A night to remember....

Let me tell you the biggest hazard of trekking in late night. No, it is not accidents/injuries, neither animals nor ghosts. It is all about not knowing where you are heading, especially when at the start of the trek you have no one to ask whether the mountain you are about to climb is actually Channagiri or not. I am still not sure we climbed Channagiri (I think we climbed Kalwarbeta instead.. though, again, I may be wrong). But what matters more is to have fun, and what fun we had!!

Anyway, lets start from the start... or rather the late start primarily due to saturday (18th March 2K6) evening Bangalore traffic. The pickups were delayed by as much as 2 hrs and by the time the 15 (ya you read it right!!) of us were past the city, it was already 10 pm.

Sing a Song: Quite a few of us were rookies in the band and there were introductions all around when anyone boarded the minibus. The journey was due North towards Nandi Hills for a large part of the trip, before taking a diversion in the left for Channagiri. As has now become a trend (twice in a row is trend, right?), the crooners started in full flow as soon as we had hit the highway. The enthusiasm, coupled with Anil's bday, led to dedicated customised offerings ("Baar baar din ye aaye","1,2, ka 4, My name is Anil" and "Chandni, O meri Chandni" to name a few)

Adding fuel to fire: The bus journey terminated near a deserted temple at the base of a hill. The night had well set in, and surroundings were spooky. Stories immediately started flowing in (ghosts on the trees above, a grave near us and start of Countdown to the Last One Alive aka Darna Mana Hai). It was then that the Brave and the Fearless (read Anand et al) decided to alight a bonfire.

"Arrange the splinters in a cone shape ... no, bit horizontal"
"Chhahh.. no point, too much wind, aisa karo, block by more stones around"
"I'll bring some dry leaves from around here, they will burn"
"Yaar these splinters not catching fire... only the kerosene is burning"
"Anand, do one thing, keep adding kerosene from time to time, that is the only way"

And so, the kerosene lit campfire was up, with fumes blinding anyone who was on the windward side of it. It was in the midst of this that Anil cut the cake and was duly anointed by foam, courtesy Ravi.

Rock n Roll: It was supper time and we had Veg n Non Veg Kaati rolls along with the bday cake. The Yajna was completed by adding the cake remnants to it ("yaa, now it is burning... OK time to move")And so we started, the fifteen of us, spreading the message of light in darkness, armed with our torches and the cute little mascot...the PETROMAX... Wait this one deserves a bit more.

I dont know whose brainchild this was to bring the Petromax (= pressurized lantern where the incandescence of a rare earth mantle produces the light). But I know for sure that it was debated whether to carry it along for the trek or leave it in the bus. And here ventured Arun ("Not to worry, I will carry it"). Little did that poor little creature (I am talking of Petromax and not Arun) know that this would be the trip where it would not only be bumped and hurtled all along the way, it would also be cursed for its weight and uselessness in the clear moonlit night and finally the trek would prove to be its last one ... sob :( .

Show me the way: Ten minutes onto the stony path made it clear to us that it wasnt leading us to anywhere towards the hill (to our right) but to some dwellings ahead. So it descended on us that we had to leave the path and start climbing the hill instead. Again, few brave heads rose and parties split for individual explorations - led occassionaly by Ashok, Ravi, Mohit and Andy to name a few. Fortunately, our leader was in complete control of the situation and handled very well each time a split party ventured into wilderness.

Mohit: Here is a way towards right; Ashok: No, towards left I can see an opening.
Anand: OK, both of you, go 50 mts further on each way and report back if you can still go ahead or get blocked
Mohit: OK, I am stuck, its blocked; Ashok (he is blocked too... but) Then come this way!!
Anand: Fine, lets go to the LEFT. Tell the others.

And this way, after numeruos non-existent tra(va)ils, we settled on one and trudged along. (We later saw that an upward trail started from very near to where we had supper). As we moved up, the still air gave way to slight winds, and the cool soothing effect combined with the effort of climbing made us a little weary. We reached a place with a shallow gully with a few boulders jutting out. Here is where we took our first break. Few perched on the boulders, the rest wherever they found place.

Parting time: Pretty soon, we were marching in two groups (is this a trend too?). The 2 Anands, Kishore, Bugs,Prats, Mohit, Ashok, Me, Shipra and Anil were in one and Ravi, Anisha, Chandani, Siva, Arun (and the Petromax) in the other. An unfortunate incident forced the Petro group to stay back and wait. Anil also went back to inquire and stayed put with them. The rest of us (nine in all) continued our way up. Almost immediately, we found a trail leading upwards. After that, the going was comparatively easier.

The trail was definite and marked by arrows; it led through dense shrubs and trees till finally it dissappeared quite near the top of the hill. Here again, Anand used his path-finder tools (read Mohit and Ashok) to decide the way to go. Soon, we reached a flat rocky surface facing the Nandi Hills with cool winds blowing unabated all around us and clear black sky above. This was also the place where we had a brief interaction with someone on the opposite hillside through light signals (WE ARE NOT ALONE!!).

Where are you: Whatever exhaustion we had along the way up was gone as soon as we rested there for a while... for some (Andy et al) rested too well (you could hear him snoring above the winds). The rest of us continued our search for the top, though after going some distance, we were faced by thorny shrubs. Realising the futility of going further, we thought it better to go back to our resting place... but where was it? we lost our way a little bit and if Anand hadn't remembered some milestones (rocks), we wud've ended up going down by a separate route. Thankfully that didnt happen.

Back on the rocks we waited for the Petro group (they had communicated through phone that they were coming up.. finally!!) for some time, but then decided to meet them while going down. So we started our downward journey on the trail. After going down quite a distance, we realised we should've met the Petro guys.. well, that is IF they were also able to find the trail (which they didnt). So, now started an exercise to locate them, and an extensive use of visual/aural/telephonic communication happened.

"RAVIIIIII....WHERE ARE YOUUUUU" .... "OUUU"...."OUU" (echo)
"I can see a light... Naah , they are only Bugs and Kishore"
"Hello.. Hello... yaa..we have reached way down? ..Hello..where are you? what?!! at the top?!!!"

Apply your learnings: And so it transpired on us that the Petro group had gone to the top by another route while we were descending. Seeing no point in waiting for them, we decided to go back to the bus. But this time the final part of descent was tricky. We somehow reached a point from where we could see the road (though we weren't sure it was THE road we wanted to go on), but we were at an elevation to it, and there was a drop of around 10 feet. There we used our lessons learnt on the Rappelling exercise, used the small bit of rope we had, and climbed down.

Back near the bus we decided to take rest a bit and then continue for another trek, this time the Nandi Hills.

Jo Dar Gaya..: I must say we weren't exhausted on returning from Channagiri, and as though for a proof to this, Anand immediately set off for prospecting if there was any way to climb up the hill facing the one we had just descended. Unfortunately, there was none. Anand,Prats,Bugs,Kishore and Ashok then went to explore another side of the road, Andy retired in the bus (awakening the poor driver in this process), and myself, Mohit and Shipra waited for the explorers to return. It was then we had the idea of scaring them (when they returned). We hid behind a tree and as soon as they were near us we jumped on them. Not all, but Prats for sure had a scare ... she looked visibly shaken :)Again a bit of reorganisation took place for Nandi Hills trek. The minibus drove us to the foothills of Nandi Hills, a place where the road takes a right turn. Off we got down (7 of us), while Shipra and Andy stayed back in the bus to return to the temple spot and wait for the Petro group there. It seems they waited quite a bit as the Petro group returned in early morning only.

Naa tire, Naa retire: The trek to Nandi Hills was quite contrasting to Channagiri one. There's a well-laid road, with milestones indicating distance remaining and lot of bikes and cars zooming past you most of the time (Really have no idea why would someone Return from Nandi Hills when sunrise is just around the corner). But the spring in step was slowly and steadily giving way to exhaustion. Along we trudged, with Anand, Ashok and Prats going way ahead (we met them only at the top). The 4 of us following, counting each kilometer as it passed by (somehow the later milestones were farther apart I guess!!)It was only very near the top that we realised we will miss the sunrise after all (we had kept a deadline of reaching by 6:30 am = assumed time for sunrise). So, it was again time to take the shortcuts cutting vertically across the winding road. It was tiring like anything. In fact, on the final climb, I felt so exhausted, I almost gave in to the desire of toppling backwards!!Nevertheless, we reached Nandi Hills, just when the morning calm was settled across the horizon, and what a view it was!!... The floor of clouds was interrupted in places by hilltops, which looked like islands on a frothing sea-surface. As we went further ahead, the sun was shone bright, and its rays sparkled off trees and shrubs. Numerous monkeys were playing along the way as well as perched on branches. We passed a water tank and went along the periphery of the campus, till we came up to a few shops.

Tipu's desire: Our requests for tea were denied at the first shop, but we managed to find another nearby. While we were having tea-biscuits, we met a member of the long-lost Petro group (Arun), who described us their adventurous journey (including the episode of sad demise of Petromax). The rest of Petro group was sleeping inside the bus (very near to where we were eating). So, we decided to join them once we had seen the sheer cliff-drop on the hill side (which Tipu Sultan allegedly used for death penalty).We sat on the rocky end of hilltop, enjoying the sunlight, wind and the breathtaking view, while Ashok tried his luck by sitting periliously close to the edge of cliff. (Oh how I wished to have Tipu's Powers.. "[Clap Clap]. ..Push this guy!!"). Few minutes more, and then we joined the others sleeping peacefully in the bus. The return journey for most of us would be a gobbledegook recollection of scrambled dreams; though I remember the speedometer hovering near 80 kmph and Arun dropping off twice on the driver's shoulder in his slumber. Soon we arrived in Blore and bid adieu to each other.