Talk of getting up early by 4:30 and going for a trek with 8 strangers and that too with no details of the plan or where exactly the place is. As for Scorpio’s this is something they are not comfortable with. But Clair is somebody I could rely on. So thought lets see things the way it comes. After all the main idea is the trek.
The alarm was set for 4:30. But two times snooze made me get up 4:50. Rushed for a bath, cold water? Na, Our geyser works quickly. Well talking about the gear for the trek. Nothing more than a Jeans + Plain T-Shirt. Thought of taking my sweater but then it would be stupid to wear that under the sun. So sweater did not pass the second thought ( But that turned out to be a stupid mistake). Meanwhile Clair gave a buzz to check if I did get up.
Gave a small run to the bus stop. Thanks to BMTC we got bus at 5:15 early morning. Reached the station on time. Had to wait for Clair cause no other I know here. Eventually she found me. Hari and Meenu were with her. Clair left us to find Praveen and Arun ( I didn’t know for what she left until Hari told me).
We were supposed to board Lalbagh Express that’s from Bangalore to Chennai. Get Down at Jolarpet and then catch a bus to Yelagiri.
The train was right there which departs at 6:15. We were told it was 6:30 due to the late-comer idea. Still not talking much to these two strangers we were searching for Vidya and Ganesh. At last we found them in the general compartment. Then the introduction session started. Soon Clair, Arun and Praveen joined in. Ganesh was the person behind the plan. And "Outlook Traveler" giving him the idea. The train started as always a little late. We all just started blending in as Team. Just 8 of us yet, Dhanya and Preethi are supposed to board from Bangalore Cantonment. Soon they two too joined in as the train reached Cantonment. Let me talk the Team.
The alarm was set for 4:30. But two times snooze made me get up 4:50. Rushed for a bath, cold water? Na, Our geyser works quickly. Well talking about the gear for the trek. Nothing more than a Jeans + Plain T-Shirt. Thought of taking my sweater but then it would be stupid to wear that under the sun. So sweater did not pass the second thought ( But that turned out to be a stupid mistake). Meanwhile Clair gave a buzz to check if I did get up.
Gave a small run to the bus stop. Thanks to BMTC we got bus at 5:15 early morning. Reached the station on time. Had to wait for Clair cause no other I know here. Eventually she found me. Hari and Meenu were with her. Clair left us to find Praveen and Arun ( I didn’t know for what she left until Hari told me).
We were supposed to board Lalbagh Express that’s from Bangalore to Chennai. Get Down at Jolarpet and then catch a bus to Yelagiri.
The train was right there which departs at 6:15. We were told it was 6:30 due to the late-comer idea. Still not talking much to these two strangers we were searching for Vidya and Ganesh. At last we found them in the general compartment. Then the introduction session started. Soon Clair, Arun and Praveen joined in. Ganesh was the person behind the plan. And "Outlook Traveler" giving him the idea. The train started as always a little late. We all just started blending in as Team. Just 8 of us yet, Dhanya and Preethi are supposed to board from Bangalore Cantonment. Soon they two too joined in as the train reached Cantonment. Let me talk the Team.
Ganesh, Hari, Preethi and Dhanya work in Huawei. Clair in Thoughtworks (good thought works hope they can use the same). Arun and Praveen in Accenture. Me in Target Services India (TSI), the subsidiary of Target Crop. And Meenu is the odd one out. Her company Ogilvy is into Media.
We had our breakfast in the train itself. The train was running late so we guys needed to save on time. Ganesh came up with this idea (Good to be in the company of Software Engineers). We reached Jolarpet but found that we just missed the Bus to Yelagiri. Bargaining with the Taxi guys did not work out well. So we took a bus that takes near close to the Yelagiri road. Just as we reached we were lucky that a bus was on hold. We could see the Hill from the distance.
Soon we started the ascent up the hill. The road consists of 14 Hairpin curves each named after a famous poet or author. With each hairpin completed the view of the valley gets better. Soon the thoughts of Bangalore were changed into the picturesque valley. The hill is populated with Eucalypts trees and most of them Beehives. And yes if u require fresh Honey, this is a good source. I didn’t mean to climb the tree. You get them in local shops in Yelagiri.
Its fun all the way. We took a small break after we got down from the bus. Well this is where I came to know each one of them. Vidya will be there were food is around. Just as we open a Fanta bottle or lays pack, you can see her hands go all around it. Ganesh is the planner, he was calculating the time and distance even during the rest. Meenu is the anemic patient among us (well not really), just that he gets exhausted fast. Preethi was an assamese stuck between mallu’s, she might be wondering if it was a wise choice to come with us. Dhanya was the less spoken one, well she taken a new camera (Canon Powershot A530) really showed. Hari slips no time to have fun around, and Arun to join him too. Praveen had a FinePix S5600 cam and was mostly busy focusing that (Well his shots came out good too). Clair well should I talk about her, u can check my previous blog.
It took less time for all of us to blend though on the contrary most of us were meeting each other for the first time.
Getting back to the trek. We had to get to SwamiMalai that is 4 km from the Bus Stand. So we started the walk. Yelagiri is a Panchayat but still ready for Tourists. Its otherwise known as ‘Poor mans Ooty’. Truly cause it is less commercialized, well that is good for me. The main occupation here is farming of course. They specialize in Sesame and Mulberry. And Honey too.
Dhanya and Hari never missed to take snaps on the way. Well they found every Tree and Flower as prospects for a shot. That did slow us down. But sab chalatha hai. Well half the way we were faced with a small problem; actually it me in more trouble. A black goat started attacking us. What was wrong with it was not the problem but to get rid of that. It kept pushing against my leg. There was enough grass for the goat to chew upon, why push on my leg? Grrr, that really pissed me off. But I had a idea; I just needed to wait for someone else. But that didn’t solve the problem. It kept running behind each of us. In the end it found another goat to play with. We were all laughing all the way on this incident.
As we reached the foot of the hill we met up with the Headmaster of the school nearby. He helped us with useful info. We had come just day before ‘karthika valakau’. He arranged for 2 guides too, they we two of their students, not more than 10 years old. He told about the view from up above the Temple, we could see around 2000 villages from up there. Well we decided to find that ourselves. He advised to carry enough water. We didn’t adhere that.
The foot of the hill was laid with Sesame farms and other cultivation. Most of the huts here were ‘Kutcha’. The roof was made out of thick straw. SwamiMalai as its called due to the ‘Shiv’ Temple on the top. The hill is covered with dense forest. But to the Temple around 1000 steps have been cut out. But trekking means no steps. So we took the round way that will cover two springs on he hill.
The guides numbers had multiplied to 4, as their friends soon joined in. They were helped us take the cut out path. These kids go up and down the temple every week. Cool, something to do the weekend. We could feel the difference as we entered the forest, cause the air felt so cooler and fresh. Gals means 50% slower cause we kept taking breaks. Meenu was panting already, she would lay down when ever there was a break.
We took the deviation into the forest. This was getting more fun as we were getting into think bushes and tall rocks. The thicket has a small path luckily, but seemed not used for months. Soon the bushes started making marks on my hands & face. Thanks to Clair I got Jacket. Well she asked me a good question “Why didn’t you take your jacket”. The path goes zig zag, soon the team got split between the fast movers and the slow movers. Well you guessed it wrong; I was among the fast movers. In time we used to know the slow movers had taken a break. The bushes were getting good prey, as they would cut into our jeans too. Soon we reached to the first spring. Well according to our guide it was the smaller one. But we could not take water off it cause it was all covered in algae. By this time our water reserve was empty. So we were all looking to the bigger Spring. The rocks got very steep, we had to remove our shoes to climb up. Not much time later we reached the bigger spring. But the sad part is this was no different from the first one, except that we found 2 frogs in it too. But to my luck I found a ‘Amala’ tree in between the bushes. I was on it no time, well that Amala tasted the best I ever had. That was all due to mixed feelings – very thirsty, having them from the tree itself. Some experience that cannot be supplemented. I filled in my pockets and got down to share it with the others. The Amala worked as energy reserve for me rest of the trek. From here we could see all the farms far down. The view from here was spectacular. Well more to go.
More to go up the hill. More in through between the bushes and rocks we reached the Temple at last. Huh most of them were dead lying by that time. Yes you guessed it right, Meenu was the first to fall dead. There was an Outpost on the small cliff. We used the ladder to climb on top. Wow, it was a magnificent view. Well that is an understatement. The Outpost is used to position a Light Source so that people could see the Temple Location from far. Well we could see so many villages, counting them would take a day. Hills and clouds kissing over them. Nature romance is very seldom noticed. We spent most of the time here. Felt more like we conquered the Outpost.
We had to take the 4 o clock bus from Downhill, so we started our decent. This time we took the easier route, yes the steps. Cause most of us were exhausted by now. And the new route the explore now. We took a short break only to find chocolates coming out from Dhanya’s bag. Taking a bite on those we moved on again. Well the decent didn’t take much time. Soon we were back the farms. And we reached downhill. For us the well stay waiting, right place to keep the well. For me it seemed some one had planned the well ages ago just waiting for me to have water. Hey just exaggerating. The point is we had all the water to drink and wash our faces. Clair was left with marks of the bushes, she looks better this way.
The bus shortly arrived and we got seats too. For rest of the journey I slept off. Pretty sleepy after the Trek. We took light refreshments and waited for the Train. The same train we had taken in the morning, it was on its return journey. We boarded the train and soon found ourselves back in Bangalore. Passing Good byes to each other, we left with the memories of the Trip.
This was my first Trek and a good one to start with. We have planned for more to come. And some info for people who would like to go to Yelagiri catch that on http://wikitravel.org/en/Yelagiri .
We had our breakfast in the train itself. The train was running late so we guys needed to save on time. Ganesh came up with this idea (Good to be in the company of Software Engineers). We reached Jolarpet but found that we just missed the Bus to Yelagiri. Bargaining with the Taxi guys did not work out well. So we took a bus that takes near close to the Yelagiri road. Just as we reached we were lucky that a bus was on hold. We could see the Hill from the distance.
Soon we started the ascent up the hill. The road consists of 14 Hairpin curves each named after a famous poet or author. With each hairpin completed the view of the valley gets better. Soon the thoughts of Bangalore were changed into the picturesque valley. The hill is populated with Eucalypts trees and most of them Beehives. And yes if u require fresh Honey, this is a good source. I didn’t mean to climb the tree. You get them in local shops in Yelagiri.
Its fun all the way. We took a small break after we got down from the bus. Well this is where I came to know each one of them. Vidya will be there were food is around. Just as we open a Fanta bottle or lays pack, you can see her hands go all around it. Ganesh is the planner, he was calculating the time and distance even during the rest. Meenu is the anemic patient among us (well not really), just that he gets exhausted fast. Preethi was an assamese stuck between mallu’s, she might be wondering if it was a wise choice to come with us. Dhanya was the less spoken one, well she taken a new camera (Canon Powershot A530) really showed. Hari slips no time to have fun around, and Arun to join him too. Praveen had a FinePix S5600 cam and was mostly busy focusing that (Well his shots came out good too). Clair well should I talk about her, u can check my previous blog.
It took less time for all of us to blend though on the contrary most of us were meeting each other for the first time.
Getting back to the trek. We had to get to SwamiMalai that is 4 km from the Bus Stand. So we started the walk. Yelagiri is a Panchayat but still ready for Tourists. Its otherwise known as ‘Poor mans Ooty’. Truly cause it is less commercialized, well that is good for me. The main occupation here is farming of course. They specialize in Sesame and Mulberry. And Honey too.
Dhanya and Hari never missed to take snaps on the way. Well they found every Tree and Flower as prospects for a shot. That did slow us down. But sab chalatha hai. Well half the way we were faced with a small problem; actually it me in more trouble. A black goat started attacking us. What was wrong with it was not the problem but to get rid of that. It kept pushing against my leg. There was enough grass for the goat to chew upon, why push on my leg? Grrr, that really pissed me off. But I had a idea; I just needed to wait for someone else. But that didn’t solve the problem. It kept running behind each of us. In the end it found another goat to play with. We were all laughing all the way on this incident.
As we reached the foot of the hill we met up with the Headmaster of the school nearby. He helped us with useful info. We had come just day before ‘karthika valakau’. He arranged for 2 guides too, they we two of their students, not more than 10 years old. He told about the view from up above the Temple, we could see around 2000 villages from up there. Well we decided to find that ourselves. He advised to carry enough water. We didn’t adhere that.
The foot of the hill was laid with Sesame farms and other cultivation. Most of the huts here were ‘Kutcha’. The roof was made out of thick straw. SwamiMalai as its called due to the ‘Shiv’ Temple on the top. The hill is covered with dense forest. But to the Temple around 1000 steps have been cut out. But trekking means no steps. So we took the round way that will cover two springs on he hill.
The guides numbers had multiplied to 4, as their friends soon joined in. They were helped us take the cut out path. These kids go up and down the temple every week. Cool, something to do the weekend. We could feel the difference as we entered the forest, cause the air felt so cooler and fresh. Gals means 50% slower cause we kept taking breaks. Meenu was panting already, she would lay down when ever there was a break.
We took the deviation into the forest. This was getting more fun as we were getting into think bushes and tall rocks. The thicket has a small path luckily, but seemed not used for months. Soon the bushes started making marks on my hands & face. Thanks to Clair I got Jacket. Well she asked me a good question “Why didn’t you take your jacket”. The path goes zig zag, soon the team got split between the fast movers and the slow movers. Well you guessed it wrong; I was among the fast movers. In time we used to know the slow movers had taken a break. The bushes were getting good prey, as they would cut into our jeans too. Soon we reached to the first spring. Well according to our guide it was the smaller one. But we could not take water off it cause it was all covered in algae. By this time our water reserve was empty. So we were all looking to the bigger Spring. The rocks got very steep, we had to remove our shoes to climb up. Not much time later we reached the bigger spring. But the sad part is this was no different from the first one, except that we found 2 frogs in it too. But to my luck I found a ‘Amala’ tree in between the bushes. I was on it no time, well that Amala tasted the best I ever had. That was all due to mixed feelings – very thirsty, having them from the tree itself. Some experience that cannot be supplemented. I filled in my pockets and got down to share it with the others. The Amala worked as energy reserve for me rest of the trek. From here we could see all the farms far down. The view from here was spectacular. Well more to go.
More to go up the hill. More in through between the bushes and rocks we reached the Temple at last. Huh most of them were dead lying by that time. Yes you guessed it right, Meenu was the first to fall dead. There was an Outpost on the small cliff. We used the ladder to climb on top. Wow, it was a magnificent view. Well that is an understatement. The Outpost is used to position a Light Source so that people could see the Temple Location from far. Well we could see so many villages, counting them would take a day. Hills and clouds kissing over them. Nature romance is very seldom noticed. We spent most of the time here. Felt more like we conquered the Outpost.
We had to take the 4 o clock bus from Downhill, so we started our decent. This time we took the easier route, yes the steps. Cause most of us were exhausted by now. And the new route the explore now. We took a short break only to find chocolates coming out from Dhanya’s bag. Taking a bite on those we moved on again. Well the decent didn’t take much time. Soon we were back the farms. And we reached downhill. For us the well stay waiting, right place to keep the well. For me it seemed some one had planned the well ages ago just waiting for me to have water. Hey just exaggerating. The point is we had all the water to drink and wash our faces. Clair was left with marks of the bushes, she looks better this way.
The bus shortly arrived and we got seats too. For rest of the journey I slept off. Pretty sleepy after the Trek. We took light refreshments and waited for the Train. The same train we had taken in the morning, it was on its return journey. We boarded the train and soon found ourselves back in Bangalore. Passing Good byes to each other, we left with the memories of the Trip.
This was my first Trek and a good one to start with. We have planned for more to come. And some info for people who would like to go to Yelagiri catch that on http://wikitravel.org/en/Yelagiri .
