Brahama Giri - One more Fun Filled Trek

Trip Outline:-

It was my 1st trek with the BTC and quite an awesome one indeed. We had decided to conquer the Brahama Giri hill which is next to the Nandi Hill. The day started very early as we were to meet at Majestic at 6am. On reaching Majestic I met Virander, Santosh and Geo who were there waiting for the others. Finally we left Majestic at 6:30am when the others- Sukruth, Ashutosh, Karthik & Deepak joined us and we reached there at the base by 8am. Muthu joined us somewhere in between and Harish met us directly at Karahalli (the base). 

There we filled our stomachs with idli & vadas and prepared ourselves for the challenge. Here we were joined by Anand & his family who were also trekking with BTC for the first time.

We began our trek at around 8:30 and it started with a quick round of introductions and Virander explaining to us the rules of the trek. Virander took the lead and Santosh took the responsibility of sweeping .The initial phase of the climb wasn't very difficult as the incline was not very steep. Yet we never missed any opportunity to catch some rest and take photography breaks. As we started climbing more and more the view became more and more breath-taking. As we reached midway very strong winds started blowing through the Eucalyptus forest. We were quite lucky as the weather was awesome that day as the temperature was very cool & it was complemented by a strong breeze. We found lots of interesting things on the way starting from magnificent rocks, odd looking insect shells & extraordinarily colourful flowers.

Suddenly we were face to face with another adventure. This time we found a jeep which was carrying hay, stuck in the middle of the road. The local women & the driver were trying their best but the vehicle wont bulge. For adventure enthusiasts like us it was another golden opportunity which everyone grabbed with unseen enthusiasm. After a few minutes of toil as the jeep was back on the road & everyone celebrated, BTC proved its spirit and service towards fellow people once more. We all proved that when the effort of everyone gets together great things can be achieved.

After taking some rest we again started our ascent and soon reached a temple quite near the top. It was quite surprising to see a well maintained temple an area which is quite far from habitation. After clicking some pics there we were again back on the trail which had dense bushes on the sides which offered us some more challenge. The sounds of crickets & birds entertained along with some magnificently colorful flowers here & there to let us practice our photography skills. 

After a few minutes we were there at the top and a breadth taking view greeted us there. The view from the top was awesome and it would surely give anybody the feeling that one has conquered the world. For some time we enjoyed the stunning view and the serene weather at the top & then got into doing what we do the best- taking pictures to post on Facebook to show everyone our accomplishments for the day. Occasionally a chameleon would sometimes peek out of a rock here & there to give the photographers in the group a chance to try out some wildlife photography :) The view of the road below from where we had come, the surrounding mountains and the blurry view of the airport far away made almost all of us not want to leave the place for as long as possible. The strong breeze offered us natural air-conditioning and the sun was also quite benevolent on us that day.

After spending around an hour on the top we decided to begin our descent. We all started together but me, Geo & Santosh started trailing from the rest of the group because of our interests in photography. After reaching midway we realized that we had got separated from the group and the other members are nowhere in sight. Thanks to mobile technology, Santosh's whistle and Geo's bird-call imitating skills we soon got together with the rest of the group. This trek could be classified as moderately challenging and one needs to be very careful of places where the soil is slippery & rocks that are loosely lying. Our descent was however a lot quicker than the ascent as we reached the base in around an hour. Even Harish & Muthu were at top speed which I am sure was because of the strategic breaks they took on the ascend whenever they got an opportunity :) After reaching the base Anand and his family bid us goodbye while we attacked on cold drinks at a nearby hotel to satisfy our parched throats. Anand's son Deepak Jr. was definitely one of the most energetic person in the group & we wished Anand and his family joined us for future treks as well. 

While our lunch of fried rice was ready Virander explained to us the plan of the coming months. Finally lunch arrived and we jumped on it like we had not eaten anything for days. We were just about to finish our lunch when the KSRTC bus that goes directly to Bangalore arrived and I & Geo somehow finished the last bits while the others stopped the bus for us. The bus was totally crowded but we somehow managed to get in. We were quite content with the experiences of that day. The only bad thing that happened was when Deepak Sr. got a small cut in his hand while helping the jeep out of the ditch, but I am sure he must have forgotten all that pain after all the matrimonial type pics that Karthik took of his at the top. Being a non-profit organization the expenditure was distributed among all of us which stood at a mere Rs.220 only including everything.

It was a long and eventful for me starting at 4:30am and was totally exhausted by the end of the day. Though such a wonderful day got over so soon its memories were engraved for 

a long time to come.

Written By: Kaushik Chakraborty

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So this time we headed to Brahama Giri, it is a hill adjacent to Nandi hills near a place called Nandigrama. 13 BTC Member came for this trek. However, we didn't meet at the same place. 8 of us came to Majestic bus stop, one of us gets in near Hebbal and other 4 joined us directly at Brahama Giri.

As per plan we should start at but due to few of our fellow friends stuck and were late so we decided to start at. However still 2 of them didn't made it on time as they were having some issues with their bikes to they decided not to join us this time. Finally we headed to Brahamagiri we took bus from Shantala Silk and it just took at hours to reach to the Nandi cross, from there we took auto and finally we reached to the destination by. Anand’s family was on time and by the time we reached they already had their breakfast.  Our most lovable trekker aka Harish was on his way so we decided to have breakfast by the time he comes. After having breakfast we decided to take a quick start as we were running late.

Finally, we started, it was by then, and just before we could start we decided to have an introduction session. It took just 10 minutes to know each other. Deepak, 13 years, was one of the youngest guys came on our trek. We were on our way to the summit, almost did 20%, suddenly we saw few people calling for help as their truck was stuck. Well, we, BTCians, did our best to help them and they were extremely happy. After a kind help, we started back towards our goal, the Summit. It was when we reached to the summit. We spend health time, almost 1 and half hours. At around we started back, I mean we started descending. It just took 1 hour for us to reach down by taking couple of breaks. I must say Deepak and Bhavana have lots of stamina they not only climbed to the peak but also came back with ease. Finally we came down and had our Lunch. At we took the bus back to Bangalore. That’s how our event went.

Written By    : Virander Sirohi

Organized By : Virander Sirohi

Date of event: 19th May-2013

Place            : Nandi village, Chikballapur

Pictures        : BTC Web Page