TrEk AnD RiDe WiTh TuSkErS – 18 &19 Feb'2012
I take this moment to thank every one who helped me in completing the trek succesfully.
Special thanks to Shantimon for putting his effort in getting permission from the Kerala Forest Department.
Writeup by Elangovan
V.
How this Happened…
This cute little multi faceted
baby called CTC has turned four, and its time for a big gala. Twenty teams
heading to twenty different parts of India…… And that’s the plan….. and my
favorite team of organizers choose to move somewhere deep in to the woods,
covered with wild grass and canopy of dense tropical rain forest, infested with
blood thirsty leeches…. somewhere inside the western ghats…… nobody of us had
any clue about which direction we are heading into…..that’s awesome right…..
the day before I guess, there was a clue provided…..a temple tank with a small
structure in the middle……I guessed it right….it belonged to srivilliputhur,
down south Tamilnadu…..so I started a little investigation as to which place
has a tusker population near Srivilliputhur….rude shock came by, as most of the
places near it (Kerala, I’m talking about) was having a considerable amount of
tusker population. Dejected, I started to wait for the D Day. Unlike other
treks, a group had already been formed in FB and at least we knew who’s gonna
accompany us. There were numerous requests to reveal the location from the
group members but saravanan remained a hard nut to crack.
D’Day
The previous treks to Nagala had
a usual early morning start, but this one, as we had to travel deep south, it
was a evening start. The preparatory mail suggested that we assemble at their
respective pick-up points in time. For me it’s CMBT Omni bus terminus, 6:30
PM….as I had to make some last minute purchases, I was bit late to reach home,
late to start, late to reach……at least I thought so….it was 6:10PM and there
came the call from Aditya the CMBT coordinator, I was nervous and thought I was
the last one….and frantically called aarthi and gokul who were supposed to join
me at this pick up point. Gokul’s call got terminated but aarthi picked….asked
her where she was and to my utter dismay she was still in her house,
packing……...good I thought J.
Reached the point of meeting, the Parveen travels office, Aditya and Srividya
were already there… I Heard from aditya, that Sri was camping there to avoid
being late, from 5.30PM. Super punctual Sri J…... Slowly
everyone started trickling in, as usual Aarthi was the last head to be
counted J,
As I said before, the bus wasn’t starting by 06.30PM and instead it was 7.00PM,
and it was a prank played by the organizers to pin down the members at the pick
points at the right time. It was already 07.10PM and there was no trace of our
bus in the vicinity. Vicky received a call from Rajavel, who was waiting at
Perungalathur, told that, the bus has been waiting for us for quite a long
time, as none of us had the presence of mind to go to the local office and
enquire…..enough said we stuffed ourselves into the bus and it started
rolling….only then, aditya told us that one of the member is yet to reach….my
great friend, gokul was the black sheep and all calls to him dropped. Finally
after several attempts we were able to pull him into our bus from the auto he
was travellingJ!!!!
After picking our fellow trekkers from Perungalathur the journey continued
towards the “Pal kova” capital. The Next morning we got down, had a nice hot
coffee, boarded a tempo or whatever, and rode towards our most longed
destination called…… what? No clue yet…., the suspense continued, and lot of
speculation was going rounds. We stopped at shencottah, a scenic border town en
route …… stuffed enough idlies and proceeded.
Kerala, God’s own country….
After crossing the town, the ghat
road started, and there upon the uphill journey…..But this time god had taken a
little vacation I thought, as the usually green Kerala wasn’t that green….…and
the streams which always accompany us, hesitated………well I thought, this is
already early summer here. I switched on my GPS (it still works Sri J )
to track the trail…..we headed to a small humble town south of thenmala called
Madathara. There we changed our mode of travel to Jeeps as we are heading into
the jungle. Five jeeps including the “PADUA” jeep J (it was a real thorn
in our flesh all trip). The commodities required were stacked into our jeeps,
All were prearranged by saravanan’s pal and Sri’s dear J Mr.Shantimon (the name
was a big debate as every one called him chandy or shanty even candy) who’s an inmate of kerala, great
work friend..…
Into the Jungle
Now it’s time for the real
journey….teams were formed and jeeps allocated….. I was given a task by Vicky
& Rajavel to carry a special surprise thing (a cake for CTC’s B’Day) which
they said should not be revealed to anyone. I misunderstood the “anyone” as
fellow trekkers and wasn’t aware that the plan was to surprise Saravanan the organizer.
As I boarded the jeep I was searching for Vicky & raja to give me the
package, as they have already started, as a true volunteer went to saravanan
asked for the special package. He had no clue about what I was talking about,
and got the message from me….grinned cunningly and uttered a thanks, I was…..
what ? I don’t know…..i felt bad,
knowing this Rajavel divorced me (that’s what he said to me…haha)
We reached a small but scenic
sastha temple, paid our respects, spent some time and proceeded further, the
journey was bit hectic as it was the dry part of the season and water was a
rare commodity….the roads….no no…..the mud lanes were dry and we were turning
red……every kilometer, we came across a tree obstruction and the mud roads were
dug to facilitate the jeep to pass by. That was really awesome to
experience….finally we reached a spot, which had a river or may be a stream we
can call….nice little sand bed with good tree cover……… our camping location for
that night was chosen. We quenched our thirst, unpacked our lunch, the usual
CTC’s readymade chapattis with jam/pickles. Energized, we started our journey
further into the jungle, heading to a gorgeous falls called choondipara. Jeeps
roared as usual, and ten minutes passed by and our not so friendly PADUA was
reluctant to climb the trail. So that was it….. everybody was on our foot…….it
was really refreshing to walk after hours of treacherous travel……so we walked
and walked and walked………quarters turned to halves and halves turned to hours…….
Everybody slowed down………and a whipping voice “c’mon guys speed up” roared
Vishnu….. sure nobody can forget that voice…..so one by one started asking
shanty their when’s and where’s…….. Shanty had only one answer to provide…….. “ivida
straightaitu poi right thirumbi pathe nimitil Falls Varum “ . Midway when we were walking Srividya
screamed for help, and rajanna & I rushed to find saravanan holding his
foot with a clear two dotted blood mark, which resembled a fang dip of a snake,
I was astounded….. but our herpetologist saved the day for us and declared it
as some other injury due to thorns and not snake. But saravanan wasn’t
panicking at all…. Great composure, the excitement vanished and we were back to
our back-breaking episode, what else, climbing…..
Sri and swetha were hiking
together and swetha was swearing somebody and it was a known buddy who had
encouraged her to join this trek…..sri was at her best just getting the most
wanted energy from cracking little jokes about the GPS and the triail. So after
a while we hit a place where everybody thought its time we get a break….but
shanty suggested to continue our hike through a shorter route….when we
continued, we found fresh elephant droppings…..one of the local guys who
accompanied us suggested not to proceed as we may bump into an elephant herd,
head on……that interested me a lot….but our organizers decided otherwise…….again
we had to take a circular route………the same old, back breaking exercise
continued…….swetha continued her swearing J and sri her jokes….my GPS took the maximum damage…J
Leaches
The famed leaches were no where
to be found as most of the vegetation lacked moisture and it took away my
enthusiasm ………I was longing for its bite, but miserably missed it……finally we
arrived at a place were there was some marshy terrain and people stopped there
for want of water…..not aware of leaches getting on to them…..vicky filled
water from a small “spring kind of thing”
which tasted the tastiest of all waters in the world……so its been four
hours of continuous trekking yet we were not within reaching distance of our
famed destination…..and it was getting dark as well…..and saravanan thought of
calling “it quits”….when the Energy packed” Vicky and rajavel took the
responsibility and went in search of the falls nearby….just 30 minutes they
were back and with the happiest of news that we heard all day…..that the falls
is just a 15minute walk away……these guys are
real super volunteers, as they went running to find this and came back
running to tell us to give us the maximum possible time to enjoy….. I love u
friends……and before, as we were waiting, saravanan’s saw his fingers bleed, as
was aarthi and few others in the group….. it was leeches and what a lucky guys
were they, fortunate to experience the wild…..
Now we reclaimed our energy from
Vicky & rajavel’s words and reached the final destination “ “CHOONDIPARA
FALLS”. It was awesome to finally see a falls, absolutely inhabited and was
exciting to see loads of elephant droppings,…….we enjoyed thoroughly and me and
some fellow mates dived into the pool……spent some good time and finally it was curtains as it was already
6.00PM and pitch dark…..so the torches were out and busy…..in a middle of
a dense, wild forest, with lurking nocturnal around, with virtual presence
of elephant herds, not to mention the slipping snakes under our feet…..we
started our journey back……enroute uphill we saw a Pit viper, under a uprooted tree……that disturbed
my mind unnecessarily…..but that walk back was a real dream one, as I was mesmerized
by the wilderness….the only disappointment was we didn’t hear a single
trumpet………it was exactly 1 hour and 20 minutes, coz it was downhill without
stoppage, we sited our jeep……high fives all around……we boarded and reached the
camping site.
Dinner & Camping
As soon as we reached, all were
trying to find some thing to eat…..and exhausted whatever stocks that were
available with…..and still the boiler belly wouldn’t relent…..so thought when
its going to be the dinner… the dinner was delicious chicken brought live and
prepared at the camp site with boiled tapioca (Kappa kilangu) , and its only
for pure non-vegetarians, and the poor vegetarians had to cook sambar and share
the tapioca……before we started eating our dinner, vicky
called all of us to assemble near the
cooking spot, and there came the surprise package........a yummy chocolate
cake......after all its our favourite
babies birthday........everybody started singing happy birthday
CTC........... the passing by elephant
wouldn't have heard a birthday song ever............must have given a strange
look.....now dinner time.....it was delicious to the core.( the chicken,
not aware of the sambar, Oovae HAHA), It was resting time and swetha had
already into her nap…the local mates suggested for a bigger and multiple camp
fire and we had three…by the time I was finished, as usual lost for place and
had to take a space whatever was available. Found Srividya, Pradeep and Vishnu
sleeping without a sheet or a mat….just laying on their sides without any
cover….it was already chill….but they didn’t showed any signs of that…..Into my
sleeping bag, I was into a deep slumber, not before rajanna intimidated me and
anu with his usual snake and bear stories…. It was a pleasant and undisturbed
sleep and unlike nagala I wasn’t
bothered at all… I had overcome my fear for snakes…..anu has no hold on
me hereafter…..i suppose J.
The next morning heard that sri, pradeep & Vishnu suffered from the cold
and was sleepless the whole night…poor guys, it was 6AM, one of the mates went
to pee.....when he returned his sleeping bag was missing……as sri had already
slipped into it………haha…poor guy lost the constituency. Now tea time, as usual a
super tasty black tea was prepared and tasted heavenly…….the breakfast
continued and it was my favourite………saravanan’s special AVAL UPMA……..i had a
belly full. So the organizers declared that it is time for us to move to the
next location, we packed, cleaned the entire camping site(as it was essential for us to do coz we had obtained the permission
by declaring ourselves as forest cleaners......, so we cleaned whatever
possible at our camp site and a site near a bridge and the Sacred Sastha
temple, the entire Cleaning session was
photographed for substantiating our claim, It’s a miniature a CFC, CTC Forest
Clean-up, HAHA)....then we boarded our respective jeeps, and was out of
the jungle….a brief stop at Madathara for refreshment….we had a glass of a
unique Juice called Mutti kai juice (I think I am correct with name), tasted
like gooseberries, it tasted superb, and i had to pay the bill, I froze to hear
the price, it was absolutely expensive, Rs.1 / glass!!!!!!! , did inflation hit
this area at all……….
Mankiyam Eco Reserve
We settled our jeep contract,
changed the mode back to tempo, and set our direction towards a scenic location
called MANKIYAM ECO RESERVE, which had some beautiful waterfalls…..reached the
place in a 30 minute drive, went on to have great swimming and photo
session…….even in this dry summer patch, it had a considerable water presence
and it didn’t disappoint us for sure…..we enjoyed thoroughly.
As usual a swimming session would
trigger a fire in your belly right, that’s what we felt and saravanan announced
that we are gonna have yummy biriyani, when we reach PALODE, another 15minutes
drive took us there, and the hotel was stormed and ravaged by our CTC herd of
trekkers. There was no limit as to what to order and whatever food that was
ordered by the nearby table had to be supplied to us, we insisted. After a
great (lacked spice I thought, typical Kerala recipe, but no complaints) lunch,
we had to start our journey back towards srivilliputhur. Oh!! that was it, the
trek was over….. it was really disappointing, but the craving for such trips
would definitely drive us back to one such location in the near future, I
Thought…..
The travel back was slow and
steady L
(Ah the Driver!!!) and we choose a better way to pass our time…. Abilesh lit
the fire when he said about a Wiki leaks data, suggesting a ruling politician
having a Swiss bank account, which had lakhs of Crores of rupees, so a fiction
started brewing, Rajanna suggested we hack the account and soon the world was
his and he was the PM….and Chennai was made the capital of India, and I was the
Tamilnadu CM ( Generous rajanna ) and I
have to shift my capital to Thanjavur as Chennai has been taken over. Vishnu
(sambar) J was the Transport minister, Aarthi demanded,
she be given Goa ( strange), Henry was CM for Kerala & Karnataka, Saravanan
was given Thailand ( I cannot reveal why J ), Sri wasn’t responsible!!!, to take any portfolio
and was left to go J,
As Vishnu (chicken) was feeling sleepy, he was handed over Lakshadweep (ha-ha),
Swetha - Rajasthan, and all the buses had a second seat made in gold and no
“men” will be allowed to sit in the first seat to enable vishnu (S)!!! (reasons can be clarified with Rajanna &
Vishnu (S) haha ).
With all the fun we reached
srivilliputhur and our bus was waiting for us, since we were 10mts late, we had
our dinner en route and hit the bus cushions. May be around three in the
morning I promptly woke up everybody with a big loud shout, nightmare……, as it
involves my family members I cannot elaborate it here, Vicky pacified me and
turned the environment soft saying “Kanavula Elango-va yanai
midhichidichu”….that was spontaneous and really funny………we reached Chennai, our
mates bid as all adieu and finally the fun ended.
It was great fun with you
guys……..Saravanan’s Organizing was impeccable…….especially getting the
permission to enter the forest……… Kudos, Rajanna (the co-organizer), Vicky
& Rajavel (Men full of Energy and enthusiasm), Mohan (Our chief cook and
Photographer), we salute u all….u were great.
Looking forward to more trip with
u guys………..
Writeup by Subramaniam
இயற்கை
தாயின் மடியினில் தவழ்ந்திட,
இன்முகத்தோடு
இளஞ் சிட்டுகள்..
மலை ஏற்றக் குழுவின் மற்றுமொரு
அரங்கேற்றம்,
எழில் கொஞ்சும் ஓரிடம் எதுவென்று தெரியாமலே,
தலைவனின்
கட்டளையைத் தாழ்மையுடன் ஏற்றுக் கொண்டு,
நான்காறு
(4 * 6) நன்மக்கள் நல்லதொரு பயணம்,
தூங்காமல்
சில பேர் "காஞ்சனாவை" கண்டிருக்க,
சிற்றாறு
பல இருக்கும் பேரருவி தானிருக்கும்,
நீங்காத
நினைவுகளும் கனவுகளும் சிலருக்கு...
செல்லுமிடம்
தெரியாது ; சேருமிடம் அறியாது...
வில்லிபுத்தூர்
சென்ற பின் vanuku மாறினோம்...
வில்லில்
புறப்பட்ட அம்பாய் கதிரவன் எழுந்தான்...
தென்மலையின்
தென்பகுதியதில் திகழும் மடத்தரா...
பின்பு
நாங்கள் ஏறியது மலை வாகனம்
JEEPu தனில்...
காட்டிற்குள்
பயணம்:
1000 ஆண்டு
பழமை வாய்ந்த ஆலய தரிசனம்,
அய்யன்
ஐயப்பனின் ஆனந்த தரிசனம்,
பொடி மணல் புழுதி கிளம்ப,
புறப்பட்டோம்
காட்டு வழி...
போவது வனமா? பாலை வனமா??
புரியவில்லை !!!
மழை காணா மலை பூமி
மாறியதோ புழுதியாக ?
வழி மறித்து கிடந்தனவே வானுயர
மரங்கள் சில...
மந்தியின்
மைந்தர்களாய் மகிழ்வுடனே சில பேர்...
குந்தியிருந்தனர்
கூச்சமின்றி JEEPin மேல்...
அடிவார
முகாம் :
ஓடை ஒன்று கண்ட பின்பு
உணவருந்த அமர்ந்தோம்...
கயிறு அறுத்த கன்று போல்
களிப்புடன் கழித்தோம்..
கேரளத்து
நண்பருடன்(Shanti) கிடைத்தனர்
இரு மலை வாசிகள் ...
சாளரத்து
நிலா ஒளி போல், சரிந்து
வந்த பகல் வெளிச்சம்...
ஆளரவம்
அற்ற அந்த நடுக் காட்டிற்குள்,
ஆறுதல்
கூறியது அழகான பறவை சப்தம்...
காய்ந்த
சருகுகள் கம்பளம் விரித்திருக்க,
தொடர்ந்தோம்
நாம் இலக்கை நோக்கி...
சூண்டிப்பரநீர்விழ்ச்சி...
பாய்ந்தோடும் நீரை தேடி பயணித்தோம்
காட்டிற்குள்...
ஓயிந்து
விட்டனர் ஓரிருவர் - பின் என்ன?
ஒரிருமணிக்குள்
வருமென்ற பேரருவி,
ஓடி ஒளிந்ததுவோ தேடுவோரைத் தவிக்கவிட்டு...
ஆற்றின்
ஆரவாரம் கேட்க ஆவலுடன் அலைந்தோம்,
குளிப்பது
மறந்து குடிநீருக்கு ஏங்கினோம்,
நீருக்காக
சென்ற நெடும் பயணம் இதுதானோ?
மாலை சூரியனும் மறையப் புறப்பட்டான்,
ஐந்து நண்பர்கள்(Vicky,Rajavel,Mohan, Adiya & Vimalesh) நல்வார்த்தை
நவின்றனர்,
கண்டோம்
அருவியை கண்களால்...
சென்றோம்,
வென்றோம்,நின்றோம் அங்கே!!!
ஆனந்தம்,
ஆனந்தம் , ஆனந்தமே !!!!
சந்தோஷ
ஆறு கரைபுரண்டோட...
மகிழ்ச்சி
வெள்ளம் மனதினுள் சூழ...
நமக்குள்
நாம் எழுச்சி காண...
விடை பெற்றோம் அருவியிடம்...
பிறந்த
நாள்....
இத்தனை
மகிழ்வும் எதனாலே,
எங்கள்
CHENNAITREKKING CLUB பிறந்த
நாள் இந்நாளே...
இனிய பிறந்த நாள் நல்வாழ்த்துக்கள்...
-க .செந்தில் @ சுப்பிரமணியம்
Writeup by Srividhya
Some stray incidences:
o
In between the trek Elango & I hear a
strained Swetha curse her best friend ‘Andha $*!!**XXF@@!! Ralph irrukaane…. All bad words coming for
ya..’ for encouraging her to register
for this difficult trek; With the crazy brains that Elango and I were, it had
to catch on!!.. Any time we had curse someone, abuse someone, put the blame on someone, or were just plain bored we would go…’andha
$*!!**XXF@@!! Ralph irrukaane.. ‘ much
to our amusement and naturally to the bewilderment of those listening to us.
o
Scene1: people are discussing some movie in
tam.. I join the conversation in between.
Me: idhu endha padam
They: kaal
Me: Kaal ni oru padama ? adenna kaal ? kai ? kayithu ?
OOOoooo adhu Hindi kaal aa
Enter: dirty stare from Venkat
o
Scene2: Tired souls walking uphill. I am with a
group that is contemplating, if the team is going to walk ahead or will we
return back when I see a bunch (the Silicon gang) sitting mid way, obviously I
want to know why
Me: Neenga yen inga okkandirukkel ?
They: Aamam pa..200 meters solli 20 km nadakka veccha ?…. Kaal
valikarudhu okkandirukkom
They think: Idikum oru kelviya ?
Enter: dirty stare from Venkat
o
Scene 3:
Unable to find a blanket/ sleeping bag/ empty place in a jeep/ bed/
hotel/ warm room/ forest heater/ sunshine and the likes, that night in the
forest, I stay awake till 6 am. That is when I blurredly see 2 guys walking
around and I wonder where they slept, if they found some warm spot last night…
so that I can also make home there for the next few hours
Me: hey! Neenga engerende varel ??? (hey.. where are you coming from)
They : Paaru da.. Ippa varikkum ade trek la vanduttu,,
ippo nambu engendhu vandom ni kekara !
(we are in the same trek as yours :
o : o : o )
Enter: dirty stare from Venkat
o
Scene 3
part 2
I decide they have either got up to spot early morning birds or they
themselves are early morning birds and I pick up their sleeping bags and have a
sound sleep. I get after some time to find that all have packed and it is time
to leave. I get up slowly and stretch myself only to be told by someone that I
had stolen a sleeping bag from one of the guys who had gone for a short break
and wanted to come back to continue his dreams in peace. Shocked I turn around
and see Venkat again, waiting for his sleeping bag!
Me : na madicchu vekkatama
He: .. parravaillai.. naane madichakaren : P <…
just buzz off : P>
Oh yea.. . dirty stares all along : D : D
Shall not bother describing the more popular figures like
Rajanna / Saravanan etc… : )
So long and thanks for all the fish ! : )
So long and thanks for all the fish ! : )
Click the below Nabble link for more writeups and Photos about TrEk AnD RiDe WiTh TuSkErS – 18 &19 Feb'2012
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