a break from trekking for whole of April for swimming & when this trek invite came in, I was more than glad to accept it. What made that home special was that it cared for kids who are HIV+. What really surprised me was that the home was being run by a trans-gender. She was very supportive of us taking the kids in to the jungles for a day of bliss & she even accompanied us. At 61 years of age, she is supremely fit… fitter than any of the modern couch potatoes!

Read the rest of this entry »

Last Sunday was one of the best Sundays of my life. Through the Chennai Trekking Club with Pramod, Hopeland and our Irula Guide, we walked through farm lands near the Crocodile Park in the hope of finding our crawling friends. Little did we know that it would be an experience of a lifetime … From handling a Rat Snake to hearing a Spectacled Cobra hissing and striking, to a Russell’s Viper showing his deadly fangs and precious drops of venom; everyone was hooked, fascinated and intrigued by these mysterious yet beautiful creatures.

Rat Snake, Cobra, Russell's Viper

Btw, if you had liked this post so far and my other travel/trekking escapades such as Ombattu Gudde or The Kodaikanal Trek, you might want to subscribe to my RSS feed to get new posts as and when I write them.

Read the rest of this entry »

Kodaikanal is a beautiful place. I had been to Kodai for sight-seeing a decade ago. So, when a trek was announced at a place near Kodai, I jumped at the opportunity. An army of 45 people reached Kodai on a chilly morning. After breakfast and the near endless wait for our guide Kodai Mani, we were off to Kukkal village from where we had to start the trek. On the way to Kodai, Rinkesh couldn’t control his bladder. So, when the bus stopped and he got down, many rushed after him shouting, “Yay! view point” … lol!

A village enroute to Kukkal

Read the rest of this entry »

Let me start off with some statistics

No. of days – 3.5 (31-Dec-2009 afternoon to 3-Jan-2010)
No. of bikes – 10
No. of people – Around 20
Total Distance (home to home) – 1004 kms
Top Speed – 110 kmph (I know Wild Kannan wouldn’t agree but this is what my speedo displayed)
Lowest Speed – 35 kmph (lowest speed on top gear)
Best Chunks of Road – Chidambaram to Pichavaram, Vailankanni to Vedaranyam, NH-45
Worst Chunk of Road – Vedaranyam to Mannargudi
Most Challenging Drive – Chidambaram to Karaikal
No. of minor accidents – Ninety eight minus ninety nine plus two (Clue: Its a signed integer).
No. of major accidents – Nine Thousand point five six four seven divided by four hundred and sixty eight point two into zero

The Group

Read the rest of this entry »

Oh boy! Oh Boy!! OH BOY!!! I don’t want to say how awesome this trek was. This trek and some of its special moments will remain etched in my memory for years to come. Nagala is full of water all through the year & since monsoon is around its end, the dam near the hills would be brimming. That would present ripe opportunities for swimming & I would be able to put my new skills to test. Hence, when the trek was announced as a first timer’s trek, I gladly signed up and waited with bated breath for the D-day to show up! And show up … it did! After 3 excruciating weeks.

I couldn’t contain my excitement what-so-ever and few days in the middle, I almost fell sick with excitement. I was high. The thought of crystal clear water, those tiny beautiful waterfalls, gurgling stream and varied colour rocks strewn across in the form of jewels … OMG! Every such thought was driving me crazy. Moreover, we were a gang on the treks and this was a pretty easy trail. So just imagine the fun we would be having on the way and back! To add to it, it was Max’s birthday on Sunday, 6th December … Too many things to celebrate for and only 48 hours. Not enough at all.

Picnic Pool Waterfall

A few of us met at co-organizer Naveen’s home on Friday night for a quick pre-trek planning discussion and party. The night dawned into the day with none of us sleeping. Soon, everyone assembled at Koyembedu and we raced off to our dear home away from home … Nagalapuram. Distributing food and items for the next two days, we started walking towards the forests.

Read the rest of this entry »

See! I’m flying. It happens after every trek that I go to; whether small or large. Being in one with nature can rejuvenize you so much that you will be in that state of mind for a few weeks to come

View from Ombattu Gudde - Deepadakallu and Jenkallu

Ombattu Gudde or Ombattu Gudda or OG, as its fondly called, is one terrific place that’s about 6 hours from Bangalore. So… on 14th Nov 2009, 36 of us, all pumped up and excited about the next 48 hours decided to explore this place and reach the peak of OG. The peak is at a height of 968m from Mean Sea Level. The trek would put us through too many terrains in quick succession that it’s as if nature was changing boulders like we change t-shirts after a day’s work.

Read the rest of this entry »

Though, undoubtedly, Tada Falls (or Ubbalamadugu Falls) is one of the most beautiful places near Chennai, its also one of the most abused natural places near here. Until few years ago, when the place was just a plain old forest, it was limited to very few people who dared to explore the place and trek for themselves. But ever since the raping started in the name of Eco-Tourism, the place began to lose its shine and green.

Mother Nature could be literally heard screaming for help. She was dying a very excruciating death. Broken booze bottles everywhere and in every crevice possible, combined with tons and tons of plastic, cigarette butts, beedis and what not, the place was bleeding. It was so bad that, during the Tada Fort Exploration couple of months back, we didn’t get any interest to get in the water at all. The general abuse of the place was compounded by the fact that the forest guards and locals take money and allowed liquor and other illicit materials to be carried in to the forest. They get drunk, urinate and puke in the same stream itself, spoiling the water for those downstream. Hell! They even bring live goats from the town in to the forest and kill them to eat fresh meat . Who knows what diseases are lurking there?

Save Tada Campaign

We heard the SOS message loud and clear. The men and women of the soil decided to clean up the mess and teach a lesson to the vandals raping the place.

The Gang

More than 230 people visited Tada Falls much to the chagrin of the guards and forest officials. The group was divided into 20 Garbage Busting gangs. Each gang took over a circle of about 60 yards radius along the stream. Since each team had anywhere between 10-15 people, a designated area would be freed of plastics and bottles in no time. Armed with huge garbage bags and gloves, we started collecting garbage in and around the area. Crores of plastic bottles, broken liquor bottles and other plastic materials were stuck everywhere. We retrieved them using long sticks and filled them up in our bags.

Garbage Busters in action

Our dear ancestors, the monkeys , became very curious of the bag’s contents and a group of them would swing down in an instant and make an attempt to get at the bags. We felt sorry that they couldn’t understand how dangerous the contents of the bags were for them.

Highlight: More than 230 people, 2 tonnes of garbage and in less than 4 hours time.

Piled up Ex-Garbage

Then, we started walking downstream and formed a human chain to transfer the garbage bags from one person to another until the base camp was reached. We collected so much garbage that it was enough to fill up a harvest tractor up to its brim, forming a mound of sorts on its top.

Press

The press came and recorded our activities and it got published in various newspapers in and around Chennai & Andhra Pradesh. ETV conducted an interview with Peter Van Geit (co-founder of CTC) which was aptly translated to the news channel by Aditya.  Few reporters from Deccan Chronicle had come to take note of the atrocities happening there and reported them in yesterday’s newspapers, highlighting the fact that CTC was doing its best to save the place.

The Pools !

With the day’s objective accomplished, we did what we do best – Trek to the nearest pool and chill off. By the time we climbed back to the pool, we realized how clean the place looked devoid of plastics and broken booze bottles. I felt a huge wave of satisfaction envelope me as we made our way to the pool. Jumping and diving ensued. The pool was very beautiful and there was a small and gorgeous waterfall at the end of the pool. It may have been a 30 meter  swim to it. And tell you what, it was amazing feeling to know that I was able to swim that distance on my own . Brijesh accompanied me during this time by my side just to make sure that I would be able to make it to the end. My joy knew no bounds. I was able to put my new skill to test and succeeded

We had lunch besides this beautiful pool and making sure we never polluted this place, we started off after a good swim and delicious lunch.

They had it !

It was time for the guards to answer us. Through this trek, we were accompanied by Forest Officers who were in charge of maintaining sanity at Tada. They questioned the guards and guides in front of us and gave them sound warnings that if liquor and stuff happens again, their jobs will be at stake. We also informed them that these were the same guards who used to break in to our vehicles and steal valuables. They would extort money from us for taking our bikes and cars and would also harass women and children of the group. We recorded their apology & will play it back to them the next time we visit Tada.

The forest officials at least acted that they were guilty for ravaging this beautiful place. I’m doubtful that their atrocities will stop soon but I can assure you that it was a great beginning.

Tractor

Highlight is the tractor which carried our collected garbage bags for disposal.

Garbage Tractor

It was a very satisfying day. Combined with act of keeping nature intact & with an ultra-easy trek, nothing could beat this weekend. Hoping to do more of this in future. Our future is in safe hands

The Kids of the Trek

Photo Albums

Thanks a lot for capturing the moments shutter bugs. Without you, we wouldn’t have a story to tell today.

1. Gowtham - The Best Album
2. Karthik Yadav
3. Samyak
4. Vinoth
5. Vijay Krishnan
6. Raja
7. Vijendran
8. Hari Prasad
9. Anupam
10. Loganathan
11. Hari K Balasundaram
12. Nara

More albums on the way! Until then, catch you soon …

As I was reading through Rohit‘s post on how he missed school, I recollected one of the pranks that a few of us did back in school.

….

The Maths staff was droning on and on about some crazy analytical geometry stuff that flew over my head. Lunch bell was supposed to ring in 5 minutes and I was looking at my wrist watch every 10 seconds to see if those nerve-wracking 5 minutes were over! Each second passed painfully as a minute. Stomach was rumbling as well & in all restlessness, we came up with a prank to execute it during lunch.

Benches and desks in my school were lengthy. Up to 4 people would be able to sit with their bags on them. Oh! and we would start having those border problems of whose bag can come up to which place on the bench… But that’s for another post.

As soon as the lunch bell rang, we dashed out even before the teacher had left and brought in lunch . The teacher was slightly shocked but left the class nevertheless, glaring at us. We devoured our lunch quickly. As per the prank’s plot:

1. We would punch lot of tiny holes on the bench using our compass and dividers.
2. We would then pour tiny amounts of water on them and let it soak. When wood gets soaked for sometime, its topmost layer comes off and leaves a black substance.
3. Students would be called to sit at the place and answer a few questions and then made to go off.

A bubbly girl named M was about to finish her lunch. Did I say we were in white uniform that day? We called M, made her sit on the bench with soaked wood. With a pen and paper, it was like we were conducting an interview… asked her some silly questions and told her to go to the black board and write as, “The interview was good.” which she did. Giggles were starting to spread around soon & few more guys and girls started to appear to “take part” in the interview. One by one, their bums became black and wet with all the water we had poured on the bench and before long, lot of their pants had soiled

The bell rang & as a teacher entered in, she noticed one guy’s pant being soiled. She stared at us & sent us out immediately because we were giggling by that time.

….

Those were fun times man! It was a different kind of fun than we are having now. But fun… it sure is! Share your pranks in the comments