Lessons learnt... ~ CharuHeavily drugged from 'Citrezin' cold tablets and with my head throbbing, I was rudely awakened at 4am by my annoying alarm. Sitting up and staring into the darkness, I saw my roommates snuggling cozy in their beds. Resisting the urge to fall back onto the bed again and wrap myself in the blanket, I plucked myself from the bed and walked off. After gulping down a concoction made of green tea and 'kashaayam', I got dressed, stepped out and froze!!! Not so much for the cold as for the climate. It was pouring. And my nose was leaking. I shuddered at the thought of having to travel so much.
While standing under the Guindy flyover waiting expectantly for trekkers, the raindrops looked beautiful falling against the flashlights, and I knew that moment was special!! And a good moment in the morning was a good way to start your day.
Trekkers arrived. And chaos ensued.... unknown faces and an inexperienced me. I decided to stick to the best and the safest option - shut up, observe and learn.After debating for minutes together, amidst all that chaos, one thing alone was clear. That everybody was clear as to what they wanted on that chilly rainy November morning. Go Trekking! And here I was, sitting and worrying about a cold… Shame on me.
Lesson no: 1- Will power
The rains didn't spare us even a moment of dryness. The trekkers seemed nice. But I just still wasn't ready to open up. And besides, the effect of the tablet was taking over. I was sleepy, cold and tired. The drive made my cold worse, but the excitement of the trekkers was more contagious. And it helped me through the rest of the drive.
Lesson no: 2- InvolvementBy the time we reached the village, my mood had transformed. How wouldn't it? The place, climate and people were awesome. After clicking pictures of the villagers, we started the climb down hill in search of a stream. Guide Velu cleared the forest and we followed. All was well, until we got to a dead end. So we headed back to the village. As I stood in the dark, with torches as the only source of any light, I did get a little scared. I even imagined snakes and other vicious creatures pouncing on me. Luckily, no such thing happened. And I used lesson no 2 to learn the next one. Throw fear out. It's not real.
Lesson no: 3 - Courage
The final lap was the most difficult I think. The climb up from the falls near the temple and the return journey, where rains lashed out at us, and Vicky's bike stopped. This is where I got to learn the most important of lessons, and all at a once.
Patience. Perseverance. Determination. Unity and Friendship
I don't know if I can put all of those lessons that I learnt into practice, but I definitely do hope I can at least remember them.
Excellent food, wonderful people and a really amazing place. I don't know whom all I should thank for the experience. I think I'll just say Thank you all; it's been wonderful trekking wit you guys!
Can we forget .?? ... ~AmalThe tragic rain in front of Tidel puting us in a dilemma of calling it off or continuing in rain...
The decision comes to drive down to Guindy... To try luck a few kilometers away...
And at guindy a few soles under the overbridge taking the shelter and waiting for us...
After a long brainstorming deciding to drive upto Porur to make a final decision...
And after loads of confusion deciding to drive to Elagiri battling with the heavy downpour...
The cheers after the decision to drive down and a long beautiful drive to Elagiri in the rain...Hoisting the CTC flags on the bikes and car and flying in a decent pace with one target in mind...
The parota and Chicken at Elagiri :-). At times food is so tempting...
Starting the trek with the guide down to the view point...
The path finding at the night with Guide trying to figure out the way...
The awesome dinner and peaceful sleep at the shelter near temple...
Here comes the kick from Ram on the butts, wake up lazy guys, time to start trekking...
Going to the waterfall, amazing views around, excellent rocks, beautiful flowers...
Reaching the target, taking a nice water massage in the falls, having some food...Climbing the way back, pushing the folks up, GluconD coming to the play...
Some singing songs, some cracking jokes, having fun all the way up...
A small gang missing the way, but its way too hard to get lost, they finding us back...
Taking some group snaps, Getting some nice birthday kicks, if photo could have those shouting we made...
Starting the way back, a hungry quick start, messy slippery roads, falling from bike with Umaima...
A heavy lunch and the maths of the money, starting the way back at 5:15, Good bye to Arun and Anala...
A long drive back to Chennai, a tea on the way, Viki's bullet stops in the way and finding it hard to start...
Fixing the trouble, Viki make 50 kicks, Ram repeats it 50 times, alas the bike starts, and there come the cheers...
Reaching Chennai, picking the bags from the car, few getting dropped, and others drives back home...
So much to remember, fun filled weekend, rain tried to stop us, and we screamed for more rain ;-)...
Other memorable moments... ~ Angle- the pleasant smell of eucalyptus in the breeze all along the way through the ghat roads to the telescopic view point
- trying to convince all girls to get to the Goat restroom view point for photo session during the warm-up trek on sat evening
- hunting n mini exploration with official CTC florist for tamarind, wild flowers and drum sticks on sunday morning.
- getting our food supplies from the local CTC store with attractive discounts and offers.
- tasting Super love gupsimala after hot tasty paniharams...... the list is just endless....
The camaraderie shown by each and every participant throughout the trip was simply amazing.CTC is truly the world without strangers.....
Thanks to every single participant who make this weekend memorable...
Special thanks ... ~Vikram JVinoda - We cannot simply thank Vinoda for her timely help right from the time we organized the trek. A big thanks to her for being/helping in each and every moment.
Ram - I do not want to describe about Ram much as you know how helpful he is. Sending last minute emails to following up the participants, helped the bikers much, being a sweeper pushing the people, everything he did. And at last, we came to know from this trek that he knows to convince the bikes too!
Balaji - Buying up the extra sheets, snacks, giving sensible suggestions and last but not the least "Best Entertainer". We gave a gift for Balaji also.
Trek highlight (~Arun Gowda) : Balaji (Seshan) was felicitated by CTC for his high performance and DOSTANA techniques with a poisonous bouque and a Natural award.
Balakrishna (verna guys) - Prepared an excellent template to calculate all the expenses which was always tricky in every trek! He had a great patience in handling the expenses and crowd.SelvaPandian (verna guys) - Was a sweeper on the highway, backing up the entire crowd. Drove below 70kms to ensure that no bike is behind his car. He did a splendid job.
Amal - Same, I do not want to give special introduction of him too. Helped in getting the bullet fixed, managing the crowd, making announcement, pushing the people and lot!
Baskar (Stopped @ every diversion to make sure the slower ones are not going in a wrong way.
People I would like to thank for their great attitude and team work are Arun Gowda, Deepak, Bhagath, Sanjay, Gopi, Nisha, Bhargavi and Indira. These people are simply amazing.
And rest all the crew, we proved the team work. Entire crowd standing on a highway with one biker problem, cheering people every time they get slow! You are best guys!Participants: Amal P,Anala,Angel Glady Magdalin,arun gowda,Bala Murali Krishna,Balaji Seshan, Baskar, Bhagathkumar, bhargavi, C Ranjitha, Charu, Deepak, Dharanikar Kona, Gopinathan M R, Indira Kadambi, Karthikeyan V, Krish Simon, krishnan, Nisha, P ravi lumara varma, Priya Thyagarajan, rajmohan, Ram Prasad, Sajeesh, Sanjay, sathish raj, Selva Pandian, Shrinidhi Hande, shriram, Suresh Kumar J, Umaima, Vijayanand S, Vikram J, Vinodha Jeyanthilal
Image Library:Vikram
Bhagath_Day1
Bhagath_Day2
Selva
Charu
Simon
Shrinidhi
Karthikeyan
Analaa (People)
Analaa
Suresh
1 comments:
Great read and nice pictures!! Looks like you folks are having a lot of fun. I really admire your enthu in organizing and going for these exotic trips. The best part i liked about this trip was biking in rain --> Thats awesome and really adventurous!
Keep up the spirit and looking forward to reading more exciting travelogues from you folks!
Post a Comment