Bisle Ghat- An Adventure to Remember

04:50 Swajit 3 Comments

“Don't you long for something different to happen, something so exciting and new it carries you along with it like a great tide, something that lets your life blaze and burn so the whole world can see it?” ― Juliet Marillier, Son of the Shadows

This line exactly tells me about the situation when I let my life just pass away after coming back from office – what we call, “ the normal life .“ I choose to enjoy the feeling of wilderness as a vagabond within myself which makes me want to go away from the reality. Who does not want to have something in their life where they feel love to do it whatever it takes.? For readers like you can be one thing and for me its the traveling in nature which I crave most. I am always up for that opportunity. As the famous Author Paulo Coelho said, “And when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” I was also looking for that kind of time to arrive. So there it was after having been busy with usual job life and busy Diwali, was looking forward to seeing mountains and greenery again this time.

Location – Bisle Ghat

Date- November 21^st, 2015

A fairly Unknown place to Bangalore Trek enthusiast. Bisle is a small village in the heart of south-western India's Western Ghats. It adjoins Bisle Reserve Forest, which has some of India's most spectacular rain forests.

Meet-Up:

Lohit as an organizer for Bangalore Hikers and a friend of mine was taking up the responsibility of arranging this trek. I was first one to register. This time, we had five wonder women in our group.As only Sumitra and Lohit were the known faces, rest were new to me, so it was an opportunity to make new friends. Including TT, who arrived almost on time despite our meeting time pushed by one hr due to heavy showers, all of us have got themselves a seat.

We began our journey of almost 300 km. After an initial introductory round of who, what, where among each other, Everyone was wondering what to do in during the journey, after quite a few suggestions it was decided to let's watch a movie. Since everyone was going on the trek, all voted in for Everest Movie, which was available. Thus, the journey continued with the movie, gossips, and Naps. Everyone was excited to spend next two days ahead full of fun.

The Welcome by Stars.

We arrived at the desired destination approximately 0400 hrs, 50 Kms of Sakleshpur in Bisle Rainforest reserve. The visibility was nil without a torchlight. So Lohit including other trek mate were looking for the home stay while few of us were enjoying the beautiful view of the clear sky. Mamta was using the app on her phone to find all known star such as pole stars, planets like Venus and Mars. The words can't describe the magical view of that moment while we were watching the clear sky. Shree tried hard in capturing through his camera but could not get a perfect shot. In spite of the little difficulty in getting hold of stay home guy, we(Lohit, Sagar & Vishwanath) were successfully able to locate it. The stay arrangement with beds made us feel comfortable to doze off quickly. It was the long day ahead, and everyone was looking forward to it.

The Trekking Day

We had to improvise our regular plan for our morning trek due to late wake ups and little delay in having breakfast. It was then decided for a shorter forest trail walk and visit the falls today. A Little change of plan to carry out the schedule for the day 2 was decided. Everyone was ready for the journey ahead after all routine delay to get ready. Two guides accompanied us; every one of us was moderate trekkers with one or two trekking experiences. The journey started with guides carrying boxes of food and our TT dropping us to a point from where we would start walking.

The Group

The Falls

The weather was bright and sunny around 28-30 degree Celsius. To be fair to say a pleasant environment to trekking as such.TT dropped us at a point from where everyone of us could see lush greenery all around as if Mother Nature had taken a green blanket all over it. Few of the Red leaves trees made us feel like walking in the spring season. The initial trail was a dry area, all lush green area with high grass. We got divided into two groups of approx. Six members each depending on the speed of our walk. As the walk continued, one could feel the change in weather. It was a clear sign of we were going more inside into the forest. Moss had started appearing indicating the Monsoon Forest as it was.

The first trail walk was about 4-5 km till deep inside the forest. A mix of uphill and downhill terrain walk but with absolutely no peaks or down as such. The level of difficulty was moderate. The experience of watching the fast moving boar inside four km deep in the forest was one the highlights of that walk. The sound of flowing water in the deep forest was soothing for the ear. The view of Tall Bamboo maze in the middle of the jungle was awesome. Our Guides were cutting the bamboo trees to make a way for us. After walking through 2 or 3 small water streams in-between for almost two hours we reached Dabbe Falls. The beauty of fall can't be defined in simple words here rather it is a must for someone who loves nature. The waterfall will best be described by the photo given below. ....

The Falls

Another View

Lunch Time

Fresh Food

Our Guides suggested us to go into the water as we were sitting on the rocks capturing that wonderful scenic moment into our eyes waiting for some other trek mates to arrive. Guides got busy in gathering woods; I thought they had brought cooked food along, but I was wrong, they were going to prepare food here on the edge of this river and falls. It filled my heart with joy, and more so ever when they said that they were serving fresh fish curry to us. It was like a dream come true for me, sitting in the forest along a river, swimming in it and then having awesome food especially fish. Vishwanath did the first honor of getting into that icy cold water. Once I saw him, Sagar and I took off our clothes and ventured into what I would say is heaven. It was like your small pool, it was not deep, I could float on the water for minutes looking into the sky, just being thankful to God for this wonderful moment. In the time as we were busy getting into the water and swimming, the official photographers of the groups Sumitra, Amruth and Shree were setting up their cams and capturing this wonderful scenery in their lens. After a lot of convincing eventually including the organizer most of us one by one started coming inside the water, in the meantime food was getting prepared.

After posing for pics in all possible ways, emotions, actions, and dramas, it was time to eat. People changed their clothes, were drying themselves down. Hot food were served in bamboo plates. Non-vegetarians had boiled eggs, Rice, Fish Curry, pickle, Sambar and Rice. And to cool down, buttermilk was getting served. It was one of the most delicious food I was having on the trek. The scenery, waterfall, and surroundings were simply adding flavor to that food. It was like a small playgroup in that natural surroundings.

The Experience of walking through leech infested route

After having finished our food, we all started getting ready for the journey back through the route that was different but unexplored. We had to cross one huge stream of water; Guides were carrying the machete to take down tree branches to make way for Us. This path seemed like and old muddy dried river with no footmarks but leech infested. The guide himself was behind, and to avoid leeches everyone was simple walking ahead. I am damn sure; everyone was ignoring the scream of girl who will request to remove the leech climbing the shoes and keep walking as soon as possible. Everyone arrived had 3-4 leech bites on an average. The journey ended on a bridge where the river was flowing, and everyone had the opportunity get their bloody feet cleaned near the bank of the river. Better light for photography made us have some photography session over there.Our TT was waiting for us, After TT driver saw our avatar, he clearly said keep shoes back, no leeches in TT please. It was time to go to next picnic spot the famous Bisle Ghat Viewpoint for sunset.

The Viewpoint

As we hopped into TT, the journey started towards the viewpoint, which was 6-7 km uphill ghat road, We reached after sunset, missing the chance for the sunset experience or some photography pictures nevertheless the place was Nice.

All of us had a nice time there though we missed out on a wonderful scenery. From that viewpoint, we could see straight up Kumar Parvata. Since it was getting darker, it was decided to come early morning next day to see the sunrise at least. At homestay, we enjoyed wonderful bhajia with tea.

View

Bonfire round

All of us reached homestay tired; Homestay had ensured we were getting hot water for shower. The complete area there was no Cellular network, As food was prepared, everyone was doing something, I with few others had the game of cards called the bluff, in few hours bonfire had started, we were going to have food in the open sky again.

As usual everyone was sitting around Bonfire, it was now time to play a team game, We first started with complete the story, which didn't last long, then played Guess, the person. Once dinner was over some went early to bed, few of us were discussing horror stories, as usual I told my typical horror encounter, Sumitra and Lohit heard the same may be for the third time. I heard Instructions from Lohit to get up early in the morning to reach the viewpoint. After setting the alarm and with a feeling of being blessed with great food and company I went into sleeping mode thinking about tomorrow'swonderful day.

Day 2 -Cloudy Sunrise

Everyone was ready to walk towards the viewpoint after waking up around 0500- 0600hrs. Shree was ready with his photography gear to capture the sunrise. We reached the view point in cold weather and dim light. It was pretty cold out, however, in front of our eyes covered in lush green was Mount KP standing tall, all the mountain ranges from that viewpoint seemed like taken over by a blanket of clouds. It was cloudy weather, and we really could not see any sunrise, light was coming out. I decided just to lay down and stare into the sky. Amruth and I started playing this childhood game of what cloud resembles like, from chicken to a sexy girl figure we labeled them. It brought back memories of childhood carelessness and kiddish feeling. Others were just busy in taking pictures of themselves and Mother Nature in all possible angels. With the brief amount of time spent there and lots of photos, we started coming back to the Homestay again. Stopped on way to a small Home cum General Stores to have awesome Tea. It was time to get freshen up now and have breakfast now. Cause we had to get ready for the next adventure.

Mighty KP

View from the top of the mountain peak

After the early morning walk, we were ready for the trek. As per our Guide said it was approx. 6-7 km walks to a Peak offering 360 Degree view. The weather was bright compared to previous day. Initial walking was through flat, crossing paddy fields (rice) till everyone came across a small intersection of the road leading towards bushes. Our Guide was waiting for us at that point

The road less traveled

There was the clear demarcation between two roads at an intersection; one was a normal village(kaccha Roads) and one which was leading into the greenery. Indeed, we took that road. It was almost 4-5 km walk, the initial patch was little uphill and dense forest. We saw some electric fencing; I was unsure about whether we are supposed to cross that, but that was our way, after the fence there was almost 1 km walk on the edge types. On the left-hand side of me there was mighty KP, we were walking parallel to it. We stopped in at a hill top. Had a photo session, all types of photos jumping in the air, behind the grass, the filmy style pose. It was well-deserved rest, Sun was almost on top of us, it was only one km walk now, we could see the peak now. A difficult rocky patch was an obstacle. But all of us reached safely. There it was the peak had the large flat stone; we could sit comfortably. The best part was almost 360-degree view. The Top was a Cliff from one end, Very high, but all of us were relaxing now, everyone opened their food items, started talking, it was time to enjoy the achievement. It was a dense forest. Though the peak offered a magical view of the environment. We spent round about 1 hour on the peak, some photo sessions, eating and looking down the cliff.

After spending a brief amount of time we returned to the guest house, we didn't take any break while going back. On the very last day, we were served with delicious sambar rice and buttermilk. We were provided with Lemon juice also to keep us hydrated. At around three it was time to say goodbye. We thanked the Guest house managers and off we were with these wonderful memories of Bisle Ghat going back to our usual life.

Stopover at Manjarabad Fort.

While on our way back we went to Manjarabad fort, it's a star-shaped fort in Sakelshpur, kind of ruined fort, but it had the fine surrounding 360-degree view. We spent quite a lot time there, and after this we were on our way back to Bangalore.

At Manjarabad

Written By:

Swajit Gade

Edited By:

Rohit Raman

3 comments:

Cycling Trip Bangalore to Mysore

12:36 Swajit 10 Comments

Every now and then I have always felt like I should do something different, I always wanted to challenge myself to see what I can do, in any aspect, I had recently taken up cycling in Bangalore because of my friend Sathwik. When you are little old and you start cycling it bring backs the joy of those wonderful childhood moments of you used to cycle in your area, have those races with colony friends. But now I had taken up cycling purely from hobby and fitness point of view, in a city like Bangalore I have seen so many cyclists around streets using the cycle to go to an office. I had a cycle now here just for leisure rides, morning rides to Cubbon park or Lalbagh or night rides to nearby eateries. It was time to go for long rides along the city, no more 20/30/50 km ride. I had recently completed 80 km cycling trip nearby Bangalore. It was time to set a new benchmark probably 100 km, I knew it was going to be tough, but I was up for it. And the opportunity was there, with my friend we had planned for cycling trip near Ramanagar(80 km from Bangalore- round trip would be 160 km). But when it comes to long cycling rides I always noticed, your enthusiasm vanishes on the return journey. It's very tough to complete a return journey, I guess that was the case with me. So final after some initial discussions with sathwik, we decided that we will go to Mysore. Many of the cyclists preferred and tested route. Bangalore to Mysore is roundabout 160 km. My average cycling speed was below 20 kmph that means I knew I had to ride a bicycle for more than 8 hours. Seeing that figure of 8 hours initially I felt it's not possible, but I had come across many blogs and information of people doing Bangalore to Mysore cycling. In a way, I wanted to take up this as a challenge. It would have been a fantastic achievement if I could pull it off. Along with sathwik(my friend), we had another partner in crime Srini. He suggested that cycling in afternoon is going to drain you out, it's not possible, so with that we gave a thought to our plan and decided that we will cover 70-80% of the distance in midnight. In my previous experiences with cycling Sun and the weather was always an issue, It becomes difficult to cycle continuously and maintain your speed. So with so much of planning we were all set for an epic adventure of cycling to Mysore from Bangalore on Saturday 12th Sept early morning( almost at 12:00 AM).

Before going for cycling I had done fair bit of research on weather forecast and routes, on cycleroute.org you get fair Idea of what the route is going to be likely, it shows how many ascents(up-hill) are going to be there and how man descents(down-hill). Most of the route had more descent than the ascent, so in a way I was happy that if more decent then fewer efforts we will have to make while cycling. As usual One day before I had packed everything since it was going to be one-day affair there was no point in carrying extra luggage or so, cycling with heavy luggage would have been difficult. So just about some snacks(2 protein bars+3 snickers+ Chiwda + 1 ltr Water), extra t-shirt and wallet I was all up for the epic adventure. Since it is not like a trek or trip where one can briefly describe the experience, I will try and elaborate on the journey we went through with respect to timelines. Below diagram shows roughly elevation profile of the road.

Elevation Profile

Plan:

Start at 12:00 AM on Saturday

Cover 90 km till point MIN as per elevation graph before sunrise

Not to take breaks more than half an hour

Staying within 1 km of each other

Keeping yourself always hydrated

Start of the Journey(initial 50 Km)12:00 AM

As usual we wanted to start at 12:00 but again due to coordination and different locations of stay we managed to start at around 12:40 AM, I was meeting Srini for the first time, A jolly person was riding his awesome SCOTT bicycle, We met each other at Samsung office building near my home, Sathwik was supposed to meet us at mahadevpura, so we rode along, after meeting sathwik we decided few rules and guidelines on long journey ahead, everyone put on their headphones and we were off.

After midnight Bangalore is city which really doesn't seem alive, there are not much of vehicles on the road, not much of noise, it's not like Mumbai where there is a constant buzz, in a way it was good for us, as we took old madras road. In initial 10 km only I had some mechanical issue with my cycle, my chain was off, I was worried that it was a serious problem but eventually I was able to solve it, we lost bit of time because of this, but nonetheless we continued, till the time were in Bangalore city, it really didn't felt like we were covering much of distance, it seemed slow, but eventually we picked the pace. As there were quite a few descents, we picked up the pace, by the time we were on Mysore highway road, we were quite okay. There was a patch of almost 5kms decent where even if you didn't peddle it was okay. We completed round about 50 odd km at and the average of 20kmph at around 3:00 AM we took a break(Snickers time).

The next 30kms(Sleepy ride to Ramanagara)

To tell you honestly I don't have much of memory of how the time was spent for next ride, we rode about 2 hours without brakes, crossed ramanagara. On the way, there were quite a few climbs but not very steep, this part of the road had a maximum amount of street lights on. In a way the ride peaceful and we were feeling little tired now, since the milestone of Ramangara was crossed in the way there was the happy mood. But again we were running out of the water, we had to stop somewhere to buy it, eventually near a place, we saw a chai tapir, and we took a brief break there. After chai, the sleepiness was gone a little and we were marching for the next phase of the road.

The next crucial 30 km and Maddur

While riding in the middle of a night, there are a lot many thoughts are coming into your mind, all your tired body wants now is to complete this journey and simply rest, that was my situation here today. After the Chai break it was almost 5:00 AM and sunrise was about to happen. Road was visible now and I could see the countryside now. In a way I was happy, I was riding little slower than my co-riders. Also, we had just crossed the Town of Mandya(sugarcane town). It was time to have a breakfast now, we found the famous Maddur Tiffanys restaurant along the road, had a breakfast there, and got ourselves little refreshed. In a way, we were pretty much happy with our progress so far. Almost covering now roundabout 100 km now, But we knew the challenge was now ahead, I knew the elevation map clearly, After around 100 km there was a steep ascent for almost 30 km. And little bit tired us had to complete that distance in sunny environment as the time was 7:30 AM

40 Kms of punishing ride

As we started from Maddur ride till Mandya was punishing, there were quite a few climbs to make and more so ever Sun was up, we took almost 3-4 brakes during this time, I myself had 3 times coconut water to keep myself hydrated. There were climbs were we initially took a rest and simply walked for a km to avoid cycling on the ascent. But eventually we crossed the city of Mandya, the frequent brakes along the road and coconut water had helped us get through the tough part of the route. As we crossed city there was a smile on my face, I was seeing the Mysore Board on the highway now, Mysore was simply 45 km away now.

20 Kms and Srirangapatna

As we cycled with every km passing I was happy, the destination was nearer. We had planned to take a halt at Srirangapatna now, Sun was almost upon us now, it was becoming very humid now, cycling was tough. Our Avg speed had dropped to almost 10 Km now. But we cycled for another hour again, we reached Srirangapatna, Sathwik suggested that we should take a break as it's very sunny, so in the city there was Tipu Sultan Mahal, which had a garden. We decided to freshen up a bit and went there. The palace had 5 Rs entry fee, we simply went on the lawn and laid down. I guess everyone took a Nap for at least an hour or so. Since we had not slept much feeling sleepy was inevitable. After a brief rest, we all decided to move on, throughout the journey we were so much focusing on the ride that, none of us bothered to click pics. I switched on my mobile data did some browsing, by the time my co-riders got up I was asleep, anyway the time was no 12:30 PM now, we decided to stop directly at Mysore now, Mysore was another 20-25 km away now which approx. an hour ride.

Rest at Srirangapatna

The last 30 km and Mysore

After leaving from Mahal at Srirangapatna, the weather was on our side now, it was not sunny and clouds had come up, it seems like it will rain hard. But it didn't, there was light shower which made us more of refreshed, and as soon as it went away I saw this giant board of Welcome to Mysore City.

Finally we had reached the destination, even though we had to go inside the city at Srini's place, There was a joy within me, I had completed my adventure which I had taken up, With sense of achievement we carried ahead and went inside the Mysore city another 15 km (1 hour of ride very painful) to reach Srini's home. We were warmly welcomed by Srini's family there, it was now time to rest a bit and have Lunch. Thus with almost 13 hrs of the journey had come to end now. All I could think now was when I will sleep now. But anyways I was happy, I called and messaged my friends and family on my achievement. Updated my FB status(lol), And got indulged into awesome food prepared by Srini's mother.

After ride Sightseeing

10 comments:

Full Moon Night Trek to Channagiri

11:36 Swajit 0 Comments

Date- 29th August 2015

Organizers - Bangalore Ascenders

Location - Channagiri -Known as Land of areca nut with an average elevation of 662 metres (2171 feet).Channagiri is a small hill located near Nandi Hill range, it is said that the hill was fortified by Rani Chennamma of Keladi (1672–1697), Queen of the Keladi Nayaka Kingdom and town was named after her.

As a traveller, you are going to travel in spite of many changes in a day. Once a time, you will facing the direct sun on the path while sometimes the other way around. Now here is the biggest secret of all.Night trekking is the best if you are insecure of about your complexion getting a little bit of tan to dark. I am choosing the trekking that matters whether it is anytime, and If you are like me, nonetheless you will be less concern whatever time of the day. You are set to go..fill it, shut it and go.

After coming from the Financial capital of India to the southern part of India. The opportunity to be in the part of Hikers have increased of late, and I am looking forward at any chance. Unlike last time, this time I had a chance to be part of Night Trekking team and I was prepared mentally to have the physical and mental capacity to enjoy.

Being a Chelsea Football Club fan and on the losing side on that particular day match, I was mentally ready with my trekking bag and leave for the meeting points. The change in meeting time from 1830 hrs to 2230 hrs made my schedule easy. Still I was in a hurry to reach without getting delayed in Bangalore Traffic. Finding 40 people on meeting point made me surprised rather than confused about the expectation of at least 27 people for the night trekking adventure after reaching there.

Our Organizer (Achintya) confirmed in affirmative when I asked him about the group of people are all the part of Night Trek. Achintya invited few of his IISC friends for this adventure. Without a doubt, Achintya managed everyone by 2300hrs to be at the meeting point.

Well, Sagar Patil, Here is the headcount = 42, If you were there at that day, It will be 43 ….isn't it? Never mind, we miss you sincerely and hopefully for next night trek, You are going to be part of the experience.

Achintya convinced the KSRTC people about the full occupancy of the bus. They were kind enough to let all of us board and agreed to drop at the base point of Channagiri.

We are all set for the adventure for night trekking with a bus full of excited Trekkers towards Channagiri.

The common theme of night travel is people sleep but for some people, it's not the case at this hour. I can hear people talking to each other including me. I was listening intently to the experience of Uttarakhand Rescue operation from Surya, A scientist by profession working with ISRO. The experience from someone who have been there handling the situations is totally different from what we see on Tv and read in the newspaper. The realization of tough times faced by those souls during those days can make you grateful for your life. I was humbled. The journey took 2 hours to reach the destination.

By looking up towards the Hill, my initial assessment was of not very big in size and able to climb efficiently without hassles. Achintya discussed the standard set of instructions after handing out on paper. I took a deep breath …Everyone was ready including me for trekking.

The Sleeping City

If you have gone on a school trip in the past, you can easily relate the need for the count to be same when it is related to some people. We are doing the same, ensuring we all are there. The path leading towards the Hill was not steep, more so like hiking rather than trekking. The lights during that hour were enough to see the path clearly visible for our route towards the peak. I realized the peak came when every one of us came to the top after some brief moments of trekking. Achintya requested us to create a group of seven with a surprise just about to come. The surprise was offering the sweet “ Rabadi “ to each of the members. Achintya informed us about the actual Channagirl hill that we have to reach. I was able to see the top of the hill through the dense cloud at that hour. With the usual process of headcount, everyone proceeded towards the top and within an hour, every one of us was able to reach.

There was a small Temple on the top that has two small rooms. Everyone was busy with their agendas in their mind. Some were exploring the area, a few trying to find shelter with some of us having a rest on the slope there. One of our group was busy in setting up the tent nearby as well. There seemed a probability of having rains, but in actually never happened. The cool breeze was enough to make everyone feel shivering. Most of us was busy in searching the place where they can take care of themselves from the cold breeze at this hour. Finally, I was able to find a place for a short nap around 0400 hrs nearby. Hearing people’s commotion around 0530-0600 hrs, I woke up to find people waiting to see the Sunrise. It was not possible for us to watch the sunrise due to clouds on that particular day.

The Sunrise

I was walking to keep myself warm to avoid shivering due to cold breeze. I was surprised to find at least 20 people in deep sleep around a place with a small bonfire and a pond nearby. The efforts to make our trek leader wake up from the deep sleep around 0700 hrs was successful. The entire group of people were ready for descent from the top of the hill with a different route in place.

Achintya discussed the itinerary ahead with everyone assembled in a circle. Everyone was able to see each other in the morning light and been self-introduced to the group. We were ready for the descent after the group picture for the remembrance. It was little risk however everyone were safe during the time of coming down from the hill. We were able to reach the base village around 1030 hrs with a next bus scheduled with half hours. Every one of had breakfast at Chikballapur and ready for Bangalore.

The Descend

It was a great experience with a large group of people and well managed by Achintya and Team. I am looking forward to joining them again in future.

Hiker Selfie

0 comments:

In Gods Own Country- Kerala (Wayanad) Part Two

23:02 Swajit 1 Comments

In Gods Own Country- Kerala (Wayanad)

Part Two

The Trekking Day- 15th Aug India’s 69th Independence day

The plan was to reach the Chembra Peak, which is the highest peak in Wayanad, at 2,100 m above sea level. Chembra is located near the town of Meppady and is 8 km south of Kalpetta. The enthusiasm to be at the top of Hill combined with youthful exuberance of Independence day was making everyone enough inspired to wake up early and get ready for the day.

Everyone was able to reach Peak Base Forest office at around 0830 hrs. It was 5kms uphill ride by jeep with 11 people including a guide . The hilly road was not easy to ride with jeep in uphill way. We had to get down so that jeep could be able to go higher without any breakdown in the midway towards the place where the trekking adventure begins. The Trekking distance was about 3-4 km with approximately 1.5km steep in absolute sense.

The temperature was enough to make the environment humid. Our guide informs us as being not too many people to hike around in this season.

We are getting tired but the moment we saw few college going kids carrying the Indian flag and overtaking us, the motivation for having photograph of carrying Indian flags at the top really makes us feel inspired to carry on in spite of being tired .

Sumeet and I continued hiking towards the top while other choose to take a rest for a while. As seasoned trekker, we took less break in middle and able to reach the top successfully.

The chembra peak was known to have Heart shaped lake near by but since it was very small what we saw. We realize the trekking is far from over finding some people in far distance from where we were discussing the particular lake as seen in the blog.

Reaching the place from where we can view the Heart shaped lake was amazing. A view that captures the heart in reality. We found fellow trekkers singing Indian Anthem celebrating by holding the Indian flag.What a moment to cherish forever for everyone including myself.

Heart Shaped Lake

I have the opportunity to have photograph holding National Flag like everyone else. We chose to take a rest at the Chembra Peak and waited for our mates to reach the peak as well. Frankly speaking I was not convinced whether they will be able or not and as soon as heard Prasad voice, I felt relieved to see every one at peak. In fact path towards actual chembra peak was prohibited by forest officials, however, the success at the midpoint was no less for us. Our guide informed us that Annapurna Jungle can be seen to be if we are allowed to trek that way. Few sessions of photography made us happy to celebrate the moment. Sreejith, Sumeet and Swajit ( All 3 of S) reached the starting point and waited for other people to come down where the jeep was there to take us towards forest office.

Sreejith, Sumeet and Swajit ( All 3 of S) reached the starting point and waited for other people to come down where the jeep was there to take us towards forest office. However everyone decided to take a walk enjoying the scenic environment while the jeep came from behind. Reaching the base point made us realize this trekking is over while new is about to begin.

Kanthanpara Waterfalls

Kanthanpara Waterfalls, a splendid and picturesque cascade situated towards the southeast of Kalpetta, in Wayanad, is a 25 km scenic drive. Some of us chose to have food at Hotel Paradise while Sumeet, Sreejith, Prashant including myself went back to Guest house.We were aware of Bonfire planned for the evening however we found the amazing food and surprisingly made us eat more than we can expect while we went to late evening stroll nearby places. Learned about the Guest house owner who decided to invest everything in operating Guest House and Bakery after leaving his work in a corporate environment for almost eight years. I was motivated, and still I am, wondering if I have the potential to do this kind of thing in my life.

The Bonfire was lit around us. The conversation was around life and overall. My experience as organizer of few trekking events made me feel confident about to ask everyone in the group the following question-

“Where do you see yourself Ideally five years down the line?”. My emphasis was more on Ideally” HERE”. Well, the question is just another cheesy question asked in an interview . I was able to explain everyone in simple terms to be truthful about self and then answer.

This question every trekking partners that been part of trekking events aware and I choose to ask no matter what. Such was the wonderful time that we never realized that it was more than 2-3 hours. there was a lot to learn from each other, every one had a different view towards life ambitions, It was good to see people participating wholeheartedly.

The next day trip was set for visiting Asia biggest Man Made Dam and Banasura Falls. It was our last day in Wayanad. The experience in a speed boat was amazing. Banasura Fall can be reached by almost about 1 km trekking from the parking spot. The access to the fall is through the small bridge. The experience of water droplets falling on everyone is a feel to enjoy.

Boat Ride

Bansura Falls

We had to return to our guest house to start another return journey back home with loads and loads of memories with amazing people around us. The return journey was somewhat tiresome physically, but mentally as I am again getting ready for next trip on my bucket list. The happiness in the achieving the things that I love and able to find people support of people who love doing the same can’t be explained in few thousand words The memories are there to experience and cherish ….Thanks to everyone on this trip I was about to explore myself more about life that has to offer.

Let me end this travelogue with two lines by Mirza Ghalib –

Sair kar duniya ke gafil*, zindagani phir kahan….
zindagani gar rahi to, naujawani phir kahan

* GAFIL (गाफिल) Meaning in Hindi- लापरवाह

My Wonderful Co-Riders Sreejith, Sumeet and Prashant

P.S: Thanks all the organizers for fantastic arrangements, also all the kind people in Kerala who helped us with directions. Also special thanks to my Jiju Rohit on helping me with the blog, being the editor for the same.