A trekker for once…

Sid, is one of the unique personalities I have met so far, an unexplainable phenomenon, a simple yet complex down-to-earth person and a good friend. He is probably the only competitor I have had over these years in being ‘lean’ and mean and just being inches shorter than me. Routine work and an occasional visit to his native is all his life about.

On a trek I had planned, I invited him to join and having no inclination, he refused to undertake such strenuous activity and after being constantly pursued, he agreed reluctantly. As the days got closer, the excitement of this challenges and relishing it no end for once kept him occupied.

Well, he almost missed the entire plan by missing the bus and luckily hopped on in the middle to be received gleefully by us, a firm decision that would change him and challenge him over the next couple of days. With the initial stuffing’s and preparations, we started off slowly on the almost level gradient path and within walking a little distance, I turned around hearing a thud and he was on the ground, a slip and a fall.

(a trekker for once...)

Getting him up, we moved ahead and he was always in between some of us, not to lose sight of him and lest he has a fall again and as I was thinking of the same, he dropped once more now slipping on a stone with another thud. Offloading some of the weight from his back, we moved ahead in conquest of the peak we had set our sights on. The breakfast had fast disappeared and with the sun rising up, the hungry demons in our stomach had started squealing no end.

After the break, we pursued further and now the gradient became a little more steep and we were trekking right out in the open under the mercy of the sun god and it was an all out effort to keep ourselves cool and balanced carrying all the weight along. We passed this and entered a forest patch and then out into an open green meadow, Sid started to hop and jog in a way to get ahead of us and yet again landed on his back with a thud. Now, instead of the moans, he started laughing and everyone joined in (well, we were holding it back for a long time now) and the teasing started and in the process he was challenged to be stable and not fall for the rest of the trek.

Being a confident fellow, he instantly hit upon it and accepted the challenge and got lost in thoughts of the alive is awesome moments once he would have defeated us and the thought of a further fall free trek kept us going.

(a sunset view of a lifetime...)

We reached the top without any more falls as Sid was relishing the challenge and had been more careful stepping in the right places and avoiding slippery stones and carefully moving ahead balancing himself well. Tired bodies and with a little rest, we moved to a nearby hilltop for an amazing sunset view, probably one of the best so far.

Time flew as we spent our time amongst the clouds and clean, fresh air and soon we had to head back the way we came. Now betting had started on Sid’s challenge and he was to gain a lot of praises / favors if he would win the challenge, he surely was now relishing the challenge more and all the more determined.

(trekking in the mist...)

Trekking down a hill is faster but more painful as your legs have to have more balance and lot of pressure is exerted on them. It’s always advised to trek downhill in a cross manner as that helps you balance better and good shoes/sandals that do not slide also help. 3/4th of the way, Sid was just perfect and looked all set in winning the accolades, way to go.
After a small break as we resumed on a fairly even path, over a heated conversation, I cursed him to fall and in the next 10 steps, he slid and fell with a thud again and this time all of us almost fell down laughing and rolling. He had braved all the slopes and slides but had this fall on a flat surface when anybody least expected. Cursing me back, he too joined the laughter and it became so loud that our stomachs started to ache no end. Gosh, that was some wonderful moments in those days!

 (a long walk back...)

From there till the end, he had two more falls and with each fall, the laughter’s became louder and the fun part was that it was from everybody including him. All of us had relished the challenge and enjoyed it to the hilt and he almost soaked in his glorified alive is awesome moments, just missing it by a whisker.

Nevertheless, keeping aside the challenges, we all soaked in our successful completion of the trek, conquering one of the mighty beautiful peaks in the Western Ghats infused with a lot of determination, pride, laughter and team bonding. We surely relished all of this and were soaking in our own alive is awesome moments.

More frames from Ganeshgudi

Well, you have witnessed plenty of posts on Ganeshgudi (The Old Magazine House camp of Jungle Lodges and Resorts near Dandeli) here and continuing them adding more frames from my last visit in November 2012. I and Krishna drove down while Amit, his wife and friend reached there from Karwar.

Rain played spoilsport, but still we had a pretty good time at the camp and witness to some amazing moments giving an insight into the world of avians.

Earlier posts on Ganeshgudi here...

Enjoy the frames and will be waiting to hear from you :)

(the flagship species of Dandeli)

(A shot in the near darkness, no flash used and I don't advocate using them on birds too...)

(One of the smallest woodpeckers in India, a prized catch...)

(Supersonic flyers... very pretty Doves)

Drive-o-phobia

Guru, in his late twenties, small and stout, non-stop talkative person is one of the core members of my team, inseparable from the group. It’s all lively and active when he’s around and no dearth for jokes and humor. A person who believes in today and lives for today.

He knew driving and had mastered it recently just after I had done the same. For me driving was just like a fish taking to the waters, picking up the skills instantaneously. He was through the basics and was at peace driving in the city to an extent.

As a team member, we have always seen him being confident and with loads of ‘let’s do it attitude’ whatever be the situation or the challenge, as a team we have relished many challenges together as they have come.

With my driving skills now fit for the highway, we embarked on a long road journey through the nook and corner of the state, day and night, traveling through the wonderful countryside, braving the rains and cold and soaking in the clean pure air and the majestic sights that we were to witness.

As Guru knew driving, he was keen to help me out with the part and there lay our and his biggest challenge in accomplishing that as we soon realized. Behind the steering wheel, his confident voice started to jarrr, sweat brows visible on the always ‘cool as a cucumber’ face, the never stopping talkative throat became dry, slight shiver in the hands, agile reflexes getting mixed up, we soon realized this was some ‘block’ or rather ‘a fear’ enveloping him while driving on the highway.

We were a little taken aback by this, but recovering soon, we knew he had all the abilities to do it, probably just needed to come out of his shell, throw the fears away and be confident. This was a challenge for him to prove himself and a challenge for us to help our friend accomplish it and we were very sure it could be done and all of us together could soak in the alive is awesome moments.

(misty dawn break well before the ghats)

We stopped instantaneously, offered him water, spoke to him distracting from the topic, tried infusing him with confidence, egged him on and resumed our journey when he was ready. The terrain had now turned into ghats (hair pin bends and zig-zags) and the roads filled with good number of potholes, the challenge ahead of us had doubled!

He showed no signs of giving up and we made our progress slowly and steadily negotiating the potholes and the heavy truck traffic on the road. He was tense and so were we when we approached the passing trucks closer than expected but our man held his nerve and there were shouts of oohs! aahs! from the backseat, we were relishing the challenge.

Always egging him on and giving him tips to stay calm and guiding him in averting the traffic/potholes and constantly encouraging him, we were making him feel comfortable and relaxed and he was responding well trying to outdo his fears and drive confidently.

Slowly but steadily, he showed signs of coming back to his self, appearing much more relaxed than ever and the last stretch of ghats were covered in a jiffy. Soon, we stopped after the ghats were conquered and instantly he let out a wild scream, and with exchange of hi-fi, we knew his fears were now out and he would be much more confident driving in the future. A challenge for him, a challenge for us, both ending successful relishing the stiff challenge no end and soaking ourselves in the alive is awesome moments of glory and success.

(waterfalls break on the way...)

Note: Drive safe, be safe!
Speed thrills but kills!

You can challenge Virat too... here!