By Sathya Prabha Gireesh
Hey Everybody!!!! Let me start out by saying that Thanks to the organizers, this trip was ABSOLUTELY MINDBLOWING . Well, this is my second trek with CTC and i must say that it just keeps getting better and better. I had to miss a few treks in between due to my exams and was rather desparate. That's when the invitation for the one day easy+ trek from Emperor's came. MAn! was i excited !! ?! Immediately i called up all my buddies who had wanted to make it to the treks and somehow couldn't. To my surprise every one of them made it!!! So we set out from Tidel as usual [ Vibha, Radha, Deepti ,Shambhavi,Shalini and myself ] and met up with the LOVELY LADIES on the way.
REACHING UTHUKOTTAI!!
I was rather too hungry and to my dismay wherever i looked i would spot a good Restaurant and heave a huge sigh! Well , that did earn me a lot of nick names though! Yet goading Nivedha about Tanjore was still funny!! Moving on, Everyone was hungry the hot tea did us a lot of good.Being December, it was rather cold and it felt too nice to have a steaming cup of tea in front of the tea stall, chatting with friends.[And i happened to spot a lonely leech and show it to Nivedha] .We had tasty buns for breakfast on reaching the base and were on the go by 8.30.
TREKKERS AHOY!
The reservoir was kinda full and we had to go around it to reach the hills and the trail. Being out of excercise for a couple of months, i huffed and puffed for a few minutes, but eventually fell into the rhythm. Dhevi, Madu, Deepika and the organizers helped the group retain its spirits. We giggled and guffawed and made our way through the thick shrubbery.
Being a one day trek, we didn't have much time to stop and take pictures. But, we didn't need to. We simply let ourselves soak into the visage and blended with the nature. For the trekking veterans who accompanied us, it would've felt more of a picnic rather than a real trek. It must have taken a lot of patience for them to watch us stagger thru the trail and help those who fell behind. My heartfelt thanks to you guys, because you helped us witness the grandeur of Mother Nature and the Magic of NAgala! We skipped the stream, and first pool and camped at the second.
LUNCH TIME
We reached the second pool by 11.00 and Gayathrisai admitted that our pace was pretty decent for a group of freshers. we decided to cook our lunch there and spend sometime there, because most of us felt that Second pool would be easy for non-swimmers. While Gayathrisai and few of us collected firewood, others started unpacking stuff for cooking lunch.We went for a swim along with others and i have to thank srividhya for lending me her goggles. A tip for the lap-pool swimmers, take a pair of swimming goggles along and you wont regret it. It's a lot different from swimming pools and when you get here, you'll know what i mean. The water needed some getting used to because it was definitely COLD. Priya got the hang of swimming with a tube soon enough and i could see that Nitharshani, Nivedha, Srividhya and SHeal were HAVING FUN. [Thank God !! at-least i won't get beaten up because of dragging them into this trek :P ] I will never forget the time spent under the mini water falls with Srividhya. We simply rested on the cold stone with our legs stretched, muttering that we could get used to the water gushing on top of our heads.. MEanwhile, Shambhavi helped cook excellent lunch and with pickles and Pakkodas our lunch simply couldn't get better! Sneaking away pakodas from friends, chatting, huddled near the warm fire after swimming in the cold water for an hour was the best moment!!
IT'S THE CLIMB
Soon we started towards the third pool , though it was short, the climb was rather steep. We took several photos in the place and many of us enjoyed jumping and diving into the pools. We didn't get to stay much there and had to descend fast. It was around 6.30 when we reached the base. We decided where everyone would get dropped back home and started our journey back home. it was time to say good bye to Nagala! But i couldn't help myself from mumbling a 'Hasta la Vista, BAby!' towards the hills. [ kinda hoping none heard that, doesn't matter now anyway though ] We stopped for dinner at UTHUKOTTAI and it was pretty late when we got back.
Through all the sore throat [ that was due to singing and the masti in Van] and the body ache remained, we all went to bed with the satisfaction of a day well spent, having made 34 solid new friendships and having the time of our lifetime!!!
Kudos to the LAdies!! Kudos to the ORganizer Gayathrisai Chandrasekaran. It takes a lot of nerve and confidence to lead and you did it with ease Girl!! Kudos to the Silent and unassuming team - Shankar,Arun, Prem and Sridhar!!!!
With CTC there's more fun than what meets the eye!! HAppy Trekking GUYS AND GIRLS!!! With luck and trek we'll meet again!!
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