The Trek to hell...Part II

Well, we are still on Day Zero..but the best part of the journey is yet to begin...we see a board that says "Drinking water" on an inconspicuous yellow board half covered by the long fingered leaves. It points towards an extremely steep path, so deep that we cannot see the end where it might lead us. We split, with the guys who are really tired taking a break near the board guarding our now dropped burdensome bags and the others carry those empty plastic bottles in the hope of finding "spring" water! So we start walking down those messy rocks...still looking out for leeches, however getting thrilled with every step as we cannot see a single one...Somewhere during that 10 min sprint downwards the whole aura changed, the bright sunny day suddenly hid behind a wind that had engulfed us, cooling us down and for some time we were so mesmerized by the hope of water that we forgot that we were thirsty. We reached a huge flat rock with trickling rivulets of water -pure naturally distilled water and yelped out gleeful laughter..this was so exciting, we cupped our hands to fill in the water taking small but amazingly refreshing gulps. The to and fro of our hand from the dribbling water and our mouths was unstoppable, and the countless minuscule swigs couldn't quench the thirst that had swollen up in our minds. We tried to fill in water into our bottles, but somehow mankind had not designed plastic soft-drink bottles to incarcerate that water seeping from the mysterious source. We twisted them and forced the mouth between the rocks, but somehow we just couldn't manage more than a few drops into the bottle. While we were struggling, not knowing how to capture that life giving fluid, a few others dared to go further at the end of that almost vertical rock. In a few split seconds we could gear a commotion of relief that there was water and that too not surreptitiously sticking to the rock but actually flowing freely and into our bottles...After that there was literally no looking back; with us climbing back with a new quota of energy , a feeling of all being well and the windy aura uplifting our moods further. We reached the top back to our "Drinking water" sign and sent another set of people with more empty of the plastic urns to fill with that refreshing almost tasty spring water.

Like our fates the day had decided to change its temperament. We were engulfed in a cloud with mist and clear breeze around us. The stoves were taken out and a flat patch had to be found to settle it. Somehow it seemed that the stove decided to become wriggly and not settle anywhere. Finally we did manage to stabilize it and that's when we realised that the wind our friend was a comrade when you wanted to light a stove. For 15 minutes, all the cooks who really wanted to have their broth applied their brains and finally after an amalgamation of a few half baked ideas we set the water boiling to cook ALL THAT 'MAGGI' that we had been bearing on our fragile backs. The wait for food dependent on a windy fire was impatient and hungry. The first bite of that Slurpee soupy set of noodles slipping through the plastic forks was divine. Relishing second helpings along with relieved laughter settled amongst the conversation and the good humour the turn of events had brought us to. Those trickling streams of water had truly given us back our life, strengths & spirits.

Well, I think I forgot to mention that we were still our usual .25 kms away from our destination, but the rested food in our bellies and the sudden attachment with the patch that had given us back our hopes dallied us from end. An already set up tent tempted the other tents too out of their bags willing them to get set up. However good sense prevailed and we decided to finish the last leg of the climb. It was an easy leech free climb preceded by the chaotic re-packing of the already opened tent which resulted in a few blame games when a small part of the tent broke. We had just begun the last ascent when the cloud that had engulfed us decided to spray us with it's shower. By the time we reached the top, half of us were half wet. There was frantic searching for tents, the rods and the components that would help in setting it up. One was quickly assembled and the two girls, me and another one were advised to get in from getting soaked further. The bags were put inside and when i peeped into that tent,I actually refused saying it was just to wet and that i will not be able to sit in it. It's better to stay out, we were wet anyway and we can always change our clothes. After all, we had carried additional sets of clothes with us. How could we know then that those were the driest moments for next few hours of our trek. The horrifying Part III was yet to begin making our journey till now seem like a smooth ride...

The Trek...to Hell:)

Ages, Ages & Ages...that's how long it has been since I have felt like writing...it's just that nothing very interesting was happening and neither was the mind clamouring for anything new...trying to adjust to some new work and finding a place for myself had dried up most of my creative juices and well the writer's block was just around the corner too...

Well 6 months back i had made a few resolutions and going back to it...i realised that if I had to give myself a rating on how well 'm doing it would be quite average...however this weekend was a bonus - a feather in the cap for me..i actually did an amazing trek...in fact supposedly one of the most difficult ones in Karnataka...

Well it was definitely difficult, literally breathtaking and quite an adventure:) It had all the elements of a masala bollywood trek with the thrills of - 'm i going to come out of it alive to the action when we stepped into the "leech" territory and the solemn silence of an art film when we were coming down 5 kms through grassy hills with a view that could only be written about in books...

Getting down to basic facts, we went for a trek to Pushpagiri...or kumara parvatham...it's a trek usually not done by amateurs like me, however not knowing what was in store i started on the arduous journey for the next two days not knowing at that time what was in store

Day 0: a happy go lucky group who hardly know each other, high on life and maybe a few other things ;) started in a hi-speed tempo, on a mission of punctuality and of ensuring we reach wherever we had to as planned & scheduled...The night is cold...but we are having fun...slightly unsure of what the plan really is..with no traffic on the road we zoom ahead ..We reach madikerri at 4am to realise that it's too early to freshen up [:-)not everyone would get that] and force the not too awake driver to take us to somwarpet...we freshen up, get scrubbed and cleaned, all jettisoned to go for a trek...our bags are packed with maggi and maggi and some more maggi...of course there were some brave enough to carry a gas stove, tents and any other burdensome stuff that one can think of on their backs..

Day 1:

Part 1 - Day 1 begins: with those sacks on our backs, we are left at a place where we start the trek..its sunny and chirpy...with instructions that the first part of the trek is the easiest...so we aren't too worried. Well we should have been, since the first one hour was difficult with us huffing & puffing on a dry track, with bags that have already started feeling heavy and this was supposed to be EASY? In about 40 mins we reach the Forest Office(APC), where we have these seemingly innocent school like boards showing off the wild animals that we might encounter on the way - it said king cobras, leopards, panthers, elephants, wild dogs, TIGERS....(just think of all the carnivores that your mind can summon and they would all be there)..We didn't pay much attention, concentrating more on the two puppies playing and gearing up for the road ahead...We entered into the forest, extremely cool and shady full of trees on all sides. It was beautiful and comforting at the same time it blocked you from the outside world, ingraining the knowledge that we would be all alone once we start moving along further into the canopy of trees..Nature, the sun streaming down through the leaves, the beautiful carpet made of leaves all made us slightly dumbstruck while we were still getting used to the jungle engulfing us. We were still adjusting to our environment, when someone saw the first leech on their shoes...or maybe it was on their ankle, that first encounter is something i 'm a little hazy about, but the fact is that we panicked. We screamed for salt, tried to remember in who's stuffed bag was it packed and how in the world are we supposed to get rid of it. Well, it was just the beginning, soon we had not one, not two, but maybe 3 to 4 leeches on every one's shoes creeping into our sock trying to quickly lap into our shoes through minute spaces. And every one who was around me was panicking with salt and sticks and hands trying to get rid of them...The first sign of blood on some one's ankle scared us and with every step we took our eyes scanned for those slippery slimy leeches attacking our shoes. After a much hurried walk of battling with the leeches, we finally reached a spot with lesser leeches and decided to take a leech check break. It was inside our socks, on our ankles, in our shoes - but only for a few, the others had come out of it almost unscathed. We had won our small little battle. We had walked for a full hour and when we checked how much we had covered we just couldn't believe it. Only 0.25 kms!??!!! We only had another 6.75 to go! That was when we realised what we could have signed for. Thoughts of creeping back into the town, abandoning the trip and running away from those slimy creepers were weakening the resolve to go on. And so we continued in spite of our brains urging us to turn back. I am sure there were few who would have felt excited by the events that they had encountered and were more than ready for the adventure, but my mind was feeble and it was unfathomable how much more would i be able to endure when I was already at my tenterhooks. And i was right, the torture and the fun had just begun. We were testing our physical strengths, when the climb suddenly became steep, and felt steeper because of not only the continuous onslaught of the leeches forever escaping into our sweaty shoes but also because of the ominous bags that we were carrying. Every time we felt we had accomplished a huge barrier we were pushed down in spirits by knowing that only another 0.25kms had been done. the sweat and the gruel became a part of the trek and somewhere in between the disheartening slow covering of distance and the natural difficulties that were dragging along with us, i started to like it. it tested our vigor, our mental strength and the ability to take on the climb as we went along. It was actually wonderful now that i think of it, even though at that point both my mind and body were screaming pain. the best portions were the steep rocks because of two reasons - they were much easier to climb except for the first one and secondly they were free of leeches. Just the thought of a patch without those blood sucking monsters was as pleasant as being invited to a king;s buffet at that joint of time. Now when i try to remember the details I realise that most of this is a blur of "I cant walk anymore", "I want to throw my bag or just leave it somewhere", "I can't believe the leeches can draw out so much out of me", "when will this helluva trek end", "would we ever reach", "I want wwahhhhterr"and so on. The toughest of the lot were struggling and the 'not so accustomed to this kind of activity' had almost given us. Well in simple words it was exceptionally tough. And somewhere in between the most essential item in our carry bags got over - H2O. With that single hope trickling away, we thought we would just have to turn back and endure the whole thing all over again. But like someone said "just when you are about to give us...you see some hope". there was a board which said "drinking water" and we left our bags at a huge steep rock and climbed down to see where was this source of water we were seeking...

For part 2...wait for the next entry:)