Weekend Trek to Nagala East
Being on a trip with your close ones is Bliss. But going on a trek with people whom you barely know but befriending them all at the end of 2 days is a wonderful experience. After 2 years of just looking at all those invites I was receiving from CTC, I dared to register for the trek and as a result of that I was one among those 20 members who were heading towards Nagala on 26th November’2016 to escape the reality and go into the wild. It was a 2 day trek to Nagala East. Soon after we reached there Arun, the organizer of this very trek prompted us to take our essential trekking materials alone to trek as light as we can. 20 of us started moving inside the forest in tiny groups.
After walking for quite a while we were all excited to encounter the first water stream which was very clear and transparent. The way throughout our trek was not very easy at least for first timers like me. But the toughness easily disappears when your fellow trekkers are all cooperative and compassionate.
Chit chatting all possible random stuffs, Ame’s social trek experience at Nagala, Arun’s college days, their previous treks, the flash floods, selfies by babu & Dayana, posing for the clicks by Gani, Mohan, Peri and every other possible conversation kept our journey joyous, lively and light. We were then heading towards my most expected spot in the trek, the Dead end pool. I was equally excited and scared to experience us crossing that pool. Soon after we reached there non-swimmers like me were getting ready with our swimming rings while Arun, Praveen, Charles, Dinesh were already on the other side with ferry to transport our bags with the help of few others like Prabhu, Saravanan, Atul, Peri.
I felt a big relief when we were done crossing the dead end pool and I could imagine how the people who were helping us cross would have felt: D After the giant task was done, we stopped near a stream to charge our battery up. Bread and jam, coconut kernels, ground nut balls and a photo session boosted our ATP :P
Swiftly winding up the lunch session we again started moving in small groups to get to our destination which Arun said was very close. It was around 4.30 pm, we all reached our camping site, “The Destination”. The site was so serene, that it was worth the toil we all made the whole day. Spending the night in a place fully surrounded by mountains and trees and water flowing nearby was worth a night life. After a quiet of relaxing on the rocks we slowly started chopping those onions and chillies listening to Atul’s “Enna ma ippadi panreengalae ma”. While Babu, Uday, Krishna and few others made the stove, maggi making started with our accountant then turned chief cook, Sakthi and peri, the assistant cook starting to make maggi meanwhile debating with Dayana whether to make maggi noodles or soupy noodles (Pun intended) :P, while we all gathered around the stove to witness it and also to keep ourselves warm around the fire.
As the Sun was settling down we all got geared up with our torches to encounter the rest of the night. Though we got to know each other to certain extent during our journey the formally informal introductory session happened pre-dinner. Munching the maggi with a lot of tittle-tattle, watching Hemnath’s short story, listening to shubika singing, debating on madhu & gani’s wedding day :P, pulling Dinesh’s legs hearing his college time stories from Charles ;) brought the day to an end and we all dispersed to get some good sleep beneath the canopy of stars and trees.
The next day, post our Breakfast at the campsite, we all had a good time taking a dip in the pool. The Emperors and our fellow trekkers were so encouraging and kind enough to spend some time to take swimming lessons to the non-swimmers. After the splish-splash session, swiftly packing up our backpack we all speeded up towards our next target, which was waiting for us in the village community hall. I felt extra exhausted than my forward trek but Praveen and Charles were so solicitous to help me. Finally around 4pm we all sat down in the community hall to gulp “The tasty meal” prepared by the localities after that we bid adieu to Nagala and our other group who came in car.
Like the majority of people I too was quite hesitant of being on a trip with people we barely know. This being my first trek and not knowing almost anyone personally I was really very skeptical about how I was going to cope with the team. But at the end of the trek, I had my opinion changed! Lot of thanks to each and every member of the troop for making my first trek a memorable one. Eagerly waiting for lot more trips with you guys. Late in the evening on 27th Nov’16 we all reached back Chennai to face back the reality again.
Regards,
Y. Praveen Kumar.
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