I read the mail, again and again trying hard to remember anything that I was forgetting. Packed my bag. I was a bit nervous about climbing the third highest peak in Karnataka. I was sharing a cab with Saroj and Ashish till Indiranagar Metro Station and then we would take the metro to Majestic. Finally, they came and picked me up.
We reached Majestic quite early. There were few BTCian’s already there. I knew only a few of them from my earlier treks with BTC. It was then that I met Hiren and Viren ( founder of BTC). After informal hi and hello and casual chit chatting, we boarded our bus. I was lucky enough to get the front seat and lucky enough to be sharing it with Nadiya. The bus started after 10:30. Few photographs were taken and then we started with our introduction. It turned out to be quite interesting as we had to enact our names. Even though we knew most of the names, it was fun guessing it like that. After the introduction was over we decided to sleep.
All the front seaters which included me, Nadiya, Hiren and Viren slept with quite an ease. The next morning we realised that no one else slept. We reached Virajpet early morning. We had our breakfast in KSRTC canteen and got our lunch packed there. We started towards the base with songs to keep us entertained. After reaching the base all of us got ready for the trek.
After the “straight circle tradition”, we started with our trek finally at 8:20 with Hiren leading us. Ashish was already freaking out about leeches and we were scaring him even more. Oh! That was fun. Everyone was following a good pace. Whenever I would get tired, Viren was somehow right at the back of me and would push me to move forward. This is something I really like about BTC. The organiser would just motivate you to go on and not give up. And at the same time would slow down if someone is coming a bit slowly. Quite a team work.
The trail was beautiful. Greenery all around us. That is hardly something we get to see in the cities. The air was so pure. I loved each and every bit of it. The small waterfall on the way. The little insects. The trees. The clouds. In so many ways it reminded me of Sikkim (the place my heart belongs to). This was far away from the concrete jungle that we lived in. I was just lost in the beauty that nature had to offer. Everything was so beautiful. Nature as well as the company.
We finally reached the top taking hundreds of photographs on the way. All of us were just enjoying the view. After few more photographs at the top, all of us decided to have lunch. I shared lunch with Hiren mostly with few bites taken from here and there. After our lunch, we took a few photographs and started descending. The descent was quite easy. Most of the BTCian’s who were leading were singing songs. Few of us saw some littering on our way back and decided to clean it up. It’s a pity how people tend to litter and then blame the government for not cleaning it up.
We finally reached the base around 3 and started for Bengaluru. We reached the same place that we had our breakfast. We decided to have snacks and tea there and then head towards Bengaluru. We had many rounds of Pani puri, Dahi puri etc. After eating like crazy we finally boarded the bus and were heading back. Most of the BTCian’s were sleeping. Since I had slept peacefully the previous night, I wasn’t sleepy at all and was lost in my thoughts.
Around 8, people woke up. Viren was still sleeping( quite a capacity to sleep :p) . Ashish had few things to eat and passed it around. Hiren, Nadiya and me got into a conversation. Finally, our founder wakes up and it's time for some feedback. After the feedback was over, I became the Bali ka bakra for Hiren, Viren, Nadiya and Ashish. I guess they love pulling my leg. Keeps them entertained :p . Whatever it is, kept my entertained.
We reached Majestic around 11 and finally bid our farewell to each other hoping to meet again. I was smiling from end to end after such an amazing trek. This was one of the best weekends and I’m glad I spent my weekend in such a wonderful way.
Written By : Meghal
Organized By : Hiren & Viren
Date of event : Sept 11, 2016
Place : Western Ghats
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