Nishani motte to Kurudi – The Less-Explored Paradise

I never thought that I would do this trek because my name was not in the BTC shortlist and the reason being a woman. Silly, isn’t it? Since very few girls registered and those few backed out in the last minute, I was forced to drop out. While I was planning to head home over the weekend, Ameer called me on Thursday afternoon and gave a green signal to join the trek as another female had registered. With full excitement, I was waiting for Friday evening. As usual, I had researched about the place in advance, but every blog pointed to a common word - LEECHES!

Nishani motte is a beautiful hillock in Coorg lying in the borders of Karnataka and Kerala. As you might be aware, Coorg is very close to Bangalore, you will reach this Scotland in 3 - 4 hours. After meeting our fellow trekkers in Shanthala, we were killing time to start little late. That was the first time I met the trending photographer in BTC - Saroj Baniya! Of course, who would tell NO if someone captures your beautiful moments and gets good dp and I'm no exception to it😉 The intro session to the group of 10 was not required as we started to mingle in no time. While our organiser briefed the group through the plan, a sub-group realised that they didn't get their food packets as described in the mail and they bought all the Maggi from a nearby shop. While few planned to not to sleep throughout the night, we started our mission to the leech paradise by 11pm. 

Reached Bhagmandala by 6 AM and it was freaking cold when I stepped outside. The place was covered with mist and the long fought Kaveri was flowing in front of us. There was also a beautiful temple structured differently next to the Triveni Sangama, the small pond filled with the pure Kaveri where the devotees take a dip here before entering the temple. Few from the group also dived into the cold water. Once all were set for the expedition, we headed to a small restaurant near the temple for a quick breakfast and packed our lunch. Dosa was too yummy that we kept ordering for more.

Once our forest guard was here, we packed our food items. The TT rode in the muddy routes and dropped us in the middle of a village. Our trekking expedition started by 9.30 which wasn't a bad start, but the forest guard told that we were running late by an hour as we had to cover longer distance by 6 PM. Since we had an amazing group of enthusiastic people, the trek wasn't tiring at any point. Our first pitstop was the anti-poaching camp, beyond which we will not see any village. Basically it means that we were entering the forest zone which is prone to encounter any animal. On reaching APC only, we realized the probability of leeches that are going to attack us in the two days. As Prasanna was wearing his sandals, he was the first one to get attacked quickly, however we were no exceptions. The forest guard quickly gave a leech remedy by mixing tobacco and some random oil. Hoping that this would reduce the probability, we applied the smelly oil to our legs. Bidding goodbye to APC, we started our expedition to Nishani motte.

The path wasn't steep, but the backpacks came as a burden as we had to carry our tents and sleeping bags. Although I didn't hold the tents, thanks to the guys who carried it all the way throughout the trek. The route to Nishani was the same as any green mountain in Karnataka with tall grasses spread across the top, but this one had few dense forests in the middle which we didn't enter.

It was just 11am and hunger panic began as I didn't have proper breakfast in the name of diet. Suresh helped me to survive with multiple chocolates coming out of his bag everytime I complained. We were in the top of the mountain in no time with Karnataka on one side and Kerala on the other. While Karnataka had grassy mountains, Kerala was filled with dense forests.

After a quick lollipop break (thank you Prasanna!) We left our bags and headed to the tall Nishani motte. Even though the hill seemed to look a little far away, we reached the peak in no time.

As the sun was scorching bright on our faces, Ameer gave a fake hope that we would enter the forest in 30 minutes and then have our lunch. Half hour came to 1.5 hours and we stepped into the dense Kurudi forest at 2 PM. The path was no joke as we were descending continuously and a slip can lead you into the dense forest. We heard a sound of a small valley as we entered the greens and it became a pit stop to enjoy our lunch. And the mobiles started to vibrate – ‘Welcome to Kerala!’

Hunger and tiredness made us to quickly grab a seat either on the broken tree branch or on some giant stone and the packed biriyani tasted the best in the entire world. I have never asked for more food, but this time, I just hoped if we had some extra rice. We rested for some time as it was entertaining to hear the BOSCHians discuss about the popular things (not to be disclosed! :P ) in their company. Then the forest guards pushed us to vacate the place as we had to reach our homestay before dusk, else we might encounter unexpected creatures. Lunch gave us an unlimited amount of energy and we walked in full enthusiasm inside the deep jungle.

As we were the first batch of people to explore the Kurudi forest after this year’s monsoon, there was no trail and we walked across the trees and broken branches and wild animal’s huge lumps of dung. The forest guard at the front cleared the trail at certain areas which made us to escape the scratches from thorny plants. At times we had to cling to the branches as the path was slippery. The adventure didn’t end there. The trail was filled with bloody creatures, popularly called as LEECHES! Yes, you heard it right! I don’t remember how many leeches climbed on me, but they have definitely left marks on my body and memories for a lifetime to share with everyone, because they weren’t normal leeches.

We kept moving at a faster pace as the leeches might attack you in an exponential rate if you stop even for a second. If you stop somewhere to remove the leeches which succeeded to climb on you, then you will encounter 5 more new leeches on removing one. What would you prefer – let the one leech to suck your blood completely or attract 5 new leeches and keep repeating it? I stuck to the former option, but people in the group also clung to the latter option. At the end of the day, it depends on your fate. If you had to get leech bites, you will end up getting them, irrespective of the option that you choose. There were occasions where you might get those leeches sticking to your fingers when you remove them and you need special forces to let them go away. It is the worst feeling in the world to stay calm when you know that there are dozens of creatures in your body crawling for food and you still keep walking. I was happy and proud at the end of the day that I conquered my fear of leeches and made my mind to stand strong in front of elephants too (of course I am kidding!).

We halted near two streams which mostly ended up being our leech clearing areas. We climbed up and down and moved across flat surfaces without knowing what was happening outside this dense forest. Disconnected from our phones, we lived every moment to ourselves, removing the leeches now and then. It was getting darker and the beautiful homestay is out of our sight. We were walking swiftly, yet consciously, as the path was slippery. I realized this only after falling twice on the wet ground. We were in a dilemma if we need to take our torches out, as Ameer started giving fake hopes again that we were closer to the homestay. At last, around 6PM, we saw a beautiful haunted house in front of us.

Covered by trees around, the 2BHK house stood strong in front of a valley. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the 2BHK had only two multi-purpose rooms, which could be considered as bedroom or hall or kitchen at the same time. We didn’t bother about any of these after finishing our trek, as the creepy creatures were sucking almost all the blood out of our body. The fun started as we removed our socks and shoes, just to find a family of leeches sucking blood in groups everywhere. At the first sight, my legs looked yuck with black ugly things everywhere. A big thanks to Naveen and Ameer, who removed the leeches patiently out of my legs. The salt did its magic and the worms rolled out of my legs, but they left strong marks that blood kept flowing uncontrollably. As we knew that it would take some time for the blood to clot and considering the multiple bites in my legs, I knew I had to be mentally prepared to let the blood flow out of my body.

While the rest of the group survived with fewer marks, I became the proud winner to get the maximum leech bites. The innocent Hari stood second, who also let leeches to suck his blood. We were thoroughly checked for any leeches in our body before entering the house, as we didn’t want them to suck the blood during our sleep. Even after everyone got their approval to get inside the house, my blood kept pouring continuously. Thank you Saroj for being my doctor at the right time, as he used small bits of tissues to stop the flow. The tissues worked like a magic, reducing the flow immediately, yet certain spots remained uncontrollable. Saroj constantly checked my legs and changed the tissues and saved my blood :D. Lucky him, he survived without any leech marks, apart from one mark at his head, which climbed unexpectedly after we entered the house.

It was dinner time and our cooks (Bala, Prasanna and Ameer) burnt the stove to make hot water for us (of course a difficult item :P ) We finished our cup noodles and conversations followed in the dark night. There were lizards and rats moving around, yet we weren’t scared to sleep, because we were so tired after the 18KM trek. None of us wished to step outside this house, as we were in the middle of a forest where elephants and other animals could come and greet us anytime. We wrapped ourselves inside the sleeping bag and went to sound sleep, hoping the doors will not be knocked in the middle of the night ;)

It was a bright morning when I woke up at 6AM to sounds of people who didn’t sleep due to few people’s sound sleep :D Being a morning person, I ran outside to enjoy the beauty of the nature. It was freezing, yet it was beautiful. There was no one, just me and the nature. The birds were singing enjoying this morning and yet, the leeches were also having fun trying to attack our legs. Mornings are incomplete without a hot chai and we were fortunate to enjoy them too in the middle of the forest. Haseena and Naveen took the extra effort to prepare amazing tea and the rest of us filled our stomach with bread & jam to fill our stomach in the name of breakfast. We packed our things and bade goodbye to the haunted house and the ghosts, if there were any, and started our expedition. The path became even more dangerous as we were walking across the edge and it was too slippery after the morning fog.

With everyone’s help, I managed to cross the steep descend without breaking my legs, special mention to Bala! Amidst all these, I admired Haseena as she kept walking confidently without anyone’s help in front of me. In no time, we reached another unoccupied camp and quickly moved forward. Then the path became normal and we started to hear some sounds of the flowing water. Hoooo… We removed our shoes and threw the bags and jumped into the pure water. The water was so clean that we were able to see through it, like a glass, with fishes moving around and attacking our legs. We had the best time of the trek, splashing water and playing like little kids and got free massages sitting on the fast-flowing water.

Bidding goodbye to the waters, we hurried to get out of the jungle, to enter Kerala and eat a good stomach-filling lunch. We were not spared of leeches during our return journey too, yet these were of different kind than the previous day. Also, Bala’s idea of applying the leech repellent to the shoes worked like a magic, in getting lesser bites. It was around 1PM when we reached Kerala’s APC and this marked the end of our expedition and the end to the bloody leeches.

After removing all the leeches, we moved forward to enter the beautiful villages of Kerala. Grabbed fresh lemon juice in a small shop and hopped into a jeep to reach the Kerala-Karnataka border, where our TT was waiting for us. We halted for lunch in a non-veg restaurant and filled ourselves with everything that we wished to eat.

On my return travel to the TT, I got to talk to Saroj about his passion towards photography and realized that it is not an easy profession at the end of the day even if you are passionate about it :D Best part about treks is meeting people and getting inspired from their them and this trek was no exception to it. We settled in our TT and tried to get into a deep sleep, but the van driver was against our wish as he rode the vehicle in zig-zag manner. Despite the multiple warnings, his harsh driving didn’t end but we reached Madikeri safe and sound. It was 8PM and we wandered around the streets of Madikeri aimlessly killing time as we planned to leave late so that we could reach Bangalore around 5AM, considering the driver’s amazing skills. After finishing our dinner followed by the feedback session, we started around 11PM and an enthusiastic weekend came to an end as we bade goodbye to each other on Monday morning, with the hope that we will meet again.

A special mention to the man who led the team single-handed, thank you Ameer for introducing us to this amazing paradise and bringing us back safe and secured. The long trek wouldn’t have been possible without the energetic group, as everyone contributed to its success. The trek ended and the blog might end here, but the leech marks are going to remind us about this place forever. Nishani motte to Kurudi – A journey less taken and not only a paradise for leeches, but heaven for all the trek enthusiasts. If you were one, don’t miss this place!

Total Expense including travel, stay, tent & sleeping bag (rent) - Rs.3000/-

People in the group : Ameer, Bala. Prasanna, Hari, Saroj, Naveen * 2, Haseena, Suresh and me :D

Kabbaladurga - The short and sweet challenge

It was one another weekend and I wanted to do something productive rather than lying in bed all day. Then I saw a trek to Kabbaladurga and registered without giving any thought. The icing on this was it happened to be a woman only trek. However, any trek does not happen without convincing my over-thinking parents, this was no exception. The Kaveri issue happened to be a blocker, yet I sneakily escaped! 😃

With full enthusiasm, I got up by 5am on a Sunday morning. As the meeting point was Banashankari this time, I had to travel to another city from Indiranagar. Google maps gave an estimated time of 1 hour and I had to reach the bus station by 6.45am. The punctual angel in me made me to book the cab at 6am and the outcome is reaching much early than expected. I reached at an odd time of 6.20am. As I waited opposite to the bus stand, I noticed a restaurant open for breakfast. DAMN! I spent my morning hours in preparing dosa, just because it was mentioned that we had to get the breakfast. If only I had known the existence of a restaurant, I could have parcelled it. As my mind was fighting, an uncle walked to me and asked if I was going to the Kabbaladurga trek. No wonder he spotted me because of my attire and trekking shoes. Then he introduced me to his daughter who was a first-timer in trekking and I was able to see that excitement. I was so impressed with his dad that he had read blogs about this trek and motivated us telling that we are going at the right time. The situation would have been completely different in my case, if only my parents were in Bangalore.

Then we walked to the bus stand where we met a group of girls who looked like trekkers, and surprisingly many were first-timers. They were totally geared up without missing even a single item in the checklist. Meanwhile the group expanded and Raja Lakshmi decided that we could finish our breakfast in the restaurant as most of us were already there. Quickly gulped idlis and got into the bus to Kanakapura. That's when I found two of my juniors as well, who registered for the same trek. The enthusiasm paused during the travel as all of us were seated in any vacant seat that we got and I dozed off happily. In another 2.5 hours, we reached Satnur, a small village in Kanakapura and quickly packed our lunch. Got into two autos and in no time, we were on the base of the mighty Kabbaladurga. 

Kabbaladurga is famous among the local for the powerful Goddess Kabbalamma. Sunday was no exception to these localities that the temple at the base was so crowded. This is supposed to be the only temple for 28 villages around this area. The mountain also possessed a fort which was well positioned in a 250m high monolithic rock that was steep on all three sides and moderate on the fourth side, which will be the trekker's path. 

As the sun was scorching our skins, we decided to climb quickly without wasting our time. Since the group was mostly filled with first-timers, I got the privilege to lead the team with Raja Lakshmi at the end. The trek started off with a mild walk, crossing trees and bushes but suddenly there was a steep climb. Even though we had the support of rails here and there, the path was angled little crooked that it always felt like we were going to fall. Yet, if you focus on the steps without looking down, you could cross the small challenge quickly. 

Then there was a small obstacle where we had to climb without any support, yet you could always cling to the rocks. As the group was filled with first-timers, the leading group got multiple breaks where we tortured our beloved Kurkure Aunty (just got married 3 months back) to narrate her wedding stories. Once you cross the two obstacles, congrats! You'll reach the top even before you wonder where you are!

We sat on an open space and finished all the snacks, as many had brought so many things and wanted to reduce the weight of their luggage. While our photographer Rashmi was clicking many to-be-dps, we gulped a range of food items from healthy bananas and orange to homemade sweets. As we were getting fried under the mid noon sun, we quickly finished our lunch and wrapped up. The bonda helped in finishing the dabba full of rice. 

Then we explored the peak, visited the hidden fort and went to the other side of the hill which had the best view than any part of the mountain. A small slip would land us in the base, alive or dead would depend on the luck. After a couple of group pictures, we started to descend and the route was the same. Being a steep hill, there were few phases where we had to sit and crawl like a kid, yet most of us reached the base quickly. There was cold buttermilk waiting for us at the base by a couple, sold at 10rs per glass. Since we were devoid of water, the buttermilk was heaven to the group. As we waited for the final group, we sat near a water dump and gossips started. Then everyone came and we marched towards the Kabbalamma temple, yet didn't step in. Drank sugarcane juice and bid goodbye to the mighty beauty - Kabbaladurga.

Same as how we came, we took an auto to the bus stand and had our feedback session. As our eyes kept waiting for the bus to Bengaluru, patience was flying off and hence we boarded the next bus to Kanakapura. The bus journey was even more fun as Rashmi got into an argument with a localite for chasing her out of the seat, yet everything ended with laughter. An old lady was impressed by our kala chasma woman as she taught her how to pose for pictures and took selfies. Our next halt came quickly and we got into a private bus as the government buses were too crowded. Reached Bangalore by 6pm with lots and lots of memories.

A big salute to the lady who dared to take the ownership of 16 other women in the group, out of which many were first-timers. Good job, Raja lakshmi! You will always be an inspiration to all of us. Thank you everyone for an amazing day and see you soon!

No of people in the group : 17

Total Expense : 250

Kudremukh – A walk in the green carpet

Kudremukh had been in my to-do list for a long time and I knew that monsoon is the only season to witness the best views of this trek. With July disappearing along with my best friend's wedding preparations, I finally made my mind to resume my trekking expeditions and Kudremukh popped in the BTC events. One of my colleague pinged me and said "Hey! Look out.. there's a trek to Kudremukh" My mind didn't think for a minute and I decided to register. 

I was mentally prepared to convince my dad about the trek. While he was under the impression that I wouldn't go on treks after my best friend (my companion in any treks or trips) got married, I broke the rules and requested for the trek. Surprisingly there was no arguments and he was fine with it. With high hopes about the trek, I was waiting for the weekend.

After a long struggle in getting a raincoat, I managed to grab one just 2 hours before the start of the trek. Thanks to the awesome metro that I managed to reach Majestic from Indiranagar in 20 minutes. The organisers and few other co-trekkers were waiting in the Shanthala silk house meeting point. I joined the group and met a familiar face Pralov, but either of us didn't remember our names or where we met. There were also few whom I've met during the plantation drives. 

We started our travel by 10.30pm in the tempo traveller and everyone tried their best to get some sleep despite all the obstacles. The van came to a halt around 4am and again resumed at 6 where the zig zag ride started around the Western Ghats. The views were getting cleared as the sun popped out of the clouds. In another 2 hours, we reached our destination, which was not the actual destination though. We had to walk for another 7km as the homestay can be reached only by jeeps/walk. Since we were full of energy in the early hours, 7km didn't seem to be difficult.

The best part about the 7km route is that you get to encounter a beautiful waterfall (my favourite part in the entire trip), which overflows in the roads. Words are not enough to describe the beauty of it, with the pure water quenching our thirst every time we crossed the pool of water. Whether you come in a jeep or motorbike, you cannot escape this beauty.

Apart from this falls, the path had some amazing roads, oops, they are not roads, just mud covered paths which are usable only by the forest jeeps and two-wheelers at their own risk. Since we were walking across the stretch, we had to find a safe place to protect ourselves from the mud being splashed on us during a vehicle movement.

After a long walk with our backpacks, we reached the homestay. Breakfast was waiting for us and in no time, we were attacking them. While the guys took the entire hall, the girls got hold of the small bed room. Initially the plan was to visit a falls but it was called off due to the lack of forest officer's permission. Yet, we didn't give up and planned to conquer the Baavikonda peak. Conquer might sound a little too much as it was a relatively smaller trek with 5kms one-way.

Got our packed lunch and headed out on our first mission to Baavikonda, which was a warm-up for the bigger Kudremukha trek. With Sambha, the sambhar, heading our group along with the chotu Sanjay, the guide, the trek began. As the rain Goddess was showering her blessings all the time, the route was pretty messed up and if your shoes don't have a grip, then you are prone to slip.

We managed to reach the peak with few leech bites. Overall it wasn't a difficult trek and the last stretch was to just walk across the grass to reach the top. A dog accompanied us and guided with the route for some food in return, but unfortunately we didn't have anything apart from puliyogare which the dog hated😂 Vijaya had a pack of cream biscuits and the dog ate it with full excitement.

After clicking few pictures and selfies and a short break, we started to descend. As none of us were hungry, we had the packed lunch in the middle of the descend near a creative grassland carved by the local farmers.

Returned to our homestay by 3.30 pm and looked out for the bloody leeches who might have jumped inside our shoes during the trek. While the leeches ignored our blood, they didn't leave our HR Saptha, who was struggling to stop the blood outflow from her legs.

After a quick break, we headed to a small waterfall near the homestay. The water flow was relatively higher due to continuous rains and teamwork helped to cross the stream. The rocks were too slippery that Vijaya fell and hurt her hand, luckily it was a minor wound. Then the guys went to explore the waterfalls, while Sushma motivated me to experience the cold waters. With the help of the branches of trees and Sushma's tips, I managed to touch the falls without getting hurt. I was fighting between my heart and mind to leave the support of the branches and get into the water, and when I finally did, it was worth the risk. The super cold waters splashing on your head will definitely bring the child in you. Again, I clinged to the branches like a monkey and came back to the shore.

Hot pakodas were waiting for us in the homestay and we wanted to grab them before Sambha as he was planning to attack them even without having lunch. After a quick hot bath, we gathered and munched the pakodas. Then we settled in the hall and Sambha took us through the game of Mafia. While only few of us knew the game, it was fun to make others understand the concepts around the whole world of doctor, police and mafia. The laughter continued further when the newbies were reacting incorrectly on the call for mafia or police. Then it was dinner time where we had roti with cabbage curry and hot rice with sambhar and appalam, followed by a long never-ending game of UNO. While the experts were playing one round of demo game to teach the beginners, it extended beyond the limits. Then all joined the game but as most of us were sleepy, we paused the game and bid good night for the day.

Being an early to rise woman, I woke up at an unusual time of 4.30am. I was surprised to see the family up so soon, just to start preparing food for their guests. Even the little kids were up by 5am and they started screaming. Since it was damn cold outside, I stayed inside my blanket until everyone got up. 

It was an early Sunday morning for everyone as we were geared up for the main 22km long Kudremukh trek. After a quick breakfast of hot idlis, the entire group was ready and we started our mission at 7am. Within few steps from the homestay, we reached the forest office. Luckily we were the first group of the day to enter the forest. The trek's challenge started in the initial few steps only, that our Sambha wanted to go back to the homestay and have extra idlis despite having 8 idlis for breakfast.

The path was straight-forward, apart from two to three places. We kept walking and walking, crossing mountains and streams, but each view was different, which added up to additional photo sessions. There were few ascends which drained out the energy completely, yet we kept progressing with minimal halts to escape from the bloody leeches.

Rain too didn't let us live in peace, but luckily there were not heavy showers. Even if it had rained, there were no options to run and hide below the trees as most of our paths were only filled with grass and leeches. The forest officers had kept boards at regular intervals, which were assigned to be resting spots. The first resting point was supposed to be the only view point where we could get the complete picture of the kudre-mukha, but we weren't fortunate to witness it as the entire place was covered in mists.

Among the entire stretch, the zig-zag trail was the most challenging one, yet you could capture lot of good photographs! 😉 Our guide advised us to keep taking the left here because a wrong turn might lead you inside the forest and you'll be lost. After a bit of struggle and lot of breathless breaks, we reached the end of zig zag route and a compliment of appreciation was waiting from our guide on achieving the mission 😃 and then all of us were walking on top of the horse's face and we reached our final destination by 11.

  

I've never experienced so much wind in my entire life, it was just freezing and I wrapped myself inside the jacket. We were lucky to witness few sambhar deer running from the forest. Then it was time for lunch where murukkus and kadala came for our rescue in finishing the chithranna. After few photograph sessions, we started the descend. The best part was that no groups reached the peak until we left the spot.

While getting down on our zig zag route, we witnessed another small group and that was it! Sundays seemed to be a holiday for mountains as well 😂 we were lucky to get good views while returning as the sun popped out at times and cleared the clouds. However, I felt that the downward stretch was too tiring as we kept walking and walking. The fellow guys were only numbering the streams incorrectly and lied to me about the remaining distance to be covered. Finally, we managed to reach our homestay by 4.30. 

Salute to the lady who managed to finish the trek with a swollen hand. Hats off, Vijayalakshmi miss! Oh yeah, she is a Sanskrit teacher. After coming back to the homestay, our first step was to look out for the leeches and multiple leech bites, but to my surprise, I didn't have even a single one. Thanks to my shoes which safeguarded in some way. But the happiness didn't last long when I noticed a leech bite in the top of my leg, yet it wasn't bleeding continuously as Chaitanya's who donated blood to all the places inside the house. With a big round of farewell to the people in the homestay, we started back in a jeep by 6pm after a final round of photo sessions.

Little did we know that the jeep ride would end up being a roller coaster ride, the path was so muddy that the vehicle rotated in every possible angle to move forward. Reached the base point where our van was parked and after a quick lemonade, we bade goodbye to the magnificent green carpet. Started off with thalaivar Kabali songs and followed by a mix of Tamil and Hindi, our DJ Pralov created a big chaos in the van. This was followed by a game of food antaksharie and we stopped at Annapoorni temple. 

The temple was crowded even on a Sunday. The speciality of this temple is that they provide free food to everyone. After a quick prasadham for dinner, a beautiful day came to an end. In no time, our van also came to a halt by 3.30am and I was shocked to see that we were outside Shanthala silk house.

Two days wouldn't have been so amazing without the enthusiastic people in the group and the energetic organisers Chaitanya and Sushma. A big thanks to everyone for making it a memorable one!

 No of people in the group : 12 

 Destination : Kudremukh and Baavikonda trek

 Total trek distance : around 40km 

 Stay in Kudremukh : Raje Gowda homestay

 Expense : 2300 per head including travel, stay and food

Wow trek with wow people to Siddarabetta

It was a rainy Sunday morning and who would wish to wake at 5 am, instead of wrapping yourself inside the blanket in that amazing weather. 17 girls had a tough fight with their beds and made it to the Shanthala silk house meeting point to enjoy their day at Siddarabetta. I took the 6.35 metro from Indiranagar, where I met Sandeep geared up for his run in Cubbon park. Reached Majestic at 6.50 and hurried to the meeting point.

The entire group was new to me other than the organiser Raksha whom I've met in a prior trek. Introducing myself to the entire group, I was excited to be in my first women only trek and waited eagerly for the next mission. Boarded our TT at 7.15 and started our journey. Tejaswini joined us in yeshvantpur and the van was filled with pretty women.

After a quick round of introduction, the ice was broken because we are surrounded by women and just women! The noise level increased as everyone started to chat with their fellow seatmates. That's when I started my conversation with an amazing woman Lakshmi, from whom I learnt how to lead my life confidently and follow what you love the most. At the first sight, she looked very smart and I was sure that she was married, but little did I expect that she would be a mother of 12 year old girl. Then we stopped at a restaurant near dabbaspet where we had idly, dosa and the best akki roti that I've ever had in my life.

Finished our breakfast and headed towards Siddarabetta from dabbaspet town. Since the journey time was going to take an another hour, Raksha initiated the food antaksharie game. Different varieties of dishes started to fly around from the entire nation, especially the south Indian items as the van was filled with majority of south Indians. For once, Hindi didn't dominate the group!

We reached Siddarabetta around 10.30am and started our ascend. There was a small temple at the base and all we saw later were multiple steep steps to the hill top. Started off with my prayer and managed to stay in the front of the group as always. It started to drizzle and we couldn't ask for a better weather. While local people were walking in barefoot including the little ones, we tried so hard to move forward despite wearing the expensive shoes. The only creature which disturbed us on our way were the monkeys. Indeed they pounced on a lady's bag but thank God it ran away.

The climb became even more interesting when we had to climb small steps carved in the rocks. Reached the peak and waited for the entire group in a clifftop to join us. With the monkeys entertaining us now and then, the view from the top was truly mesmerising. Meanwhile everyone completed their mission and we went to visit the cave temple in two groups as someone should be there to safeguard our shoes and bags from the monkeys.

The temple was completely different from what we expected. Lord Shiva was inside a cave with Nandi in front of him. Also we saw lot of people, including few girls from our group, who got themselves drenched completely in the water that started from the cave. It is a belief that this water would help ail your body pains and keep you healthy. After visiting the temple, we explored the mountain even further that we started to climb up. The weather started to change slowly and we didn't know if we should be happy or sad about it. It started to get dark and a heavy downpour was waiting for us. Even though we enjoyed the climate, we were worried about the descend after the rains.

After clicking lots and lots of pictures, we started our way back as it started to pour heavily. We were searching for a place to hide from the rains. Once the rain slowed down, the real adventure began. With few drops and crawls and jumps, we managed to finish our mission completely. Barefoot walk indeed really worked out in finishing our mission without slipping on the rocks.

It was 3pm when we reached the base and hunger panic began. We heard it from the local people that the temple arranges annadhanam everyday and we headed there to have dal rice and buttermilk. Got into the van and headed to Mahalakshmi  temple near dabbaspet. Flew back to Bengaluru as we were getting too late. With a quick round of feedback, our trek came to an end and became memories to be added to the future. Kudos to the organisers Raja Lakshmi and Raksha for organising it so well!