KP 5: The end!

“It’s not the destination so much as the journey!”

We started on our way back along the route that leads to the KukkeSubramanya temple. This is a 14km descend- the first 9 kms through vast grasslands and the last 5 kms through thick forests. The “only man’s land” in between these two stretches was called Bhattramane, where we had decided to halt for lunch.

En route we stopped at a place sheltered with trees where the wind would not blow away our breakfast. We had a good fill of bread cheese milk and a custom-made special energy drink, which was prepared by mixing glucose and milk in a jar, filled with some jam!

From here we started on our long journey towards Bhattramane. We had to go around the Siddha Parvata and the SeshaParvatha in order to reach Bhattramane.

From the place where we were standing then, we could see the ochre trail snaking in the greenery of the mountain slopes till Bhattramane. The trail looked as if it went through level ground… It was only after we started that we realized that it is a steep descent. The wind pushing us from behind was making the descent more difficult. Four of us climbed the SeshaParvatha peak to get our snaps clicked… But the wind was trying to blow us over the edge. We had to sit down holding each other and also the grass around to stop ourselves from getting a cost-free and equipment-free experience of skydiving!

From here then as we descended the mountain slopes the force of the wind gradually dampened and the sun started burning our backs. The entire stretch of about 5 kms till Kallu Mantapa is dusty, dry and devoid of any shade. Kallu Mantapa is like an oasis in the vast dry desert along the route to Subramanya from Kumara Parvata. We halted to refill our water bottles at the water source here and change into sun protection gear.In the next hour we reached Bhattramane, all exhausted, dirty and sweaty.

We had not washed ourselves properly since we left Mangalore. Neither had we seen our own disheveled reflection nor had we found a decent place to answer nature’s calls!We got all of that at Bhattramane! The simple lunch of rasam, rice, idlis and butter milk felt so palatial and sumptuous! After a long tiring journey you can only be grateful to the man who built this house. The people at Bhattramanemust needto trek at least every week to get food supplies from the town! Rejuvenated, we proceeded to cover the last few kilometers through the forests to Subramanya after bidding farewell to the folks from Bangalore.(They had planned to halt there for the night.)

The trek trail ends very close to the KukkeSubramanya Temple. On successful completion of our trek, we entered a café and hogged on food as if we had not eaten for days together! We felt a sense of accomplishment. We were back after conquering the Kumara Parvata! We had looked Mother Nature in face as she unleashed her fury. We had amazing memories to share, to look back and smile upon, to cherish for a lifetime!

The aftermath of the trek was an inability to walk normally for a couple of days after the trek! As our friend, Achalesh, rightly mentioned in a mail post the trek:

“Do you see any one limping, dragging their feet, walking like a robot in FC. Ah! then that fella might be one of us, who trekked KP over the weekend. And a seriously funny thing to do now is to climb or get down a stair, do you feel that amazing feeling in your legs, if not try squatting. Awww!”

Date: 15th and 16th December, 2012.
Route: Mangalore-Madikeri-Somvarpet-Bedahalli-Kumar Parvat-Subramanya-Mangalore.
Requirements:
Warm clothes, Torch, Tents/sleeping bags, lots of food and water.

We, the Gypsies at KP

The 14km long winding trail towards Bhattramane

At Bhattramane

The trail through thick forests

to Subramanya

The Majestic peaks of Kumara Parvata

as seen from Kukke Subramanya temple.

(Photographs courtesy Charan Walke)

KP 4 :A "windy" night!

“We battled fierce winds and saw the sky filled with dazzling lights of dawn!!”

I was sleeping near the door in a tent along with three other girls. The zip to close the door flap was broken and we had fixed it up with safety pins. At around midnight, I woke up due to the sounds of something beating down on the tents. For a few moments I thought it was raining. The safety pins were bent. The door flap was flogging me. There was some commotion outside. Sensing something wrong, I peeped out and a strong gust of freezing wind blew in my face.

It was then I realized that fierce winds were beating down on our tent. Another tent had blown away and its unfortunate occupants were scrambling to catch it.

My own tent was threatening to blow away any moment. I pulled the door flap, wrapped myself tight in my sleeping bag and slept half on the flap to keep it from waving wildly.

The intense chill and strong, roaring wind made sure that I did not sleep after that. All four of us inside the tent cuddled up as close as we could. But it didn’t help much. The roaring wind was only getting stronger with each passing hour. All of us were waiting desperately for the dawn… We thought that the winds would lessen their intensity with the sunrise… But dawn was five hours away.

The wind was so strong that a couple of guys coiled up in the sleeping bags outside had been displaced by 10 feet from their original sleeping place in a matter of hours…

We were out in the open at the mercy of nature. We had nowhere to go. All we could do was wait till the sun reached to protect us… The wind continued to pound on our tent… The tent was making every effort to stand its ground… The wind tore it in some places… But it was still standing, partly with the support of its occupants. I remembered the story of the “wind and the sun” I had heard in childhood… I was hopeful that the warmth of the sun would dampen the force of the wind.

The night passed with a growingly impatient wait for the dawn… As the first ray of light hit the skies, most of us were up jumping around in our sleeping bags, because it was too cold to get out of them. The wind, which was still blowing fiercely, made it difficult for us to stand. We could scarcely keep our eyes open.

Getting out of the sleeping bag seemed to be a herculean task. I was struggling to stop my teeth from chattering and forcing my frozen hands to move. I succeeded… and so did most of us…!

Our tent was still standing though the wind had bruised and torn it in many places. All four of us got out of it and pushed all our backpacks inside to support the tent in its battle against the wind. Outside our fellow trekkers were jumping around in their sleeping bags like cocoons. We were struggling to keep our hair, our clothes and ourselves in place…

From atop the Kumara Parvata, the sight of sunrise is as exhilarating and magical as the sunset. For us, who were fighting with the wind all night, it was a highly anticipated phenomenon. We wind which made every effort to push us down, didn’t deter us from reaching the cliff from where we could see the all powerful sun! Clouds were flying up along the cliff hitting us with droplets of water. We were at the highest peak, and we could see the SeshaParvatha and the siddha Parvata peeping out from a snowy blanket of clouds. The farther mountain peaks too peeped out from a peaceful blanket of clouds gathered around them. It was a sight to behold!

We were experiencing the beauty and fury of nature at the same time!

The sky was soon filled with dazzling golden and silver streaks as the sun rose on the horizon.

Sunset fills the sky with shimmering pastel shades; sunrise fills it with shining metallic shades! A beginning is truly beautiful and inspiring! More so, the beginning of a new day! We sat there for sometime in meditative silence.

The beautiful dawn

We basked in the glory of sunrise!

(Photograph courtesy Anindya Das)

Over the past 24 hours, we had experienced the power of the four elements of life- the earth, which had sustained us; the fire, which brought us close together with its warmth; the water, without which we would be parched by now and which we had struggled to get; and the air, which was unleashing its fury in the form of wind…!

The onset of dawn reduced the chill in the air… But it did nothing to kill the strong winds. We found a clearing surrounded by bushes on all sides where we lit up a fire to warm up and begin the preparation to leave the summit… As we got accustomed to the never dying winds, we gathered our belongings and started on our way back struggling to maintain our balance against the wind…

The wind was still howling when we left.

The dawn at Kumara Parvata

(Photograph courtesy Charan Walke)

Sunrise at Kumara Parvata

(Photograph courtesy Charan Walke)

KP 3: The evening!

“The sky turned pink, peach, copper and indigo as the sun left and twilight fell…!”

Watching the sunset from atop the Pushpagiri peak is spectacular, spell binding, magical and awe inspiring… I’m falling short of adjectives to describe it!

I had seen the sun disappear in the sea…

I had seen the sun disappear behind hills and mountains…

Here I saw the sun just disappear in what appeared to be a haze of clouds… But it was not at all cloudy that evening! I think I saw the farthest point of the earth visible to me from where I was standing…!

We were done with setting up our tents and filling water. We had reached the edge of the mountain just in time to watch the sun journeying westwards and into the horizon. We sat there at the cliff bathing in the glory of the moment. The valley looked threatening and deep enough to swallow anyone who would dare to go close to it.

The SeshaParvatha and the Siddha Parvatha appeared calm and majestic at a distance, against the sky filled with myriad hues. We spoke to the mountains and the mountains replied back to us… in our own voice, saying exactly what we had told them…!

The deep valleys and the beautiful view from the edge of the cliff were inspiring enough for anyone to dedicate poetry to the beauty of nature.

The sun was soon nowhere to be seen…

The sky was turning dimmer with each passing moment…

The moon peeped out above us in a perfect crescent…

The sky was soon covered in a navy blue blanket with shiny stars pinned to it…!

A nip in the air came along with the darkness and soon we were swaddled in whatever clothes we had (we did not have many!).It was time to light up the campfire. Firewood was piled up on top of one another; all the waste – dried leaves, papers, etc. went into it. Some big rocks to protect the fire from the winds surrounded the fireplace. A match strike, and the firewood crackled bringing comforting warmth to life.

We sat around the fire, chatting, each one updating everyone else with the recent happenings in his/her life!

We sat there staring at the clear night sky trying to identify the intricate patterns that were formed by the trillions of twinkling stars. I never knew that there were so many of them stuck up there!

We also sat there crying for some time because we had put tissues laden with Dettol(which were used to wipe hands that had got blackened by collecting firewood)in the fire, which made the fire smoke incessantly!

We had an early dinner around the fire…

All along blowing into the fire to keep it alive.

We hit the sacks early, a few of us in tents and few others outside in sleeping bags. Most of us had not slept properly since Friday night when we had departed from Mangalore. Saturday’s strenuous trek and the struggle for fire and water had also tired us out. We had two tents… one was occupied by all the girls… four of us including me, the other by two guys. The rest of the guys slept outside with a sleeping bag. The night was pitch dark. The sky was crystal clear - so clear that we could see stars shooting across the sky every few minutes.

That night I felt like I was in some kind of a fairy tale…curled up in my sleeping bag in the earth’s lap and the endless, beautiful, serene and mysterious night sky to give me company! The only sound around was that of insects, rustling leaves and crackling fire, which would soon die away. Everything around was so peaceful! It seemed as if nothing could have disturbed my deep sleep that night. But this was the calm before the storm…

Just before sunset from KP

When the sun ended his journey on our side of 

the planet

The shooting stars in the night sky

Campfire

Campfire

Cocoons in sleeping bag

(Photographs courtesy Charan Walke)

KP 2: At the Summit!

“We had to survive in the wild!”

 That was the first thought which came to my mind was when we finally managed to reach the Kumara Parvata after a tough climb.We were completely drained out. The Pushpagiri peak is completely barren save a few stretches with bushes. On the peak is a primitively built stone temple dedicated to Lord Shiva.

We scouted for a clearing sheltered by bushes to camp, to put up our tents, rest our aching limbs and wait for our fellow trekkers. They arrived one by one tired, relieved and exhilarated at the same time on having finally reached the summit.

By then all of us were so hungry that we could have eaten the raw vegetation around us… Thankfully, we had carried enough food with us.  We gorged on chapatis with chatnipudi, ghee, ketchup and HaldiramNamkeens!! It was one of the tastiest meals I ever had! After this simple but filling lunch, a few guys went around to search for and gather firewood for the night.

Gathering firewood is also an art… Not all wood is fit for burning. Some logs have too high moisture content to be fit for burning and some others burn out in no time. Thankfully, we had enough experienced people to tell us the what and how of this life in the wilderness!

After the firewood, it was time to refill our empty waterbottles. At the start of the ascend, each one of us had at least 2 liters of water… However, then, at the summit after lunch we had exactly 3 one litre bottles left for an army of 19 trekkers! An hour was still left for the sun to end its journey on our side of the planet. The source of potable water was a kilometre away from where we were camping. On went 7 of us armed with as many water bottles as we can carry. We had carried around 10-12 one litre bottles and 3 two litre bottles.

After a short trek we reached a rocky barren slope where water was trickling in a few centimeter wide streams. Judging by the speed of the water flow, we could have easily taken 5 days to fill 15 litres of water! A couple of trekkers were actually filling water from the same stream! We were perplexed. Water was a necessity. We needed it for the entire night and for the next day too. It was then that we came to know that the water formed a small pond a couple of feet across, at the foot of the slope on top of which we were then standing…

Thus began the real struggle to acquire the “elixir of life”. One of us went sliding down the steep rocky slope. We all threw our water bottles to him… And then we enjoyed a natural slide to the base of the slope! That time we were not thinking of coming back up… All we wanted was water…and getting it was no mean feat! We descended for another 5 minutes and finally came across a pond, which held potable water. It was then that I experienced the amazing feeling of spotting water amidst the forests and barren land, to quench our parched throats and soak our dirty aching limbs into the cool liquid!

We had slid down a rocky and very steep incline to fill water… Now we had to go back again! Coming down was a cakewalk. We did not have any water and it was a descent after all! But we had to go up again…!

So there we were 7 people lying flat over the slope in a chain that reached from the base of the slope to the top, as we passed the water bottles upwards! Talking of Teamwork! We actually enjoyed the game of passing water bottles over to each other along the difficult incline… The effort truly opened our eyes to the value of water… For a few seconds, I thought of those unfortunate souls in the world that had to travel miles to bring home a pot of water and shuddered!

Now we had enough water, food, firewood and shelter and we were prepared to get a taste of a night at the top of a mountain, under the open sky!

…To be continued.

At the top of the mountain

From the top of KP

Setting up the tent

(Photographs courtesy Anindya Das)

KP 1: To Kumara Parvath...!

“On the top of the world…!!”

That is how I felt when I was standing atop the Kumara Parvata. Said to be one of the toughest treks in Karnataka, Kumara Parvata seemed like an imposing challenge that we were eager to conquer. All we had to do to earn victory was to scale the mountain along a tough terrain of nearly 14 km.

For the ignorant folks, Kumara Parvata stands at 1712mts from the sea level. This mountain is a group of three peaks – the Kumara Parvata (also called Pushpagiri), the Siddha Parvata and theSeshaparvata. There are two ways to reach the summit: One via Somvarpet near Madikeri and the other via KukkeSubramanya.

We started from Mangalore towards Madikeri at midnight looking forward to a couple of days filled with adventure.We were 14 of us. Each one of us was excited and only too pleased to leave the urbanites behind. Considering the hot and humid climate of Mangalore, only a few of us had anticipated the acute chill that would greet us once we reach Madikeri… At 4 a.m. we were at Madikeri coming to terms with a season called winter. The worst part being most of us were ill equipped to handle it. We had to travel light and we never thought that we would require many warm clothes. We soon got to know that we were mistaken!

Another hour of bus journey took us to Somvarpet where we met our folks from Bangalore. After a quick breakfast and another hour of journey, we were in a village called Bedahalli. A 4-k.m walk took us to the ShanthiMalleshwara temple at the base of the Pushpagiri hill ranges. Another one kilometer walk to the forest checkpoint and we were ready to start our 7 k.m strenuous trek to the summit. It was 11a.m on a sunny winter day. The direction board read: “Pushpagiri peak: 6.75 kms” Kumara Parvata was awaiting our arrival…!

The trek trail to the summit from the Somvarpet side goes through thick forests. What surprised me was the presence of dustbins at regular intervals along the trek route-A very good initiative to ensure that the mountain slopes stay clean. As we climbed higher and higher, the mountains offered breathtaking views of the surroundings!

The next four hours, we were climbing up the mountain along a trail that was getting steeper with each step. The climb was tough. We were moving ahead slowly but surely pushed with encouraging words to each other, some packets of glucose, lots of water and juicy oranges!

At some places the earth stared into our face at a 70-degree incline… We went ahead, resilient, not to be perturbed by the difficult terrain. As we approached the summit, these steep inclines only became longer and more difficult. The slopes were barren…It was mid-noon now and the sun was blazing down fiercely. There was nowhere to take shelter. We had to drag ourselves to complete the last few kilometers… The direction board read: “Pushpagiri peak: 1.25 kms”.The summit seemed so near yet so far!

…to be continued

An incline staring at us.

The steep slope on the way to KP.

The Shanti Malleswaram temple 

Forest Checkpoint

Start of the trek to KP from Bedahalli

(Photographs courtesy Anindya Das)

Kosalli Falls and Ottinene beach...

An estuary is a partly enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it and with a free connection to the open sea. The inflow of both seawater and freshwater in an estuary provide high levels of nutrients in both the water column and sediment, making estuaries among the most productive natural habitats in the world.

--Courtesy Wikipedia

We were travelling along the Marvanthe beach, which is considered to be a geological wonder. This is where the river Sauparnika flows alongside the Arabian sea for nearly 10 kms. The road on which we were travelling divided the two of them…

All of it resembled those confusing and highly complicated plots that are often enacted in a dreamland!

He was trying to reach her desperately… A wall, few feet wide, separated them. The wall was not very tall. He tried to climb over it…but, somehow, he couldn’t. At times when he managed to get over it, he would fall back.

He vented his frustration and anger on the wall. He tried to break it. It never broke. He never gave up.

He was always talking to her, to assure her that he is there. The only sound he could make was a roar- sometimes gargantuan and sometimes suppressed by the tiredness of his efforts.

 She could hear his heart wrenching sound… May be that’s why she was also moving along the wall…as close to him as possible. She wimped. She spoke in her quiet yet strong voice. She was making tireless efforts to find a way to reach him. She coerced the wall to make way; she struck it with all her might… But the wall wouldn’t budge.

They never lost hope…he continued to fight against the wall… she moved on with it… making silent efforts whenever opportunity knocked… the wall seemed to be never ending.

Sweet are the fruits of labour and patience. The wall ended very soon…

It had crumbled into sand to make way for them to meet each other… They have been together ever since!

…I was shaken out of my reverie as our vehicle flew over a speed breaker…

We were on our way back to Mangalore aftera fun trek to Kosalli falls and a rendezvous with the enchanting Ottinene beach… Also called the Byndoor beach, this is where an estuary-like area is formed where the river Sauparnika meets the Arabian sea.

Ottinene beach situated near Kundapur, is one of the best beaches around Mangalore I have ever been to - serene, unspoilt and magical.

We reached the Ottinene sunset point (We were not lucky enough to see the sunset due to the clouds) from where you can catch a beautiful sight of the river making a U-turn to meet the Arabian Sea. Then we climbed down to get to the beach.

Ottinene is one of those few places that will make you want to come back to it again and again. I had never before seen a river meet a sea, much less, get into that very water which neither belongs to the sea nor the river. Rain fell in a perfect parallelogram at the horizon as the clouds ate themselves up. The sight was awe-inspiring. Estuaries are known to be home to a variety of aquatic flora and fauna. Here the fishermen were fishing using a thin cord at whose end, bait, in form of a worm had been tied. and a cool breeze, which belonged neither to the river, nor the sea blew along.

Towards Kosalli falls

Kosalli Falls(We could go only till the 3rd tier 

due to the strong water currents)

From the 3rd tier pf the falls

Ottinene beach

To Ottinene beach

The rainfall on the horizon

(Photographs courtesy Charan S. Walke)

Evenings and the end at Belgaum!

Phew!! I am tired of documenting all the memories of our “legendary” trek! My loyal readers may have noticed that I have always wrapped up the previous Belgaum trek blogs with the second meal of the day! Now the time has come when I shall reveal what happened after the second meal of the day! The time has also come to tell you what happened on the last day of this trip…!

Well, on the last day, we had some more adventure through water sports!! We did river crossing… we crossed “through” an aggressively flowing and deep river and on the rope through the air. I am sure you might be wondering, who were the brave ones to cross the turbulent river first and tie the rope on the other side. Well they were our experienced guides and organizers who knew swimming and battling the currents. We transported ourselves on the other side safely anchored to a rope… and came back through the water again holding safely to a rope. For more information on how river crossing is done please Google.

The main aim of this write-up is to tell my readers, who were not lucky enough to be with us, our activities during evenings after the second meal of the day! We had a campfire on both days. The first evening was spent mainly playing card games like uno. Seventeen people sitting around a table and playing uno! Well, it always seemed like an eternity before your turn came! Then there was the dinner and then sound sleep…!

The second evening, each one one of us was dead tired. Sitting around the campfire, we played “Mafia” (for those who don’t know this game…kindly google!) while having lots of hot pakodas!

This was followed by games which, almost grown-ups, like us would never even dream of playing…The tiredness seemed to vanish in the laughter that followed these games!

We were divided into teams of two.

The first game was “monkey and the bone” where the bone was a 15cm long log which the player had to pass on the bone to his team mate after completing an entire round around the circular courtyard with the bone between his/her knees, so that the team mate manages to take it between his knees. The two people are not allowed to touch each other at any time… I think u can very well imagine 2 people trying to exchange a finger long log between themusing their knees…now that was the fun part!!The first team to have all its members jump around the courtyard following all the rules,wins!

The next game was to balancea foot long stick – all team member had to use only their index fingers to do this… the catch was that we were not allowed to tilt the stick in any way…

And the last game was called “fruit salad”. In this game all the players take up one of four fruits decided between them. All players sit on chairs in a big circle… all except one.. Who doesn’t know which player is what fruit… A moderator not a part of the players calls out a fruit and players who are those fruits have to exchange their seats… In this interval the seeker has to get himself seated on one of the chairs… the person who doesn’t get a chair becomes the next seeker..!

Sounds Childish yeah…We had a lot of fun!

Last day evening, after the second meal of the day, we started again towards our return journey to Belgaum and therefrom to Mangalore. That evening, of the 20^th of August, was another eventful evening.

It so happened that we had to book tickets in two different buses by the same travels due to unavailability…thus four of us had to leave at 7p.m. and the rest at 8.30p.m.

We reached Belgaum before 5p.m. Smitha had made arrangements for us to wait in a hotel during the interval. As agreed four of us went ahead by the 7p.m. bus…

Half an hour later, Nitin receives a call from Ram-one of those four who went ahead saying that “they are having trouble”…and the call disconnects.

We called them up again and were told that there are some issues with the bus. That’s all. At 8:30p.m. we board the bus for our return journey.

Since our pick up point was supposed to be the first stop for our bus, we got in and started putting our luggage on the upper berth. The lower berth beneath us was already occupied and the curtains were drawn.

Suddenly the curtains open and out come the four Gypsies who had left earlier  screaming and scaring us… I nearly jumped and screamed myself..!! A sweet surprise…and shock and questions followed !! We soon realized that we had booked tickets on the same bus which started at 7p.m. (first pick up point), took a tour of Belgaum, and landed at our pickup point at 8:30p.m. !! What a fiasco!

Well, all’s well that ends well… We were pleased to be travelling together… Soon, 12 people were playing uno in the bus… 7 grownups crammed up in a 2-seater lower sleeper berth, 3 squatting in the passageway and 2 more hanging upside down from the top!

The end!!

River Crossing at Belgaum

Of three states, volcanoes and guerilla...

Ages ago, the earth was a violent ball that kept spewing fire and lava at its will. Research shows that it was due to a series of many such volcanic activities in India that the Deccan Plateau was formed centuries ago even before the great Himalayas came into being. With time, the lava solidified into igneous rocks and stayed back permanently like a burn mark on the body of the earth…What looks like any other part of the earth’s landscape to the untrained eye is an evidence of what the Earth has subjected itself to, to create a geographically diverse India…!

On the morning of the 19^th of august, we started our 10 km long trek to the visit the underground volcanic caves near the Sada village on the outskirts of Goa near the Karnataka border. The rain, which was our constant companion from the day we departed from Mangalore, had intensified that day. After walking on a kutcha road along the border of Maharashtra for a couple of kilometers, we turned left got into the grasses. The vegetation started getting thicker and thicker. Before we realized, we were into dense forests. A steep ascend began on an obscure path. Actually, there was never a path, we had to make our own…It seemed as if no one had come that way for ages! This was the time when Geetika got hit hard by a thorny shrub on her face. She had to walk with swollen lips for the next couple of hours!Ouch!!

What we encountered a few minutes later caught us unawares. On that slippery way covered with dried leaves wet by the ever-pouring rain and enveloped all around with dense vegetation, we stepped on something mossy and stony. And then again the next step was something similar… It was only a few minutes later that we realized that we were climbing up stony stairs!!

Let me tell you more about these mysterious stairs in the middle of the forest on the slopes of a mountain…

Flashback: “After walking on a kutcha road along the border of Maharashtra for a couple of kilometers, we turned left got into the grasses.”

When we turned left, we had taken the way to a fort – the Sada Fort – a strategic fort on the point where Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra meet in the Chorla Ghat. Shivaji, once upon a time, ruled the Sada fort. The slope of the mountain itself forms the fort. The stairs lead to a tabletop on the fort, which may have been home to the Maratha warriors. The tabletop is vast grassland formed of a certain type ofigneous rocks. The view of the outskirts of all the three states from the top of the fort was breath taking. It was only then that we realized how high we had climbed. I was suddenly filled with respect for Shivaji…! How could someone hide, what may have been a city in those days, so cleverly!! How could any one find such a place and think it to be suitable to build a home there hardly bringing about any modifications in the surroundings! Brilliant!

Due to the incessant rains, the tabletop had been transformed into a mash up of muddy puddles, grass and rocks. We half walked and half jumped through these puddles for the next hour. Very soon we encountered an opening in the ground that went a couple of feet across. Creepers dropped in from the ground above. Droplets of water hung along the edge of the ground and dropped into the world beneath the ground continuously – a cave – we were standing on top of a cave – in fact, a group of underground caves formed by volcanic activity!

It was a drop of about 15 feet into the cave. We could have easily jumped in guided by the strong roots of the trees that could be seen lining the edge of the opening… :P But we decided against this daredevilry for obvious reasons!!

As we explored the surroundings of the opening, we found that a large part of the ground around the huge opening was perforated with many small ones. We also found a freshly shed cobra skin (the cobra may have been nearly 10 feet long judging from the length of the skin shed!).

Through one of these opening, we descended into the cave, cautiously one after the other following the age-old rule of “ladies first”. ;)An underground path through dense vegetation unfolded itself before us . The problem with this dense vegetation was that they were those plants whose touch can make you want “Itchguard” urgently. Moreover the highly slippery descend made it impossible not to touch them… We, the Gypsies, are used to such things though, none of us needed “Itchguard”.

More surprises followed. There is a Shiv Ling in the interiors of this cave and a small temple. According to our guide, the priest comes there once a fortnight to perform puja taking a less treacherous path through the village! Shivaji always built a Shiva temple in the vicinity of his forts…! This was for Sada fort!

To add to this, wild bears that inhabit the slopes of the mountains regularly visit the cave. (We almost missed seeing one that day!)

Descending down again after exploring the caves, we took another kutcha road to the Sada village. The Sada village is one of the many examples of regional conflicts. The people here don’t get land to farm because they are domiciles of Karnataka residing under the jurisdiction of Goa! Talking of Independence!

We passed the village and had to go via a very steep and slippery descend through thick forests for another hour to reach the Sada waterfall. It was on this way that my sandals, unable to survive the rough terrain, broke down and I had to walk the entire leechy, muddy and slippery stretch with bare feet… I managed to fix it only after reaching the waterfall so that the way back was much comfortable!

The Sada waterfall reminded me so much of the Shimbola albeit, a somewhat toned down version. We had seen another hidden wonder of nature!

The way back seemed longer. We were walking all throughout the day on rough terrain and it was nearly three in the afternoon by then. We were all tired and refreshed at the same time! All along this way we encountered milestones, which announced the border of Maharashtra and Karnataka. And all along the way huge iron gates were built, apparently to keep out wild elephants from the small village of Sada. On our way back we went to a point in Goa to see the spectacular and mighty Sural Falls. The Sural falls are 350 feet in height and a trek there is impossible in monsoons. I do not remember the name of the point in Goa where we went to watch the Sural Falls. But it is from here, they say, that a human face like form is visible in the rocks of the valleys from where the Sural falls drop down. We were not lucky enough to witness this due to the misty atmosphere.

It was 4 p.m when we started back to Delta where we were waiting for the three days, We had our second meal of the day slightly earlier at 5p.m that day…

…to be continued

P.S:

We saw the effects of cheap liquor in Goa when we went to the point to watch the Sural Falls. The entire area in inhabited ONLY by drunkards. WE were exceptions there…(They say that it was not like this a year ago… Ill-effects of promoting tourism in Goa maybe!) One of the drunkards, with an intention to drive us away from the viewpoint, started showing off his English oratory skills by speaking about “The Great Karnataka” which was visible from there. You can imagine the comedy!

Felt funny and sad at the same time!

The underground caves

(Photographs courtesy Arun Mysore)

Shimbola and the Niagara of Belgaum

18^th August 2012:

Imagine flying at a height of about 1000ft above the earth’s surface. Suddenly you see this huge well amidst thick forest. About 400mts in diameter, this well seems to be filled with turbulent waters whose source is unknown. Curious to explore this unfathomed well-like structure, you swoop down right into it, only to be caught in chaos of wind and water where the most challenging task is to keep your eyes open!Through the deafening roar of water, you struggle to keep yourself in the air. And then it starts raining heavily. For a split second, the force of the wind pulls you down and the next second it blows you up! You are suddenly filled with a fear for your life…! Very soon you are completely tired and you let the wind have its way… you land hard on some rocks at the bottom of the well-like structure!

Once there when you do manage to open your eyes, all you can see is water plunging down forcefully and rapidly from a height of nearly 200ft. You are filled with awe as you see droplets of water clinging to the rocks and flying upwards-defying gravity.

As your eyes and ears get accustomed to the forces in the well, you are close enough to touch a rainbow at just a foot distance from you... After this, you can only be pleased with yourself for daring to take the risk to get into this treacherous place!

You are at the bottom of a rocky valley… in thick forestswhere the turbulent water keeps on gushing, warning everyone to stay away from it…!

Welcome to one of nature’s hidden wonders - Shimbola!!

We were not lucky enough to be flying, thus we had to walk through dense forests and navigate some really slippery and steep ascends and descends to reach the Shimbola falls. There was a time when we were standing on the edge of a hill and the guide stopped suddenly. We could not see any way to go ahead. He then pointed out at the very steep slope and said, “We have to go down this way!” Well, where there is a will, there is a way.

And so we went, admiring the beauty of the hills. The varieties of Ivy that grew on the trees was a sight to behold. Raindrops glistened as they rolled down from the leaves. An occasional mist was swirling around the trees. Our guide was making way for us cutting the dense vegetation just enough to let us through. We were in some magical land on earth!

The real magic unfolded as we approached a clearing, which revealed a steep valley going down for quite a distance. At one end of this valley, water was plummeting down like huge buckets of water being emptied every second.

We cautiously climbed down the valley and stood as close as we dared to the aggressive waters of Shimbola barely able to keep our eyes open in front of their grandeur. Getting into the waterfall was out of question!

Someday if you are brave enough to visit this mysterious waterfall (I do not think that it has seen many human beings) do remember to stand with you back towards the falls and open your eyes to the sight in front of you… For once, you can stand and gape at real beauty and live every moment of it!! You will feel as being a part of some National Geographic sequence featuring rain forests made to look enthralling with exquisite camera angles!

It was half past two in the afternoon when we started back from the Shimbola to our next destination – the Niagara of Belgaum. Though we were travelling the whole night of 17^th and then trekking the whole day on the 18^th with only breakfast in our tummies, we were neither hungry nor tired! That is the soothing effect nature can have on you.

After walking for the next hour on surprisingly level and grassy path with a few shallow streams to cross in between, we reached the Niagara of Belgaum. After the mystical effect the Shimbola had on us, Niagara of Belgaum was relatively subdued. The only justification for the name given to these falls could have been its almost horseshoe shape and that it falls in a tiered manner, thus looking like a micro-mini Niagara! And the water being relatively safe, we could enjoy ourselves in the falls!

As evening approached, a thick fog started enveloping the dense forests. The way back was quite eventless till someone spotted a green wine snake perched on a plant. Two brave gypsies, Vikram and Arun strode to the front, Arun caught the snake with the expertise of a snake catcher and Vikram let the snake glide playfully on his arms…For those who are getting goose bumps reading this, let me tell you that wine snakes are generally harmless.

As we moved further through the thick swirling mist, someone came across a world shrouded in mystery…in the depths of a pond. The pond looked like another mass of water from a distance. On closer examination, we found that it contained algae- blue, green and orange going deep inside. The surface of the water was still… like that still water that runs deep! And we do not know what secrets it holds in its depths!

For those who know Harry potter and the Deathly Hallows… It looked like the corpse filled lake Harry crosses with Dumbledore to retrieve Slytherin’s locket!

We had lunch at 6p.m. that day.(I call it lunch because it was only the second meal of the day!)

...to be continued

The Shimbola Falls

                                                                                              

Post Independence 2012

Albert Einstein’s compliment for India: “We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made!”

I, being one of those teeming average-at-mathematics Indians, use this Indian invention for one main purpose – counting the number of days before the next holiday arrives… Counting holidays was done throughout school, college and now at work! I’m writing all this because I couldnot describe the pleasure of getting a satisfactory count of 4 holidays nearing after the 14^th of august this year.

I’m proud of the Indian who taught us to count!

Now, what matters is not the holidays, but how we spent those holidays. Most of my batchmates and roommates decided that they should take the way home to Mumbai and Bangalore…

But few like me decided to take the path less trodden… Those few were the Gypsies!

And those less trodden paths were in the parts of Western Ghats on the point where Karnataka meets Maharashtra and both of them together decide to surround the tiny Goa! Living on the edge (read border) is an excitement in itself…!

That Friday , the 17^th of august, was one of the most restless Friday I have ever come across. I was counting every hour from the time I boarded the bus to work in the morning till the time the clock struck 5:00p.m which is when I ran to the bus bay to take the first bus going out of the Infy campus that evening. A few hours and a flurry of activities later, I was in the bus, which would take us to Belgaum in the next 8-9 hours. Overnight bus rides with friends and cards are always fun…(Sona faced the wrath of most “+” cards while playing uno and I was proved to be the most honest person in bluff master:P

Sahana was laughing as usual.)

Belgaum arrived early morning the next day and we stopped at Hotel Ramdev to freshen up and have breakfast. From there we were escorted by Hrishikesh of Infinity adventures (who was to be our tour guide/organizer for the next 2 days)

On the way we passed by VTU (Visvesvaraya Technical University ) which is the alma-mater for most of the engineering students of Karnataka and many of the Gypsies, having been a part of this university, paid their “due respects” and got themselves photographed in front of this historical institution.

After approximately two hours of journey in a mini bus, we reached Delta Jungle resort which was going to be our home for the next 2 days. Just beyond the habitable point of this resort, stood a 2 feet tall cubical milestone which had Karnataka engraved on one side and Goa on the other. It thus announced the borders of both the states. There, near the milestone, a picturesque, aggressively flowing stream made its way from Goa to Karnataka cutting through thick vegetation. In that vast expanse of greenery, there was no indication of borders except for the blackened, mossy milestone…!

Delta Resort, unlike the fancy name, is a cluster of a few cottages and a central courtyard. The entire resort can be mistaken for a small village in a thick forest. The cottages can be described as “one room-bathroom”(analogous to one room-kitchen ) with sufficient beddings, enough to fulfill basic needs of “gypsies” like us. This secluded place in the Western Ghats has the luxury of electricity only in the evenings after sundown. Mobile networks have to be “caught” like butterflies in flight even as these butterflies are visible only in a small 2x2 square feet area in the central courtyard!

Moreover, leeches found a way to get into the cottages even through closed doors! For the two and a half days when we stayed there, we were totally in the wild without any luxuries of urban life.

The continuous pouring rain ensured that we never dried up!

The food we were served here was, however, the best we could ask for in the middle of a forest.

I was feeling really glad about celebrating the Independence week in this wild nature, defying borders (so what if they were just regional borders!) away from the luxuries of my daily life!

We checked into our “one room-bathroom” cottages on that rainy Saturday afternoon, dumped our luggage, changed into our trekking gear and proceeded towards our first destination – the Shimbola Falls…

To be continued…

The milestone behind Delta Resort

Devaragundi Falls

"Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops.

Let the rain sing you a lullaby…."

The rain did kiss me lovingly this Saturday when I got an opportunity to go the magnificent Devaragundi Falls…with the Gypsies! 

It all started as a rain trip very early morning on a rainy Saturday… A Tempo Traveller full of Gypsies including me, embarking on a long journey to witness this splendor of nature… A TT ride with the Gypsies always includes initial ice-breakers to help those new to Gypsies and also the sacred Gypsies anthem…

For records, the Gypsies anthem is an ode to the nature and inspires the Gypsies to be full of life like nature itself…

A TT ride with the Gypsies also includes stopping at some place for breakfast… This time we stopped at a place called K.T - A typical rural house with thatched roofs, bare brick walls and minimal lighting. As I entered the “eatery”, the breakfast table setting and people sitting in a linear fashion besides each other eating idli-sambar reminded me of the prasadam served at temples… In the next room however, the arrangements were like a regular eatery..and that is where we settled to have the first meal of the day…

This eatery serves its own special tea called K.T tea… looks awesome with a white layer of milk below a brown tea layer with froth on top…for just Rs.10….and tastes amazing…!

After about 3 hours of road journey we finally reached the Mallikarjuna Temple at the foothills of Western Ghats… which was to be the start of our journey on foot to the Devaraundi falls. The ancient Mallikarjuna temple is famed for the big fishes that are found in the waters surrounding the temple… Visitors here feed the fish with puffed rice (We did it too)…and fishing here is forbidden…

It’s a sight to behold when, as the puffed rice flakes touch the water, a school of big fishes rises suddenly from under the water and struggle to catch every bit that they can lay the mouth upon...After playing with these aquatic wonders for sometime…we proceeded on our journey to the Devaragundi falls…

The way to Devaragundi involved a 3 km climb uphill through thick forests dotted with a small house or two and endless stretches of arecanut farms. We had to cross two streams, brave leech attacks and follow the rocks along the waterfall for some way to reach the main falls….And then the fun that followed was mind blowing…

It so happened that the water was flowing very aggressively, the water around it was deep, the rocks around slippery, it was raining and we were forbidden from entering the water lest some accident happens… However, Mamu - a daring Gypsy - set out to check the water depth with a stick nearly 6 feet long at various places and for some time in the beginning he was thoroughly disappointed in the beginning as the stick was disappearing in the water with no sign of it touching hard ground… And then admist shouts of “don’t get in the water” , he found a way to get behind the waterfall… what followed was the entire gypsy regiment slowly and surely crawling behind the falls and posing for pics…

Meanwhile, the Gypsy head, Nitin, found a way to cross the stream and get to the other side of the waterfall… Now the Gypsy regiment, found an adventurous roundabout way across the stream and getting back to the original halting place from behind the falls… enjoying every bit of this amazing waterfall…! And then some of us just standing in front of the falls where the water allowed us to stand without a threat and enjoying the water mist rising from the falls….That was enough to get drenched to the core… What a feeling to just stand there and feel the “kiss” of the rain and the loud but sweet lullaby of the waterfalls. And ask me how difficult it was to leave that place… though all of us were shivering after frolicking in the water for nearly an hour!

KT tea

Feeding the fish at Malikarjun temple

Crossing streams to reach Devaragundi Falls

The Devaragundi falls

This amazing trip to Devaragundi waterfalls was followed by lunch during which Ram got attacked by an obese leech…! It was also followed by the fast flowing stream swallowing one of Nitin’s sandals, due to which he decided to throw the other sandal also…on Karan’s suggestion that it will be useful for whoever finds it if a pair is present.

The entire trip was dotted with Sahana’s laughter and Charan’s Photography due to which we have a whole lot of memories to cherish.

The day ended with a tasty dinner at Bitto-da-dhaba, loads of lassi.