WOW trek to Makalidurga - 17th July 2016

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Platform 1.. Platform 2.. No, its printed “Platform 1A” on the ticket. Where is it? Should we barge into the station wall, just like what we saw in the Harry Potter movies? Some one points out to a railway track in the distant as ‘Platform 1A’. Shit!! just 2 mins left!! The group of 27 wowies and a kiddo hopped on the railway track, ran amidst the obstacles and stink and got into the train just in time. Luckily the train was empty and we had chance to be seated together in a single compartment. The ice breaking had to be done, and we had a round of introduction by all the participants. But that was not enough to kill our time, we started with antakshari - “Hum tum ek kamre me band ho.. aur chabi kho jaye..” - tweaking a bit “aur chaabi chori ho jaye”. We had yet another romantic song sung by one of the wowbies “Jab koi bath bigad jaye..”, and I could feel the married wowbies already missing someone special!!  and this propped up some interesting tug-of-war discussion : Sad Romantic vs Wild Romantic. Umm… what a way to start the wonderful trek with some spiciness like this!! We then played memory game and by now everyone had roted all the member names. And.. finally reached the destination with some delay in time… Makalidurga!! 

                                   

In the distant we could see the hill which we were supposed to trek. Makalidurga is a hill fort situated near the village of the same name. It is 60 km north of Bangalore and 10 km after Doddabalapura on the way to Gauribidanur. The fort at the summit has an old temple of Shiva with Nandi and in legend Markandeya Rishi performed penance here. Makalidurga Fort stands at the top of a huge granite hillock, huddled up amidst the chains of hills, formed like a valley close to Ghati Subramanya, a well-known pilgrimage center. It has a fort on top, at the height of 1,117mts. (Source : Wikipedia)

Our organiser Laxmi and few others went to pack some food for all of us, while the rest proceeded to walk over the railway track to reach the base of the hill. It was fun - childhood memories recalled and endless number of selfies and photo clicks. Just then the sun started playing hide and seek, forcing us to search for some shade where we could all fit in. Hunger pangs were on the rise, just then Laxmi appeared like a savior and everyone was eager to have breakfast - probably brunch I would call it!! Ghee rice, Upma and Pongal were the options we had, and it tasted good. Since we were already late, winded up in hurry to start off the trek. Many outsiders and families had come for the trek, making it little busy way, passing by us to and fro.

                                                 

Okay, it was 11:30A.M!! Finally started with the ascend. The hill seemed still and clean, bathed in previous night’s showers and the blend of boulders and the lush green grasses made us experience serenity. Every level as we ascended made us feel more refreshed. The sight of few old aged people trekking, filled us with more energy and enthusiasm. Occasionally, had a small chit-chat with the fellow trekkers. There was point in the mid-way, where it was little sloppy and slippery as the surface was wet, where in others helped few of us who were finding it difficult to trek. We took breaks when needed, and enjoyed the lake view behind. The lush green scenery and the occasional cool breeze, made me feel closer to the experience I had felt while in ooty or kodaikanal. And yes.. we reached the top!! The view of the green laden hills and landscape, can't be described in the boundary of words. The team of wowbies was all again with their selfies and selfie sticks, trying their best to get a good one with all the best poses they could remember.

Just then in the distant we were able to see a ruined fort like platform, and it just looked exactly like the beautiful locations which we see in movies. We headed towards it with a little more push, and then we were there!! We just threw our bags aside and embraced the cool breeze. Few of us started posing in James Bond style and then wowbies started pouring in to get in a click and then it was a messy pose, however managed to get a group pic. By now, our bottles were empty and went in search of water source. Glad that few localites got inside the well, and got us some fresh water.

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We rested under a tree shade for some time. Few of us unpacked the left over breakfast and some snacks which they had bought, while few tried to get a small nap. To pep up the mood, we had some interesting stories to listen from few of our group members while the singles got some gyan from the experienced ones. It seemed to drizzle a bit, and since we were already behind the scheduled time, we hurried up in haste and started to descend. The descend was quite easy, except for the stony path and few jumps we had to make. Few of the wowbies even got a stock of the lemongrass (grown plenty in number there) to have a  healthy drink at home. We missed our path a little but managed to get on track - All thanks to Google maps!! We decided to take up the bus instead of train, as there was no certainty, probably the good decision we made.

We got a bus to Bangalore immediately as soon as we hit the state highway and boarded the same. We were scattered hither tither and engaged ourselves in chitchatting to kill the boredom and forget our leg pains. On the way, Laxmi got us some jackfruit which gave us an instant energy to remain in poise till we head back to our homes. It was around 2 hours travel and finally the time had come to say goodbye with a hope to see this wonderful gang again. 

Thanks to Laxmi for organising such a wonderful trek and all the members (Ashwini, Pooja, Bharti, Shubhashree, Sarita, Harshita, Kavyashree, Roopa, Bhagyalakshmi, Veena, Namrata, Gayathri, Baswati, Shweta, Swathi, Merlin, Sepukashree, Veena Devi, Sukanya, Samiksha, Pretty, Nadhiya, Deepali, Sai Prasanna and little Vaishnavi - brilliant!! I still remember all of the names!! ) who participated and joining hands to make it a memorable one. 

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Written By     : Tejaswini

Organized By : Raja lakshmi

Date of event : 17th July, 2016

Place            : Makalidurga

Picture:https://www.facebook.com/BangaloreTrekkingClub/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1128740007201519