Rajasthan

It all started with the Rajasthan trip. From the majestic Udaipur palace to the Leopards of Bera to the Havelis of Nawalgarh and Churu to the dunes at Jaisalmer, this trip was one that will remain etched in my memory forever. Read it here.

Sivasamudram Bike Trip

This was a quick chit-chat ride to Sivasamudram. Zipped through Mysore road and we were back by afternoon

Early morning shot of Sajjangarh Fort while the moon was just setting

The Forgotten Commandments – A Short Film

I was the hero in this short film and as per the plot I was to die in the movie (something that eluded even Rajinikanth till now ). Shooting for this movie was one of the best experiences for me. Read about it here.

Siddara Betta

This was again a short bike and trek trip where we climbed to the caves and explored a few places around. The day can be dubbed as lost-and-found day as mentioned by Sudar in his blog post.

Hugging Monkeys at Siddara Betta

Kerala Bike Trip

Thick in to summer, we knew we had to cool ourselves. Chennai Trekking Club to the rescue. What would be better than a trip to swim in various parts of the Idukki dam followed by the splendid ghats of Valparai?

The shores of the Idukki Lake

Venkatagiri Trek

It was supposed to be a two-day trek but circumstances were such that two of us had to join another team who were on a 3-day trek in the same area. We trekked with them for the most part and started our exit on day 2 by following a stream. From where we stood, the town was visible; which meant, the climb down would be steep and we had to encounter lots of waterfalls. At last count, we had climbed down at least seven steep places within a matter of hours. Day light faded quickly and we were forced to camp with a meager amount of food at a beautiful cave, surrounded by water. As the moon rose, the whole area glimmered. The Orion smiled at us. We exited early next morning. Myself, Shibu, Vikram, Sundar and Girish were the team. From the first steep waterfall to hanging down a tree overlooking a 30 feet drop to getting down the devil’s rainbow pool etc. it was an experience of a lifetime to remember.

A serene pool inside Venkatagiri Forests

Vellarimala Trek

Oh man oh man! No words in my dictionary to describe this trek. I had reached the limits of my vocabulary to describe that trek. Read about it here.

Savandurga Trek

Myself, Siddharth and Sudar were on this. It was decided the previous night all of a sudden that we had to get out the next morning & we were out on an impulse. Superb day that ended with pizza and a swim

At the peak of Vavul Mala

Bodi-Munnar Trek

Day one from Korangani village to Kolukkumalai and day two from Korangani village to Top Station. It was an easy trek and the weekend was well spent

Yercaud Bike Trip

I had been wanting to go to Yercaud for a long time, it being pretty close (231 kms is pretty close isn’t it?) to Bangalore. So what did we do? Tank up the bikes and wrooom to Yercaud and back .. I witnessed the best ever sunrise of my life. On the way back, we swam at the Cauvery river in Mettur.

A surreal sunrise at Yercaud

Ooty Bike Trip

Monsoon season had just begun and Ooty started filling up my mind. Having experienced the monsoon of Western Ghats during a trek to Ombattu Gudde, I had to drive to Ooty. Six of us in three bikes drove to Ooty via Bangalore – Mysore – Bandipur – Masinagudi – Ooty – Coonoor – Ooty – Mudumalai – Bandipur – Mysore – Bangalore. One of my best ever bike trips in the thickest of rains, until the Western Ghats bike trip happened

Pondicherry Bike Trip

Some of us school friends met after a long time and we decided to celebrate the occasion by driving to Pondy. En route we stopped at Alampara Fort and had a swim in the Bay of Bengal.

En route Upper Bhavani, Ooty

Stok Kangri, Ladakh – Summit at 6127 m

Reached the summit of Stok Kangri. It was an amazing trek. It had been my second time to Ladakh. When I landed in Leh, I just stood outside the airport for about 30 minutes, seeing the mountains as if they were my siblings. It was like returning home after a long time. Had lots of adventure on this trek, saw the formation of new glacial streams right in front of my eyes & also listened to the love story of Mr. M on the way down from Mato La .

Stok Kangri Summit - 6127 m

Chunchi Falls Bike Trip

A very very memorable trip to Chunchi Falls where myself and two others averted a major disaster. The story is yet to be told . Would you like to listen to it?

Western Ghats Monsoon Bike Trip

This was like the thick of Monsoon in the Western Ghats. Over a long weekend, the Western Ghats beckoned us like anything. What did we do? We just answered the call with our bikes and our spirits . It was 4.5 days of pure bliss. From driving in rain the whole way to Kemmannugundi to Hebbe Falls to Maravanthe Beach to Jog Falls, this trip was a dream come true, only next to Stok Kangri. Read Sudar’s blog post about the bike trip and my post about Hebbe Falls in Monsoon.

Jeep trail to Hebbe Falls

Accident

Had a bike accident couple of months ago. I happened to be extremely lucky to have escaped with a single fracture. Read about it here.

In between all these trips there were many other interesting events. This year made me go delirious with joy. So, that was my 2011 . How was yours? Share it in the comments.

Wish you a very happy 2012

For probably the rest of my lifetime, I wouldn’t forget my drive from Kargil to Leh. It was on that drive that I was simply about to be thrown out of the mountain, narrowly missed getting run over, narrowly missed running over someone and the best of all, with the worst ever spoken Hindi possible, I was able to bargain a place to stay for the night, when I could barely feel my feet. It was also on that day I learnt what “unconditional help” really meant. Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy the story.

Fotu La

Early on the chilly morning at Kargil, I got my wounds dressed (Thanks Arul ) at a nearby hospital for just 2 rupees. I had bruises on both knees and one on my forearm of the left hand. My bike had skid couple of days ago on an oil spill because of which I had to wake up at an ungodly 7 AM to get the wounds dressed. I was not 100% confident about driving my bike because the fall was pretty bad. So, when Ram asked, “Do you want to drive today?”, I immediately said, “Yes.” The only way to overcome fear is to take it head on; which is what I attempted to do. My bike was supposed to carry luggage that day. That means, I had a small backpack on my bike’s tank and 3 big backpacks tied to my bike. I tied them once and took the bike for a test drive. Everything seemed okay. When we started on the road, the rope magically came off & the three heavy backpacks were dragging my bike on one side. I made my way back to the hotel to re-tie it. By that time almost everyone had left and there were just 3 bikes including mine. Ram and Balu left in few minutes and I started after them.

Suresh did his best to tie it properly. At least it didn’t fall off for the next couple of hours . After about 10 kms, the fuel meter decided to go crazy and showed petrol level as very low. A short distance later, I found a petrol bunk. I was happy, but I was low on cash as the ATM was not working. The guy at the bunk didn’t know English. Immediately, the cog wheels in my brain started spinning to generate a translation for “Do you accept credit card?” He didn’t understand my “hindi” … I showed my credit card and made signs. He shook his head that “seemed” like “yes.” I tanked up and gave him my card. He immediately replied saying that they don’t accept cards. I became furious. I just had Rs. 173.50/- including all change & like hell he’d accept that !

Kids who played cricket with me

I parked my bike at the bunk and hired a cab to the town. Another 500 bucks. 10 kms on the hills is a pretty long distance. The cab dude took about 30 sweet minutes, an hour fighting with the ATM and at the bank proving my identity etc. Precious time was running out. We were supposed to reach Leh the same evening and it was still 220 kms away. Finally I got the needed cash and it was already 12 PM. Everyone were ahead of me. With jittery knees and sliding luggage, I started driving towards Mulbekh that was 40 kms away. With no stops, I reached Mulbekh to find Ram, Rock and Suresh waiting there. As we were eating, Balu came in. They had gone on a totally different route and caught up pretty fast. After lunch, we started driving towards Fotu La.

Road to Mulbekh

For about an hour after starting from Mulbekh, I was driving alone. Balu was yet to pass me. I was passing through breathtaking landscapes left, right and center. Suddenly the bike was swaying to one side. There wasn’t any wind too. The luggage had come off again. I stopped my bike and tied it again. Five minutes later, it came off again. After such a game for another 30 minutes, the luggage fell off completely even before I could stop the bike. Three huge backpacks! I was looking for some help in tying the luggage again; when an Indian Oil tanker lorry passed me. I waved at him and he stopped immediately. He was a big and burly Sardar with a beaming smile. He asked, “kya hua? (what happened)” to which I replied, “luggage gir gaya (luggage fell off).” He helped me tie it. I thanked him and overtook his lorry. As soon as I completed the overtake, the luggage fell off again . He jammed on the brakes and the lorry stopped just at stone throwaway’s distance from the backpacks. He beamed again & we tried our hand at it again. The road was dusty and we were covered in red dust as another lorry passed us. After trying in vain for 10 minutes, we gave up. Balu was yet to pass me.

Identify the road

The driver’s name was Gurcharan Singh. He offered to carry our backpacks in his lorry until a place called Buddhagarpu & I immediately agreed. Thinking about it now, I still don’t know how I believed a complete stranger with my luggage. With no luggage, my bike was as light as a feather. I was able to stop at my will and wish. I was totally free. Every few kilometers, I would stop and check if the lorry was coming. He would wave at me from inside and I used to proceed. At some point, Balu passed me and stopped. He asked about the luggage. When I explained the story so far, Balu & Ajay laughed like anything and went ahead. Super cute kids with ladoo cheeks were playing cricket on the road and when I passed, they extended their hands for a clap. At one point I was far ahead of the lorry. While waiting, I even played cricket with them … It was super fun I tell you. You just have to be there to experience it. Fresh mountain breeze with a few clouds above, the sun not too harsh and smiling, snow capped mountains in the distance … OMG ! … the view was amazing with every passing minute.

A village enroute Buddhagarpu

Finally, we arrived at Buddhagarpu. He didn’t get a nice place to park his lorry & the place which he got was a slope. So, I assisted him in keeping a huge rock for the lorry’s rear wheels as he was standing on the brakes to stop the lorry from moving. After a hearty tea and listening to his stories of his Ladakh travel, it was time to go. It was past 5 PM then and it would become dark in about 2 hours. I wouldn’t be able to drive until Leh for sure. I was not even able to contact my friends to tell my whereabouts as none of the mobiles were reachable. Singh-ji said I should try and stay for the night at Khaltse because driving in dark was dangerous. Moreover, the journey in itself is the destination at Ladakh. We would be missing many things if we were driving in dark. We tied my luggage again with the help of a shopkeeper. I took my bike for a test drive and it all seemed fine and then … you guessed it ! I started on the highway and crossed a bridge after Buddhagarpu. The road climbed a bit steep and Murphy played again. Luggage came off. My backpack was almost grazing the tarmac. I swore heavily and waited at the road for some help. Thankfully, a worker from BRO (Border Roads Organization) passed by. I stopped him & as I held the backpacks in place, he tied the luggage again. It looked strong.

Bike at Fotu La

The minute I started driving, it slid a bit but then, it didn’t slide further. With some confidence, I shook the bike really hard & the luggage stayed in place. Very skeptical, I tried another test round with random curves thrown in. The luggage was still in its place. Yay! But it was tilted to one side. The side effect was that, if I let my handlebar a bit loose, the bike would move as it wished. As long as the luggage didn’t fall off, it was okay. After Buddhagarpu and the luggage drama, I was driving at a consistent speed. Within about 20 kms of driving, I came to Fotu La. Fotu La was the highest point on the Srinagar-Leh highway. Prayer flags were tied at the place and I was the only one there. Clouds were passing through and the sky became dark. It rained a little and I started prancing in the middle of the road. With no one to see my dancing nonsense, my joy knew no bounds.

I heard the familiar sound of a lorry engine from behind. Gurcharan Singh caught up with me at Fotu La & waved at me. I was very happy on seeing him & suddenly realized I spent more than 45 minutes at Fotu La. Precious distance could have been covered in that time. He stopped the lorry and told me to start immediately. He also warned that it would get dark and cold. He started his lorry again ONLY after I started from the place. For a short distance, we were driving in parallel to each other, waving at each other in sign language etc. Then I started going a little faster. Before long, Gurcharan Singh was way behind. I bid him farewell and was on my to Khaltse.

Sunset at Fotu La

NH 1D goes through Lamayuru where you can witness moonscapes. However, due to some road repair work, they closed the road near Lamayuru. There was a diversion to go to Khaltse and I took that diversion. Unlike the NH (National Highway), this road was small and steep with lots of hairpin bends. Rain was falling slowly and my hands and feet were wet. I had been driving for close to 2 hours at a mind-numbing 30 kmph and the chill started to get to me. I was the only one on the diversion. I sung at the top of my lungs and it all echoed from the bottomless bottom. Picture this – A tiny bike and an even tinier human on a massive landscape, negotiating hairpins on steep roads with a heart that knew only joy at that instant! About one hour in to the diversion, I noticed two trucks coming in the opposite direction. I could easily see them from the top. Eventually, I would be required to pass them. The problem? When the truck was on the road, nothing else could pass on the sides. It covered the road fully in all glory & my leaning tower of luggage became a concern now. I stretched my legs a little bit and it sent a tiny shock down my hips, considering how cold they were.

My bike and luggage

Pretty soon, I took a hairpin bend and was on the same stretch as the lorry. I was going downhill. The lorries were climbing at about 5 kmph. He flashed his headlight telling me to stop. But considering that I was cold and had heavy leaning luggage, I didn’t stop at all. He didn’t stop too. We both were going at each other. The right side of the road had huge rocks. There was no place to move aside. The left side was very deep. Taking a gamble, I flashed my headlight, honked continuously and kept moving ahead. As the distance between us shortened, he jammed on his brakes. I could hear the sound of the heavy air brakes & he switched off the lorry. Another lorry was right behind it. He stopped too. The driver of the first lorry was waiting for me, leaning outside the window. I didn’t want to face him at all. I reduced my speed from 25 kmph to 2 kmph and very slowly moved to the left side of the road, right next to the first lorry. He was saying something in Hindi, which kind of meant, “Hey saala, if I tap you ever so slightly, you will tumble all the way to the river below.” My eyes and brain were intent on the road. My luggage was brushing both the lorries as we were passing through. My left leg was hanging in air, outside the road, facing the void below. It was the hardest 5 minutes of the trip. Soon, I passed both the lorries. I stopped my bike and heaved a huge sigh of relief. I got down from my bike and signalled thumbs up to the lorry drivers. He would never understand how much his act of stopping the lorry to allow me to pass aroused my spirits.

The river near Khaltse

Soon, the detour ended. I was back on NH. It became completely dark. The roads were awesome. I zoomed & soon reached Khaltse around 9 PM. With my worst ever Hindi possible, I managed to negotiate a room for 350 bucks for the night, untied my luggage and started to call my friends who were ahead of me. I was guessing that they would be reaching Leh around 10.30 PM. After a long trial of more than 30 minutes, someone’s phone started ringing but he didn’t pick up. Driving probably. I was tired from the day’s ordeal & wanted to eat and sleep. Immediately, I remembered one of my college friends in Chennai. I called him, explained the situation and told him to call my friends after 11 PM to inform them that I was safe and that I was staying at Khaltse. Meanwhile, they had reached Leh & Paari and Rock shed a tear, not knowing my whereabouts and wondering whether I was safe … I didn’t have any words to say when I heard that they had actually shed a tear. I kind of choked. I still had about 90 kms to get to Leh.

Shanti Stupa at Leh

The next day, I woke up fresh and well rested. I realized that during the last 5 kms of the previous day’s ride, it had become dark and I couldn’t enjoy the landscapes. So, I got ready quickly and went back an additional 10 kms to check out the diversion and landscapes ahead. A puffed up gushing river was flowing under a bridge and a rough wind was blowing across. On the way to the bridge, an auto jumped right in the middle of the road out of nowhere. Shocked out of my wits, I jumped on my brakes. Wheels got locked and my bike was skidding. I managed to stop my bike just inches in front of the auto. My heart was pounding. I came out of it and then headed to the bridge for a moment of peace. Soon, all of it was forgotten and I was clicking pictures to my heart’s content.

Buddha

On the way back to the hotel, I was very careful and watchful of unruly autos. But I didn’t expect what was about to happen. A mom and a kid were sitting at a shop. Suddenly, the kid jumped out of her hands and ran in to the road. I swerved my bike to avoid the kid and braked hard again. I missed the kid by a hair’s width. He picked up something from the road. His mom thrashed him and he started crying. My heart started pounding. Two close encounters in two hours was as bad as it could get!

A Buddhist monk at Shanthi Stupa

The helper boy at the hotel, named Munna, was indeed very helpful. Using his expert tying skills, he tied my luggage in no time & shook the bike so hard that I thought it would break in to pieces. The luggage hadn’t moved one bit. I was thrilled … I was confident that such a tight roll of the luggage would easily take the hairpins and the bad roads that Ladakh had in plenty. The next stop was at Saspol, 30 kms away. Clapping kids’ hands on the way, I crossed two hairpins. The third hairpin curved steeply upwards & then disappeared in to another curve. A speeding car emerged out of nowhere and threatened to knock me out of the mountains. I was half way on the hairpins. I jammed my brakes. He jammed his too. His car didn’t move. But my bike started sliding downwards even after applying the brakes. Such was the steepness of the curve. The bag on petrol tank went below the handlebar. So, the bike refused to turn in the other direction. Through all this, the car driver was smiling happily as I was struggling to stop my bike from going downwards. Soon, the bike stopped. I set the bag properly and started again. After the 2nd curve, the road straightened. It was an absolute straight stretch for about 3 kms, with shiny new tarmac. A river was flowing parallel to the road. It was awesome. My bike picked up speed and my spirits were up again. After a chai break at Saspol, I was on my way again.

Indus

There were two more graceful straight stretches where I touched max speed on my 125cc bike. Before long, I reached the outskirts of Leh and came to a view point with beautiful views of the valley below with the Indus flowing through it. I met Ram and Suresh on the outskirts somewhere, clicking some pictures. I got the address of the place where they were put up and made it there. I treated myself to a sumptuous lunch, some sleep and then visited Shanthi Stupa. Shopped a little at the Leh market and then crashed at the room. I had never ever slept like that.

The next day, we were supposed to conquer Khardung La and Nubra Valley, followed by a ride to Pangong Tso on an unmapped road through Agham and Durbuk. More posts coming soon … Stay tuned!

That was the feeling that I was exactly going through when we reached the peak of Vavul Mala on Sunday morning. We were at one of the highest spots in Western Ghats & nothing could have made me more happier at that moment than the silence that I was experiencing from the hills surrounding us. Miles and miles in all directions had views of beautiful undulating mountains. Weather was perfect. It had rained the whole of the previous night and nature was bright green all around us. Leeches took a break at that altitude. It was just silence and myself for those few precious minutes.

View of Vavul Mala from the village

The vegetation was dense right from the start of the trek. Few minutes in to the trek, the steepness began and it held up relentlessly until the very top. Unlike Ombattu Gudde where the shola grasslands start at about 700 m, peaks in the Vellarimala range didn’t have any grasslands at all. Would you believe it if I said that the very top was covered in dense foliage?

Olichuchattam Falls

About 1.5 hours of trekking brought us to the awesome Olichuchattam Falls. When we reached the falls it was drizzling and the sun was not yet fully out. Weather had played a superb part in keeping us energetic. We were all dry, warm and comfortable – a perfect combination for the steep trek. Water on the falls took a turn somewhere at the top and was flowing furiously straight down the smooth rock face of about 50 m in length. The very magnitude of the falls was breathtaking. Am sure during peak monsoon, much of the rock will be flooded. Away from the falls, the trail split in to two. One went upwards and we took that. Due to heavy rains the previous day, lots of shrubs and small trees had fallen on the trail. Our guide had a sickle and he went about clearing the trail for us as we closely followed him.

The Olichuchattam - Look at the sheer size of it

Forty five minutes later, we reached the first stream crossing. The steep climb took us to the top of the falls from where the water was taking a turn to flow down the smooth rock face. With mist covering the distant mountains and a slight drizzle for company, the moment was superb. Clouds were at touching distance and were playing with the smaller peaks around. The cloudscape changed continuously. People were gamboling here and there, splashing water and generally going crazy .

Olichuchattam flowing down

Soon, the guide announced it was time to leave. A quick climb and another stream crossing later, we took a short break at the next stream crossing. By that time, leeches had been feasting on our legs. For some people, there were blood spots near their thighs and tummy! Wearing floaters kinda saved me because as soon as I spotted those blood suckers cling to my feet, I plucked them and threw them away. Some were really persistent though.

Damodaran Kolli and Vellarimala Top

The last water point of the day was Damodaran Kolli. The water was pure, crystal clear, ice cold and flowing out of the rocks. The water was so cold that my gums got tickled when I sipped it. A short break later, we climbed for about 2 hours and reached the Vellarimala Top. It was not like any other regular top. This ‘top’ had lot of foliage around. The breeze was missing and so were those awesome views. Slightly disappointed at the absence of views, we opened the lunch packets and had our fill; followed by a group photo session. However, the guide had a twinkle in his eye. He didn’t reveal it yet. The magic was yet to come.

A tiny blood sucker

Kethan Paara

The surprise revealed itself in the name of Kethan Paara (Kethan – Name of the place, Paara – Rock). Since it was one of the high points in Vellarimala region, the view from this place was good. As if it was our luck, the clouds parted again, giving a breathtaking view of the valley below. Masthakapara and the elephant’s trunk like slope of the rock was clearly visible. Just like how the trunk attaches itself to the elephant’s head, that huge piece of rock was attached to the hill top. With a small dip after the rock and a clearing there, it looked just like an elephant. One of the trekkers claimed that he spotted an actual elephant in the adjacent valley running towards the foliage as soon as it heard our noise. But since no one else saw the elephant, we found it hard to believe. All through the trail, there was fresh elephant dung. If those mammoths made their presence in our presence, only one of us would be alive!

Clouds moving away from Kethan Paara

A quick trek from Kethan Paara took us to the base of Vavul Mala. This place was named REC Paara. Since it had rained quite heavily the previous day, the place had a water source with a good amount of flowing water. Sky was already overcast. The guide said it would surely rain and that we have to setup our tents quickly. Just as the tenting was completed, it started raining. It drizzled heavily for about 5 minutes before turning in to a full blown fury. The tent was quite stable. It was getting cold at 5.45 PM itself and we crawled in to our sleeping bags. The view of Vavul Mala from the tent gaps and the clouds over it made me enter a different world. Vavul Mala was not in the initial plan and I wished to trek to the peak. Since it was the highest peak in the range, I was pretty sure the wind and views would be there .

Rain’s Havoc

Three hours in to our sleep, it felt as if a huge bucket of ice-cold water was poured on us. Gasping for breath, we woke up to find that the heavy rain and furious winds had blown away our tent. The tent looked like it was screaming for help as it held on to the last string tied to the rock. We brought it together and tied it again; not before it was torn apart again by the wind. I asked for the time and someone said it was 11.45 PM. I thought, “Whoa! We have a long night.” The rain never abated. With every passing minute, it only seemed to be getting worse. Tiny streams were forming behind us, threatening to wet everyone’s sleeping bags. An hour or so later, the tents were blown away for the third time. It was enough already . So, Pratik (one of the trekkers) sat through the whole night and held the tent. He probably slept for about 5-10 minutes in all. With the occasional droplets of water falling on my face and cold feet, I was somehow lulled in to sleep. Once sleep came, my senses shut out the howling of the wind and it instead became musical. I wandered in to my dreams. It was good. I still can’t believe I actually slept!

View of camp from somewhere close to top

I woke up totally refreshed. At 6 AM, the sun was not yet up but the whole landscape around me was bright green. The rain had polished every leaf to be as shiny as a mirror and the whole environment had a wonderful aroma. Everything was fresh. Everything was alive. I was totally in tune with the silence and greenery around me. With a few clouds here and there, the sky was in its superb blue. The sun had started to rise on the horizon and coloured the peaks in its brilliant morning rays. It was … it was … Sorry, am unable to explain that feeling of awesomeness.

Vavul Mala

Eight of us started moving towards Vavul Mala that morning. With just a sickle in his hand and rough animal trails for guidance, the guide took us through the forest as if he knew them in and out. He seemed to know every plant and rock over there. For brief moments, he would disappear in to the foliage. Whenever a grunt followed, we would follow him inside. The foliage was so thick that sunlight never penetrated it. From all the previous night’s rain, the floor was pretty wet and slippery. Leeches didn’t attack us though. The animal trails cris-crossed each other. With the silent confidence of an expert, he led us through the maze of trees, rocks and trails. After one hour and 45 minutes of trekking through the foliage, we came to a big clearing. He didn’t say much. He just went to a place and sat down there.

Moon and Vavul Mala

Suddenly, it hit me that we were at one of the highest points in the western ghats. We had reached the peak. The silence was overwhelming. The crisp morning wind was blowing across, ruffling my hair. The sun was playing hide-and-seek with the clouds. As the reality of standing at 2300+ meters altitude sunk in, I was filled with a strange euphoria. Just as if to make the moment perfect, the mist/cloud cover below us parted – as if the curtains are parted in a play – and what lay in front of us was stuff [usually] made out of dreams. The moment was special. The guide pointed out the Chembra peak to the north. Masthakapara looked way more beautiful from 2300+ m altitude than from Kethan Paara. The peak had a deep crevasse running down its height, never revealing where it ended. It was home for the bats & somewhere deep below, there was water.

View of Masthakapara from Vavul Mala

After spending enough time at the peak, we started trekking down to the camp. Slipping and sliding through the foliage, we reached the camp in half the time we took to reach the top. It gave an indication of what was to come for the day in terms of climbing down.

Trek Down

The trail was totally slippery and we had entered leech territory. I had multiple leech bites on my feet. But the view and winds at the top of Vavul Mala was worth every leech bite and steepness it took to get there. What’s a sweet success without some struggle? The jeep trail towards the end of the trek was never ending as usual. One of the locals pointed us to a small trail that led to the stream. The chill water was refreshing and it was totally soothing on the arms and legs. A beautiful trek had come to an end. We started with a tea at the tea shop at Muthappanpuzha and finished the trek at the same place with Pazha Pori (Banana Fry) and tea .

Aftermath

Some Information

Where – Vellarimala and Vavul Mala are reachable from Muthappanpuzha village in Kozhikode (Calicut) district of Kerala. To reach there, take a bus that goes to Kozhikode and get down at Thamarasery. From there, take KSRTC buses that go to Muthappanpuzha. Alternatively, you can go to Thiruvambady or Omasery and take a share auto/jeep from there.

Guide – We hired a guide named Binish, whose dad Raman accompanied us on the trek. He was totally awesome and knew the area like the back of his hand.

Season – Post monsoon is the best time to go there. For us, even though we went in summer, the weather during those 2 days felt like it was monsoon. I should say we were lucky.

Notes

1. When we went to Kethan Paara on the way back, the area was taken over by fast moving clouds. Someone (I think Dinesh) pointed out that Rajinikanth was smoking from the valley .
2. Keerthana sang “Top of the world” at Kethan Paara. Nice song!

Photo Albums

What’s a trek without photos. Here are some of the clicks:

1. Bharath
2. Debashish
3. Jinu
4. Sushruth
5. Vikas

Unlike other places where you drive to reach a destination, in Ladakh, the journey itself is the destination. The road goes through such breathtaking vistas (and life-taking as well if you aren’t careful enough) that it is impossible not to be impressed by beauty of such magnitude. However, things aren’t rosy all the time. At high altitude, weather plays a crucial role in shaping up the day. This story is about one such drive when the weather was gloomy and we had very little time in our hands to afford the luxury of staying at Tangtse for an extra day.

When I woke up that morning, I felt fresh and the song Mazhai Thuli (rain drops) was playing in my mind. Almost instinctively I had a look outside the window and it was drizzling. I heard that Ladakh was a high altitude cold desert and that it doesn’t rain much. So I convinced myself that some clouds might be moving around and sprinkling some water on the way . The usual blue of the sky was missing. The horizon had a few black clouds as well. Determined not to let go of the day, we got ready quickly. Ram P and Suresh started first on Ram’s Pulsar 220. Some time later, I followed.

First touch of snow - A special moment

I was well protected. Thermal inner wear, jeans, rain pant for the bottom and for the top, it was again thermal inner wear, followed by a t-shirt, fleece jacket and leather jacket. For the legs and feet, it was cotton socks, woolen socks and then ankle length leather boots. For fingers, I wore woolen gloves and Cramster’s leather gloves. As I started the ride, I was thinking that if it had rained a little here – at 14000 feet – would it snow at 15000 feet and above? That day we had to cross India’s third highest motorable pass known as the Chang La at 17000+ feet … in inclement weather. A light cold wind was blowing too!

The Drive

After 7 km I came to a fork in the road. Right fork led to Durbuk and the left fork led to Chang La and then to Leh. I took the left fork and few minutes later, the ghats started . Drizzling stopped this time. But it was cloudy and the slight drizzle had wet the roads considerably. As soon as I crossed the first few hairpin bends, I saw the sight of a lifetime. The winding road with its various hairpins wound down to the plains at 14000 feet and then went to the fork in a straight stretch. Another fabulous straight stretch took the road to Tangtse. Both these towns were visible from this vantage point.

View en route Chang La. Durbuk and Tangtse are visible.

After clicking couple of pictures, I was on my way. Rest of the gang weren’t visible yet. Since I was on a 125cc bike, I wanted to start a bit early so that by the time my bike climbs, the heavier bikes can come quite fast and catch up. In most places, the roads were quite steep. The altitude was climbing steadily. I was well acclimatized and hence didn’t feel the pressure of oxygen. The drizzle came down harder and visibility was going down. Soon, I crossed the magical 15000 feet and crossed a heavily puffed up rushing river – over a fragile bridge . At many points, roads were joined vertically through off-road trails. Four wheel drive cars managed to climb up and down very easily while I was watching them from my 125cc!

Snow Attack

At about 15150 feet, I could feel the chill on my fingers. The warmth was long since gone and they were fast becoming cold. Feet were doing good so far. Suddenly, my jacket was no longer watery. A gray layer was forming as I was driving. I quickly realized what it was! It was snow! SNOW FALL. Snow was coming down real fast and it was being blown all around. Until then, when snow had come in contact with us, it would simply melt and wet the jacket. But that day was different. Snow fell on my jacket and it froze, becoming ice.

Road on the way to Nubra Valley

Within minutes, visibility was reduced to mere meters. Few minutes later, visibility was zero. Bike was wobbling slightly. I couldn’t see anything. Immediately I realized what had happened. Snow had fallen and frozen on my helmet visor, thereby taking out the visibility. I stopped the bike and took a minute to clean my visor. Snow was falling down hard and fast & it froze. It was not possible to drive with the visor on. Roads were steep and slippery. Hence, wearing the visor wasn’t an option. I started my bike again and took off. Soon, those tiny fluffy particles of snow started hitting my face and were pricking my eyes. Unlike rain, snow particles are really small, come in huge numbers & take a good helping of the skin! It was similar to a swarm attack.

Donkey, Simon and Snow

My speed had come down to about 15 kmph. Through all this, I suddenly realized that bike stopped again. Reason? I couldn’t shift the gear. My little finger and ring finger were screaming in pain. They had frozen hard. I was at about 16500 feet now. Everywhere on the road, the milestones mentioned about the remaining distance to Chang La, Leh and the altitude. I was hoping there would be some place where I could have a cuppa chai

Wish Granted

Ten minutes later, my wish was granted. I saw an army camp at Tsultak at 17000 feet. Along the direction board, there was another board which announced the facilities of the place & the one that caught my eye was the “Mess –>” direction board. I drove straight to the mess. My fingers and feet were pretty much frozen now. Any effort with them required enduring pain. Two army folks appeared from the mess.

Me: Mujhe thoda garam paani chahiye (I need some hot water)

Army dude: Pehle, helmet kholo (Remove your helmet first)

Me: (after fiddling with the helmet lock) – tried talking in Hindi (didn’t work out) – Please remove them yourself. Fingers are frozen.

Army dude: He smiled and then removed the helmet. I was called inside the small mess.

Damaged Car

One guy was a Mallu and the other guy was a Tamilian. Seeing my TN registration plate, he asked in tamil, “Neenga yengendhu varinga (Where are you coming from?), for which I answered “Chennai.” I was damn happy to hear a guy talking in Tamil at 17000 feet. Apparently, they were from the Madras regiment and they had just returned from a posting on top of Siachen Glacier!

The board that mattered

A huge cauldron of boiling water was in the middle of the mess. With almost no effort, he lifted the cauldron from the stove and moved it elsewhere. I was stunned at his strength. Then he increased the flame and got a chair for me. He also helped me remove my shoes. Both my socks were wet. Toe edges had become white. Fingers were frozen. As the flame increased, I thawed them, massaged them and brought them back to life. In an impulse, I put my bare feet on the ground and felt the chill sending a shiver up my spine. The army dude then inquired about the bike trip and said that winters in that place were truly horrible; with temperatures reaching -10 during day time itself. As we were discussing about his life and my trip, he asked how many people were we. I said 13 and then he asked whether we’ll like corn soup!

Corn Soup

I pinched myself. What? Corn soup? At 17000 feet with snow wrecking havoc around? Before even I could reply, I thought “WOW! That’s dulcet” and then I said “Yes! We would love it.” By that time, the rest of the gang had come in and they were getting toasty in the visitor’s room. Soon, the soup was ready. Everybody took large helpings of the soup. As the hot soup went down my throat, I could feel life surging back in my limbs and body. Various parts of my body along the oesophagus started to absorb the warmth. As the warm soup splashed my stomach, it was nearly orgasmic. After warming up sufficiently, we headed to Chang La. It was few kilometers from the army camp.

Hot Soup and the Gang

The army guys warned us that we were about to enter avalanche zone and that not more than one bike should cross the zone at anytime. Since it was also snowing, the risk of avalanche was higher. We bade them goodbye, thanked heartily and then went on our way.

Chang La

Seeing the prayer flags flap in the chill breeze was a HUGE relief. I felt happy from the inside for coming that far. I was thinking of how folks would feel when I narrated the story to them after getting back. My mind drifted to Chennai. Then, it was time to savour the moment. At Chang La, the Indian Army gives free tea to everyone who makes it there. After couple of group pictures and a funny dance (am trying to find the video), we bought some mementos and then started to Leh. We crossed snow fields and some more avalanche zones.

Paari at The Chang La

Weather was showing some improvement. Though chill winds were blowing, it was not snowing. Through winding roads and more splendid views, we reached the beautiful village of Sakti and then reached the outskirts of Leh by around 4 PM. Paari and Arul went to Hemis Monastery. Rest of the gang, caught on the football fever, found a ground to play. I went to Thiksey monastery and then drove to Leh. Due to an earlier adventure that’ll be described in the next post, I missed Leh Palace before. So I drove to Leh.

Sunset at Leh

It was around 6.30 PM by the time I reached Leh. Sun was setting and I was offered a splendid view of the sunset from the top of the Leh palace. I made friends with the Buddhist monks there and they were telling their stories. I wanted to climb to Castle Tsemo opposite to the Leh palace. But unfortunately, it was becoming cold quickly and it had already become dark. So I thought Castle Tsemo was for next time and then went back to our home stay.

Sunset at Leh

The day was absolutely brilliant and it was one that I would never forget in my life! Even months after coming back, that day is still fresh in my memory. I can recollect every detail even now. I can’t stop talking about the beauty of Ladakh.

See you soon on the next adventure post!

Sunset in sand dunes of Rajasthan

I did miss some regular tourist spots though (like Mount Abu, Ajmer, Pushkar etc.) but I guess I’ll cover them at leisure when there are no better places to visit. Except in the months of May and June – when summer is at its peak – rest of the year is open for tourists. November, December and January are particularly very cold. The desert trek was organized by Youth Hostels Association of India. Without much ado, here’s the itinerary of the trip.

The Grand Itinerary

Day 0 – Flight to Ahmedabad and night train to Udaipur.

Day 1 – Udaipur. We landed in Udaipur that morning and visited the Udaipur Palace, followed by the cultural extravaganza & shopping at Shilpgram. The next morning, we visited Sajjangarh Fort.

Early morning shot of Sajjangarh Fort while the moon was just setting

Day 2 – Bera – We went to this place called Bera (pronounced as bay-da) for leopard sightings. Apparently, leopards roam these forests so freely that it is impossible to come back without a sighting . We saw three leopards on this day. A huge mother female (about 8 feet long), a medium cub (about 4 feet long) and a tiny teddy bear sized cub. The smallest cub was the cutest of all. We saw all of them at touching distance. The company of Thakur Baljeet Singh was superb and we more than enjoyed the few hours he spent with us.

Day 3 – Ranakpur and Kumbalgarh. Ranakpur is a jain pilgrimage spot. What sets this place apart is that, it is situated bang in the middle of the Aravalli Mountain Range with pretty much nothing around it. If you were already following my escapades, you know how I love such places! Kumbalgarh (pronounced as kum-baal-gad) is the birthplace of the famous Maharana Pratap Singh. This fort is also in the Aravalli range, massive in size and known for the fort walls that go around it. Bikers will love the drive from Udaipur to Ranakpur and Kumbalgarh. The national highway is flawless and goes on a diversion to ghat roads for the last 30 kms or so. On the way back to Udaipur from Kumbalgarh, a medium sized leopard just leapt across the road. That’s 4 leopards in 2 days! I was stunned and until we reached Udaipur, I didn’t even blink my eyes. We spotted a bushy tailed fox also on the road.

The Mother Leopard

Day 4 – Jaipur. We just spent a day in Pink City and visited only three tourist spots. We went to Amber Fort, Hawa Mahal and stopped for night photography at Jal Mandir. Almost everyone in Jaipur seemed to have an accent. The cab driver at Jaipur station greeted us as, “Gewd mornin’ (insert Amrika accent here)”. One travel agent asked us whether we were from Canada and finished the conversation as “Kewl … have a gewd day (insert Amrika accent here also)”. I was shocked and felt like an alien hehe…

Day 5 – Start of Shekhawati Region – Nawalgarh, Parasurampur and Lohargal. Shekhawati is the most beautiful region of Rajasthan. This region is known for its colourful Havelis, step wells (also known as Bawdi) and fresco paintings. The Havelis of Nawalgarh, Cenotaphs of Parasurampur and the step wells of Lohargal were so beautiful that it is impossible to think that people had built it ages ago.

Paintings on the inner roof of a Cenotaph

Day 6 – Neck deep in Shekhawati – Dundlod, Fatehpur (not Fathepur Sikri near Agra), Ramgarh, Mahansar and Churu. The most beautiful place on that day, without doubt, was Fatehpur. Every street had at least 4 or 5 Havelis and every inch of those Havelis had fresco paintings from top to bottom featuring a myriad of subjects. The most popular subjects were Lord Ganesha, Lord Krishna, Lord Siva and then the stories of the various Kings, Queens and their escapades . We had lunch with the Royal Family at Mahansar.

Day 7 – Little more of Shekhawati (Mandawa, Churu) and Bikaner – It got dark the previous day when we visited Churu and couldn’t explore much. The place had plenty of ruins and Havelis of Churu were different in style and painting than the ones in other places. Mandawa was another beautiful place with people living in many of the Havelis we visited. Then we spent the day traveling to Bikaner and visited the famous Junagarh (pronounced as Ju-na-gad) Palace and the Rat temple aka Karni Mata temple.

Peacock carvings on door of a Haveli

Day 8 – Jaisalmer – This is the Sun City and this place is close to Pakistan border. We visited Patwa Haveli, Barabagh (pronounced as Bada Bagh), Garhisar Lake (pronounced as Gadisar) and then went to another Jain temple.

Day 9 – Jodhpur – This day was the reporting day at the base camp for the trek. We reached Jaisalmer a day earlier. So I made use of this extra day to visit Jodhpur aka The Blue City. Mehrangarh Fort (pronounced as m-eh-raan-gad) was breathtaking. So were the Chokelao Bagh (royal gardens) and fort ruins in Purana Shahar (old city). Two distinct packs of dogs chased me in this place and gave me one hell of a frightful experience … enough to last for a lifetime … Some of you may have already listened to this story.

Rats at Karni Mata Temple, Bikaner

Day 10 – Jaisalmer – Visited the Jaisalmer fort and then went to this deserted village called Khaba. The actual trek started from here early next morning. Star gazing that night with people from different states in India and my broken Hindi conversations made up for the day.

Day 11 – Trek to Sam sand dunes – Sam is a tourist spot with beautiful sand dunes. From the Khaba village, Sam is about 14 kms and went to this place on foot through the desert. Desert sand was full of various kinds of thorns and the sand particles were very fine that it went in to every orifice of my shoe. Sunsets in the desert were especially beautiful.

Carvings in Patwa Haveli, Jaisalmer

Day 12 – Camel safari and short trek to Sudasari National Park – Camels are smelly creatures that fart at every chance they get. When you are riding a camel and if it farts at that time, you can feel the movement of every muscle in its stomach as it grinds to let out the poisonous fumes . But camel rides are fun and once in a lifetime experience. So do have a go at it & tell the mahout to make the camel run. That’ll be fun!

Day 13 – Sudasari to Berna – This was the best day of the trek. 14 kms of beautiful land with plenty of birds, deer and sand dunes. We crossed three beautiful belts of sand dunes and went crazy like kids. We rolled down the sand dunes, got buried in them and played plenty of games. It was fun! In the evening, I went exploring the sand dunes to a short distance while few people visited the village nearby.

Ruins of Khaba Village

Day 14 – Return to Jaisalmer – The bus ride to Jaisalmer was fun. The fun part being riding on top of the bus with the early morning fog, low temperature (5 degree Celsius) with wind chill (60 kmph, dropped temperature) added to the misery. My limbs were frozen while I got down at Jaisalmer and took quite some time to get back to shape . This day I had to start my return journey to Bangalore and got on the train to Delhi.

Day 15 – Delhi to Bangalore – No excitement this day except the low temperature of Delhi, followed by flight to Bangalore.

People to Thank

A hearty thanks to Arti, Neelima and Sudar for doing the trip. The trip becomes great when people you travel with are passionate about travel and it was so in this case. Jayashree from Take a Break Tours was particularly helpful in getting us organized for the first 4 days of the trip. Though we planned this trip on our own from the scratch, Take a Break Tours is highly recommended if you are planning a visit to Ladakh, Rajasthan or Kerala. Jayashree is simply amazing and her personal touch adds more to it.

People

Other Ramblings

After two big trips in 2010 – Ladakh Bike Trip and Rajasthan Road Trip, I couldn’t have asked for a more amazing start for 2011. Now that I have plenty of photos to show and lots of stories to tell, I wish to blog more often about my experience at those places. Expect more soon in the Tales from Ladakh series and the Colours of Rajasthan series.

Sunrise in Udaipur with silhouette of Udaipur Palace

Until then, see ya!

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

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The Itinerary

Day 1 – Chennai to Delhi and Delhi to Jammu

Day 2 – Jammu – We were forced to stay in Jammu this day because our bikes arrived a day late.

Chennai and the magic cloud

Day 3 – Jammu to Kudh via Udhampur. First experience of the hilly curves and the awesome dinner at Kudh as we were served by an enthusiastic Brahma Dev Singh.

Day 4 – Kudh to Sonamarg via Patnitop, Ramban, Ramsu, Banihal, Jawahar Tunnel, Quizigund, Srinagar – My bike skid on the road. Myself and Ajay had some bruises

Day 5 – Sonamarg to Kargil via Zoji La, Baltal, Drass, Kakshar – Very special day as we touched and felt snow for the first ever time . We also visited the war memorial at Drass. I held a real AK-47 gun. The gun displayed a raw and brutal arrogance that I kind of liked.

Sonamarg - View outside our hotel

Day 6 – (Read about it) Kargil to Leh via Mulbek, Fotu La, Lamayuru, Khaltse, Saspol, Nimoo – A super adventure for me that extended in to morning of Day 7. I can’t forget that day and the help from Gurcharan Singh (a lorry driver) and Munna (helper boy at a hotel in Khaltse). Crazily amazing road from Saspol to Leh (60 km), with three straight stretches where I reached the maximum speed on my bike – 118 kmph.

Day 7 – Leh – Permit letters, Shanthi Stupa, Leh Palace, Leh Bazaar, Tibetan market etc.

Day 8 – Leh to Diskit via Khardung La, Khardung village, Khalsar, Diskit – A great day as we rode to Khardung La (the wrrrld’s highest motorable pass) and the day of our first football game in the sand dunes en route Diskit. Susila Defenders vs Ladakh Mokkais

My bike, the sand dunes of Hunder and His Majesty beyond!

Day 9 – Nubra Valley – Visit to Diskit, Sumur, Panamik, Hunder and back to Diskit. Super duper bath at Panamik hot springs, visit to Sumur Monastery, the sand dunes of Hunder and camel ride.

Day 10 – Diskit to Pangong Tso via Agham, Shyok, Durbuk, Tangtse – Encounter with the worst ever road possible on the whole trip, the epic day of road kissing ceremony and the best of all, we drove on this unmapped road which had no other soul except us!

Road Kissing Ceremony

Day 11 – Tangtse to Marsimik La, Spangmik and back to Tangtse – An unforgettable day in the lives of Ram, Suresh and Venkat as they drove to the top of Marsimik La in inclement weather. Others had to turn back at various levels.

Day 12 – (Read about it) Tangtse to Leh via Durbuk, Tsoltok, Chang La, Sakti, Karu – This was my day. The day on which I enjoyed driving the most. Slight rain in morning, followed by heavy snowfall, frozen limbs which we warmed up at an army camp at Tsoltok. They even served us hot soup!

View en route Chang La. Durbuk and Tangtse are visible.

Day 13 – Leh to Moore Plains via Upshi, Tanglang La – Amidst the best breathtaking vistas, myself, Simon and Ram drove to Tanglang La during sunset. Temperature reached -5 as the sun set and we stayed in a tent that night at Moore Plains. Suresh and Ram P joined us an hour later. Rest of the gang joined us only the next day!

Day 14 – Moore Plains to Zingzingbar via Tso Kar, Pang, Lachlung La, Sarchu, Baralacha La – The most beautiful day of the whole trip. Frozen lakes, bad roads, sunset at Baralacha La. I literally had tears after watching nature’s display. This was also the day when we experienced real numbness in our limbs. An adventure packed beautiful day to be precise.

Day 15 – Zingzingbar to Manali via Darcha, Keylong, Rohtang La. Landslide at Rohtang, skating at Rohtang La & drive to Manali amidst clouds

Our tent at Zingzingbar

Day 16 – Manali to Mandi – The second best amazing road on the whole trip with a 3km tunnel. First slot goes to the road from Saspol to Leh.

Day 17 – Mandi to New Delhi and New Delhi to Chennai

Special Note – Bike Transport

As much as possible, try to send your bikes by train. We sent our bikes through a transporter called Gati. When our bikes arrived a day late at Jammu, they were in bad shape. Broken domes, dented petrol tanks, engine oil leaks, broken silencer, damaged gear shift lever, broken indicators etc. Because the bikes arrived a day late, we had to skip Zanskar Valley.

The glacier stream, the roads and the bridge en route Manali

That never dented our enthusiasm though. For everyone in our team, it was our first time to Ladakh and we wanted it to be as awesome as possible.

My dear friends, this is just the trailer … Wait for more posts and pictures that will get you to stop breathing!

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!

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!

The Morning

Eight bikes and an equal number of cars picked up close to 40 kids from the home at 6.45 AM & started to Nagala. While the cars went to the home to pick up the kids, the bikes went to Nagala directly. We usually put our bikes at the nearest village and walk towards the jungle, climb up and down a dam and then start trekking. This time though, Ford Bala had a different idea. After reaching the village, we all started driving towards the dam. It was kind of off-roading because there were no roads… those big stream rocks were everywhere. Vibrating and shaking all through the way, we made it to the dam hoping to put the bikes to rest. But no! We went around the dam and in to the forest with the bikes until we reached a temple where we had put our bikes . Going that far would be simply impossible during/after monsoon because the dam would be full. Once the kids reached, we took a group photo and started the trek.

Group Photo @ start of the trek

The Excitement

The kids couldn’t contain their excitement. Some of the kids had visited Nagala before and offered to guide me on the trail and I happily accepted saying that my first visit to Nagala . Before long, with a kid to each of us on tow, we started walking… or should I say running? The kids were running and we always had to catch up with them. They had double energy than that of adults & although some of them had become tired after a while, they just kept pushing themselves until they were forced to rest.

Paari, Shanmugam, Rocket, Suganya

A guy named Shanmugam came with me. He was a joyous bundle of infectious enthusiasm and not a moment did he sit! He crossed puddles without any help and trekked barefoot! He didn’t complain of thorn pricks or leg cramps at all. The moment he placed his foot on a rock, his foot adjusted automatically (something that I’m still learning to this day) and he used that balance to propel himself forward. Wow! I was amazed. Soon everyone stopped for regrouping and he asked when we will be starting again

She was licking some glucose

Kids and First Pool

First pool holds plenty of my memories from my first trek to Nagala. I still remember being amazed at the beauty of that first pool with a huge rock in the middle, that divides the shallow and deep portions with a tiny waterfall on the other end. Sudharshan sponsored 40 swimming tubes for the kids while Hari Kumar sponsored caps for the children. The moment they came to the first pool, they lunged forward . They were breathless and their enthusiasm kicked up several notches. They couldn’t be contained anymore from their boundless joy.

The waterfall at the end of Nagala's first pool

Meenakshi and the kids

Once the tubes were blown and Peter & Sudhir sir were in water, it was no holding back. One by one the kids jumped in and started playing. Their play went on for more than 3 hours while we captured some of the fun they had. Finally, I couldn’t resist water any longer and jumped in. Nothing was more satisfying than to know that I could swim . Lunch bells rang at 1.30 and they slowly trickled out of water towards food. Their mind was clearly in the fun in water and they weren’t too happy about the fact that they had to get out of water.

More fun

Angel of the day

Water Monkey, Acrobatics

While much of morning was fun with the kids and playing with them, after lunch it was us in water. Thilak and Meenakshi started this race where a water filled bottle would be thrown in water and they had to race to get it. That idea was refined to become water monkey . Two people would be throwing the bottle to each other. If the monkey in the middle is able to catch the bottle, he’s out and became the monkey. That game was soon joined by others and it became a full fledged water game for about 45 minutes.

Peter diving head first

Then came Peter and announced (in his famous accent), “Guys, Nagala’s water is available only for an hour more. So enjoy it all you can.” That announcement did it. One by one, the swimmers got on the center rock and started diving and jumping to the deep portion. Shutterbugs captured all the action for the next one hour. Some clicks to burn your stomach are below:

Arun Matthew jumping in

All of us jumping together

And then, it was time to bid farewell. We walked with the Children to the cars and then they started dancing to some cinema songs . With that fabulous end to an awesome day, the weekend couldn’t have got any better.

Some Thoughts

What many of us (or our kids) take for granted such as new clothing, premier education etc. aren’t available to these kids. Yet, they are happy beyond measure when someone spends time with them. In those few moments, true joy emerges and forms happy rainbows left, right and center. So, my request to you would be, visit an orphanage or an old age home nearby and spend time with them. It’s all they need. A little bit of compassion from everyone of us in our free time would definitely make the world a better place.

Photo Albums

Here are pics clicked by other people:

1. Aswin Anand
2. Chaitanya
3. Pratik
4. Ramesh
5. Vikram Varun
6. Vinoth

See ye’ soon sailor

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.

The Rat Snake

This was the first snake we caught on that day. As we were chattering and walking, our guide suddenly turned around and moved towards a fence. Few minutes of looking through the bush & he emerged with a really long adult rat snake. Much of its torso was in a triangular shape and it had beautiful scales in greenish brown colour with yellow bands in some places. I was most captivated by its eyes. They were big and shining and it looked as if it wore eye-liner.

Eyes of the Rat Snake

Hopeland, our snake expert, explained that the top of its head resembles a Cobra. So, when people spot this snake, they wrongly assume it as a Cobra and kill it. Cobras aren’t as long as Rat Snakes. A rat snake’s distinct feature is that, it emits some chemical when it wants to get away or when it finds a mate. When Ravi Ghosh handled the snake, it put up such a stink that we couldn’t contain our laughter .

Tongue of the Rat Snake

After plenty of pictures with the Rat Snake, we moved along and found our prized catch for the day.

Rat Snake and Me

The Spectacled Cobra

Whatever said and done, whatever programs you see on Discovery or National Geographic, nothing comes close to experiencing the Cobra first hand. The way he majestically erected himself and opened his hood was a sight to behold! Not only that, he didn’t attempt to strike on first sight. He gave plenty of warning and hissed loudly for more than an hour… And then the inevitable happened. He struck! Like lightening, his head darted forward and hit the ground. Our Irula guide moved his hand just in time. In no time, the Cobra was back to his erect stance, intently observing his every move. The only downside was that, the Cobra never cared about what happened behind him.

For that magical moment, he stared straight in to my lens

Closeup of his hood

Venomous snakes such as the Cobra are captured by authorized snake catchers. These snakes are then handed over to the Irula Society where their venom is extracted and after about 30 days, they are released in the wild. Cobra was a prize catch. We were so lucky that day. Slowly, while distracting the snake with one hand, he brought his other hand behind the Cobra and in a swift move, he caught his head and lifted him up. He allowed the Cobra to open its mouth and showed us the fangs through which venom is injected during bites.

Deadly Fangs

It was deadly. But on that particular day, my fears vanished and I got as close as possible to that magnificent creature and got as many shots as possible. It was one of those special moments that I will cherish for a lifetime. After all, how many get to touch and feel a live, throbbing and insanely venomous adult Cobra? [Warning: Never go near any snake in the wild without expert guidance.]

Russell’s Viper

This snake was the most beautiful that I had ever seen until now. So close, so venomous and so beautiful! He was about 3 foot long and from the moment he was caught, he was very restless and hissed loudly for all the time he was held. In fact, his hiss was so loud that it could be heard above our chatter. It was a very lucky day for everyone. We had seen 2 of the Big 4 Indian Venomous snakes.

Russell's Viper

Russell’s Viper have very big fangs that are capable of piercing to a great extent on the human body. It’s venom is capable of doing extensive damage. This particular snake is responsible for maximum number of snake bite deaths in our country. But all these details wilt when you see such a snake in front of your eyes, showcasing what he is capable of. For a few precious moments, I was totally absorbed in capturing all his movements and got as many snaps as I could. This was a chance that presented itself & who would want to miss it?

Fangs and Venom

As he was being handled, few drops of precious venom escaped from his long fangs. Everyone observed it with rapt attention. All that while, the viper’s body was throbbing heavily as he was hissing continuously. After the power display of his fangs, he was placed carefully in a bag and carried off to the Irula Society.

Venom Extraction

At the society, we were shown how venom is extracted from snakes. They placed a small bottle and made the snake to bite that bottle. Snakes control how much of venom they inject each time. So, when a Banded Krait’s venom was extracted, everyone was shocked and surprised. Those drops can wreck havoc when it gets injected into blood stream

Banded Krait's venom being extracted

A wonderful day had come to an end and I wished it never ended. I badly wanted to touch the Russell’s Viper’s fangs. But common sense prevailed and the guide wouldn’t hear any of that. With a satisfying day and some intense experiences, I was pretty sure this experience would be remembered for a lifetime.

Special thanks to Hopeland for sharing so much knowledge on snakes.

Photos

Now, as the photos are unveiled below, grab a drink, sit back and enjoy them! Here’s a direct link to the album.

See you soon … Hissssssssss !!

A village enroute to Kukkal

Day 1

Day 1 was as easy as it could get. If not taken for a trek, it was actually an uphill walk for about 7kms to a temple on top of hill. There was quite a bit of the Shola forest cover almost throughout the trail & at many places, the canopy was thick enough to block the bright blue sky. Weather was splendid and we hoped to have a great time.

Moss covered tree trunk

We followed the trail for an hour and a half and burst into the Shola grasslands. It was about 4pm then and the first sights were marvelous. On the far left, mist covered huge peaks and the mist gradually thinned until we could see the peaks couple of valleys away. We were also treated to a nice cool breeze by Mother Nature and that experience was lovely. There was also another reason why this was lovely. I was leading the trail and it’s a special experience to burst into the open and grab the fresh air and sight before anyone else came in .

The Temple

Cliff before the temple

The temple on top of the peak had steps as we neared it. We stopped there for lunch. As the guide and quite a bit of the gang were making their way, we emptied a few packets of yummy chapathis. The guide joined us soon and gave us some absolutely delicious home made chocolates. The breeze was nearly non-stop and I was fresher than ever. All around us, we could see very far and to our right there were a few steep cliffs which served as suicide points

Kaushik with the bison skull

After the lunch break there, we moved on to the camp site for the day, which was visible from our point. We had to cross two small hills to reach the camp site.

Day 1 Camp Site

Our camp site was one of the lower and flat hills in the area. It was surrounded by bigger mountains and deep valleys with thick forest cover. For miles around, there were no humans. We were all to ourselves on top of the hill, at an amazing place and that too at the right time; just before sunset. As the sun bathed the camp site in its various hues, many of us started downhill to collect water and firewood for a nice campfire. While collecting firewood, Mohan and Kaushik found a full bison skull with its horns intact. They were ecstatic when they brought it to the campsite and soon a flurry of poses and photos followed.

Our camp site - Top View

It was then time to pitch the tent. As the sun went down, it got cooler and before we knew it, mist was coming down heavily and it wet our backpacks and other stuff lying around. Anything that wasn’t covered had its day. We pitched two big tents with the available tarpaulins and the guide pitched two more 3-person tents.

Campfire Roaring ain't it?

Within no time, a campfire started roaring and we all sat around it, absorbing the comforting heat. Stomach bells rang & the competition started!

The Cooking Contest

The girls’ gang led by Chitra lit a kerosene stove and started cooking the soup. Guys, not to be out done, started cooking the same thing using a natural stove made with rocks and fired using twigs and tiny branches. The fire in the men’s stove was kept alive by the master blower Madhav. Within no time soup was finished by the hungry gang and we started to cook Maggi.

The Girls' Gang - They Lost

It’s here that I must mention that the girls’ gang cooked killed it in the worst possible way . The first course of their’s came our sorta ok. As they were showing teeth all around about their “achievement”, the guys cooked it in a different way with a few ‘special ingredients’. That made the taste to go several notches higher and we almost witnessed a movement to move the cooking department to the guys; hehe… Our maggi was so popular that people waited in queue for a second helping. The girls then tried a hand by cooking again for another helping and unfortunately for them (fortunately for us), it turned out to be, well, opposite to good

The Guys' Gang - We Won!

Guys’ maggi was declared unanimously as the winners and we won the hearts of trekkers that night

Songs and Balaji

As the night set in, it became very cold and most of us moved inside the tents. Since the trek was pretty much light that day, no one could sleep. However, no one could venture out because of the chillness and moreover, they just got settled in their sleeping bags. Chitra announced that it was time for songs and called us to sit up and sing. It was here that Balaji made an awesome statement, “Everyone please have fun … inside the sleeping bag” ROTFL! It was over. Balaji had dug his own grave … lol. The whole tent woke up and ragged him to death. Ruchi was in the same tent. At times, when conversations were about to get diverted to her and her camel, someone would start off and it would end up in Balaji.

The tents we pitched

All songs that night were dedicated to Balaji. We made enough noise to attract Mohan and our guide Mani. Samyak and Chitra sung nice songs and before long, we were snoring … which reminds me of another topic . Right behind Chitra and Manoj, Madhu was snoring so loudly that the tent pole shook at times. I’m sure Chitra and Manoj didn’t sleep a wink. Yours truly didn’t face much of a trouble. After the snoring episode at Ombattu Gudde, I got used to it.

Day 2 Morning

With pleasant memories of songs and Balaji’s statements, day 1 came to a great end.

Day 2 – The Ledge

Since day 1 was very easy, I was assuming day 2 might be easy as well. About three hills away, we could see a waterfall from our campsite. My heart immediately went to it and all through the trail on day 2, I followed it all the time, and checked to see if it was within my site. We filled water at the same spot where we got water for day 1 and then moved on.

Ledge

After a few quick minutes, we came on to a dangerous ledge. Approximately, it would not have been wider than 40cm and to our left was the steep drop. One look down & my spine gave a tingling sensation. I gulped hard and moved forward and thought “WOW”. When the ledge took a turn, we couldn’t see who was behind us but we could clearly hear them. They were just around the turn. Not seeing someone behind you is a scary feeling in an unknown land. Everyone made it safely out of the ledge and started moving downards towards the direction of the waterfall. My heart was singing already.

The Slide Down

After the ledge, the trail wasn’t clear in many places and we had to stay together as a group. Few minutes from the ledge, there was a steep climb down. I sat down and slid on my butt for quite some distance before coming to a stop, and repeated “WOW”. We went through some dense grassland and came through another steep incline. I already knew what to expect. The gradient would have been 80 degrees and its pretty tough to walk on such gradients. Many of us slid down and when we gained speed, we used the thick grass as brakes. We would brake hard and skid too . This one was tough and damn funny.

Trekkers

Added to the slide was that, Noel was carrying a plastic water pot and we were kicking it along our sliding trail because it couldn’t be carried. Until our slide stopped, the whole trail resounded with the “dung-dung-dung” sound of the pot as it hopped and bounced on the trail. Couple of hours later, we came to a clearing. We stopped there and reunited.

The trees near the clearing had plenty of gooseberries on them. Mohan and Dipankar climbed on the trees and got everyone lots of it. With a bit of salt, it tasted heavenly and made all the slide totally worth it. It was Nature’s way of smiling and encouraging you to get ahead.

Thorns

After the continuous slide for about 2 hours, we were all very dirty and thorns had scratched us here and there. We cajoled Mani to take us to a stream or waterfall or a nice pool so that we could wash ourselves and freshen a little bit from all the dust. The climb down was still on but this time we were on a trail, which quickly came to an end much to our chagrin.

We crawled through this

If earth and grass were scratching us all over before, it was thorns this time. They were everywhere and pricked at all spots where they could find a centimeter of skin. For over an hour we moved through thorns and came to a place where the only hope of passing was to bend and crawl on all fours. If not, the thorns would scratch us real badly and we would have a fun time while it healed. The crawling thorn assault ended after a gruelling 15 minutes and we moved out to the open again. The sun’s warmth was soothing on our skins and it felt good after all the scratches, crawls and slides.

The Waterfall

Around this time, I heard gushing water. Was it real? Was it not? I listened in closely and looked around. There was a smile in our fellow trekkers’ face. No words were spoken but the joy had conveyed the message. There was water nearby and we just needed to locate the trail to it. We found a slightly beaten path to our left which again went in to a canopy of thorny bushes. We challenged them and successfully emerged out to see the sight of our lives. Everyone was screaming. No one could be controlled. The sight of chill water was something that everyone yearned for.

Waterfall / Stream

The waterfalls that we saw when on start of day 2 was the same one to which we had reached. We had reached a point at which the falls was cutting the valley and was wide enough for everyone to relax. Towards the end of the fall was a shallow pool. I couldn’t contain my excitement and dived in immediately. People were all over soon and we had a fun time in water. Some of us moved upstream and bathed there also. All the dust got washed off and after lot of hours I could see the real colour of my skin. We couldn’t remain in water for a long time because it was freezing cold. Nevertheless, the bath refreshed us like never before.

Reflection

While the gang was bathing and generally having merry, few of them took a nap & had a sun bath in the bright afternoon sun. Soon, our guide announced that it was time to move. The short nap and the power bath energized and made me hungry at the same time. That was a funny feeling!

Hill of the Day

We crossed the waterfall and moved on to the opposite valley. It was in fact a farm and we were moving through it. Water from the waterfall was being used to irrigate it and was re-routed with filters effectively. We reached a higher portion of the same falls through the valley and crossed it by means of a log bridge. Soon after, we emerged in to a third hill of the day.

Climb of the day

After walking on what looked like plains for an hour, we started climbing up slowly. There was no way we could get lost because the trail was very clear. It was pretty steep though & the last part of the climb to the top was like an icing on top of the steep cake. I was very hungry by that time and was already salivating for some spicy food when one of them told that biryani was arranged. Needless to say, Neelima started the biryani chant.

It was the first time in my life that I had climbed upwards to reach the end of a trail

Kukkal Village

We started near a lake at the Kukkal village and finished our trail at the village itself. Our buses were couple of hours from the village and we walked through the village to get to delicious biryani and the bus. All along the village, kids were enthusiastic and were punching the sleeping mats which were tied outside our backpacks. Many of them posed for a click and the joy on seeing their face on the camera’s LCD was priceless.

Terraced Farms

Much of the village lived on farming. Few of the smaller hills were converted into terraced farms. While passing through one of the farms, a lady smiled and gave us some fresh carrots to munch on. Along the way to our bus, Noel found some more fresh carrots. We washed them in the ice cold stream and had it. Aaahhhh! its tasted heavenly!

Kid

After a 2 hour night ride from Kukkal to Kodai, we started on the long journey to Chennai. Overall, the trek was moderate and we had so much fun . The gang was awesome and we had a great time cooking, singing, sliding, scratching and bathing. Spicy biryani was a delicious end to an awesome trek.

Photo Galleries

Here are photo galleries through which you can try to live our moments:

1. Ajinkya
2. Aswin Anand
3. Gopal
4. Madhu
5. Neelima
6. Noel
7. Rajnikanth
8. Venkat

Contact Info

Our trek guide Kodai Mani can be contacted at +91-98940-48493.