A memorable trek of awesome proportions... that will remain
unfaded in our memories for a longgg longgg time to come!
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| Our trek team! |
After we had narrowed down on our prospective trekkers,
with only one prime condition – please assure yourself that you are medically
fit for the arduous yet adventurous trek! – eighteen prospective trekkers had finalized
their readiness to get into ‘trek-mode’, - and that includes one Research
scholar from VIT- Vellore, two ladies - PhD research scholars from University
of Madras, six MCCians, and four trek-enthusiasts each from Anna Nagar and
Mogappair respectively, and last but not the least, this blogger – who is also
the Asst Coordinator of the trekking expedition.
Ms. Deepa, the Coordinator of the trek, is a dynamic
entrepreneur too! She has her own online Apparel Management Company and is an
established multitasker of sorts! Her little daughter Phia was the cynosure of
all eyes, and she instantly got into the best of vibes with me - her rufus
uncle! (Well, by the time the trek was over, she called me over to her and
said, you are my best uncle ever! Ha ha.. that’s a lovely compliment at that!)
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| this is waterfall-pool One! |
Even as we started off exactly at six in the morning,
and went around picking our trekkers at their allotted destinations, we could
see – to our consternation - high above us, thick dark rain clouds hovering all
over us, threatening to burst at the seams at any given point of time!
We were getting really worried!
All the more because, a trek with rain coats and
umbrellas would be the last thing a trekker hopes for!
Even as we were crossing Pichatur town and entered Arai
village, that borders the wonderful lush-green trekking mount, the sky was
still overcast!
And to our sweet surprise, throughout the day it
remained so, which made our trek all the more memorable!
The trek trail, winding through beautiful cascading
waterfalls, sylvan and pristine jungles, crystal-clear streams etc etc etc… was
literally an ‘unearthy sight’ for mortals like us to behold! At first sight, it
looked like we had entered some mythical world of yore – with no pathways in
sight – and yes! Your google maps or GPS navigation et al have no use whatsoever,
here! No tower signals from base camp even! So literally you are cut off from the
rest of the madding crowd before you embark on your once-in-a-life-time
adventure of sorts!
Smooth, glistening, slimy, rounded pebbles of all hues
n shades even at a depth of ten to fifteen feet within the pools, was clearly visible
to the naked eyes in the crystal clear streams that flowed throughout the trek
pathway!
Pool One, that came after an arduous yet adventurous
trek, was for two youngsters to freak out - one was phiya n the other was rufus! And
so did the others!
Since phia was an adept swimmer, she joined me in the
deep waters – sometimes as deep as forty feet – and phia was literally freaking
out amongst the watery cum slippery rocks that carried the waters down with
such beautiful intensity n awe..!
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| the initial phase of our trek |
After a wonderful time freaking out thus at pool one,
we started our upward trek towards Pool Two, which was, as we were warned
earlier too, the riskier of the two!
One wrong step n you are with St. Peter n his adorable
angels!!!
"I'm really scared of mom", Phiya says, after
she crossed this phenomenal yet deadly rock, and adds, "hope she makes
it"!
Trueeee.... that was indeed a deadly climb that
catapulted us to the next arduous trek..!
Pool two was also a treat to the eyes... we all swam to
our heart's merriment.
After crossing a dangerous depth and successfully
holding on to a huge root of a tree that jutted out into the waterfall pool, Phiya’s
dad saw spiders lined up on a huge tree branch that dropped near the waters down
in the falls - and did an 'about turn' rightaway n so did this blogger!
Pool Three, which was yet another one-hour’s trek up
above in a still steeper climb was the ‘daredevil type’… Oh! What an awesome
solemnity it had up above on that steep climb to gaze and gaze at the wonders
of nature hidden far far away in the lap of mother nature – the various
ornithological specimens that you haven’t even heard of, the wonderful
myriad-coloured butterflies, wild berries of different shades and sizes… and
the list goes on…
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| oh yes! Camp cooking too! |
Now for the awards...
Trekker of the day -
phiya
Swimmer of the day - phiya
Food of the day - red potatoes n lemon rice
Insects of the day - butterflies of multiple hues tat
sat on us, surrounded us n went all over us...
Slide of the day - pool one slide by phiya
“Mom, these are curious
stones.. they don’t find a place in my Encyclopedia on Rocks. I think I need to
keep them safe. These are pretty awesome,” says Phiya, with a bright-eyed
curiosity all over her eyes! I could immediately spot the ‘gene-connect’ and
said, “Phiya, do you know that your grandpa is a famous geologist?”
“Yes, I do!”.
“No wonder you’ve got a
penchant for beautiful little mineraloid fragments!”
“Oh yeah!” Phiya
replied, and went on with single-minded devotion to her mineraloid collection.
I followed her on her
mineral trail, and said, “Phiya, lemme take a snap of these precious little
mineraloid fragments that you’ve got! Could be the rarest of rare stones that
humans would’ve ever spotted!”
“Oh sure, rufus uncle!”
And here goes the snap
for you, from a little geologist in the offing!
By the way, just have a
look at her dad’s hand-gesture towards Phiya!
Well, the trekker in her
came out like a giant fairy, and here she was, on top of the rocks where even
her annans and akkas were seen clinging on to huge buoyant ‘life-support’
lifebuoys!!!
But but but….. a cursory
cardiac MRI to evaluate the lub tub n the heart’s anatomy of her dad, would
have shown the fastest lub tubs of all time – with butterflies running up and
down, in the sideways and the bye-ways all over his stomach!
Yes! He was more than
scared to see Phiya doing ‘rock acrobatics’ and with astonishing timing! Well, just have a look at her dad’s hand-gestures towards Phiya!
No amount of shouts and
gestures could make her
say a farewell to her swimming session.
Finally I signaled them
all to pretend as if they’re packing up and as if they’ve started moving
Then I waded deep inside,
crossed the abyssy deepest part of the pool, reached out to her (cos no amount
of shouting could outsmart the high-intensity decibels of more than 40,000Hz
from the flowing waterfalls!!!) and shouted out to her in as much as i could yell out -
Phiya, we’re all going…
we’ve got to move on, ain’t we?!!!
No, we aren’ttttttttt!!!!!!
“But look thereeeee!
Everyone has started out on their next leg of the trekkkkkk!”
Rufus uncle,
pleaseeeeee! Could I have just one more last slide down the rocks! Pleaseee!
But phiya, you’ve got a
better pool with far wider and better rocks and a bigger waterfall on the second
part of our trek!”
But pleaseeee!!!! She
continued on her irresistible lures!
“No please! We’ve still
got a long way to go, kid”
Okay, then!!!
Ohhhh! Well, this is how
we made her come off the water, and how!!!
To be contd…
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| the first steps on the trek trail... |
By the by, yes, our next
trek is, as usual, on the last Saturday of this month - 27 August 2016. This
time it’s on an equally exciting trek of sorts! If you’re interested, if you’re
above 23 years of age, if you’ve got no medical condition that might be an
obstacle for a steep yet memorable trek through crystal clear streams, brooks,
and if you’ve got that indomitable 'ulyssian spirit of sorts', to walk and walk,
climb and climb, jump and jump, swim and swim - through trails that are even difficult to spot, if you've got an 'observant eye' for the wild - to
get through to a beautiful cascading waterfalls, some 90 kms off Chennai, then
enroll yourself rightaway!
You’ve got to pack your
own food! Other overall costs would come up to just around Rs.200 to Rs.300/- for
your incidentals, as transportation is provided by our trekkers’ collective,
free of cost for all ye selected trekkers! You may also prefer to come by your
own vehicle (preferably four-wheelers!)
Till then, keep up the
spirit!
PS: All clicks in this post by this blogger :-)
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