The Journey
Soon I exchanged greetings with trek participants and noticed nagin sitting in the corner. It was a long time since I trekked with him. I was thinking, this trek would be special for sure. Soon munching the cutlets, vadas , drinking tea, we started playing cards. Time passed by, as we keep on playing Ace of Spades and Knock Knock. It was interesting and funny to see a huge gang playing cards covering the whole row of train seats.
The Initial 1200 m Ascent – Day 1
Around 10 pm, we caught our bus and distributed food items, checked GPS, and informed the bus driver. Early morning we quickly moved into the thick forest infested with blood-sucking leeches and venomous pit vipers. We did not have proper breakfast as we had to reach the 1200 m peak before noon. It was a very steep ascent, so the team kept up its pace, slowly and constantly climbing up. I was leading along with Sankar, Karthik supporting, Prem pushing and motivating everyone, and Vipin and Sridhar were sweeping. I was exchanging Agumbe stories with Nagin. After negotiating with the bushes and thorns we made our initial hike skipping the stream, penetrating into the thick woods, soon to be lost in the thick and sloppy ridges of Western ghats.
Soon Guna , Subha and Prem came and started climbing. Prem noticed a snake hiding inside a hole and advised everyone to start ascending. After climbing 1100 m, I had got affected with severe cramps due to lack of food and water. Although I was hydrated enough, I had cramps in my thigh and calf muscle . Then realized, I did not have food the whole day and the day before as well. Sankar , Jayanthan helped me out and asked me to rest for a while. It was raining heavily and the gusty breeze made it even worse! So we spread out a tarp and sat for a while until my legs got relaxed. Soon Prem came down to check my status, and helped me out with food, and did a superb leg massage. I was revitalized and started walking again towards peak. The whole team was waiting for me to start and I was back to normal. Soon we were heading into a dense jungle filled with surprises !! Once the mist moved, we got a breath-taking view of where we climbed from, and it was impenetrable Shola grassland that we hiked. I still had the effect of cramp which was soon rejuvenated by Karthik’s Poli and Electrol mix . It was then I realized how much I missed the coconut balls for breakfast. Soon we descended along with the saddle towards the opposite peak. By afternoon we were on that peak and continued along the never-ending ridges.
So I tied it to my bag and started moving . The winds were smacking to the core . Each and every one in the team were combatting against the wind .
At that moment I realised the true power of nature . Soon we started descending which was gradual and was towards the main stream . After descending 100 m , we were back to thick woods . It was around 4:30 pm and we decided to camp . Soon Sankar ji and Prem crossed the small side stream and checked for a flat space. Luckily we found out a flat space covered by thick grass . While finding the camp site , we noticed a Malabar Pit Viper and Hump Nosed Pitviper lying on a tree and on a rock respectively . That indicated their basking temperatures. We laid three tents quickly and started arranging things for cooking . I had brought 1 kg of camphor for cooking as this time we were sure that we will cook whatever happens !!
The menu for dinner was soup and Maggi. After setting up the camp site and changing dry fits , we started cooking and started thinking about the gusty winds that literally propelled everyone away from the ridge . Hot soup was on the way . Soon everyone had soup and Maggi and started to find a space to sleep . All sleeping bags and mats were wet ! All outfits were wet ! All tarps were wet ! Almost everything on Western ghats were wet … We ignored everything and started to sleep .
Sankar did not have enough space ,so quickly he laid a small tent with his tarp and started to doze. We had a nice 4 hour sleep until everyone started chatting about their trekking stories . The non-stop rains plus the bone chilling breeze ripped us apart . Even though we had three tarps to cover , water was oozing in all directions. Diwakar was having a tough time , sleeping in the corner , almost fully drenched in rain and covered with blood sucking leeches . The frequent “Oh no! My Sleeping bag is fully wet” was notable. Prem , Saravana , Sridhar ,Subha , Diwakar and myself were discussing about the monsoon winds and rains. It was around 2:15 am , again everyone tried to sleep . Though it was disturbed one.
In love with the Main stream -Day 2
Morning we woke up around 6:30 am and started making tea . Everyone had rusk and tea for breakfast and were geared up for the long day ahead.Soon we packed all tarps , bagpacks and took a group snap and started moving towards main stream . After having discussion with Sankar , Pnagin , Sundar and Prem , we decided to go to the main stream and then finalize about exiting towards Tea estate or at the start point itself . We had to descend 500 m to reach the main stream and already it was pouring. I was moving along with Sankar and fully loaded with energy as the food and energy bars totally recharged me . I was ready to do a non-stop hike J . We were descending parallel to a dry stream , and noticed a potential camp site which was flat and large . Moving towards the main stream , we kept on descending , walked on animal trails , climbed up and again descended until we reached astonishingly beautiful and breath taking view of the stream far away. Pnagin , Vipin , Sankar and myself recollected memories from 2011 trek of this place where we were removing our leeches ! The team was jumping after seeing the view as it was clear and dry sky . Everyone had their round in taking their pictures and quickly we took a group shot . The astounding sight pleased my senses and made me realise that all those adjectives that are synonymous to stunning will be aptly expressed at that moment ! No words to express as everyone were delighted and overjoyed with ecstasy . After all , what you need in life is that moment of happiness under the misty skies along with like-minded souls in the lush green grasslands with thundering rains and gusty winds moving your soul !!
We crossed that ridge and started descending . I was supporting in front with Sankar , Guna and Pnagin . After a 50 m descend and regrouping we had Pickle ,rusk and Dates for a quick food session. After finishing the dates, everyone headed towards the stream . We crossed few side streams forming human chains, as the streams were flowing with great vigour and dynamism. Soon Nagin finished his tent within minutes , and others were laying down their respective tents . I was shivering and bone-chilling breeze made it even worse . After laying down the tents ,Saravana and myself went for bring rock for cooking . Sankarji and Selva went to bring water . Prem was helping this time with cooking as always it was Sankar ji taking the responsibility . Today’s menu was Soup and Masala Oats . The Soup was damn nice !!We experimented Masala Oats for the first time and it was not great , but atleast we got to eat in this roaring weather. Anand , Magesh , Jayanthan ,Subha and Sankar were talking about their two day experience in Western ghats . As usual these stories make us more and more delighted . Everyone went back to their tents after finishing their dinner . It was yet another rough night for Diwakar ji as he took responsibility in taking the corner position and did not sleep throughout the night as it was raining heavily and water was coming into the tent. Saravana’s dry sleeping bag which he did not use it in first day was a reliever , and it made us both sleep for 6 hours . The warmth it provided made us fresh and energetic in the morning .
The terrific exit – Day 3
Around 6:30 pm , I woke up and the smell of tea in the morning was alluring . Quickly Sankar , gave me tea and I checked my GPS and packed all things . Sankar told me that we are going to exit somewhere near start point , so we need to climb the ridge ,walk across it and descend. Though it was simple to say , we had to cross several side streams gushing with force , climb the thorn filled ridges , move along thick vegetation cover and descend along slippery rocks. We kept on walking , soon the main stream was taking a left and we encountered a jeep track . So we followed the jeep track till where it lead us to as it was moving parallel to stream .
We crossed few more streams , refreshed ourselves and halted just few kilometres before check point . We decided to deviate from here as in to climb the ridge to reach near the start point . While climbing , Guna noticed the green vine snake exhibiting its white and black markings . The green vine snake is diurnal and mildly venomous. The reptile normally feeds on frogs and lizards using its binocular vision to hunt. They are slow-moving, relying on camouflaging as a vine in foliage. The snake expands its body when disturbed to show a black and white scale marking. Also, they may open their mouth in threat display and point their head in the direction of the perceived threat. I was simply awe-struck with the sheer beauty of the snake .
Soon , they started climbing up . I was taking a few snaps and noticed a viper on the next branch . Phew !!! I started climbing , soon Vipin , Sridhar and Jayanthan (Silent Heros-Sweepers) came along . After a while , Sundar surprised everyone by providing Masala Badam which was the highlight at the finishing point . It tasted damn good !! Soon we proceeded and almost near exit , again Sundar took dates packet and Karthik distributed it to everyone . The timing at which these energy boosters were given was remarkable. It started raining heavily and soon the team started descending in full swing. Around 1:00 pm we exited , with a smile and moment of joy of completing the mission clearly visible in each and every face . Hats off to Sankar , Prem for constantly pushing the team . Once we got on to the roads ,Bus came and people got onto it ……
Magesh was asking me about why the trek was titled as “LIFE IS CALLING” –
Our souls are in desperation to be united with nature but we are forced to lead an inert life in the cities. It was that moment of happiness, joy, and ecstasy that everyone unanimously exhibited after being amalgamated with nature for just 3 days !! Of course the real life out there in wild is calling us to fuse to make us realize the true happiness.
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