Jab We Went – Midnight trek to Skandgiri !!

P.S This is not my original Creation however i am one of those fantastic five(discussed bellow). Credit goes to Sayan Pal for writing this beautiful travelogue..

Thwarted by rain in the previous two occasions, I almost gave up my long cherished dream of midnight tryst with Skandgiri. But my ever-enthusiastic roomies forced me to give it a last try. Immediately the group was formed (which I call “Fantastic Five”) and off we went to Skandgiri , the mysterious hill.

After completing our regular TT and pool sessions, we started around 11:45 PM from Hosur Road in our own vehicle. It was really refreshing to see silent Bangalore roads where one can easily drive at 80 km/hr. With no proper map or GPRS we somehow reached NH 7 and zoomed past new airport to reach Nandi Hills road. The real journey begins!!

Around 1 AM, we took a tea-break at a road side stall and picked up important road direction to Skandgiri from the shop owner. However, despite of losing our directions on few occasions, we did manage to reach the foothill at around 2:00 am. As soon as our car entered the parking, some local lads popped up from darkness and offered their services as guide. After completing a round of bargain we started our trek around 2:30 AM.

My meeting with Skandgiri can’t be a smooth one and I was correct. The guide wanted to finish the trip as early as possible (to catch the next party) and guided us into an ever stiff and untraced trail. Not knowing that there exists a relatively easier path, we took the challenge and started following our guide with lots of determination and enthusiasm. But gradually it become increasingly difficult to meet guide’s pace and we forced him to take it easy. We took snaps in between and enjoyed the nocturnal beauty of the pristine mountain. A faint melodious music from nearby temple set the perfect background score to our journey to uncertainty. Slowly but steadily we entered into the realm of cloud as we reached the halfway mark. (As per our guide 55% ).

We started feeling the chilly wind and it became really difficult to move ahead steadily. Once into the cloud, the visibility suddenly dropped down to threatening magnitude and we could not even see each other. Only hope was light emanating from torch and constant vocal-tonic from my teammates. The most difficult part of the trek was to climb up those wet stones without any support from either side. After a certain point, we realized that this cannot be the normal route as we could not figure out a single trekker nearby. Although the fear of climbing down this trail creped in to our mind yet we enjoyed every step of this adventurous trail. Our constant fight with gusty wind, stiff climb, pitch-black darkness and freezing cold continued till we reached the hilltop.

Around 5 AM we reached our destination i.e. the bread-omlette shop at the topic. Being hungry and cold we instantly ordered for tea, bread-omlette and maggi. The shop owner also cross-soled his campfire service to us. But later we realized that it was only the heat generated from the campfire saved us from strong and chilly wind. We circled around the campfire and started taking snaps. It was complete dark. Around 6 AM we saw faint ray of light in the horizon which signaled sunrise. We woke from our semi-sleepy stage and hurried on to the top to watch the much awaited sunrise. We heard so much about the beautiful sunrise in Skadgiri that we could easily brave the gusty winds and cold.
But alas! God of rain (or cloud) took the revenge with vengeance in the morning and our wait got extended. A thick layer of cloud prevented us from watching the heavenly sunrise. As the sun started accepting the defeat, wind speed peaked up to unbearable magnitude and forced us to take shelter in a small temple. The comfort we experienced inside the shelter was relieving. Whenever there was a shout outside we rushed out of the shelter to watch sunrise but without any success. At around 7:30 AM we finally gave up and prepared to climb down. As our guide had already left us we had no choice but to follow the crowd. This time crowd intelligence worked and we took the normal path.This trail is less frightening (or you may say less-adventurous) but equally beautiful. We took snaps at regular breaks and slowly climb down to foothill around 9. It took another one and half hours to locate our car as we reached the other side of the hill while climbing down.

Finally we started our journey back to Bangalore around 10:30 AM and reached our sweet nest at 1 PM. It was my first mid night trek and a lifetime experience. The sheer joy of adventure, thrill of moving through darkness, ecstasy of stumbling on the clouds …. the memory is unforgettable and will remain etched to my heart forever.

Giving Back (Self Realisation)

Lot of things are being said, and little done on, how to save mother earth from human greed. People always coming up with problems India is facing, from electricity shortage to farmer’s suicide, from lack of sanitation facilities to poor education. Newspaper articles, facebook, youtube is full of problems people are facing. But where is the Remedy? Ohh, yaah I read one article last week that suggested how government is responsible and how politicians and bur crates should work. Com on how many government officials read that? Truth is stranger than fiction and the truth is we feel good when we blame government and governance inside India for all the wrong things happenings. We like comments stating those ugly things and author feel delighted. However it is equally important to know what we can do. I believe there are some little ways in which we can Give Back to Society. I am not against luxury, I am not saying to compromise your comforts, and I do not expect this to happen at this early age. We youth are in our favorite phase of life. Obviously first concern should be to live a wonderful life. However we can avoid WASTAGE. I am not asking to cut short your cell phone bills; neither am I asking to leave your car or motorbike next time. If we can cooperate in just three ways, yes three ways (Electricity, Food and Paper) I believe society would be thankful to us. Wastage of money, luxury and necessity defines social status of upper class, upper middle class and lower middle class respectively (I do not have word for lower class). And let me say here bachelors working in MNC’s (who do not have to support family) are also leaving little more than a luxury life.

Someone said “Money is yours but Resources belongs to Society”. Very rightly said and let me elaborate this. In 1982 per unit electricity in India was Rs. 2 per unit. Now in Delhi it is around Rs 6.50 per unit. Leave aside lower class, lower middle class finds it difficult to cope up with increasing Electricity Bill. Actually in 1982 rich people though that they can easily pay whatever electricity board billed them but they forgot that due to their over consumption there was general price rise in electricity price. From 2 per unit it touched 3 per unit in 1990. Still it didn’t have any impact on their pocket it was a miserable farmer who was feeling the heat as his annual income didn’t rise so much. There are numerous problems like this and answer lies in just basic understanding.

We are not getting any utility by wasting expensive food so why are we wasting it? Just because we have the money to waste, I am not against hangouts and daily eating out. Please go and enjoy as long as you can afford but what’s the point of wasting food in expensive restaurants. I hope now you understand how this indirectly affects food supply to lower class and why there is so much food inflation. So I can expect from us that next time we will order whatever we can consume.

Thirdly think something about papers. People please do not think office printer as free, believe me you will realize the cost when you will have to pay for your child’s stationary (may be 5 years down the line), show some responsibility and at least print on both sides. I have seen people taking two or three print outs of tickets, I do not know what purpose does it serve, I have also seen people taking paper receipt from ATM during cash withdrawal and without even looking at that small 4 inch white slip they will tear it and through in dustbin. When machine asks us do we need the print of transaction, can’t we say NO?

Relationship

One of my friend asked me, in fact questioned me about Relationships. She asked why boys are less understanding and why sometimes they do not feel the same what girl feels. Why it is that the girls expect more than boys do. Last few days I was trying to think of relationships of not only lovers but also of family and friends. Apart from blood relations what makes a relationship stronger is Attachment and Bonding. Every one thinks different and has different perspective towards life. You find your life partner, your soul mate however do not try to make assumption of thinking her or him as ditto like you. He or she should complete you rather than replicate you. To understand other’s prospective it is first important to shed your ego, behave rationally and always keep in mind that human do make mistakes or other people can also be saying right. The base of any relationship is the willingness to listen to others and trust on their judgments. It holds good for every relationship. Here I do not want to compare and outcast similarities and differences between boys and girls thinking in a relationship still I would like to state a very important point. “Next time you find a fault with some of your friend think of his or her qualities, the negative feeling will go away and you will be able to embrace him or her”. Life is just some thousands of weekends only; please do not waste it. How many times it has happened to you that you have first ruined a planned and later realized that your anger and frustration was useless. You should feel proud that there is someone special who loves you so much so instead of living Black and White live a colorful life with your loved ones. Enjoy and live every moment before these colors get fade. So nest time if you have a turf with your beloved don’t wait for him or her to say something to you, go and just tell her what is your love for her or him. Think of your good moments together. Believe me it will help. Think life as a present and try to enjoy it in present. It will be wonderful always then.