Trekking Diaries - Horagina Betta (Encounter with Thorns)

As I’m trying to recall the experience I've had on Sunday, my roommate here is helping me get rid of the thorns stuck on my track pant, T-shirt and hair, yet again a cherished experience with BTC and of course, Vikram, our Organizer. One thing I know for sure about this fellow is you just can’t determine what comes next in his treks. So here I go about my experience, my second again with a great group. I must call this the energetic group because these guys were amazing.
So, I reached shantala and found no one (I so remember GOT and Snow, every time I say “No one" hehehe), well breaking Jon Snow's dream and coming back to the trek I called Vikram and found my way to KSRTC bus stop and we left for the hill sharp at 7:15.. ;P later joined by others on this journey.
Around 9:00 we stopped for breakfast and packed our lunches, idli wada is turning out to be my new favorite I must say, Not enough interaction but I met the girls Radha, Gayatri, Anusha, Sruthi, Priya except for Chennai express (sorry I forgot the name, always been bad at it). After a little interaction, we resumed our journey to the hill.
Finally after an hour around 10:30 we made it to the hill and while we were walking nobody noticed but Vikram vanished, so we waited for him and I finally got to know the guys a bit, amaresh was the one I met in the previous trek but didn't remember his name till this one's end :D (Not proud of it, I'm sorry :D). Finally, Vikram came and we introduced ourselves and immediately started walking up the hill... By looking at it, I knew I was going to slip and fall somewhere, and of course I did, just wait for it.
As we started walking up the hill it was like a zig zag trail, going right and then left, thankfully no STAIRS!!!! It was surrounded by plants and weeds filled with thorns, and grasses covering the path. As soon as those plants touch you, the thorns get stuck on your clothes and poke everywhere possible... So everytime we stopped for a break all I did was get rid of those pokey little thorns and pray not anymore (Prayers not answered of course)... Least I could expect there would be more to come... So we walked and walked and walked our way up, quite beautiful I must say, "I was in a forest" I cheerfully looked around and we took out our cucumbers to fill up our stomachs a bit.. after we were done, comes the good part, I must say slightly difficult for new comers (been there, done that) moving up the slope can be exhausting so by taking tiny tiny breaks everyone made there way up the hill and took a few snaps. Ohh yeaa I forgot our photographer's of the day Anusha and Abhishek I hope you two have done a great job. If you read this Anusha, don't even think about uploading my jumping picture I'll be so embarrassed :D :D....
After a bit more walking, we came across a Lord Shani temple which looked nearly abandoned but as I walked in, I saw fresh ashes in the yagya, probably a day or two old. After a 15-20 minutes rest, we got into a bit more wilder side with a lot more bushes  and plants, it would quite scary at night I must say but that lasted not long and we reached the top..
So we went up all smoothly and quite fast. At around 1:30 we were all up at the peak, relaxing ourselves while I was there trying to climb a tree... Now don't say a monkey's ghost possessed me but I actually like climbing trees although getting down scares the hell out of me... But yeah I did that a bit and came down.. after all the picture session and amaresh attempting to take a good picture of mine while I was giving all goofy expressions, we started eating our lunch. Once the lunch was done, Vikram decided we play mafia, me and my psychologist friend Prashant came up with a plan on how to catch those mafia's, initially it was a bit difficult to convince our villagers but it worked and all the mafia people were killed ;)...
After we were done with another snap session, we started heading back and readers just remember i didn't fall yet... As we were walking down Vikram came with a crazy plan to take a shortcut and I was like "What!!!!! From here!!!! You just can't be serious!!!!" Little did I know I'm gonna love this part the most... Coming down is quite easy at times but in this trek I found going up slow and easy but coming down fast and scared to bits... While we were making our way down I look here and there and found no one (GOT moment again 😂😂) around since few went too fast and few were far behind and I am just stuck in the middle... So I walked and walked trying to figure out a way and yet no one to be scene, I started doubting my conscious a bit but as I always believe "you either go back or you move forward but you gotta find a way" and I being the sole believer of moving forward kept going hoping no wild animals or insects on the way... :P As I kept moving I finally saw Chennai express standing on a rock.. "phewww!!! I'm not lost.. Thank god!" I said to myself. After 5-10 minutes we could see Hemant coming and later after a while the others came with prashant and sanjay. Now, in this next part, I made a new companion Pratik, who ensured I didn't fall anywhere, walking ahead of me and then wait for me and see if I can come or he has to pull me down... So, Thank you so much Pratik for this... I'm grateful to you..
After a while, we made it down and all I was filled with was happiness... As I was walking back towards the road and me blindly walking, talking to Pratik and Prashant, I slipped and fell becoming a laughing stock for those two and the people behind us... Pratik said all amused, " pahad chadte-utarte nhi giri aur yahan fisal gyi". Well, they pulled me up and we resumed walking towards the road with a little break to wash our faces. So this is were I actually fell, embarrassing and funny that whole scene was, with prashant trying to push me to fall again.

Finally, we had Coconut water and took a bus back to majestic. Vikram at last was happily taking feedbacks from everyone which later ended up being Vikram saying "Thank you, Thank you" after all he was extremely praised for the experience... Prashant, Amaresh and Sanjay were praised for being the most helpful guys.. We finally ended our trek on a happy note... With all the goodbye's and best wishes I hope to see you all in many more adventures to come...


Written by : Jesinta
Organizers :Vikram
Event :Horaginabetta