Another weekend, Another BTC Trek: Ramdevra Betta
The alarm rang at 5:15, it was Independence Day & I got up and got ready for the special trek. The reporting time was 6:45. I was already excited when I caught a metro to Majestic where everyone was supposed to meet. My thoughts were wandering places, to the last trek and how good it was, to the present one and what all we could expect. The more I thought, the more excited I became. I knew it would be fun for sure. Finally, I reached Majestic & met Ankit, who immediately sent me to have breakfast. By the time I came back the tickets had been bought and all the people had come. The gang moved to platform 10.
Train
Ride: Our train had already arrived at the platform & we got inside one of
the compartments. I got into a conversation with Bala aunty (what a wonderful
woman she is!). The train started at 7:45. After Veera and Srikant joined us
with the rest of the members from Yeshwantpur, we started with a short
introduction session and wished each other a Happy Independance Day. Post the intro, Punitha opened a tiffin that got over in
seconds. The rest of the time was spent posing for photographs. Quite a fun
train ride. We reached our destination around 9:30.
The
start: Once the rules were re-iterated, we started the trek with Veera leading
us. I got into a conversation with Ankit then.
Ankit: “Tujhe hua kya, last week bhi
trek and iss week bhi (considering I had just come back from Kodachadri the
previous night).”
Me: “Haan! BTC spoilt me I guess.”
As
we walked along, it started drizzling but stopped after a while. The climb
wasn’t difficult except for a few places. Bala aunty kept motivating and
pushing us to keep going. Since I was wearing a blue T-shirt, my name changed
from Meghal to “blue t-shirt”..!! Whenever I would stop, someone from behind
would shout out loud, “Hey blue t-shirt, walk!” or “Blue t-shirt, kya hua? You
fine?” Somewhere in between we stopped where Smriti mesmerized us with her
amazing voice. This and a lot more things kept us going till we reached the
peak.
The
peak has a small pond filled with lotuses flanked by a fortified structure on
each side. We stopped at one side and started taking a lot of photographs. While
others were still getting their matrimonial profile / DPs clicked, I sat at a
peaceful place enjoying the view and the wind. The feeling was so wonderful that
it’s difficult to put in words.
Once
done with lunch we took some rest for about 15 minutes after which we were to
go and explore the place. Just before moving out again, we started singing
songs to hike up the tempo of the team. After a couple of patriotic songs that were apt for the occasion with the tri-colour fluttering in the wind, we moved towards the other part of
the peak singing “baar baar haan, bolo yaar haan” from Lagaan.
We started
climbing and crawling in between thorns and low bushes and more thorns. With
the destination (the peak of a huge rock) in mind, All of us went in different
directions. A few of us went in the wrong direction and returned with a lot of
thorn pricks..!! But the experience was worth it. At least we all had some
memory to take back with us, i.e. the cuts made by thorns. I still have it from
the last trek. We
finally found a safer, less prickly path to the top and let out a sigh of relief
once we made it.
The team played a few rounds of dumb charade and then began
descending down. Most of participants took the “tree way”, While I took the
other way and came down almost sliding in between the rocks. Then we began the
descent to the base. Owing to the blazing afternoon sun, most people were
pretty fast and were led by Srikanth this time. Though I wanted to go a bit
slow and accompanied the slower ones, who were taken care of by Bala Aunty,
Veera & Ankit. Whenever I would slip there was someone or the other to help
me out, to teach me a few techniques about trekking in between. We had the most
awesome company with us.
Those
who had reached before us were all monkeying around on a huge banyan tree. The
sight of so many people dangling on the branches of a tree, that’s something
you don’t see in our busy city life..!! Once all had reached the spot and taken
some rest, the monkeys had to give up the race to the top and we started
towards the railway station.
On
the way, we stopped for sugarcane juice. Oh! What a relief it was to have that
after the trek. Totally refreshing. We went to the train station and realized that
the next train would arrive at 6:30 which left us with 1.5 hours to kill. For
half an hour we had a feedback session and then we were passing time here and
there. Srikanth & Ankit got pakoda for us and it finished in a jiffy. It
didn’t even last a few minutes. Around 150 pakoda just vanished in thin air..!!
By the time we finished all that, and paid the organizers for the trek (Rs.
60/-, most of us spent more than that to reach majestic that morning...!), it
was time for the train. Though the train was packed, we somehow got inside and
the fun continued.
We
reached Majestic around 8:20 and parted ways promising each other that we would
definitely meet again very soon. The
trek was indeed wonderful with the best group ever. With a smile on my face,
fully satisfied with myself, I came back hoping to join more such treks soon.
Written By : Meghal Khatri
Photo Credits : Ashish, Naveen, Saroj, Satish, Saurab, Shrinivas
Place : Tumakuru
Members : 32
Members : 32
Pictures : BTC FB Page
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