It all started with me and Ruthvik planning for our first trip with BHSS and VPUC friends. The place was not decided but for sure it had to be the month of September, 2011 for in the coming months we knew we'd be quite busy with placements, exams, projects and blah blah...I was browsing for few interesting places and it was then I came across The-Green-Route-Trek, Sakleshpura, Karnataka, India. The concept was new; Railway Track Trekking. Never heard it before and the deeper I learnt about it the more hungry I was to go this place. When I proposed this to my friends, they were equally excited about this and till the last day we weren't sure who will join us. Finally comes the D-day and it was us Lucky-Eleven who were destined for this. Me, Madhu (my cousin aka Maddy), Ruthvik(aka Shandy), RaghuNandan(aka magu), his friend Sumith, BhanuPrakash(aka bp), Madhusudhan(alias MGM aka adhu, our Photographer), Prajwal (aka Muddi), Sandeep (aka SMS), Sandesh (aka sandy) and Avinash (aka Japani ;)). The plan was to meet in BDA Complex, 2nd stage BSK at 6pm sharp on Sept 23rd 2011, Friday, buy everything we'll need it for the trip and depart. As planned I and MGM got tents, and Shandy got Jolada Rotti and our 'secret ingredient' ;) while others got Maggi, first aid kit etc. The gang was all geared up. We started our march towards an important place on Atimabbe road to get some 'maals'. After this boarded a bus to Majestic and departed Bangalore at around 10:15pm. The rapport we all had during this journey told volumes about the comfort level we shared the next two days! I was the only person who knew all 10 others. Shandy, Bp, magu were my bhss friends, muddi, sms, mgm, sandy n avi were my BNMIT friends and my cousin knew only a few among these ppl. But still the stories we shared like 'mvs stories', 'ashoo', 'janardhan', absolutely elating. I laugh at those stories even to this day :-D. We hardly slept that night. On the way, I and shandy had hot rice bath (since only we both hadn't had our dinner!) Its just from Hassan to Sakleshpur we slept. We were advised to get down at the next stop near Manjarabad Fort so that we can have some food and start our trek. But it turned out that the place had only tea stalls and few snacks. We got Bun, cool drinks and managed to get kerosene as well from the place and started our journey along the curvy ghat section under the starry sky at 4:30am. But. ''tuck'' my bag snapped! What a bad start for the day! Somehow friends helped me fixing it! We walked along the Highway with our torches on, guiding us ahead in the pitch dark environment and occasional help from the headlights of the scores of trucks crawing on the serpentine road. The hootings, the brief star gazing, the jokes, the 'ಪಕ್ಕಕ್ಕೆ ಬಾರೋ lorry ಬರ್ತಿದೆ' s, the hotel that gave 'rock-idlis' early morning, the occasional brooks, a small waterfall, weird sounds all made the walk to Donigal Railway Station.
We were told that we'd come across a small bridge after which we should turn right to get Donigal Railway station. We did follow the same; the deviation from the Highway was along a stony path which led us to our destination (in fact our starting point of the Railway track trek) - Donigal Railway Station! We had a brief chat with the station master over there. He advised us to reach Yedakumari asap and not get caught by any railway officials or pwd officers who were working in that area over some bridge nearby. We took his number just in case and started off with our railway track trek from here - 52nd km at 6:30am, clicking pictures at every few steps, going gaga over the nature! A poetic comparison that stuck to my mind was a beautiful lady, draped in a simple saree with a decent gentle smile on her face and her wet hair caressing her cheeks as if they were magnets ;):D
After walking for almost an hour and half we got the sight of the first bridge! And thankfully there was a small tent before the bridge. न जाने किसका tent था! That was our 1st kitchen. We searched for dry twigs and branches around, used kerosene and set fire after much drama. Our breakfast for the day was ready - Bun noodles! LOL...Bun में noodles :D We really don't know if it was that delicious or our hunger made it taste like heaven!
We then stepped on the bridge and the first time we looked down from the bridge, every nerve in our body was tingling. The track was damp and slippery because of dew and we were shivering dammit! uff!! There quite a few ppl with acrophobia among us. The trek continued. The next stop was at a nearby water stream. We just refreshed ourselves. I was full on advising everyone, ''remove footwear and get into water'', ''walk slowly'', ''careful'' and when I stepped into water, THUD!! I fell down :D "PHEWWWWWW" came the sound from nowhere and it had us running all over clearing our bags off the track and the "chiku buku raile" zoomed past us! It was awesome seeing the train so close by! But before we could proceed we encountered our 1st villain of the story, PWD officer! "you ppl come here not allowed. Here trekking not allowed! In front I see you, be in trouble you will" He said these and went away! We had no idea what to do! Just dumbfounded! We didn't know if we were to laugh at his English, take his warning seriously and return or risk it and go ahead!
There was another two groups that came that day, they आरामसे continued and told they were just threatening us! We consulted quite a few localites on the way and finally at 55.2km, we came across another bridge and with the inputs from a villager there, we decided to go to Sakleshpur Railway station for permission (Me, Shandy and Muddi) while the rest will wait till then! It was 11:30am by then.
We had to be back asap. We had taken almost five hours with many intermissions to cover just 3.2km and now we three had to climb 3kms uphill to reach Highway, and to Sakleshpur from there, get permission and back to 55.2km asap. We three just ran like crazy dogs till we reached the highway (Maranahalli) and gasped for breath at its very sight in just 15minutes! 3kms! Uphill! iPat-on-back ;) And thankfully a truck stopped when we waved our hands for a drop. It was a milk van. Wow...we were on a truck! Felt unusually good:) We realized how tough it is to drive on such roads! Especially the trucks! After almost an hour journey we reached Sakleshpur, thanked and bid good bye to the Driver! We reached the railway station and requested for permission but zilch success. We even requested the Railway Police Force(RPF), but that guy was full on giving धमकीs and advices! ಮಧ್ಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಅವನು ಯಾರೋ ಗಂಡು ಮಗು ಆಯಿತು ಅಂತ sweets ಬೇರೆ ತಂದುಕೊಟ್ಟ ! :D We'd to take a decision! If not for the brave decision we took that time and the master plan we devised, probably our railway track trek would've ended there at 3.2kms only! We'd nice lunch at a good restaurant and reached Maranahalli. (I advise people to start the railway track trekking from here because it is closest to 55.2km and it is from this place that all the bridges, tunnels and scenaries start! We also bought few buns on the way to fill our appetite in the journey ahead! Now we climbed down the hill to reach the rest of the gang. We even helped a lady catch her chicken on the way! That was an interesting experience :D
The tents were set up at a safe and unnoticeable location from the bridge. Most of the people were resting, while others were just playing in the stream beside. We joined them, had a bath and waited for the railway officers to go back to Sakleshpur at the end of the day! We were getting restless as the Sun was almost setting. A railway watchmen decided to help us reach a safe haven after the officials left! But supposedly we encountered some railway informers who pushed the watchman to take us with them, but the watchman knew if he would then those people would leak it to higher officials and his job would be at stake! We decided to wait and finally it was dark when we left! The trek moved on ultimately. We were happy for that! And there we've our 1st tunnel!!
I'd dreamt of walking along the same tunnel months ago; but never in dark and here I was amidst pitch dark air. I almost walked as though I was blind. Thanks to the torches without which I guess we could not have put a foot forward. All of a sudden that watchman says, come I'l show you a beautiful scenery! I wondered what he talking! In the middle of a tunnel, dead dark and he's going to show us some scenery? He should be outta his mind or must be drunk! But oh wait! He walked to the tunnel walls and there we saw a small opening. Nothing struck my brain until the nature unleashed its dark angel 'avatar' before us! Yes, I could sense the beauty around me. The rustling of leaves, a waterfall in its full flow as though it'd grab me inside, the faint sight of all these and loads of positive energy! Wonder why there are temples when such places work wonders!!
We continued our night trek along the track. The bridges, the many waterfalls beside, the shrieking metal plates on the bridge, the dark tunnels, the anxiety+fear of encountering a snake in the dark, the rocky hills covered with nets at many places to avoid landslides, the many stories about the railway people, the warnings given to the people behind me (kind of passing-the-message game :D). An experience to cherish for the lifetime. Especially because we trekked in the dark! Never knew how deep was the valley down under the bridges! ;)
Finally midway the watchman had to bid goodbye to us. He reached his outpost. We just gave him some money, not as bribe but as a token of gratitude! He did indeed help us a lot that day. (Though he refused to accept even that!) We were all on ourselves. No person familiar with the area was with us. We safely reached a small railway station - Kadagaravalli - the resting place for the night. We told some cock and bull story and occupied the waiting room of station. It was all open, with just a roof overhead. We din't wish for more either. We still set up the tent, and oops..RS damaged, spilled all over the place, from Shandy's bag. Muddi was not at all happy. somehow consoled him and washed shandy's bag with dettol to get rid of the smell! The best par t of the trek was every few meters you find a small stream flowing. All thanks to the rainfall couple of days back.
Now coming to the best part of the trek. The party started! Cheers!! Everyone having ಪರಮಾತ್ಮ except avi, sandy and sms - the 3 good boys in the K.Gang :D DJ Abhi turned on some good music, by then uh oh Shandy was 'pulll tight uh' ತೊಗೊಳೋ shandy ನಿಂಬೆ ಹಣ್ಣು ! And he starts searching all around him like he's searching a grain of salt; his eyes almost touching the ground when the lemon was right in front of his eyes! LOL ROFL! तेरी दीवानी he started humming with the song I played! Oh! How much we laughed that time! Madhu insisted on taking a pic..shandy was quick to respond ಎಯೇ ನನ್ನ ಮಗನೆ photo geeto ತೆಗದ್ರೆ ಒಧಾಕ್ಬಿಡ್ತೀನಿ ! sms was like I dont even know how to hold a camera, shandy: ಕೈ ಕೊಡು ಮಚ :D:D:D:D ROFLMAO:D every now and then he used to call muddi, ಹಾಕು ಮಚ ginving a high five! All along BP controlled shandy, din't let him sleep till he threw up! He showed the forest on the other side of the track and asked Shandy to see the train!! I thought it was the end of the day after shandy slept before there was another guy who lost control! Madhu! Referring to the dog nearby, he was like, this is not a dog, its a BITCH! I don't like you Chimpy :D ROFL. The chimpy story will be remembered forever! We had jolada rotti and slept for the day. Should thank sms for helping all of us. Such a nice gesture.
The next morning to my surprise, everyone of us woke as soon as the alarm woke us up! There was no sight of hangover in any of us except ofcourse Shandy looked not completely himself still! After getting refreshed, we vowed not to stop till we reached the destination. We trekked continuously and there it was the bridge that was in news the previous day for the repair work, pwd officers and railway officials. This was the longest best thus far and quite scary! The dew on the track made us walk with an extra eye on the track! The valley below us was atleast 200feet deep, a river gushing through all the rocks and an old dilapidated wooden bridge just over the river, and lush lush green everywhere around!
We took quite a few pics here and moved on. A number of bridges and tunnels went by and we encountered a unique waterfall, small but beautiful and more so because the Nature had painted it with all colours! Not once but twice for a change. Though I'd seen such in pics, that was the first time I saw two rainbows!! Splendid!
Then we finally reached Yedakumari, our destination! All of us lied down on the platform for quite some time, some of us got refreshed! Me, BP and muddi den prepared Botti noodles (bun+rotti+noodles) with secret ingredient in it! All of us had it to the full and savored it. All thanks to the secret ingredient - Chutney pudi :D:D We also did 'matter' every now and then. It was fun, getting all dry sticks, adding kerosene and froma distance, matchstick on, BOOM...the fire! Sms managed to get good number of guavas. We grabbed a few snaps in different poses, all for the FB DP :P Then it was showtime! We decided to make a movie with only snaps.
Muddi is the heroine and me, bp, madhu n raghu are Porkis waiting outside his house like hungry wolves!
We go behind her doing all नखराs, ಚುಡೈಸ್ing her!
She meets a handsome hunk (sms) and we are all shattered!
Full on shy coming to our heroine (with mush :P)
Hero - Heroine get full love and start running towards each other in slow motion !! (ಬಾರೆ ಬಾರೆ ..)
The hugs ...
And the 'ding-dong' ;):D and they lived happily ever after...presenting to you 'JAB GAY MET'
The making of this movie was absolutely crazy. Just amazing fun we had! I'm sure if someone had witnessed this in person, they would've gone crazy laughing!
We decided to depart from the place. We'd 2 options: Trek down for about 3km through wild forest, wild elephants which more likely could have us, some unfriendly leeches, cross the river that was in deluge and reach the highway OR trek uphill for about 8km through thick forest, but a safer option. We gave priority to safety this time and decided to trek uphill along a small path after the first tunnel from Yedakumari railway station.
This forest trek was yet another experience to cherish for a lifetime. Initially very damp to start which reminded me of gorge-walking in Avalanche. Raghu found it very hard to trek uphill, and it was me, madhu and sms who stayed with him all time, pushing him to walk, walk and walk. Kept him going. The rivulets now and then filled our bottles and quenched our thirst. Though it was tiring, the air was very pleasant. The people ahead us passed a bad news that it was probably not the correct route! The super tensed mgm got it all messed up, pushed us to trek down to Yedakumari before sunset because it's not safe to trek during night. And by the time we trekked down almost 3/4th of the way, avi ran to us shouting its the correct route and there we were made to climb again. Stupid mgm :P But all this strain and pain we put in paid when we reached peak of the mountain! The mountain ranges, the valley, the greenery, the colours of the Nature...BREATHTAKING!!! We were just screaming at the top of our voice out of bliss! The utter beauty of the surroundings is truly beyond words! Thanks to MGM for taking such awesome pix which we shall preserve for generations to come!
We continued our trek towards the village Kageneri, the path was very slippery, steep and it was kinda stepped with host of leeches on each of the steps! No need to worry about leeches, they are just harmless creatures! We finally reached the village by the dusk! We just slept off on the road of the village no sooner than we reached it. By the time the van we ordered came, we again did 'matter', bp drank kerosene in the dark thinking it was water :D We also set campfire, danced around it and with the arrival of the van, we had to bid adieu to the beautiful railway track, forest and the sexy nature of SAKLESHPUR. Who says you should die to go to heaven? Come to Sakleshpur and enjoy life to fullest in this HEAVEN ON EARTH!!! :):):)
We continued our night trek along the track. The bridges, the many waterfalls beside, the shrieking metal plates on the bridge, the dark tunnels, the anxiety+fear of encountering a snake in the dark, the rocky hills covered with nets at many places to avoid landslides, the many stories about the railway people, the warnings given to the people behind me (kind of passing-the-message game :D). An experience to cherish for the lifetime. Especially because we trekked in the dark! Never knew how deep was the valley down under the bridges! ;)
Finally midway the watchman had to bid goodbye to us. He reached his outpost. We just gave him some money, not as bribe but as a token of gratitude! He did indeed help us a lot that day. (Though he refused to accept even that!) We were all on ourselves. No person familiar with the area was with us. We safely reached a small railway station - Kadagaravalli - the resting place for the night. We told some cock and bull story and occupied the waiting room of station. It was all open, with just a roof overhead. We din't wish for more either. We still set up the tent, and oops..RS damaged, spilled all over the place, from Shandy's bag. Muddi was not at all happy. somehow consoled him and washed shandy's bag with dettol to get rid of the smell! The best par t of the trek was every few meters you find a small stream flowing. All thanks to the rainfall couple of days back.
Now coming to the best part of the trek. The party started! Cheers!! Everyone having ಪರಮಾತ್ಮ except avi, sandy and sms - the 3 good boys in the K.Gang :D DJ Abhi turned on some good music, by then uh oh Shandy was 'pulll tight uh' ತೊಗೊಳೋ shandy ನಿಂಬೆ ಹಣ್ಣು ! And he starts searching all around him like he's searching a grain of salt; his eyes almost touching the ground when the lemon was right in front of his eyes! LOL ROFL! तेरी दीवानी he started humming with the song I played! Oh! How much we laughed that time! Madhu insisted on taking a pic..shandy was quick to respond ಎಯೇ ನನ್ನ ಮಗನೆ photo geeto ತೆಗದ್ರೆ ಒಧಾಕ್ಬಿಡ್ತೀನಿ ! sms was like I dont even know how to hold a camera, shandy: ಕೈ ಕೊಡು ಮಚ :D:D:D:D ROFLMAO:D every now and then he used to call muddi, ಹಾಕು ಮಚ ginving a high five! All along BP controlled shandy, din't let him sleep till he threw up! He showed the forest on the other side of the track and asked Shandy to see the train!! I thought it was the end of the day after shandy slept before there was another guy who lost control! Madhu! Referring to the dog nearby, he was like, this is not a dog, its a BITCH! I don't like you Chimpy :D ROFL. The chimpy story will be remembered forever! We had jolada rotti and slept for the day. Should thank sms for helping all of us. Such a nice gesture.
The next morning to my surprise, everyone of us woke as soon as the alarm woke us up! There was no sight of hangover in any of us except ofcourse Shandy looked not completely himself still! After getting refreshed, we vowed not to stop till we reached the destination. We trekked continuously and there it was the bridge that was in news the previous day for the repair work, pwd officers and railway officials. This was the longest best thus far and quite scary! The dew on the track made us walk with an extra eye on the track! The valley below us was atleast 200feet deep, a river gushing through all the rocks and an old dilapidated wooden bridge just over the river, and lush lush green everywhere around!
Then we finally reached Yedakumari, our destination! All of us lied down on the platform for quite some time, some of us got refreshed! Me, BP and muddi den prepared Botti noodles (bun+rotti+noodles) with secret ingredient in it! All of us had it to the full and savored it. All thanks to the secret ingredient - Chutney pudi :D:D We also did 'matter' every now and then. It was fun, getting all dry sticks, adding kerosene and froma distance, matchstick on, BOOM...the fire! Sms managed to get good number of guavas. We grabbed a few snaps in different poses, all for the FB DP :P Then it was showtime! We decided to make a movie with only snaps.
Muddi is the heroine and me, bp, madhu n raghu are Porkis waiting outside his house like hungry wolves!
We decided to depart from the place. We'd 2 options: Trek down for about 3km through wild forest, wild elephants which more likely could have us, some unfriendly leeches, cross the river that was in deluge and reach the highway OR trek uphill for about 8km through thick forest, but a safer option. We gave priority to safety this time and decided to trek uphill along a small path after the first tunnel from Yedakumari railway station.
This forest trek was yet another experience to cherish for a lifetime. Initially very damp to start which reminded me of gorge-walking in Avalanche. Raghu found it very hard to trek uphill, and it was me, madhu and sms who stayed with him all time, pushing him to walk, walk and walk. Kept him going. The rivulets now and then filled our bottles and quenched our thirst. Though it was tiring, the air was very pleasant. The people ahead us passed a bad news that it was probably not the correct route! The super tensed mgm got it all messed up, pushed us to trek down to Yedakumari before sunset because it's not safe to trek during night. And by the time we trekked down almost 3/4th of the way, avi ran to us shouting its the correct route and there we were made to climb again. Stupid mgm :P But all this strain and pain we put in paid when we reached peak of the mountain! The mountain ranges, the valley, the greenery, the colours of the Nature...BREATHTAKING!!! We were just screaming at the top of our voice out of bliss! The utter beauty of the surroundings is truly beyond words! Thanks to MGM for taking such awesome pix which we shall preserve for generations to come!
We continued our trek towards the village Kageneri, the path was very slippery, steep and it was kinda stepped with host of leeches on each of the steps! No need to worry about leeches, they are just harmless creatures! We finally reached the village by the dusk! We just slept off on the road of the village no sooner than we reached it. By the time the van we ordered came, we again did 'matter', bp drank kerosene in the dark thinking it was water :D We also set campfire, danced around it and with the arrival of the van, we had to bid adieu to the beautiful railway track, forest and the sexy nature of SAKLESHPUR. Who says you should die to go to heaven? Come to Sakleshpur and enjoy life to fullest in this HEAVEN ON EARTH!!! :):):)
