College life came to an end and landed in a job in Bangalore. Life was running smoothly, but something was missing. Life was monotonous. Despite having everything, it lacked something and it took some time to find that ‘something’. I came back to Bangalore in July 2015 after my internship break and I decided to not to waste my time or life. Everyone knew that Karnataka is famous for treks and adventures, but I didn’t get the right set of friends with similar interests. I can’t blame them, but my best friend Vj ditched me and went to Antargange when I was on a holiday. 
That triggered my conscious and I decided to go on my own without waiting for any support. While I was looking for trekking groups in the internet, Neha also joined me and we registered in Thrillophilia for a night trek to
Well, I have always had difficulties in convincing my family about these treks and trips and this time was no exception. So, I called my Dad on Friday before leaving for the trek and politely told that I was going on a trek with Neha. As usual, he became scared, but didn’t have an option and let me enjoy the fun. Me and Neha packed our stuffs and got ready for our first adventure. We got a bus to Marathahalli as it was one of the meeting points. Unknowing about the trekking group and our co-trekkers, we were having typical girls conversations at 10PM in Marathahalli. 
Finally, the van came around 10.30PM and we met our organizer. Our first step into the vehicle and we were happy to notice that there were girls in the group. There were few school kids lined up at the last row and four colleagues from the same office were also in the group. Throwing away the fear, we rested for a while as an adventurous night was ahead of us. As we passed Kolar, we could witness few mountains and the van started to ascend. We were asked to not to shout and disturb the localites as we might get into trouble if anything happened.
The van came to a halt and we were asked to take a stick and sleeping bag along with us. Since it was our first night trek, the torch lights were out and the adventure began. We walked across few boulders and reached the main cave. Gathered our bags and other items in a small area and stepped inside the cave. It was completely dark (that’s implicit as it was a cave) and the path was very narrow. There were times when we had to crawl or glide between the rocks. We walked inside the silent space and halted at one point, where we started to hear mild sound of water somewhere far away. That’s when our guide told us that this place got its name as ‘Anthargange’ because it is believed to be the source of Ganges, but reaching that point is a difficult stretch as the place was inhabited by wild animals. So, we clicked few pictures and planned to get out of the caves. 
After few struggles, we got out and looked at the bright stars. We were lying under the moonlight and looked at the lighted city in a distance. Being away from the city and the polluted environment gave a relief that made us to stay back in the place for a very long time. Once everyone were out of the cave, we walked across a flat land and found a place to sleep until dawn. But it was time for campfire and people were narrating their stories till the fire went off. Since my friend Neha wrapped herself inside the sleeping bag, I also tried to sleep for some time but it was of no use. I woke up around 5 AM and thought about what I was doing. Everyone woke up around 6 AM and we learnt to roll our sleeping bags and headed back to the van.
Halted in a restaurant for breakfast and slept nicely on our return travel to Bangalore. With lots of memories for the future, we got dropped in Marathahalli around 10 AM and thus came an end to my first night trek. Thanks again, Neha!
