ಅನುಭವ! ;)

After a long time, I'm back with a post ! ಏನಾದ್ರೂ ಬರೀಬೇಕು ಅಂತ ಅನ್ಸ್ತಾ ಇತ್ತು! So Here i am !

Western Ghats: My tryst with it never ends! Beautiful landscapes, Ever growing Vegetation, Never ending Quest of the Jungle canopies to reach newer heights, Myriad shades of the GREEN, abandoned pathways, Fallen leaves, birds intruding blissful silence with their melodious chirps, mountain streams rushing through the hearts of the jungles, Fear of getting Lost, Fear of facing animals and the list goes on and on… Well. This is all in summer! And in the monsoons, it s a different world.

This post is a summary of the wild experiences I have had in the past few months.

• Climbing down the 20 ft wall : ಸರಿ ಸುಮಾರು 8 ಘಂಟೆ ರಾತ್ರಿ! We were making our own way through the thick jungles surrounding the famous "Green route" . Started from Kaghinaare, our aim was to find a way to the railway track. After walking for almost 10 hours through the thick forests ,grasslands, streams , we found our way to the track. There was a big cliff seperating us from the track.

We decided not to go back and find another easy way to reach the track as it was very dark ,and very easy to get lost in the forest. After one round of investigation, it was decided that we can actually get down with the help of the stones. We had no ropes with us. It was scary! After 3-4 ppl went down successfully, My turn came . I started with full confidence. But when i was in the middle, and had very less support to stick on to the wall, my legs started shaking like never before. It was not easy to jump from that height. Somehow I managed to come another 6 feet down. 7 or 8 more feet to go and I decided i will glide down the walls instead of jumping ! I made it successfully! Huh! Huge relief!

• Surprise surprise : This is the next part of Experience#1 ;) After reaching the railway track , we started walking along the track towards edakumari! We had to cover around 8 kms to reach the station where we could camp. The train from Mangalore to Bangalore passes through the place at around 11 pm. We decided to stay and wait for the train to pass, as crossing long bridges in the darkness-with train coming towards you is one hell of a situation! We were sitting next to the track on ground and the train arrived!All the tired souls were sitting silently. Lights coming through the open windows of the train was the only source of light! I can never ever forget the expression of the faces of two guys sitting near the door, when they saw us next to track! They were completely shocked! I try to imagine the thoughts that went through their minds! It feels good :)

• The KempuhoLe adventures: This deadly experience is, once again from the same trip- continuation of Experience#2. After 2 days of super awesome adventures, We finally saw the Subramanya-Sakleshpur Highway! But one final Obstacle ro reach the destination! KempuhoLe! She was ferocious and was eager to take everything on her way with it . Rocks were slippery .It wasn’t deep though. After initial round of investigation, we thought it was impossible to cross the river. We had few choices : #1. Find relatively easier path and cross the river. #2. Go till the dam built across the the river and find a way to cross it. #3. Go all the way back to Edakumari and Walk to Donigal.We failed to execute option1 and started walking towards dam built across the river . But we couldn’t find it. Option 3 was not feasible as walking in the elephant zone under the woods in the night is highly risky! Result: We came back to the same spot again and had to cross the river ! It was a great teamwork with which we crossed the river. We all had our hearts in our mouth! ;) An experience to cherish! :)

• The first Rains! : Camping at the base of a WaterFall was something which i wanted to experience.ಕಗ್ಗತ್ತಲ ಕಾಡಿನಲ್ಲಿ, ನಕ್ಷತ್ರಗಳನ್ನು ಎಣಿಸುತ್ತಾ, ಜಲಪಾತದ ಝೇ೦ಕರಿಸುವ ನಾದದ ಜೊತೆ ನಿದ್ರಾಲೋಕದಲ್ಲಿ ವಿಹರಿಸುವ ಕನಸು! KanniKai waterfalls was a super place to do that! With all those things, we had an extra privilige! ವರ್ಷದ ಮೊದಲ ಮಳೆ, ಮಿಂಚು ಗುಡುಗಿನ ಮೇಳದ ಜೊತೆ ಬಾಯಾರಿದ ಭೂಮಿಗೆ ನೀರುಣಿಸಲು , ಭರ ಭರನೇ ಸುರಿಯತೊಡಗಿತು! How awesome it is to listen to the songs of rains , smell the mud and see nothing but darkness! And when the songs of rains stopped, Kannikai began to sing.....

• The long Jump : It was a beautiful morning in Bandipur National Park. We had started cycling from Bandipur to Ooty! I was peddling to the tunes of some slow track! After a small uphill, we had started going downhill when we witnessed the pure awesomeness! It's very common to see Deer's all along the way. But We saw a deer jumping across the road! It was a very long jump and with a single jump, it had crossed the road! It happened within 2 secs . ಚಿಮ್ಮುತ ಓಡುವ ಜಿಂಕೆಗಳನ್ನು ನೋಡಲು ನಿಜಕ್ಕೂ ಖುಷಿ ಆಯ್ತು! we were fortunate to witness that! It was super awesome and made a great start to the beautiful day..

• The Lone Tusker!! It was a great downhill ride from Ooty to Mudhumali via Gudalur. We had covered 68 kms to reach the mudumalai national park . Because of the long ride, the group was seperated. It was mid afternoon as I entered Mudhumali. Summer heat was on and the downhill ride was over! It was almost flat land ,with some uphills here and there. I was pushing myself.Reaching Bandipur was the only thing that was in my mind! While I guide the cycle along the turn, I saw someone staring at me! There was a lone tusker standing tall on the other side of the road! He was a young guy,with hot blood ;) When he saw me, He honked at me and came 2 steps forward! I was alone and SCARED! What if He had plans of crossing the roads and coming further towards me?! I had only one option! Cycle as fast as I can and get far away from the dude. With all my energy, I cycled and went ahead , looking backwards continously. But He had no plans of coming towards me! Huh! I was relieved only when i reached Bandipur! ಭಯಾನಕ ಅನುಭವ!

ಸದ್ಯಕ್ಕೆ ಇಷ್ಟೇ! Hopefully I will come up with another post soon!
Till then, Have a great time! bye bye ;)