Trek to Makalidurga on Jun 10, 2017

The one day trek for Makalidurga opened and as per BTC legacy, closed within an hour due to the huge number of registrations. Then came the shortlist and I luckily got to be a part of it. The weather was extremely good Friday night, so was really excited for the Saturday trek. The schedule was to reach Cantonment at 6:45 am or Bypannahalli railway station at 7:00 am and contact Ashish and Amol respectively. I reached Bypannahalli at 6:50 am and after strolling on the platform for some time got to meet the fellow trekkers and Amol. Ashish already boarded the train with some of the trekkers from Cantonement and told us to board the sixth bogey of the train. According to our assumptions of the placing of the train at the platform we stood at a point. The assumption actually didn't turned out to be correct and we had to run to get to the sixth bogey. Ashish was there on the door waving. We all grabbed whatever seats we got. Two people boarded from Yelahanka and then we had a general round of introduction. The intro round went well with some giggles and chit chats. There were two lady trekkers whom everyone appreciated as they gathered the courage to trek in their 50s.

After reaching Makalidurga we all got down from the train and gathered at a point then together crossed the railway track to go the other side of the road. We had to walk around 1-1.5 km to reach the base point of the hill. At the base of the hill we were advised to make a straight circle. There we again had a small round of introduction and Amol made us familiar with BTC policies. Amol was supposed to be leading and Srikanth trailing and Ashish to be somewhere in between. 

                                  


















We started our trek. The terrain was whole rocky and there were thorny bushes lined up. Everyone was moving at their comfortable pace. The best thing about the trail was the lemongrass bushes all across the way as the fragrance could be felt and I even tried to chew some of them. There was a guy Manjunath who was taking random clicks of people as he always wanted natural photos. If anyone notices that he is clicking then he would leave the shot as according to him he wont get a natural shot. As we managed to trek up the view became amazing. 

The weather was adding into it as we didnt felt the thirst and the breeze was cold as well. There was a plateau kind of area where we all rested for a while and everyone got their photos clicked. Some of the photographers got shots of the centipedes and chameleons. After a short break we again started our ascend towards the top. We also had Amol's GoPro which apparently worked on the instruction 'GoPro take a photo' so everyone started repeating this. 

Finally in some time we managed to reach the top. There were fort ruins all over as the history states. The view from the top was breathtaking as the combination of the hills, clouds and lake was such a treat to the eyes.

We sat there for sometime peacefully and after that went to the other side of the top where Virander Sirohi(Founder of BTC) was already waiting with his family. They had reached there in the morning. Then everyone got busy with their photo clicking sessions till we got a call for the potluck. The potluck turned out to be amazing with a lot of delicacies starting from pulao, chana, lapsy to ragi biscuits, guava, apple, cakes and a lot more. After the sumptuous lunch we stayed there for a few while and then started our descend. We again stopped for a while at the plateau area and enjoyed the cool breeze and a bit drizzle. There also we had some groupfies.

The rocks were a bit slippery so carefully we descended till the base and waited for the rest of the team to come. Then after a count we headed towards the station. As soon as we reached the platform it began to rain. Organizers brought cold drinks for everyone. After that as part of BTC ritual we had our feedback session. There were many first timers so it was good hearing about their experience. Lata was so impressed by Prashant's patience and helpful nature. Prabha even offered to cook for all of us someday. There was still time for the train so we played a round of dumb charades. The movie names were nowhere guessable, 'Dr kotnis ki amar kahani', 'Kuch kuch locha hai' and many more. As soon as train came we all boarded one bogey but seats were not available. Manjunath gave a series of performances like dialogue deliveries of famous movies like Kabbali, Bahubali and also sang some of the hindi guitar songs he was aware of and most important not to forget did the lungi dance as well. Then round of singing the most famous songs started. This was intervened by tiger dance by Prashant and two more guys. The chorus of songs ended up in singing the most famous advertisement songs till train reached the station. And finally everyone dispersed after thanking the organizers with some good memories and smiles on their faces.

Written By      : Harshita Singh

Organized By  : Ashish Chouhan & Amol Saindane

Date of event : 10th June 2017

Place              : Makalidurga

Pictures          : BTC FB Page