Trek to ramadevara betta

This is not exactly a travelogue….i have written what all happened to me…in me during the course! ☺

Trek on: 25-sep-2015

Distance: around 8 kms

Duration: 1 day

Cost: 120 Rs (including food)

Just as the white summer cloud,in harmony with heaven and earth freely floats in blue sky from horizon following the breadth of armosphere-in the same way pilgrim abandons himself to the breadth of greater life that leads him beyond the farthest horizons,toan aim that is already present within himself ,though yet hidden from his sight!

---lama govinda , way of white clouds

As soon as i said about the trek….You are no longer a kid. Now you may do as u please,she said!i know mom was frustrated!the whole idea of me going alone to some unknown place with new people triggered her I guess! Mom had all her reasons for her worries.

Never the less ,she agreed and said! Yes! (that’s what I was waiting for..may be for almost 2 days..for a nod☺)

So all this happened after I got shortlisted! Yeah ..u heard that right. I registered ,got shortlisted then said her about it!

And convincing dad has always been a piece of pie to me! Daddy’s girl u see! :P

So thn..i got a mail about iterinary! I was so excited! Preparations went on normally.

I loaded my bag with 3 -1 litre water bottles,thn junk;mom gave fruits , dry fruits and glucose!

I couldn’t sleep the entire night on 24th!

Trust me…my close friends were worried!i get way too excited !

My friend jo was scared…what if I get full excited , jump  and loose my balance  and fall of the cliff! ☺ wrong she was :P

Thn I closed my eyes for some time..like may be 2-3 hours..it was already 5!the alarm rang! I got ready!

Dad dropped me till the bus stop,with many words of caution of the course.

I got into 335-E to reach majestic!  I sat and suddenly mind started wondering about..

What did I seek from this trek?

Where am I heading towards?

Usually, when I sit in Volvo..all I think of is medical mnemonics! What would I do if I find a patient who is running at the speed of light? Ha ha..

So the meeting time was 7:15 at the majestic railway station entrance! I reached there by 7! Then I met hiren,organizer! There were a few boys..who dint talk to at that point of time..

Then I met swathi (swaa) and then had a general convo!

It was already 7:20! Hiren asked premal to lead us to the station and he would get the others and come!

Then we got into the train and started talking about general things!

Then others joined!

The train started at around 7:55-8:00 am.

Then,varsha joined us at yeshwanthpur station!

Then we all played this traditional trip game dham sharads.so the rule was –u got to enact ur name!

This was real time! We had fun guessing names like ravi uttamchandani and vaibhav (vaibhav lakshmi..i still cant stop laughing it) and others.

Then we arrived at the kyatasandra  station .

We got down and walked towards a darshini…and ordered for dosa and idli’s  and parceled  pulaov for lunch! So we all gave our boxes..chandu (utamchandani) had got this huge box! We had a gud laugh on it!

All set,with full determination and full tummy…we started walking….

So now we went back to the station crossed the railway track and started walking to the base of the hill!

Then, we stopped at certain point and had a formal introduction session! Here is when I actually got to know abt everyone! Then came the twist..hiren was like..probably that’s the mountain we r going to trek!! I was like..dude..what? ha ha .. he said it was his first time too..

We signed the form which read the BTC terms and conditions.

I was very excited..i have always dreamt of getting lost in the woods!

Then at around 9 we started ….

Talking about the hill and its history, it seems lord ram stayed here during his 16 years of exile .

Hence the name of the hill is after him.

Initially it was very easy..the foot of the hill was awesome…there was a pond with beautiful lotuses ,shining so bright in the glimpse of sun! there were a few villagers and kids who were washing their clothes close to the pond! There was a diving point too!

Now after covering almost a kilometer or so…it started becoming steeper..more sloppy…being a first timer..i had the time of my life! :P I was enjoying yet getting tired frequently…more like oxymoron…(happily married :P) we took around 2-3 breaks..and did lots of photography sessions!

For me trekking was more like sprinting…:P

While climbing up..i was sort of conserved with photography..but while descending down..i was a big photo maniac… lol!

When we took the second break..we were resting on a rock..

I was decently trying to cool myself down…because..i literally felt like I had tachycardia a bar higher than it should be! :P  ha ha! So that’s when this interesting thing happened . The rock was brownish . a brown grasshopper jumped from far left to other end of the rock so perfectly camouflaged that I couldn’t locate it until it jumped again.

We reached the peak at around 12:30 pm.

This was an epic moment for me. This was the first time I ever went to a trek and it was awesome .

It felt like the wind was blowing just to welcome me….to probably celebrate my reaching the peak.

After that we had couple of photo shoots! Awesome it was ☺

We then decided to have lunch and start descending down by 2.

The plan was to be able to catch the train that departs to bengaluru at – 3:50pm

So we sat down and had pulav that we had parceled..we had lots of junk too ☺

My parents kept calling every now and then to check about my whereabouts!

After this, we were still left with almost an hour…where we decided to explore the peak more…this was super fun ☺

Like the hush in those mountains, the silence swelled with the intake of my breath into a presence of vast benevolence of which ..I was a part! It just felt like something great had happened to me!

After exploring…the rest of the mountain we started descending down at around 1:50.

This time it was fun and easy…but I kept falling a lot of times. all because of the topsy-turvy slopes of the hill. I was getting hard hit on my bums each time I fell :P same old feeling I used to get when I used to fall off during skating..it used to be a chain reaction: get up---fall-----repeat !

But this time I was pretty confident while falling coz I knew premal bhai or venky…somebody would definitely come and help me ! they really did…if it really weren’t for them..by the time I came down, I would probably have a torn pant :P thanks to them!

We had lot of pics clicked..at certain point zinge took my phone and ran off so that I would descend down quickly ..ha ha..

Every time I put my leg ahead…I literally wanted to go back to the peak!

So we reached the station at around 3:30. And we had this feedback session!

I was literally speechless for a second!

My first experience ever ….with all new people . it was not just breathtaking,awesome,stupendously splendid,mind-blowing…what not  but now I also got a new family <3

every single person on board was awesome….so caring and they never got me bored.

The train was late by almost 20-25mins.we all got in not many got seats. but we had lots of fun..Chit chatting, eating churmuri, biscuits etc…

So we boarded the train and reached bengaluru at around 6:15

At the end of this trek, I have discovered a new version of me. I learnt fear not anything.

Life detachment, pursue because it interests you, no fundamental questions.

Self dissolved into supreme, no questions, no answers, its just bliss ☺

Epilogue

After I got down from train, I walked towards the bus stop and caught a bus back home.

Accompanying me was zinge, harshith and premal.we had awesome in the bus too.

New found idea of getting detached from this busy traffic and world kept me going.

I called up my parents and friends telling my safe arrival.

Written By        :  AADITI L

Organized By  : Hiren

Date of event   : 25 Sept 2016

Place                 : Ramadevara Betta

Pictures            : BTC FB Page