That's Human Spirit....

The IPL magic in recent days has crossed the boundaries of countries/ geographies, creed, colour, age, wealth, gender and whatever else we can think of. Being supporters of RCB, I have seen the crowd cheer whole heartedly for the little master. Wanting MI to win, I have witnessed the crowd getting disappointed when Dhoni walks back to the dug-out. The way it is going, I strongly feel that the day will come when colour means nothing more than the skin tone, when birth places have less weight-age and when religion is seen just as a medium to speak one's soul. Cricket in India, has the potential to bring about this change.

The excitement it generates, the audience it attracts and the revenue it generates is on one side. On the other side is the spirit of kinship it brings, the unity amidst cultural diversities it develops and goodwill it promotes which are of utmost importance.

I had been to watch a fully loaded and extremely hyped match at Bangalore on Saturday 16th April. Stands filled up at the Chinnaswamy stadium for the most awaited RCB vs. MI IPL match. Match was to start at 4PM and 40,000 people packed in to the stadium much before the time giving a damn to the sweltering heat. As we entered the stadium at 12PM, it was already tough to find a good place to sit. Such is the enthusiasm Indians have for their favourite sport; Cricket.

When the match got delayed, we unlike all other 40000 audience at Chinnaswamy stadium had any clue that our lives was in trouble. As we were engrossed in watching our loved cricketers practicing at nets, 2 bombs went off near the gates seriously injuring 20 men. Later 2 more live bombs were found and defused. But none of us sitting there had any clue of whatever was happening behind. Had these bombs been placed inside the stands, it would have ripped thousands of us to death. Or had the news spread, panic would have resulted in stampede which could have killed many. Whether it was a terror plot or a political game to scuttle the matches away from Bangalore, it could have easily claimed thousands of lives.

The whole thing happened when people were having fun watching cricket. That was the moment when the world was united in joy. And this is what terrorists are waging war on. Theirs is a war against joy, a crusade against union, a war against humanity.

Now, let’s talk about the most important questions. Did they gain what they wanted? Was their plot successful? What did they gain out of all this?

People inside the stadium got to know about the blasts through SMS and phone calls. In spite of that, many didn’t leave the stadium. Not that we do not care for our lives. But the love for cricket, trust in the system that thorough sanitation would have been done in the stadium before the game, and sensibility to not to heed to such rumours and create havoc, refrained the crowd from rushing out of the stadium abandoning the match.

The message was loud and clear. Such elements can succeed in shattering sense of security, creating havoc, evoking panic and fear across the city. Several schools, offices, shopping malls and movie theatres can be closed down. They can even be successful in causing loss of lives and property. But, they cannot kill the human spirit.

Terrorist attacks can fail despite the number of dead, number of injured and also the amount of property lost. Terrorist attacks simply fail in spite of all this simply because of human spirit. And once terrorism ceases to be effective, terrorism will cease.

We have now learnt not to show unnecessary fear; we have learnt not to get provoked unnecessarily. Most importantly we now refuse to change our lifestyle and have developed an attitude of “Come what may, go the hell back to work next morning”.

Just after the match, when we rode back home the life in city was almost normal. Traffic jams were common. For the first time ever, I wasn’t miffed by these traffic jams. Oddly enough, I felt happy that there were traffic jams in Bangalore that day. They signalled the spirit of city. In general the human spirit: to stand up against an act of terror.

In almost every city in the world struck by terrorist attacks, be it Mumbai or New York, normalcy has been restored sooner than expected. This does not mean that those who survived don’t care for those who died. We definitely do....

Restoring normalcy just means standing up against terrorism. It speaks about the human spirit to go on.

Kodachadri

About us: A group of great friends crazy to the core and enthusiastic to the power of infinity. Hard core trekking buffs and biking lovers, we freak out when ever and where ever possible; munching at food streets, watching movies, lazing around at malls, watching cricket matches. Sometimes we do more adventurous stuff like conquering highest peaks, hiking long dry landscapes, drenching under freezing water falls and camping under bright stars. What more? You will encounter more of us as you read along ;)

Missions accomplished: Coorg, Wayanad, Skandagiri, Shivanasamudram, Ooty, MM hills, Sikkim.

Current Mission: Conquer Kodachadri.

Squad: Abhi, Chinmay, Deepa, Dev, Geetha, Kiran, Nandish, Neeraj, Sandy, Soumya, Supreetha.

Dates: February 12th, 13th and 14th

About Kodachadri: Kodachadri is the highest peak in Shimoga District and is about 100kms
from shimoga (390kms from Bangalore). It is believed that Shri Adhi Shankaracharya meditated here and to commemorate the same Sri Sarvajna Peetha is located on top of the kodachadri peak. From its vantage point, the peak offers breath taking view of the surrounding valleys at sunrise and sunset.


Mission in Detail: As planned we started from our house at around 11:30PM on 11th of February (Thursday). Chin, kiran and I boarded the TT(tempo Traveller) and headed towards Shru’s house to pick up Nee, Nandy and Soms. Shru could not join us for this trip coz of some personal reasons. We missed you shru :(. Our next stop was at Sandys place where Sups, Sandy and Abhi were picked up. Finally we started off towards shimoga picking up all except Dev who joined us on the way near yelahanka.

Birthday @ Barista: My friends had surprise plans to celebrate my birthday mid way near Barista. They had brought a cake for me which they had safely kept in the last seat of the TT. The fate of the cake was bad though. Dev unknowingly did a Stress test on the cake by sitting on it. Poor cake succumbed to injuries :). We had to buy another cake at Barista to celebrate my birthday :).
Celebration was great fun. After cntrl + X of cake, cntrl + V was done on each one’s face. We ran around the deserted petrol pump at mid night throwing and rubbing cake at each other. Nandy n Kiran had a great date munching bun n biscuits at barista ;). After all the fun, we started off our journey again.


Ikkeri Temple: We decided to visit Ikkeri first. Ikkeri is a small village 3kms from Sagara which has an ancient Agoreshwara temple. That day was Shivaratri festival and a visit to Shiva temple gave us a sense of completeness. Ikkeri temple has beautiful carvings and sculptures of gods, goddesses, shila balikas, elephants and horses in and around the temple and a huge nandi in the front. One interesting thing which Nandy and Kiran discovered was there is a sculpture behind the temple which can hold a coin. Belief is that, one has to make a wish and place the coin on the structure. If the coin stays there, the wish comes true. We all tried our luck there. It was now time for photo session. While girls wanted clicks hanging around trees and branches, guys preferred climbing walls and jumping from compound walls. We had tasty pineapples and drank tender coconut near the temple and started towards Sigandur.

Sigandur Backwaters: Sigandur is the back waters of Sharavathi River. Launch service from this bank to the other bank is available. The other bank has a Chaudamma temple and gives a wonderful view of Sharavathi back waters. Unfortunately we could not go in the launch since the next launch was available only at 4PM and we would not be able to see Jog falls if we had waited for the launch. After few clicks of the backwaters, we had chitrana and puliyogre at a small kaaka hotel and headed towards Jog.


Jog Falls: Jog was a disappointment to all of us who had seen it in all its glory during rainy season. The majestic beauty wore a dry look since our visit was in summer. We could see a small thread of water from only one of the 4 tracks.
Having nothing much to do, we clicked few snaps and boys played football with a paper ball (Remains of a garland) for some time and headed back to Shimoga. On the way back, Dev narrated some romantic stories of Nandy. We realized how talented Nandy was; only after that :) and now we agree ‘Nandu hamara netha hai’ (Though we still do not know the story behind it :( )
At night we had dinner at Nandini restaurant and reached home at around 10PM. Dev started with good old college day stories; again this time, his first target was Nandy but sooner the topic turned to Soms and Dee. Soms and Dee had a tough time dealing with these guys. Soms smartly escaped by narrating just a pinch of her story. But poor Dee had to regret the whole trip (and even now) for letting our guys know her part of the story :(.

Get.. Set...Go.........: Next day was the D-Day. Our expedition to Kodachadri started at 7AM. Mid way we stopped at a hotel for breakfast. Dev had some strong kashaya for his cold. Good things happen when least expected. Breakfast was good and filled us with enough energy for our adventure. We reached a place called Nittur which was our base camp. We met our guide Vijay (Guess what? His name as he claims is Vijay Mallya :)) and got a rough idea of the plan. Vijay explained us about the two routes to reach Kodachadri. One was through Karakatte which would be pretty easy and the other through ‘Hidlumane Falls’ and beautiful grass land which would be a bit tough. Being hard core Trekking buffs we chose the latter ;).
Vijay took us in the jeep inside the forest till the paths disappeared and we were completely left dependent on him. From this point the trek started.
Fully equipped with our jackets, sun glasses, scarf and caps and after wearing that extra coat of sun screen lotion we started off our expedition. The trek was moderately uphill in the beginning, starting off from the well laid mud roads, advancing to jeep tracks and then finally narrow lanes in to the core of forest.
It was one of those dogs day of summer. The hot and humid climate made trekking all the more challenging. The trek was on the cart tracks and enroute we crossed few small streams. The view of the entire range of thick green hills was pleasing to the eyes despite the summer heat. We took occasional breaks to quench our thirst and take some rest till we reached the kaaka hotel.
Dee had taken an oath not to talk to any of the guys after the previous night’s teasing session. More than any thing else, we guess wrong mathematical equations had hurt her a lot. She gave her patented look (Guys call it dirty look :)) for anything guys spoke ;).

But this did not last long. After reaching kaaka’s hotel she was back in her full form. We are not sure what made the magic; kaaka’s majjige or Nee’s consolation ;).

Don’t know who started it all and don’t know whose idea was it after all, but some how each one got a name after that. We were fondly named –
Sandy n Sups – Akdu n Pakdu
Abhi - Ka
Chin - Bagheera
Dev - Balu
Nee - Sher Khan
Nandy - Moghli
kiran - Kirba
Soms - Sherni
Dee - Radha
Gee - Bagheerati
Sandy n sups name is the most popula n famous one and we still call them with those names.
Immediately after crossing Kaaka’s hotel we came across a beautiful sugar cane farm. We took some pictures and trekked ahead. From here on trekking became more challenging since cart tracks disappeared; paving way to slippery uphill landscapes where our guide was the only resort to lead us. Of all, the trek through the barren and open lands was the most tiring. With Sun right on top of the head, we were sweating out all our energy. We could not help but take ‘n’ number of breaks for water, glucose and some fruits. This was till we reached Hidlumane Falls.

Hidlumane WaterFalls: Hidlumane falls is a series of cascading falls with about 6 or 7 falls one after another. The beauty of these falls is that each of these falls is hidden from one another. It was full of water and beaming with beauty even in the peak of summer. We wonder how more beautiful it may look in rainy. As we reached the falls, we felt as if we got back our lives and the excitement was palpable. We could not wait to jump in to the water. It was such a relief that can’t be explained; it has to be experienced. We spent more than 2 hours playing in the water and had tremendous fun. Nee’s red bandana shed color in the water creating an impression of blood. Nee used it to demonstrate a dead body which was awesome. When we were out of the water all our fatigue and tiredness were gone… Magic….!!!
After all the fun, we took a vague-looking path to the right side of the water falls. The path became more challenging and tricky from here. It was uphill through thick jungle and there were no signs of any trails. But since the trek was inside the forest and was under shade of huge trees, it was less sapping. Very soon we reached the beautiful grass lands. There are 3-4 hills covered completely with grass which we had to cross. The beauty is the grasslands completely turn to golden yellow in the shining sun light. Since the sun god was in his angriest mood, we were drained out and had to take couple of more breaks to wet our dry throats and rest our calf muscles. It was indeed a race with the sun. Sandy’s dry fruits and lollypop came handy.

When we were all almost dead, we saw two divine figures on the top of the hill. As we saw them trekking happily hand in hand :), without any signs of tiredness or fatigue; we wanted to know who those gifted souls were. Soon we came to know, they were none other than our own Nandy and kiran. It is amazing to know how much energy love for each other can give ;). We were all motivated again and started trekking again.
Soon after crossing the grass lands we were at the last leg of the trek. We joined jeep track which lead to Kodachadri peak where the Travelers bungalow is situated. On the jeep track there was a small stall where we had some good cucumbers and took some rest. Soon the sun began to set and we reached the hill top to witness the sunset. Each one took an avatar to pose for the photographs. Ram, lakshman, sita and many such avatars also which are unseen in history :).





Vijay had arranged for dinner on the hill top near the bunglow. That one hour spent waiting for dinner can not be explained. We spent that one hour searching for satellites, shooting stars in the sky. After having descent dinner we trekked another 1km uphill to a place from where we could have a beautiful view of sunrise in the morning. We asked Vijay to put our tents there.




Night spent on the top of the hill in that pitch darkness can never be forgotten. Sky was the roof, stars were the only source of light and camp fire was the only protection against wild. Whole night was spent singing and dancing around the camp fire.
As per the agenda Nee, Dev and Chin had to give a welcome speech followed by seeking apology from Dee for all their misbehavior (Or for quoting wrong equations ;)). They completed the formality; nothing was from the bottom of their hearts though. What say Dee? ;). Now came the best part. Dancing…
Helen would have wept; Madhuri Dixit would have closed her eyes in shame and Rakhi Sawant would have decided to stop dancing if at all they had seen our guys dance. Our guys are such brilliant dancers. Girls shook their legs to make it more entertaining. Chin n Dev showed their belly dance skills too ;). On popular demand there was ball dance/salsa from the love birds on the lover’s day eve. i.e., Sandy n sups and chin n myself. Dev, chin and Nee danced like crazy all night. It was Hucchara Santhe on top of the hill. All in all the night was awesome and a very memorable one.
We got in to our tents late in the night and woke up early in the morning to catch the sunrise. Sunrise view from the top of Kodachadri is very beautiful. Since it was summer, we had a clear sky which gave us a clear vision of sunrise. Nee, Chin, Dev, Deepa, Som and Kiran went trekking to a nearby hill to have better view of the rising Sun. Rest of us stayed near the tents. They shot some amazing snaps and funny videos on top of the hill.

Dee wanted a snap in ‘Happy Days’ style. The pose was something like this. Guys make a chain holding hands and girls sit on their arms, between two guys.


It was amazing. After few more clicks in funny poses, we started trekking down to catch a jeep from bungalow to the base camp.
The jeep ride to the base station is an adventure again. There are no roads at all, only a pathway that looks to be carved out of the rocks. The jeeps literally go on the rocks. Slushy track, uneven surface make the jeep slide to one side. Hold on to whatever you can and keep your fingers crossed. Kudos to the drivers: who have mastered the art of driving on these roads.
We reached the base camp at around 8AM and got fresh. After breakfast at a local hotel (I am forced to call it breakfast. It was too bad to give it that name.), we headed towards Shimoga. It was now time for vote of thanks. Nee, Dev and Chin indulged again in pulling legs. They rendered vote of thanks to Kiran, Nandy, Dee and Soms. To Dee for her so called Dirty looks, to Soms for not letting out the secret, to Nandy for being alone and to Kiran for being Nandy’s partner. Our guys never change… :)


Back to Pavilion: We reached Shimoga and had lunch at Nandini again. We got fresh at our house and started off to Bangalore. Return journey again was fun with crazy games like thumb fighting and Arm Wrestling. Nee was the champ in Arm wrestling and Chin was declared unbeatable in thumb fighting. I narrated the famous ghost story of my friend Akhaya and the whole mood in the TT changed. The mood was similar to the one after watching a horror movie. Everyone was freaked out. It had left each one of us like a little jumpy. A light touch from the back was enough to get scared and scream. We stopped at sukh sagar near Tumkur for dinner. After dinner, when we started back, each one started telling their own experience with the ghost till we reached Bangalore. It was great fun.
It was a great trip all together. We will never forget how much fun we had, it read all over our faces the entire trip. Such trips have helped our friendships, and gave us a break from norm. Best times of life are times spent with best companions.

Awaiting our next adventure…..