Looking back, in our case I think it was a combination of all the three. It all started with that phone call to dileep. It was nearly 2 years since we passed out of college, all of us hadn’t met together, morever we had had this plan of going to KP when we were in college only, but it hadn’t materialized for any reason whatsoever, so why not go now??? Dileep was as usual ready, the problem was in finding out if others were equally eager.. So started a spate of phone calls... kaushik, bachodi, laxmi and brijesh. The results were very surprising.. None of them had any work that weekend except for brijesh who said he would inform us later on his availability... Next issues was there weren’t enough girls.. So whom do we catch hold of? The obvious answer was latha!!! One phone call n as luck had decided to favour, even she was available!!! Brijesh had to drop out and was replaced by mukund who I must say has an amazing sense of humor... U just have to talk n each line is met with hilarious retorts!!!!!!!
Latha, dileep n I started from Bangalore on Friday, i.e., March 18th night. We had got seats in the last row of the bus, the journey was very bumpy and by the time we reached subramanya at 4 in the morning, we felt we had completed a mini-trek. mukund joined us from hassan. Kaushik had come down the previous day itself from suratkal and booked a room for us, by the time the rest of the gang joined us(laxmi from mangalore, bachodi from surathkal), it was 9.00..
Kumara Parvata is at an altitude of 5000 feet, the route is around 15kms from Subramanya. There are two routes for reaching the peak (Pushpagiri), you can either start from subramanya or from the other side, i.e., Somwarpet in Coorg. We chose the former. Also, fortunately had chosen the right time of the year for trekking, going there in the monsoon is a nightmare because of the leeches and also the route tends to be very slippery. Going in the month of March has none of these problems but the weather is very sunny n you end up getting tired, thirsty and panting for breath every 20 mins!!
We started the trek at around 9.30.Initially, the journey isnt very ardous, there are a lot of trees(almost resembles a forest!) for shade, so u dont get tired soon, n this coupled with the enthusiasm you have started with helps in covering long distances within a short span of time. After trekking for around 2hrs, the forests give way to steep land, this time without much shade.. You are directly exposed to the sun's wrath as you trek!! We had taken plenty of water bottles, but not much of food material. There is a place called "Bhattara Mane"(found out that its also called as Girigaddhe) where you can have lunch n take rest for some time. We had trekked around 3.5 hrs, all of us were famished, n there was no sign of Bhattara mane... My legs were aching badly n the spirit of adventure with which I had started seemed to be diminishing rapidly..
Kaushik took his cellphone(bless BSNL!!)Finally called up Mahalinga Bhatt(who was in Subramanya) asking him whether we were on the right path to Bhattara Mane and how longer we had to walk..(Bhattara Mane is owned by ???) It is strange, but then how do you tell people where you are when all around you are surrounded by trees, grass and the sky on top!! Fortunately we saw a old rusted board saying the area was a wildlife sanctuary (the information on the board was highly redundant, in fact in all probability the only purpose the board has ever served is as a landmark to Bhatta's house!) Mahalinga Bhatt had some consoling news; we were definitely on the right track, the house was just another 30 mins walk!!! Exhausted, we somehow managed to walk for another 30 mins, the house is located at a lower elevation, when we saw the house, the relief we felt was immense. We had taken 1kg of rice in case there was no stock at Bhatta's place(previous groups who had gone had advised us so.), we asked them to prepare lunch, meanwhile we did what we are good at: sleeping!! Took rest for around 1 hour and then had lunch. And how delicious the food tasted!!!!! It was a simple meal consisting of rice, sambhar n pickle. We ate to our hearts' content and with our spirits rejenuvated decided to continue our trek at around 3.30. We had borrowed a huge vessel from them for cooking on the top, so that was additional luggage. The whole area is protected by the forest department, so you have to take permission(permission = Rs 30/- per person) from them(there is the official
checkpost near bhatta's place) for trekking. Also, an amazing number of guava trees, so we plucked a lot of guavas and kept on eating them throughout the way. As we go higher up and as the altitude increases, it starts cooling down and walking (or rather climbing) becomes easier. But the problem is it also starts getting darker, making it very difficult to go further. Initially, our plan was to reach the peak by evening, halt there for the night and come back the next day. By 5.00, we realised that it was too late to go to the peak. We had reached the Mantapa (this is another landmark while going to the peak, its a small mantapa, around 5ft by 5ft), it was getting very cold also, so we decided to halt at a place much below the mantapa...
There was already another group of around 15 guys who were halting near the mantapa, so we decided on another place. From the mantapa, you get the first glimpse into the beauty of the Western Ghats, especially at 5.45 in the evening, just at sunset, the scenary is breath taking!!!
At 6:00, we had settled down into this place; kept our luggage, spread the "jamkana” which we had got, marked a place for cooking, in short made it "our" place. The guys went about collecting firewood n me being the ever helpful soul (!!) went behind them trying to help but not being much of a help... There was also a small pool nearby where you could fill water, the pool as such didn’t look very clean n hygienic, but then the water was crystal clear and moreover you can’t choose when you don’t have a choice in the first place!!! We built a fireplace, lit the wood, n started to prepare Maggie. We had brought upma packed from bhatta's house, we were also carrying rice, so decided to start cooking. N wat fun we had!! Maggie tasted heavenly... uppit paled in comparison!!! We slept underneath the sky shivering in the cold! We had decided against carrying too much of warm clothing coz trekking with luggage would be difficult, so a sweater and a muffler definitely didn’t suffice!! KP really has a contrasting weathers, mid-noon it is so hot n in the evening, the weather takes a different turn!! But then, as Kaushik put it aptly, either the trek can be made easier or the stay on the top, we had chosen the former, there was no time for regrets.
And God, wasnt it tough to sleep at night?? It was extremely cold, every 1 hour either of the girls would wake up the guys to light the campfire and all of us would warm ourselves in front of it. Meanwhile, started feeling hungry also, searched all the bags n managed to get a pack of raw papad in bach's bag.. So, at 3.45 in the night, or rather in the morning all of us eating papad... god wasn’t it fun!!!!!! The next morning, we started at around 7.45 to the peak.. We dumped most of our luggage in "our" place, so that the trek could be made easier. The trek from the mantapa to the peak is again strenuous.. The path isn’t very steep but you have to walk so much n moreover, it starts getting hot by around 8.30 itself... Also, we had to survive on a limited supply of water since we were carrying very few water bottles... The view is, I mention again, extremely beautiful. You could stand there rooted to the spot just watching the mountains for hours together.. It looks as if the clouds are on a long walk touching the peaks of each mountain as they travel through the journey!!!
After walking for around 1.5 hrs, we reached a small clearing; you will have to start trekking downwards here. The path is almost hidden by trees and resembles a mini-forest. It is actually a relief to walk through beneath the shade of the trees after the hot n humid trek!! By this time, we had lost track of latha and mukund. The rest of the team decided to halt there because they were tired. Kaushik and I decided to go till the peak.
Soon after the "forest" n climbing upwards for a couple of feet, we reached the peak, i.e., Pushpagiri. The view from the peak is something of an anti-climax after the long trek till the peak. But then, there was a sense of achievement when we reached there... After all, we had climbed one of the highest peaks in the Western Ghats!!!
After resting there for some time, we came back to the clearing pretty soon.. And along with the rest of the gang, started the climb downwards... We reached "Our place", had puliyogre which we had cooked the previous day and started the long ardous journey back to Bhatta's place. We reached Bhatta's place at around 2 in the afternoon. Finishing lunch, we resumed our trek... I had always assumed that climbing down a steep hill was much easier than climbing up the hill.. I was proved wrong to a certain extent. While climbing down, there is intense pressure on your toes. And since the terrain is so steep, you cannot slow down. You keep your foot and then the momentum is so high that you will end up running instead of walking. Result is the toe nails get broken, the toes hurt badly.. And yet, there is no way of slowing down.. What an experience it was.. By the time we reached Subramanya, we were nearly half-dead. My legs simply refused to walk further; I was feeling as if I needed at least 10 days of rest. We checked back to the hotel room for a 2 hr nap.. By this time, my legs had developed serious cramps.. It took another week for all of us to get over the trip (both mentally and physically..).
But then, one experience in life which would remain etched in memory forever!!!!!!
- Priya Tallanje
PS:
Team: Kaushik, Prashanth Bachodi, Dileep, Mukund, Latha, Laxmi, Priya Tallanje
Date of Trek: 20th March 2005
