Gopalaswami Betta Again

“Macha, we are leaving Bangalore and will be reaching Mysore by about 7 PM” was the call I received when I was having a nice and cozy sleep on my Saturday afternoon. Unless, I’m on a trip or watching a movie or gaming or karting, I usually prefer my weekends to be calm on my bed. I had just been to Dubbara Forest, Kushalnagar the last week end and wasn’t expecting another excursion this week as well. But, this was Anoop calling; I had already heard a lot from him for not being in touch and I really did want to meet him. I had asked him to meet me up at Green Leaf on K D Road (the most happening place in Mysore, as they say). I had thought that he’ll be a bit late, but he was with friends who had been to Mysore before and knew the place well, and reached Mysore on time. The moment these guys landed, they wanted to go to Planet X and kart. Being a karting enthusiast myself (;-)), I solemnly obliged and took them for karting. But, as luck would have it, all the slots had been booked and we couldn’t get any for that day. Finally, we settled down at the gaming drone and started playing “Resistance”; one on one; ahem. Anoop is new to gaming so was taking some time getting used to the joystick while I was busy killing him from left, right, top and bottom. It was a riot! Finally he learnt the tricks and was soon killing me often. Being a fast learner, I quickly understood that if I wanted to save some face, I should quit right away.

Soon we were discussing on what do on Sunday. They had wanted to go to Gopalaswami Betta, and I told them that the morning mist there is just awesome. I tried to show them some of the pictures from my earlier excursion to the Gopalaswami Betta. Thus, our plan was finalized and we were to leave Mysore at 6:00 AM, to catch the morning mist at the great Gopalaswami Betta.

“Excuse me! Did you say morning 6:00”, ahem, that must be a joke. I could see eyes staring at me. Finally, we decided that I and Anoop will not sleep so that we can make it to the hill top early in the morning.

“Well, that sounds ok to me. But, it’s only 11:00 PM. What are we going to do till morning?”

“Nothing macha, we’ll just go to the bus stand have some late night coffee and talk about de good ‘ol days”, came the instant reply.

I then understood that it was going to be a long night, and by the morning I’ll surely be delirious. We started talking about our college days; remembering all the nice times we had. It was like I was in college again; I am meeting this guy after almost 3 years now and we could still remember almost everything that we used to do then. He even remembered my favorite song at college; I would listen to it for hours at end. The song was“The Animal Song – Savage Garden”.

At around 3 in the morning, we decided to go to the bus stand and have some coffee. I remembered that back in college we used to walk back home after the late night movie shows. We came back and sat outside our lodge and started chit chatting again. By around 5:00 AM we woke up the other guys and returned to my place to quickly freshen up. The sight of my bed was like manna to me, I just wanted to lie on it and just float in dreams. But I was not sure how I will trick this guy to let me nap for just a second. People who know me from college know about my sleep as well, so it is pretty difficult convincing them to let me sleep.

“Macha, while you take a shower, let me just lie down and straighten my spine. It’s always good to straighten you spine before you go for any rides” and we both started laughing. My plan clearly did not work and we were out towards the hill by 6:30 AM.

We had decided that we’ll stay together and will maintain a speed of about 80 kmph. We cruised along the Gundelpet road, had our breakfast at Nanjangud and were off towards GB. The roads were a mess at some places, but that’s the combination of the good and the bad that makes a journey memorable. By the time we were nearing Gopalaswami Betta, the sun had already come up. I was disappointed as I thought that we have clearly missed the mist. However, once we started on the hill, it was heaven. You could feel the cold breeze and the feeling of going up a hill was simply exhilarating. No matter how many time you go up this hill, every time it feels like a new experience.

When we reached the top, it was misty, not as misty as I have seen before. But I was glad that they could at least see some mist. Clearly, these guys had there mouths wide open. Everybody was amazed at the beauty of the place. We could see a small pond, lush green trees and lots of rocks. One side where the sun was up was bright lush green, while another portion was grey with the clouds and the mist. That was a terrific sight. I wished again I had a camera. However, we managed to get some snaps on our phones.

Returning back was kool as usual. We all just had one aim; to get back ASAP. We wanted to kart as we could not do it the day before. The ride was smooth this time; I wonder where all the potholes went. I guess the anticipation of getting back made us forget the roads. The journey was nice except a small incident. We reached Planet X by around 1:30 PM and soon jumped on the track. It was while we were karting, that I noticed that my other friends who had gone to Ooty, were there and were busy taking photographs of us. I was like, “Man! I finally see a camera”. They had brought their SLR’s and took some pretty kool pics of us in action. Man! You must see those pictures.

Finally, I bade them good bye, and came back home. It is a different feeling to meet old friends after a long time and remembering those moments of your life when you’re in college makes you nostalgic. It was a great experience and I definitely learnt a new word – “Macha”.

Weekend Odyssey

I had been asking my college friends to visit me for quite some time. Ajish, Nithin, Anand had promised me that they would come one day. But that day not arrived till now. So, when Vinod called me and said that he was coming, I was really happy and excited to finally see someone from college. We had met up for a New Year bash at Bangalore and really had a great time. That day as we were busy hunting out places where we could celebrate our New Year, I had constantly pestered them to travel to Mysore, so that I could show them what Mysore has to offer. That did not work out at that time but I was glad that he came. He told me he would be leaving Chennai on Wednesday morning and would reach Mysore by the evening. However, he started at Tuesday night only and was here by Wednesday morning. I was a little worried at that as he was travelling on his bike and it’s more than 500 Kms from Chennai to Mysore.

Anyways, I met him at the GRS Fantasy Park, took him home and left for office as usual. I planned to finish my work early and then take him to Planet X. I got a delayed getting out of office (as usual) and was expecting to hear quite an earful from Vinod. When I finally got to him what I saw to my amusement was this guy sitting comfortably with two beautiful girls at Cubs. I suddenly became a bit uncomfortable as I thought that I might be disturbing them. But I did join them. I learnt that Tulika was Vinod’s classmate in school and Megha was Tulika’s friend. “Hmmm, so that’s why, Mr. Vinod, you have biked all the way from Chennai to Mysore” was my instant thought. However, little did I know that the following days were going to be the most memorable days of my life.

From Cubs we went on to Chamundi Hills, situated in the outskirts of Mysore. You can see the whole of Mysore from up there. It was chilly but a very good ride; we went to the temple (not me but the other guys) and then had some tea with our hands shaking. I even spilled some of my tea. Soon, we went to Planet X, and not too surprisingly we wanted to kart. We soon got into our karts and were soon ripping the tracks apart (at least I was doing so). I went crazy karting as I had not been on a go-kart for about 3 weeks and did a decent job of 40.58 sec. The girls were watching us, and I felt that they really must have gotten bored.

Next evening, we went to Hookah, the famous pub at Planet X. I had the most embarrassing moment of my life. Everybody, except me, knew how to dance. I on the other hand had never danced in my entire life. I was being asked constantly asked to dance and I was coming up with new and unique ways to just say no.I started Taking calls, showing that I was busy on my phone, etc, etc. Then, to my horror, Tulika just came over and took me to the dance floor. That was it! I knew I was doomed. I tried to dance for some time, but was feeling awkward and out of place and soon ran back to the couch. I decided then that “Beta Justin, Ab to dance seekhna hi padega!”. I tried downing a few drinks and getting back, but nothing was happening. Usually, I just need one to get high but this time somehow nothing seemed to happen. I had just embarrassed the most beautiful lady I have ever met. Embarrassing!!! Looser!!! I know! I know!

The next morningthe four of us (Tulika, Megha, Vinod and I) planned to go biking. We decided to bike to the Dubbare Forest area in KushalNagar near Madikeri (Coorg) which is around 60 kms from Mysore. Waking up was difficult, but since Vinod knew where to hit to get me up ;), we were up and running by about 7:00 AM. We picked up the girls and started towards Kushalnagar. I did my first bike trip to Coorg and the sight of the roads made me nostalgic. Last time I was on this road, most of the road was rugged and we had a real bumpy ride. However, they have repaired the roads and the ride this time was just awesome.

As we were leaving Mysore, it started to drizzle and soon we were pretty much drenched. But the ride was great; I especially like riding under a slight drizzle. Soon, I just removed my helmet and was enjoying the cool breeze against my face. I do not know how Megha felt behind me; I was just looking around remembering the time when I first took my bike out and was burning tyres at 100kmph to Coorg. We reached Kushalnagar by around 10:30 AM, and were soon looking for the Dubbare Forest. I was keen to see the place as we came to know that they had White Water Rafting there. We reached the Chiklihole Dam, and spent some time there. The view as it turns always was just awesome, especially because of the drizzle.

After a while at the dam, we again started for the river. We reached there in about half an hour. Seeing the water, I was just ready to jump in. However, the moment we jumped out of our bikes, we realized how cold it was. My legs were shivering like I would fall down right away. We quickly ran over to a Hotel, and had some real hot coffee. Once, things normalized, we had another problem. We knew we were travelling, but we never thought that we would be rafting; and we did not have spare clothes. Rafting was ok, but how are we going to get back in wet clothes. What the f…, we are doing this. It was Plain and simple.

We were soon into our rafting kit with all the life jackets, helmets and the CHAPPU (paddles). The guy who was going to take us Rafting, Johnson, strapped on the jackets so hard that it almost blew the wind out of us. We got into the water which was unusually calm; it was later told to us that this was the Kaveri river waters and hence did not have turbulence as you have in the Seethanadi, Mangalore as the water rush is created by releasing water from the Dam there. Nevertheless, we went in and started boating around. Tulika was skeptical and a bit afraid at first as she had never done this before; and Megha was fine, ready to rock n roll. Johnson soon had us in the groove with his “forward”, “stop”, “fast forward”, etc. etc.

We had to raft a stretch of about 7 kms and we were told that it would take about 1-1/2 hrs to do it. The waters were mostly calm but we did have some rapids in between. We all went ecstatic when Johnson would ask us to paddle harder and harder to get us to the rapids; and then the sudden burst of water from all sides as we went into the rapid. As we became comfortable with the waters we were just asking for more. Then suddenly, Johnson asked if we wanted to jump into the water. Vinod and I quickly obliged and jumped into the water. I do not know how to swim and hence we had quite some very good moments; “some people” would be rolling over laughing thinking about that now. There was one stretch where we rafted against the current and came to a rapid where the raft gets stuck in the rapid. That was a real kool moment as Johnson would say forward, forward and then fast forward and we would like put in all our efforts. This time the girls were sitting in front and every time water rushed in they would duck down into the raft. I and Vinod were busy laughing away at the sight. Johnson was very friendly and took us to the same rapid again and again till we all got totally exhausted. As we started with the current, we just laid back on the raft and let Johnson take control and paddle for some time. Soon, we again reached a safe spot where we could jump into the water again. However, this time it was Johnson, who was like throwing us all into the waters. I remember he just threw Tulika and Megha into the water. The thought that we did not have spare clothes and had to bike back home completely wet never came into our minds.

Soon our rafting finished and I was really horrified when we were told that I and Vinod would have to carry the raft back to the road. Nevertheless we were too excited and did carry it over. The girls were behind us and had that look on their faces like we were just going to drop the raft and trip down taking them with us. We reached the road and got into a small shop to have some tea. I cannot express our joy when we had the hot tea as we were already shivering. I finished the tea and had to go to get some money from Kushalnagar. I slowly climbed into the jeep and was off towards the city, …shivering.

I came back after a while only to see that these guys had been provided with a matka of burning coal from the shop. The people there had been very helpful; especially the woman there. We thanked her again and again while we were returning to the base. It is very rare that you find such hospitality; from people you don’t even know. We returned to the base and it was then that we realized how cold we were. We just wanted to have a bonfire; again the Jungle Safari guys helped us out and built us a bonfire out of hay. While they were putting in the hay for the bonfire, a couple of cows started towards us. And Megha was like, Hurrrr, Hurrr, Hurrr, trying to shoo them away. We just had a riot laughing at the sight (I am sure Megha will kill me for this). We stayed there for some time to get ourselves heated up and left the place at around 5:30 PM.

The return was not eventful as the only thing on our minds was to get back as soon as possible and get under a hot shower. We rode fast and reached Mysore in record time, taking less than an hour and a half. We dropped the girls home and soon I hit the shower. It was a hell of an experience and I am definitely going to remember this for the rest of my life.

Johnson, I have learnt that is a part of Jungle Safari and roams around the country to places like these for taking people out for unforgettable experiences. He is from Goa, and travels to all these rivers based on the season. I found him to be a wonderful person, very helpful and ready to go that extra bit for his customers. He has suggested a place near Goa, where you can find rapids like in the Rishikesh river. I am making plans with my friend and would soon be going there.

After all the fun, the best part of the whole weekend at least for me would be meeting Tulika and Megha, who have become very good friends of mine. It is quite interesting to see that you meet new people, completely strangers, and yet you find a connection. It’s like I have never met these guys before and yet we find so many similarities; even some of the experiences that we’ve had till now are similar. I guess that’s what is called LIFE!!!

As for dancing, I have joined Salsa classes and am waiting to hit back on the floor this time knowing what I am doing.

Torture on the hills

Day 0 – Mayday

It was Friday and we still had not decided on where to go for the weekend. I generally prefer bike rides so I had been pressing to go to some place on our bikes. This time Amit had also returned from the US and he wanted an adventure. He was the one organizing this trip and was looking at different places we could spend our weekend at. Sometime in the afternoon, he saw a post on our Company Bulletin Board that some guys were planning a trek to Kumara Parvata over the weekend. Amit, immediately contacted them and soon we had a plan ready. Even, the cab was booked by the evening. We were to leave at night at around 10:00PM, reach the bottom of the hill, visit the famous temple there and start trekking at 8:00 AM.

I was not aware of what was happening as I had already committed that I would be ready to go anyplace anywhere they decide on. Anyways, I also thought that even if we are trekking it will not be more than 5 kms. It would be difficult but manageable as we all would be chatting around and time would pass just like that. I did not know that Kumara Parvata is the second highest peak after Dodapetta, Ooty in south India. I also did not know that it comprised of four-five hills of which the second last one is the highest and they planned to trek the whole range. That adds up to about 23 kms of trekking!!!!!!!!!!!!! Some of my friends had already trekked one of the hills there during the monsoons and had showed me the leech marks on their legs. I was a bit disturbed at first but then it was no monsoon season and I figured that there would be no leeches.

As planned, the cab came to our place at about 10:00, and we all packed our bags and left for the hills. We were around 9 guys ready to hit the hills. The drive was nice; anyways, I did not feel anything as I was soon fast asleep which is normal for me on any trip in a cab.


Day 1 – The Torture Begins

We reached Subramanya in the morning at about 6:00 AM. Subramanya is situated at the foothills of western ghats in Dakshina Kannada district, famous for the Kukke Subramanya temple. The popular trail to the top of Kumaraparvatha, about 1800m tall, starts from here. There is a lake or river (I do not remember) near to temple where visitors took their morning bath before entering the temple. All of us ran towards the river to get a bath but only 2 actually got into the waters. The water was dirty and I couldn’t trek with the idea of trekking with dirt all over my body. Some people even ran for the Loo, but guess what???, man, I decided that I’m, gonna hold off till I get back to me sweet apartment. And thus the torture began!!!

After the guys visited the temple, we started on our trek. Some of the guys had already trekked before and knew where to find the trail that leads to the hill top. The idea of trekking for the first time in my life fired me up and we started on our journey. In my excitement, I was well ahead of the people and was like posing in all the photographs. Little did I know that this was just the start and by the time we completed the first hill, I would be half dead.

We climbed and climbed and climbed for hours to go. I dunno how much we climbed but we just kept on going. Our destination was 'Bhattara Mane' (Bhatt's house) where people stop over generally on this trek. It was situated on a plain after we covered the first hill. By the time we reached the place, I was really tired with all my joints aching like they would fall off any second. I cannot remember the trail; nothing on the way. But it was managable and I was glad that I came this far. It was nature all around, greenery and I just loved it. We reached 'Bhattara Mane' after some time. All the trekkers stop at this place for rest and food, and the Bhatt’s welcome them. One of many examples of the excellent hospitality which can only be found in the South Indian states. The food comprised of rice, sambar, butter milk and pickle. It was not of the quality I was used to in normal circumstances and I would never have had it if I was back home, but nevertheless it was extremely good since we were all very hungry and tired. I was so tired and hungry that I washed down three plates of rice!!! (BIG MISTAKE). We had to reach the third hill by night and hence only had about 1 hour of rest. The Bhatt’s place in made of mud and the feel of the cold mud against the legs was relaxing.

We soon started our trek again. I trekked for about half an hour only to realize that I have eaten much more than what was actually required. I couldn’t lift my legs; I was struggling to keep ahead with the rest of the gang. To add to me problems, the sun was high up in the sky and was draining away our energy. And there were no trees around; we saw a piece of land with trees but it was too far away. It didn’t make sense to waste energy to go there and then return after a few minutes. Now, the trek comprised of 5 minutes of trek and 20 minutes of rest.

I was glad that they had brought lots of oranges, chocolates and ready to eat packed food. On such treks if you do not carry this stuff, it is pretty obvious that you will dehydrate. I wanted to have an orange every 5 minutes but was only granted one every 2 hours or so. I understood later that, it is important that you save your resources for the later part of the journey. If we would have finished everything at the start itself, the rest of the journey would have been much more painful for each one of us.

Next we reach a place called the “Mantap”. The 'Mantap' was a pretty small shelter and with the mist and the risk of a possible downpour, it was a bit uneasy. It was built of stones. It was while trekking from up there that I saw three hills that we were to scale in front of me. I was done, finished. I thought that I would die here. I did not have the strength to take a single step. It was torture. I could only hear Paddy calling “Cmmon Justin, It’s just one more hill, we’ll camp on the next one”. It is in these situations that the human body really shows its resilience and power. Just listenening to Paddy, I completed the next two hills.

By the time we were on top of the third hill it was dark. We could not see anything; it was the first time I felt what blindness would be like. All we knew was that we were on top of the third hill with a forest on our left and a deep gorge on the right. Nevertheless, we put up our camps and got into our sleeping bags. I tried to sleep, but the cold and the pain in my body were not letting me to. Meanwhile, all the other guys were preparing a bonfire; for us to get heated up as well as cook up some food. I enjoyed the Tomato soup that was given to me and slowly blanked out. It was damn cold and we would wake up regularly throughout the night. The day was finally over.


Day 2 –I’m finally KP Certified

We woke up early in the morning. We could see a couple of other trekkers climbing towards us. That was a relief, I thought, at least people do trek this place. We quickly packed our backpacks and started descending down. We had to reach the Kumara Parvata by the afternoon so that we can reach the bottom by evening and return. I soon realized that I am not able to walk properly. My hip joint was paining badly. I wanted to stop; I wanted a chopper to come down, pick me up and take me back to civilization. But, I could never have given up. I thought, if I cannot do this, I definitely will not be able to face the challenges in life. Plus, I will be made fun of each and every time I look into the faces of these other guys. I had to carry on.

We trekked, and trekked as we climbed over near vertical stone hills, and finally by the afternoon were at the top of the awesome Kumara Parvata. There was a small temple kind of structure there. We took some snaps there, had a chat with the other guys. They confirmed that this is indeed the top of Kumaraparvatha. I just fell down there and slept under the sun for around 1 hour. Finally, I have done it. I am KP certified now. I am a real trekker now!

Returning was painful, very painful. I do not remember how we did it. I do not remember the trail we took. I just remember that there were lots of rocks and we were just carefully, slowly climbing down. We would fall down anywhere to rest. The terrain, mud, dirt, nothing was a problem then. Everything seemed so small. We reached our pick up point in the evening and the sight of our cab made us excited; we wanted to just run and get into it. But nobody had the energy to even get up and we just silently waited for it to come to us. Finally, I am going home!!!!

To give you an overview of the trek difficulty, the terrain is tough, the weather is mostly on the extremes, water is scarce and it is very difficult at any point to know where you are. So, it is quite an achievement to actually cover this mountain range.

At this point, I would like to thank Amit for this wonderful experience and for helping me out at the trip. He did carry my back pack for quite some time when I was totally worn out.

To view the photos of the trip, please click on the links below:

Kumara Parvata Photos Set 1

Kumara Parvata Photos Set 2