Rat Snake, Cobra, Russell's Viper

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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.

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

The Group

Ride to Pondy – 31st Dec 09

Its been a long while since the last drive to Pondy on ECR and today the chance came again. Part of the gang of bikers met at Besant Nagar beach and started off after a quick roll call. Some more joined us on ECR & after filling up petrol, we were good to go. Somewhere after Kalpakkam, we stopped for a snack on an otherwise non-stop drive. Soon, we reached Pondy

Pondicherry

The whole of Pondy was in festive mood & it obviously spread to us as well. Else, why would a gang go to Pondy on 31st of December? Our resort of sorts was close to the beach and while stuff was being arranged, few of us went to the beach.

Its Party Time Baby!

Bottles, cups, soda, snacks, dinner and what not were brought in & a noisy toast was raised . Yours truly got enough high on a mocktail of sprite + coke + oorga (pickle) that he decided not to go near anything else. While the party was on in full swing, we came to know that Pondicherry tourism department was organizing some fireworks near the main beach. Many of us went there & we saw the worst ever fireworks that a tourism department could put together. Heck! even the kid next door burst more crackers during Deepavali!

Group Pic on the way to Vedaranyam

On the way back, we were enthusiastically greeted HAPPY NEW YEAR by gangs of teenagers and we repeated it out to them. Few scoops of delicious ice-cream later, we reached our resort. By this time, the Lunar Eclipse was just starting out. It was a very beautiful sight. I was seeing it unfold above me and was completely dumbstruck!

Back at the resort, the party was on in full-swing and birthday bums session was on … Soon enough, there was enough fun for everyone to see and laugh (though I won’t say what).

Day 1 – The New Year Dawns – 1-Jan-2010

With the dawn of the new year, we started quite late after the party last night. After a heavy breakfast at Pondy it was already 11 AM. We decided that we would proceed to Chidambaram and then halt for the night at Karaikal or Nagapattinam depending on the situation. Until Cuddalore, the road was only “ok” of sorts. After Cuddalore though, the road turned out to be awesome. The gentle growl of my bike’s engine soon became a roar as the rubber blazed the tar … Soon, Nachu raced ahead of us and stopped at a place where trees were arranged beautifully and would do well for a photograph.

Place where we had bath

From all the ride since morning, we were dirty and dusty & it would be great if we had a waterfall or a pool nearby (recent trek effect you see). Soon enough, there was also a paddy field at the place where we stopped & there was a bore well & pump over there . Water gushed from the pump and was pouring in to the fields because paddy needs stagnant water to grow. We asked the farmers whether we can take bath in that pump. As soon as we got the nod, we ran towards it in all glee.

Mohan getting it

Fun ensued! water splashing, jumping etc. etc. We were also making so much noise to attract views from the highway . After the much need refreshment and bath, we blazed through to Chidambaram.

Road to Pichavaram

En route to Chidambaram, there is this HUGE Mangrove forests called Pichavaram. Its about 16km from Chidambaram. Its so huge that its bound by the sea in one end and has plenty of small islands inside. All these islands are full of lush Mangrove and they attract plenty of birds every year. Just before Chidambaram, there’s an awesome road that takes you to Pichavaram.

Birds at Pichavaram

The road to Pichavaram quickly widened into a very wide freshly laid tar road that was damn smooth. There was absolutely no traffic on the opposite side & there weren’t any markings too … meaning, the road had been laid recently. Most importantly, the length of the stretch was visible from the starting point. I was excited to the core and I was also driving single at that time. I twisted the accelerator to the maximum and burst ahead . The road was too tempting to not do it.

The lonely fisherman in the Pichavaram lake

And then … at a certain point, time stopped. Everything that had been moving in a dazed blur stopped. I could see miles ahead and miles together on the sides. The sun was giving a glint on every object in front of me. The sight was beautiful & I was “in the moment” … totally absorbed & thinking about nothing except being rooted in the moment. I didn’t realize my bike was slowing down. The moment was just too beautiful to let it slip away. Few seconds later, Nachu overtook me and suddenly the trance was broken by the right indicator from his bike. The direction board read, “Pichavaram –> 10km”. That particular 6km ride was the ride of the day for me. These same moments materialized again when we came back on the same route to proceed to Chidambaram.

Boating at Pichavaram

Boats can be engaged at Pichavaram to tour its vast expanse of Mangroves. If you cajol the oarsman, you can even visit certain inside spots that are usually not taken by the them. We took a motor boat. Until our time slot became available, we were waiting at the watch tower nearby. This watch tower had a telescope using which we could see those distant birds on the Mangroves. I could identify Egrets with their yellow beaks from recent Flora and Fauna workshop (Thanks Gowtham & Hopeland), of course Parakeets and some storks.

The Mangroves

The water surrounding the Mangroves are just about 5-6 feet deep at their maximum and only about 3-4 feet deep at their minimum. As our boat left the shore, I couldn’t help being captured by the beauty of the Mangroves. Birds were everywhere & at many spots, we switched off the engine of the motor boat so that we could watch them in absolute silence … tuning ourselves to the sights and sounds of the forest around. After cajoling the oarsman for sometime, he agreed to take us to some places inside, which are even more breathtaking. Initially, it gave an eerie feeling but it soon disappeared as soon as beauty took over.

Open Billed Stork (Courtesy: Gowtham)

After a pleasurable boat ride into the Mangrove wilderness, it was time to touch the shore.

Chidambaram – Tharangambadi (Tranquebar) – Karaikal

It looked like Jan 1 was a religious day. The Siva temple and the roads to it were crowded beyond measure & so we pushed ahead. It was almost 6 PM now and the sun was setting in the horizon. Stomach bells were ringing out loud. We made a stop at the tea stall and had hot bajjis with some delicious tea & a few pineapple slices to cool down the hot tongue. The next stop was Tharangambadi or Tranquebar; about 40km away from Chidambaram. Tharangambadi is an old Dutch Colony which is also home to a Fort, now turned in to a museum. Since it was dark by the time we reached there, we couldn’t visit the Fort. Hence, it was decided that we would skip it and proceed to Karaikal.

Mangrove Roots

In those few minutes of the twilight zone, we came across a wonderful patch of road, portions of which were under construction. Those parts where the construction was completed was splendid. We were driving in patterns in that road. It was beautiful and as the sun was just setting, everyone’s spirit rose to the tune of the nature.

It became dark quickly and the road’s width lessened to an extent where only one lorry or bus could go comfortably. Added to it, there were wild twists and turns along the road. It was a very adventurous ride. The only advantage that we had was that the road was decent enough. No huge pot holes and no unannounced speed breakers. So we ‘up’ped the speed a little bit and did all those curves and bends in about 60-70kmph speed. One curve was damn awesome and I loved it. The roads were completely dark and we had to rely on our bike’s headlight only. At one point, the road curved ahead and naturally we also turned and stabilized … only to find out that the turn hadn’t completed yet. So we immediately bent again and took the curve near the edge of the small road. At another point, a stupid tata sumo overtook a lorry without any warning and sent us in a cloud of dust

My Beast

This ride ensured that all of us would stay awake throughout & I was left wanting for more when the road widened and led us in to Tranquebar. The drive from here to Karaikal was a cake-walk. Roads were good and wide. We reached Karaikal at around 8.30pm, had dinner and headed to the beach to chill off. Part of the gang attempted suicide by watching Vettaikaran (recently released Dr. Vijay’s movie – kkrrrrrrthooooo!). We were shocked at their plight when they came back from the movie he he…

Day 2 – Karaikal to Vedaranyam

Second day started very early. The destination today was Point Calimere or Kodiyakarai (as its known in Tamil). All along the route, its a haven for birds and hence, we had to start early to capture the beautiful sunrise and also the birds chirping and being active. We had chai at a beautiful place after Nagapattinam and started towards Vedaranyam; which is home to a Bird Sanctuary.

Early morning view outside the tea shop

After a railway crossing near Nagapattinam, we had to take a left to go towards Vedaranyam. I must tell you that this was the best road next to the Chidambaram-Pichavaram route. This new road from Nagapattinam to Vedaranyam was very wide and had the necessary road signs. However, there’s no traffic on the opposite side and if you were on that road, you would fly.

Sunrise on Day 2

Sunrise

Just imagine this. We crossed the morning twilight zone and it’s bright. No signs of the sun yet.. but it’s bright & the visibility is good. The mist is still lingering around and literally drenches everything in its vicinity. I shot ahead on this road early in the morning and with no traffic on the opposite side, it was driver’s bliss. I was in one of those moments again and nothing could break it now. This road extended for quite a few kilometres until we came to a fork which pointed Vedaranyam to the left side. We were now surrounded on both sides by lush green fields. Sky was showing tinges of orange now & I felt my mood getting elated automatically. Those dew drops in the grass opened up their presence by shining brightly & within few minutes I was in another of those moments … Man! You should’ve been there to experience what I’m explaining. It was an ecstatic feeling. Words will never do justice. It was in one of those moments that the picture below was clicked by Jason You can see how much joy there was!

The Best Pic of the Trip - Thanks Jason!

We then stopped to click the rising sun. After plenty of photography and torturing the poor Jason, we moved ahead and stopped again 30 minutes later. At this spot, I could recognize the Brain Fever Bird, thanks to its unique calling & thanks to the Fauna workshop a week ago. Some more driving later, we came to a field where a white necked, golden brown bodied eagle was perched. Erect in its stance, it looked majestic and I could see that it was showing the finger to the world . We approached it very carefully & clicked some nice close-ups. Then we moved on non-stop to Point Calimere.

Brahminy Kite (Courtesy: Kausikram)

Point Calimere

Kodiyakarai, as Point Calimere is known locally, is a combination of three things. It has a Wildlife Sanctuary, a Lagoon and a Holy Shrine of Lord Rama. Since this place is very close to Vedaranyam, its also home to plenty of birds and its shallow Lagoons are a sight in themselves. Srilanka is just about 48km across the sea from this place. The weather was splendid today and there was even some drizzle. We drove towards the lagoon. Roads ended soon and we were wondering what to do because we wanted to go to the center of the lagoon.

Splendid weather on day 2

The answer was obvious! Time for some serious off-roading. Bumping along the salty bunds, we drove our bikes there; getting down near the sand at times and coming back up again. We drove like this for what looked like 5kms and we stopped at a point where the bunds ended. At this point there was water all around us. What would happen if tsunami struck now was the thought running through my mind and mind you, “Water water everywhere, but not a drop to drink” . The locals told us that much of the lagoons are shallow and some people were harvesting prawns from the shallow waters.

Gull (Courtesy: Kausikram)

Kingfishers were showing off their expertise on nose-diving and picking up fish as one or two neared the surface. Storks were blissfully pecking at their food at a distance and oblivious to the presence of us humans. After spending some time here breathing some nice salty air, we thought it was time to move to the next destination – Tanjore.

Landscape at Point Calimere

Few people had slept through Nachu’s wake up call. So they got up later and visited the Dutch Fort at Tranquebar and joined us in Tanjore directly.

Sri Ramar Padham (or) Lord Rama’s Footprints – Point Calimere

Lord Rama's Footprints

Legend says that it was at this point that Lord Rama evaluated the army of Ravana and that it was from this point that Hanuman made his iconic jump to Lanka in search of Sita. After clicking a few snaps here, we headed back to Vedaranyam.

The Temple

We had superb brunch at a hotel in Vedaranyam. After filling up our stomach, we realized we were stinking a lot from around 6 hours of driving since today morning. Part of the gang started off to Tanjore. The Siva temple nearby had a huge tank inside and that we could swim in it was enough to make me and Nachu stay back. We could catch up with them pretty easily or so we thought. After a refreshing swim in the temple’s tank, we started on the route to Tanjore via Thiruthuraipoondi and Mannargudi.

Worst Roads Ever – Vedaranyam to Mannargudi

This was the worst ever piece of road we had driven on during the whole of the trip. The road with its twists and turns had plenty of pot holes. Added to it, there was considerable traffic in the opposite direction when we were nearing villages. Certain patches of road were good though and we made the most of it. The twists and bends were continuous and it was like driving in hills except that the altitude wasn’t there.

Wild Wild West

My bum was blown out when we reached Mannargudi and we had to take a break to cool off our butts. Soon the Mohan couple joined us (they spent extra time at the Sanctuary in Point Calimere) and the four of us proceeded towards the temple town of Tanjore in three bikes. Thanks to the swim at the temple, otherwise we would have been damn frustrated after the ride to Mannargudi.

Tanjore was still 40kms away.

Mannargudi to Tanjore

From Mannargudi, the roads became better. There were fields on both sides of the road and I was already thinking of a second bath in those paddy fields. They were lush green and looked very inviting. However, the need to catch up with the rest of the dudes kept us driving … until we were about 2kms from Tanjore. We called Wild Kannan and they told us that the rest of the gang were enjoying at a small stream off the road. We couldn’t locate them however and also decided we needed a bath to chill off. Near the Tanjore railway line crossing, we noticed a coconut farm and a paddy field beside it.

Near the Grand Anaicut

After getting permission, we jumped in and cooled off for more than 45 minutes; the four of us taking turns to stand under the huge pipe through which water was gushing at tremendous speed.

A quick call to confirm their locations later, we pushed off to Tanjore and met them near the Tanjore’s Siva Temple.

The Tanjore Temple

If you are going to Tanjore, you shouldn’t miss the Siva Temple. Its huge and has amazing architecture. It also has the biggest Siva Lingam in India and was constructed by the great Chola kings. Every time I visit this place, I’m awed by its vibe. It lifts one’s spirit like none other. Day 2 of the trip was turning out to be great. A great “moment” in the morning at sunrise and another great “moment” during sunset. I couldn’t ask for more on this day

Silhouette of the Main Gopuram

As the Sun was just setting, I clicked some silhouettes and some pictures of the main Gopuram. As it became dark, the lighting on the temple tower and on the Nandi was kind of excellent. Thanks to Wild who taught me some long exposure techniques, I did some experiment today. After sometime, this picture came out decently.

Night shot of the Main Gopuram

After a nice dinner and a Tamil lesson from an American, I crashed and went to sleep in an instant. The day had come to a peaceful end.

Day 3 – Trichy to Chennai

We started at around 8am from Tanjore and proceeded to this place called Kallanai or The Grand Anaicut. Its a huge dam built on Kaveri by the erstwhile Karikala Cholan. Centuries later, this dam is still in use and is maintained by the Government. A few snaps here and there and then it was time to move. Bypassing Trichy, we entered into the awesome NH-45 highway. This highway is a straight stretch between Chennai and among other major destinations, Trichy.

Kallanai or The Grand Anaicut

On the way, we stopped somewhere before Dindivanam and had another great bath under a pump set at a paddy field . We blazed through this highway and returned to Chennai by evening after a superb bike trip! The start to this new year was something special that I can never forget.

Butterfly - Common Tiger

Route Followed

Chennai – Pondicherry – Cuddalore – Chidambaram – Tharangambadi (Tranquebar) – Karaikal – Nagapattinam – Vailankanni – Vedaranyam – Kodiyakarai (Point Calimere) – Thanjavur – Trichy – Chennai

Final Group Pic

Home to home, the distance was 1004.03 kms that was recorded on my bike.

Photo Albums

What’s a trip without albums? Here are a few. Go through them and check out the fun we had

1. Alfonso
2. Aswin Anand
3. Jason
4. Karthick Sundararajan
5. Karthik Yadav
6. Naveen
7. Pavan

WISH YOU A VERY HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR . The beginning to this year couldn’t have been better

Stay tuned!

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

Picnic Pool Waterfall

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

The Dam

The dam was in full splendor this time. It had been more than 10 months since I visited Nagala and the site of the dam overflowing and brimming with water was too good not to be WOW’d at.

Panoramic view of the Nagala dam

Since we couldn’t take the usual route, we chose to walk along the dam, in to the forest which would join somewhere ahead at the regular trail. Trekking until this spot was pretty much easy. Gradual ascents and descents later, we reached the first pool.

The First Pool

The very thought of the chill water excited me to the core & the realization that I could swim this time made it even better. With zilch thoughts, the gang plunged head long in the water and started jumping and diving. Behind the rocks on this first pool, there’s a very cute and small waterfall. We helped ferry a few people there using sleeping mats and even a few non-swimmers climbed on to the rocks and jumped in water… to be lifted up and led ashore safely by swimmers. Around an hour’s excitement at this place later, we started on the way to the dead end pool.

Cute waterfall at the First Pool

The Dead End Pool

This pool so gets its name because of high rocks on all three sides and the only way to cross this pool is to swim across. Using the knowledge gained from the previous Venkateswara trek, we built two rafts to transport bags safely to the other side. A few non-swimmers were then ferried along with the bags, who climbed on the narrow ledges to accept backpacks as they were being passed to them. In the meantime, you know what we did

People crossing dead end pool

This pool is a lot deeper and bigger than the first pool. Since the rocks are high on 3 sides, we climbed on them and started jumps and dives. It was lot of fun to do it this time and without any help or fear. Non-swimmers, please go and learn swimming right now . You are missing the water fun.

Backpack Hunt

It was here that 2 great slips happened

The Slips

At the Dead End Pool, there are two rocks which have to be crossed to go to the other side. With water and others climbing, the second rock became very slippery and there was very little to hold on to. A slip here leads directly to a deep end of the pool. This time, I tried my hand at climbing it on my own. I was up a little bit when my left leg slipped initially. I gained some balance and climbed up a bit more when left hand slipped. Horror of horrors … bloody left leg gave up too & I slid down the rocks in to the water. It created a huge uproar as I panted and surfaced

Then I was helped to get on top of the rock. Ananth also tried climbing on his own. I warned him that its very wet and slippery. He preferred to ignore the “advice” (he he he..) and tried. He also slipped and that created another huge uproar. Lol. Both of us knew swimming and we escaped the skid without a scratch.

Boooooo Boooooo

We used Rubbification Technology to laugh off the teases and ploughed ahead shouting MOVE IT MOVE IT … heh!

We had lunch at this spot and then proceeded towards Picnic Pool. It was about an hour from this place. But since there were many first time trekkers, we started pretty early to avoid trekking in the dark. I was with the sweeping gang along side Vikram, Gowri, Max, Sagar and Sai.

On the way to Picnic Pool

After passing along the stream for sometime, we climbed a picturesque hill, which then led us to the edge of a gorge. Little did we know about the beauty that would be present at the end of the gorge, which would be explored the next day. The view of the gorge was awesome from this place. Clicking a few snaps here, we moved on. A few meters of a steep descend led us to the stream again. Hopping across the rocks, we reached the edge of the camp site in about an hour… Talking, chatting and ragging… making our experience.

The Adventure

It was beginning to get dark now and there were only about 6 of us with the sweeping gang. At this point, there were 2 routes to the camp site. One is to swim across a 50m pool and the other was to climb the hill and follow the trail that would lead to the camp site. We decided that it would be best to swim across the small distance. That would mean building a raft to ferry the bags and helping the non-swimmers float across.

Alas, we didn’t have the ropes to build the raft. So myself and Keshav decided to climb the hill, drop our bags at the camp site and get a few people so that non-swimmers and backpacks can be transported across. Vikram showed us a trail and gave some directions on when to turn left. It became pitch dark now. Promptly, myself and Keshav started ascending the hill. We followed the trail for some distance and logically we would have to turn left and walk along until the trail led downwards. Pretty simple right? But in the dark, things can (and will) go wrong.

Instead of turning left at a certain point, we climbed right ahead and reached a deadend because a tree was fallen across our path. We realized our folly and turned across, which led us into vegetation. Seeing no trail, we were wondering what to do and which path to follow. I knew we had to go down. But it was very steep. Around 80 degrees. After carefully descending for a couple of meters, we noticed some light at the bottom. Fire flies can give you this illusion that there’s light far off. Immediately we switched off our torch light and made sure it was human light.

Fun Groupie!

To send a signal, we switched off and switched on the lights repeatedly. Promptly, someone alerted Adi & he came near the hill shouting at us not to follow the path because there was no way down. No sooner had he said that, Keshav slipped. He slid down for a feet or two and held a tree. My heart was beating like hell & I tried to remain calm. His sleeping mat got ripped open & part of his bag was opened too. Mobile phone, purse and other items flew in all directions. As he was getting up, I calmed him and we launched this treasure hunt for his phone in the dark . We found it! We found his purse also! After retying the mat and putting all the stuff back, we moved up a little bit and found the trail to our left. It was steep no doubt. But the trail had a route to the bottom. The next morning, we found out that the place where Keshav slipped led directly to the pool below. Both of us knew swimming so we could have escaped and there were many other swimmers in the gang too. But the electronic devices would have suffered had our backpacks taken the plunge

Recognizing our absense for sometime, Gowri swam across, got the ropes and ferried the people and backpacks. We reached the camp site safe and sound.

Peter’s Surprise Visit and Hooting

At the campsite, we started collecting firewood to setup the kitchen with a double burner stove. As we were doing this, everyone around us were hooting and shouting UUURRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAHHHHH!! Out of dark, Peter emerged! Everyone was shocked and surprised. When did he start from Chennai and how did he make it this far? Did he get lost anywhere? Lol… everyone had so many questions. Peter knows Nagalapuram like the back of his hand.

The whole campsite resembled a hyper-active beehive as soon as he made his presence.

Campfire

The campfire was to become a huge bonfire when Peter announced, “I need 6 strong buffaloes” to lift two huge trees. Few minutes later, 2 big trunks came into the campfire and the wood started crackling. A nice dinner of hot soup and maggi later, we headed to the pool for a swim in the dark. For about 2 hours, we would swim in the pool, come to the shore, get ourselves warm at the great fire and dive in again It was superb!

Max’s Birthday

At precisely 12 AM, Ajay went near Max, woke him up and told him that “I” went for a leak and was missing since then. Frantically, he woke up and reached the campfire only to find us waiting with a birthday cake and candles in the middle of the forest … He gave this shocked + surprised reaction (lol) and made sure I was among the crowd. Fresh from the recent swim, wet and cold, we stood near the cake and wished him a very happy birthday.

Max cutting the birthday cake

... then getting beaten up

Almost immediately, we all lifted him up, gave birthday bumps and threw him in the pool. Ha ha! Ajay was standing near the edge and a kick on his bum sent him spiraling in to the water behind Max. We were making so much noise and laughing so hard that I’m sure none slept in the camp site for quite sometime.

and flung in to the pool

Max distributed chocolates when he came ashore and then it was time for the night.

A Cold Night

The night was cold. After about 2-3 hours of sleep, I woke and sat straight up. I was shivering involuntarily… so much shiver that to others it may have looked like I was belly dancing

The Crackling Fire

Not withstanding the cold, I moved very near to the bonfire and slept there. The crackle of fire wood, those millions of stars above, the warm fire and the cold bath + memories of the day made me smile and lulled me into sleep.

Day 2 – Wake up Call, Tea

I was up at around 6.30 AM. That’s a rough guess based on the lighting of the sky. As I was wondering who would be up at this ungodly hour, Ananth, who was sleeping on the other side of us shouted “Tarakarama, UUURRRRRRAAAAAHHHH … Wake Up”. I was up at this time and responded to this bird call. Lol. So early & I could see a number of heads coming up to see what the commotion was about and they went back to sleep.

Brewing Tea

Soon, we started brewing delicious tea, that was to be consumed with rusks. Nothing tastes better than hot black tea & rusk on a cold morning in the forest. Sometime later, Peter and few of them climbed the waterfall and went to another waterfall upstream. By the time they came back, the whole campsite was up and a full fledged diving session was on.

Naveen

One by one, the swimmers climbed the waterfall, the trees nearby and on to ledges and were diving. Few of us were being thrown in to water like how we did to Max the night before. First timers, especially non-swimmers, were very apprehensive of jumping from the waterfall, to which I could very well relate to. After clicking a countless pictures, shooting videos of diving, we moved to another waterfall behind the camp site. It was beautiful and deep. It was around 11am by this time and time to move on.

Guna, Gowri diving head first

Sadly bading good bye to the magical Picnic Pool, we slowly pushed off.

The Gorge and The Cave Pool

Trekking for about an hour, we reached this place Purdha Point from where the Cave Pool was visible in the form of an arch. The gorge below us was deep and rocks were protruding everywhere. We sat near the edge and clicked a couple of pictures and raced down to enter the water pool at the base of the gorge. The cave pool waterfall was at the end of this gorge and we had to swim for around 60-70 meters to get there.

Sitting on Top of the Gorge

Dropping our backpacks near the entrance of the gorge and wild with excitement, we hit the water. Man … it was so damn cold. We swam for some distance, hit some rocks, jumped over them and swam some more until we reached the cave pool.

Through the Gorge

It was a breathtaking sight. The roof of the cave would be only around 10 feet in height. There was a big crack in its ceiling from where water was rushing through to form a waterfall. There was so much water that it was as if 10 people were pounding the back with their fists. We stood under it for sometime, came out and went back again. This continued for about 15 minutes and then we climbed to the platforms on the cave. Damn! I was missing my camera at these places. Then it was time to swim back to the entrance of the gorge.

From the gorge, we trekked for about 30 minutes to reach the dead end pool.

Swimming in the Dead End Pool & Raft Race

A human chain formed almost immediately and we passed on the bags through the chain to reach the other side of the dead end pool; from where a man-made raft was waiting for pickup. Once it was loaded with 3-4 backpacks, they would be pushed on water to the other side. Swimmers (oh yes, including yours truly ) took turns in pushing the raft to make sure stuff reached safely to the other side. At the point where the slippery rock had to be ascended, lot of people helped each other to climb it. Once they were done, swimmers jumped in water and swam across.

“On your mark, get set, GO!” … and immediately, Poncho and Max would push the raft in water and race to get it to other end of the pool where more bags were waiting, accompanied by howls and cheers from all sides. On the other side, Viki and two more people would lift us above his head and throw us in water. We would land with a huge splash on the water and ask for encore he he… We literally became kids. As this was happening, few picked up unused mats and started a mat fight in water. We ganged around Max and tore him to bits coz of his birthday, followed by Viki, Ananth and more.

We had some snacks here and then it was time to go back to the first pool.

Group Photo at First Pool

It is customary in each trek that we take a group photo of the awesome gang that made all this possible. So we shot a group photo here and then proceeded to the dam and then on to the cars. On the way to the dam, we were joined by Peter and Guru. Few of them including Lucie, Gowri, Peter, Guru and Ajay swam across the dam under the stars and reached the other side safely.

Group Photo

On the way to the dam, we would shout in chorus as, “Gumtha lakadi gala gala gala … OOHH AAHH OOHH AAHH; LIC heightu CTC weightu” etc. It was time to bid good bye to Nagala now & looking back at the 2 days, I just can’t believe we had so much fun and an easy trail to go with.

Photo Galleries

Check out the photo galleries. They capture about 1% of the fun we had.

1. Aswin Anand
2. Dev Kumar
3. Gunasekar
4. Sivashankar
5. Sunil
6. Suratha

See you soon!

The free SMS web service, that you have come to love and use, has been updated. You can download for the following languages here:

1. Java
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If you are accessing the service through the URL mentioned here, then be rest assured that it will continue to work. Download the latest versions and enjoy!

If you are facing any problems, please do let me know in comments and I will try to address them at the earliest.

View from Ombattu Gudde - Deepadakallu and Jenkallu

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

Day 1 – 14 Nov 2009 – The Leech Challenge

The trail started besides the picture postcard house below. We were to walk for about 10 kms before we would hit the first stream. The locals warned us of leeches. Few braved the leeches and decided to march right ahead. But since I had been carrying snuff powder and oil for the gang, a few us who chose to heed those words, applied it to our calves, shin and feet. Whatever was stuck in our palms were applied to the arms. In a short while, we were all covered from our legs down in thick black & smelly snuff powder mixture that’s supposed to keep out leeches.

Few minutes in to the trail, we knew what the locals had told about. There were leeches everywhere, though they were very small ones. Some people in our trek (notably Prashanth) told that to encounter actual leeches, we should go there sometime around monsoon where the treks are to primarily get wet to the bone in those relentless rains and fight leeches . Should be fun! Those leeches cling to whatever they can and slowly move up towards the shin. If not noticed, they would keep moving upwards & before long, they will be in your innerwear and you will have fun! Few leeches did manage to get there for a few people (I wasn’t one among them, in case you were wondering!) and we could literally imagine the leeches committing suicide

The Tiny Stream

After walking an awesome 6 km stretch, covered with dense forest on both sides, we reached a tiny stream. By this time, there were about 10 tiny leeches on my sandals despite me plucking them off every so often. Those who were wearing shoes were even worse. Some of them had climbed through the socks and were happily sucking blood through the socks. To ward leeches off our sandals and shoes, we created the mixture of snuff powder and mustard oil and applied it once more. Now, even though leeches got on to us, they were put off by the smell of snuff powder. We could then easily pluck them off our skins and drop them elsewhere. We were just 4 kms away from the bigger stream along the trail.

The Big Stream and Games

Nothing excites one more than the sight and sound of rushing water in dense forest. As soon as we saw this really wide stream, we dropped our bags and jumped right in. The water was shallow in many places, which meant it would be unlimited fun for quite some time in that stream. Almost everyone had leech wounds. The blood wouldn’t clot and it would keep dripping even after washing them. In case you were wondering, leeches make a very tiny hole to extract blood. At max, you would lose around 10-20 ml of blood by end of day after all the leech bites put together.

Showcase first ...

At one place in the stream, water was neck deep & you know what we did . We jumped right in and few people tried diving head first. Many were busy washing their skin of the snuff powder and applying a fresh coating. After having breakfast at this place, it was time to move on. We had a long way to go.

Then some fun!

Before Ravi Ghosh and Claudy could set the route to take, few enthu dudes raced ahead and climbed a hill, only to find that it wasn’t the route to take. We marched ahead taking in the sight, sounds and fresh air of the forest around us. We were following the big stream now. Fresh elephant shit was everywhere. The stream was gurgling along its course and at times, it would rush as if it wanted to reach its destination soon.

Cascade Stream and More Diving

After walking for an hour or so, we reached another nice water point along the stream which was dotted with tiny cascading waterfalls. This place is still in front of my eyes. There was a good amount of place between each level in the cascade and there was a shallow pool at the top of the cascade. The cascade ended in a splendid inclined pool which was about 6 foot wide but was pretty deep. We climbed down the rocks and jumped in this.

Cascading Stream

Water currents were pretty strong here and as soon as we surfaced after the jump/dive, the current would push us along the stream downwards. Vipin effectively challenged the current and swam against it to reach the bottom of the cascade. After bathing here to our hearts content, we started on our way and were following the stream upwards.

Vipin swimming against the current

Snake Encounter 1 – Malabar Pit Viper

At a certain point, we had to cross the stream and hop in to thick forests where there were no trail at all. We hacked in to the forest with a big knife that doubled up as an axe. Cutting creepers and moving branches aside, we were able to make our way. As soon as we set foot on damp rocks and soil, leeches started chasing us. Most of us were running to prevent those leeches from getting on us. At some places, when we had to stop to hack creepers etc., we would keep shaking our feet so that they don’t latch on.

Besides the stream on a cool moss covered rock, under the plentiful shade of an unknown tree, a viper was beautifully snoring. He was about 2 feet long, pretty thin but with a fat stomach and a head that was big for his size. Recognizing that there was some disturbance in his environment, it looked like he opened his eyes and put his forked black tongue out. Photographers were ecstatic to the point that some even squealed . He had a pit in between his eyes and had his scales like that of a saw. He was venomous. I didn’t venture too close because he was already coiled and photos were being clicked from a hopefully safe distance.

Pit Viper - Venomous Snake

Soon, the climb on the forest ended in about 30 minutes and we found ourselves at the stream again. This time the water was knee deep and we had to wade through it. Some preferred to follow the forest by hopping on boulders but since I’m a fan of water bodies, I preferred to wade through it. At a point, the level was just below my waist. Chill water splashing my body was a fantastic feeling. Spirits soared to unknown levels and before long it had to end for another detour in to the dense jungle.

Steep Climbs & Snake Encounter 2 – Another Viper

By now, the climb was steep. The hill would have been about 50 degrees and we navigated a small distance by holding creepers and roots. Soon, for the rest of the day, this kind of steep climb became pretty common. It would be a very common sight to see people crawling on all fours.

Down one such steep climb, we came to a part of the stream where the water was waist deep. As were walking through, we found a another snake beautifully camouflaged in the rocks. He was almost the length of the earlier viper and seemed to be a member of the viper family because of this huge head and that pit between his eyes. He was coiled too. This guy didn’t wake up seeing us but was blissfully sleeping besides all the commotion. How many of us get this kind of sleep in our day to day lives?

Pit Viper - Venomous Snake

Then it was yet another steep climb in the wilderness and it was beginning to get dark. It was only 5.30 PM but the darkness was falling soon very quickly. At this point, we had to climb down a 5 feet rock and cross a small raging stream (with strong currents) to climb another hill where we were supposed to camp for the night. By the time the whole gang climbed down the rock and crossed the stream, it was pitch dark and time for the head lamps and torches to make their appearance.

Camp Site

It was a wonderful campsite. The platform was slightly inclined and it was sandwiched between raging streams on both sides. Tall trees covered our place and there were high rocks all around which we used for drying our clothes. The raging stream drove Ajay to meditate on a rock above the stream for a few minutes. Some of us then collected a few small branches and started sweeping the whole place so that leeches and insects, if any, could be removed. After sweeping the place clean, we were surpirsed to see a medium sized rock in the middle. Placing 3 more rocks to its left, center and right, a two burner stove was ready to be used for cooking dinner.

Preparing the Kitchen

Cutting the vegetables

Six people unwrapped the sleeping mats and started cutting the vegetables in small ones. Carrots, onions and potatoes were chuck-chuck-chuck’d into small pieces. Three pots were filled with crystal clear water. Another team disappeared to find dried wood for the kitchen. Before long, we had a small fire going. A pot of water was placed on it and 9 packets of soup mixture was poured in to it and stirred continuously by Ravi while Vipin and Sai were doing a great job in keeping the fire going. Before long, piping hot soup was ready and we all devoured it hungrily after a day’s trek.

Kitchen Ready

Naveen took the turn now to create delicious curry to be mixed with aval. With ghee, groundnuts, spices and vegetables in the pot, they were stirred continuously for about 30 minutes before they got cooked. Aval was soaked in water and it was ready by this time. The curry+aval mixture tasted delicious and beyond compare to anything we had ever eaten in forest. Fresh from the hand-made kitchen, this team work was worth the effort. All pains and leech bites encountered during the day vanished when the taste of delicious curry kissed the tongue. It was as if you lived to get to this moment! An AHA moment!

Naveen cooking yummy veg. curry

Three of us ventured in to the stream and had a bath at this ungodly hour (9 PM) in the forest. The chill water was soothing and had an amazing calming effect after the cooking drama I loved every moment of it.

Lord Varuna

By the time we were finishing with dinner, it started raining. First in drizzles and then it really started pouring. We were carrying tarpaulin sheets with us. Immediately getting the ropes and knives out, we tied ends to those majestic trees and then put our heads to rest.

The Tent

It was a quiet moment now. There was a constant drone of a distant cricket alongside the rushing streams soothing the ears. With such a delicate moment, I fell asleep … and wandered in to dreamland …

… only to be woken up suddenly because the rains got very heavy and part of the tent gave away and poured ice cold water on my feet. I made some adjustments to catch the run away water with the empty cooking pots. That worked but the place near my leg was wet. Sagar had an ant hill under his feet which became active after the water fell on it. Vinod, who was behind us, snored loudly enough to attract elephants. Suddenly all delicate moments vanished and myself and Sagar were trying to sleep by counting sheep.

Rain had stopped by morning. The tent that we had hurriedly laid during the night was worthy of applause 34 people were able to sleep peacefully (I hope). Clicking a few snaps of the tent, a few of us rushed to the streams to gape at their beauty in the blissful morning.

Day 2 – 15 Nov 2009 – Bath in Streams

Following rains from the previous night, streams were gushing than ever at a furious pace. In the center of the stream, there was a beautiful tiny waterfall which fed a 4 feet deep pool. We climbed there and enjoyed the place for more than 45 minutes. Then we headed back to the camp site to find Vinod was brewing fresh tea. Yay!

Much needed bath

Then we headed to the other side. Remember that our camp site was surrounded by two streams. We looked at the place where we had a cold bath the previous night & jumped there. The small pool was overflowing in to a waterfall and we got under it too. By this time the tea was ready and Shivi got us some tea so that we could enjoy it in the pool … you should try this some time. Chest deep in water and resting on a rock, eat a juicy pear or drink hot tea. Its an orgasmic feeling.

Tea brewing

Poonam wanted to take some snaps of Ajay meditating on the rocks. When she got ready with the camera, three of us would sneak behind the rock where Ajay was sitting and at a count of three, we would jump up spoiling the shot hehe…

The Steep Climb for 3 Hours

Back at the camp site and gulping down 2 cups of nice tea & applying snuff oil mix to our hands and feet, we started on our way to conquer Ombattu Gudde. Climbing down to the stream, we crossed it and stood at the base of huge hill. By this time, we were creating our own trail through the forest. There were some existing trails on the GPS device and on the hills but we chose not to use them and picked a different hill to lead us to OG, to which’s base were we.

Do you remember the landmine hill I mentioned during the Venkateswara trek before? This hill was many times bigger and filled with boulders which would fall off when even an ant crawled on it. However, trees were very strong and their roots were even stronger. Jumping from tree to tree and holding on roots, we made it to a height of 629m nearly non-stop; except for a brief stop at a water point which was presumably the last water point for the day.

Grasslands

From the height of 629m, the peak of OG was visible. OG was towering at 300+m more than the place we were in. A quick stop at this place and few snaps later we moved on. At a point, we were heading towards a valley connecting us to the OG hill. Encountering another patch of dense forest with a little of our leech friends, we literally burst in to the open grasslands at about 680m. They were breathtaking. So huge and majestic that you could see for miles ahead and around. Clouds were dancing atop other peaks creating even more breathtaking views.

Group Photo

On the way to the grasslands, we identified a few birds. Green bee eater and kestrel were a few (courtesy Sagar). He was able to identify a lot more.

On the way to the peak

Sun was playing hide and seek between the hills and the clouds. It looked like a storm was brewing because there were black clouds on the horizon. Many of us (and photographers) decided to take in the beauty slowly and stopped running. Step by step, capturing nature in its entirity we moved ahead. At a certain point, for about 20 minutes I climbed absolutely alone. Of course people were visible below and above me. Since there were no obstructions like trees in the middle, they would hear me if I called. The climb up alone was energizing. At such a height, it was silence more than anything else. Silence and stillness seemed to have more life than us. It was overwhelming. Then I sat down among the grass and enjoyed the silence for some more time until the gang below joined me. Then we ran to the top

Group Photo at the OG Peak

We celebrated in wave after wave of photographs, jumps etc. It was exciting. WE MADE IT TO THE PEAK!!

Claudy and Ajay at the peak

By this time, clouds were moving through us and made our hair damp. This was the first time I was experiencing it. Lot of new experiences this time. Lots! From this peak of OG, we could see the jeep trail on the distant hill, to which we had to reach. It was another hour or two’s trek before we could get there. It started to get dark now.

Walkable Trail and Jeep Track

Climbing up and down peaks lower than OG we reached a patch of dense forest which we believed would lead to the jeep track. The map we were carrying said that there was a clear walkable patch which would lead to the jeep track. But we couldn’t find the patch at all. We tried hacking through. But it was just too thick and unrelenting. Finally we slowly moved around the dense vegetation to try our luck on other sides.

Fun on the jeep track

At a precise location, Guna went in the patch to try his hand. Beyond a few metres, there was a clear 1-man trail (othai adi padhai in tamil) beneth the forest cover and no doubt wasn’t visible at all. Hailing Guna, we walked on it for about 30 minutes before hitting the jeep trail. At many places, the jeep trail was fairly steep and we hit the 1000m mark on it Surprising as it was, clouds were moving through us at this height and above them stars shone brightly for a brief period. I was able to identify the Southern Cross constellation. Orion was missing. Lightning started with the clouds and mountains, showing spectacular displays of might and power.

Bridge & Dinner

We walked on this track for more than 2 hours, passing through the edge of the forest and then through some estates and then to tarred road. We all rejoiced of having made in and out of this place safely with no big physical injuries except the leech bites which are supposed to itch after couple of days. A small stream was flowing below this bridge and our bus hadn’t arrived yet. Quickly we realized how smelly all of us were and got down to get wet immediatley.

Changed into warm clothes as soon as the bus arrived and immediately got a power nap until the bus stopped for dinner. Vijay did a great job of taking up the orders and making sure they arrived on time while myself and Ravi were calculating the costs.

The End

A terrific trek had come to an end. I just couldn’t imagine that Ombattu Gudde had so much to offer. It had plenty of active wildlife and gave very good challenges to each and every trekker to this place. Have to go back to this place sometime again!

Photo Albums

What’s a trek without photographers? Have a look at the albums and kick yourself for not coming

1. Vinodh
2. Pavan
3. Guna
4. Summod
5. Neelima
6. Vinod Varghese
7. Venkatesh
8. Ramani – album 1, album 2
9. Gopalakrishnan

See you soon buddies! Hope you had a nice time reading about this experience.

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

Save Tada Campaign

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

The Gang

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

Garbage Busters in action

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

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

Piled up Ex-Garbage

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

Press

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

The Pools !

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

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

They had it !

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

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

Tractor

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

Garbage Tractor

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

The Kids of the Trek

Photo Albums

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

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

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

I had been using both browsers side by side for a few months now & came to feel that Opera Mini is a lot better for daily use and Skyfire is better for those one off toughie websites that must work with javascript and other stuff enabled.

Here’s an example: Recently, I started accessing my twitter account through Dabr from Opera Mini. The mobile UI rocks and zoom in and zoom out is instant. It happens in the client side. Opera Mini has an intelligent mix of client side and server side operations, whereas, all operations from Skyfire require an active internet connection. At best, internet access from mobiles through GPRS still remains patchy & hence, Skyfire should have that intelligent mix of operations and where possible, operations should be done at the client rather than server.

Opera desktop’s goodness of Speed Dial has arrived on Opera Mini 5. It’s awesome and saves you tons of clickety-clicks, which are irritating on a mobile. The whole menu system has been completely revamped. UI is smooth and fast (which is a downside with Skyfire)!

The best feature of Opera Mini of all is tabbed browsing. That blows away any other mobile browser on the planet. Being fast and loading heavy pages on separate tabs is a pretty awesome thing. By long pressing on a link, you can open them in new tabs inside Opera Mini. Hence, the Dabr + Opera Mini seems to beat any other twitter competition. Saved pages are really saved pages. They can be accessed even when there’s no connectivity.

Recently we had to book tickets to watch a movie at Mayajaal and Skyfire displayed the website amazingly well. Opera Mini suffered there. Similarly, Opera Mini rocks in opening popup windows (when clicked explicitly), whereas Skyfire fails. All in all, if you are going on a long journey with conservative power, Opera Mini is the way to go. Or if you want near desktop experience on your mobile for all websites, then Skyfire is the way to go.

Skyfire Gripes:

1. No tabbed browsing.
2. No landscape view of web pages and videos.
3. Phone heats up after about 15 minutes of usage. Doesn’t ever happen with Opera Mini.
4. Compared to Opera Mini, it is very heavy on battery.
5. No option to logout from your Skyfire account. You have to manually delete the “Preferences” file to logout.
6. The assumption that an active internet connection is always available.
7. Proxy server support and proxy authentication i.e. HTTP code 407. I have been asking this for so long that I’m beginning to feel that this feature won’t come at all.

Opera Mini Gripes:

1. No flash support.
2. Javascript should be supported better.
3. Zoom in to images is dismal. I hope this issue will be corrected when Opera Mini 5 comes out beta.
4. This browser also doesn’t have support for proxy servers and proxy authentication.

What are your opinions on these two browsers? What browser are you using on your mobile phone?

….

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

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

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

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

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

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

….

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

Pooja setting with our weapons

Present below are two videos of my master:

1. Using the Silambam
2. Vett Aruval fight with a senior student

Silambam

Silambam is an integral part of Kalari. Using just a stick and rapid movements, a defender would be able to ward himself off various attack vectors and give them back a taste of their own medicine. My master performs a basic lesson that is taught to beginners in Silambam.

The first 14 seconds of the video showcases the “Guru Vanakkam” or paying respects to the teacher before starting off. Watch closely. You will be able to hear the Whoooosh sound of the wind. That’s also the speed with which the Silambam is being rotated.

Aruval Fight

Aruval is a sharp instrument that’s used to cut tree branches, tender coconuts and in some cases, heads of humans . In this video, my master is fighting with a senior student using a sharp aruval. Usually the edges are devoid of their sharpness during practice sessions. But this one was sharp & one has to be very careful when using these weapons. The video below is a 30 second teaser. Fighting with aruvals is taught after about a year and a half of continuous practice.

Hope you enjoyed these videos Let me know how you feel in the comments!