Just like any other techie in
Bengaluru, I wanted some place to get away from the IT world and this trek to
Sagara happened. When my parents questioned me about how far was it from
Bangalore, I didn’t know. When my friends asked me if I could make it, I didn’t
know. Since it was my first two day trek, I knew it was going to be memorable
in my list forever. Leaving behind a
company dinner at Taj, I came to the meeting point at Shanthala Silk House at 9
PM (way too ahead). With all the excitement and thrill, I boarded the TT.
Meanwhile my friend Neha also joined me and the van started to be filled with
random strangers.
The usual BTC style introduction began.
With all of us introducing ourselves, the ice was broken, yet we didn’t reach
our comfort zones. Everyone dozed off, or at least tried their part. Our super
amazing driver reached Sagara by 5.30 AM, but we were waiting for the guide to
join us. Time went on, but there was no sign of anyone. Finally, they came
around 7.30 AM and the delay was much acceptable as they prepared our breakfast
as well and came. We halted at a temple and had a quick round of introduction. We
were told that Mahesh Sir and Anil were going to take care of the team in the
next two days. Then we refreshed and had a good breakfast – thattu idly,
Mangalore Buns, vada. Dosa also came after sometime, but our stomachs were too
filled. Had coffee and boarded the TT again and travelled into the forest area.
I was amazed at the driver’s expertise. While we dozed off in the small gap
from the temple to the base point, he still kept driving.
At 10.30 AM, we got down in the middle
of nowhere and Mahesh Sir told us that it was the starting point. We made a circle again and he told us the
DO’s and Don’ts. One exceptional instruction was that if we got lost or stuck
somewhere, we got to shout ‘Ohoohoo’. It was too fun to shout at that time, but
little did we know the seriousness about it. Hoping that nothing will happen,
we kept our first few steps. With Ameer and Mahesh Sir leading us in the front,
Lokith and Anil were at the trail. The path wasn’t that difficult, as we were
mostly walking around the villages, with few houses hither and thither. The
only creatures which scared us were the DOGS. They kept barking and blocked our
way. We stopped in every single house on the way. Thanks to our super famous
Mahesh Sir who knew each and everyone in the localites. Our paths were lined up
with rubber trees, pepper plants and different stream paths. Meanwhile, Preety,
our enthusiastic first timer in the group, got tired and her chocolate packet
was almost going to be empty as well. Then we halted in a house for a longer
time than expected. Raj and few others were kind enough to be our monkeys and
got us some tender coconuts :D One thing that I observed in all these houses is
that their doors were always open, completely contradicting to our amazing city
houses.
They welcomed us and gave us anything and everything that we asked. I
could only imagine how the responses would have been in Bengaluru. After a long
break and Preety getting back on track, we started our expedition. In the
middle of the deep forest, we saw a beautiful shell like cave, with water
pouring over it. As usual, we got into the water and climbed over the rocks and
posed for the pictures. Then we resumed our trek as were running out of time.
Around 1.30 PM, we climbed a few steps
and reached the Bheemeshwara temple and the falls beside it. Even though the
waterfalls mostly looked like a shower, it is supposed to be at its best only
during the rainy season. Yet, as we stepped into the falls, the water was too
cold and the next reaction would be to SCREAM! We climbed up but the rocks were
too slippery with algae everywhere. Then Mahesh Sir took us around the temple
and told the myth behind the temple’s existence.
Bheemeshwara temple was constructed by Bheema by bringing
Shiva linga at the place. The temple also had a direct link to Kasi, from where
Bheema brought the Linga. Arjuna bowed an arrow at the nearby mountain to bring
the water for worship, which was supposed to ne the falls. Until recent times,
the water was directly falling on the Shiva Linga. After hearing all the
stories, we came down and reached the house where lunch was awaiting for us. We
had a complete meals with rice, sambhar, cabbage sabji, rasam and curd. Gulab
jamun and ice cream were missing though, which the organizers lied about to
make us walk.
After a wholesome meal, our next step
would be to take a nap, but we weren’t allowed to do so. With no other option,
we started our journey. Even though our stomachs were full and the energy was
back, we had to climb a lot now which was very tiring. Mahesh Sir was always
asking us to not to breathe us with our nose, and told us to not to drink water
while walking. He never gave breaks when we asked for it. He always found the
right time and that helped us a lot, as more breaks would have made us too
lazy. The path became simpler, as we reached the top of the mountain. We walked
across meadows and grasslands. As we were waiting for Raj and few other people,
they came back with yummy sugarcanes. Poor ME! I didn’t get to taste it
unfortunately. A josh came into the group and we walked with complete
excitement with the hope that our homestay would come soon. And finally we
reached it. A small house hanging from the slope with grasslands and mountains
in the front, it was a perfect scenery.
We threw our bags away and our TT was
waiting near the house. All the injured people were getting treated by our experienced
Dr.Lokith. Even though our body required some rest, our mouth didn’t. We kept
talking random stories and as night fell, scary stories came into the picture.
I only hoped that the guys wouldn’t carry Preeti in the midnight and drop her
in the middle of the meadow. :D Then we played the usual Dumbsie for some time.
We were literally fighting for the onion pakodas and drank coffee.
Since it was becoming too bored, I
stepped in to teach the group about Mafia. Meanwhile many walked in and out of
the group to refresh. Aunty was kind enough to make hot water for our bath as
well. I was struggling to get the group in sync with the game. Yet everyone
tried their best to get into the arguments. The game finally ended with
multiple trial runs only, thanks to the awesome angles and mafias. Gowtham and
few others were helping the house people in preparing food for us. Then it was
dinner time. We had chapathis and Cabbage (spicy!), rice and dhal and payasam.
Then we sat around and shared our
stories and experiences. While Raj was telling his adventurous experience to
Himalyas, Avinash got into his love mood explaining his love story. Meanwhile
Mahesh Sir was getting things ready for the campfire, but we were too tired and
it was already 11.30 PM. So, we didn’t have campfire and bid good night.
January 31st:
Being an early riser, I got up by 6 AM
and found no one awake. I was just lying, looking at nothing. Then I walked out
of the house once Aunty woke up. I was staring at the silent beauty outside and
comparing it to my present life. There was a calf which was born just a day
before we came. With its innocent face, it was moving around its mother. With grasslands
in the front, sun rising from the mountains and a red tree in the green field,
it was like a painting and I was living in that painting. Then Narendra came
with his dslr and captured all the scenaries. Pekun and Ameer also walked with
us to the grasslands. Then we came back as Coffee and tea were waiting for us.
Now and then, Narendra and Vishnu would start laughing, but no one understood
the reason behind them. Yet we would laugh with them.
Hunger panic began! We refreshed and
were ready for the day. Finally, the yummy breakfast was ready. We had Kesari,
Rice Upma with jaggery (Kesari and Upma were called as Chow Chow Bath) and Dosa
with coconut chutney. I was amazed at how Aunty kept preparing Dosa for all of
us. In the meantime, she prepared lunch as well. We gave our tiffin boxes and
they filled it completely. Thanks Gowtham for doing that job! After taking
pictures with the people in the house, our day 2 expedition began!
We
walked across forests and streams, but there was no sound of a waterfall. Since
we started a bit late, the sun was also consuming our energy. We stopped at a
house and drank lime juice. Then we walked with full enthusiasm in the jeep
track. Suddenly Mahesh Sir went off the track and descended. The adventure
began and we walked a few miles and reached another house with a dog and cat.
While the dog was showing too much of its love, the cat was silently playing
with the sticks and laces.
Finally we reached a point where Mahesh
Sir asked us to form a group again. He gave us a single line warning that “We
are 14 in number. Let’s get in as 14 and come back as 14!” I knew this was the
scariest part of the entire trek, but they never told about this before. With
all hopes and excitement, our adventure began. With Mahesh Sir leading us, we
were following him like ants. The guys were too responsible that they took
extra care on us (girls). But we trusted the roots more than them :P When
Mahesh Sir told us to keep left, we obeyed it. And when there was a STONE call,
we shouted and passed the message to people in front of us. Somehow every inch
of it showed the unity in the group. As we crawled and jumped and skidded and
reached a point, a surprise was awaiting for us. It was the first view of the
falls. Taking the next step, I was stunned at the view. It was huge and
beautiful and mesmerizing. Our struggle to climb down didn’t go as a waste. The
falls was worth it after all. The organizers warned us not to get excited as we
haven’t reached the base yet. Next step was even more adventurous. We were set
to do rappelling. Initially, it was bit scary, but I made my mind to do it. The
moment I got the pace, it was super fun. I was dancing with the rope like a
monkey, and in no time I reached down. Then I went down with the rest and
waited for the others.
It’s the FALLS time! As we got into the
water, it was super cold and all we could do was one thing. SCREAM! Mahesh Sir
started to splash water on all of us and the fun began. We moved near the falls
slowly as the rocks in the water was too slippery. We were walking with the
fishes. The water force was tremendous; it was like getting beaten by someone.
I was not able to withstand it for a long time; so I came out and played in the
plain water. Few brave ones (who wanted to show off! :D – I didn’t mean
you Narendra and Ameer! :P ) went
swimming in the small area. After posing for few pics, we came out of the
water, as we had to start back before it gets dark. Had our yummy puliogare and
bid goodbye to the falls. Personally, this falls gave me lots of memories to carry
on for the future. People lied to us that we’ll take a different path, but
unfortunately we had to ascend in the same path. Other than the rappelling
portion, everyone climbed up super quick. Then we walked and walked and walked
to reach our end point. In order to keep the walking interesting, we were
laughing like crazy with no reason and scaring Preety about the route ahead. As
it started to become dark, I was little scared. Mahesh Sir didn’t want us to
get our torches out as insects will start flying around. Finally we reached the
main road by 7.00 PM, but alas! The TT was not waiting where it was supposed to
be. We made a circle again and shared our experiences and ended with a big
tight group hug.
On our return travel, we played food
antakshari, which was way more fun than I expected. Food from all over the
country came under the roof. Meanwhile we reached the temple again, where we
refreshed and started back. Had good dinner at Sagara, where the organizers
asked us to order anything and everything with a small request to not to waste
anything. As promised, they got us an ice cream too finally. Our return travel
to the polluted city life began. And the adventure didn’t end there. Around 3
PM, our TT had a breakdown and the organizers were struggling to find an
alternative. Finally they found something and when we got out, we were
surprised that it was a truck. The trek couldn’t be even more fun, with people
entertaining us in the middle of the night with coriander leaves. We reached a
nearby town and got a bus to Bengaluru. The time to bid goodBye came at 7.30
AM, where everyone dispersed in their cabs to their home.
Just like every other trek, this too
got added in our list of memories. It couldn’t have been better without the
people. We met as strangers and because of few people in the group, we became
friends. Two days without any mobile network also helped us to realize our own
self, rather than sticking to the small machine. Thanks everyone and a big
thanks to the amazing super cool organizers, who kept the group under control
without any issues. I would like to end this by saying Ameer’s appreciating
words – “That was amazing yaar!” and
Lokith’s note “Till then take care, eat
well, will see you when I see you!”
After refreshing
quickly in the private restrooms within temple compounds, we started our trek
around 5AM. The initial stretch till Battara Mane was through a dense forest,
with a mix of flat surface and steep ascends. Mind your legs – those creepy
leeches might be looking out for you! The sun light started to spread, we reached
the rock of HOPE – end of forest area, listening to the birds doing some
amazing musical for us. Then we walked till Battara Mane in an open area, while
our stomachs started shouting for food. 
The most difficult
stretch and the minute you will regret for taking this challenge :P I regretted
for not exercising regularly and keeping my body in shape. Thanks to a wonderful
team I had, who motivated at every step. Literally I was struggling to keep my
next foot forward, credits to the ascend and my trembling legs. My body gave
up, but my mind didn’t. Aaaandddd ORANGES SAVED THE DAY! The instant energy
that it gave under the scorching heat WOW – I ensured that I will fill my bags
with oranges in my future treks. We walked slowly and rested flat on the mud on
reaching Shesha Parvatha. 
Medium to difficult
trail, but you can’t give up at this point. After Shesha Parvatha, we walked
into a forest, which was so refreshing to be away from the sun, and hence we
picked up the pace here, but the end had its challenge. We had to ascend on a
flat rocky wet surface. That was indeed scary, but we managed without breaking
our bones. Few inches further opened the doorway to the majestic Kumaraparvata
peak. Yayy! We did it and a sense of accomplishment went around the air despite
our tired faces.
Wasn’t very fancy as I
expected the descend to be quicker, but our legs cursed us. With a lot of
pebbles around, we kept our steps very carefully to save ourselves from a terrible
fall, However, it didn’t drain our energy. Time flew as we walked sharing our
life stories laughing and making fun of everyone in the group, and yayy, we
were in Battara Mane around 6PM. As much as we tried to reach the base without
our torches, we had no other option but to step out of the forest like an owl.
