Search This Blog

Friday, July 2, 2010

The Adventure Lasts 24 hours

Kemmenangudi, a small, peaceful, rainy town in Chikmaglur district of Karnataka has breathtaking views. Not that I noticed it at first, as we reached it in darkness before dawn precisely at 5.30 am in a group of 15 people. It was raining in the earnest as we got off the mini bus that would remain with us till the end of the tour. We reached the dormitories reserved for us drenched wet and all of us wanted a hot drink. There was no touching the water, it was freezing cold. Few went off to sleep and few of us watched the dawn breaking and the sun trying its best to show its presence inspite of the thick clouds pouring out their mass on us. Our cameras had a thorough usage although they could hardly do justice to what our eyes were feasting upon. The early morning mist on tall trees, rain drops caught in all leaves and twigs around, bright red, yellow and white bell shaped flowers, a terrestrial pattern of small huts, a downpour that turned to torrential rain to a slight drizzle and everything in between within the hour. It simply converted all the lactic acid in the muscles to glucose again and blew the webs of sleep away.


As soon as we could have a decent breakfast, we started in the direction of our first destination, the Kalahasthi falls. The waterfall was small and had been maneuvered to flow through certain path by human efforts. As there was a temple before the falls, we started the climb to the falls barefooted. Smooth stones and rocks, some carved some otherwise for footholds were dotted in the water. So was slime and algae on top of these rocks which made the climb tricky along with the continuous rain. All the troubles felt fruitful when I finally came down and felt very, very alive. Who knew five hours later I would be thanking heavens again.  

After this initial excitement, we headed for lunch and then came the turn of Hebbe falls. All any one of us knew of this fall was that it was a 5km trekking expedition to the waterfall. But as soon as we headed that way, we were told it was a 14km walk or a jeep that would take us for the first 11 km. The jeep being able to accommodate 6 people at the maximum was discarded and we began the descent down along a trail that was wide enough to allow four people to pass together. This trail was less tricky and had beautiful views to occupy the mind. Tall trees covered with creepers from the ground to the first branch, purple and red ferns, conifers, the sound of water everywhere, the water being mainly rain water.

And then



Then came my first ever encounter with blood suckers, LEECHES. No, they were not on my foot but on someone else’s. Gone was the feeling of tranquility henceforth and I watched the trail instead of the surroundings. Even though there was no leech on me in the entire duration, there was always a pseudo feeling that does not come even when a leech has a completely satiated gut. One of our team always proclaimed we had another 2 km to walk through out the 11 km walk to the river. Then came the momentous decision of crossing the river, which was dared only by four people and the rest of us walked back to a cemented place to get rid of the leeches. There was no way any of us would walk back we all proclaimed. Hence we hired a pickup truck from the service providers. When the truck arrived we all realized that the truck was in fact a milk van.

This was the peak moment of the adventure. For the next half an hour all of us were standing in the milk van making the best of the railings and other supports provided by the structure of the van. In this journey, I was thankful for few things. One, I had an empty stomach by then. Two, nobody other than me had motion sickness. That was when I realized how brutal the Nazis were on the Jews. I had always thought while reading any literature on the Nazi torture that the journey was difficult because of the lack of food and the weather conditions and because many people were crammed up in a small space. I had never imagined the torture of the travel itself. For the entire duration, our entire body was “abused as never before,” to quote someone else. But there was a delight in that too. Watching the greeneries past and knowing there was earth below and a sky that was still pouring had a great effect on the senses.

Returning to the mini bus I thanked heavens to keep me alive and in good shape after this great adventure. All of us were wet to the bones and decided we cannot go through another of such a day to see the Z point at sunrise when there was no knowing if the sun will be able to break through the clouds next day. We decided to get dry, have dinner, and go back to the city at the earliest. The return journey was also an adventure of sorts for me as muscles I didn’t even acknowledge before were aching. We reached back to the safety of our homes at 5.30 early next morning. It took me another 24 hours to gather myself.

It was a journey of a sort that I realized very much later that gives two pleasures to a human; the site seeing for nature at its widest with the exhilaration of facing odds and making the best of them. Exactly a week later I am able to write objectively about the entire episode. If I were asked then I would have simply said this is the last adventure of my life. Now I say I need more. I need to have fresh, clean , unadulterated air and I need the sense of excitement to fill me with wonder at my own self. 

3 comments:

  1. SO having great expeditions and adventures...wish I could have such fun...:P apna bio dalna nahi chodogi wo kya tha lactic acid to glucose :D :P

    ReplyDelete
  2. @deepu: he he :D... bio ko chodne mein waqt lagega...

    ReplyDelete
  3. awesome... went thru it now... feels one is moving along with ya.... :)

    ReplyDelete