Shanbhag Travels

A New Beginning

2012-01-10T07:25:00.000-08:00

This post onwards, I have effectively entered an on-line group which picks up a specific topic as a photography challenge each week.
Each week I will attempt to post a photograph (hopefully) as an entry to that week's challenge. As this blog started out as travel blog, readers can expect a number of pictures to come from my travel experiences.

This week the topic is "A New Beginning". For me the most obvious statement that comes to mind... Its a new day - a new beginning.
Thus I have two photographs (from my archives) that symbolize a new day (and thus a new beginning).

This picture of dew drops on grass was taken in the village of Ratanwadi at the base of the Ratangad fort, near Bhandardara, Ahmednagar, Maharasthra.

The second entry for this weeks blog is one prized picture for my lazy self. Why ...? Its a rare (i.e. rare for me) picture of a Sunrise - a daily event which I seldom catch simply because, by the time I get up ... Sun is already shining quite brightly. However this one time, someone did bother to wake me up just in time to catch the beautiful sunrise.
This picture was taken on top of Kumar Parvat peak in Karntatka.
The previous day had been a long and grueling trek from Subramanya to the peak ... a trek which took me nearly 10 hrs (including several pit stops) and then we pitched tent on top of the peak.
When I was watching this Sunrise, most of the bones and muscles in my body were aching, I was shivering from the cold breeze atop the peak not to mention in absolutely frame of mind to make the long journey back to Subramanya....
Needless to say this Sunrise definitely inspired me to look at the rest of journey as a new day and a new beginning...

Camouflage and Romance

2011-12-18T03:26:00.000-08:00

Its was another lazy Saturday morning. As I got up and gazed out of the window in my living room I saw the usual sight. A couple of trees, the usual crows, pigeons and sparrows busy with their nesting and brunch. The tree right in front of the window is some species of Fig tree (I think). I do not know much about trees so feel free to comment if you can figure out what tree it is by looking at these snaps. Anyways I was looking at the ripe red fruits and suddenly, I felt like I saw a leaf physically moving from one branch to another. I thought that my half asleep brain was playing games but then I saw it move again. A closer look and it looked like a bird - a good old Indian Parrot. I quickly rushed to grab my Camera just in time to capture a few pictures. Take a close look (might I suggest zoom in) at the picture to right and you might see it sitting on the branching nibbling on the fruit almost oblivious to its surroundings. The camouflage was so perfect it was almost as if the bird is a part of the tree. Even more so because its red beak seemed to match the color of the fruit it was nibbling. If it weren't for its movement the parakeet could have been sitting there all day without anyone noticing.

Camouflage

The moment I noticed this I knew that it was a rare appearance. Parrot is a bird that we Indians have usually only seen in captivity as pets. They seem to have only two major purposes as pets - entertaining an audience with their mimicry skills and fortune telling. Personally I don't like either of these purposes and always wanted to see a parrot free in the nature. All through my life I have hardly seen a free parrot. As I sat down on the windowsill adjusting focus to get a good clear picture, I noticed that it was not one parrot but a couple. As soon as one of them had localed an optimum spot to nibble at the fruits it made way for its partner to cozy up beside. I am guessing that they were a couple and they sure look romantic in the picture.The couple didn't stay long and were off after finishing brunch - flying somewhere in the urban sky.
Thanks to them now I am the proud owner of this (and a few more) picture.

Romance

Guarding the Express way

2011-12-11T07:37:00.000-08:00

For centuries India's Deccan plateau has been home to prosperous civilizations.
India has been a trader's delight since long before the East India Company came here. One of the most significant routes leading to the Deccan is via the Sahayadris. While Mumbai is one of the busiest ports in India, before Mumbai there was Sopara. The the west coast of India has always been busy with travelers and traders pouring in. Then there is the Bhor ghat (pass) which tore through the Sahayadris. For centuries it has served as the entry to the great Deccan plateau.
In recent history of course this pass is more popular as the deadly Khandala ghat - the location of a somewhat risky section of the Mumbai - Pune highway.
Given that Maharashtra is home to more than 300 forts, it is no surprise that there are a couple of forts guarding even this route.

As you pass by the Malavali station en route to Pune from Mumbai be sure to look to your right. There are two massive ridges visible to the right of highway. These are the ancient twin forts of Lohagad and Visapur. The subject of this post is first one Lohagad (literally translation to English - Iron Fort). It indeed lives up to its name. Despite several invasions the ramparts of this Fort are among the best preserved ones. The route leading up to the top is quite scenic and not far from the highway. Naturally it is a weekend trekker's favorite. I have visited this place twice at different times of the year and found some great scenic clicks. Here are a select few.


The Baje Caves... Perhaps much older than the twin forts. These lie as a short detour just at the beginning of the trek from Malavali. In my first trip (when I incidentally was also the misinformed guide) I thought that the route to the fort was via these caves and found ourself wandering around for a good hour in the afternoon sun with no visible route leading to either of the twin forts. Eventually we created our own route which joined the path to Lohagad. The extra detour did exhaust us though.The caves are simple yet imposing (look at the height of the entrance to the main stupa). They may not have frescoes like the more famous Ajanta - Ellora caves. Nevertheless worth a short stop over to appreciate architecture that is more than a 1000 years old.
Visapur	Lohagad
The first major pit stop - Lohagad wadi village. This is the common base for the twin forts and provides an amazing view of both the forts.
A view of the backwaters of Pavana dam, flanked by the Tikona (left) and Tung (right) forts.	A scene so breathtaking ... you want to grow wings
Observe with a keen eye and you might notice the Nedhe (or eye of the needle in Marathi).A natural erosion hole in the mountain.
A view from inside the storage chamber for Cannonballs. (No naughty thoughts please)	Visapur fort again - as viewed from the top of the Iron Fort

Two rare pics. Suffice to say here that both sets of Ape cousins can be quite a handful.
Last but not the least - the inspiration behind the title.This path leading to a bastion is aptly named Vinchoo kata (Marathi for Scorpions tail). The bastion lies at the toe end of this tail and might have served as a perfect defensive sting. One can see far into the valley right up to Lonavala's famous Valvan dam from this bastion. In ancient times, this bastion would be the first to spot any armed incursions coming via the Bhor pass and thus be in a position to use the sting (Cannons) to a good effect. Today the Mumbai pune expressway and railway are visible from here and have of course replaced the ancient trade route. The armies manning the fort are long gone. The bastion is in ruins. The Iron Fort still stands tall overlooking the route. Thus I chose the title "Guarding the Express way"

Red Moon

2011-12-11T02:31:00.001-08:00

I have been using this blog as a place to hold my travelogues. My travelogues tend to be long and sometimes boring. My last blog Of Heaven and Temple was my first attempt to writing differently and it earned a few page hits so thank you all readers.
So recently armed with a new camera, I have begun to rediscover my interest in photography and in process am discovering the meaning of the phrase "A picture is worth a thousand words".

My second installment of photo-blog is a very simple picture. I was unaware of the lunar eclipse yesterday until post dusk while driving around the town I noticed a relatively dull moon (think the eclipse was approaching totality). I presumed it to be partially hidden by clouds. I thought it was a little strange as the sky appeared to be near cloudless .. but who knows. When I did return home I saw some kids in the neighborhood were jumping and quite excited about the celestial event.

Thankfully I made a dash to the terrace and assembled my tripod just in time to get a relatively steady picture. The moon appears so beautiful so instead of writing a thousand words ... here is the picture.. use your vocabulary to add adjectives.

Of Heaven and Temple

2011-10-31T12:56:00.000-07:00

India is a land of diverse cultures. For centuries it has been a home to followers of most of the major religions in the world. I am not a religious person but I have come to understand a little bit about religion. One common theme in most religions is the concept of God - of course. More importantly every religion seems to have a concept of heaven and hell. Heaven has always been hyped and marketed as a pricey and desirable place. Why pricey ? cause you got to do a whole bunch of good deeds and thus earn a lot of brownie points with God to get there. That of course is perhaps a difficult ask of anybody in today's corrupt world. Of course a way earn some "good" human brownie points is through regular worship. Thus was born the place of worship - generally referred in the rest of the blog as Temple (i will include churches, pagodas, mosques and any other places of worship in this generalization). Coming back to India, we are an ancient culture and very religious too (didn't I mention we have followers of most of the major religions living here). We seem to have been so, for centuries. In today's densely populated India, you will always find that there is a temple at every nook and corner. The deity or type of temple (hindu, muslim, sikh, christian) is dependent on the local popular choice. There is a wide variety of deities but you can rest assured that there is a temple everywhere. After-all Hindus alone have 33 million names for God (debatable claim - but you get the drift).Now as a kid growing up in India the whole description above is nothing surprising at all. I mean in an urban jungle, you can throw a stone in a random direction and there is a good chance that it might just land on a temple. Perhaps I am exaggerating, but I guess God is omnipresent to the extent that we seem have a whole bunch of temples in any urban area. We seem to take the temples for granted. It was only when I had to drive a friend few miles to find the nearest place of worship in an unknown foreign land (Dallas, US), did I really understand the significance of this simple fact. On a side note - don't worry Uncle Sam - lots of temples are being built there too ... Lots of Indians are making it to USA, so not long before we will have established the omnipresence of god in a tangible manner. Even though we have a lot temples, I guess it is a given that with so many religious people, they also want the convenience of worship. Thus I do understand the omnipresence aspect in inhabited areas. However as a trekker I have learned something else about the omnipresence aspect. Wherever you go in India, you might not find edible food or water, but you can rest assured that you are not far from a Temple. My trips often take me to places where mobile phones don't work, there is no sign of civilization and often the only potable water is the one from natural springs / streams (and I am not referring to bottled mineral water). Yet almost always there is a temple to greet me. Following are a few pictures of some of the more interesting Temples (can even be just an idol carved on a rock) I have come across over the years.
Hanuman shows the way to Tikona Fort. This temple is somewhere midway to the top of the Tikona fort with the nearest inhabited village about couple of hours of walk from this point. Why does this photo make the cut ? We were pretty tired by the time we made it here in the middle of monsoon. We were also assuming that we were lost - until Hanumanji came to the rescue.	Forget the Holy Cow and Cobra, Even Panthers are worshipped This temple is at the Tolarkhind en-route to Harischandragad Fort. Immediately after this temple the route enters a dense forest famous for presence of Panthers. I am not sure what the Deity is called, but I guess the person who created this carving was praying the "Panther" god for a safe passage. Suffice to say, I did offer my own share of prayers on my second trip to this place when the distant purring of the large cat threw a shiver down the the whole group.
Purana Mandir This temple atop the Vasota Fort reminded me of some of the Hindi "horror" flicks. Why ? This temple is atop a mountain range surrounded by a dense forest which is a protected Leopard Sanctuary. To enter the sanctuary you need special permission from the local Forest Authority which also checks your baggage for presence of firearms. You are not allowed to stay overnight at this temple and the nearest inhabited place is about 4 hours walk (on either side of the mountain range). Of course there is no motor-able road anywhere near. So to visit this temple is a long and laborious journey and it is supposedly easy to get lost in the jungle (take knowledgeable guide if you plan on visiting). To top the fear factor, en route to this temple, I'd already heard a few eerie noises and had encountered a number of blood thirsty leeches. All in broad day light.	Hindu - Muslim Bhai Bhai This Mosque atop Lohagad Fort stands right beside a Hindu Temple. These two places of worship must be at least a few centuries old and have stood the test of time. Several battles have been fought over control of this fort and there seems to be no other civilian structure (obviously destroyed by wars) on this fort. Yet this mosque bears testimony to the fact that the two religions have always lived together for centuries. That despite what the local rulers wanted to thrust upon their subjects as the religion of choice. I have hardly seen such a scene in the modern secular (?) and urban India. To me this mosque and the temple beside it suggest that Religion is but just a means to an end (God / Heaven) and not the end in itself. So stop the petty squabbles over which religion is superior and get on with life.
Where there is a will, there is a Temple. This particular Shivalinga (called Kedareshwar) atop Harishchandragad is at least a 1000 years old. It is carved out a single rock inside a cave. The cave itself, I believe may be a natural ground water reservoir. Even if the nearby streams are dry there is always water in this cave. There is one thing certain about this cave - No matter what time of the year you decide to visit this place, you can't touch the shivlinga without getting wet. Guess they were digging for water and eventually got tired to the point of thinking - if I find water on this freaking mountain - I'll dedicate it to Lord Shiva.	Motel - Temples. Long before the modern Motel business became popular, there were Buddhist Monasteries. Apparently ancient Buddhist monks lived in Monasteries built on Mountains. I am told that apart from serving as a home to monks, these monasteries also served as a resting point for tired travelers. This particular cave complex - called Pala Caves in Raigad, Maharashtra is a site of historic importance. Apart from the Buddhist Stupa photographed here, this site contains multiple floors of rooms with resting places. All of it carved directly into the mountain rock. There is no sign of bricks or any masonry work. This is not the only site with such caves and carvings. There a whole bunch of sites (e.g. Karla, Baje, even Kanheri in Mumbai) throughout Maharashtra.
	Where Heaven Meets Earth This site is really the site that inspired the title. It is the Parshurama temple located atop the Salher Fort on Maharasthra - Gujrat border. Salher Fort also happens to be the highest Fort within Maharashtra and the second highest peak in the state. At 5141 feet and after a good 3-4 hours of climb when you eventually reach the top this scene greets you. It is difficult to describe this scene and it is almost as if it is a scene straight from a Painter's canvas. Only (if you so believe) the Painter is divine. As you look around from the temple you realize that you are standing above the surrounding ranges and the clouds below. It is indeed as if the Heaven is meeting the earth and you are standing at the confluence of the two. Suffice to say I am happy someone deemed this place fit for a Temple.

The Ramadan intoxication

2010-09-04T00:28:00.000-07:00

I spent some time thinking about the title of this blog. Ramadan - The spiritual month of Islam and intoxication - a concept that staunch followers are against. These two words should not go in the same line. However I could not find a better phrase to summarize my foodie experience at Mohammad Ali Road, Masjid, Mumbai.

I have lived in Mumbai for most of my life and had heard about this place and the food fest that it assembles during the month of Ramadan. However I never bothered checking this place out. This year though, things were different. My lunch group from work place was enthusiastic about paying a visit. A populace of mostly non-vegetarians definitely helps. To add to this on of our team members - Saquib - not only observes the Ramadan fast but also pays a few visits to this place during the month. Saquib obliged to being our guide and so after the Friday work day, we went ahead with our plan.

The Intoxicants

As planned all of us assembled outside Shalimar restaurant at around 9.15. Just as the night sets in the crowds start pouring in for the food festival. As we closed onto the Mohammad Ali Road there was the smell of smoked meat all over the place. The smell itself was quite appetizing. Then of course was the site of several road site stalls selling a variety of stuff. Tandoori chicken , biriyani and a bunch of recipes, for which I don't know names, on the meat menu and maalpua, rabdi and again a bunch of sweets.

First up we went to a shop which I am told is an ice-cream parlor on normal days but changes to a full scale restaurant to cater to the huge demand during this month.
The first dish we ordered was called Chicken-65. A huge plate full of spiced and marinated chicken , deep fried and of course served hot. We were 8 people so within no time we had finished the plate. Next up Saquib suggested we have some Kaleji (liver) and gurda (kidney) fry and a plate of bheja (brain) fry with some bread. This was a first for me in terms of tasting internal organs instead of plain goat meat. Again the both dishes were consumed as quickly as they arrived. Thus Saquib was kept busy (placing orders) and so were the waiters. This was going to be the story of the night.

After having gorged on a lot of meat we moved out to look for more to eat. Next was the turn of several sweets. Again my vocabulary falls short of names. Maalpuas were there, followed by rabdi, rasmalai and a few more sweets which I think the more knowledgeable foodies can name. All we did was sit and eat till we could eat no more. This time though the stomach felt quite heavy. By now I had quit trying to pull my stomach inwards to give an impression of a flat belly. Instead I was happy looking at my pot belly. All the food had given me a high. It was like being intoxicated after having a several shots of tequila - except that we hadn't been drinking. Who says you need alcohol for intoxication. Lots of good food can do that too.

The intoxicated

As if all this food was not enough a few of us were still looking for mutton biriyani. The one thing that we hadn't tried so far. So we decided to go to another restaurant determined to fill the empty pockets in our stomach with the biriyani rice. However when we got there we realized that every one had enough already and we just took parcels instead. While we were waiting for the biriyani parcels, there was on item left - the falooda. The falooda was like the perfect icing on the cake.
As I end this post, I would like to thank Saquib for being the expert and guide, the rest of the guys for making it a fun outing, Jai for the capturing the moments in his camera (the pictures posted here) and all of the people who make for this intoxicating food fest.

In search of solitude

2010-08-19T10:20:00.001-07:00

Every time I go out on a trek and smell the air from country side I have a feeling of freshness and serenity. However amongst the various places I have visited on my weekend escapades from the urban clock work there is one location stands apart. As a trekking destination this place has something to offer to every one, right from a novice on a first trek to a veteran looking for a new challenge. With the next few snaps I will describe my some experiences from my first couple of visits to Harischandragad.
There are several routes to get to this fort and every route has its own story and sites. The the route from the base village of Pachnai is relatively short and easy beginners route with gentle slopes and only 2.5 hours of hike (duh.. 2.5 hours is not short - so the use of term 'relatively' short) . In contrast the famous Nalichi vaat is a strenous day long hike (8 - 10 hrs) involving a few small vertical rock patches (i.e. carry some climbing equipment if you plan to take that route). Then there is the route from Kireshwar which is a good 6 hr trek from the nearest bus stop (Khubi Phata)	The ST bus in the Kireshwar village
The first of my trips to Harischandra gad were via Kireshwar. In order to be able to spend more time on the top of the fort it is best to start early on this route. So we made the journey from Kalyan to Khubi phata on the 11:30 pm ST bus via that route. That way though I didn't catch much sleep as the ST wound and bounced around the steep curves leading to this place. After about 4 hours and there I was at desolate bus stop in the middle of nowhere (nowhere = Khubi phata) staring at the beautiful night sky and a bunch of back packers hastily looking for their torches. The beautiful backwaters of "Pimpagaon Joge dam" are there right next to the road leading to Kireshwar. A pity that in the darkness of the hour, we could only listen to the sound of water and not experience its beauty. A nice and easy walk of about 4 Km and there we were at Kireshwar. We sat down in the verandah of a house of this creepy village(don't believe me - look at above snap of a bus parked in the village).Despite the slight fear of the darkness I almost feel asleep only to be kept awake by the cool breeze.
My attempt to hide the fears behind a smile	In the early hours of the morning we started our trek again, this time though we were entering a slightly dense forest on the way to the tolarkhind pass. Even though it was dark we moved quite steadily guided by the torches. It is easy to get lost so it is important to maintain line of sight distance with fellow trekkers. Given the night and the jungle I was a little scared (especially cause Yatin had mentioned presence of Panthers in the forest). Thankfully it was almost day break as we took a break at a small patch of clear land in the forest.
Another half an hour from the clear patch and we reached tolar khind pass. One one side a road lead upwards to the fort and another road led down to a nearby village. There is a small temple in form of carved stone table at this pass. The carving depicts a four legged creature. I guess it serves as a warning of what's in the jungle. In the same year on my second trip to the fort, we were following a similar schedule and at day break we were at tolar khind. It was a much bigger group of 35 people. Just as we crossed the pass, we heard a slight purring sound, followed by howling of monkeys and bird cries. The commotion indicated that perhaps a cat was on prowl. Since it was a big group we thought that it was one of us making the noise and ignored it. Then we heard another slightly louder and clear purr. This time though the whole group heard it and we huddled together and waited to avoid any unpleasant experience. The commotion lasted for a few more minutes. However we did not actually see either a monkey or a panther. I guess the panther must have been chasing its break fast somewhere close hidden by the bushes. Then we decided the only safe way to move forward was to scare the panther by making loud noises. So we start singing at the peak of our cacophonous voices. Soon enough all other noises had subsided and we were up and above the jungle near by the top of the fort
The morning sun above Tolarkhind	At about the time we reached above canopy of the forest the first rays of the morning sun penetrated the hills into the valley. It would be a unfair to the scene if I try describing it in words. So here is a picture which I am sure expresses a lot more than what I can say about the early morning sun. It would be suffice to say that the real scene is only better than the picture.
The backwaters of the dam as viewed from above Tolarkhind	The rock patch just before reaching the fort walls
As we started inching forward (by now a little hungry) we reached the most challenging part of this route - A small rock patch about 30 - 40 feet high. This rock patch though does not need any special equipment and has a narrow footpath leading to the top of the patch. There are metal railings on the valley side of the patch. Despite that one look at the valley is a little scary as visible in the picture above. This rock patch preceded and followed by a few short climbs at relatively steep gradients. It is a little difficult on newbies. I remember on my second trip, on female got stuck on the rock patch, too scared to move forward and backward. I think she had lost her foot hold and was clinging to the rocks for dear life till Yatin came to her rescue. It is therefore advisable to to stay close to some relatively experienced trekkers around this section Soon after the rock patch comes the fort wall (or whatever remains of it). It is this wall which is barely a few feet high that reminds us that there must have been a fort here. Both the times we had our breakfast here. There backwaters of the dam can be viewed even more clearly from here. There is a good view of Kireshwar village from this point. The morning calm is quite pacifying and so is the gentle breeze. After the breakfast break it was time to take the long walk to the Temple complex near by the center of the mountain range. It is a hour and half or so from the fort walls to the temple. There are seven hillocks to cross and it is easy to get lost. Thankfully though with this route being frequented by several trekkers there are arrows painted on the rocks to guide trekkers in the right direction. Another highlight of the hillocks especially from an urbane animal's (i.e. us) perspective is that most mobiles (which had could not find right network from Khubi phata) suddenly found network on the second hillock. Its therefore the right place to call your mom / wife and tell her that you are safe. In other words that is exactly what most trekkers (yours truly included) do when they get to this point. After crossing the seventh hillock, one stares at the Taramati peak and a bunch of caves at its base. A little distance from the caves there is the Harishchandreshwar temple and a water tank. A look at these structures and one is take back into history. These places are almost untouched by the evils of modern civilization. The temple does draw huge crowds annually during the Mahashivaratri day. But otherwise the remoteness of the location seems to act as a natural barrier that helps maintain the serenity of this place. Yet some of the most beautiful structures on this fort are the remains of a more than 1000 year old civilization. The wiki on Harischandragad gives an idea of how old the temple and the caves are. One other highlight of all the structures at this place is that most of them are carved directly into the local rock rather than assembling pieces of stones or bricks.
The Ganesha cave	The Harishchandreshwar Temple
After reaching the caves it was time to relax and cool off the heels. Thanks to Yatin's organization, there was a local villager from pachnai who had set up temporary eatery near the temple. I discovered that a simple meal of jhunka bhakar, a little bit of butter milk after such a long trek are more satisfying then a fancy seven course meal. Next up on the tourist guidebook for Harischandragad is the Taramati peak, the highest point on this fort. Its another hour or so to trek up from the temple. During my first trip to this peak, there were a couple of first timers in the group. The view from Taramati is supposed to be quite beautiful so the first timers were quite enthusiastic. That was until we nearly reached the top. Just before the top of the peak there is a large rock that we had to climb.On both sides of the rock is a steep drop. On one side you can see the temple as if it were a creation of lego pieces and on the other side you can see the Kireshwar village. Either ways a look below is quite scary enough to induce acrophobia. At this point one of the first timers (named Bagga) got a little panicky and decided that he was not going to climb up and sit down safely on narrow path way till rest of use returned. We tried convincing him for some time but he would not budge. So rest of us went ahead and one guy (I think his college class mate) stayed with him trying to encourage him to take the last few steps. Yatin got a little adventurous at this point and started on his on expedition to find a way down that did not involve the rock that we had left behind. A few minutes later he shouted from somewhere below that he had found an alternate route and it was time to get Bagga to climb up that rock so we could take the other route down. I went back and with help of Bagga's classmate managed to somehow convince him to let go his fears. He finally climbed up with the thought that he would not have to look down the same path. It was only after he had happily checked out the scenery from top, that Yatin came back from his small expedition. At this point he told us there was no other route and we had to climb down the same path. Bagga was at his wit's end and started yelling all the M* and B* swear words at his classmate for tricking him. Soon enough we were back on our way and with a safe but vocal Bagga. When we reached about midway Bagga suddenly seemed to have forgotten all his fears and was quickly descending (almost running) down as if he had been trekking all his life. I was a little behind and just as we were reaching the temple again I saw Bagga at a distance. There he was hugging each and everyone in the group and thanking them for saving his dear life. He hadn't stopped his swearing, but only this time he was happy we made him go the distance.
The edge of Konkan Kada	The sunset at Konkan Kada
Towards the evening the one destination that is a must see at Harishchandragad is Konkan Kada. It is an incredible natural formation. A horse shoe shaped plateau edge overlooking a cliff with a drop of about 1000 feet. The formation is carved mainly by winds blowing from west to east and thus the Konkan kada makes for a perfect place to watch the sunset at a distance. The edge is quite windy with winds blowing upwards due to the cliff which blocks the path of the wind. An interesting result of this wind is a phenomena where by a coin tossed in into the air from the edge comes back onto the plateau instead going into the abyss below. A cautionary note though, not all tossed coins come back. Some of them do go into the valley as well. There is some amount of skill involved in tossing it so it would come back. And the effect works only for light objects. I heard a rumour that some guy got himself killed by jumping from the cliff. Hence the cautionary note. Again the Konkan kada cannot be described by my limited vocabulary so I hope my pictures above do more justice to it
A scenic desktop background.	The whole group at Pachnai
After watching the sunset at the Konkan kada we were back at Ganesha cave for food and dozed off quite early. It is in this simple little cave on the humble sleeping mat that I felt so peaceful that it is as if my search for solitude had reached its destination. With the city life and our clockwork, our mind is a stressed commotion of thoughts and tensions. However the walking all day had meant that I was so tired that I fell asleep within seconds of lying down. It was as if the mind had been cleansed up completely and the next day I felt very fresh. It was so apt that cave happened to house the temple of Vighnaharta (Ganesha). It is this very feeling that has keeps pulling me back on the treks ever so often. The next day was time to return to my urbane lifestyle and so we took the route to Pachnai village. In my first trip the return journey was eventless except for a long photo session at Pachnai (where we took the group snap above). In my second trip however the experience was completely different. It was in the middle of the rainy season and we had a huge group of 35 trekkers. As soon as we got to Pachnai we figured that due to rains and consequent land slides, the road was unsafe and buses were only plying till the next village which was another 10 kms away. Reluctantly we dragged our tired legs to the next village, just in time to catch the 3 :00 pm bus to the nearest Town (or so we thought). The bus did not arrive for another hour. Some one said that the bus does not ply on Sundays. We were starting to get desperate. After all taking 35 ppl back to Mumbai from that remote village did require big vehicle and bullock carts won't do. Among the ideas floated around were walking to the closest highway (about 20 kms) or getting one of the tractor / bike owning villagers to give one of us a ride to the nearest town so we could rent some jeeps to haul the whole group or even staying in the village overnight so as to catch the next morning bus (the only hitch in this option was we did not have enough food nor did the village have enough shelter for 35 extra people other than the verandah of the village school) . After a lot of searching one of the guys did get a ride from the villager and was on his way to the town. The rest of us were listening carefully to any noise of a motored vehicle in hope that the Lal Dabba was still on its way. Sure enough in the next few minutes (I think around 4.30 pm) the lal Dabba made its way. The ST bus was greeted by huge cheers of "Jo bole so nihaal" from all 35 people as if we had just won a battle (after all we now knew that we were making it home the same day). The bus had barely stopped and we are all jumping all over it (much to the conductors ire ... but who cares). It was this incident that prompted me to write an article dedicated to the Lal Dabba That said it is time to finish this long description of Harischandragad and I would suggest my readers to check this place at least once (provided physical fitness permits)

Witnessing the Chattrapati's coronation

2010-06-22T11:47:00.000-07:00

Saturday June 5 It had been more than 8 months since my last trek and my feet were starting to crave for one more trek. I came to know about Shikharvedh through a friend and decided to join them on a trek to Chattrapati Shivaji's first capital, Raigad. It did not matter that I hadn't met any of 40 odd people who were also to be on the trek. I was just to excited to get back on my trekking ways.
After a long wait at Dadar, I finally got on board the bus that would take us to the base village of Raigad. Then a few "firsts" happened as far as my Sahayadri trekking trips were concerned. The trek organizer Jagdish pulled out copies of a map of Raigad fort which had all points / places on the fort well marked. In all my trekking trips with various groups I have never seen the trek organizer give a copy of map for reference. These guys sure were quite meticulous with their preparation. The day also turned out to be the anniversary of creation of the Shikharvedh group. So Jagdish and co cut a cake aboard the bus at 2:00 am. Even though that is not a time for a cake, who can say no to a sweet, creamy and tasty looking cake. Within no time everyone had gobbled up a piece or two of the cake and were back into their slumber. The cake cutting though was another "first" on my trekking trips.	Jagdish blowing the candles for Shikharvedh
The Raigad jinx Our nap did not last long as we realized that the bus was having trouble navigating the steep curves up the hill leading to the Raigad base. Suddenly I had a memory rewind to my first trip four years ago. It seems my trips to Raigad have a bus breakdown jinx associated. The first time around when I went to Raigad, it was an office picnic. We had planned to reached the base by 11 :00 am and trek up. Instead we had a bus breakdown in the middle of nowhere and by the time we actually reached the fort base it was almost evening. So we had to take the rope way to the top and back. I was still lost in my recollections of the last trip when I heard a suggestion that we push the bus to give it the additional power to start off. Soon enough we were like a bunch of half asleep zombies (except for the sleepy cries of "Zor laga ke hai sha") pushing the bus. The bus started only to breakdown again just after a few more meters. It seems it could not take the additional load of 40 people. So bus moved ahead up the slope with a promise to wait for us beyond the sharp curves of the ghat. Thankfully it was only a couple of kilometers of hike before we got on the bus again and despite the breakdown we were not too far behind our schedule start time.
The Mahadarwaja overlooking the steps	Soon enough I found myself navigating the steps towards the top. I'd expected this trek to be a breeze for me, but I guess lack of good sleep and improper eating the day before can have its impact. Of course my long break from trekking also meant that my body had a lot more inertia than usual. I found myself trudging up the steps desperate to prove to self that I am fit. Thankfully the uneasy stomach and the weary feeling was only temporary and despite the slow start, I found myself as one of the first few to have reached the top. I guess the trek was a breeze after all.

Maharastrian folk music rocks As soon as we had reached the top, the loud and exhilarating beat of dhols and a few other traditional instruments greeted us. On the way I had learned that that day was the anniversary of the Coronation of Shivaji Bhosale as the Chattrapati of Maharashtra. The event even though more than 300 year old is still celebrated with a lot of enthusiasm and pride. It sure pulled a lot of people to the fort and the crowd at the top gave the urbane me a feel of being at a rural rock concert. Indeed when the dhols thumped causing my heart to beat to their rhythm, I realized that this event nothing less than rock concert. Indeed the Maharastrian folk music rocks. The beats were enough to inject the life back into me and a few glasses of lime water did their job. I was told one of the Chattrapati's descendants comes there every year on that very day and that the coronation event is still celebrated ceremoniously. No wonder then that there was such a large crowd and the music.
The 16th century mall There was still some time for the coronation ceremony to start. The whole group of 40 had split by now with the promise of meeting at the base later in the evening. Of course a lot of the group was still to arrive on the top. So the early birds me, anurag, sangeeta and KD decided to explore the fort. The first structure we saw was what looked like a long alley with roofless stone enclosures on both sides. This was supposed to be the market on the fort. The shops on both sides were quite large. The alley was also quite long and it must have taken us about 15 minutes to get to the other end. I figured this is not just a market but must have been 16th century mall where fellas like me would pretend to shop so they could check out the chicks. I guess mall culture in India is much older than it seems ..
Jagdish and his kid	The way to Takmak tok
Takmak tok Next we took a narrow path along a ridge to reach the infamous Takmak tok - the end of the ridge. From this point one could see the villages in the valley and the other hills across the valley. The scene was beautiful and as few rays of sun broke through the cloud cover to light the valley below. It was a refreshing site. The of course the breeze blowing across my face made the whole effort to reach the top worth it. In the modern day, this could perhaps be a wonderful starting point for flight on a glider. I could just close my eyes and get lost into the freshness of the moment. Just then I happened to look down from the edge of the ridge. It was several hundred feet straight down to the valley. A look below was enough to scare the living daylights out of the acrophobic. No wonder then that this place has earned its infamy. History has it that this was the site of cheapest death sentences that one could imagine. I guess the law enforcement in 16th century did not have electric chairs to fry the culprits. Perhaps building the guillotine or even the simplistic hanging were a fair amount of effort. Then of course they would have to deal with disposing the bodies. I guess the figured it was much cheaper and effective to simply push the culprits from edge of the ridge.
Witnessing the coronation After catching the sights from takmak, we decided to move towards the durbar where by now the music had only become louder. When we got there we realized that there was a massive crowd now gathered inside the durbar to view the coronation ceremony. I just realized that it was not just a celebration of Maratha Swaraj but a mini carnival to mark that occasion. The music was already there. Food and drinks (only soft though) stalls were also visible at various places. The tourists like us were also there. Then of course there a bunch of guys dressed up in costumes of 17th century Maratha warriors. There was even a guy dressed up as Chattrapati Shivaji complete with the sword and of course happy to pose for the camera. Even the celebrities followed in form of some senior members of Shiv Sena including Uddhav Thackeray himself. With so many people and the atmosphere, one could almost forget that this carnival was being held at 2700 ft above sea level and that most people would have climbed the 1400 odd steps to get there.	Shivaji ain't history. Here he is
Oh nothing political about it. As it turned out the presence of Shiv sena leaders was not a coincidence. The whole carnival was actually promoted by the Shiv sena. As soon as the coronation was done, there was a speech from Mr Thackeray. After all How could he let go opportunity to address a durbar full of Maharastrians. I didn't wait to catch the whole speech, but evidently it was one filled with the sense of pride about the accomplishment that was marked by this very event about 336 years ago. As I reflected upon the event one thing struck me. While all Hindu festivals and ceremonies follow the Hindu calendar, this one event was promoted as per the date on the Gregorian calendar. The Shiv Sena are generally quite outspoken against all things foreign as long as it earns them political mileage. I am surprised however that they chose not to use the Hindu calendar for this event, which I am sure was originally scheduled as per an auspicious date according to the Hindu calendar. I guess there was nothing politically significant in celebrating this one as per the Hindu calendar.

Queens' palace After the celebration was completed, the crowd dispersed from the darbar so we made way to check out the Queen's palace behind the darbar. The palace is not much of a palace today. The roof is gone but the walls are still intact. In fact the palace and the bastions beside it are among the few structures that have stood the testimony of time. The palace has several large bedrooms laid out side by side. From the durbar the rooms appear to be separate and each of the room has a separate exit into the durbar. But right before the exit there is a continuous passage connecting all of those rooms. There is not much left to appreciate in the palace but I was wondering why they had a passage connecting all the bedrooms. I figured that the King probably did not want the rest of the palace know if one of his queen threw some tantrums. He could conveniently sneak into the adjacent bedroom hoping for better treatment. I guess with these many bedrooms is the King didn't have to sleep on the couch.
The Pala caves	Back into the traffic jam Once we had covered the queen's palace we settled inside one of the bastions to have our lunch and spent some time relaxing. With most of the fort visited by now there was not much left except for the Hirkani buruj. I made about half up to the point but realized that there was not much left of the bastion there, just the natural mountain ridge over which the original bastion must have been built. Got too lazy go further down the ridge so chose to stay back while the more enthusiastic lot made their way down and back.
Soon enough all of us were on our way down and then back into the bus leading us to Mumbai. We took a short break in the middle to view an ancient Buddhist monastery / motel (aka Pala caves). The caves were quite beautiful and well preserved. After all the site seeing we finally got back on the route to Mumbai. Frankly by the time we were expected to enter Mumbai I was not expecting any traffic to bother us. But we didn't have to wait for Mumbai. Long before Mumbai somewhere on the highway we were met with a boring traffic jam late at night. It seems with increasing urbanization the one thing bound to spread are the traffic jams. It only meant that I got back home around 3:00 am. Physically tired, but quite refreshed mentally to get back to the daily traffic jam on my commute to work.

* Credit to fellow trekkers Vishal Budhavaleker and Anil Shirsat for the photographs on this blog.

The Dragon beckons IV- Within the confines of the Great Wall

2010-05-23T06:09:00.000-07:00

When one talks about Chinese history and culture the mention of the Great Wall is inevitable.
Even though the current day China has borders far beyond the great wall, I think the wall still exists. Its the barrier of language and a highly Government controlled economy that form the wall in today's shrinking world. In essence we have an impression of China yet its like a mysterious neighbour. I guess within the confines of the Wall the outside world is also a mystery.

During my trip I thought I had an opportunity to open this mystery. Following are some of the impressions and experiences that I still remember.

Religion ... what's that ?
On one weekend our host took us out site seeing. One of the places was a Buddhist temple. To that point I was assuming that he was a follower of Buddhism. When we reached there I realized that the Buddhists way of performing prayer was very very similar to Hindus (they even lit an incense stick). However I noticed that my host was not offering any prayers. I casually asked him about it and soon enough an conversation ensued about religion. I was surprised to know that he did not follow any religion. He told me about a revolution in past in which (I think it was during the days of Chairman Mao) they gave up the concept of religion and god and instead started believing in self. Proverbially speaking they were living the proverb "God helps those who help themselves". To this I told him a fact which took him a back a little. He was surprised to know that India was home to at least 8 major religions in the world and that followers of all religions coexisted in cities like Mumbai. He mentioned that he wasn't even aware that there were 8 religions in the world. I took this as a welcome opportunity to blabber about the "unity in diversity" concept that we all have mugged up during our school social sciences lectures.

	Needless to say I was trying to capture the lady on the camera.. The leaning tower just happened to be on the background

Window to the world
Before traveling to Shenzhen I was looking up the net and had read about a tourist attraction called " Window to the world". It was a place where the Chinese had created miniature replicas of several major tourist attractions from all over the world. I was quite excited to check out this place and spent almost half a day taking pictures of the various monuments.
There was Taj Mahal from India, Eiffel Tower from France, Angkor Wat from Khmer, Statue of Liberty from USA, Christ The Redeemer from Brazil, the Pyramids of Egypt.
You name it had they have a replica of the same. Pretty much every major monument from around the world found a place in this Park.
The Eiffel tower even allowed you to go to the top from where all of Shenzhen and even Hongkong was visble across the sea.
As I finished my tour of the park I thought to myself - looks like the Chinese Govt. wants to make sure that the people can take a world tour in a day and get back to work the next day. Why spend so much on traveling the world when 200 Yuan could provide a window to the world. Of course the brochure didn't say that but I guess that was the indeed hidden meaning. Nevertheless it is a wonderful place.

To top up the tour in the evening they had a live theater performance of some major historic epics from around the world. So there was a performance of the story of Troy from Illiad . Then of course there was a performance of Ramayana. Since I already knew the story I was busy watching very beautiful looking Chinese dancers. I guess they were the highlight of the story anyway. I didn't stay to watch the other performances but it was living the dream of a world tour.

Aloha ... Dark skinned foreigner
In tourist places in India I have often seen foreigners (mostly whites) and they sure are viewed as strange beings. In fact often the foreigners find themselves as a center of unwanted attractions with people trying to sell the stuff, get pictures of them and so on. Of course as India grows this impression is changing and it is not uncommon to see foreigners. This is however true of times in past when India was a very closed economy.
Why am I talking about all this ... Shouldn't I be talking about China... This background was important as the day I visited the "Window of the world" I found myself as the Center of attraction in China. I guess the Chinese are not very used to seeing Indians roam around by themselves. I was in a store with my friend looking to buy a pair of batteries for my camera. I paid the cash to the cashier and was about to leave when, she muttered something to me in Chinese. I politely replied back in English (which of course she did not understand). Then she grabbed my wrist (did I mention .. she was a very cute and young Chinese lady ... oh my god .. what a day) and then held it close to hers. Then she let go my hand and looked at the other female behind the counter and they both started giggling. Beyond that point she simply ignored me (yeah unfortunately the attention was short lived). I wonder what they were saying to each other. I guess they had never seen a dark skinned person in real life.
The same day just outside the "window to the world" another Chinese guy approached me (stop those naughty thoughts .. please) and asked to take a picture with his nephew. As a polite stranger I replied "sure, please give me your camera". To that point he said that 6 year old nephew wanted to take a picture with me. I of course obliged. Soon enough I would have become the cause for a few more giggles, as the 6 yr old proudly brags in front of his class mates how he met a "Dark skinned foreigner". After all he had a picture to prove it.

From Fishing village to Megalopolis
One of the things that amazed me while in China was the city of Shenzhen itself. It is a megalopolis like any other in the world. If only a lot more cleaner and well planned as some of the other such cities around the world. There are some things unlike a large city though. First I did not see many senior citizens. Secondly there were no slums. My host explained that Shenzhen due to its status as an SEZ is an immigration city. And no, he wasn't referring to an immigration port where foreigners enter the country. Instead he meant that even the Chinese needed to get special paper work to immigrate into Shenzhen. In essence what I learned is that the Government had the power to control the movement of Chinese people into this city. In my mind I immediately started drawing parallels with our very own Mumbai which is exploding due to uncontrolled immigration in name of freedom of movement. That of course is not the subject of this blog.
This control of movement explained the absence of slums but where were the senior citizens. Then I realized that Shenzhen SEZ was less than 30 year old. It was a simple fishing village then and start growing through controlled immigration into the SEZ. So obviously there weren't many senior citizens in the City to form a visible populace. By and large the city is demographically quite young. Yet in such a short period it has grown to be a economic power house and is ranked 4th amongst Chinese cities in terms of economic output. It is this unprecedented growth that has perhaps got our own government excited about the concept of SEZs. All I can say is such growth is only possible in China.

Thus with the various anecdotes and impressions of China, I end this series of "The Dragon Beckons". All in all an unforgettable trip and leaves me interested in another opportunity to visit the belly of the Dragon.

The Dragon beckons - III : "Hindi Chini bhai bhai"

2010-04-16T11:00:00.000-07:00

In the post 1962 India, China has always been viewed as a powerful, aggressive and potentially invasive neighbour. Even though Jawaharlal Nehru wanted to use the term "hindi Chini bhai bhai"(Indians and Chinese are like brothers) in a good way, the wars that followed in 1962 and later, accorded an exactly converse meaning to the term.
As I grew up, this impression had not changed. The political relationship between the two countries does not allow me to change this impression. Even as China becomes the manufacturing hub for countries across the world, as its neighbour, India always seems to be on an alert for any border threats. Under such circumstances I never had a clear impression of what the Chinese people really were.

The only impressions of Chinese people that I ever had were that of the magnificent martial arts and their masters from some of the movies that I had seen, Or those of extremely disciplined Olympic medal winners from sports like table tennis, gymnastics, water sports. Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan still continue to entertain me whenever any of their movies show up on television. That apart I had read a little bit of Chinese history and geography in school. All this had meant that I did have some expectations of what the Chinese were really like, but I never could imagine the wonderful learnings that followed. So here are a few learnings.

"Atithi Devo Bhava"
For my Chinese readers - atithi devo bhava means "a guest is to be treated like a god". It is one of the phrases that we Indians often use to describe how we like to treat our guests. However I could not expect the same from the Chinese could I (especially given Sino - Indian political history). My Chinese contact - Kurt proved me wrong the very first day when he and his wife turned right on time to pick us up from the airport and drop us off to the Hotel. The next day Kurt and his family turned up as promised and took me and my colleague on a tour of Shenzhen. Given that I was traveling on behalf my company which was a client for Kurt's company, this gesture wasn't too surprising.
For the next two weeks me and Kurt were supposed to be working on a Project at his workplace. I was expecting to take a taxi everyday and have my company bear the conveyance. But Kurt completely amazed me the next 2 weeks when he took it upon himself to Chauffeur me back and forth between office and the hotel. This even though he was working long hours in the office and was pretty stressed with all the work. I remember one day he was to wait for some work rather late. As usual he insisted on driving me to the hotel and that he would come back to work later. I told him that I would be just fine taking a cab. He expressed concern about me not knowing the local language and the way around. His insistence continued and I had to spend next 10 minutes explaining him, how India's linguistic diversity had naturally trained me for situations like this and that I would be just fine. Finally he gave in, but next morning there he was again ready to drive me to office. While I could continue ranting about the hospitality extended by the Chinese, it would be suffice to say that I thought the Chinese had a good chance of beating us Indians at "Atithi devo bhava"

Culture
We Indians pride ourselves on our culture. We like to claim that some of our individual virtues have something to do with the Indian culture. Like India the Chinese also have a continuous history of more than 2000 years and thus have a rich cultural heritage to look up to. Thus I am sure that the Chinese could also credit some of their virtues to their cultural wealth. Some of the virtues struck me as being present in almost every Chinese individual. Those were their discipline, their industrious nature (no wonder they are a manufacturing powerhouse today), self belief. However one of the virtue which had an uncanny similarity with us Indians was the show of respect to elders. Even though we Indians are often seen shrugging off this quality (sometimes for rational causes), it was a pleasant surprise to see the same quality being present amongst our neighbours.

Where is the pot belly ?
As an Indian we have come to talk of our middle aged pot bellies as "sign of prosperity". Even though there is increasing awareness about the importance of fitness, by and large most urban Indians sport this one sign of obesity. Given China's economic prosperity, I was expecting some of it to rub of on their people (in form of the pot belly). Here the Bruce lee movies seemed to have come to rescue. No not every Chinese starts fighting like him. But I realised that most Chinese still appear as fit as some of the extras who fight the master of Jeet Kune Do (if not the master himself) in those Chinese movies. I am guessing he would have had an influence on a whole generation who would have grown up watching his movies

Twacha se umar ka pata hi nahi chalta
A post on any country will be incomplete without talking about its women. Again the translation for my Chinese readers - "Can't tell the age by looking at the face".
While I remember this punch line being used by one soap commercial in India, I know that they are lying when they get 20 something size zero models to portray as 30 something moms of 6 yr olds. When I went to China, I realised that our soap commercials won't have the guilt of lying if they got some Chinese women to model for them. Their skin is so naturally spotless and glowing, that it becomes really difficult to tell their age just by looking at the face. Of course they also must be using their fair share of beauty products, but I am pretty sure they do have their natural physical beauty first. While I still would like to think of Indian women as the most beautiful ones, I am compelled to say the Chinese beauties are worth more than just a passing look. Thus if I were to describe the Chinese women in two words I would say "short yet suave"

To conclude I should say that I learned a lot more about the Chinese in those two weeks than several movies, sports and discovery channel shows and history book chapters put together. The one thing that I can say is even though most Indians (barring the regions that border China) and Chinese are distinctly dissimilar at first look, their cultural similarities definitely beget the usage of the term "Hindi Chini thai bhai" in the literal sense.

The Dragon beckons - II - What's on the menu?

2009-10-02T08:40:00.000-07:00

The Chinese have some how influenced our food habits for a while now. I mean in almost every other restaurant in Mumbai, you would find a section of the Menu dedicated to Chinese food.
So there are the various header starting with the Manchurian, Schezwan, haka and so on. One would think that with so many things on the menu, China would have few surprises.

One of the things that excited me about my trip to Shenzhen,China was the opportunity to try new food. After all even though we have tried out a lot of Chinese food in India there probably is some difference between Chinese food found here and the one found in China. Thus as I was preparing for the trip, I got a lot of advise and warnings about what was available in China.
We have grown up hearing that the Chinese pretty much eat anything that moves, insects, reptiles, sea food and so on. I was even warned about donkey meat and cockroach pickle on the menu. My mom was so scared about the food that she made me pack up a lot of ready to eat noodles (lest I find it difficult to eat that cockroach pickle). My colleague, who was traveling with me, is a staunch vegetarian. Thus while I was excited about new stuff to try, he as scared as my Mom about the food.

Over the couple of weeks I spent in China I ended up trying a lot of different things. Most of the dishes were in named in Chinese (but of course) so I can't remember any names. The variety though was huge for a meat and sea food lover.
There were however a few surprises in store as well. So here is list of things (in random order) I came to know about Chinese food.

Chinese food is very different from "Indian" Chinese food. The Chinese we get in India is Indianised so as to live up to our appetite for spices. "Chinese" Chinese food is mostly devoid of the pungent spices. They do have spices (for most of those I don't know the names) but the are relatively subtle on the tongue. At first taste Chinese food might even taste a little bland, but it is an acquired taste. Once you have acquired the taste for real Chinese, it might be difficult to accept "Indian" Chinese food. I often find myself avoiding the Chinese food in India now that I know what the real Chinese food is like.

Its Sichuan not Schezwan. When I went to China, I knew there was a Manchuria for all the Manchurian food that we have. However I had not heard of any Schezwan. Then one day my host (who was by now tired hearing me crib about lack of spices in Chinese food) told me about Sichuan food and its spicy nature. It instantly got me interested and then in minutes I found myself looking at Chicken fried rice, fried with a whole bunch of red chillies. Needless to say I did not crib about lack of spices after that. No wonder we have renamed Sichuan as Schezwan and it now forms a big part of the Chinese menu in any restaurant.

Almost "anything that moves". While the Chinese do eat a lot of meat and a whole bunch animals are acceptable on the menu, the phrase "anything that moves" is definitely a hyperbole. On my China visit "To Do" checklist, I had an item of adding a new animal in the list of animals that I have eaten in my meal. Since it was China I was also hoping to dare eating some roasted beetle or grasshopper or something like that. While the Chinese eat a whole variety of meats (beef, pork, lamb, duck, goat and so on), to my surprise (and relief) they did have more familiar looking meat like Chicken and fish on the menu. So there I was perfectly comfortable eating a fried Shrimp (with its fried black eyes staring back at me) or a squid, but a part of me was still looking out for something new on that menu. Towards the end of my trip finally I found something very new for me. There was some dish made out of frog legs. I decided to try it out, but unfortunately for me they were out of frogs that day. I had to then settle with some dish made from Eel. Eel of course was a new addition on my list so I did check that item off my list.

Vegetarian Food - what's that ? While I was always on look out for some new kind of meat to try out, my "vegetarian" colleague had an ordeal when it came to food. Often when we went out to lunch or dinner it was just me and him. So almost every day we had to figure out a way informing the waiter that he wanted vegetarian. First of all most Chinese people don't speak English. Then again those who do understand a little bit of English, don't necessarily understand what we Indians mean when we say "Vegetarian" food. For them eggs and fish are so common that almost every one eats those and they are considered vegetarian. Besides there are hardly any purely vegetarian dishes. So both of us found ourselves explaining to the waiter / cook, through a series of gestures and English phrases, that we wanted food with "no meat, no fish, no eggs". Despite that there were times when the food that came in the plate had some sort of meat. I remember once my friend had ordered something called "Hawaiian pizza" in a French food cafe near by our hotel. What came however had 6 slices of ham nicely decorating the pizza. Desperate to fill his stomach, he quietly removed the ham slices and eat the rest of the "vegetarian" pizza.

Eating with chopsticks is an art and a science. After the various experiences with the Chinese cuisine there was always one sense of relief (mostly for my "vegetarian" friend). The Chinese eat a lot of rice. Like South Indians their meal is incomplete without rice. So there is always the bowl of rice or rice noodles to complete a good Chinese meal. Since I was in China, I thought it might be a good opportunity to try eating with the Chopsticks. So I asked my host to teach me how to eat with chopsticks. They gleefully obliged. I think it may also have served them some entertainment watching me struggle to grab the rice or noodles with those chop sticks. Eventually I did learn that that science of eating with Chopsticks was to try not to grab the food, but instead use chopsticks to throw the food straight into my mouth. Of course this had to be done with the bowl held close to my mouth so that the food did not fall anywhere else but straight in my mouth. Even though I have figured out the science, I don't think I a flair for the art in it yet

So with those few recollections of Chinese food, I think its time to sign off from this blog.

The Dragon beckons - I - Can I get a Chinese Visa please ...

2009-09-12T12:08:00.001-07:00

Last year our company entered into some sort of outsourcing deal with a Chinese software services startup. I happened to be the subject matter expert on one of the projects being outsourced for development and thus landed up with an opportunity to visit Shenzhen, China.

The trip turned out to be just before the summer Olympics at Beijing. So it meant that the Chinese had tightened their Visa norms. Our visa coordinator however assured that the visa would be ready in 2 weeks and week 3 we were ready to fly. He requested me to provide standard set of documents like letter from employer, invitation letter, passport, previous visa details. I had previously traveled to the USA on a work permit so these documents sounded pretty standard.Then I saw another few document requirements that surprised me - tax return statements for last 2 years, even bank statements for last 3 months. It was as if they were going to give me a loan on the basis of my credit history. Considering that my employer, a reputed investment bank was sponsoring the visa these documents came as a complete surprise. Then again, the visa agent mentioned these 2 documents to be optional, so I chose not to submit them.

Two weeks passed by and my travel date was nearing and no sign of the Visa. Then the visa coordinator mailed me saying that he required my tax returns and bank statements. I pointed out that they were optional. Guess what, the Chinese had specifically requested for those documents. So I provided those. Next day he came back saying that they wanted the bank statement for the current month. I was thinking .... idiots the month is not even over. Its still 15 days to go for the statement date. But those guy persisted so I ended up providing a print of the transactions to date.

I thought with so many documents the Chinese may be convinced about my worthiness for the Visa. Then came the master stroke. They wanted a copy of my air tickets and confirmation of accommodation. All the while I was under the impression that air tickets and accommodation while necessary, were meaningful and necessary only after the Visa was approved. So much for impressions .. huh. Thankfully I had got those set up while I was waiting for the visa processing.
I think I finally got my visa after a wait of a whole month and by now my travel date had been pushed by a whole week. With all those documents, they left me wondering if I had applied not for a business visa, but for a ration card. I wonder how the Chinese get their ration cards (if they do exist)...

If only we had better navigators ....

2007-02-22T08:03:00.001-08:00

This travelogue dates back to the times when I was either on long drive or planning one on weekends. The concept of rental cars in US makes it easy to get good cars for long drives on weekends. Anybody who can drive would rather drive to the weekend destination than use other options like bus, train or plane. Once our Infy batch mates decided to meet up. As a matter of coincidence most of the people were somewhere on the western coast of US, and 4 of them were in or around Hartford, CT. The other 3 (me, Rana and Chacha) were spread out. So we decided to make it a road trip to Hartford, CT. After all, Rana and I were seasoned drivers now so road trip would be opportunity to cherish.

The plan was that I would drive in my car from Richmond, VA to Washington DC, then park my car at Rana's and we would pick up a rental car and continue to Baltimore. Chacha would be flying from Chicago to join us at Baltimore and then we would move on to Hartford. With cell phones becoming omnipresent I guess this plan was not too difficult to coordinate..., or so I thought.

I think, the whole trip was supposed to be an experience worth blogging on, right from my late start to us actually making it back from Hartford. The trip was to be full of getting lost or losing it.
My trip started a little late because of some urgent meeting called by my boss and instead of starting at 4:00 pm I ended up starting at 6:00 pm. The distance from Richmond, VA to Hartford, CT is about 8 hours by drive. So as per our plan we would be in Hartford by 12:00.
When I finally started at 6:00 pm I informed Rana that I would meet him at Ronald Reagan airport at about 8:00 pm.

However a traffic jam somewhere between Richmond and Washington delayed me and my cell phone wasn't responding on the highway. I managed to get in touch with Rana around 8:00 and he informed me that he had already gotten a rental car and was too tired to wait another couple of hours at airport for me. I was more than halfway on the highway to Washington with no maps or address to Rana's place so I told him that I would park my car at the Airport and he could come and pick me.

Thus started the first of our navigation blunders. When I got to the airport, Rana told me that he was lost on his way from his home in Rockville to the airport. I was thinking that Rana who lived near Washington should know his way. But it turned out that he too needed a map to get around Washington. So Rana's girlfriend (Manu in Hartford) became our online navigator. She was logged on to Google maps and was trying to guide Rana on phone. I thought it was funny but I guess with no one with Rana to navigate, he had to look for online help from Manu's call center (more on this later). I think at about 9.30 or so Rana made it to the airport and I thought that we would be off now.

Then Rana mentioned that he had forgotten his wallet at his house in a hurry and we would have to go back there to get it and then we could move forward. By this time Ashish chacha was at Baltimore airport and he was waiting there for over couple of hours already. I think he decided to do some site seeing till the time we got there. As me and Rana were driving back, Rana took the steering and confidently started driving back. However again we got lost, this time due to some confused navigation from me and some over confidence from Rana. The call center (Manu) was pressed into action and we were on our way back. Finally at about 10.30 or so we got to Rana's place which was otherwise barely 25 mins drive from the airport.

We were back at Rana's and I thought at least now we could proceed. However when chaos ensues it only gets worse. Rana realized that his wallet was no where to be found. We searched outside the house, inside and even the car but no luck. We then gave up on the search and on the doomed trip. We said to each other that we would go to sleep in some time and have a nice weekend in Washington (after all even both of us had met after several months). When we had as good as given up, both of us decided to give one last try and we found it right beside his pillow. With the wallet found we had some renewed energy to move on so we decided to start.

So at the time (12:00 am) when we were supposed to be reach Hartford, we just about started from Washington. By this time I think Chacha would have showered several thousand curses on both of us for not getting to Baltimore. This time though we took the maps, the wallets and all the papers necessary to move on a road trip. We took all care that the trip up to Baltimore was event less. Then joined the third person who was now officially proclaimed the navigator, for he was not about to drive. Now Rana took the steering as he was still fairly awake and asked me to take rest so that I could start driving in the hours just before dawn. I took the bargain for a little bit of much needed sleep and dozed off.

Some time later we discovered that Chacha was as bad (perhaps worse) a navigator as both of us. I am not sure exactly what the whole problem was but we managed to miss an obvious New Jersey turnpike after joining it and continuing a fair distance. Apparently the map directions said somewhere "continue on NJ Turnpike" and we chose to break away. Blame it on maps, navigators or somnia by 3:00 am, we had again managed to not do away the jinx. Somewhere around that time Rana caved in to his need for sleep and I took the wheel. By now we were out of the confusing directions and all we had to do was take the I 95 and so that's what we did. After that till about 8:00 am till we got to Hartford, there were no more path breaking events.

The actual get together was good and we spent lot of time reviving the nostalgia of the Infy training days. Playing cards, roaming around Six Flags, and generally chatting and catching up. Two days were well spend and before we knew it was time to turn around and return to our respective homes. With heavy heart me, Rana and Chacha went to the Car and started on our road trip back.

The return trip involved dropping people off so I guess it was bound to be less eventful. However I think the navigation skills of me and Rana maintained the eventful part. It was all good till we dropped off chacha at Baltimore. Then the word "eventful" entered back into our trip.

Soon after dropping off Chacha to his hotel we were looking for the road back to I95. We almost got lost but then luckily one of us had the sense to look at the road directions and we were back on I95 headed towards Washington DC. The distance left was not much but we were both tired souls at such a late hour (it was almost 12:00 am). After some driving we very close to Washington and then the vicious I495 circle got to us. We were supposed to take the 495S towards Regan airport to return the rental Car and pick my car. However for some strange reason Rana refused to take that route and took the 495 W instead. A few miles later luckily he realized the mistake and we took next exit out. We drove along the road hoping to find our way back and finally decided to stop outside a small store and ask for directions. Armed with the new set of directions we were now back on track.

We finally reached the airport at about to 1:00 am after a refueling stop close to the airport. We picked up my car from the parking lot and then headed around to the rental car parking lot. I was now driving my Car following Rana' rental car. When we finally got to the rental Car parking lot there was no one there to receive the car. Also the board there said that only rental cars allowed (meaning my Car was not allowed) but I happily followed Rana, only to learn that I happened to cross one way spikes laid on the entrance of the parking lot road. Luckily as I turned around I narrowly missed the spikes and Car was not hurt. The problem however was that Road on which to go back was one way and I had no clue of what to do cause I was driving in the exact opposite direction. In the mean time Rana figured that he just had to drop the car papers and the keys in a drop box and park the car in that parking lot.

In my confusion I went out of the lot only to attract attention of a patrolling Cop car.... I though could the day have been worse. Then they started asking me what I was doing there walking at that unearthly hour. Then I explained the situation about the my car and rental car etc. I guess I sounded genuine enough and they believe me. For some one from India, an affair with the Cops at that time in night in the home country can never be pleasant. However here the Cops not only believed my story they even offered to help me back my car out of the parking lot so that as soon as out of the lot I could drive along the right side of the one way. I was surprised at this gesture but all the same happy that they helped. The cop then suggested that we to get out of the airport quickly as there could be other problems if they are not around. Then all we did was drive out quickly and back to Rana's abode at Rockville. As if the whole drive wasn't eventful enough we met up with another traffic jam somewhere on the highway at this hour.. Call that Murphy's law or bad luck or whatever .. It was one eventful weekend.
Luckily the traffic jam didn't last too long and around 3:00 am we are back cooling our heels in the bed at Rana's. Of course I had another 2 hours more of driving left for my place, but I chose to do those the next day. There just wasn't enough energy for me to drive any more.

All in all, I would say ... had it not been bad navigation, I would never have gathered enough material to write this blog ...

Tikona - The Pyramid

2006-12-16T00:32:00.000-08:00

This post has been on my mind for almost 2 years now. Laziness has managed to keep me away from the comp long enough but now, I have decided to start writing again.
Aug 14 2006, Me and my friend Abhishek, were quite frustrated with our work and were desperate for a break. Trekking was an obvious solution in my mind. We called upon our friend Siddesh - the Pune local lad to suggest something. Soon enough we were ready for a trek on the Independence day holiday next day. Our plan was to reach Kamshet by local train from Pune. Then take jeep to kale colony were find next transport which involved ferry ride across pawna dam. The snap here shows where we originally planned to go. Tungi fort - the lump seen in with clouds all around its peak.
When we actually got to Kale Colony we learnt that due to flooding the path to Tungi was blocked. This was extremely disappointing news. However we were quite desperate for a trek and Siddesh said that Tikona fort was also close by.
So we decided to go the Mogambo ka bhatija Gogo style (go watch movie Andaz Apna Apna to understand what I mean here ). That is "aaye hain... kuch kuch na kuch trek ke jayenge". So we decided to go Tikona instead. Then of course we managed to take the snap of Tungi from the ST bus on the way to the Tikona peth village (base village for climb to Tikona). I didn't know what exactly I had captured in my camera but the villagers at Tikona peth pointed out that the lump was indeed Tungi fort. This is the first time I thought that it was good that we didn't get transport to that place. A look at that lump was enough to scare all of us. Of course that rock has still remained in my mind as one of the places I want to trek in the rainy season (even if it is risky). This fort is literally a Triangle and from a distance it looks like one of the early pyramids. That's probably why it got its name. Afterall "Tikona" in marathi means Tri-angle. It does have quite a few options for site seeing as described by this wiki. However our on the fly plans meant that we did not know much about those. Nevertheless we were getting a trek so we didn't care much.
	Meet Mr. guide,the dog who strangely indeed joined us from the base village of Tikona Peth. Thanks him never wavered off the actual path. Soon enough we were looking at the beautiful scenery around. Beautiful hills amidst clouds and the occasional drizzle. There was greenery all around. It was easy to forget that we were also treading on some very narrow paths nearby deep ridges and a slightest mistake could be fateful.
I think in the process I did slip at one place but thankfully nothing more than a few scratches. A hour or so and we had pretty much curved around a couple of hills and still no signs of the fort walls. The fort did not look all that high, when we started off from the base village. However, all the while as we climbed up, it suddenly seemed to disappear amongst the mountains and the jungle around us. Just as we were starting to loose hope and feeling a little weary, we came across a small cave and a water cistern. There was a Hanuman temple there. The Hanuman seemed to point upwards to the path leading to the top. This site was inspirational enough to not turn back and of course an indication that the fort was nearby.
Soon enough we reached the riskiest path of our climb. A narrow 1.5 - 2 feet wide flight of stairs carved out of rock. That's not risky one would think.. But hang on . these are not the perfect finish cement steps that we urbane people are used to. these were very old steps and a lot of them had broken rock. They were quite high as well (min 1.5 ft) and had mosses growing on them. The scariest part however was one that on one side of the steps was the vertical fort wall and on other side was a deep valley. In essence a slip here would not just be fateful but fatal too. We stayed close together and moved forward slowly.
About 15 - 20 minutes more and there we were at top of Tikona ... about 3600 feet on top of sea level. There was a dilapidated temple atop. The scenery around the fort was breath taking. Among the other forts visible were Tung, Lohagad and Visapur. We didn't really venture too much around the fort as it started raining and by now we were a little scared about getting back one piece (especially because of the stairs that we had left behind us). Not to mention that we were out of potable water. We rested for some time appreciated the scenery and the food that we had brought along and then gathered the courage to head back via the same path.

The return journey was quite scary cause this time those slippery stairs would be at the beginning of the descent. Besides instead of looking up at the fort wall we were always looking downwards into the valley. The descent was quite slow. It was sort of like being caught between the devil and the deep blue sea (or should I say deep green valley). The picture here shows me smiling. It does hide the fact that we all got back without a more than a scratch and thanks to the dog in the background who stuck with us all the while. After that the rest of the terrain seemed a cake walk and soon enough we were back at Tikona peth with our muddy shoes, dirty jeans, tired legs but refreshed minds waiting for the next transport to Kamshet.


All in all a memorable one day trek. I came back a wiser man (realized why everyone warns you against trekking in the rainy season) who wanted to become a fool again by trekking the Tung in the rains. The opportunity to exhibit my foolishness has not come yet but I hope it does so ...

Manchanbelle

2006-07-11T00:57:00.000-07:00

On 2 August 2003, 10 young men met up to do a maiden cycling trip (which I would prefer calling a cycle trek ) with adventura.
The destination: Manchanbelle Dam .. a good 40 kms off bangalore ( add another 8 for Kormangla). The route: via Banashankari , Kingeri , Big Banyan tree and finally to the backwaters of the Dam. The transport : Cycles (Read as Atlas Goldline cycles with the bare minimum requirements and very hard seats) So the team lead by Prabhat and consisting of kushal Singh , Sharma Deepak , Mukul Singhal, Deepak Chandrasekaran , Vishal Shanbhag (that's me) , Swapnil Sapar , Nilesh Jagtap , Liju Mathew ,Saurabh Agrawal assembled at Kormangla all raring to go at 3.30 ( an hour and a half late by plan)..
With words of encouragment from Ujjal Dada we began cycling and reached Banashankari in quick time of just 30 minutes. Apart from few guys losing the way in between there were no other problems. Just when reached Banashankari the Rain god smiled on us and it began drizzling. Some people took a welcome break to attend some important calls. A few snaps and a short wait for the drizzle to go down and we were back in action.
Then began a continuous ride on a steady downhill slope with the an occasional ride uphill. We thanked God for creating a terrain that was so easy on our legs..
But it also left me wondering how we would make it back across the same road. I was hoping that the altitude of Kingeri and Banashankari get reversed during our return journey. By now we were enjoying ourseleves with songs and light banter. When rain threatened I proposed clicking a snap under a tree with a Big banyan ( the one which is worn) hanging from it. So we would have some proof that we had atleast reached the Big Banyan tree. Thankfully the rain didn't last too long and we moved on to Kingeri.
A welcome break at Kingeri after about 20 kms of cycling. Saw a few trucks standing at the petrol pump where we had halted and we started contemplating the possible transport for the return journey.
At about 4.40 we started back on journey via the Mysore highway and then took the diversion to the Big Banyan tree. Almost 25 kilometers and my thighs were already aching. A climb up the road was a very tough task . A further 5-6 Kms and it was raining again. This time a lot heavily causing us to stop. This further delayed our journey.

The whether was worse and the sun was setting. Our plan of reaching the Dam by 7:00 was totally washed off by rain ( and not to mention a delayed start ) .
Forget the Dam by 7 it was already quite dark and we hadn't even reached the Big Banyan tree. So we started again around 6.40 after the rains and now were moving slowly to avoid the poth holes ( still I did fall twice on the way to Manchanbelle). Gradually as the darkness lay its cover on the sky we started riding in a straingt line. The first guy of course was at maximum risk of falling and had the extra job of shouting when ever he encountered a pothhole. So went the shouts "gaddha left" / " gaddha right " and "gaddha center" indicating where the potholes were. Occasionally these shouts were mixed with the painful "aaahh"s thanks to the wonderful seat which now to us seamed harder than diamond. We reached the Banyan tree around 7 :30 pm when it was pitch dark and we could only see a huge shadowy tree. A long time was spent with the snacks wondering ( or rather pondering ). The question was simple to cycle or not to cycle. The legs said no ( and so did the ass) but our heart said go cause now we were hardly 10 kms. The problem however was the prospect of riding the cycles on a extremely bad road with only a few torches to guide us and no cycle repair shops in case of break down. After lot of delibration we finally marched ( I mean cycled ) and now very carefully lest any cycle got punctured. Hardly 2 kms off the Dam when deepak sharma's cycle collided with somebody else and "oh my Gosh " the rim was slightly twisted and 4 spokes were broken. After a long time somehow prabhat and co got it to a condition where it could be pulled along the road . So we walked the rest of the distance and finally around 10:00 reached the camping spot near by the Manchanbelle dam back waters.

So as we were settling with our luggage and cycles on the camping ground the Tropicana met its end. Within minutes of opening the container there was virtually nothing left in it. Then began the game .. Only 4 ppl new how to build the tent. So the game was that those who knew how to build a tent would give instructions to two blind folded guys who didn't know how to build the tent. I volunteered to be blind folded and it was fun as Deepak Sharma and Kushal guided me and swapnil. After getting the basic tent up we realised that this game would take too long so the second tent was built totally by people with eyes. About an hour and a half and both the tents were finally up.
As the tents were nearly finished I happened to look up and "Oh my God !" what a clear sky was that. I could hardly believe that after the amount of rain that fell the whole evening we could even dream about such a clear sky in the night . And then began my competition with Deepak sharma ... the competition to count meteors. The sky was so clear that we could spot the milky way ( you did probably never see that in the urban sky) and as many as 6 meteors ( that's my count .. deepak would claim 8) in a span of just half an hour. Had I only remembered that wishes made while spotting meteors come true. ??? Anyways I didn't wish anything and just enjoyed the pleasure of being an novice astronomer. We also so the Mars much brighter and bigger than ever I had seen in my life .I am told that the Mars is coming closest to earth somewhere in mid August after almost a million or so years. That would explain its brightness and size.
Then we devoured the parathas and sang "Javed bhai so rahele the" as we slept .. 5 each in tents which barely had space for 3 . But it was fun and the pain in the body after the days work was so bad that even the cm thin sleeping mats felt like the best quality soft bed. But as we slept a neighbourhood Dog kept us awake for a while as it was munching on our left overs. After a little while it was a little suffocation that kept some of us awake. But all in all we did manage to catch some good sleep to keep us going through the next day.
Day 2 : August 3 Sunday ... A brand new day ..(except for our aching asses) As we woke up some of us realised the different uses of news paper. The night before it was used as a table cloth (while devoring the parathas) and now as a toilet paper.
So after teaching some photography to a local kid ( and boy he sure knew how to take snaps ) and some enquiring about cycle repairers in neighbouring villages we began our way back. By now one more cycle was punctured and one cycle couldn't turn properly. So we started trekking with the cycles. After a while the guys whos cycles were working realised that energy could be conserved by riding down the slope and trekking up the slope. So we started cheating the guys whose cycles didn't work. This I think annoyed them (obviously it did) so it was decided that the out of order cycle be pulled turn by turn. Thus we walked till chikkanhalli where the punctured cycle was repaired and so was Saurabh's cycle (which wasn't turning properly). But the village guy didn't have the expertise or tools to repair the twisted rim. So we had to continue the trek a furhter 8 kms to chandranagar checkpost ( I don't remember the exact name of this village) where we were told that for garunteed there would be a proper cycle mechanic.
We reached this place around 9.40 am .. There was a mechanic and he did agree to mend those cycles but the whole process cost us an hour ( although I did catch on some sleep). However it was a welcome break in which most of us had some Gaint plate sized idli's (Deepak rechristened them as "Idlaa").
some more of photosessions and we were back on Road. We had hardly moved about 1.5 kms from this village when Swapnil met with an accident ( rather I should say his cycle ). I was a little ahead at this time and when I went back what I saw was Swapnil on both his feet with a few scrathes on his palms and knees and a cycle lying down with the rim of the front tyre broken into a strange angle , the tube had come out but hadn't burst. Overall the cycle now needed some hospitalisation before it could work again.... The reason for the accident was that there was a long downhill slope just before a very bad underconstruction type road. Swapnil had missed out on applying brakes to his cycle and the rusty rim got twisted due to the sheer speed and friction at the turn just after the slope. Swapnil I am told was hurled of a few meters and looking at the cycle we were all surprised that he didn't have any broken bones ... Strong man huhh.
Thus came to an end Swapnil's trip.. We then kept the cycle in the middle of the road to stop any trucks that came and hey presto .. within a few minutes there was one . So Swapnil and his cycle were truck lifted. After some inspection it was realised that Deepak and Nilesh also had cycles which probably wouldn't last the trip so they too opted for the truck. The rest of the gang continued in the tiring and energy sapping heat. Later we came to know that the 3 musketeers had to take 3 trucks to reach Bangalore. As we continued and reached Banyan tree it was almost 12:30 and we were beginning to feel a little weary. So we took a longer break at the Banyan tree .. a few snaps with the Big banyan and a lot of refreshments and we were back on our way by 1:00 pm. The ride from Banyan tree to Kingeri was cool except that we were continuously loosing all our reserves of energy and even uphill slopes which otherwise would seem gentle seemed like mountains to climb.
By 2:00 pm we had reached Kingeri rested there for a while. The next stretch from Kingeri to Banashankari was going to be the most tiring and challenging .. Especially cause it was continuously uphill and we would have to pull our cycles rather than ride them for most of the road. For a moment I felt that I had missed the truck but a lots of Tropicana and Glucose did change my thinking. I guess this thought might have crossed almost everybody in the 7 left .. but all I assume wanted to continue and so we were taking on the slopes. Trying hard to cycle up but eventually only settling down to pulling the cycles with all the energy that we had left.
So we continued slower than ever before and all the time losing more energy.. By the time we were closing on Bangalore my eyes started to lit up but the fatigue was overwhelming. About 1 km from Banashankari i.e just after entering Bangalore .. I had virtually no energy to continue. Prabhat tried hard to pull but my legs refused to pedal and finally after nearly 90 kms of cycling I decided to take an Auto to Kormangla. So there ended my trip with another 8 Kms or so left. Saurabh finished his trip at JP Nagar and the rest of the junta followed to reach Kormangla within an hour of me reaching. So it was only 5 who ultimately made the full distance of close to 100 kms.
Kudos to the whole team for going the distance. IT was an acheievment considering that most of us were cycling after a long time. And the sense of satisfaction was unbelievable as we gave the cycles back to Exodus , Kormangla ( from where we had rented them) .
As most of us were still couting the number of bones that were aching .. (Although 206 is the normal count I guess most could be forgiven for imagining a 412 bones.. ) I was wondering when would my next cylce trip be..
Three Cheers to adventura ( Prabhat in particular ) for organising the trip and countless more cheers the whole team ( including prabhat and the truck luggage ) for being a part of the trip..

A temple somewhere

2006-07-11T00:56:00.000-07:00

Jan 24- 25 ,2004 my last weekend as a resident of Bangalore for I was getting transferred to Pune the next week. My friends Deepak Chandrasekaran , Roopa and Manu were insistent that I organize a trek before leaving. I happily obliged. So on 23 rd night I was with Ashish (chacha) , Roopa (Bhai), Deepak C (Motu) , Rana , Manu , Sapna and Deepak Mahesha (DM) on board the KSRTC bus to chickmaglur.

We reached Chickmaglur early morning at about 4.30 am on Jan 24 . I attended my important calls (nature's calls) at the Bus stop facility itself although it smelled foul, but Rana and Roopa wanted something better so they searched a nearby lodge. Thankfully they decided not to stay at the lodge and by 6 we were all set to go to the beginning spot of our trek - A place called Sarpandari marked by a gateway arch. However the first bus which would take us to that place was not before 8 so we decided to get our breakfast as well before moving.

The Chaiya Chaiya
About 7.30 am and we dumped all our luggage over the bus and found just 3 seats inside it. Roopa was interested in doing a chaiya chaiya over the bus and so were Deepak (DC) and myself but we controlled our instincts. Soon roopa and Sapna and DC found seats and only me ,DM and chacha were left standing in a bus that was getting crowded very quickly. Then we saw people climbing over to the roof of the bus. Chacha suggested we follow suit and I took the lead only to be followed by chacha , DC , roopa and sapna. So there we were already enjoying this trip even before the actual trek began. We were singing all the songs we could . The highlight was of course chaiya chaiya. I did take a recording of DC using his vocal chords but unfortunately print media is not sophisticated enough at this point to include audio visuals. But the internet and you tube do make it possible for me to share the same video so here is the link for those interested - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mjs05f21Ac8 . The slope climbing up was scary and the roof top wasn't quite the most stable one but I think we were quite excited to worry about falling from the roof top and the fun continued.

Lost in Middle of Nowhere
In about 45 minutes the bus landed us at the starting spot. First timers Roopa and Sapna (i.e. both were carrying baggage on a trek for the first time) were eager to start. So we only stood for one nice snap at the entrance and then Roopa, Sapna took the lead in walking along the path. Chacha was next followed by DM , DC , Myself ,Manu and Rana. I had to stay behind to ensure that the whole group was safe and that I would be there for people who would most likely need support (read as Manu). Lets just say I was being the good organizer trying to make sure that 100% survival rate was maintained. However with amateurs leading the way it was not long before we realized that we had lost our way. The path we were following gradually vanished and soon we found ourselves on a steep slope of about 60 degrees. A look at the road far below in the valley was enough to scare the wits out of most.

Luckily Roopa , Sapna and Vaishnodevi pilgrimage expert Ashish chacha didn't have too much of fear for heights and they continued at a good pace . DM and DC weren't far behind but Manu was losing confidence and every look below and she was further scared. It was now left to me and Rana to make sure that we got her to continue to the top. Not that we had any other option as we were by now stuck on a slope of about 60 - 70 degrees and there was no way we could camp anywhere. Nor could we backtrack our steps as descending down this slope was much more risky than climbing. So we had no option but to continue and make sure that everybody else continued.

Baby Steps
Looking up I could see towards the top a rocky region blocking the view of the top of the mountain. Towards our left there was a small gap high up among the rocks. Having read a previous travelogue I knew that the temple should be above that rocky region. My instincts and also DM suggested that we have to get to that gap and passing through it might take us to the top. But to reach that point we had a Herculean task to do in climbing the mountain. Just 2 spots were available where we could take some rest. The first one was a big tree just behind a big rock and the next one was further higher - a few rocks and smaller shrubs. That was all that we could see from the perspective of looking at resting places. Thankfully the sky was clouded which for most part ensured that there was some shade. Although whenever sun came out DC felt the need of wipers on his spectacles to wipe of the sweat. Soon Roopa , Sapna , Ashish , DC and DM were perched atop the first big rock. There was another group climbing the adjacent hill who were as lost as us (perhaps more).Roopa and co were shouting to guide them but Rana and Manu mistook it them calling on us to come up quickly. It did not help either of them only disturbing their concentration. Now we had come down to the stage where we had to guide Manu over each and every step. She was totally down on confidence and I guess she had entrusted her safety to Rana and me with total faith in us (that was indeed a good experience for me- being responsible for more than just myself). It reminded me of the "baby steps" bit from Govinda's "Dewana Mastana" movie. As we reached the first rock Manu had survived one total break down of confidence but the good thing was that some rest and electral and she was still willing to carry on.

Thank god for those cell phones
Now I needed volunteers to scout for the path ahead. Rana went out without his bag . He went up for quite some distance only to realize that there was not much. Now we had to put to use the "Express yourself " airtel (Rana's , Manu's and Chacha's cells). "The network always follows you" hutch never caught up with Deepak or Roopa and my cell was already not working. But thanks to their expressions Rana made it clear that the path he was on, was not a path at all. But there was a possible path moving diagonally upwards towards left. So as Rana was preparing to come down Chacha volunteered to be reconnoiterer. I asked him to take his Backpack along. Knowing his speed and energy I knew that he could reach to a safe spot and comeback to help the rest if required. Soon chacha was climbing up fast like a mountain goat. Afterall being from the state of J & K he was from the mountains. Before long he came across a path and informed us to start our trek along the path he had taken.

Fear Factor - steep slopes
I asked DM , DC , Roopa and Sapna to move ahead and Rana , myself and Manu followed them. But as usual Manu 's fears caught up with her before we could catch up with Chacha who was waiting near the rocks visible at the top. So we were slowed down again. By now Rana also had apprehension about us making to the top safely (in fact deep down even I had the same apprehensions) but somehow I had a strange confidence that we would make it through this hard part of the trek. Our apprehensions came true soon as Roopa lost hold on the Grass roots and rocks that we were so dependent upon as we climbed. She was tense and was steadying herself by pushing herself onto the slope with all her strength. Nobody but DM (who was right behind her) realized that she was in trouble and held of her leg firmly. Then Roopa started shouting that she was losing her confidence but by now she was able catch hold of some support and be back on her own. It was only when she shouted that rest of us realized that she was in trouble. By now Chacha was on his way back and he carried her bag till she was out of the steep slopes. I think Manu and Rana hadn't really seen Roopa in trouble (had Manu seen it I can only imagine what would have happened to her own confidence). This incident sent a few chills down my spine and I had to bring in all my previous trek experience to motivate myself and people behind me to keep going.

There is always a trail
After a seemingly never ending climb we were now perched on top of the second rock. By now Chacha had dropped Roopa and Sapna to safety and DM and DC who had been waiting for the last set were ready to move. Just then Chacha came back to help us out and he carried Manu's Bag. With only her own weight to carry Manu was quicker and soon we were back on track having rejoined the original trekking trail. I was really glad that all of us had made it there. Rana was now perhaps more mentally exhausted then physically and soon took the lead in moving up with Roopa ( who by now had recovered from her own fears). The path now was a cool slope of about 20 - 30 degrees. Manu volunteered to take her backpack again. DC and Sapna were tiring but electral kept them going. Thankfully nobody had any cramps. Now as I looked down I was just left wondering if we had really managed to make across that slope. It was liking taking a AXN Fear Factor Challenge over steep slopes and winning it. Roopa's face said it all ...

On the top of Karnataka
After another hour of trek we were finally there at the top. A total time of 5 hrs since we began our trek (of which about 3 hrs were spent battling fear on that slope) and we were on the top. It was likes of Chacha , DM, Rana and Sapna (who infact for most part didn't even realize that we were covering a tough slope) that kept the group going. AS I reached the top I informed the Gang that we were on top of Karnataka (Mulainagiri is supposed to be the topmost peak in Karnataka standing tall at about 6300 ft). The news didn't draw any Hurrays as everyone was tired. Then it was time for some sumptuous meal provided by our hosts the Shiv temple priest and his family. The meal consisted of simple rice , rasam and butter milk with some pickles but tasted amazingly great. I guess a grueling walk teaches you to appreciate the importance of even the simplest of meals. The one thing remarkable about Karnataka and I think most of south India is the proximity of temples. Here we were on the highest peak in Karnataka and a fairly remote one too. We had battled some great fears to reach here only to realise that there was aready a temple on this peak. The temple story is something that repeats on each and every trek of mine. However this temple was totally unexpected... at the top of Karnataka. When I had read another travelogue which mentioned this temple I was expecting a small rock resembling a shiv ling and not a fully well built temple. That's why I chose to call this log - "A temple somewhere"

Calves and Caves
Having eaten a tummy full of food some people decided to bask in the sunlight (DM) while others chose to get the cool of the shadow and grab some sleep.DC and Rana kept themselves busy teasing a calf (called Chini). DC tried hard talking to the calf and asking it his mother was. But it was bad luck for DC as he discovered that the Chini couldn't talk human language and was too shy even to mow. Finally he ran away from DC.After some time I chose to go and do some cave exploration. There were caves we had seen just a few feet below the peak but then we decided to put down our back packs and come back for exploration later. Thus now it was myself and DC in the lead soon followed by Ashish , Roopa and Sapna. There were to caves just adjacent to each other. I thought they would converge somewhere inside but as we explored the caves had turns and twists but never seemed to converge. One cave had a samadhi inside and the atmosphere was perfect to offer prayers so DC took his time to meditate. The other cave was the place for photo session. In fact we took quite a few photos in both the caves. After quite some cave exploration I was thinking what else would this trek have in store for us. So far it had a Chaiya Chaiya style roof top travel , Steep Hair raising slopes , Caves , Temples (not to mention the rasam rice). We went back to the temple campus for some more goodies (choclates and biscuits) when the others woke up. Then we went in for a second round of exploration except that this time we had a guide who told us that the Samadhi was of some Baba Mulainagiri who meditaded there for long time. He also told us that the water (there was some clear water in the second cave) was quite holy and splashed it over us. The peak and the temple above were named after this Baba.

Finally the tents and campfire
Now it was nearly 5.30 and the sun was going down so it was time for the tents to come into the act. The priest adviced us to camp inside the temple premises and was quite right as the walls would provide some buffer from the winds. So now it was Your truely in action teaching the rest how to pitch up the tents. People with previous trekking experience (Rana and Manu ) also knew the process so it was easier for me. The tents were ready very quickly and we did have the opportunity to have a glimpse of the setting sun except that the clouds had covered the setting sun for most part. The priest's family now provided us with some coffee and were willing to provide us the dinner as well but we had other plans. So now DC doned the Chef's hat and began with making the chulha from some bricks and firewood that he had collected by teaming with somebody ( I don't know who). The diesel did it is job and after a few smoky minutes there was the fire. Deepak was behaving like the traditional housewife in those villages who blow the chulha's . In fact he was quite possessive about the blowing part. So much so that I had to name him as a perfect house husband. Thanks to deepak and Roopa (who later tried her hand at warming the chapatis) we had a nice dinner consisting of chapati's , rice items (sambar rice , pongal , bisibele rice etc) and tomato soup. DC seemed to have thoroughly enjoyed his stint as the chef but I had the chimney's fate being the target of the smoke most of the time. Nevermind as the dinner was good and stomach filling. As they say after a good dinner it is time for some good night's rest. So the campfire and Antakhsari sessions were skipped and it was time to sleep. So after some adjustment in the boys tent we were all asleep and woke up only at sunrise. First up was DM follwed by me and Ashish. The girls too woke up quickly but Rana and Deepak simply refused to wake up until Roopa provided them with bed tea. After a lot of pesturing they did finally get up (surprisingly without the tea going into their hands).

Dog is Man's best friend
Now that all the active and lazy bones were up we packed up (some slowly and some quick) but after the last sloth (read as Rana) had packed up we decided to towards Baba budangiri but not before a group photo at the temple. The trek to Baba budangiri was abt 10 km but abt 4 kms from on the way we would meet a tar road. The plan was to reach the tar road catch some available transport to the shrine and then take the next bus to Chickmaglur after visiting the shrine. Our previous day's cave exploration guide led us for a few minutes and took us to a point from where the rest of the path was visible for quite a long way. He gave some directions to our kannadiga DM and went back. But his faithful dog (whom we had now named as tommy) continued ahead making sure that we were on the right path. He had an injured front leg but despite limping he was determined that the trekkers (now pilgrims) did not lose the way. He kept walking ahead of us all the time waiting whenever we took a break. The scenery was good and it was slightly clouded so I took my time pausing often to enjoy the nature. DM was busy with his camera. About 1.5 hrs of walk and we were on the road. The navigator Tommy was still with us. Our host had informed us that Tommy usually made sure that people had reached the shrine before returning home. So as we waited for the next bus to Baba Budangiri , Tommy waited for us thinking that we were taking a break and would soon start. DC tried informing Tommy that he could go but like with Chini , DC again had no luck in communication with animals except that Tommy didn't run away from Deepak. Then we saw an empty truck going towards the Shrine and we were back doing chaiya chaiya but this time sitting in the truck. This ride was quite bumpy and I was thankful to god having provided some cushioning on my butt in form of fat. DC and I continued with our songs for some time before stopping as some of the other (not our grp) travellers in the truck were unwell.

A visit to the shrine
There was a waterfall (a rather small one) a little ahead of the Shrine were we went first with hopes of having a bath but the size of the waterfall turned me off and I decided otherwise. Soon the whole junta decided otherwise and after some tea and snacks at a nearby stall we were back on the truck to the Shrine. The other ppl in the truck ofcourse took the opportunity to freshen themselves.
The Shrine was indeed unique as it was a rare place were hindus and muslims shared the space while offering their prayers. I (despite being a agnostic) felt like going in to the temple and it was heartwarming to see the too religions converging at the shrine. I thought that we should have more such shrines and the message that we are all children of one god was so apparent at this place.

Chaiya Chaiya back to Bangalore
At around 3:00 pm we had our lunch and were back in the bus (rather on top of the Bus again). This time though our luggage was inside and Rana and Manu were looking after it as DM joined the rest of the gang in doing the chaiya chaiya act. The ride back was thrilling as the Bus curved around the steep slopes of the hills. We all held each other like a chain to make sure that nobody lost balance while the bus navigated the curves. I think the chain concept must have caused some problems for Chacha as I and Roopa held his legs quite tightly. Finally we were back at Chickmaglur and soon we were on the way back to Bangalore (this time though we were inside the bus for a change). I was back in action lending my funda's to Roopa and Sapna while Rana , DC and Manu caught some sleep and wonder what chacha was thinking all alone awake and not talking. At about 10 : 15 or so we reached Bangalore and that marked an end of a wonderful enjoyable trek.

It's raining on the Peak

2006-07-11T00:55:00.000-07:00

It was October 2003. My project work was minimum. My module was delivered and project was on course for a successful go live in December.
The rainy season was still on and it was time for me stretch my muscles and bend my back a little. And then came the mail from Soma.. a trek to the Tadeyandomal peak in Sahayadris on October 10. I thought this sounds perfect. Caught hold of my roommate Bharath and soon we were in with a team of about 13 guys ready to scale the peak.
Lead by Soma , Ujjal Dada and Ashwin the experienced guys from Adventura. Then there were guys like me with a few treks of experience and guys like Bharat for whom it was the first ever trek. A nice and mixed group.

October 10 Friday evening :. We all assemble at the Bangalore bus stand. The backpacks, 4 tents, some 13 sleeping bags and 13 enthusiastic guys. The trip to Virajpet (the nearest town for the trek destination) wasn’t really comfortable with the State Transport buses on the bumpy highway. The worst was of course the fact that we were traveling overnight so this was our opportunity to catch some sleep. Some people did sleep others didn’t ( atleast I did sleep). Morning about 5 : 00 am we reached Virajpet freshened up there and figured out that Amit had a good appetite (though at this point I did rather not classify it as voracious, I would ultimately) . Around 6 we caught our next transport which would take us to the starting point .. a village on the foothills called Kakabe. We rearranged the baggage at the bus stop so as to have a more even distribution. I took one tent into my relatively empty back pack and my god wasn’t it heavy. Our first halt was at Nalaknad palace about 3 kms from the bus stop. On the way we filled up all the water bottles ..The trek after the palace was about 8 kms and perhaps with no drinking water all the way.. so we had to fill our supplies.

The trek to Nalaknad was very easy… no steep slopes. The soil was firm and there were farms all around to add to the scenery. A little help from the villagers and our able translators (Ashwin and Anand the only guys who knew Kannada) and we reached our base camp the Nalaknad palace. IT was more like a big bungalow and quite nowhere when compared to likes of the grand Wadiyar palace in Mysore. After all it was a tribal palace. The only thing that made it look like a palace was the big heavy wooden door at the entrance and a 15 foot broad wall (which was later to become our camping ground). A munch on some candy’s and a face wash at the canal water and we were back on track. It had rained recently and the jungle ahead was damp and the soil was sticky and soon we found out that it was a worms paradise (read as leech).

About half an hour into the trek and we were confused with the directions. Gautam Oza had done a pretty good job giving us the directions but still the jungle confused us. Some reconnoitering and we decided to cross the stream that appeared on the more wider road. But while the guys (I think Anand , Ashwin , Dada and Soma ) were on in their search we met our little blood suckers .. leeches. Thankfully iodized namak was there for feeding the leeches. So the order for the day was set. Watch your step lest you slip on the mud or some leech steps on its lunch table. A little walk ahead and we found a house to place some of our heavy baggage which we knew was not required on the peak (tents). But I missed this stop and walked straight ahead with the one in my backpack. The rest of the guys did the smart thing by not carrying the tent. But never mind I thought let me test my stamina. Bharath my roommate was enjoying his walk (this being his first trek). And so was the rest of the group of merry men with a few songs in the melodious voice of yours truly ( If anybody has doubts about the melodious part better agree or you may go deaf after listening to me when I try to prove what I mean).

The climb was steady but with the Sun coming out the temperature was increasing and we were beginning to sweat. The scenery however was beautiful enough of keep up the spirits. Our water supply was going down quickly. Then suddenly almost out of nowhere appeared a beautiful plain grassland spread about a few square kilometers. This grassland was surrounded on all sides by tall mountains. But the grassland was large and flat enough to play cricket provided the grass was cleared. Our pace was pretty good till now and looked like we would reach the top by 12:00 noon. The legs were still fresh but the Sun was playing its tricks and fatigue was slowly climbing on us.

We could clearly see the peak and all the time as we were trekking the peak still seemed at the same distance. As if someone was moving it away from us. Then we lost our way a bit and it was upto Dada , Soma and Ashwin to find out the path to the peak. Dada followed his instincts while Soma and Ashwin tried their own. The rest of the gang stayed down and rested in preparation for the steep climb ahead. A little later Soma came back and we followed him under the assumption that he had found the path. While Dada continued on his instincts. Within next 15 minutes we were in 2 separate groups Dada and Ketan were far away almost on the other side of the hill and the rest of the gang on one side. We again got stuck and apparently there was again no sign of the correct path. We were shouting to Dada to comeback with us and he was asking us to advance downhill to where he was. Lazy and tired as we were nobody moved.

In the mean time Saurabh became a little adventures and advance uphill a little further to discover a path to the peak. He came back and now we had to convince Dada that he had to come with us. The problem however was nobody could possibly shout loud enough for the message to get convyed. Just then we realized that we come from a civilized world where everybody (almost) carries a cell phone. And then we realized that some of these cell phone companies don’t lie when they say “Wherever you go, our network follows you” .. or “Connecting People”.. In the middle of nowhere there we were trying to communicate with cell phones and the best part was that it worked. My God had one of us been an ad film maker we had a very interesting concept demonstrated right there. Three cheers to cell phones and we were back on track. Dada and Ketan continued on their path and we followed Saurabh and Soma. The idea was now to rendezvous at the peak which was about another 1.5 hrs of very steep climb. As we got up and begun Bharat came down with his first cramps .He was highly dehydrated and was energy sapped. So we did some load shifting and gave him the “Jaan mein jaan dalde pite hi “ Glucon D. So with some effort he was back on 2 feet and we were on our way.

Now I had forgotten my songs but Amit still had his eyes on the Parathas. Actually by now all of us .That was in fact the incentive to keep going. Just then we had a final break before reaching the peak and started munching on some snacks. I thought that Dada and Ketan were missing those but look who’s coming this way. Ketan and Dada both had moved around the hill and joined the same path. United again we began the final stretch- A climb of almost 60 / 70 degrees. Suddenly it was growing more and more humid and we realized that the peak was in fact covered by clouds and was higher than expected. Dada and myself now stayed with Bharat while the rest of the junta went ahead. Finally Dada brought in all his experience to get an ailing Bharath to the top. Cheers to Dada to not allow Bharat to stop and cheers to Bharat for going on.
At about 1:15 Pm we were on the peak covered all around with clouds. The clouds were so dense that we couldn’t even see the adjacent peak a few meters across.
Then we attacked the parathas and any thing edible for that matter. Then there was a photo session with the adventura banner. There was a Israeli couple who had come there and they definitely like the parathas (their faces said it all). Soon we realized that we were out of water supply. It was drizzling and I had ideas about collecting the rainwater in bottles (as they say rain water harvesting) but my attempts were futile and we had to brave the possibility of having no water at all after another hour of trekking. Soon the drizzle was changing to heavy rain and we had to pack up and leave.. The climb was okay for most but agonizing for the injured Bharath and lack of water only worsened things. But as Gautam says “Upar chadna maarzi hai , neeche utarna maajboori hai”. We discovered that his words were indeed so very true. Slowly but surely with a number of massages Bharath’s legs were kept alive and soon we were back to Nalaknad palace .

As I opened my shoes I realized that I had been quite a treat for leeches (I found 3) and soon we were counting who had the highest and who had none. It was getting dark so we didn’t have time to rest and the tents had to be pitched up quick. While most of us were busy with tents pitching (rather learning to pitch) on the wide palace walls. Adventura found a replacement for the Head cook Haider (he was not on this trek). Anand came into his own as the chef for the day quickly preparing some refreshing tea followed by puliyogre rice and sambhar rice (of course it was MTR ready to eat). As the night set in the sky was clear and we thought may be it was time for some antakshari but our legs and back narrated an entirely different story so long before we realized we were fast asleep in the cozy tents only to be woken up early morning by nature’s calls. Jhaadi ke peeche did the trick and after refreshing snacks we were on our way back.

Now it was time for fun after the tiring trek. So our destination was the irpu falls. A lift to Virajpet and then another one to the nearest village for the falls and then the Jeeps to drop us to the fall and soon we found ourselves relishing a refreshing bath in the waterfall. Some of us went right under the gushing water of the fall and I have to say it was one of the most refreshing Baths I have ever had in my life. It felt as if I should stay there for ever but we had to get back to Bangalore to enable us to come back to the routine life of staring all day long at life less computer monitors. So we made our way back and by late night on Sunday we were back cooling our heels on the bed. All in all an amazing experience. Just left me checking when my next free weekend is coming along.

A walk in the Clouds

2006-07-11T00:54:00.000-07:00

The day I got the mail for a night trek to KodaChadri I was left wondering what is that supposed to mean. I was certain that therein lay a lot of challenges and loads of fun. This to me seemed the perfect break from a hectic work schedule. So I made up my mind to go.
After a lot of hard work over several weeks I finally got a break and the setting was perfect for a wonderful weekend. First a trip to a temple at Kollur, then to Byndoor beach and finally a night trek to the Kodachadri peak. Wow I thought that sounds exciting.

So we started a group of 35 trekkers in the May of 2003. A huge variety, some trekking verterans while others first timers others like me with an experience of 3-4 treks. Whatever the trekking experience one thing was common ... tonnes of enthusiasm.
Friday 11:00 pm : Got into train to Shimoga onand no sooner than the train started one Mr.Mohit Kapoor invited the whole group to a round of Dumb Charades (henceforth known as DC). Unfortunately for the fellow passengers our DC created more noise than a mob of social activists. so after a few warnings we stopped and decide to continue the following morning.
Saturday 5:00 am : Shimoga station. Everybody gets down and all the team leads (The whole group has been divided into 4 groups for convienience of handling) getting down to counting their group. The rest of the crowd on station looks in wonder as these strangely dressed tourists. We caught the Bus which was to take us around for the day.

First we went for a round of Tea and guess what the DC guy (Mohit) is already busy trying to communicate the name of some movie through his guestures. The order of the day henceforth was if you wan't to keep Mohit busy tell him name of some movie.
Saturday 6:00 am : Back into the Bus on the way to Kollur. There is some temple there (Don't ask ne whose or what). But the antakshari was fun. Obviously with great singers like myself around it has to be. So me , Rana and our team lead Gautam got down to pulling out the best songs from the deepest of our memories.
Thus began a session that spanned all the greatest of hits from "Javed Bhai So rahele the " to "Phatela Jeb sil jayega " to "Madhuri mili mujhe raste mein". For those who don't know the songs I am referring to don't make the mistake of challenging me in antakshari. (You might end up pulling out all your hair).

Saturday 11:00 am : We reached the Kollur Temple (Probably Eti or Manu might know the name of this temple or the Diety). For agnostics like me it was just another old monument with some wonderful architecture. The unique thing however was that all guys had to enter the main idol chamber topless. Some odd tradition but everybody followed. I stayed out to enjoy appreciating the architecture and the large size bell of the temple.

Saturday 1:30 pm : We have lunch at a small hotel in Byndoor village and move towards the Beach. Time for some real fun. No sooner that the beach was in sight all guys simply came alive in their shorts almost in no time and were in water. The girls slowly but surely made their way into the water. I had my try to swim in the extremely salty water only to burn my eyes in the salt. The rest of the crowd obviously enjoyed the water splashing all over. But took some effort to get the girls (read Manu , Eti) to come into waist deep water. Then Miss Manu simply grew crazy about collecting shells as we walked along the Beach and played catch catch in the water. 2.30 half hrs of non stop fun on the beach then we had bath in well water at a local villager's place.

Then went back to the beach this time no masti as intent was to watch the Sunset.
But some people couldn't hold themselves and as mohit and Satsang tried to throw Gautam in water, mohit lost his slippers. But the Clouds played the biggest spoil sport by covering the Sun 5 minutes before the sunset. How sad. Especially for ppl like Manu who had come on the beach for the first time in life. After all a sunset on a beach is a simply heavenly sight to see.

Saturday 8.30 pm: Back to Kollur for dinner.
Saturday 10.30 pm : We are finally at the beginning of the trek. There are clouds and a light drizzle. The path looks difficult and Mr Bhartesh trekking lead gave his fundas to all the trekkers. The scare .. leeches .We were informed that if it rains a little heavily we can expect a fair share of our blood testing to be done by leeches.
We began our trek in four groups. Me ,Rana and Manu were in the last group. While Eti was in the third group. The scene was beautiful. The moon playing hide and seek in the clouds. Fire flies all over the trees. And torches showing us the way. And I took up the job of keeping contact with the groups in front while the relatively slower members (read Manu) could catch up. Effectively I ended up doing atleast 25 % extra trekking. But if was fun. Pausing after every half an hour so that each group leader could take a count of people in his Group. Satsang and Mohit in group 3 were already busy playing DC on the way up. That kept us entertained for a while.

Group 4 decided that a nice way to keep awake was to repeat dialogues from Hera Pheri (Paresh Rawal's dialogues I have to admit are simply hilarious ). So every time we felt sleepy it was upto me and Gautam to remind them some joke from this movie.
As we climbed the slope grew steeper , and the path became less and less wider. And to one side was a deep valley. Most of us didnt't realise the depth of the valley in the dark.

One of the best site was when around an hour from the top we could see the peak of KodaChadri across the Valley and the clouds covering it . This was an incredible sight and pardon me if I don't have words to describe this sight. All I can say is that the whole group of 35 people sat down on a path about 2 feet wide facing the valley in front to just catch a glimpse. Cause this is the kind of sight that can only be viewed. I do not have a camera good enough to catch such site and that's a pity. This was ths sight which made me name this report as " A Walk in the Clouds". A climb for another 25 minutes or so and I realised that even the torch couldn't show me the path beyond 10 metres or so.Guess what we were in the clouds. It was only the next morning when we saw the depth of the valley that I realised how lucky the group was that all of us made it to the top in the Dark of the night. I have to say that it was amazing coordination by the 4 group leads (Bharatesh, Sharat,Satsang, Gautam).

Sunday 3:00 am : We finally reached the Pujari's house which was almost near the peak. There is a Shankaracharya temple at the peak. It was a further 40 minute climb from here. Thus in 4 hrs sharp a group of 35 reached the destination that too trekking in the night in such humid conditions. Three cheers to the whole group was our reaction on reaching the top. The last person to reach the top was none other than Manu. And guess what I didn't see her rucksack with her. A gentleman called Rana was carrying it for the last 30 minutes or so of the trek.. As I publish this report on the net, the same gentleman is going to be carrying her in his heart for the rest of his life :) .. Does carrying loads help or what ..?

According to plan we were to go to the peak to watch the Sunrise at 5.30 am. So we just lay under the make shift roof in the temple's verandah. Bhartesh did some setting with the priest to allow some people to sleep inside his house. There was space for about 15 or so . But most people were too tired to lift themselves so we slept there itself. Smart people like Eti did move in although. As I slept I could fill the cold mist condensing into dew drops on my face. It was a great feeling but I was simply too tired to wipe of the due drops. Before long Rana woke me up and we moved into the priests house around 5 whene it was a little too cold to sleep outside.
Sunday 6:00 am: I got up went to get a few snaps of the rising sun. But as badluck would have it all around wherever I looked it was only clouds and clouds. Although the scene was great it would have been better if we had the oppurtunity to watch the sunrise.

Nevertheless I got a few snaps of the clouds rising from below the peak. It was an awesome sight. A real WALK in the CLOUDS. After a while we had our breakfast and went up to the Kodachadri Peak. As we went up we could feel the wind so strong , the wind that carries the clouds. One interesting scene here was when we saw a bird trying to fly against the wind. It was flapping its wings really hard but not moving an inch.. I guess Einstein's theory of relativity or rather the concept of relative velocity came into play here.. Put simply the wind was so strong that the bird was continuously being pushed back and all its effort could only keep it stationary.

We spent a lot of time on the peak till noon. Some of us went to the Shankaracharya Cave to feel the continuously trickling stream water. The descent and the accent to the cave was really challenging and we managed to scare off most of the girls and guys who then remained happy with the scenery from the peak. However there were few ultra enthusiastic people like Eti.

Sunday 12:00 am: At the Pujari's house we had some harder pohas that had everybody munching hard. Some innovative people tried the chai pohas and the sambar pohas. At around 1:00 clock we started the descent back. And the information was that the last bus from the tar to kollur was at 3.45 pm. So we had to be quick. As usual Manu was a little behind the rest of the group but appreciably she kept going on.

Sunday 3.15 pm : I was at the main road with the rest of the gang waiting for the last group which included the slowest buffalos of the herd as well as the leader Bhartesh. No bus had arrived yet and chances of making it to Shimoga in time for the 11 :00 train to Bangalore looked a little dim. Then all of a sudden a Bus to Shimoga seemed to arrive out of nowhere and we simply mobbed it. Just as the bus arrived the last group also arrived. so there we were 35 trekkers full of dirt all over us trying to persuade the conductor of an already overcrowded bus to carry us to Shimoga. Surprisingly he agreed and all our luggage was put on top of the bus and all of us pushed our way into the Bus. I was reminded of the local trains in Mumbai. They say whatever be the number of people in the train there is always space for more. That's exactly what we did. The journey was entertaining with Mohit back to his games. This time though he had a variety.

Sunday 7:30 pm: Back in Shimoga. We had our dinner and then roamed around a bit and finally boarded the Train to Bangalore. But this time we didn't have enough energy to wake the other passengers so we just slept like babies and got up only when the train stopped at Bangalore.
That's was in detail the whole story. If you are still reading this essay then "THANK YOU" for having the patience and that itself is an appreciation of my effort in writing this one. Hope I have not bored you guys.

The Grand Canyon of Texas

2005-12-29T20:33:00.000-08:00

December 2005.

What ... Grand Canyon in Texas ??
It was 4 months since I came to Plano, Texas and no significant trips
to brag about. I had been searching the Texas State parks website for some good hangout for quite some time now and so far the best candidate was Palo Duro Canyon. More information about this Canyon will follow in this log. This canyon, sometimes referred to as Grand Canyon of Texas, is about 20 Miles south of Amarillo, Texas and formed by the erosion by the Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River. This Canyon is about 120 miles long, as much as 20 miles wide(at some places), and has a maximum depth of more than 800 feet. Its elevation at the rim is 3,500 feet above sea level.The steep sides of Palo Duro Canyon consist of bright, banded layers of orange, red, brown, yellow, grey, maroon, and white rocks that represent four different geologic periods and a time span of more than 240 million years.

Why Palo ... whatever ...?
The description above and the pictures present at www.palodurocanyon.com attracted me to this Canyon.. My trekking interest and liking of the mountains and nature made this spot the perfect get away for me. What more there was a long weekend for the Christmas which meant that there were lot more people who were interested. As the enthusiastic (read desparate) traveler I was entrusted the responsibility of searching for a good place, by as many as 9 people. Naturally I convinced all of them that Palo Duro Canyon was a good place. Most people I talked to said "Palo .. what ?" and I said trust me its going to be fun.

The day of the trip ...
Finally it was 23 December 2005 the day of the trip. The Plan was clear .. 10 of us drive to Amarillo that night and stay at the Motel 6. Saturday morning we would drive to the Canyon , trek around and then come back to Plano on Saturday late night.
As I entered the office I heard some discussion around my cube about the weekend. The general consensus (especially among Texan old timers) was "Palo .... what? ... I haven't heard of this place, its probably not worth it? .... check tripadvisor.com."
My instincts convinced me that the place was worth it and thankfully so did tripadvisor.com...
Had it not been for tripadvisor reviews , and my story of my knack to find unheard of , yet extremely enjoyable trip destinations .. I think the rest of the people would have had me change the destination to something like San Antonio, perhaps ....
Now just after I survived a coup on my job as the trip lead there was another disaster... well almost a disaster. A collegue told me that the state park was closed due to bad wheather since Dec 19. I called the park and thankfully they were open on the next day. The rest of the day was cool without any more happenings to thwart the trip.

The trip begins.
Finally after a few short delays we were on the way at about 6 pm. So it was one 12 seater van, 10 people and loads of food and enthusiasm. It was a new experience for me and Srini, driving the biggest vehicle we had ever driven. As we were driving Pankaj said "Yeh to India lag raha hai" ... I said what else would you feel if you were in a van full of Indians listening to Hindi music and singing hindi songs (or rather shouting) at the peak output of our vocal chords. To add to this there were flat lands of texas .. giving a feeling as if we were driving on the farmlands of the deccan plateau. For a moment (or may be most of the trip) I felt as if I was back in India.

The higlights..
Rajiv bluffed the whole day that he had would not be able to come due to some personal issue. He did come saying that he need to get down at nearest Walmart so the whole onward journey we(especially Bharat) reminded him to get down every time we saw a Walmart. I guess whereever you go in the USA you are probably never from a Walmart . That's exactly what Rajiv learnt as we asked him to get down at every town that we passed. Soon he changed his stance to "I'll get down when we reach a Kroger". Smart move I would say as we realised that Kroger wasn't as common as Walmart.
Then there was Partha who was on his first road trip in the US. Not knowing much about the navigation or driving skills of the rest of gang and add to it his meticulous nature, I guess he was a little suspect of us being on the right path all the time till we reached the motel. Just as he was dozing off to somebody said that we are on the wrong highway. Partha woke up with a start and was immediately interested in the map and the driving directions. We soon figured that the best way to get Partha off his sleep was to just mention once that we were not on 287 (yeah that was the highway that we were to catch to lead us to Amarillo). For the rest of the onward journey Partha didn't catch too much sleep.
We reached our motel at about 1:00 am on Saturday and it was time to relax before the next days trek..

To the Canyon
We got up at 6.30 (am) on Saturday morning. By all my standards that was like getting up in the middle of night. For a moment as I got up I thought what am I doing getting up early on a weekend. That is against my rules of laziness ... but then trekking is my hobby so I can bend a few rules. We started off this time with Srini driving and Sam becoming the navigator. Normally a good navigator within Dallas , Sam did lead us into a wrong turn in the beginning. I guess he was busy listening to music on his new CD player ... but that was enough for Partha to become conscious that we were lost. So while Sameer was busy trying to figure out how to get us back on track, Partha and by now rest of us were busy challenging his navigation skills (read as asking for the Map). We were soon back on track. Then we got a glimpse of the Texas ranches. For as far as eyes could see there were only fields (or should I say ranches). All the land was abosultely flat and we were all wondering where was the Canyon. Technically we were just about 3-4 miles from the Canyon now but there was no glimpse of a river or even the slightest of contours to indicate the presence of a Canyon.

The Park
After driving for about forty minutes from our motel we were finally at the Palo Duro Canyon State park. The park office had a old stone house look. It looked like one of those houses that we have in remote villages in Rajasthan back in India. To the right of the office we could see the Canyon. It was as if a part of the land had fallen of into depths of the earth. I was searching for the river which caused this but there wasn't any flowing water to be seen. The park ranger informed us that the lighthouse was the most popular spot in the Canyon and was about 3 miles of trek once we had descended into the Canyon to the beginning of the trail. So now Bharat finally got to lay hands on the wheel on the sharp, sloping and curving roads that led to the floor of the Canyon. The scenery as we were going down was breath taking. It was enough for us to take a pause and venture around a bit. As I looked around there was the Canyon for as far as eye could see. Suddenly it felt as if we were in a hilly region. There was a good wind blowing too and it was quite cool. It was a sharp contrast to the ranches that we had by now gotten used to seeing.

The Trek.
Soon we were on our feet ready to trek. So there was everybody with a bottle of water and up on their feet and cheers on their faces albiet perhaps with rattling teeth for it was a little chilly down in the Canyon. The weather prediction was sunny and with very few trees the sun was really beating down. I was hoping that nobody would get dehydrated.
As we were walking I paused often to look around and the place was really beautiful. The walls of the canyon were nicely eroded to expose the historical composition of the crust. The colours were simply amazing .. a treat for the eyes. Unfortunately my ability to describe colours is limited by the actual number of colours that I can really recognize .. that's approximately 4.5 bits ... or 24 colours for a layman.. So with the 24 colours in mind I can only point out that I saw shades of red , gray, orange ,cream, white , yellow and more (colours which I am not quite good at describing) ... Of course apart from these colours there were the trees and shrubs here and there adding up another colour - green and of course the sky is blue. Most of the time there was a cool breeze blowing in the Canyon which kept the weather quite cool despite the sun.. Overall with the wind chill and the sunlight it was more like taking a morning walk..
The more experienced trekkers in me and sameer were not to be satisfied with a morning walk though so we decided to climb up a small peak near the Santana's face and a get better view. Rajiv and Neeraj were in too. It was a nice excercise for the legs although it also made us realise that Sandstone is brittle and that the formations are not really as strong as the look..
In fact I would go on to say that the formations represent the fragile equilibrium of the ecosystem of the canyon .. It was quite serene with our group being among the few to disturb the place. I almost felt guilty but then we couldn't have expereinced this serenity of the environment without having disturbed it. The rest of the trek was filled with a few stops at the rest places and lots of pictures. Of course the lighthouse formation was our final destination but the place itself had so much to offer for the artists perception .. As the say "beauty lies in the eye of the beholder"

The Formations
The first of the formations was the Santana's face and the capitol peak beside it. These Capitol peak peak clearly exposed the various colours while the Santana's face really looked like the face of a Tribal Chief ... No wonder the name.
The next interesting formation looked like a big Dog basking in the morning sun. I guess the park officials didn't really bother naming a lot of formations but our eyes were definitely at the artistic best finding out a formation or other wherever possible.

Just as if the tribal chief and his dog were not enough we were taken to Egypt as well .... I mean almost. One formation had a striking resemblence to the Sphinx in Egypt. Thankfully my friend Srini's camera caught a good view of it and therefore there is a snap to prove that I am not out of my minds to imagine a sphinx in Palo duro.

The ultimate formation of course was the light house which was amazing, imposing and yet beautiful at the same time.. It was formed of red rock (Sandstone I think) and from far of really looked like a light house except that there was no real light. It was as if we the trekkers were wandering the vast expanse of the Canyon (which is in fact rather wide to look like a canyon when you are inside it). The light house was guiding us (apart from the signboards courtesy State Parks authority) to our port which here was the base of the light house. As we sat on the base a nice and clear wind blew which was refreshing and soothing. All tensions of work and life were so easily blown away by the sight of the serene light house and the calm breeze ..

the Return Trip.
We were soon on our way back. The return trip of course was more sleepy than eventful or entertaining .. Understandably so as most of us weren't really regular trekkers or travellers. There were some highlights which without a mention will render this post incomplete...
The first were the wild turkey's which were large and eat biscuits (cookies).. I thought that these were some large and uncommon (even protected) species. Only later did I find out that they formed one of the animal groups, which I proudly boasted as one of the many animals that I have had for my meal ..
Then we saw some of the parks longhorns whose horn span was perhaps as large as that of my outstretched arms.

The next was my roommie Sam's voice from the heart. Rather his obsessive, compulsive desire to sing complete songs where most of the other people singing were happy to stop at just one stanza or two. I thought his desire was more so fueled by us trying to put a end to his singing for the trip.
The grand finale of course were Partha's "Dil" beats .. He used the word Dil as if they were the drums used to provide beats between lines of a song... I guess written text has limitation that I cannot reproduce those beats in their totallity and unfortunately none of us captured it as a film and so his talent will always go unsung ....

All in all this trip has been one of my most memorable experiences in the country USA even though most of americans probably haven't even heard of the place .. which is perhaps one reason that the place maintains its tranquil....

Jungle Mein Mangal

2005-12-29T19:02:00.000-08:00

It was a warm weekend in the month of Feb 2003. I had registered for my first trek with Adventura. It was to be a 2 day affair and I was quite excited.

We started from Bangalore at about 10.30 pm on Friday. Took KSRTC bus .There were 13 of us. The seats were not together and it was late night journey so not much scope for Antakshari. We did have Nariyal Pani at a Dhaba at 2:00 clock in the night with the first photo session with a Toast on the nariyal Pani.

Reached Sirsi at 8:00 clock in morning on Saturday.

Had breakfast at Sirsi some idli – dosa, proceeded to catch a Tempo to DevanHalli. The Tempo was quite crowded and reminded me of the luggage compartment of the local trains in Mumbai. Especially with the villagers coming in with their wares perhaps traveling across towns to trade stuff.

Reached Devanhalli at about 11.15 am. Yana is about 13 Km from here by normal road. But we were here to trek and enjoy the nature. So tar road was out of question .Instead we muddy village road hoping to reach some village called Bengaon. After about 1.5 hours of trekking which spanned some jeep tracks and farms we reached a small village. . A short break and then we were back on track crossing the farms and village roads. Before we knew we were inside a jungle. Now was the real fun as nobody knew the path. We had to stop often so that the experienced junta (Dada , suma , Bharatesh , Haider and Gautam) could determine whether we were on the right path. It was pure instincts and sense of direction that guided us here as there was nobody whom we could ask. At one time I thought we were running round and round in circles. Amongst the creepers and tree I lost my dear wrist watch (You know my sentiments were attached with it). But unfortunately there was no time for sentiments and we had to continue otherwise the next days headline would have been “13 infoscians feared lost in jungle”. But after another hour or so of trekking we finally saw some habitation and hey presto it turned out to be Bengaon .

Had a lunch at a vilager's house. The menu was Parathas and pickles with some buttermilk provided by the villagers and some goodies (cakes and biscuits). Never before had dry parathas seemed so tasty. They say that when hungry and tired you don’t bother about taste .. so very true. Eti was so highly engrossed in finishing the parathas that we knew that this Punjaban was the next Paratha Queen (if not beauty queen). Then back on trek using another village road. By now we ahd covered about 10 kilometers and our host had told us that yana was about 4 - 5 km and so we were happy that we would make it by sunset as it was 4 pm now. So with rejuvaneted spirits we started but with a heavy stomach the speed was obviously slow. The worst part was that the road from now on was a almost continues uphill one. Thankfully for the new comers like me it was a steady slope and the sun was going down so the heat was less. We kept walking up hill for another 3 Kms it was almost 5 and we reached a Tar road. This time the confusion was which way to take cause there was another village road crisscrossing this tar road. And as usual remote roads so no body to ask. We decided to scout around and finally some of us took the village road assuming it would go to Yana. The others were still taking rest. we walked about 5 minutes and saw a local. In the whole group there were luckily 5 people who knew the local language. One of them (Shubha) was leading the way and she asked them for directions only to realise that we were on the wrong way. The right way was to take a left on the Tar road. So went back only to see that Eti and Co had still not started walking from the cross. So we were back on Track and apparently another 5 Kms to go to Yana.

So the song for the moment was “Bus Chalte jaana hai”. The good news was that the most of the trek now was downhill so less tiring. Bad news most of the water we had was exhausted. I was walking like a Zombie while bharatesh gave his trekking fundas. After about 40 minutes or so and saw a diversion . Me and Rana were the first to reach here and as usual had to wait a few minutes for the Kannadiga's to come in and read the board (Kannada is as good as “kala akshar bhais barabar”. It said 3 Kms to some place and 8 Kms to some other place and 48 Kms to some third place . The 3 Km diversion was indeed a diversion to Yana. So now only 3 Kms to go and it was 6 .. Desperate to see the Sunset and only half a bottle of water left we tried to walk fast. The Darkness was setting in and the road went right through a jungle .We continued walking and enjoying the nature around but all the time Me and Rana were feeling the fatigue. About 1.5 kms and it was almost no light and we were just dragging our feet. It was as if life less corpses walking and yet no sign of Yana or any of the popularised rock formations.. We stopped hoping to hear any voices of the rest of the gang but it was only crickets and other insects in the night. Me and Rana were confused as to whether go back and look for the rest of the gang or continue walking. Now the road was hardly visible and I insisted that we do not use a Torch. Besides thanks to one road sign in Kannada we were not sure whether we were on the right path.

So we decided to walk for another 5 minutes and if we found nothing we would wait for the others. Another 100 meters or so and there was a small left turn . As soon as we turned suddenly almost out of no where we saw this huge rock like the one 's you see in dry climate (eg Remember MI2 Tom cruise climbs a Rock) . There was this tall rock and stars shining in its back drop. This was an amazing site an out of the world sight . A few more meters and we saw a even Massive rock (Should I call it a hill ?). This was we were sure Yana and we saw a temple and some house like structures at the base. This was indeed a site worth the 20 Km walk we did for it. The rest of the gang arrived around 15 minutes after us .

Then we had our dinner under .. cup noodles and some parathas. After some timepass and star gazing (saw Venus or Mangal if I am not wrong) wherein I gave some fundas to Rana. We went further down the valley to the vilage. There was some sort of shade built up a little before the village where we spent the night. Some junta went to the nearby stream and some exploration while lazybones like me got cozy into the sleeping mat. Next morning we got up early (hoping to see the sunrise). But we forgot that there were mountains all around so effectively we could actually see the sun when it was something like 9. However we took the opportunity to explore the jungle. We found a cave full of bats up above the massive rock. Later we also found another cave inside that rock which almost cut it into two. And we realised the the cave of bats that we had seen was nothing but the top of this big cave. It was really cool and really gave the feel of those Indiana Jones exploration movies (Should we shoot a movie Indian Shanbhag and the last Cave).

We moved back from Yana at about after some tea , cakes and cup noodles. Thanks to head cook Haider and the ladies (no not Eti. she still preferred to devour the food prepared by the rest) for the wonderful food right in the middle of the jungle. Now there was another long trek back hoping to go to a pilgrimage center called Gokarn and then go back to Sirsi . But after 3 Km trek back to the main road we found that we didn't have enough time and the bus stop for Gokarn was something like 7 kms ahead. So started walking back. Again me and Rana and 4 other people got far ahead of the group. We took a road expecting that it would take us to a place from where we would get a bus for sirsi and a little further (about .5 km) on this road a person told us that at that time there were no buses from that place to Sirsi so we walked back to the main road and still rest of the group wasn't there . Obviously they had missed us and gone ahead so we started our trek to Devanhalli along the main road . This trek was expected to be 10 km and we had no water or food left with us. After about 3 kms of trudging along the road we finally got back with the rest of the group who was waiting for us. Thankfully they had some food so we filled our hungry stomachs. A further trek of about 2 kms and there was a bus stand from where we found that buses to sirsi were available. So we waited here and around 3 pm we got a bus. Back to Sirsi by 4 and 4 more hrs to go before the bangalore bus arrived . So we decided to go to the MadhuKeshav temple in nearby village of Banavsi. This time we took a bus. This temple is a rather old temple must be a few centuries old atleast. It has some unique in which the head of the Nandi is inclined in such a way that one eye looks at the Shiva idol and the other eye looks at the Parvati idol in the adjacent Parvati temple.

Its architecture was amazing.

Finally we came back to Sirsi at 7.30 or so. Quick snack and we were in the Bus to Bangalore. Reached Bangalore at 6 am. Caught an hour or so in sleep and back to office for work.

Tales of Rock Climbing

2005-12-29T18:49:00.000-08:00

Background:

Infosys Pune Adventure club along with an independent group of experienced climbers organized a rock climbing camp at the Sinhagad Fort about 20 Kms from Pune. For me this was one activity that I always wanted to do and this was an ideal opportunity. Abhishek happily joined me and soon on 22nd May we both got up at 4 :00 clock in the morning (or should I say midnight given my sleeping habits) to get ready and go. At 5.30 we were waiting for the first bus to Sinhagad at the gate of Abhinav college. Mandar caught hold of a Sumo (the vehicle looked similar at least) driver who would drop us all at the top and so we hopped onto the sumo and by 7:00 am we were having a hot cup of tea overlooking the beautiful valley beside the Sinhagad fort.

The Camp begins:

After tea we quickly unloaded all our baggage at a cottage which was reserved for us. The cot looked tempting and so I stretched my legs but before long the instructors were ready to being the show. The camp began with a briefing on the different kinds of rock climbing techniques and different kinds of equipment used. I then came to know that what Tom Cruise did in MI2 was only good on screen and practically suicidal. I also got to know that the technical name for that Tom cruise adventure was “solo climbing”, the other 2 types of Rock climbing being “Pitch to Pitch” and “Sport Climbing”. The sheer number of bolts ropes and supports available for rock climbing amazed me so did their cost. Then followed a session on kinds of knots which were a reminder of all the theory of scouting I had forgotten after school. This was followed by a sumptuous breakfast.

Practical Lessons I: 10 feet climbs.

The first of the practical lessons were two 10 feet climbs. The rocks were relatively simple to climb except for the first step which was quite difficult.

I realised that jeans and normal sport shoes were after all not made for all kinds of adventure. However the rock surface was good enough to provide me some grip to get going. The second realisation was that rock climbing was more having the feet firmly on ground (rather the rock) than hanging on the edge with two hands (a la Tom Cruise). In fact feet are an overstatement as rarely ever did we get enough space in the foot holds or crevices of the rocks to put the whole feet. Most of the time the foot holds had only enough space for two / 3 of the toes and occasionally the front of the foot. Having the 2 feet firm the next step was to search for the next higher hand hold which could allow me to put my foot on the next higher available foot hold. Searching for the hand hold and foot hold taught me what “thinking on the toes” is all about. After murdering the 3 point climbing technique, which all instructors so emphasise on I managed to finish my climb. I realised then that I had actually made use of the same technique to reach the top of the first simple rock. By afternoon 2 :00 pm the whole group of 20 people had covered the 2 simple 10 feet climbs and were all excited and read for the lunch.

Lunch time day 1: The lunch consisted of pitla , bhakri and curds with some pickles. A typical maharashtrian food but very stomach filling. We also had some rice for those whom the bhakari did not satisfy (yours truly). This was followed by some demo climbs by the experience instructors in the group. There was a 10 year old kid (the son of the oldest instructor) who amazed us all with his skills. As the say “it all runs in the family”. Even his Mom was a rock climber and later she told us that the kid had started learning rock climbing almost the same time as he started walking. No wonder he could take on all the boulders and rock faces that we could only dream of.

Time for Practice: 40 feet climb.

Now that all of us had settle down and were over the fear of climbing it was time for some real climbing. So our instructors took us to a sight of a 40 feet rock face. There were quite a few routes to get atop this face. By now a whole new dimension had been added to my outlook towards rocks. Every rock face I viewed was not just another dead rock but a very alive rock climbing route. I took my time to decide that I was ready and took ample opportunity to take snaps of people climbing. Finally my turn came and I was ready all dressed to kill (oops climb). The rope well fastened to my harness in case I slipped. The start was again difficult as I was finding it difficult to get good foot hold. I got panicky and again forgot all about the 3 point technique. But the instructor was there to encourage me and remind me of the fundamentals. So I begin after slipping twice before the start. Once started there was no stopping me and I found that my brain was working quite well to find the hand holds and foot holds. Within minutes I could see the instructors at the top staring at me. I was so elated that instead of climbing quietly on the last step I just pulled using my hands and put my knees on the top of rock (using knees for support is a strict no no and a bad technique). Then I stood up to look down. I could feel the adrenaline rush through my whole body. This was one of the most ecstatic moments of my life and I was just hoping that Abhishek had captured some of it on my camera which he sure did.

An Evening with Snakes:

In the evening we realised that the place where we were staying did not have electricity. So I got busy trying to spot potential people for the next Ramsay horror movie by focussing the torch on the face of people around me. I did find some potential including myself. Then it was time for a feedback and fun session in the light provided by the fuel lamps. I guess most people were a little tired to go for a fun session so we were quick to pounce on the dinner as it arrived. Post dinner some of us went for a walk with the cold winds blowing and the trees hissing around. As we came back we saw the big surprise item of the day. One of the instructors was an employee of Haffkines Institute and he removed a live snake from his bag. The snake was non poisonous so everybody got an opportunity to touch and fell the scaly body. It was a chilling experience but just for a moment till I held the reptile in my hand. We were promised a date with a cobra and viper (they are poisonous varieties) the next day.

Soon after the snake show we were lying on our backs tired but excited to go rappelling down a 160 ft cliff the next day.

Day II:

Day 2 begin early with all of us getting ready to go for rappelling by 6.30 am. We were waiting below the cliff watching a demo of rappelling. There were some small rocks around as well where all the budding climbers could practice the skills. It was decided that 5 people will be waiting at the top ready to rappel at any given time and the rest will encourage them from below. I got busy trying to practise climbing as the fellow campers started descending one by one. The descent was indeed slow but that was quite expected as most of us were first timers and therefore quite careful and tentative. Soon the cameraman in yours truly got busy with the snaps.

Rappelling:

The cliff was about 160 feet tall. The initial 30- 40 feet were in fact the walls of the Fort. This was followed by a vertical rock. Then there was a flat horizontal region on which one could actually walk. This was followed by another long vertical face with a huge crack running right through middle from top to bottom. To the right of this rock face was a huge ridge and to the other side of the ridge was a smaller rock face.

The route in the beginning was fine with people rappelling with the 2 feet on the 2 sides of the crack for the last part of the descent. Every person who came down felt elated and that got me further excited for my turn. I had to wait till Abhishek made up his mind and then finished his turn (I had to take his snaps) and he sure made me wait. While we were busy with our climbing practise and photography an interesting event occurred. One guy (don’t remember your name dude) lost his footing just at the beginning of the last rock face. He was pushed to the right by the wind hit the ridge with his back. We were all worried to see this and I think most instructors had their heart in their mouth but thankfully he was not injured and was in his senses. He was just about beginning to rappel when another gust of wind threw him to the other side of the ridge. But this guy was simply so relaxed that he managed to smile for my camera. This guy was the only one who took the path on the other side of the ridge and surprisingly he came down without a scratch. Thank god and thank the people holding the ropes. But the fact that despite this accident he came down safe and sound increased our confidence in the people who held the ropes from above and below.

After this accident though it was decided that everybody will rappel between the ridge and the rock face at the left. This path was safer as the ridge provided a very stable surface for the feet. Soon Abhishek‘s turn came and that excited me as now I could leave my camera for him and get ready for my turn. I rushed to the starting point and got ready to rappel within minutes. Some people were waiting there still conquering their fear while I got dressed up and soon I was on the edge. But it seems my descent wasn’t going to be without events. In the very beginning I slipped and was in an odd position. My legs were above me and my head was facing the sky instead of the rock. I was stuck there unable to do anything with my legs or hands but thankfully the instructor above realised that and pulled the rope. Now I was in the right posture with my feet on the rock face and my head facing the rock (a proper L). I was descending quickly when I came across a crack and lost my footing a bit. A gush of wind at the same time made sure that I had a swing but thankfully the swing was small. I gave a smile after I was back under control hoping that somebody was taking a snap and then back on my way to the bottom of the cliff. The rest of the descent was quick and easy but definitely pumped up my adrenaline flow.

Eventually all of the participants took their rappelling practice (even the ones who were stuck at the top for the fear of falling).

Time to say good bye:

Then we came back to the resting place for a sumptuous lunch thought it was rather late in the day at nearly 3:00 pm. The lunch was followed by another feedback session where every one gave their experience. Sandeep, Kaushik and Guncha were named as the most enthusiastic climbers in the group. This was followed by the drinks … no not hard but the drink was a glass of buttermilk and it tasted heavenly especially after being tanned in the sun without too much water to drink for a little above half the day.

I and Abhishek then decided to walk our way down to the base of Sinhagad and then take a bus from there. We came down only to realise that the bus is too crowded at that place and that there was no way we could get a seat in that. With our efforts we did finally get back to Pune in about 2.5 hrs after we started from Sinhagad , thanks to a sumo which willing to bring us to Pune at the same price as the bus.

I then made my way to the bathroom for a nice shower of hot water ….. thank god for electricity and thank the inventor of the water heater.

Now that I am into thanking people I did like to thank all of you for being patient enough to read to this point. I would like to thank Mandar and Ajit (one more of my Ramsay movie potentials) for taking the trouble to organise this camp. Finally last but not the least I would like to thank each and every instructor of the adventure group who took us through the 2 days of the camp, especially Bhau sir who was ever encouraging and Kedar for being the voice of the adventure group and relating with us quite seamlessly which made the whole learning process quite easy and enjoyable.

Caverns and Carillon of Luray

2005-12-29T18:48:00.000-08:00

What do you do when you want to get away from the hustle, bustle and tensions of your work life? ... Take a vacation .. booze on the weekend ... do yoga ...The options are many and each person has a very own way of relieving stress. On 30 July 2005 I just wanted to get out of my residence at Richmond, VA - USA.

Our Plan -
Drive up to the nearest Theme park (King's Dominion), pump up the adrenalin with the roll coasters and forget about anything else... A straight forward plan but only 2 of my room mates bought this plan.

Late Start -
Saturday's are for lazing on the bed so we got up late and as usual by the time we got out of home it was noon.
We missed out checking weather and as we were about to enter the park rain's started pouring in and that after going through the slow traffic on I-95. As we were about to enter the park we learnt that being late was not bad after all as the park had just stopped the rides and were not quite certain when they would start them again. Looking at the clouds myself , Damle and Ashutosh thought that it was not a good idea to waste the tickets when the rides were not even running. We decided to think of other options.

And the options are -
About 2 hours of drive from Richmond's opens quite a few getaways .. Virginia beach, Washington, Appalachian Trails ...
The cloudy weather didn't favour the beach and Washington is a city not quite my kind of a getaway. So we thought of going somewhere in the Appalachians. By the time we had finished our lunch and the rains had subsided, it was 3 Pm and Luray was the only place where we could go and comeback the same day

So we headed northwest to Luray via I-64, I-81. As we closed on to the Appalachians the weather started to clear up and soon it was bright and sunny. Just about perfect to get a good view of the mountains. Around 5:45 we reached the caverns. The next tour of the caverns got us into the spectacular world of stalactites and stalagmites. Within minutes of entering the caverns I was amazed by what treasures nature can provide us with. I remembered reading in the science books that water contains salt and minerals. I had seen water dripping from the roof and water leaking drop by drop from a wet ceiling in the rainfall. I had however never imagined that something as common as water dripping from a roof can lead to formation of massive columns called stalactites and stalagmites.

As the guide explained as the water drips from the roof of the cave some amount of salt and minerals in the water are left behind on the ceiling and the ground below. These microscopic quantities over a period of millions of years lead to formation of macroscopic beauties called the stalactites and stalagmites. I don’t remember most of the stories our guide explained about the caves but there was this one piano inside the cave which was an excellent demonstration of nature, music and human imagination working in harmony. The place is a dark humid hollow and a gentle tap with a metal on any formation can definitely make a haunting sound. However it was the imagination of one man Mr Leland W Sprinkle that led to the creation of this wonderful Piano. In 1954 several hours of patient selection by trail and error helped identify some 30 odd notes on as many formations from about several thousands of formations. The formations are gently tapped by solenoids controlled by keys set on a piano. We were spellbound by the tunes of this Piano for a few minutes but it captured my imagination forever.

Another view of note was the mirror inside the cavern. There was an area where the ground mirrored the stalactites on the ceiling. It seemed as if they the formations were actually growing out of the ground but in fact it was a reflection of the ceiling in the clear still ground water in the cave. We talk of the Pyramids and the Great Wall as some wonders of the world. While there is no doubt that these form the epitome of human achievement but these caverns form a part of what I prefer to call as wonders of the nature. These are some sights that are a result of natural phenomena very common in our daily life yet when left untouched for several million years those phenomena give rise to some breathtaking sights – sights where dictionary would fall short of words to provide a description.

As if the Caverns were not a treat to the eyes and mind, there was the Car museum showcasing some of the oldest Cars and Bicycles. It was one large room which captured the history of Cars in USA. We spent around an hour in the Museum and by the time we were out it was almost sunset time at 7:50 pm.

As we stepped out we were ready to ride home but Ashutosh wanted to see one more thing. The information booklet mentioned some Bell tower with 47 bells. Ashutosh kept pestering me and Damle about going to that place through out our time at the museum out we weren’t too interested. When the clock struck 8:00 the bells started ringing. We just stood there in the Luray Parking lot and listened to the sound of the bells. We all thought that it was the hourly gong but the bells kept ringing for more than a few minutes. Then just as we were driving out of Luray we thought we might as well visit this place while we were there.

As soon as we parked outside the tower we realized that the ringing bells were not the hourly gong but in fact a part of a timed recital. All the bells were connected to a Carillon (an instrument which is like a Piano but the keys are connected to the Bell Clappers and can be used to play the bells to a harmonic tune) and the Carillon was played in a scheduled recital. The recital would last for 45 minutes. The tunes sounded were good and we decided to stay on to bear testimony to this treat for the eyes, ears, heart and soul.

The Singing Tower –
The singing tower is present in a very picturesque setting and coupled with the timing and the music, it makes way to a remarkable experience. The tower stands against a back drop of the small and beautiful town of Luray. In front of the tower just across the road towards the west are the Luray Caverns. Behind the Caverns towards the horizon are the scenic Appalachian Mountains. There are wooden benches facing the west kept ready for an audience. Just in front of the benches is a small calm lake. The benches usually have a few people sitting on them. A young couple, an elderly old man, a few families and small children playing around the lake – they all just add to atmosphere. When we went to the Carillon there was also a female trying to sketch the tower. The timing of the recital is also such that it just prepares you for an unforgettable experience. At 8:00 pm the sun has just started to set behind the mountains. The evening sky had the various shades of orange. The benches are set just right to see the sunset. I sat down on one of the benches and just listened to the tunes that the carillonneur was playing. The beautiful sunset made a treat for the eyes and the tunes were just great music for the ears. The sunset soon made way for the twilight colours in the slightly clouded sky. The whole scene with the people, the tower, the bells, the lake , the sunset and the mountains seemed to me like a scene straight out of a romantic fiction novel set in the 1700s (except for the Cars). This experience touched my heart and soon I found myself trying to meditate and feel one with my soul. The only real thing missing from my perspective was the absence of my girlfriend. I thought to myself that I would come back to this place sometime with my wife / Girl friend whenever I get a chance.

Truly this last experience was the pick of the trip to luray. As we were driving back all three of us were happy that we didn’t go to Kings Dominion. It seemed like all the happenings of the day were not just a coincidence but perhaps a definite set of events that set us up for the recital. We came to Luray in the evening and spent a lot of time in the museum, and just by chance were still present in Luray till 8. But we were happy that this whole set of events allowed us to listen to the recital that we otherwise wouldn’t even have imagined.

Cycle to Sinhagad

2005-12-29T18:43:00.000-08:00

This write up is probably a boring one (considering that it is a monoact) but nevertheless I hope you can continue till the end of it.

Background
Friday 23 April 2004:

It had been exactly 3 months since my last trek (Mulaiyangiri in Jan 2004). By now an avid trekker with 7 treks in a span of one year at Bangalore I had gotten used to this habit of going out for treks once in every 1.5 – 2 months. This was a considerably long gap without any trek. The worst part is that I am now in Pune which is supposed to be a trekkers paradise with so many forts of the Shivaji era spread all around Pune not to mention the hill stations like lonavala , Khandala , Mahabaleshwar and of course the Sahayadri mountains – the host to all the forts and the hill stations. To add to this urge for a trek was a long weekend (thanks to the polls Monday was a holiday). So everything was right for a trek except for some soaring temperatures of Pune. Also I had to be in Mumbai for the weekend so Sinhagad seemed the best option as it could be covered in a matter of 2 hrs and was only an hours journey from Pune. All I needed to do now was to find some like minded people who were free on the weekend.

All my efforts to rope in somebody to accompany me were in vain for various reasons.

For the Mumbaites long weekend meant more time to laze around in Mumbai. For some people office continuous to be an attractive destination on the weekends. Then there were others with some random plans on the weekend. For the Puneites this trek was more like a morning walk which they did every Sunday so they too were not too keen and no way I could woo them into accompanying me. That left a desperate me and my tanhaee (my bicycle). Finally I decided come what may I am going. So I caught hold of one of the Puneite morning walkers (Saee) and one with some random plans (Manoj) and got each of them to give their input on how to get there. Saee’s complete road map ultimately turned out to be very helpful.

7.30 pm: With nobody to accompany me I finally decided to go on my own (rather with my tanhaee). The question haunting me was “To cycle or not to cycle”. I decided to test myself and then answer the question and went on to roam around Paud road – Karve Road and then on to the sinhagad road itself. After about 2 hrs of cycling with a lot of breaks I decided “To Cycle”. The pune heat was a big factor so I decide to start early in the morning. My plan was simple start at 6:00 am reach the Pytha (the starting spot for the trek) or the base camp by 8 :00 .Park the cycle there and trek to the top by 9 :00 am. Then some roaming around and back to the Pytha by 10.30. Then cycle back to my home by 12.30 and finally Leave for Mumbai by 3:00 pm. The plan seemed perfect except that I had not accounted for two things properly. One was the fact that the heat was going to sap my energy and the cycling would be even more tiresome especially on the return journey with the Sun soaring higher and higher. The second was that even though I have done a lot of treks I haven’t done any trekking all alone and after 2 hrs of cycling. But both these factors only added to the fun as I ended up testing my endurance.

The Trek

Saturday 24 April 2004:

6:07 am : I packed up some 2 litres of water , my camera and a few chocolates and I was off on my tanhaee (my MTB bicycle). The temperature was cool and the sun was shining to its full brightness yet so I enjoyed peddling my way. My first destination was the Rajaram bridge across the Mula / Mutha river which put me on the sinhagad road. This place is about 4- 5 Kms from my home in Kothrud. Being a bachelor without a kitchen at home my only breakfast was some frooti available at some shop which opened up early. I got some dry fruits to keep me alive on the way. My planned breakfast was at the Pytha.

6.32 am : I am at Rajaram bridge. No cramps or strains so far. Hardly any water used and almost no heat. So far it was all very pleasant and I was enjoying the morning air. A short break and I started again. I planned to take a break almost every half an hour so that I wouldn’t get too tired. The distance form this bridge to the Pytha was about 18 Kms or so so it would take me about 1.5 hrs. I was a little behind schedule but that was not too much of a problem. I continued cycling. Now the sun was rising and I felt that having not taken a bath early morning was not a problem after all. My shirt was already too quite wet with the sweat but yet I hadn’t taken a completed bath in the heat. All the time the sun was rising behind me and I could only imagine as to how bad it would be on the return journey when the sun would be shining in my face. But I decided that whatever happened I had to make it back to Pune alive and kicking. Just then I saw an empty truck heading towards Pune. This vehicle lit up my eyes. I knew what I had to do in case I got too tired – just take a lift. After all who would deny lift to a poor little boy on cycle in the middle of a highway in the afternoon (Atleast that’s what I thought).

7.15 am: I reached outskirts of Khadakwasla ( a cantonment town near Pune). According to Saee’s info there was a Dam nearby but as yet there was no sign of it. I had cycled continuously for a long time now and I was losing my breathe. So my second long break came after nearly 45 minutes of cycling. I was feeling really tired and it was only the dry fruits and some water couple with the cool shade of a banyan tree that gave me the confidence to continue.

7.30 am: I was cycling with the IAT (Institute of Armament Technology) campus on my left and the Khadakvasla backwaters of the DAM on my right. The scenery was beautiful. The waters were tempting me to have a splash but that would have meant that I would overshoot my plan and risk some sun burns on the return journey. Also I didn’t have any changeovers as I hadn’t anticipated this opportunity before. So all my intentions of a bath put to rest I went on. There was a gradual slope upwards from now on which meant that I had to peddle that much harder. I took a break after every 10 -15 minutes.

7.50 am: I could see the Sinhagad for quite clearly now all the time perched atop the tallest peak among the visible ones. It seemed so close I thought it should be just 10 minutes or so from here to the Pytha. My legs were a little stiff now with almost 2 hrs of cycling. But the sight of Sinhagad charged me up. I enquired with some villagers nearby who disappointed me by telling that the pytha was another 5 kms. Now 5 Kms was a long distance still to go and the slope was increasing. All I could do now is to drag the cycle whenever the slope was a little steep and peddle when it was flat or downwards.

8.00 am: I saw to roads one was a narrower one which I was told led to the Pytha. The other one apparently was the one which meandered along the slope right upto the top of Sinhagad. I decided to stick to the plan and took the road to the Pytha. The slope was now almost continuous and with my tired legs I walked most of the way but utilized the slightest downhill slope or flat road available.

8.30 am: Finally after about 2.5 hrs of cycling I reached the base camp. Parked my cycle in some shade and went to the nearest hotel to devour some food. The bread omelet was a good breakfast and made me ready for the climb. The bad news though was that the temperature was already increasing and the sun was shining brighter.

After relaxing and stretching my muscles I started the climb at about 9:00 am. My plan was already overshot by an hour but I was hoping that I would climb fast and come down quick and save some time there.

9.15 am: Just 15 minutes into the climb and I realized that the Sun god was mercilessly beating down on my back. To add to it all the foliage around was dry due to the summer heat so virtually no shade. I tried walking fast but my tired legs refused to coordinate. I had no option but to forget about the idea of making it back to Pune by 12.30. Never mind I thought at least I’ll complete my trek. As I climbed slowly often dragging myself I saw a few stalls on the path. The peddlers in those stalls were selling lemon juice and masala cucumbers. While the heat tried its best to tire me out .. tones (actually just 3 glasses) of lemon juice and some cucumber kept me going on and on. At one point I thought I was going to drop down but a little rest each time kept me going on and on. I remembered the Duracell advt… about going on and on.

9.50 am: I was about mid way to the top by now. A look down and I could see the backwaters of the Khadakvasla dam. That was one beautiful sight. I could also see the whole path leading down to the road below. A look up and I could see the Sinhagad fort in all its glory along with the Prasar bharti tower atop the fort. All the 3 gates of the fort were visible. Now I knew that I wasn’t far away and could make it quite easily to the top. Most of the climb I had avoided the steeper paths keeping in mind the bad grip of my floaters and my tired legs but now I didn’t mind all that. With the destination so close I was excited and used the steeper short cuts to speed up my climb.

10.30 am: finally I was at the top. Sitting in the shade provided by the Gate I wondered how it could be so cool and breezy here when it is much hotter just a few steps away. I took my time with my camera and roamed around. There were a number of eateries on the top and all the women out there referred to me as “bala” (which in Marathi is used to refer to kids). Felt nice to be treated like a kid. The kid inside me suddenly felt pampered and I loved the attention a loner like me got. The fort also has a house which once belonged to Lokmanya Tilak. There are the samadhis of Shivaji and Tanaji Malusare (A warrior in Shavajis army). There is a well which is supposed to have water all round the year even when the wells in the nearby villages below are dry. I also went atop the Kalyan Gate right across the other side of the fort, which provided the best view available from the accessible places on the Fort. All in all I saw most of what I could see and finally decided to return.

11:30 am: I started my descent after satisfying my appetite for good scenery. I started slowly but as I walked I felt that my legs were no longer tired and soon I found my self literally running down the path. The descent was very fast and I was back down in almost half the time.

12.15 pm: Back at the hotel where I had my breakfast I had some lassi and biscuits. I was tempted to have a full lunch but the heat had partly killed my appetite. A short nap and I was thinking about what am I going to write in this report. I guess I didn’t have to think too much to write such a long report. There was a continuous slope on the way back so I thought that at least the initial part of the return journey wouldn’t be tiring. Although the thought of catching the truck was very tempting I skipped 2 trucks. I thought truck should be a last minute resort and should be taken only when I no longer have the energy to continue. After all if I took a truck I wouldn’t be able to brag about having cycled to and fro for the whole of Pune – Sinhagad distance. For a chatterbox as I am more adventure meant more to talk (and write). All said and done the slope was so good now that all I had to do was to have my hand on the brake and watch out for any vehicles coming along. The next part was cool and all I could think now was about my 3* 6 ft mattress in Pune. With so many hours of cycling and trekking I was beginning to realize the value of 206 - every orthopedists favourite number. I was feeling each and every of those 206 bones as I cycled occasionally whenever I met with a flat road or a uphill ride. I also was thinking about how comfortable the chair in my cubicle is which provides so much rest to my butt as against this hard seat on the cycle.

1:00 pm: Back at Khadakvasla Dam . This time I took a break for pictures and again the water was tempting. Once again I stopped myself saying that I had to go to Mumbai as well the same day. With some water to keep my body from dehydrating I peddled on. I knew I wasn’t far off from Pune and in another 1.5 Hrs I should be back home. The only worry though was Mr .Ravi (Sun god) dancing overhead. My handkerchief which was by now tied on my head like the Bedouins cape provided some relief but it was not enough. As I cycled further now my muscles were beginning to go on strike as well. But the thought of the well laid bed at No 5 / Jyotsana , Korthrud ,Pune kept me going. Now for the first time I seemed to be counting on every extra second that I cycled.

1:40 pm: Finally I saw the flyover (perhaps the Bombay Bangalore bypass highway) which meant that I was on the outskirts of Pune. But that also meant that I was into my reserve energy. About 10 minutes from Pune and I had to take a long rest to allow my breathe to catch up and my body to cool a little. After almost 15 minutes of rest I started my last dash to Pune and soon the Rajaram bridge was back in site.

2:15 pm: I reached the Rajaram bridge still had enough energy to continue cycling right up to home but the line of auto rickshaws was too tempting. Also with the sun still beating down overhead I thought it was better not to try more stunts and played it safe. The autowalla was kind enough to allow me and my tanhaee both into the auto at just Rs 10 extra. Never mind I said to myself I had saved much more on the Sumo / ST tickets.

2:30 pm: Back home lazing on the bed and already bragging about my feat to the first person (Shag) to receive a call from me.

All in all a trip that I thorougly enjoyed except that there was nobody to chat on the way. But that’s ok I can always write down my experience.

Hope I didn’t bore you guys too much.

A track in the clouds II

2005-07-31T22:00:00.000-07:00

PART II

The last part ended with me and Sudu sleeping for the day.
The next day I got up at the day break and so did Sudu. As planned before we took a stock of the supplies and also looked at our clothes . The supplies were low thanks to the mouse rendering the bread inedible and the clothes were still wet. It had been raining most of the night and we overheard some of the other groups talking about landslides somewhere near the next stop. We had seen a number of landslides and debris on our way without realizing that they were recent and caused by the rain and not due to the repair work as we had previously concluded. That scared us a little bit. Also having not eaten much the legs weren't really in the best of the condition for another day long trek through the wet forest. So we both decided to take up the jungle path that was supposed to start a little ahead of Yedakumeri then cross the river and reach the highway. This path would take us about 2.30 - 3 hrs according to our estimates and then we would be on our way back to bangalore. So now we didn't have any sense of urgency and we slept again. Around 8 we both got up again and won't on with our daily chores using the "jhaadi ke peeche" option in absence of toilets. We filled up the empty water bottle with the rain water trickling down the rocks ( it looked fresher and cleaner than the tap water). After eating the cakes and some chocolates and biscuits we had finished our heavy breakfast .. Then it was the biggest decision of the whole trek. The shoes were still wet and so were the socks. we faced our ultimate challenge "to wear? or not to wear?" the socks. There weren't too many options so the answer was .. to wear. Gathering all the courage I had I finally wore my socks and since we had to walk through rains anyway so I wore my partly dried clothes instead of carrying them in the backpack and getting wet again. Sudu took a little extra time with shoes but finally he too wore them . So now we were back on track and ready to march. Our enquiries led us to the conclusion that the jungle path wasn't an option as the river was flooded and we were only 2 without too much swimming experience even in the chest high calm waters of infy swimming pool let alone the flooded river.

So the next option was to march to Siribagilu and find out the shortcut to highway from there. A little let down and disappointed we continued on our way.

Thus started our same old story of Tunnel -- Bridge -- tunnel -- ...... (refer to part I of this mail for details). The difference however was that we were slower now than the first day due to tiredness and the wet socks and clothes. As before we started racing past groups of trekkers who had started before us. The hope was that at least one group would know the way to the highway but alas it was a disappointment. Finally we accepted fate and marched more enthusiastically than before towards Shiribagilu. Now it was again like the previous day stopping in the middle of the bridges to marvel at the scenic beauty. As we walked we heard vehicles on highway which seemed rather close. We could often spot the highway across the valley. But everytime we were disappointed by the fact we couldn't figure out the way to reach the highway. We could take the risk of descending down the valley through the jungle and then crossing the river to reach the highway but again who would want to get lost in that dense jungle spread for several kilometers that too with no map and with very little supply of food and water. As we moved we saw some places where landslides had occurred. But the path wasn't blocked. We had seen a few before as well but we thought that those weren't infact landslides but were the result of some on going under construction. However there was not a soul for several miles so now we realised that those really were landslides caused by the heavy rains recently. This threw some shivers down my spine but the good thing was that all of those landslides were small (no killers ) and the path was still trekkable. The scenery was as usual a appetite filling diet of beauty. The clouds rising from the valley below often covering us... The various shades of green across the valley from the palest light green to the darkest of greens. Peaks of the western ghats covered with forests and clouds as far as the eye could see. And occasionally the sun coming out of the cloud cover to add to the contrast. The walk continued and we were soon counting the number of tunnels to go. There were total of 50 we were told and all numbered so we could rely on the count. Every tunnel and every bridge we crossed we were inching towards our destination.. Shiribagilu. But our legs were getting tired and rain wasn't adding to the comfort either. Around 12 :00 pm we filled one of our empty water bottle with water from a stream and it looked more pure than the mineral water. In fact it even tasted better than mineral water and was quite refreshing. I assume it was safe cause neither of fell ill after getting back home. Around 1:00 pm we had some rest and something to nibble upon. I thought we had seen it all tall and long bridges and long dark tunnels. I was aware though that there was one long bridge to come but then by now we were undaunted by any of those bridges. Our guess was that within 2 hours we should be at shiribagilu if our estimations about the distance and our speed were correct. So we were back on trek with a little spring in the step as we closed on the destination. But just then we met the biggest hurdle a 750 m long bridge. The bridge was long , and continuously curving towards the left. It joined two mountains and went right over the river to the other side of the valley that always appeared to our right. The bridge was also tilted about 3- 5 degrees to the left to help the train negotiate the curve.

The most interesting part however was that the other end of the bridge was not visble from the starting point. It was hidden somewhere in the range. The bridge had 3 big balconies (places for the repairmen to stand just beside the bridge) large enough to hold 3-4 people and an 4 smaller ones alternating the big ones. After gathering all the courage I stepped on the bridge. The presence of the balconies helped a bit. It was drizzling when we began crossing the bridge. Slowly we made our way to the first big balcony which was at about 1/4 of the bridge length. I heaved a sigh of relief as this one was situated right above a huge pillar supporting the bridge. I looked down only to see a few hundred feet below in the valley gushing river. A look ahead and I realized that a number of planks were missing. We looked around to see some of the most breath taking scenes as if we were on a Copter passing in bettween the mountains. Just as we were begin crossing the next stretch of the bridge the drizzle turned into a down pour and the visibility became a problem. Worst we had nowhere to hide from the rain so we kept walking slowly on the sleepers totally drenched and the wet sleepers didn't help either. Every step was taken with utmost caution lest we end up in the river below (which would perhaps have been certain death). As we reached the center of the bridge both the ends were visible. The bridge was an arc of about 60 degrees. We continued as the rain slowly subsided and as I reach the other end the excitement was amazing. I was quite ecstatic. Crossing the bridge had pumped us up and we were now sure that we weren't far off and that tiredness wouldn't stop us.

We kept walking now a little faster with the hope of reaching the village soon. The density of the forest seemed to be reducing a bit and soon we came across a villager (who didn't understand any of hindi or english). I had to put my Kannada skills to test (not that I knew any Kannada) but I realised that actions speak louder than words and he indicated that the village was about 2-3 kms from there. We were indeed close to the village as at about 2.40 we saw the railway signal an indication that the station was approaching. It is a different story that the signal looked more like an old dead tree with lots of creepers on it. Finally we reached the station very tired and to my surprise this station had hardly any habitation. A few houses but only one was occupied . Another group of trekkers was already relaxing in that one . Some enquiry and we were told that the way to the highway was a short cut through the jungle at the right after crossing another 3 tunnels. So we continued further. Three tunnels later we indeed found a small jungle path which we were not initially sure was a right path. However it was going down in the valley which gave us a hint that it may indeed be the right path. All the time we could hear the sound of flowing water which for us was a hint that we were near the river. About a hour into this path we were contnuously descending into the valley ( rather Jungle ) with no sign of a road or village. It was almost 4 pm and getting darker by every minute. Sudu was tiring and we had to get to some habitation as early as possible. We now had 2 options ... either to climb back and continue on the tracks for a further 2-3 hrs to reach siribagilu or to continue on this jungle path not sure whether we will reach the ever elusive highway to Mangalore. Finally we went by our trekker instincts and decided to continue another 15 minutes and if we found nothing we would return to the tracks. We took the grave risk here of being stuck in the jungle in the dark. A little furhter and Sudarshan was starting to lose faith in our decision and so was I .. just then I saw a coconut palm. It was totally out of place in the jungle. A look aroung and I thought it was a plantation of coconut palm. I descended a little further and I saw a hut faraway. We were so elated that finally we had reached some habitation .. Suddenly our tired legs got a new life and we started rushing towards the village. A little more of my kannada skills and we came to no that we had to cross a certain stream on a makeshift bridge and reach the highway. Well that's what I thought the lady was saying. So we did exactly that crossed the thing rope bridge and continued walking on the other side of the stream. Then we heard a car and a few more steps and we saw a proper bridge on the same stream and the car came from the other side of the stream ( the side we were previously on). This meant that the lady was indicating to us that we should not take the bridge. Anyway we crossed this bridge and soon we were on a tar road which lead to the Mangalore highway. A little wait and we took the first bus towards the Highway. A few more minutes and we were on the bus to Bangalore. IT was crowded with no seats but after all the tiring 40-45 kms of trekking in the to days we weren't to bothered abt the seats and used the floor. By 12 : 00 clock on the 16 August were back home after an experience of the life time.

A track in the clouds I

2005-07-31T21:57:00.000-07:00

Me and my roommate Sudarshan ( alias sudu) went on a trek on tracks near Sakleshpur on 15 / 16 August 2003.

So here is the description

The Route : The abandoned railway route from Sakleshpur to Subramanya. This route falls on the Hassan - Mangalore Railway route which has been now closed for conversion to Broad gauge from meter gauge. This is a very scenic route which crosses the beautiful Sahaydris . The route has 50 tunnels and about 70 - 80 bridges. The average rainfall of the region is about 450 cm per annum. Therefore in the rainy season a large part of this route is inside the clouds which adds to the secenic beauty.

The Distance : A total of about 55 - 60 kms from Sakleshpur to Subramanya.

The Plan: Start the trek at Sakleshpur .Enter the rail route at Sakleshpur railway station. First break at Donigal station ( 10 Km trek). Continue trekking with aim to reach Yedakumeri ( 20 km from Donigal) by evening. Halt for the night at Yedakumeri station. Start early morning the next day towards Subramanya. Intermediate halt at Shiribagilu (about 18 - 20 Kms from Yedakumeri). Of these Sakleshpur and Subramanya are towns and the other three stations in between are abandoned almost totally with hardly any inhabitants.

With this Background we started our trek. There weren't any Buses willing to drop us at Sakleshpur directly from Bangalore so after a lot of thought we decided to do a one hop journey. Took a Bus to Hassan (4.5 Hrs from Bangalore) and from there took another Bus to Saklespur (1 Hr from Hassan). We reached Sakleshpur early Friday morning (Independence Day) just in time to view some of the Flag hoisting ceremonies in the local schools. We had our breakfast near the Bus stop and began our trek. The spirits were high but the Monsoon clouds were looming large. The hotel owner informed us that it only drizzles most of the time so we thought that monsoon wouldn't be troubling us too much. About 2 km trek and we the Sakleshpur railway station. We did lose our way to the station a little bit but thankfully some locals knew hindi / English. So at 8 .00 am we began our trek on tracks. The legs fresh and the air cool . So we walked fast enjoying a look at the country around. The rice farms all around. The clouds covering the top of the hills. And of course an age old track. I missed my Camera for the first time. I cursed my self and so did Sudu for such an unpardonable sin as not getting the Camera on this trip. However we continued. The highway was all the time visible and quite close so we knew what to do in case we got tired. Simply get off the track and ask for a lift on the highway. The backup plan seemed perfect. Took us about 2 hrs to reach Donigal. Had some snacks there and a little splash of stream water on the face .We felt fresh as never before. The road so far was cool no scary bridges no dark tunnels just nice countryside all around.

We continued on our way and soon had met the first bridge. It was quite high and about 200 m long. Sudarshan took the lead in crossing and I followed him. A look and stream flowing a few hundred feet below sent some shivers down my spine. The bridges were about 2m wide with support tracks both outside and inside the main tracks. Well that sounds safe enough but the interesting part was that between the sleepers of the tracks there was a gap of about 1 - 1.5 feet and you could see the stream right through this gap. In short in some places the gap was wide enough to allow a thin , lean body like mine to pass through. That's exactly the thought that sent some shivers down my spine. And to add to all that Sudu took a stop right in the middle a of the bridge ... why ?? to have a look at the scenery. I too carefully positioned myself (lest I slipped through the gap between the sleepers) and turned to look at the scenery. IT was mind-blowing scene enough to take away all my fears. In the bridges that followed we made sure that we enjoyed the maximum of the scenery often halting more than once on the bridge .. remember we didn't have a camera in which to catch the scenes .. So we decided to catch them in our memories. I hope I am doing a fair job at typing those memories.

After about 3 bridges we had our first glimpse of a tunnel. This was a average one though .. hardly about 200 meters. But it sure was dark inside and it was quite damp inside but no bats unlike what I was expecting. Thankfully we had torches in working condition and so we came out quite quick. Our pace was quite good and soon we saw ourselves catching up with some other trekkers' groups who were in front. They say that when a "A herd of Bulls moves only as fast as the slowest Bull" . And we soon realised that cause being just too we didn't have to wait for too many people to catch up and therefore kept moving at a steady pace. At about 1:00 we had our lunch .. soft idlis packed at sakleshpur and some biscuits . The setting for this lunch was quite picturesque .The valley behind with two us of sitting on a small rock and looking at the hill in front of us. The valley was so huge that all we could see far upto the horizon was only mountains covered with evergreen rain forests. As we were finishing our lunch the a hazy mist started to cover us. Guess what we were right in the middle of a rain cloud. It was humid and slightly chilly but with the sweat, tiredness even that felt good and of course it was afternoon so temperature wasn't all that low. We started again and could quite distinctly hear the noise of vehicle somewhere in the valley. We looked across and saw a road far away on the other side of the valley. The road was so far that trucks and cars looked smaller than ants and yet the noise was loud enough to convince anybody that they were hardly a km or 2 away. Soon all along the path it was either drizzling or we were in clouds. A look at the valley we could see the green forest covered with clouds. The sunlight falling on the mountain peaks. We could see all shades of green right from the very dark green in the shadowy regions to the pista , bright light green on the well lit mountain tops. One scene that I remember very well was when we were crossing a relatively long bridge ( about 300m or so) right in the middle we stopped to look at the stream below us rushing and gushing through into the valley. Far away we could see a river and across the valley 3 mountain tops. The one in the center was very well lit by the bright afternoon sunlight passing through a opening among the clouds while the other two were covered by shadow. Such an amazing scene and need I say that the readers who haven't been to this place have missed something truly out of the world (read urban world). I might also point out at the best time to go to this place is in the rainy season because although you run the risk of catching cold / fever it is worth all the effort.

Around 2:3:0 pm we were getting a little tired and we came across the longest tunnel in path . 572 m was the length So we started. A few meters and it was pitch dark. Darker than the darkest of moonless nights I have ever experienced.Behind us we could see a faint light and as we walked it was dimming very quickly.. thank god we had torches.About midway in the tunnel it was pitch dark both ahead and behind . We stopped for a while and switched off our torches .. and I turned to look but couldn't even see Sudu who was just about 6 inches behind me. A short meeting with complete darkness and we were back on track .As we approached the end of this tunnel the group just ahead of us started shouting and woke up the bats. There was this eerie smell of so many bats and the sound . We bent our necks to avoid any bats flying low and continued. Then I thought well ... there are bats afterall. My misconception that there aren't too many bats was shattered because after this tunnel virtually every tunnel had the same eerie smell ,the same screeching sound and the sleepers had white spots on them ( bat droppings).

A little later while we were in a tunnel it started raining heavily so we had to take a forced break. There we had our first encounter with the rainy season leeches .. One on Sudu's jeans and one on my shoe lace. They were too small ( not fully grown up I presume) and hadn't yet tasted our blood. Tata namak did the job for us. I was hoping that there were none like these inside my socks / shoes.

A few more tunnels and bridges and then the story was .. bridge .. tunnel .. bridge .. tunnel .. bridge .. bridge .. tunnel ......... and so on. Now there was no fear of the bridges .. they just seemed like routine but they definitely slowed our pace. Also wet from top to bottom (including shoes and the feet inside) due to the continues drizzle and with there being no sign of any station we were beginning to get a little desperate. Besides a realisation dawned upon us that with so many trekkers going the place there wouldn't be enough place in the station for all the people.. As we came out of the next tunnel it was about 4 :00 pm and again it was raining heavily .. but the prospect of sleeping on the open platform was more daunting than the heavy rains so we decided to continue walking ( or should I say jogging). About an hour more of very fast trekking in which we were continuously increasing the distance between us and the trekkers behind us and finally at about 5 :00 pm we saw the station. An old , dilapidated and abandoned station with a few staff quarters and some old signals and boards here and there. A setting perfect to shoot any Ramsay movie. The next job was to search for a clean (optional ) dry shelter to spend the night in. Well guess what some of the groups were already there and had occupied some of the relatively better houses. After walking from one end to another we finally managed to find one house which was dry to say the least. The room was good .. some pebbles and wooden planks lying here and there..., windows with broken panes , a ceiling above which was leaking in the corners and four walls to surround but most importantly it was dry unlike a lot of the other houses. We were happy now that we didn't take a stop for the rains or else we wouldn't have got this place. A few minutes later we had devoured our food supplies and were comfortably ( atleast that's what we thought after a hard days work) lying on our sleeping mats which felt like soft foam beds. It was hardly 6:00 pm but the clouds made the whole area look very dark and as we slept we were hoping that we didn't get up surrounded by the insects in the forest. But this hope was only a hope around 7 I felt something go right through my hair and sudu heard some sounds in the polythene containing food. We both woke up with a start and lit the candles ..There was something definitely ... a little later I saw a rat. We checked our supplies and found that it had a real party while we slept nibbling on to half of the bread we had. Thankfully the cakes , choclates were untouched. Now we were a little worried about the next day. Right in the middle of jungle we had the propect of walking all day to reach Subramanya with reduced supplies or take a shortcut through the jungle cross the river (probably flooded due to continuous rain) flowing through the valley below and reach the highway. Not much we could decide then as it was raining quite heavily .. we thought its better to take a decision the next morning and sleep for now. So we left the candles burning , hung the rest of the supplies on a nail and slept like we had slept never before

I guess this mail is becoming too long to read and the rest of the story will follow in the next mail.

To phir milenge isi Blog main , is kahani ka agla bhag leke.

Tab tak ke liye namaskar and have a nice day.