I got hooked onto Moment of Truth while flipping between channels a few months back.
I found it pretty innovative and enjoyed other people squealing out their truths in utter discomfort. The format is like the contestant takes a polygraph test and later on same questions are asked, and the contestant has to answer TRUE/FALSE on those question. These are later matched. If its in the affirmative, the contestant goes to the next question with some added cash in the booty. If its in the negative, the contestant bows out with his existing sum. The questions are very personal in nature and might as well result in hurt feelings and broken relationships.
Human tendency as it is, is to see other people in embarrassing situations, this show managed to grab quite a few eyeballs. Every question seemed to get the audience on a high. And every answer followed with gasps of shock as if these are unheard of and constitute acts of sacrilege and felony:-) Only in America, I felt!
But hang on, whats this ? One fine morning , I see ToI and there on page1 Kambli says that "Sachin has not helped me much". Now Sachin sells in India. The legend goes that once in a party of bollywood celebs and cricketers and politicians, Amitabh Bacchan made his entry , everybody ran to shake his hand. When Sachin made the entry, everybody ran to shake his hand, Amit ji leading the pack. Coming back to Kambli's rant, those comments were quoted from a TV show "Sach Kaa Saamna", the Indian version of the highly popular "Moment of Truth".
Now, when I saw the original version, I was pretty sure that this concept won't work in India.
What with cultural sensibilites, private affairs in public life and all, I assumed that the questions would be much more toned down than the original one. Well, the winds of change seem to have blown east. I had underestimated the TV audience, who likes to watch other people clean their dirty linen in public.
17th july: An aged person was on the hot seat, having already won around 5 lakhs.
He had 3 failed marriages and was about to be engaged for the 4th time. His daughter-son-in-law, 2nd wife and to be 4th wife were there in the audience. The questions started like this:
Host : Do you think that you did enough to save your 3 broken marriages?
Contestant: (Swipes his sweat) NO.
PAT comes the answer: ANSWER is CORRECT.
next question:
Host: Have you ever had sex with a relative?
Contestant: (Unable to look beyond the host) YES.
PAT comes the answer: ANSWER is CORRECT.
next question:
Host: Have you ever had sex with a girl younger than your daughter?
Contestant: (laughs then ponders) YES.
PAT comes the answer: ANSWER is CORRECT.
next question:
Host: Have you ever had sex with a prostitute?
Contestant: (swipes sweat again) YES.
PAT comes the answer: ANSWER is CORRECT.
After a couple more questions, the contestant loses out to a non-sexual question and goes home with 2.5 million INR. The public and the TV audience were shocked at the dick adventures of this below-the-hip-shooting geriatric, shocked at how a person can indulge in all this perverted stuff.
And I thought, this used to happen only in America!
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Gokarna : The Land of Peace
Gokarna is a small Hindu temple town, 480 kms north-west of Bengalooru. Gokarna is famous for its Mahabaleswar temple, where the Shivling is beneath the sea-level. The Mahabaleshwar temple enshrines the Aatma Lingam of Lord Shiva. Legend has it that the holy Lingam was given by Shiva to King Ravana to make his kingdom an invincible fortress. Varuna and Ganesha tricked Ravana into placing the Lingam here and in spite of the might exerted by Ravana , the Lingam remained rooted to the ground. Apart from this, Gokarna is also famous for its idyllic beaches, mostly untouched by the commecrialisation so rampant in the beaches of Goa.
How to reach:
There are direct buses from Bangalore to Gokarna. KSRTC(Karnataka State Road transport Corporation) has a daily Sarige bus from Majestic at 2030 hours. Travelling by this bus is like an adventure in itself so much that one of my future blogs is going to be dedicated for this.
For the less-adventurous folks and comfort-seeking folks, VRL and Sugama buses run daily.
VRL bus is a sleeper bus and tickets can be booked online. It takes around 12-13 hours by bus, depending upon the route the bus takes.
There are no direct trains from Bangalore to Gokarna. Trains on Konkan railway have a halt for 2 minutes at Gokarna road station. Not all trains stop here though. However, some like Matsyagandha express(Mangalore-Mumbai via Madgaon) do stopover to provide much needed relief to wanderers like me who can't desist either goa or gokarna.
What to see:
Gokarna is a small Hindu religious town. However unlike most other famous temples, Mahabaleswar temple here seems to be devoid of touts lurking in large numbers.
Apart from this temple, there is one more Ganesh temple nearby. The small shops in the town sell religious items, pshychdellic T-shirts, Trace music CDs etc. The town is mostly centred around the KSRTC bus - stand. About a kilometer from the bus-stand , the Gokarna beach starts , forming the coast of the town. As you trudge along the narrow lanes of the town towards the beach(the lane is named 'Samudra Marg'), you will come across houses of priests where some religious talk will be going on or people invoking the Holy Lord with chants or somebody learning classical music.
The Gokarna beach is like a typical Indian family beach, where you will have the beach teemed with entire families from grand-pa/mom to chotu, motu and pinky-rinky. Young couples with clasped hands enjoying the breeze from the sea and fishermen going about their work i.e. venturing out into the sea, lying nets etc. are a few common sights in Gokarna beach. The extreme right end of the beach is a more quiet place for people seeking some solitude. Incidentally you will see many foreigners truding along towards further right from the end of the beach. Maybe some other beach like Honey or Honnibail beach might be there, as one local suggested. Gokarna beach has a few shacks, but most of them serve juice, puri's, samosas; not for guys like me who like to gorge on some continental stuff.
At the left end of the Gokarna beach, a narrow path goes up a hill, where you cross a temple en-route. After climbing up some stairs, you will find flat ground and some breath-taking views of Gokarna beach as you turn-around to see the distance you covered. As you move along, about 10 minutes walk from this place, the flat ground leads to a narrow lane, which goes down to Kudle beach, the second of Gokarna's beaches. This beach looks very unkempt, desolate and dirty in off-seasons. You will hardly find a soul here then. But come season time between November- February, this beach will be dotted with hippies. Very few Indians are sighted on this beach, and mostly day trippers. Sunset-Cafe , on Kudle beach, is heaven if you are lazy and like to dig yourself into a rice pudding(and dozing off in between). This cafe offers good food and suits my taste buds pretty well. French toast here is a must for foodies. This is one beach where one can know more about the female human anatomy than any biology class. In season time, quite a few shacks operate in Kudle beach. Most of them have rooms behind the restaurants. Rents are around 200 INR for a very basic and around 350-400INR for a little better room. The seabed here looks more shallow and inviting. Its very safe to get into water even for non-swimmers.
At the extreme end of the Kudle beach, a small meandering path leads up the hill and we came onto a well-laid pitched road. For the non-adventurous folks, a walk down this road will lead to the main road, which is about 500metres from OM beach. For the more adventurous, instead of taking the pitched road, you can go straight and walk across the small trees for around 15 minutes and directly get down at the starting point of the OM beach. For avid trekkers like us,
we took a route which goes in the opposite direction of the pitched road, made our way through the thorny bushes and went down onto the rocks on the shore. This is the rocky part of the OM beach. From here , it takes around 10 minutes, crossing the rocks and landing up directly on the OM beach.
OM beach is so named, because the shape is like that of the Hindu religious symbol "OM".
OM beachs is about a kilometer from the main Gokarna town and fully approachable by road, unlike Kudle. In fact out of the 5 beaches, only Gokarna and OM beach are approachable by road. For the other 3 beaches including Kudle, hiking or taking a boat ride are the two ways.
At the start of the OM beach is Namaste Cafe, by far the best shack in OM beach in terms of quality of rooms, beds and toilets. The food is good over here, but somehow I like the food in Ganesh cafe better than Namaste. Don't forget to try out Honey Pan Cake at Namaste. Apart from these two, there are innumerable other shacks during season time catering to tourists. But in off-season, these two were the only two shacks still open. Off season prices in Namaste are like 200 INR for single room, 400 INR for double-bed(with attached bathroom). Hippies abound in Gokarna, more so in OM beach. One can get good boat-rides from here to all other beaches and Gokarna town from OM beach. The sand here is like white-sand. Although season time, its great to visit OM beach; its the start-of-season time when monsoon is just over is the best time to be in OM beach. Watching the high-tides smashing into the rocks, sea gulls frolicking away , fishermen going about their jobs are a few sights which brighten up the soul.
At the end of the OM beach, we took another path going up the hill. here we have to get around a hillock(about 20-minutes walk) to reach Half-Moon beach. Half-moon beach is so named because the shape resembles that of a half-moon. During season, the path is pretty well laid out. But at start of season, look out for thorns in the bushes. They hurt!!! In between one can take a diversion and take some rest below a palm tree on the edge of a cliff, from where one can try to catch a glimpse of the horizon. There will be many zig-zags , but make sure that one gets around the hill rather than unnecessarily climb up the hill. Once one gets down to Half-moon beach, he or she can see the ure beauty of this beach. During season , a couple of shacks operate on this beach. This is no electric power on this beach. Hence its like totally cut off from civilization.
But its during off-season, when you will be the sole inhabitant of this beach without any shacks operational. When I set out on my first solo trip to gokarna, and I landed up on this beach, I spent one entire day here, doing absolutely nothing!!!.. Remined me of Cast-Away :-) The rooms on this beach are pretty basic. They set you back by around 150 INR per night. If you are going in-season , don't forget to try the corn-flakes with cold milk, fruits and honey. Gosh the foodie in me refuses to lie down!!!
At the end of the half-moon beach, a small trail leads to Paradise beach, also known as Full-moon beach. Its around 20 minutes walk from Half-moon beach. The thing to remember here is after crossing the first set of rocks, one should not try to climb the hill. Rather try getting around the hill. Its a much easier climb. The steep climb up the hill will take you to the next village, Bellekan. We did the trek from Half-Moon at night , and mistakenly took the way up the hill and landed up in this village. Had to cross some two hills. Anyways, after getting round the hill, one will come across Paradise beach. This is the last of the Gokarna beaches. Pretty much isolated from the crowd, Paradise, the name suits this beach well. Its an absolute paradise! Its a very rocky beach, with sand in between. Waves are very strong, and it is quite dangerous to go out very far into the sea. Evergreen cafe is the first shack on this beach, It has a few basic huts. Rooms on this beach are basically huts on the hillock. Toilet facilities are there, but sometimes water runs out. So, better to take a empty bottle, fill with sea-water, and then climb up the
hill :))
Apart from Evergreen, there are a few more shacks on this beach. A special mention for Anil Bhai, the guy who operated that shack. He is a gem of a person. He caters to numerous orders, sometime looses his cool , but all in good-nature. Anil Bhai - we bow to you. Hope to meet you again next season. Food is good in Evergren cafe. If you are a non-veggie, don't miss out on chicken steak with boiled vegetables.
The night we went to Paradise, there were no rooms to stay, and we slept on the beach. We looke at the constellations, and saw shooting stars. Some of my most memorable memories of 2008. Music from Shiva full moon, phsycedellic trance etc. were the icing on the cake that night. Lights from Ships, patrol boats are the ones you can see at far off distances. Generally, holy-men coming from far-off places in India, original hippies or people trying to find out more about themselves, land up on this beach. This beach can be reached either by trek, as I wrote above or by boat or by a bus to Bellekan village(its a 10 minute walk from there.) Buses run between Gokarna and Bellekan.
*This beach is strictly not recommended for people who want comforts*.
Phew, this is an exhaustive blog and seems to have covered everything.
Return trip:
Who wants to return from Gokarna? But somebody has to pay the bills...sigh..
There is a KSRTC sleeper bus at 1930 hours, VRL sleeper bus at 1900 hours from Gokarna.
Finally:
1. Don't litter the beaches.
2. Stay away from people who approach you with grass(you will find in plenty).
3. All orders take time here. So let time go at its own pace.
4. Happy Tripping.
Some Fotos:
1. Solo Backpacking in Gokarna during start-of-season:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/solitary_harvester/sets/72157607067325168/
2. Gokarna as part of Great Indian Road trip:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/solitary_harvester/sets/72157612093366902/
How to reach:
There are direct buses from Bangalore to Gokarna. KSRTC(Karnataka State Road transport Corporation) has a daily Sarige bus from Majestic at 2030 hours. Travelling by this bus is like an adventure in itself so much that one of my future blogs is going to be dedicated for this.
For the less-adventurous folks and comfort-seeking folks, VRL and Sugama buses run daily.
VRL bus is a sleeper bus and tickets can be booked online. It takes around 12-13 hours by bus, depending upon the route the bus takes.
There are no direct trains from Bangalore to Gokarna. Trains on Konkan railway have a halt for 2 minutes at Gokarna road station. Not all trains stop here though. However, some like Matsyagandha express(Mangalore-Mumbai via Madgaon) do stopover to provide much needed relief to wanderers like me who can't desist either goa or gokarna.
What to see:
Gokarna is a small Hindu religious town. However unlike most other famous temples, Mahabaleswar temple here seems to be devoid of touts lurking in large numbers.
Apart from this temple, there is one more Ganesh temple nearby. The small shops in the town sell religious items, pshychdellic T-shirts, Trace music CDs etc. The town is mostly centred around the KSRTC bus - stand. About a kilometer from the bus-stand , the Gokarna beach starts , forming the coast of the town. As you trudge along the narrow lanes of the town towards the beach(the lane is named 'Samudra Marg'), you will come across houses of priests where some religious talk will be going on or people invoking the Holy Lord with chants or somebody learning classical music.
The Gokarna beach is like a typical Indian family beach, where you will have the beach teemed with entire families from grand-pa/mom to chotu, motu and pinky-rinky. Young couples with clasped hands enjoying the breeze from the sea and fishermen going about their work i.e. venturing out into the sea, lying nets etc. are a few common sights in Gokarna beach. The extreme right end of the beach is a more quiet place for people seeking some solitude. Incidentally you will see many foreigners truding along towards further right from the end of the beach. Maybe some other beach like Honey or Honnibail beach might be there, as one local suggested. Gokarna beach has a few shacks, but most of them serve juice, puri's, samosas; not for guys like me who like to gorge on some continental stuff.
At the left end of the Gokarna beach, a narrow path goes up a hill, where you cross a temple en-route. After climbing up some stairs, you will find flat ground and some breath-taking views of Gokarna beach as you turn-around to see the distance you covered. As you move along, about 10 minutes walk from this place, the flat ground leads to a narrow lane, which goes down to Kudle beach, the second of Gokarna's beaches. This beach looks very unkempt, desolate and dirty in off-seasons. You will hardly find a soul here then. But come season time between November- February, this beach will be dotted with hippies. Very few Indians are sighted on this beach, and mostly day trippers. Sunset-Cafe , on Kudle beach, is heaven if you are lazy and like to dig yourself into a rice pudding(and dozing off in between). This cafe offers good food and suits my taste buds pretty well. French toast here is a must for foodies. This is one beach where one can know more about the female human anatomy than any biology class. In season time, quite a few shacks operate in Kudle beach. Most of them have rooms behind the restaurants. Rents are around 200 INR for a very basic and around 350-400INR for a little better room. The seabed here looks more shallow and inviting. Its very safe to get into water even for non-swimmers.
At the extreme end of the Kudle beach, a small meandering path leads up the hill and we came onto a well-laid pitched road. For the non-adventurous folks, a walk down this road will lead to the main road, which is about 500metres from OM beach. For the more adventurous, instead of taking the pitched road, you can go straight and walk across the small trees for around 15 minutes and directly get down at the starting point of the OM beach. For avid trekkers like us,
we took a route which goes in the opposite direction of the pitched road, made our way through the thorny bushes and went down onto the rocks on the shore. This is the rocky part of the OM beach. From here , it takes around 10 minutes, crossing the rocks and landing up directly on the OM beach.
OM beach is so named, because the shape is like that of the Hindu religious symbol "OM".
OM beachs is about a kilometer from the main Gokarna town and fully approachable by road, unlike Kudle. In fact out of the 5 beaches, only Gokarna and OM beach are approachable by road. For the other 3 beaches including Kudle, hiking or taking a boat ride are the two ways.
At the start of the OM beach is Namaste Cafe, by far the best shack in OM beach in terms of quality of rooms, beds and toilets. The food is good over here, but somehow I like the food in Ganesh cafe better than Namaste. Don't forget to try out Honey Pan Cake at Namaste. Apart from these two, there are innumerable other shacks during season time catering to tourists. But in off-season, these two were the only two shacks still open. Off season prices in Namaste are like 200 INR for single room, 400 INR for double-bed(with attached bathroom). Hippies abound in Gokarna, more so in OM beach. One can get good boat-rides from here to all other beaches and Gokarna town from OM beach. The sand here is like white-sand. Although season time, its great to visit OM beach; its the start-of-season time when monsoon is just over is the best time to be in OM beach. Watching the high-tides smashing into the rocks, sea gulls frolicking away , fishermen going about their jobs are a few sights which brighten up the soul.
At the end of the OM beach, we took another path going up the hill. here we have to get around a hillock(about 20-minutes walk) to reach Half-Moon beach. Half-moon beach is so named because the shape resembles that of a half-moon. During season, the path is pretty well laid out. But at start of season, look out for thorns in the bushes. They hurt!!! In between one can take a diversion and take some rest below a palm tree on the edge of a cliff, from where one can try to catch a glimpse of the horizon. There will be many zig-zags , but make sure that one gets around the hill rather than unnecessarily climb up the hill. Once one gets down to Half-moon beach, he or she can see the ure beauty of this beach. During season , a couple of shacks operate on this beach. This is no electric power on this beach. Hence its like totally cut off from civilization.
But its during off-season, when you will be the sole inhabitant of this beach without any shacks operational. When I set out on my first solo trip to gokarna, and I landed up on this beach, I spent one entire day here, doing absolutely nothing!!!.. Remined me of Cast-Away :-) The rooms on this beach are pretty basic. They set you back by around 150 INR per night. If you are going in-season , don't forget to try the corn-flakes with cold milk, fruits and honey. Gosh the foodie in me refuses to lie down!!!
At the end of the half-moon beach, a small trail leads to Paradise beach, also known as Full-moon beach. Its around 20 minutes walk from Half-moon beach. The thing to remember here is after crossing the first set of rocks, one should not try to climb the hill. Rather try getting around the hill. Its a much easier climb. The steep climb up the hill will take you to the next village, Bellekan. We did the trek from Half-Moon at night , and mistakenly took the way up the hill and landed up in this village. Had to cross some two hills. Anyways, after getting round the hill, one will come across Paradise beach. This is the last of the Gokarna beaches. Pretty much isolated from the crowd, Paradise, the name suits this beach well. Its an absolute paradise! Its a very rocky beach, with sand in between. Waves are very strong, and it is quite dangerous to go out very far into the sea. Evergreen cafe is the first shack on this beach, It has a few basic huts. Rooms on this beach are basically huts on the hillock. Toilet facilities are there, but sometimes water runs out. So, better to take a empty bottle, fill with sea-water, and then climb up the
hill :))
Apart from Evergreen, there are a few more shacks on this beach. A special mention for Anil Bhai, the guy who operated that shack. He is a gem of a person. He caters to numerous orders, sometime looses his cool , but all in good-nature. Anil Bhai - we bow to you. Hope to meet you again next season. Food is good in Evergren cafe. If you are a non-veggie, don't miss out on chicken steak with boiled vegetables.
The night we went to Paradise, there were no rooms to stay, and we slept on the beach. We looke at the constellations, and saw shooting stars. Some of my most memorable memories of 2008. Music from Shiva full moon, phsycedellic trance etc. were the icing on the cake that night. Lights from Ships, patrol boats are the ones you can see at far off distances. Generally, holy-men coming from far-off places in India, original hippies or people trying to find out more about themselves, land up on this beach. This beach can be reached either by trek, as I wrote above or by boat or by a bus to Bellekan village(its a 10 minute walk from there.) Buses run between Gokarna and Bellekan.
*This beach is strictly not recommended for people who want comforts*.
Phew, this is an exhaustive blog and seems to have covered everything.
Return trip:
Who wants to return from Gokarna? But somebody has to pay the bills...sigh..
There is a KSRTC sleeper bus at 1930 hours, VRL sleeper bus at 1900 hours from Gokarna.
Finally:
1. Don't litter the beaches.
2. Stay away from people who approach you with grass(you will find in plenty).
3. All orders take time here. So let time go at its own pace.
4. Happy Tripping.
Some Fotos:
1. Solo Backpacking in Gokarna during start-of-season:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/solitary_harvester/sets/72157607067325168/
2. Gokarna as part of Great Indian Road trip:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/solitary_harvester/sets/72157612093366902/
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Back to Blogging
After a hiatus of more than a year, I have decided to pen down some of my thoughts lest I also get afflicted with something similar to 15-minute-back-to-amnesia , as typified in 'Ghajini'.
So here we go...
So here we go...
Friday, November 28, 2008
The Auto Ride
Well, if you folks arewondering about the title of the blog, I did not have a better name which comes to my mind…
Here you go….Around 2 weeks back, I had some shopping to be done in Forum, Kormanagala…As I did not have much work on that friday so I just made up my mind to leave a little early and go by the shuttle to SA, our office which is in close proximity to Forum…I waited for the 5.45 shuttle in the reception lobby but as luck would have it…I waited till 6.30 and the shuttle did not arrive..so I just decided to catch a auto from Brunton road, where my office is to the Forum…
I luckily got one auto willing to come on that rainy evening and we started off..as the auto made the diversion from richmond road onto hosur road..there were a large number of people waiting for bus at that place…the auto-driver slowed down near that place and picked up a girl who also happened to be going towards the same place…
The girl started talking in kannada with the auto driver…As I was wondering how to start the conversation, the girl asked me if i knew the fare to that place..i replied with a nonchalant remark….Boy, that seemed to open a pandora’s box as we started from discussing about our professions..and job profiles to the more interesting ones, like what both of us do on weekends ;-)….
If I have missed out on her name, apologies…her name is Tejaswini (as told by her) and she happened to be from mysore and working in a reputed MNC…She was in QA and had been working from last 6 months…
The Hosur road traffic which I used to dislike so much suddenly felt very comforting and I was literally hoping for some more jams..on the way…As we were talking, I could not prevent myself from staring right down her glistening eyes and wet hair…boy, she was a poet’s delight…(for those who don’t know me personally, I am the garibon ka surdas..)…
She talked about her family, her team and asked about my family, my team….
Well but as all good things come to an end, so was this one as we reached Forum..She gave her number and asked for my mail-id…and departed by saying good-bye…
I don’t know why I wrote a blog for this incident when I have more interesting ons up my sleeve, probably the glistening eyes and the wet long hair on a rainy evening in bangalore..inspired me to do so….
Friday, August 22, 2008
Dudh Sagar :
The love for nature unites everyone. None more exemplified than strangers meeting up on social networking sites and going on treks and hikes. 'Bangalore Trekkers' is one such community in orkut. I have made quite a few friends through that community. Lest I continue singing paens on the impact of social networking on the quotient of happiness in a person's life, let me stop myself from digressing on the topic further and come straight to our journey. Karthik, the trek-cordinator from Nisarga, a non-profit environmental organization, started the mail thread. Within a few days, the list got ready. Among them was a 10-member group of friends, which had 3 Madhus.
The trek plan was like this:
8th August evening : Board the Chennai-Vasco express from Yeshwantput.
9th August morning : Alight at Castle-Rock station, the last railway station on Karnataka side towards Goa, on the Hubli-Madgaon track.
9th August evening : Try not to do anything stupid and reach Dudhsagar falls, camp nearby. Try to get into the falls.
10th August morning : Start towards Molem. Try to reach by evening to board the Vasco-Bangalore express.
Trivia:
The Dudhsagar Falls are amongst the top 100 highest waterfalls in world. Situated on the border of Goa and Karnataka, the Dudhsagar Waterfalls takes a steep plunge 200(or more) feet down in the wooded mountains of the western Ghats. Believed to be amongst the highest falls in the country, these magnificent falls are located in a blissful tropical jungle with crisscrossing streams.
8th August:
Busy day, running after the kids from 4th standard of Boganahalli primary school, who came to Cisco campus for their annual sports day. Myself and Chinmoy were the guardians of 4th standard. Organized the games and then at the end had a tug-of-war with those kids, hopelessly outnumbered by 20-20( twenty young men on the right side of twenty). Events over by 1400 hours.
1600 hours: Office work done. Set out for home.
1900 hours: Set out for Yeshwantpur railway station, my first visit to that place.
2030 hours: Tried to find a eating joint. Could not. Thought of eating my dinner from railway pantry.
2045 hours: Watching passers-by. A major railway-station is the best way to capture a glimpse of India. Pesky tourists, entire family seeing off their lone child, eunuchs, beggars, pick-pocketers, touts etc. are a few species of the homospaien family to be found here.
2100 hours: Saw 3 girls approaching with wildcraft bags. But as is the case, the hottest girls are always in the other school/college/team or as in this case, trip!
2115 hours: Finally saw a man standing along side a bundle of bags. Thats Karthik. Along with him was Shiva. Got introduced to Madhu K, who told that the Madhu I was frequently interacting with was on his way.
2140 hours: Rest of the gang came in.
2145 hours: Train started from YPR.
2200 hours: Got bored. Listened to music and fell asleep.
9th August morning:
Woke up at 5 AM. It was drizzling and we were about to reach Hubli. Slowly, the other members came and sat in the compartment and had a healthy conversation going. I sat by the window.
It was drizzling outside. The overflowing lakes, the mind breeze and the fresh green everywhere reminded me of my travels in NE-India, notably my birth-place, Shillong & Cherrapunjee.
Had some Bhaji @ Londa(which is a major junction). We reached Castle rock at around
10.30 AM. It was drizzling outside. We distributed the sleepings bags, food-items and tents among ourselves and were set to start out trek by 11 AM.
About half-an-hour into the trek, Karthik , like a true team-leader listed out the do's and dont's of the trek. After a few group photos we set out on our way again.
I was at the front, as I was trying to balance my time between clicking and trekking.
In between we came across a few tunnels too.
Our break-fast stop came at Caranzol. The place has an abandoned railway gangmen's quarter and a dilapidated tea-stall. We had bread and jam here, along with some bhujias. This was a break of around half-an-hour. In between, we had a diesel engine passing by.
We started around 12.30 PM again. This trek section is a very scenic one, especially during the monsoons, where the monsoon works like a ghunghat over a newly-wed bride(in this case the green forest cover).
A few sample photos bear this testimony.
The trek was at a good pace. A few people were scared at the prospect of coming across a train while crossing a tunnel. We faced exactly that situation, but as the tunnels had enough side-space, there was nothing to worry. The only worry was regarding the bridges, they did not look too broad. One might have to scurry to the other side, if he or she hears the horn of the train. We missed a train by a whisker. The bridge was right after the tunnel.
Came across quite a few natural water springs(some like to call these waterfalls :-))
Our journey was interspersed with bouts of rain every now and then.
In between, we had the minor excitement of crossing over to Goa.
1600 hours:
People were hungry. So, we had a late lunch about a mile from Dudhsagar station. The falls is a further mile from this station. The lunch comprised of Avalakki. I was tasting it for the first time and it was damn good.
We came across a railway gang-man, who gave valuable information on the arrival and departure of the trains. He also predicted about the weather after one glimpse at the sky(reminded me of the film 'Swades'). His words were a huge morale-booster to the folks who were tired of walking on the tracks.
After about half-an-hour, we started on our way. The rain intensified here. By the time, we reached Dudhsagar station, the rains were pouring. Its a small station for goods trains. Passenger trains don't stop here. We left our baggage and went towards the falls. We have to cross a small tunnel. The falls were in full glory. I thought about having a few good snaps, the next day, unaware of events that were about to unfold in the next 12 hours.
We went back to collect our baggage and by the time we set up our camps on one of the nearby elevated posts, it was already quite dark. The rains were quite heavy now. We had bread-jam as dinner and slept at around 9 PM. Myself, Prasanna, Jaggu and Madhu K were in one of the tents.
I woke up around 11.30PM to find that water was seeping into the tent. Even Prasanna woke up, and we both were idly trying to figure out whether the rains were being forced by the winds to blow in a obtuse angle. After a few minutes, it struck us that the outer cover had flown away. Even Jaggu woke up in the melee. But nothing could put an end to Madhu K's slumber.
We finally managed to woke up Karthik and got out of our tents to fix the issue. Boy, was it cold.
The rains were just too heavy and along with the winds, it was like water bullets being shot at you. We went again to our respective tents. I tossed and turned, but could not get any sleep.
I was missing the music :-(
Early morning around 5 AM, the rain had subsided , but the falls was just amazing. Droplets from the falls had overflown and now covered the entire bridge. Additionally, we came to know that landslides had blocked the track and the previous day's Vasco-Bangalore express was still stuck on the other side of the slide. We had special Black Tea(or was it coffee) prepared by Shilpa & Rashmi. Kudos to them!
After exploring our options, we decided to call off the trek to Molem and board the Vasco express. A particular railway officer helped us in getting accomodated on this train. Thanks , Sir!
Meanwhile a few of us explored the extent of the land slides and saw the workers clearing up the tracks.
Finally, around 11 AM, we boarded the train. Initially we planned to get down at Castle Rock. But since the TT stayed away, we managed to get a ride straight back to Bangalore.
The return train journey was pretty normal. Half the coach was empty. Peter & myself had an entire compartment to us. The others were chatting with a goan family in the nearby compartment. In between, Karthik had a few good real-life stories to tell about Black-Bucks, Elephants, Ranne-Bennur and Great Indian Bastard.
After exchanging contact numbers and pleasantries, we bade adieu as the train arrived at YPR around 2330 hours.
Participants:
Shilpa
Rashmi
Swetha
Madhu BR
Madhu K
Madhu Gopal
Rajesh
Prabhu
Saravanan
Prasanna
Peter
Jaggu
Karthik
Shiva
Myself
How to get there:
1. Trek from Castle Rock
2. Take a goods train to Dudhsagar
3. Goto Margaon. Board a goods train from there.
4. Hire a jeep from Margaon.
Accomodation Options:
Are you kidding?
The trek plan was like this:
8th August evening : Board the Chennai-Vasco express from Yeshwantput.
9th August morning : Alight at Castle-Rock station, the last railway station on Karnataka side towards Goa, on the Hubli-Madgaon track.
9th August evening : Try not to do anything stupid and reach Dudhsagar falls, camp nearby. Try to get into the falls.
10th August morning : Start towards Molem. Try to reach by evening to board the Vasco-Bangalore express.
Trivia:
The Dudhsagar Falls are amongst the top 100 highest waterfalls in world. Situated on the border of Goa and Karnataka, the Dudhsagar Waterfalls takes a steep plunge 200(or more) feet down in the wooded mountains of the western Ghats. Believed to be amongst the highest falls in the country, these magnificent falls are located in a blissful tropical jungle with crisscrossing streams.
8th August:
Busy day, running after the kids from 4th standard of Boganahalli primary school, who came to Cisco campus for their annual sports day. Myself and Chinmoy were the guardians of 4th standard. Organized the games and then at the end had a tug-of-war with those kids, hopelessly outnumbered by 20-20( twenty young men on the right side of twenty). Events over by 1400 hours.
1600 hours: Office work done. Set out for home.
1900 hours: Set out for Yeshwantpur railway station, my first visit to that place.
2030 hours: Tried to find a eating joint. Could not. Thought of eating my dinner from railway pantry.
2045 hours: Watching passers-by. A major railway-station is the best way to capture a glimpse of India. Pesky tourists, entire family seeing off their lone child, eunuchs, beggars, pick-pocketers, touts etc. are a few species of the homospaien family to be found here.
2100 hours: Saw 3 girls approaching with wildcraft bags. But as is the case, the hottest girls are always in the other school/college/team or as in this case, trip!
2115 hours: Finally saw a man standing along side a bundle of bags. Thats Karthik. Along with him was Shiva. Got introduced to Madhu K, who told that the Madhu I was frequently interacting with was on his way.
2140 hours: Rest of the gang came in.
2145 hours: Train started from YPR.
2200 hours: Got bored. Listened to music and fell asleep.
9th August morning:
Woke up at 5 AM. It was drizzling and we were about to reach Hubli. Slowly, the other members came and sat in the compartment and had a healthy conversation going. I sat by the window.
It was drizzling outside. The overflowing lakes, the mind breeze and the fresh green everywhere reminded me of my travels in NE-India, notably my birth-place, Shillong & Cherrapunjee.
Had some Bhaji @ Londa(which is a major junction). We reached Castle rock at around
10.30 AM. It was drizzling outside. We distributed the sleepings bags, food-items and tents among ourselves and were set to start out trek by 11 AM.
About half-an-hour into the trek, Karthik , like a true team-leader listed out the do's and dont's of the trek. After a few group photos we set out on our way again.
I was at the front, as I was trying to balance my time between clicking and trekking.
In between we came across a few tunnels too.
Our break-fast stop came at Caranzol. The place has an abandoned railway gangmen's quarter and a dilapidated tea-stall. We had bread and jam here, along with some bhujias. This was a break of around half-an-hour. In between, we had a diesel engine passing by.
We started around 12.30 PM again. This trek section is a very scenic one, especially during the monsoons, where the monsoon works like a ghunghat over a newly-wed bride(in this case the green forest cover).
A few sample photos bear this testimony.
The trek was at a good pace. A few people were scared at the prospect of coming across a train while crossing a tunnel. We faced exactly that situation, but as the tunnels had enough side-space, there was nothing to worry. The only worry was regarding the bridges, they did not look too broad. One might have to scurry to the other side, if he or she hears the horn of the train. We missed a train by a whisker. The bridge was right after the tunnel.
Came across quite a few natural water springs(some like to call these waterfalls :-))
Our journey was interspersed with bouts of rain every now and then.
In between, we had the minor excitement of crossing over to Goa.
1600 hours:
People were hungry. So, we had a late lunch about a mile from Dudhsagar station. The falls is a further mile from this station. The lunch comprised of Avalakki. I was tasting it for the first time and it was damn good.
We came across a railway gang-man, who gave valuable information on the arrival and departure of the trains. He also predicted about the weather after one glimpse at the sky(reminded me of the film 'Swades'). His words were a huge morale-booster to the folks who were tired of walking on the tracks.
After about half-an-hour, we started on our way. The rain intensified here. By the time, we reached Dudhsagar station, the rains were pouring. Its a small station for goods trains. Passenger trains don't stop here. We left our baggage and went towards the falls. We have to cross a small tunnel. The falls were in full glory. I thought about having a few good snaps, the next day, unaware of events that were about to unfold in the next 12 hours.
We went back to collect our baggage and by the time we set up our camps on one of the nearby elevated posts, it was already quite dark. The rains were quite heavy now. We had bread-jam as dinner and slept at around 9 PM. Myself, Prasanna, Jaggu and Madhu K were in one of the tents.
I woke up around 11.30PM to find that water was seeping into the tent. Even Prasanna woke up, and we both were idly trying to figure out whether the rains were being forced by the winds to blow in a obtuse angle. After a few minutes, it struck us that the outer cover had flown away. Even Jaggu woke up in the melee. But nothing could put an end to Madhu K's slumber.We finally managed to woke up Karthik and got out of our tents to fix the issue. Boy, was it cold.
The rains were just too heavy and along with the winds, it was like water bullets being shot at you. We went again to our respective tents. I tossed and turned, but could not get any sleep.
I was missing the music :-(
Early morning around 5 AM, the rain had subsided , but the falls was just amazing. Droplets from the falls had overflown and now covered the entire bridge. Additionally, we came to know that landslides had blocked the track and the previous day's Vasco-Bangalore express was still stuck on the other side of the slide. We had special Black Tea(or was it coffee) prepared by Shilpa & Rashmi. Kudos to them!
After exploring our options, we decided to call off the trek to Molem and board the Vasco express. A particular railway officer helped us in getting accomodated on this train. Thanks , Sir!
Meanwhile a few of us explored the extent of the land slides and saw the workers clearing up the tracks.
Finally, around 11 AM, we boarded the train. Initially we planned to get down at Castle Rock. But since the TT stayed away, we managed to get a ride straight back to Bangalore.
The return train journey was pretty normal. Half the coach was empty. Peter & myself had an entire compartment to us. The others were chatting with a goan family in the nearby compartment. In between, Karthik had a few good real-life stories to tell about Black-Bucks, Elephants, Ranne-Bennur and Great Indian Bastard.
After exchanging contact numbers and pleasantries, we bade adieu as the train arrived at YPR around 2330 hours.
Participants:
Shilpa
Rashmi
Swetha
Madhu BR
Madhu K
Madhu Gopal
Rajesh
Prabhu
Saravanan
Prasanna
Peter
Jaggu
Karthik
Shiva
Myself
How to get there:
1. Trek from Castle Rock
2. Take a goods train to Dudhsagar
3. Goto Margaon. Board a goods train from there.
4. Hire a jeep from Margaon.
Accomodation Options:
Are you kidding?
Monday, August 4, 2008
Kuringal Gudda : Kudremukh
It was the second week of May, and two months since the debacle at Kumarparvatha, that the hills beckoned me once again. While looking for trek options, I came across the BMC post on the trek to Kuringal Gudda. I did not need to think twice before registering for this trek.
Kuringal Gudda is a trekking route in Kudremukh national park. The route is something like
Bhagavathi Nature Camp - Kuringal Gudda - Bhagavathi Nature Camp . The trek distance
is 14 kms with the difficulty level being moderate.
So, on friday night after having a quick dinner at Imperial, I was waiting outside Symphony theatre along with 15 other strangers, when the BMC bus came. Soon, all people got in and at around 10.45 PM, we started off, manouvering through the halogen lit empty streets of Bangalore. The exit from Bangalore was delayed by the customary traffic jam at Jalahalli cross, and the bus gained momentum only from Neelamangala. A brief stopover happened around 12.30 for people to have their dinner. After dinner, the people boarded the bus and as the bus started, a quick round of intoductions followed after waking up the sleepy folks. Mayuresh, in typical style, literally put the 'spotlight' on the tired folks :P
We reached Kalasa around 8 A.M. and had a brief stopover for tea & pee :D. At 9 A.M , we reached Kudremukh and we were waiting outside the DFO office. We had our breakast and after finishing the formalities at the forest office, we set off for Bhagavathi nature camp. The river "Bhadra" flows behind the camp.
After putting our rucksacks in the large dormitory, the guys rushed to the river to take a bath. The water was crystal clear. After an hour of frollicking around and pulling each other's legs, we had our lunch at around 12.30. The lunch was prepared by the local guard who doubles up as a cook. It tasted delicious for sure. Around 1.30 we set off for Hanuman Gundi falls, about 7 kms away for the Bhagavati nature camp. Around 2.30, we were at the falls and walking down the steps to the base. There most of the folks went down and enjoyed the cold water flowing from above. This went for quite sometime and by 4.30 almost everybody was tired and after drying themselves, they walked up the stairs and boarded the bus waiting outside. Now, Kudremukh seems to be full of forests and there was only one tea shop near KIOCL. So, again we went there for our cup of tea. This place also has a small marketplace, where once can buy local groceries and meat etc. The small, quaint market was located in the backdrop of the famed western ghats which added its own aura to that place.
Anyways, we started back towards Bhagavati nature camp and reached there by 6.00 PM. A few of us got down at the gate itself, from there it was another kilometre to the base camp. With the sun beating down and all eyes wide open looking our for wild-life, we did manage to come across some spotted dear.
But that was just about it. The rest of the evening was spent discussing about office, IT industry,
managers etc. A couple of guys stood out during these interactions. One was Roy, the guy from
Shillong, Anshul(who came from Chennai to join this trek) and Vaibhav.
Around 9 PM, we gathered around the fireplace thinking that dinner was ready, but truth was that dinner was still an hour away. To pass the time, jokes were cracked, attempts were made to sing some songs and finally everybody settled down on some light-hearted banter. Around 10, dinner came and everybody ate to their hearts' felt. There were quite a few dishes, veg and non-veg.
After dinner around midnight, everybody went for a walk to the front gate hoping to catch sight of some animals. But still no-luck, rather ill-luck as a forest department jeep came at that time and sternly asked us to move back to our dormitory , warning us about the dangers of the forest at night.
So everybody was back and people dozed off by 1 AM. I had a sound-sleep, but was awakened a couple of times briefly by the sound of water falling on the ground. At around 6.30 when I got up, I again heard the sound and thought that it was raining and was wondering how the famed Kudremukh leeches might be expecting a feast. But when I actually woke up and went outside, it was just the water tank leaking near the window :D .
Anyways by 8 AM, everybody was ready and set to go. We had a quick breakfast and then divided the supplies between us. Around 8.30 AM we started off by crossing the Bhadra river behind the camp. After 5 minutes of walk, there was the first cry of leeches. Thereafter everybody stated discovering leeches. Me being a past experience-holder of leeches continued moving forward. It was like rumble in the jungle as people started running uphill in the forests. I could barely manage a photo or two in the melee.
After 2 hours of running, pushing and shoving, we came out into the open from where we could see the peak of Kuringal Gudda. Now this was a steep climb and needed a good 45 minutes to over come it. Once at the peak, we spent the better part of 2 hours eating, clicking and just relaxing. Once can see the Kudremukh-mangalore road from this viewpoint. All were busy with something or the other. I just dozed off on a rock near the edge of the cliff after exhausting my hunger for photos.
Around 2 hours past noon, we finally got down from cliff and made our way to the Bhagavati nature camp via a seperate route which was almost fully a jeep track, devoid of any leeches. Had a few breaks in between and admired the Kudremukh grasslands. Also posed for quite a few photographs.
We were back at the base camp by 3.30 and after a quick dip in the Bhadra river, we had our much delayed lunch. The bus started off around 5.00 PM and we zipped past Kudremukh. In between we had a stopover at Kalasa for some quick coffee.
We stopped for dinner at Hassan and after finishing our dinner in half-an-hour, we started off for Bangalore and reached my home finally at around 3.30 AM.
Kuringal Gudda is a trekking route in Kudremukh national park. The route is something like
Bhagavathi Nature Camp - Kuringal Gudda - Bhagavathi Nature Camp . The trek distance
is 14 kms with the difficulty level being moderate.
So, on friday night after having a quick dinner at Imperial, I was waiting outside Symphony theatre along with 15 other strangers, when the BMC bus came. Soon, all people got in and at around 10.45 PM, we started off, manouvering through the halogen lit empty streets of Bangalore. The exit from Bangalore was delayed by the customary traffic jam at Jalahalli cross, and the bus gained momentum only from Neelamangala. A brief stopover happened around 12.30 for people to have their dinner. After dinner, the people boarded the bus and as the bus started, a quick round of intoductions followed after waking up the sleepy folks. Mayuresh, in typical style, literally put the 'spotlight' on the tired folks :P
We reached Kalasa around 8 A.M. and had a brief stopover for tea & pee :D. At 9 A.M , we reached Kudremukh and we were waiting outside the DFO office. We had our breakast and after finishing the formalities at the forest office, we set off for Bhagavathi nature camp. The river "Bhadra" flows behind the camp.
After putting our rucksacks in the large dormitory, the guys rushed to the river to take a bath. The water was crystal clear. After an hour of frollicking around and pulling each other's legs, we had our lunch at around 12.30. The lunch was prepared by the local guard who doubles up as a cook. It tasted delicious for sure. Around 1.30 we set off for Hanuman Gundi falls, about 7 kms away for the Bhagavati nature camp. Around 2.30, we were at the falls and walking down the steps to the base. There most of the folks went down and enjoyed the cold water flowing from above. This went for quite sometime and by 4.30 almost everybody was tired and after drying themselves, they walked up the stairs and boarded the bus waiting outside. Now, Kudremukh seems to be full of forests and there was only one tea shop near KIOCL. So, again we went there for our cup of tea. This place also has a small marketplace, where once can buy local groceries and meat etc. The small, quaint market was located in the backdrop of the famed western ghats which added its own aura to that place.
Anyways, we started back towards Bhagavati nature camp and reached there by 6.00 PM. A few of us got down at the gate itself, from there it was another kilometre to the base camp. With the sun beating down and all eyes wide open looking our for wild-life, we did manage to come across some spotted dear.
But that was just about it. The rest of the evening was spent discussing about office, IT industry,
managers etc. A couple of guys stood out during these interactions. One was Roy, the guy from
Shillong, Anshul(who came from Chennai to join this trek) and Vaibhav.
Around 9 PM, we gathered around the fireplace thinking that dinner was ready, but truth was that dinner was still an hour away. To pass the time, jokes were cracked, attempts were made to sing some songs and finally everybody settled down on some light-hearted banter. Around 10, dinner came and everybody ate to their hearts' felt. There were quite a few dishes, veg and non-veg.
After dinner around midnight, everybody went for a walk to the front gate hoping to catch sight of some animals. But still no-luck, rather ill-luck as a forest department jeep came at that time and sternly asked us to move back to our dormitory , warning us about the dangers of the forest at night.
So everybody was back and people dozed off by 1 AM. I had a sound-sleep, but was awakened a couple of times briefly by the sound of water falling on the ground. At around 6.30 when I got up, I again heard the sound and thought that it was raining and was wondering how the famed Kudremukh leeches might be expecting a feast. But when I actually woke up and went outside, it was just the water tank leaking near the window :D .
Anyways by 8 AM, everybody was ready and set to go. We had a quick breakfast and then divided the supplies between us. Around 8.30 AM we started off by crossing the Bhadra river behind the camp. After 5 minutes of walk, there was the first cry of leeches. Thereafter everybody stated discovering leeches. Me being a past experience-holder of leeches continued moving forward. It was like rumble in the jungle as people started running uphill in the forests. I could barely manage a photo or two in the melee.
After 2 hours of running, pushing and shoving, we came out into the open from where we could see the peak of Kuringal Gudda. Now this was a steep climb and needed a good 45 minutes to over come it. Once at the peak, we spent the better part of 2 hours eating, clicking and just relaxing. Once can see the Kudremukh-mangalore road from this viewpoint. All were busy with something or the other. I just dozed off on a rock near the edge of the cliff after exhausting my hunger for photos.
Around 2 hours past noon, we finally got down from cliff and made our way to the Bhagavati nature camp via a seperate route which was almost fully a jeep track, devoid of any leeches. Had a few breaks in between and admired the Kudremukh grasslands. Also posed for quite a few photographs.
We were back at the base camp by 3.30 and after a quick dip in the Bhadra river, we had our much delayed lunch. The bus started off around 5.00 PM and we zipped past Kudremukh. In between we had a stopover at Kalasa for some quick coffee.
We stopped for dinner at Hassan and after finishing our dinner in half-an-hour, we started off for Bangalore and reached my home finally at around 3.30 AM.
Friday, July 4, 2008
Kumarparvatha - 1
Kumar Parvatha(translated in English, as the 'Virgin Mountain') is the third tallest peak in Karnataka. And most trekkers say, the toughest trail in Karnataka. It can be scaled from 2 sides. One side is from Kukke Subramanya and the other side is from Somwarpet in Coorg. We decided to take the Kukke route, which is about 10 kms to the peak.
So, on the 8th of March, five of us i.e. Arun, Roxana, Santosh, Vishal and I were waiting in the KBS platform no 23 for catching the bus to the temple town of Subramanya. The bus duly came around 10.45 PM and we were sitting on the last row of the Rajhamsa. Not sure about the others, but I was pretty happy to get the window seat(as I wanted to catch the fresh and cool night breeze), unmindful of what was to happen later in the night. The bus started fromKSRTC Bus Stand. I watched the bus meandering through the empty Bangalore roads illuminated by the halogen lamps, and was slowly drowsing away, wondering why the same streets look so messy in the day-time.
A little digression now to introduce my trek mates. Roxie was working in an aviation firm, had prior experience of trekking in Sar-ki pass. Vishal and Arun were doing their Bachelor's, and were on their first trek. Santosh was the leader of the trek, a veteran of many treks . As for myself, after Barai valley, I was just fully turned on :P
Around 1A.M the bus arrived at Channarayapatna. And after a 10 minute stop, we were soon past Hassan and going towards Sakleshpura. I was looking at the sky and admiring the star lit sky. At 3 A.M I got a very nasty jolt,which was the first among quite a few jolts to follow. Then I began to realize that last seat was not the best seat on these roads. For the next 3 hours, it was like playing a game of Russian Roulette. Never know when the next almost-back-breaking bump is going to come.I even tried standing for sometime. But this time my head used to knock the roof of the bus during every bump. And with the ghat roads, the KSRTC bus going at such a speed, nothing could be more approrpiate than the song "highway to hell" from AC.DC, which incidentally was playing on my mind continuously. To say that the bus journey was a torture, would be an understatement. Finally around, 6'o clock on the morning, dawn broke out and we were at the Subramanya bus stand at 6.30, unloading our rucksacks from the bus. This lack of sleep would prove to be dear to me later in the day :(
After finishing our daily ablutions at the public toilet offered by the temple authorities, we had a quick breakfast. After distributing the sleeping bags among each of us and checking up on our water stocks, soon we were on our way out to Kumara Parvatha. The initial road was a muddy one and went through some small lanes, typical of small towns in India. Soon we came across a signboard, which indicated the route upto Kumar Parvatha. That lightened up our spirits and soon we were trudging our way up the trail. In India, you will find people everywhere. KP was no exception. There were some 8-9 groups trekking on the same day. Arun and Vishal were at the lead of the pack in our group. I was huffing and puffing in the middle. I was followed by Santosh and Roxanna. That was pretty much the order till the end of the day.
I took a lot of breaks in between, stopping every 30 minutes to catch my breath. No wonder, dad asks me to goto the gym :) . We were covered by the shade of the forest for around 2 hours, the path being a little steep though. After that, we entered a huge open space, then it was just the hot blazing sun, beating upon us. I clicked quite a lot of photos in the meanwhile. Once we exited the forest, we could see the Subramanya temple in the main town.
We reached Bhatta Mane's place at around 12 for lunch. The place is known as GiriGade. Bhatta has his own farm and cows. I heard one of his relatives goes down to Subramanya town everyday to sell the milk. Bhatta's house was quite a welcome relief. For not only we found shade, but also some rather icy-cold water which was coming straight down from the mountains according to Santosh. I don't like having rice and sambar generally and that too complimented with butter milk. But that day was an exception. I was ready to eat anything which came my way. By 12.30 , I was fully loaded on the above mentioned items and even managed to
catch some sleep. By 1 PM, we were ready to start for the next leg of our journey.
After a 2min-walk from Bhatta Mane's place, we came across the forest department office, where we need to get the permission. After finishing the formalities we were on our way. But progress was slowed down quite a bit by the scorching sun. I was carrying two 4 litre bottles. One 2L bottle is enough, as you have the refilling option available at Bhatta Mane. 2 bottles add too much weight, which I realised later could hamper one's progress. The breaks became far more frequent now. All of us were losing breath. To add to my misery, whenever I stopped to take rest, I used to fell asleep only to be awakened by a passing trekker. At around 4 PM, we came across a waterhole, where we washed ourselves a bit. After around 10 minutes, we
reached the Mantapa, and carried on ahead with our journey. Soon it was 5, and sun was also lessening in intensity. We made a quick check of ourselves, and decided that going to peak in the dark was not feasible. So, we decided to return back to waterhole and find a camping place near it. Finally, at around 6, we set up camp near the waterhole.
Soon, all of us had freshened up and were ready for the dinner. A fire was setup with the help of petrol and some dead wood. We had quite a delicious helping of maggi for dinner. After some arbit chit-chat, we were inside our tents by 8 PM. The day being tiring as it was, I quickly fell asleep. At around 9, strong winds started blowing in KP and the tent was just flapping.
Initially I thought some animal might be near our tents and we were lighting our torches. But as the wind picked up, we knew that the famous winds of KP have come to welcome us. The other tent was under the greater threat of collapsing, so Santosh was doing some quick fix with that tent. I got out of our tent and came out to enjoy(?) the gutsy winds. First of all, the winds hardly allowed me to stand on the ground, and were continuously pushing me forward. So, I sat down on one of the rocks and admired the star-lit sky. There were zillions of stars. I spent quite a lot of time trying to figure out the constellations. I began to thought about the universe, the big-bang and all those shit. Finally , around 11, I again went back to our tent. The rest of the night was spent between sleeping and the weird dream of being pushed down the slope along with the tent by the gutsy winds.
At around 5 A.M, I got up, and busied myself in taking some sunrise snaps. At around 6 A.M , the other tent which Santosh had managed to keep it propped up for the entire night, collapsed, leaving in its wake the poor inhabitants, woken out of their slumber.
After a quick breakfast, all of us were on our way down towards Bhatta Maane. Around 10'o clock we reached his place. After having the breakfast , we set off for the final descent around 11. The journey down was painful with my shoe torn in the middle. However, taking rests in between on the way down, we managed to be at the Subramanya bus stand by around 1.15 PM, just enough time for a quick lunch and wash ourselves to board the bus to bangalore at 3.00 PM.
The return journey had its own share of bumps and yes, we were again on the final seat :) . To add to the excitement of the last 2 days, the bus got punctured , and we had to take another bus to bangalore. We arrived at Majestic around 12 and left for our respective homes.
PS: It took me a week to recover from the bruised and battered body that I ended up with post-KP. But whenever I think of KP, I get reminded of a wonderful adventure for 2 days. And yes, I have got some unfinished business up there in those hills.
Hasta La Vista, I will be back.
So, on the 8th of March, five of us i.e. Arun, Roxana, Santosh, Vishal and I were waiting in the KBS platform no 23 for catching the bus to the temple town of Subramanya. The bus duly came around 10.45 PM and we were sitting on the last row of the Rajhamsa. Not sure about the others, but I was pretty happy to get the window seat(as I wanted to catch the fresh and cool night breeze), unmindful of what was to happen later in the night. The bus started fromKSRTC Bus Stand. I watched the bus meandering through the empty Bangalore roads illuminated by the halogen lamps, and was slowly drowsing away, wondering why the same streets look so messy in the day-time.
A little digression now to introduce my trek mates. Roxie was working in an aviation firm, had prior experience of trekking in Sar-ki pass. Vishal and Arun were doing their Bachelor's, and were on their first trek. Santosh was the leader of the trek, a veteran of many treks . As for myself, after Barai valley, I was just fully turned on :P
Around 1A.M the bus arrived at Channarayapatna. And after a 10 minute stop, we were soon past Hassan and going towards Sakleshpura. I was looking at the sky and admiring the star lit sky. At 3 A.M I got a very nasty jolt,which was the first among quite a few jolts to follow. Then I began to realize that last seat was not the best seat on these roads. For the next 3 hours, it was like playing a game of Russian Roulette. Never know when the next almost-back-breaking bump is going to come.I even tried standing for sometime. But this time my head used to knock the roof of the bus during every bump. And with the ghat roads, the KSRTC bus going at such a speed, nothing could be more approrpiate than the song "highway to hell" from AC.DC, which incidentally was playing on my mind continuously. To say that the bus journey was a torture, would be an understatement. Finally around, 6'o clock on the morning, dawn broke out and we were at the Subramanya bus stand at 6.30, unloading our rucksacks from the bus. This lack of sleep would prove to be dear to me later in the day :(
After finishing our daily ablutions at the public toilet offered by the temple authorities, we had a quick breakfast. After distributing the sleeping bags among each of us and checking up on our water stocks, soon we were on our way out to Kumara Parvatha. The initial road was a muddy one and went through some small lanes, typical of small towns in India. Soon we came across a signboard, which indicated the route upto Kumar Parvatha. That lightened up our spirits and soon we were trudging our way up the trail. In India, you will find people everywhere. KP was no exception. There were some 8-9 groups trekking on the same day. Arun and Vishal were at the lead of the pack in our group. I was huffing and puffing in the middle. I was followed by Santosh and Roxanna. That was pretty much the order till the end of the day.
I took a lot of breaks in between, stopping every 30 minutes to catch my breath. No wonder, dad asks me to goto the gym :) . We were covered by the shade of the forest for around 2 hours, the path being a little steep though. After that, we entered a huge open space, then it was just the hot blazing sun, beating upon us. I clicked quite a lot of photos in the meanwhile. Once we exited the forest, we could see the Subramanya temple in the main town.
We reached Bhatta Mane's place at around 12 for lunch. The place is known as GiriGade. Bhatta has his own farm and cows. I heard one of his relatives goes down to Subramanya town everyday to sell the milk. Bhatta's house was quite a welcome relief. For not only we found shade, but also some rather icy-cold water which was coming straight down from the mountains according to Santosh. I don't like having rice and sambar generally and that too complimented with butter milk. But that day was an exception. I was ready to eat anything which came my way. By 12.30 , I was fully loaded on the above mentioned items and even managed to
catch some sleep. By 1 PM, we were ready to start for the next leg of our journey.
After a 2min-walk from Bhatta Mane's place, we came across the forest department office, where we need to get the permission. After finishing the formalities we were on our way. But progress was slowed down quite a bit by the scorching sun. I was carrying two 4 litre bottles. One 2L bottle is enough, as you have the refilling option available at Bhatta Mane. 2 bottles add too much weight, which I realised later could hamper one's progress. The breaks became far more frequent now. All of us were losing breath. To add to my misery, whenever I stopped to take rest, I used to fell asleep only to be awakened by a passing trekker. At around 4 PM, we came across a waterhole, where we washed ourselves a bit. After around 10 minutes, we
reached the Mantapa, and carried on ahead with our journey. Soon it was 5, and sun was also lessening in intensity. We made a quick check of ourselves, and decided that going to peak in the dark was not feasible. So, we decided to return back to waterhole and find a camping place near it. Finally, at around 6, we set up camp near the waterhole.
Soon, all of us had freshened up and were ready for the dinner. A fire was setup with the help of petrol and some dead wood. We had quite a delicious helping of maggi for dinner. After some arbit chit-chat, we were inside our tents by 8 PM. The day being tiring as it was, I quickly fell asleep. At around 9, strong winds started blowing in KP and the tent was just flapping.
Initially I thought some animal might be near our tents and we were lighting our torches. But as the wind picked up, we knew that the famous winds of KP have come to welcome us. The other tent was under the greater threat of collapsing, so Santosh was doing some quick fix with that tent. I got out of our tent and came out to enjoy(?) the gutsy winds. First of all, the winds hardly allowed me to stand on the ground, and were continuously pushing me forward. So, I sat down on one of the rocks and admired the star-lit sky. There were zillions of stars. I spent quite a lot of time trying to figure out the constellations. I began to thought about the universe, the big-bang and all those shit. Finally , around 11, I again went back to our tent. The rest of the night was spent between sleeping and the weird dream of being pushed down the slope along with the tent by the gutsy winds.
At around 5 A.M, I got up, and busied myself in taking some sunrise snaps. At around 6 A.M , the other tent which Santosh had managed to keep it propped up for the entire night, collapsed, leaving in its wake the poor inhabitants, woken out of their slumber.
After a quick breakfast, all of us were on our way down towards Bhatta Maane. Around 10'o clock we reached his place. After having the breakfast , we set off for the final descent around 11. The journey down was painful with my shoe torn in the middle. However, taking rests in between on the way down, we managed to be at the Subramanya bus stand by around 1.15 PM, just enough time for a quick lunch and wash ourselves to board the bus to bangalore at 3.00 PM.
The return journey had its own share of bumps and yes, we were again on the final seat :) . To add to the excitement of the last 2 days, the bus got punctured , and we had to take another bus to bangalore. We arrived at Majestic around 12 and left for our respective homes.
PS: It took me a week to recover from the bruised and battered body that I ended up with post-KP. But whenever I think of KP, I get reminded of a wonderful adventure for 2 days. And yes, I have got some unfinished business up there in those hills.
Hasta La Vista, I will be back.
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