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Labels: midnight, mindless melodies, poetry, poetry?
The night was filled with excitement, the expectation of the trek to start. I bet the alarm and woke up at 3:25 AM on Saturday morning. Already having packed, I quickly hopped on to my Elantra and raced to
We stopped at our usual breakfast point quite early. Waiting for the breakfast to get ready we were getting to know the fellow trekkers. Around 6:30 we started our final leg to our base camp. The final stretch of the road had quite a bit of a surprise for us. Well the first of many to come :-). The recent rains made the mud roads very difficult to navigate and the trekkers turned to constructionists, mending the road so that the cars could move further. Finally we chose to park the car on the road a few hundred metres to our usual base camp. The trekkers from
Distributing food for the next two days, we all, 45 of us, buckled up and proceeded towards the dam. Avoiding the muddy paths, we finally hit the top of the dam, and behold, there was the huge lake formed by the dam! The water was as high as a two storey building. The trek had started. One of the many unknowns we had to conquer in order to complete Nagala 9!
Spidey sensed Ram and Peter then figured out the route to take. We planned to go over the small hill to the left and get back to the trail at the spot of the burning tree. Sickle in hand Ram and Peter tried to get us an opening through the bushes. And after a few dead ends we finally hit the trail to get to the burning tree. Well tree had stopped burning quite a while ago, but now it was half submerged in water. So we decided to go back and join the trail at a further point. Finally we hit the trail to the first pool of many Nagala treks and we had lost an hour or so. With the recent rains the pool was lot more gushing with water and the mini waterfall was really force full. We all got into the pool and the next 30 mins it was heaven! The non-swimmers were helped using a rope to get to the waterfall, and we all enjoyed the natural massage nature had to offer.
We started to our next destination, the small waterfall up the river bed. Here we had our lunch, filled our water bottles, as this was our last water point until the next day! From now on it was the breathtaking views of Nagala Hills which filled us as we made our way to the 600m summit. As we scaled, the chatter went on, the glucon-d mixed water vanished into our thirsty throats, the lead group explored the routes, the middle pack moved at constant pace, the sweepers made sure no one was left behind. Many snaps got clicked, many limbs got tired, trekkers’ camaraderie was displayed helping out fellow trekkers, and as we neared sun-down we were getting ever closer to our summit.
The morning detour made sure we had to trek in the night. Taking out our led torches we were scaling the slopes with caution. The lead group scouted the hills for easy routes to the top. After an hour or so of trekking in the dark, we reached our summit! Wow what a feeling. The endurance of 10 hours of trekking, the scrapes and bruises, the exhaustion, the tired muscles, all went out of focus. Calm filled us as the breeze took over our bodies and healed it. Savoring the gentle breeze, we moved onto our camping ground. The tent poles from Nagala 2 were still intact! We setup 3 tents and had dinner. Some dozed under the tents; some slept watching the beautiful sky, the full moon smiling at us, the stars gazing at us showing a universe we are oblivious to in our busy walks of life.
Our tired bones resting, it wasn’t an easy job waking up J. But as the day broke, we woke. By 6:45 AM we were again locked and ready for next 12 hours (or more(?)) of fun. With the morning sun lighting up the Nagala Hills it was time to enjoy the nature’s lighting effects from the various viewpoints on our way. Our first destination was the 300m waterfalls! Even the thought of it excites me. We started our descent and caught the river bed of this waterfall. We trekked along those slippery rocks, sometimes going up and trying to find a faster route. We were time conscious and wanted to get to the base camp by 5 PM as the Hyd folks had to catch a train back to Hyd.
More glucon-d was consumed, legs were getting tired, and hunger was setting in as we approached the waterfalls. Finally at 12 noon we reached our destination. We all jumped into the pool washed our muddy selves and had great fun under the small waterfall. This was on top of the magnificent 300m waterfall. After the fun in the water we weren’t prepared for the sight of our lives!!
Just a few metres form the pool there was the 300m waterfall! Sitting at the top of it, with a sheer vertical drop of 300m below you, the Nagala Hills and valleys all around you, it was unbelievable. Nature in all its glory let this place be formed over millions and millions of years. How pristine! How wonderful! The breeze filled your mind with beauty which will haunt you for ever! These immortal images etched our mind.
We had lunch here, and started on our descent. We indented to get down on the hill adjoining the right side of the dam. To get there we had to go past two hills! These were mostly new trails and the lead group was trying to find us trails we can follow. We encountered very slippery slopes, thorny bushes, small slips, some hurling rocks, and all through amazing team work. Helping each other we crossed the first hill and we were on the descent on the second. But time wasn’t on our side. It was getting dark, and last part of the trail was yet to be explored. The Hyd folks readjusted their plans to catch the later train. So began our second night trek.
Torches out, egging people on, helping those without torches, saving the final drops of water, we could see our base camp and the lake beside it. It was a final stretch, a final push, searching our insides for the hidden energies we never knew were inside us. Going through the bushes, almost pitch dark, we finally hit the exit to the dam!! Just then the moon showed its beautiful evening face out, blushing in red, peeking at the 45 crazy trekkers.
Some took a quick dip in the dam, some relaxed, some gazed at the beauty of the Nagala hills in the night, and some ogled the moon. But all knew the limits they pushed within themselves and had won.
After a leisurely walk back to the cars we headed back to civilization. We had some mouth watering food on the way in road side dhabbas, as our favorite Chennai Deluxe would not be open by the time we would have gotten back. We drove back the tired, exhausted but totally exalted bodies back to Chennai. The Hyd folks had started a bit earlier to catch the midnight train.
Saying goodbyes we parted at Koyambedu. The memorable Nagala 9 came to an end. It’s been 3 days since we completed the trek but the hangover has not passed. All you need to do is close your eyes and the beauty, the thrills, the serenity, the camaraderie, the fun, the amazing friendships, the sound of the gushing water, the silence of the Nagala valleys, the breeze of the summit, the light hearted banter, the high of being one with Nature, the inner knowledge of oneself, all come rushing back. Until the next trek, let the hangover remain.
PS: Pics courtesy Karthik Ramalingam, Bhaskar, Suresh Kumar and Suresh Kanna.
Hi All,
I have started blogging at http://www.livejournal.com/users/palanidaran/. So catch me there.
Bye,
Palani.
One week after returning back from the Diwali vacation, I thought my weekends would still be going on in the same routine lazy way. But this Sunday was quite different. My dad was to come to Bangalore for attending his JD’s (Joint Director, I guess) daughter’s engagement.
He and one of his colleagues (Karthikeyan Uncle) arrived in the Brindavan Express around 1:30 PM. To make the house presentable I woke up a bit early (that’s 10:30 AM, :) ) and cleaned the house. Not thoroughly though enough to make it look presentable.
I picked them up, and on our way home we had food. Rested for some while at the home and then I took them to show around Bangalore. I took them first to Lalbagh, then to MTR for some coffee, and then we headed to Matikere for the engagement. On the way we checked out Vidhan Soudha, pretty cool piece of architecture. Our way to Matikere was tiresome, though not much traffic, the roads we bad. After some fight, to figure out the address, we finally got to the place around 6:20 PM, just in time for the function.
Lots of my dad’s colleagues were here, and I knew some of them, so wasn’t that bad. Also yesterday I had enabled GPRS on my mobile, so that too kept me busy :). Though gmail was pretty slow through it, I managed to send a mail with an attachment through it.
Then once the function was over, we had some good food and started back to the railway station. After some wrong turns we finally reached the station. Dropped them off and headed back home.
My usual Sunday is a lot different from the above. I usually read some book, or go watch a movie in theatre or in my laptop, or play some game in the laptop. But today though tiring was good. Especially sitting in the park was quite peaceful. Having less traffic and good roads would have made today great, but in Bangalore to ask for that is too much. But all in all a good day.
On a side note Bk’s anna, Surender, was saying a real estate guru is predicting that the Blore real estate bubble is going to burst in a year’s time. The prices are going to fall by 30 to 50%. Well if the infrastructure does not improve it is bound to happen.
Now that I am net enabled on weekends, hope to blog more often :).
Signing off,
Palani.
I am spending the 9 day vacation/holiday during the Diwali/Ramzan in Chennai. A week into my 9 day vacation, the time seems to have flied. I got a new Nokia 6630 cellphone. Also had been going around the city checking out car showrooms. I am looking for a mid-sized car and it is really tough to decide which one. I have to test drive a few more cars before I can make a decision.
Today is Ramzan, and every Ramzan we go to one of our ex-neighbour, Ayesha akka's house for lunch. She had called to invite us and thats when nostalgia hit me. We lived in a small house in Egmore during most of my early schooling, till 7th or 8th Standard. Now that I look back those were really memorable days. Let me remember some moments from the past.
Our house then was one among the 7 houses in the building. The place is sort of complexly build as the owners built it in stages. We lived in the first house. Just thinking of those days brings so much memories to me, those weekends watching rented movies, those diwalis, those card games... I will never be able to capture all them in writing, but it is not to be written it is to be felt.
The home next to ours was occupied by my uncle and aunt. I usually played with their kid, Deepak, before I left for school. The other houses in the groundfloor were occupied by Shiny akka and Ayesha akka. Just above our house was our owner's house. Some of the most memorable afternoons as a school kid was spent on the balcony of their house. I used to play cards and Business (Monopoly) with Prema akka, Venkatesh anna (owner's children, and much older than me :)) and many others from their house. I drag them on to play with me. I was (am?) such a stubborn kid and once I got 4 As, 4 Kings and 4 Queens and still wanted them to play the same game of Ace (Donkey).
I had a few my age group friends as well. Kamesh lived in the opposite house, Gnanasekhar also in another opposite house and Vicky in the house next door. I also played with Ganesh anna, who lived next door as well. During Diwali crackers were so much fun then. I used to be very calculative in using the extra cracker allowance given to me and plan to get crackers which would give us the most amount of time bursting them to the once which cause the biggest noise. Omar, my classmate, will join us during Diwali and he, Vicky, me spend a lot of time enjoying those great sounds.
Well the memories seem to be countless, let me drown in them. I will find another time to give another sample. Looking back I see how active, life filled my life has been, though now it is only filled with work and slumber. Hope I can counter it and have a more lively life soon :).
Bye,
Palani.
eHome where I can talk and talk and talk....
