Kodachadri Trek : The odd man out !!
Frustrated with daily routine I was very much tempted to do something exciting... something adventurous in life… In search of the same... first I found
I was so much excited about the trek that… exactly at 7:00pm… I was at Jain Temple: Jayanagar 4th Block… & was 1st one to reach there… anyways soon vamshi, murli, shankar & praveen joined... we had a short intro & waited for bharti & the cab... which came abt 40 mins late (thanks to
We left
we had dinner.. I had paan after that... & got back to the cab... we started the night journey to Nittur… Shankar was beside my seat… everyone was shouting in kannad.. so I again felt bored and tried to sleep.. which was the only possible thing I could think of @ that time... situation got worsened by the ALIEN music on the cab.. I tried so hard to sleep and was almost slept when I heard two people shankar & bharti talking in English... it was too late for me to join in… so I felt its better to sleep now… fortunately I had gr8 sleep.. & I woke up only at Nittur.
Nittur
We found a jharna nearby.. freshened up.. & soon rajeev got 1st leech bite of the trek.. :).. we had breakfast in a local dhaba types restaurant.. packed our bags & were all ready for the trek to the final destination.. kodachadri..
On top of Cab
A smaller part of trek was covered by our cab.. Me, rajeev, vivek & anita climbed on the carrier.. this was of one of the things of which i was crazy about.. & always wanted to do.. I was feeling great.. that i finally could do it.. it was so much fun.. just like an huge elephant ride.. I was in front takin all the bash as we moved.. thank god.. thr were no horny branches :) 
A trek through the waterfall..
We started pushing our way through the sugarcane farms.. & the rice fields.. Soon we saw a small waterfall.. the water was so chilled and it was looking great.. we took many pics there.. and then climbed up along the falls.. on a rocky ascending path, taking all the care in the world to not slip, as it was unpredictable as to how far down we’d fall if we did.. the path wouldn’t be all that difficult if it wasn’t so slippery.. it was tough trekking
through waterfall as we moved up & up.. it was getting more and more steep and slippery.. without Vijay(Guide) it was almost impossible to reach at the top of that waterfall.. we were rewarded with some incredible views of waterfall as we came on top.. the water was falling at an amazing speed.. I could not control myself.. & went inside that main stream.. it was an awesome feeling.. the only thing I regret of is.. I forgot to take off my wallet from back pocket.. & it also got drenched with me…
I dint wanted to come back from there.. but had to.. as the main destination was still far away from that place & we dint wanted to miss the famous sunset of kodachadri.. The return back journey was more dangerous.. as just one slip & u r gone.. I was with guide initially... but from somewhere I got enthu to get down fast... I left the group & started going down on my own... soon I got the result of that.. as I chose a wrong path near a steep fall.. Hanging in between life n death (the two rocks)... with the support of a tree branch... 
I was completely blank where to go now... then I decided to get down with help of that small branch only... "bhagwaan ko yaad karte karte" I somehow managed to get down.. if ever that branch had broken.. I’m damn sure I would not have been here writing this blog…well I donno if I'm enlightened but I did survive the longest 10 minutes of my life… !
Murli & Bharti were already down there... we went back to Vijay's house and changed all wet clothes... it was an awesome experience I had... Which I know I wont ever forget in my life...
just after that everybody came & we had lunch there (chutni-puri).. a typical soutindian dish.. puri being "roti" and chutney being "curd with some powder".. I had cakes & apple too.. to fill my tummy to the mark.. to be prepared for the next trek to our final destination.. we packed stuff and moved on...
7KM trek to kodachadri…
As we moved up and up... encounters with leeches were more frequent.. we had to cross three hills and then walk abt 1.5 kms from there on a kattacha road(jeep trek).. to get to the 
PWD guesthouse@kodachadri.. soon we were on the top of the first hill.. & view from there took all my pains off...we could see backwaters of Arabian sea from the top and many small hills below us... the beauty of the view was past compare… and it kept on increasing as we moved up… we rested 2-3 times in between, excluding the stops to remove leeches from our shoes while walking… for the first time I saw a leech in my life, its very small and keeps on sucking your blood till you remove it, once its done it can live for another 6 months without any blood… :)… 
glucose was of real help to me I could feel energy inside me after having that... though walking there was not much tough as very less khai’s… only u had to up climb the hills.. Murli was the most enthusiastic among all… always the 1st one to reach all the tops… donno from where he got all that energy…
After so much of hard work :), we were very sweaty and tired when we reached kaccha road: the jeep trek… and guesthouse was another 
1.5 kms so we rested again for about 10 mins there had some apples/mausambi’s and moved on… this trek was easy… infect just walking we had to do… in between cam an echo point.. with all the sides covered by hills and when you shout you can notice your voice moving from left to right… we could see the guesthouse and hilltop from there… while moving we were planning for a scary movie… took many pics to add to it, but ideas was a flop :)… we finally reached pwd guesthouse and took two rooms.. the sad part was that it was very cloudy so we could not see the sunset properly.. anyways we 
freshened up… had tea… chocolates… & all started talking in alien language again L.. soon I discovered that there was only about 1sqm of area in front of guesthouse where Airtel network was coming.. So I thought better to message & call friends from there, then to put a fight understanding, what all they were talking about.
There was no power… & it was all dark…
generator was on for about 1/2 hr, till we took our dinner… it was again a proper southindian dinner (sabhji/sambhar/rasam/rice/papad ) which I had in a typical southindian ishile.. eating with hands… & it was quite fun… even my plate was as neat as others when I finished.. :)
The 2nd night..
I thought that after having dinner they might have planned for some games… but everyone was tired that they wanted to sleep… I was not feeling sleepy so I came out & thought of writing a diary.. but no lights... & even torch was dim… so i dint put up much fight… anyways I was using my cell to the best.. & watching stars which had an awesome view from there… no pollutants.. & no clouds at that time… soon my cell battery started going down… & I had no other option to go in & sleep… I slept around 11:30… thinking that can even help me waking up early for sunrise at hilltop..
Sunrise@Hilltop
We woke up at 5:00.. got ready for the sunrise.. it was almost a night trek with extreme dark, torches in our hands and guide helping us where to put the next step.. The peak is about 1300m above sea level and has a shrine called "Sarvajnya Peeth", where Shankaracharya meditated to enlightenment. The hills were damn steep which 
we didn’t even notice while climbing up in dark. It was such a privilege to see the sun rise that morning, picking out the tips of the mountains first and then spreading the reddish glow against the blue sky and clouds much below the peak. This was another “one-of-a-kind” experience I had on trek. Finally we decided to move down, in between we saw a cave with a Ganesh murti kept inside. 
Other then me & vamshi everyone took some other path with guide along the dense forest to the guesthouse but we went on by the path.. we came from.. as it had better sceneries & we dint wanted to miss their pics… we realized how tough it was only when we were coming back in lights.. with a steep valley on one side & only few feet wide path to 
walk on.. anyways we took a lots of pics there exploring the natural beauty.. & came back… had chai and waited for rajeev who had keys of our room… & girls who didn’t go in the morning to come back… even the view from the guesthouse was awesome.. I just felt like sitting there all the time & watch moving clouds, sky, hills & backwaters..
Finally we packed our bags & marched towards ISKON temple taking some other route..
Trekking downhill was very quick and was much easier & with less encounters of leeches.. We found a landscape.. rested & played
there for a while and moved towards the temple which was still under construction.. we met Tattva there.. abt 70yrs old angrez.. who was care taker of that temple… rasgullas we had inside as prashaad were nice :)
We again started trekking… better say walking… as it was a flat road… walked for about 2kms to catch our cab waiting there for us.
Kullur
The cab reached kullur in no time… with just one stop at a small shop of dinesh.. We had tea & finger chips there.. which got us back our childhood memories.. reaching kullur.. we parked cab & guys (other then me, shalini & vamshi) went to a famous temple nearby.. I had two bottom-sups of coconuts water :).. then had some chocolates & roasted groundnuts... no one was feelin hungry so we just went towards our final stop.. Baindur beach..
Baindur beach..
Finally we were at the beach.. & they took the right decision choosing this beach… as it was so clean a
nd had a gr8 view… we had awesome fun in water.. saw sunset there and went back… again on the carrier of the cab… this time me vivek and shankar.. we were sleeping on the carrier.. and it was gr8 fun doing that but only lasted till we halted in between for dinner.. we had dinner.. with some booze an had an awesome paan just outside the restaurant.
Dance on road..
On the way back we started dancing in the cab… vivek being the initiator… Paan banaras wala of DON.. beedi jalaile.. and RDB tracks were too good to dance on.. then came an idea of dancing on the road.. we danced like crazy.. using all possible arbit steps… and it was gr8 fun dancing on road 
in cab lights :)… anyways I didn’t last for long… we came back & everyone was tired enough to sleep.. I watched swades for some time... then again... some alien language songs started playing… so I had no other option left then to sleep… though it helped... I slept nicely.. & woke up in the morning only... when we were back on the roads of
The People Involved
Rajeev: Leech's love
He was the organizer of trek, working in accenture… finally came out as (Ambrish I donno y guys were calling him by that name)… he was a big time leech attracter.. and got many bites.. I should be very much thankful to him and harish for organizing such a nice trek.. kudos to you guys..
Harish : The goti guy
He is a silent guy… was not able to know much about him… but anyways kudos to him too for organizing such a nice trek.
Vivek: The actor
Working in dell.. I chatted with him for long… he has done lots of trekking before… loves dancing and acting too :)
Vamshi: The Photographer
LOST as his orkut name says… he was like that only most of time on trek… hez working in Dell.. loves photography and has a nice cam to support that :)… even he cant speak/understand kannad that fluently... he was perfect person to have been matched up with, same fitness level, same interests and we were able to share a lot of jokes along the way… & other then interests we also share same b’date :)
Praveen:
Working in IBM… again is a nice guy but didn’t talk to him much… so cant write more here.
Shankar: The first timer
Well this guy always had a problem with his bag… “My bag is too heavy yaar”… working in IBM he was trekking for the first time… but a nice guy to be with…
Murli: Enthu Punter
He was the most enthu punter in whole trek… always was first one to climb up or come down… or call people to come fast when we were waiting at jain temple… or crossing roads as he said.. I’m still a baccha doing that :)
Shalini: The shy girl
She didn’t talk much… unlike girls :P… she had interests in photography was looking for more arbit things to click on. She is working in some FCI/FIC I again forgot the exact name.
Anita: Professional Trekker
Working in I-flex she is more of adventurous kind… loves trekking and this you can understand as she did a trek last weekend and had plans for the coming one :)
Bharti: Business girl
Studying in 3rd yr Engg.. she has no plans to take any job or go for higher studies. At an age of 19 she owned some real estate website fully functional and working & left that for reason I don’t know but again planning for something big I think :)… she was quite impressed by jaipur.. its culture and hosts she had there. very talkative and enthusiastic person I must say.
Vijay: The guide
At first I thought what kind of guide is he… he is just telling nothing.. onlyguiding us the way.. is that a guide.. but I was completely wrong… It was impossible to see many things specially that waterfall without him… also the ay he helped us carrying bags, helping to get down climb up… it was really great on his part. Just In sleepers he wasn’t afraid of leeches.. I was not able to talk to him but donno why.. this local guy impressed me a lot.
Tattva: The angrez @ ISKON
Working there for 10 years he was quite happy to see us at ISKON. He had a son who did btech from IITB, was working there on some organic plantation. I thing impressed by Indian culture or ISKON he changed his name… but was a nice person to talk to :)
Manju: The driver
He knew hindi which I cam to know only when we took a halt at kullur. He had lot of enthu to know about me as in where I’m living.. since how long I was thee in blore etc etc.. I didn’t ask him much.. but it was nice talking to him.
& Ofcourse Last but not the least
ME(viSh).... The odd man out.. :)
posted by viSh at
1:29 AM
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