When we were eagerly waiting for DOA4, Peter's mail came that he wouldnt be able to take up due to a foot injury. People were silent for sometime and suddenly Diwakar came with the idea of taking this trek. That came as a pleasant surprise and everyone were alive again. Ravi Ghosh, Vinodh Varghese and me started from Bangalore. People from chennai were split into two groups as we didnt had enough transportation. 5 of them came by Vijay's car and the rest took a train from Chennai to Renigunta. 
We reached Tirupathi around 3:30 AM. We got down and Alipiri and hired a jeep to Renigunta railway station. We picked up Diwa, Kannan, Vijay, Pradheep there who were waiting. We reached Renigunta and the other team from Chennai had already reached. They were having a good sleep at the station itself. After freshening up at station the team started to Kodur. We took the same jeep there. It was a nice jeep drive and we had a good refreshing drive. Tabassum said that she is having an exam on Monday and took out the study materials. What a dedication and sincerity.
We reached Kodur around 6 AM and had a breakfast in a small village. Everyone in the village were puzzled on looking us and we finished the breakfast quicker to avoid questions from them. Then we started on a mud jeep track for another 30 minutes. The jeep driver was hesitating but with our cool Chezian , he agreed to take to some more distance. Finally we stopped on the jeep track as there was a small pool of water on the jeep track and he stopped. There was a villager talking to him and the jeep driver was in a big confusion. We said that we are going to see a temple in the forest. Added to this, we said that we might call him to come to Talakona the next day. I think his head might be rotating to understand what we say.
Finally we started walking briskly to reach the shades before the sun god started to play. Later after sometime we divided the food items and started trekking. The path was green and moist after some rains and it was pleasant walking. People were reminding of the DOA1 where it was a tough walk without water. We started proceeding on the stream and the stream was wider with no water. We stopped at the same DOA1 point where people climbed up a small rock and took some photos. Kannan was trying to capture the group from various angles. In another 1 hour we reached the jeep track and started walking in that. Diwa was explaining that it is a famous temple and during festival times lot of people come and visit it. Then we reached the abandoned well. Kannan, Nandhini and me went inside the well. The well was full of green and moist which made up slip sometimes. Ford Bala and Diwa was alarming that some gas might harm us. But we were very busy taking photos.
We then proceeded in the same jeep trial and started to drain our water bottles. Since Palani, Diwa were already done this during DOA1 they were confident of reaching the pool quicker. All the people were brisk and we reached the first water point around 11:30 AM. We got refreshed after that point and we reached the temple in another 10 minutes. All were very eager to see the biggest pool which was very close to the temple. Then we reached the super pool. I was so eager to see the pool as I missed out during the DFS. It was like a big swimming pool and inside there was a water fall from top. We reached the other end of the pool to reach the falls. We reached the falls finally and the sunlight was just above the falls. Since it was like a cave, the falls when looked from inside a 360 degree rainbow was seen. Also the water flowing with sunlight looked like fire crackers with different colors.
People started jumping from different places and were enjoying the pool. Some people started massaging for each other and looked like a temporary spa. After enjoying the pool and falls to the fullest extent, we had lunch there. Sweet polis were yummy. Everyone were tired after the bath and food and decided to sleep for sometime. Diwakar told we will start by 3:30 PM. We slept at different places on the flat rock. By 3:30 one by one got up and started teasing HCL Bala about his water bag. He was explaining about its usage. But it looked weird. People started giving poses like in hospital with nurses nearby. Total fun. After a long break finally the team started from that place by 4:15.
When starting we figured out that we missed Bastein's rope in the pool. Diwakar and Ranjith went back and collected the rope. Then we started climbing the top of the falls from the left hand side of the pool. It was a slightly trickier trial and we reached the top of the falls. We took several photos there and people were trying to kill Kannan by making him pose in dangerous angles. Then we started climbing down the other side of the peak. It was getting dark and we were trying to reach the Picnic pool. By 6 PM we reached the Rama's bridge. The place is called because during DOA1 people were trying to put rocks and cross a small water path. But most of the people slipped and couldnt succeed. Again we tried making the bridge but went in vain. Then we reached a small pool and it was getting dark. The team wanted to regroup. Meanwhile I went to checkout how far the diving pool and it was dark when returned back. People already reserved their places near a small pool.
Team started cooking CTC's main menu for dinner. Hot and yummy soup with maggie noodles. By the time we finished cooking and eating everyone were tired. Chezian was discussing about Hitler and stories of Ponniyin Selvan came and slept later.
Everyone got up by 6 AM the next day and target was to reach Talakona before dark. We reached the super pool in another 15 minutes and only few jumped inside the pool. It was very refreshing dip. Then we moved to the next place where non-swimmers can enjoy. Ford Bala marked the point as non-swimmers pool and we spent the time diving and pulling everyone inside the pool. Tarannum and Tabassum started new trend of carrying people and started with Ranjith. We spent lot of time near the pool and lot of photos. This pool became the picnic base for the next picnic. Then we moved towards the vertical drop and rain falls. Nandhini and Ravighosh were coming last and enjoyed every water point on the way. We climbed up a fallen tree for fotos before we reached the rain falls. People took a quick shower and lunch.
Then we started climbing the steep rock with loose boulders. Everyone had a tough time and a rock came and hit me. I had a small wound but nothing compared to other wounds. Finally we reached the top of the falls and we took some photos. From there it was a climb up the hill and it was not a hard one. We were required to climb towards left at two places before we touched the top. I raised doubt with Diwakar and he went to check the trial on the left. Later he figured out that we were on right track and we decided to follow up the same way.
In another 20 minutes we reached a proper trial which eventually took us to the Talakona jeep trial. Kannan started his humorous talks and it made the jeep trial easy. We reached the Talakona sign board around 3:30. Then we started walking towards the top of Talakona falls. We reached the stream around 4:00 PM and decided to proceed Tirupathi immediately. We then took the trial towards the base of Talakona. We reached the Talakona checkpost and we took an auto to Bhakrapet. We stopped at bhakrapet and took another auto to reach Tirupathi.
We reached Tirupathi by 7:30 and decided to split. The chennai team took a sumo to reach Chennai and the Bangalore team booked KSRTC bus to return. Everyone reached safe and had a wonderful weekend. It was so amazing the falls and the trial. Thanks to Peter for finding such amazing trials and super pools. Thanks to the team as a whole as we had a super trek. A trek with all difficulties and enjoyment and fun.
Written by: Senthil Subramaniam Kuppusamy Organized by: Diwakar
Image Galleries:
Ravi S Ghosh
Diwakar
Kannan
Posted by: Karthick Sundararajan
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