Trek to Kabbaladurga

Trek to Kabbaladurga

My eventful 2nd trek with BTC happened right the week after my first trek. Trek to Kabbaladurga it was, a rocky, monolithic hillock located about 70 KMS from Bangalore.I Caught the KR market bus and was there by 6.30 a.m waiting for the D&D (The organizers, Dinesh Yadav and Dinesh Gupta). BTCians started joining in near the Ayyapa temple and within no time we were at full strength. All of us huddled into a private bus to sathnur which was approximately 70 KMS away.

    BTCians assemble

In order to break the ice, we started a game of dumb charades trying to guess each other’s names.The group was a good mix of young and experienced trekkers with lataji  at 57 and sanjana at about 18.We reached BTCian no. 23  in the guessing game of really dumb charades and we were already at the destination. Sanathur is a quaint little village located a little more than a couple of kilometers from kabaladurga. BTCians replenished their energy with a quick break fast at a hotel at the bus station. Thatte idli, poori, dosa and tea were on the menu.

    Eat before you trek

Dinesh G also announced that shravani was promoted to the  position of ‘trek organizer’ now, which was  met with  applause by audience and some uncertainty from shravani herself.Post gorging on the champions breakfast, we huddled into two autorickshaws and we were on our way to the kabbala village.

    On our way

The auto driver mentioned that a lot of people (read hundreds) trek their way up during the march month as part of devotional ‘jatra’. Thank God it wasn’t march. We dropped us off at kabbala village which is hardly a few hundred meters from kabaladurga; the imposing kabaladurga made its presence known from the town itself. A road inwards should lead everyone to the base.

   The intimidating sight

We started off the trek following the customs of BTC, the group photography session at the base of the hillock.

    Group Pic

D&D explained the rules of BTC which no one paid any heed to I think. Dinesh Y was to lead the trail with Dinesh G trailing with the stragglers. Some of photographers decided to stay at the back (obviously) and helping out with the stragglers was a bonus. Me and Tauqeer ended up discussing a lot about photography on our way up. The weather was beautiful ; cloudy with a bit of chilly wind blowing was as rejuvenating as the frequent water breaks. The landscape view grew better with every hundred steps and every clearing on the trek pleasantly surprised us with a wider and a better view. Misty hills we’re visible at the horizon.

    The view somewhere midway

Many devotees accompanied us on the trek up ; while some of us were quite tired from the trek, watching women in constrained sarees making their way up only spurred us on further. At many points, the gradient is quite steep and would necessitate one to walk on all four limbs , which leads to the classification of the trek as category ‘moderate’ relative to the average trekker.

   Watch your step

After about an hour and half of trek, we finally made our way to the top joining the rest of the group who had already explored & mapped the best spots for selfies. I just dozed off for 10 mins in the Cool breeze and made my way around got a few shots of the stunning landscape. It was cloudy ; so there wasn’t much color to.play with but the sky has lot of drama and that compensated for sure

As I was busy photographing, Dinesh was heard shouting at a distance and asking us to form a circle. While a mathematical and logical impossibility, it was possible in the BTC world.(Photos are top secret and therefore not posted online). Post assembling in the formation, it was one of the best part of the day(worse for some). A song and dance sequence based on a obscure game of names exchanged via ping pong. Without going.into the details , it resulted in a hilarious sequence of.dance moves.which caused partial blindness to some of us. Having said that , it was fun.

   Impromptu

Hungry from the dance, it was time for what BTC is famous for apart from the trek, the BTC potluck atop the hill. Dokhlas , curd rice, Gobi parathas went around, however the highlight of the potluck was Pradeep’s pulao which contained exotic secret spices from Andhra Pradesh; very tasty indeed. Sanmitra was surprised as to how someone in existence made a biryani better than her. Me and tauqueer infact never let go of the boxes at all. The potluck ended with dry fruits delicacy named antinunde from shravani and some dairy milk.

    Potluck atop the hillock

The group again split up, some off to relax in the Cool breeze, some with the selfies and other just exploring the hill top further. Another half hour and it was already 2 p.m and time for the trek down. But not before the last group pic of the day

    All smiles 

The trek down was obviously easier with Newton’s gravity assisting us all the way. It was quite cloudy and fearing rain, some of us (selfishly) raced down. We were down in about an hour or so and as soon as 4 of us made it to the bottom, rain gods tore the clouds open. It started raining profusely and we ran hither-thither for shelter. It got me some time to get started on the blog while we waited for the folks stranted on the slippery slopes. The weather was amazing to just soak it all in, so we didn’t mind. After about an hour or so of waiting, we made our way to the town to get some refreshing tea / coffee while waiting for the rest of the group. The drizzle with the hot beverage was a fitting finish to the trek.

The journey back again involved taking a quick auto ride back to sathnur. D&D took the customary feedback;mostly all positive as expected. We had the option of going back to BLR in a crowded bus or taking a auto ride to kanakpura and acquiring an empty bus all to ourselves for an some extra cost but also lots of extra fun. We obviously chose the latter.It only got better with us getting a ‘private bus’ all to ourselves. BTCians had lot of fun playing dumb charades , only this time it was with obscure movie names. An hour and a half flew by quickly and we were already jostling with people at metro stations and bus stops trying to reach home. But we had loads of memories kept us company and everyone made it home safe and it was the end of another excellent weekend.

Written By           : Sudeep Mandal

Organised By       : Dinesh Yadav & Dinesh Gupta

Date of Event       : 16th July, 2017

Place                    : Satnur

Picture                 : BTC FB Page