On the quest for a Silver lining

Last few weeks, life has been brilliant. Atleast at the outset, some things have managed to keep my cribbing down to an extent. One of those things was my trek to the Pushpagiri Wildlife Sanctuary to scale Kumaraparvatha. Well, it is considered to be one of the toughest treks in Karnataka. After having gone there for the second time and returning back in vain again, I am in total agreement of the opinion. Twice!! Reasons might justify our turning back very well, but still the fact glooms over my head every time I think of it. Having the strength and time to scale it, had to return back dragging (well…in all literal sense!). Sad!

What big deal? Like, why such a big fuss about it, right? When there are people who scale this like to their room in the second floor; how does it really make sense for them to know about a trek, that was not completed! With the same thought process, I had not shared my experience when I had gone there the first time. Although, the memory remains, bright and strong, it still carries a shadow. I had refrained myself from expression owing to this. But, not this time. Even though the shadow is pretty strong and the cloud above the head is quite dark, I shall go ahead. I shall go ahead and share to appreciate the beauty, to respect the journey, to try and be more adventurous next time, to reduce the weight on my heavy thought process, and of course to revisit the best times I had. My English teacher Ms. Rita in school wrote on my slam book, as we bid farewell, “Every Cloud has a silver lining”. So I shall go ahead and share to recognize and appreciate the presence of a silver lining around the clouds of Pushpagiri.

Hoping on to one of the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation’s well managed fleet of busses, Airavath Class Volvo, with Gnana (Gnanaskandan) and Small (Ganesha) the Journey began from Bangalore towards Kukke Subramanya. It is strange you know, how we three got together in college and still continue to remain close. 

Small..Me...Gnana

One common doubt we three have, “How on earth did we find each other?” We have got absolutely nothing in common. I personally hate watching long hours of torrent downloaded movies on laptops and these buggers love it. Not even in the food department we are able to come to a consensus. The confusion in deciding on a restaurant for a weekend dinner is so heavy always, we end up savouring the pathetic street food! While Gnana is into Aerospace Design Quality and our small, a techie, I am still searching for one such tag. With all this, we still manage to strike and maintain conversations for quite some time. And the Pushpagiri Plan was one of the recent derivatives of it.

It was a long weekend, with the Vijayadashami festival coming up. The KSRTC bus stand was more or less like our K.R. Market. The journey actually began without notice, as I got totally indulged in a long lasting phone conversation with a friend. The night and the distance became too short with the call going. These two buggers happily dozed off, much to their convenience. Just when you cross sakleshpur and enter into the ghats, with the morning sun light struggling hard to creep in, the western ghats, whatever is visible out of it will be like photoshopped for a silhouette effect. And a soft rock instrumental music on your MP3 just elevates you. Crossing the Gundya cross, as the light spread through the canopy smoothly so, we reached our starting point; Kukke Subramanya.

Well, the ‘excitement’ and ‘enthusiasm’ became the words of importance at this point. We were carrying a tent, and all three of us were camping for the first time in our lives. I had to add ‘Skeptical’ to the list later. After filling the stomach just to keep it satisfied, we started off on a very hopeful journey. You know you are in a sacred place, when you realize that there is no going beyond and whatever that is, is simply beautiful and jaw dropping. Pushpagiri Vanyadhama (Pushpagiri Wildlife Sanctuary) was surely jaw dropping, the first time. I surely was hopeful this time. The forest, the humidity, the cool breeze that just blows across, and of course the heavens you see when you reach the grasslands requires a language with the vocabulary from the God’s dictionary. Or maybe this is an indication that you have spent all your time on Popeye and Swat Kats rather than on Wren & Martin when in school. Anyway, Pushpagiri didn’t fail to impress me more this time as well.

So, it all started for the second time. Walking down the lane behind the temple to the starting point, a gulp of water enroute just completed the breakfast we had a few minutes before.

on the way to the starting point

It wasn’t a heavy breakfast. With quite a heavy weight on the shoulders and a sleepless journey the night before, it did prove a bit tough on me personally, until we entered the starting shola range. You just want to see more of it. You enjoy sweating like never before. The dry clothes are dry no more; feels more like it’s raining. But it is not late before you realize the humidity, the body getting heated up, the heart pouncing and throwing out blood, how much ever possible and you invariably start supporting it, by breathing exhaustively. 

in the Shola

You then know, the purpose of coming all the way from the hustle and bustle of Namma Bengaluru is on its way to be served perfectly well. The situation from this point on becomes a bit romantic. The thoughts that come to your mind, comes only there. Coming back, I am still trying to figure out, how it all made sense. Anyway, with little water and snacks and lot of weight, the pace had considerably reduced. Although we were some energetic souls, the tired bodies was not helping us to push further in the way we started.

The little leech bites were of some interest, as it gave time for us to rest. Slimy little creatures what maximum can they do, as long as there was proper cover. 

Leech Bite

My first trip with my dearest friend Gnana, surely was turning out to be awesome. With Small I had trekked Dudhsagar an year back. That was a little heaven inside western ghats. Who in this worldly conscience has seen heaven? but it surely felt so for me. Anyway, Pushpagiri was a perfect next step with Small. The amazing fog cover and those minute droplets of cool water that cling onto your face are only to experienced. I had a similar experience once in Kemmangundi and also in Kodachadri. Anyway reaching the grasslands, we just settled down at the Bhattara Mane. 

Bhattara Mane

A small piece of land in the middle of the jungle, was seriously very comforting. Our trek plan had made some news amongst my friends. All these  buggers who love the jungle and were not able to make it with us, were extremely curious on our progress. I was reminded of this fact when Arvind Bhat tried reaching me on my phone and thankfully so, I could get a connect at the Bhattara Mane. Also I learnt from him that Prathima too was trying to reach us. They clearly missed it. I could sense it then and see it when they skimmed through our photographs after we returned. After a good rest and a sumptuous meal in Ganji oota and pickle, we rearranged our luggage to shed some of the unnecessary weight. 

the amazing food!!

We did carry light from this point onwards. A brilliant break before we entered the heavens. Not that we were all such pure souls, it is just that however ugly the soul is, it will surely get light and clean coming here.

This was a brilliant laboratory for all that I learnt in my Engineering course about Group Dynamics. Well, it’s a bit strange to connect Engineering and Group Dynamics, but that’s how strange my course was, rather it was the same for all three of us. We are still trying to understand and get a connect; with nearly three years in the industry now after college. The leadership traits, which we mugged up hard, the adaptability and the intent to change for better adaptability were all learnt hands on. And of course, we were in the jungle; we had to maintain a Ekalvya-Dronacharya type connect with our Bear Grylls. Just that we ate what we carried. With nobody around, you can fool yourself how much ever you want. And it was simply brilliant, from here on. Ten minutes up from Bhattara Mane, the god of rain just opened up his arms towards mother earth. The Western Ghats looked more beautiful. The trek didn’t stop. The trails now marked by gushing water in the opposite direction. Unaware of the terrain of the trail, the trek continued at a much slower pace. We had to reach the Kallu Mantapa before it gets dark. 

when the rains showed some concern

Bumping into a group of 4 friends at this point, was a bit encouraging. Canute D’Souza and his friends were also from Bangalore and were camping at Sheshaparvatha, a place beyond Kallu Mantapa. Their plan was different. They were to reach Somvarpet, after scaling the peak, but we were to return back to Kukke.

with Canute and his friends

Trying hard to keep the equipment’s dry, we had to request Canute to take the photograph and mail it to us. It felt good to get connected. And now started all the fun. Well, a lot of pun intended there. The shoes I was wearing gave way brilliantly. The sole was like a dog’s tongue protruding out as if it has found its better half. Ok, it was decision time. Took the lace out of my hood and tied the sole to the shoe and moved on. The left shoe was quite intact now. 

Move on...somehow!!

After all the hustle against the minor streams on the trail the sole of the right shoe didn’t cooperate at all. It just came off, royally so. Now I was, standing up there in the grasslands with sole of both the shoes completely out of place. And we are still 75% away from completing it. This was not one bit encouraging. I was easily contributing to the reduction in pace of the whole group now. I had all these while thought I was swifter. Things aren’t the same all the time. People say life is like a wheel. There are ups and downs everytime. The winner is one who sustains it, I understand from them. But I cannot contemplate it. I feel it should be more like a sinusoidal wave. You keep on going forward, irrespective of ups and downs. And with the same thought process, I slowly dragged ahead. It is not that, I didn’t wanted to pull the group down or anything with my issues, it was just that I didn’t wanted myself to be pulled down. I had come here to achieve what I didn’t the first time around.  

Nevertheless I was scaling up slowly dragging both non-cooperative legs trying to support the heart to accomplish what it wanted to. Well the will power to continue to the peak wearing that shoes and imagining returning back all the way surely didn’t come easily. If it was for the first time, then I would have surely returned back I guess. The awareness of what lay ahead in store for us, helped me to push more. And finally we reached Kallu Mantapa. And we were ecstatic that we were still able to see things around. With absolutely no idea on pitching a tent, the covers were opened and the tent thrown out after finding a suitable spot. It was more than just suitable. I don’t want to use the word heavenly again. But it was a few metres away from a huge drop. In the backdrop was Kallu Mantapa and we had sufficient place to cook. The clouds just passed below our feet. Everytime the fog cleared out, it was an uneven bed of green with white spots moving, all in one direction. And when the breeze hits you, you have only one thought running in your mind. What’s the point in wearing a shirt?! The shorts are required because there are quite a few people around and more than that, it is extremely chill. You become completely shameless. I did. I removed my shirt, for almost the entire length of the trek from here on.

only when you are shameless

It can only be experienced. You really don’t give a damn about the no of packs you have on your abs. Although I just carried a big fat one, it wasn’t a concern at all. Well, the bottom line is, you aren’t materialistic anymore. You are not present in this world.

Taking the help from two other guys who had already settled next to us, we raised the tent for the first time in our lives. It was a brilliant feeling to crawl inside and stretch the legs. Removing the shoes was extremely comforting. How badly I needed a foot massage. More than luxury this foot massage, it had become a requirement. With no SPA around I had to look out for alternatives. The 2-Minute Maggi which we had taken worked perfectly well as a replacement. With all ingredients and resources in place, the maggi was cooked for the two guys who helped us pitch the tent and then to our Gnana, who had his quick share before he slept off. Small and I then cooked slowly taking all the time in the world and had our best dinner till date. 

the perfect replacement

With slight drizzles every now and then, it was simply beautiful. Chill breeze blowing across, Lots of green cover around, standing above the clouds, you remove your shirt and settle down on a small piece of rock to savour the freshly prepared hot cup of noodles, what else can one ask for in a vacation. Simply awesome. To add to this, a long and an open discussion with my close friend Small, just made my life that evening more contended. With the rain picking up and darkness increasing, the weather turned extremely cold. You then realize you can no more fool yourself to be a Salman Khan, although you are still shameless, you silently go inside the tent, put on a thermal and start observing the sound the rain drops make falling onto your tent. You get used to it soon, as you quickly dive into a deep sleep. 

well.....contentment !!!

Well, what else can one ask for in one’s life? The Day 1 of the trek, ended brilliantly so, all hopeful and excited to scale the peak the next day.