After much debate we decided to go to Sharavathi Valley the heart of western Ghats. Thanks to Akshay Bharadwaj for his inputs and organizing the trek, although he was not part of the trek group.
It was busy busy Friday evening, traffic jams everywhere and to make matters worse the started to pour badly. Luckily we booked a 11pm AIRAVAT Volvo bus to Sagara. Some of us bunked office early and started and started packing while others like me came home at 8:15, packed and left home at 8:45 and our mallu mama (Rakesh) took a day off to reach Bangalore from Kocchi.
We all reached majestic platform 4, by 10:45pm Dumsy(Arun C) was the last one to arrive and the best part was 8pm buses had just arrived the platform due to extensive traffic. So me and Balu went in search of our bus among hundreds of busses waiting to enter the platform and finally found our bus around 11:20pm and guided others to the bus.
The bus moved out of majestic with great difficulty. And to our surprise we got to see 2 water falls in Bangalore itself. Naa its not the vrishabhavathi river aka “kengeri mori” near manoj’s house, it was from the bus roof. The leakage had wetted 2 of our seats and the conductor was able to replace only one of our seats. So who was the lucky person who experienced the first waterfalls before anyone else…, u’ll get to know in the later part of my log.
We had to listen to mala’s dirty jokes although the night and slept around 1:30.
Day-1
We finally made it safe and sound to Sagar around 7am. Then walked to the private bus stand and boarded Kargal. After travelling for about and hour or so we reached Kargal and contacted Sree Nidhi Stores and enquired about the vehicle to muppani camp.
After much debate we hired a pickup truck and packed our bags and with much difficulty boarded the truck. After reaching muppani, met sampath and he asked us to freshen up. We could see a long queue and everyone fighting for downloading onto computer with INDIAN net connection as the computer with WESTERN net connection was out of order. Then we ate upma(ಉಪ್ಪಿಟ್ಟು) drank kashaya(ಕಷಾಯ) and tea and boarded the same vehicle to the trek point.
Ironically there were school children(4th to SSLC) who were also trekking the same places but thru a easier route. We reached a local house dropped our bags and started our trek through dense forest. Ate some cashew fruits and after bearing the humidity and dense jungle with dead leaves all over our path we finally heard the sound of gushing water. Rakesh was so excited that he decided to swing like tarzan using thick creepers from the trees and soon tasted the sweet taste of the ground with a loud Thudd!.
To our amazement the water fall with no name was full of water and a small swmming pool was formed below the falls. Everyone dived to the water below, giving me amazing photo shots. When ashwin decided to swim to the farther end he lost the pace and almost drowned if it was not there for arun c and chandu who brought him to the shore and we enjoyed here till 2:30p.m.
Reached the food camp at 3:30 ate food like we never seen food before. And started trek towards “HOSAGITTI” falls. We reached here around 4 and to our amazement it was magnificent. Enjoyed the view, rested there and left to the night camp at “Katinkara”. Reached katinkara around 7pm and stayed there for the night.
I mesmerized everyone with my card tricks, but everyone were brilliant enough, to crack some of my tricks. Arun C, kiran ,Deepak and ashwin were the ones who cracked instantly.
Then came the time to exibit our manhood. (Nandini dnt think otherwise). We played the game in which india is tree times world champions, ya kabaddi. We had rough time pushing each other, situation went out of hand when abhi got chandu out, but was bought under control.
Then after getting bruises all around our bodies we finally got dinner(Pulav) @10:30pm ate nicely and slept on a mat in the open wilderness, sky gazing.
DAY-2
We started the day by burying treasure, drank tea and ate Roti + Dosa and started trek around 10am. Our next stop Belligundi falls.
We walked along jeep track for about 1.5hrs, heard stories about bears attacking locals from the guide but none of us were frightened as there was a big bear in our gang itself.
Walked through dense forest climbed the peak and got awesome view of the scenery.
At this point our call phones rang and we were able to talk to our families after 1.5 days. Went to the edge of the peak saw the amazing Belligundi falls.
Then started walking to another remote waterfall. We had to travel thru dense forest with leeches everywhere and finally arrived at the falls by 1:15.
We decided to reach the top most point and take bath there. Me, abhi, JP and chandu climbed first and stood below the falls not aware of what is awaited next. As I walked to stand below the water falls I slipped, skidded for about 2mts and the next thing I realized was, a Big hole coming from nowhere in front of me. Both my legs went inside and like a angel abhi held on to my shoulders and pulled my out along with chandu. Then we realized from a log which was placed inside the hole that the hole was 14ft in depth and no way out. Even the best of the swimmers couldn’t have got out of it. Thanked God and abhi for giving me an opportunity to live again.
Then we had a tough task of climbing along the vertical rocks to reach the top, where food was served. Ate lunch and also fed the fishes around and took some rest
We then walked towards the katinkara base, some of us lost our way and had 2 routes to choose, then came back to the right track after finding some loose stones along one of the route, guess it was mala who was playing/ throwing around stones.
Reached the katinkara base @5pm and waited for the vehicle to Muppani base.
Thanks to our local friend satish, reshma, mahesh, ravi and aditya who arranged a camp fire for us in the middle of the road where we were waiting for bus. Our wit was tested to the core from the young locals riddles. Heard Chandu’s ghost story and at last the pickup truck came at 10pm.
We then reached the muppani base camp ate dinner and went along the backwaters to sleep inside our tents.
DAY-3
Did the Same routine stuff and were waiting for breakfast, all of a sudden around 8:30am the sky started to drizzle, while the rising sun still shined its way thru the clouds.
Rain stopped ate Akki Dose and Ragi Dose along with tea. Ran to the backwaters grabbed the kayaks and started boating. Chandu, JP, Pinky and abu grabbed the 4 kayaks, while me and Deepak took the inflatable raft and others boarded the coracle.
We went to the far side, clicked some photos and realized that the boat was deflating, so decided to head to the shore. On the way everyone blocked my wat asking me to take pics. Jp boarded in half way and jumped out along with Deepak. The air was so low that I was not able to row, then Deepak and abhi pulled the boat to the shore.
Mala, rakesh, ajith and arun c in the coracle had to hold on to kohli’s whirlpool. Then me abhi, jp, balu, Deepak decided to swim to the far side towards the coracle to topple it, found pinky in the way, toppled his kayak and when we were about to topple the oracle everyone jumped out leaving mala alone, which made us easy to topple the coracle and almost drown mala, he drank lot of water and felt sick, had to help him to the shore.
Around 3 ate lunch and argued with sampath and co to reduce the cost of 750/head/day to 700. But in vain. Missed the 4:30 bus got a tempo carrier at 4:50 boarded it till karagil and decided to go to jog in the same as our bus was at 9:50pm @sagara.
Reached jog @6 as we entered it started to rain heavily, took some pics and boarded omni to sagar ate dinner there. Around 9:45 took the Airavat Volvo to Bangalore and reached here on Monday 4:30am.
Some memorable moments:
(Any doubts and for further explanations ask mala)
Chamak : (Balu/Arun’s Chamak to Deepak with the help of Chandu):
As we got to know about the leakage, pple started to occupy the other booked seats. Well it was Ashwin and Arun n k, who boarded the bus last. Ashwin quickly pounced on the replaced seat leaving pinky to occupy the wet, leaking seat. But pinky sat on other passengers seat and hoped they missed this bus so he can occupy. But his luck ran out when 2 old couples demanded his seat. He politely let go of his seat, before Chandu stepped in and asked them to occupy the front seat where balu nad Deepak were sitting. Balu occupied 1 seat and other which belonged to Deepak was occupied by Arun N k thanks to chandu. Now Deepak was the unlucky person who had to sit on the wet seat.
Avinash Challenge:
Like a dumb@$$ I challenge that if anyone could drink one full glass of kashaya(ಕಷಾಯ) in 5mins. Many tried but only abhi, abu and ash completed the task, so now I need to treat them at Kabab magic.
Chandu’s Kannada Dialogues:
Mala was sitting behind me and was irritating, so I just lifted his bedsheet which he was wearing and chandu instantly commented “ಏನ್ ಲಿಂಗ ಪರೀಕ್ಷೆ ಮಾಡ್ತಾಇದ್ದೀಯ “ “yen linga parikshe madtha iddiya?”
Catches win matches:
We used bottle as a ball to give catching practice to all. one was the best pic was of rakesh's
Fish on the plate but cant eat:
Kiran and Arun C managed to catch a fish using their food plates. But although the fish was on their plates they were not able to eat as it was alive.
Kabaddi Kabaddi:
Team A: Ashwin, rakesh, chandu, abubakar, jayaprakash
Team B: Abhilash, Balu, Avinash, Deepak, arun c, kiran.
The heavy weights of team A took nice advantage of us and cheated till the end with rough moves. There were nice moments, and could have turned worse, thanks to unsporting behavior by chandu co. In the last round when I touched jp and was about to make into my box rakesh caught me, stripped my shirt and everyone fell over me to mark their victory, I said to myself “such a cheap bunch of assholesJ”..
Pulka tilka and chilka:
Abu got pissed of when chandu didn’t tell us all, a ghost story. So he scolded him “ಹೋಗೋ ಲೇ ಪುಲ್ಕ(hogo le pulka)” instead of “ಪುಕ್ಲ “ (pukla) and surprisingly chandu replied “ನೀನು ಪುಲ್ಕ (nenu pulka)”. So we started teasing abu ‘pulka’ , chandu as ‘tilka’(thikla) and mala (manohar) as ‘chilka’. Why chilka? ask mala..
Chandu’s Ghost story:
When chandu was small he used to walk along a graveyard everyday while going to school. He used to see encounter corpses very often it seems. So was frightened to walk along. So he used to sing “ಮಣಿ ಮಣಿ ಮಣಿ ಮಣಿ ಮನಿಗೊಂದು ಧಾರಾ..”and overcome the fear. The end.
(M.A.A.D)®: We all know what maad stands for i.e Mala’s Academy for Advanced Double meanings. And we also know that Nandini who is still struggling to pass this course. All of a sudden Mala revealed the name of the only student to pass MAAD in FCD. And it was Avinash (me, BaBa). I am prowd to be mala’s sisya.J
3 times ok 6 times yake: We all know that the Sanskrit word ”3times” has been patented by Mala (Manohar), But we got to know that there is something called “6 times” patented by chandu. This “6times” still remains the challenge/mystery to beat for kohli(ashwin) and mallu mama(Rakesh aka ra-gay-esh).
For further explanation ask chandu.
For further explanation ask chandu.
Davangere: I couldn’t understand what was going on between kulla (kiran) and pinky(arun n k), coz whenever kiran teased him ‘Davangere’ there was “ಮುಗುಳ್ ನಗೆ (Shy smile).
ಬೆಣ್ಣೆ ಬೆಕ ಬೆಣ್ಣೆ (Benne beka benne):
When we were travelling to katinkara in the pickup truck pinky was sleeping in the centre. Everyone were teasing him Benne (ಬೆಣ್ಣೆ) . Then we started to divide him among us, beeri taking his right leg, arun c his left leg, rakesh his chest ashwin his head and so on. Then we had burst of laugh when I said about the procedure of making benne..
Jp’s love story: JP narrated a wonderful love story of abhi and @*p!^#@ (you know who). This is about the first day when they met each other in class room 302, 1st semester BMSCE. It was love @ first sight and everything went well until the villain ashwin arrived. Triangular love started. And he also told about his first day experience @ bmsce when he saw everyone running out of the class and when enquired, someone handsome and tall guy named chandu told him that there was a bear inside, which had escaped from the zoo.
Abhilash’s Bravery:
Me, abhi, JP and chandu climbed first and stood below the falls not aware of what is awaited next. As I walked to stand below the water falls I slipped, skidded for about 2mts and the next thing I realized was, a Big hole coming from nowhere in front of me. Both my legs went inside and like a angel abhi held on to my shoulders and pulled my out along with chandu. Then we realized from a log which was placed inside the hole that the hole was 14ft in depth and no way out. Even the best of the swimmers couldn’t have got out of it. Thanked God and abhi for giving me an opportunity to live again.
Kolaata(ಕೋಲಾಟ): Rakesh and Abhi were fighting vigorously with two sticks which looked like kolaata for us. Here is the video
The alien story: The night sky was so amazing that we gazed them for minutes together. Then mallu mama started his story of how the human race came into life on earth. His story goes like this:- The aliens were very found of gold, so they come here start mining, carry as much as possible and mate with monkeys to give birth to humans. Thus humans appeared to life on earth. Such a bakwas story I never heard in my life, better luck next time mallu mama.
Treasure Hunt:
2nd day morning abu wanted to hide his treasure so asked me a place to hide. I told him to go 80ft straight and take right. He came back scolding me for giving him the location, where I had hid my treasure.
2nd day morning abu wanted to hide his treasure so asked me a place to hide. I told him to go 80ft straight and take right. He came back scolding me for giving him the location, where I had hid my treasure.
Trimurthy:
On 2nd day abhi, pinky and bhatta had no plate to eat the lunch, the hunger drove them to borrow the big plate used for cooking and all three ate in the same plate..
30thorns:
On the first day abhi accidently stepped on thorny plant and about 30+ small thorns got implanted into his leg. He was able to remove only about 3 and on 2nd day with the help of mallu mama we removed abot 30 of them.
On the first day abhi accidently stepped on thorny plant and about 30+ small thorns got implanted into his leg. He was able to remove only about 3 and on 2nd day with the help of mallu mama we removed abot 30 of them.
Favourite song:
Whenever we were happy we all sang this song together
“ಅಭಿ ಮತ್ತು @#p!^@ ಸೇರಬೇಕು ಅಂತ .
ಬರೆದಾಗಿದೆ ಇಂಧು ಬ್ರಹ್ಮನು ..
ನನ್ನ ಜೀವಕಿಂಥ.. ನೀನೆ ನನ್ನ ಸ್ವಂತ ..
ಇರುವಾಗ ನಾನು ಚಿಂತ ಏನು..
ಬರೆದಾಗಿದೆ ಇಂಧು ಬ್ರಹ್ಮನು ..
ನನ್ನ ಜೀವಕಿಂಥ.. ನೀನೆ ನನ್ನ ಸ್ವಂತ ..
ಇರುವಾಗ ನಾನು ಚಿಂತ ಏನು..
