Save Tada

November 1, 2009 will go down in the annals of CTC as one the many “1st to be there” events in its history. Whilst the world slept comfortably on a Sunday’s eve – CTC’s first battalion numbering about 230 plus marched into the reserve forests of the TADA waterfalls with one single objective – Clean the jungles of all muck & dirt replete of what the human minds have come to be and restore its natural self back in place.

The spark for this phenomenon of an event had hit us a few weeks ago and what began as a droplet soon spiralled into momentum that finally culminated at TADA on Nov 1. And just like a droplet of water that would seemingly look insignificant and disproportionate in front of the Ocean – Every member of the team, No matter from where he or she came from, No matter How insignificant an act of theirs might have sounded to the rest of the world, No matter what the future had in stock for TADA – All that mattered at this juncture was we complete the cleanup of TADA successfully. And so it was that when Peter announced the event, a leader’s vision soon sparked a few hundred souls to reach out and stand by the side of Mother Nature;
After all – Without Her, We would all be lost in the wilderness of the concrete jungle that there is !!!

No event of this scale can ever be achieved without any plan in mind and kudos to Peter and the team yet again for showing excellent spirit and enthusiasm for not letting the scales down and pushing forward the agenda with so much happening in our professional and personal side as well. For those of us who just took part in the event, the behind the scenes operation were ample proof of what we really wanted to achieve. Be it meeting the Forest Officials both at Tamil Nadu & Andhra Pradesh and explaining to them of what has been happening at TADA and the need to restore it back to its pristine self, was in fact welcomed with praise and pomp. Elsewhere, another team embarked on catching up with the press and broke the myth apart that the young & educated here in India do not care for their country however inconsequential it may seem to be. We soon saw the press breaking the news apart to the rest of the world in their own inimitable way and slowly but steadily – the world had finally woken up to what CTC was all about;

Another team began work on spreading the word around through Posters & banners for the final showdown. With such a group brimming with energy – would new ideas be any far from reach; the thought of an online petition to Save Tada would sound like a cliché to most of the ignorant and the docile lot but for those of us who believed in spreading the word across – the journey to the mission was as important as the event itself and it was imperative that we let the World knew all about it. Mission SAVE TADA was soon everywhere – From Newspapers to the new age media, the news had indeed spread like wild fire. From Now on – It was all about execution.

Logistics for any such event is an unwritten & highly demanding prerequisite and do we need to spell its importance more so when it comes to achieving the objective such as cleaning a place that has been marred by negligence & greed for almost 3 years until now. CTCians are a diverse lot driven by one single passion – to be in the presence of Mother Nature and be one with her whenever and wherever possible. And this single determinant beats all anomalies & differences that exist in any communion for that matter; the socio economic factors simply diminish into oblivion when it comes to Mother Nature. With such a wealth of experience & selfless souls to boot – Nothing ever is impossible. Food was organized keeping in mind the scale & the objective of the event; Transport although typically is a ‘carpool and share’ basis this time gave way to Buses that would reduce the dependencies of transporting such a huge number of CTCians whilst also keeping in mind – the delays due to breakdowns amongst other things.

The countdown to the event had finally begun.

With everything in place, however there was one major proponent who would determine the success of the event. It was Mother Nature herself. Weather conditions in Chennai had worsened to indicate a possible deluge throughout the week before the event and possible chance of rains at TADA as well. Those with prior trekking experiences would completely concur with my thought on what the rains can do to you apart from wetting the rocky- mountainous paths and make trekking a lot more difficult to accomplish. One good deed deserves another and it was for a good measure that Mother Nature chose to bless our day with ample sunshine and a clear day with not a single drop of Rain. We began our day from Tidel Park picking up all CTCians on the way until NH5. Breakfast was distributed on the way up to reduce downtime. Gloves, Lunch and other essentials were distributed and we were finally on our way. Mission SAVE TADA had begun.

The group was split into 15 + teams and areas were clearly demarcated for garbage collection. Group leads were responsible for the overall harmony and success of their group. A team of Photographers were assigned the complete responsibility of documenting the event apart from lending a hand or two when needed from time to time. The Bill Board team went about its way of putting up sign boards every where possible to create awareness among the general public. The media management team ensured that the press and the local media were fed with enough information to ensure that the right news reaches those who are yet to know what’s been happening in their town. At about 11 AM, the various teams had closed in on cleansing their respective areas of garbage and dirt. Without being too modest about our effort – About close to a ton and a half was collected and we were not finished yet. With so much garbage strewn around the place & collected for a decent two hours, they still had to be moved from the respective areas to the common point where it will be taken out for disposal.

And therefore the collection of garbage had to come to a stop somewhere. The local media had finally arrived, Peter addressed the team in a clinical fashion and we wish that the information trickles down to the general public and bolsters a much needed impact to save TADA. Post Lunch – The CTCians were back to familial territory – Jumping Jacks took to the rocks and water as their home turf – Our version of having fun amidst Mother Nature had just started. A good hour in the TADA waters later– Come 2:30, we began our way back to civilization. The Garbage bags were bought back to the final collection point, but not before the group snap was shot and a final drive to collect some more garbage at the entry point of the water pools, did we bid adieu to TADA.

It’s always been said that any vision even of the highest order if driven without a purpose is a life spent wasted. And thankfully though, those of us who took part in this event can hold our heads high in adoration and reverence for all that was done on the first of November 2009. No word of Thanks can be said to that one person - Peter, for that single spark and a visionary who chose to drive us to this hour of glory – where every human who took part in this campaign paid his highest respect and tribute by doing what best he could however negligible it may seem, collectively contributed to the overall success of the campaign. I can’t wait to see how TADA will fare from this day on. Our pent up frustrations during the course of the day would never wore out like the night of the hour and I sincerely wish that we derive new meaning out of this whole episode – A purpose that shall not end at TADA but spread across other states as well.

Mother Nature needs us as much as we need Her with us if not for anything else, Lets restore her gorgeous self to pristine grandeur and amidst this all, May we endear on and seek what our purpose is for a lifetime to come...

Post Mission Media Briefing

On November 1, 2009, the Chennai Trekking Club (CTC) collected 2 tons of garbage in Tada, a well known and scenic picnic spot, 2 hours North of Chennai. 230+ volunteers of CTC traveled in 4 buses and spent the entire Sunday collecting plastics, broken bottles and other pollutants from the crystal clear water streams in Tada filling up more then 500 large garbage bags. The volunteers put up "Do not pollute" boards to spread environment awareness among the tourists visiting Tada. The team was welcomed by officials from the forest department whom were visible touched to see so many volunteers from different states and countries cleanup the local tourist spot. During the cleanup effort the volunteers encountered a large presence of gangs of drunkards who travel to this reserved forest to get drunk, break bottles of alcohol in the scenic stream and actively harass families and regular tourists visiting Tada. The volunteers made a strong appeal to the officials to strictly enforce an no alcohol ban and restore Tada again to its original beauty so that this natural paradise becomes safe again for families and regular tourists to visit. CTC also ran an online petition and collected more then 1200 signatures which will be presented to the forest officials. The team is planning to return periodically to follow-up on the garbage and drunkard problem and bring any continued issues to the attention of the media until the responsible officials take proper action.

Nagari

On Friday evening (Oct 31), Angel and I were a bit nervous with Angel calling people to confirm their participation. The support from the car leads was nice, where we were able to co-ordinate with all participants and cross check. This was the best group of 1 day trek participants in terms of punctuality - we did not have delays waiting for people anywhere - and hit the breakfast place on time



We started driving towards Nagari when Anubala's car developed a snag and A bike and a car (Hyundai Verna) rushed to help.. Bala helped out the damsels in distress by doing a 10 minute spare tyre change and in the meanwhile the rest of the cars were waiting ahead, taking pictures of a large group of ducks being herded to cross the road..
(You will soon see Viki's picture of those ducks which has become the wall paper on so many PCs in my office and is getting international fame already)..



We hit base camp and considered taking a local guide given the fact that we had to search around for the route twice during the trial trek but dropped the idea when they proposed a different route. We started walking towards the hill through the fields with me leading the way with Ramki, Raghuvir and Naresh and had a group of people following closely behind. There were very few first timers in the group and we had Viki, Selva and Angel ensuring everybody was taken care of at the end. Bala, Selva and Udhay were in the middle group. The initial short steep climb took some effort but the gradient dropped very soon. This segment had the green jade like rocks and fossilized tree roots / shale..



We had 2 uphill and 2 downhill walks to get to the first temple and waterfall and went above past that one to go to the second waterfall and temple. There were beautiful butterflies in the area and the sun rays filtered through the trees creating beautiful images on the little streams..We had a target to reach the temple not later than 1 pm, and the first set of people reached at about half past 12 and had everyone there at 1. People jumped into water and splashed around.
A few divers experimented and learnt what dead leaves at the bottom of a natural pool can do.



Little fish bit me, and a few others had the experience.. The waterfall was refreshing. A group went up above the waterfall and took pictures/ posed for pictures and had lunch up there. The rest of us stayed close to the fall and ate our lunch sharing it with the monkeys and the dogs. We decided to leave at around 2:30 pm and started climbing again with a target to reach base camp at 6 pm. We walked with no rest breaks and reached the confusing 'Mani' tree at 5:30 pm. We rested , letting Bala make the calculations to settle accounts and then walked to the cars. We let the lone biker Srivats leave, settled the accounts and then started the drive back to the city.. 12 of us celebrated trek completion in Chennai Deluxe and had a whale of a time..
A lovely way of spending a day in a weekend.. Thanks to all those who came - thanks for the company, hope to see you all soon in a trek..

Kolli Hills

Kolli hills will always go down as the most chilling experience of my life ever. Never did I push myself so much physically as I did for this trek. This trek taught me the all important lesson which every trekker should know – “It’s all in the mind” -- by Peter.
Before the trek I was very confident or should I say overconfident that I will clear this one very easily. As it unfolded, I found the going very tough both mentally and physically for most part of the trek. I pushed myself reaaaallly hard but with no avail.

Day 0: The trek started technically in the Egmore railway station when the group got together in front of the station. I got introduced to loads of people, whom I will never forget my entire life or at least till I remember this trek which is probably till the end of life…. We got in to the seats allocated by the organizers and passed some time knowing about the co-travelers. I slowly wandered in to the sandman’s trap as little did I know what tomorrow held for me.

Day 1: We landed in Salem railway station quite early in the morning. We were joined there by a group of five people who reached Salem by car. That’s when I got introduced to the CTC lingo of “Telugu channel”. It was kind of racist. It means certain instances when two individuals resort to communication in Telugu in front a group people whose understanding of that language is minimal. A confusing and long explanation is it??? Well that’s how I got explained.



Outside the station, cabs organized by Vikki were waiting for us. The driver took us to a hotel for breakfast. There we also loaded up with mineral water bottles for the trek. Then we started on the journey to the base of the hill. It was a village who name I don’t recollect. On the way to that place Vikki told me that his native was Salem and how he used to frequent to kolli hills on his bike to take a dip in the falls. Once we reached the village. We were told to leave all the useless stuff in the cabs and travel as light as possible, as the cabs would follow us up the hill through a different route. That is when I heard that instruction as “Pack everything you brought into your backpack and make it as heavy as possible” so I did exactly that. – My first mistake.

We started the trek shortly and it was going smoothly till we were in the initial flat part. We had a walk for about an hour and half till we reached the base of the hill. I was wasting my energy in short sprints running up and down the pack. The flat part was very bushy and we had to go through thorns many a times. First thirty minutes of the climb was gentle and I was going well. We stopped for lunch and I started to feel a little pinch in my breathing. The slope was gentle till now but suddenly it started getting very steep and the humid, hot weather started telling on me. I started losing sweat at an alarming pace. I didn’t panic initially and kept up my pace climbing with the first few guys. Slowly I started losing ground and more sweat. I started to panic a bit. I as afraid that I would end up dehydrated and kept drinking more and more water till I finished all the water I had—my second mistake.

That worsened the situation for me. I couldn’t continue both mentally and physically. I recently found a link which tells how dangerous it is to drink too much water too fast. --- Too much drinking water.... Also its general wisdom that more water you drink, more you will sweat and lose essential salts which can’t be replenished by drinking plain water. Loss of the salts will cause ionic imbalance in the body which will cause symptoms like nervous imbalance, fear and high BP.
I started to slow down but remained very determined to finish it as fast I could. I reached the toe end of the group with the sweepers screaming at me to move faster. After some distance, they too gave up on me and left me with the guide who was helping them sweep. Just then I found a companion in gopal. He was feeling the pinch too. I knew we were nearing the summit so I started to relax a bit. That relaxation coupled with my exhaustion slowed me even further. Luckily for me we weren’t on any tight schedule or anything, though due to this slow ascent loads of people were to miss the visit to the falls after we reach the summit. In the middle of the ascent, I found some respite in a pool of water which had formed from the flowing stream. The water was near ice cold and I could the condensation immediately after we filled our bottles with this water. Even here I had too much water. Immediately after the water break the whole group regrouped for a difficult crossover where we needed the rope to cross over the face of the hill. I thought I felt a bit better when all the glucose I had near the pool started to kick in. So I sprinted up the slope without using the rope and even found an alternative route—my third mistake. Instead of conserving the energy there I wasted it again.

The exhaustion kept piling on me and I started to get cramps. I could bear the pain for sometime but after a point I couldn’t even carry my bag, so gave it to the guide who carried it painlessly. Gopal kept telling me not to show short bursts of energy, instead move slowly but steadily. But I thought otherwise as not doing that was easier. Sometimes what is easier is what hurts you most. That is the only time in a trek I gave my bag to somebody else to carry. The guide, Gopal and me were moving at snail’s pace and somehow finally made it to the peak. By this time the cramps got out of control. I could neither sit nor stand. I painstakingly smiled for a group snap at the summit. We reached the place with step farms and an Airtel tower which I vividly remember.

The exhaustion somewhat died seeing the lush green top of a hill, whose ascent was very ugly. After a thirty minute walk, we reached the viewpoint where to my joy; I learnt that the cabs are supposed to pick us up. “No more trekking for the day” – well that’s what I thought. It was also finally time for lunch—yes finally!!! I don’t know about other but I had a blast at that place. It was unlimited rice and one serving of chicken. I flicked anand’s chicken too. That was a very filling meal.
The cabs then took us to the temple and we unloaded the entire luggage from the cabs. I had barely caught my breath when peter said guys interested in going to the waterfall can follow him.

We had a brief discussion with the authorities there who advised us that going waterfall in this level of light is not so advisable. We went ahead in spite of that. Yes, that’s true. I went it too – My fourth mistake. On the way down the stairs, I learnt that there are actually 750 steps which we have to climb down to get to the waterfall. What was scary was that we climb up those 750 on the way back. By the time we reached down. The light was very bad already but it was still enough for us to view the falls. This was the first time I had gone any where near such a big falls in my life. The ascent back was pretty smooth and I wasn’t that ruffled as I thought I would be.

Once back on the hill-top, we got ready for a blast of a dinner. It was an unlimited dosa festival. People just thumped like they did for the lunch. After the dinner some people sat down for a game of Numero Uno in the center of the road, rest crashed.

The localites thought we were gamblers when they saw the cards in our hands. We had a hard time convincing them that it was just a game meant for kids in age range 5-12 years. After the game the gamers crashed too. We had to get up early.

Day2: I got up a bit late and was feeling a bit refreshed after the sleep. Peter informed that people are going down to falls again to take a bath. The original plan was to come back from there and then take a different trail downhill to the village where we started. But plans are meant to be replaced by better plans. This time I could see the grandeur of the falls in a more elaborate way or should I say I couldn’t. The force of the falls made it impossible to look at it directly much like looking at the sun only here it is water droplets instead of electromagnetic waves. We could see the falls directly with bare eyes. We had a pleasant dip in the falls and set out for the return journey. Some 9 of us got slowed down; including Peter because of some minor sprain Angel had suffered. Suddenly on our way up on the trekker who knew Tamil read an inscription on one of the rock some 150 steps up the path. It showed a way to some caves across the stream that flowed down from the falls. Peter set about finding that cave as the trail was properly marked. We had nothing but a muscle spray but we decided to start the detour. I was feeling somewhat better so I followed too. I even convinced Divya to come.

The descent was pretty simple and was very energetic. The trail led us down to the gushing stream and marking pointed us to cross the stream. The stream was furious and wouldn't let anybody cross it solo. It needed a team effort. We formed a human chain with two strong guys at each end—evidently me and peter and crossed the raging stream. We kept following the arrows on the rocks till at one point we decided that we should turn back, though we didn’t reach the cave. So we turned back and reached the stream again. There was a small incident while we were returning. We followed the same strategy with me and peter at each of the ends. But this time I slipped and almost flew away with the flow. Lo behold Uma leaps out to pull me out and save the day for me. That was legen…. Wait for it … dary. After all the drama, we had a nice dip in the stream. It was very powerful and kind of felt like a Jacuzzi at one of those five star hotels. We really missed cameras as there would have some splendid snaps. We took a dip for about an hour. At that point of time anybody of us would have hardly felt that we didn’t have our breakfast that day and we were way past noon already. Then we started the ascent up the slope which we had so energetically climbed down.

Suddenly out of nowhere, the exhaustion I had felt the previous day returned back to me. I started panicking way early this time as I didn’t have any water and people were much less too. My cramps as if had just hid under skin resurfaced.
I started moving very slowly again. I couldn’t believe I was struggling again. In the middle of struggle, we heard screams of something which rest of guys uphill had termed as a “rescue team”. That only meant we were close. But the thought of 600 more steps after we reach our original detour point, was frightening. You see that’s why they “ignorance is bliss”.Step by step I reached the top and then flushed myself with some fluids (slice and sprite you pervert!!).

Babu sir helped here as I was broke – ‘thanks to anand’; as he sponsored me for all I drank. We had our lunch. I learnt that our little adventure of taking a detour cost the whole group a chance to trek more. Well I don’t think anyone would have been interested in doing so. So there was a change of plans and it was decided that a part of group can go down by the cab and interested junta can follow the last day’s trail downhill.

I still remember and will do for the rest of my life when peter walked up to me and said “Raghu, you look very tired and it would be good if you could go down with the cab. There are some nice viewpoints on the way down and moreover we can’t afford to get delayed again as we have a train to catch”. It just shook me up and I was more determined than ever to go downhill trekking. I promptly replied that I will go downhill through the trail. He agreed and we set off a very tricky descent.

Rain-gods were marginally angry with us and cursed us with mild showers on our way downhill. It made the descent a bit difficult especially at the place where we used a rope in our ascent. We had to sit slide for most part of our descent. I knew that if I slowed down this time then we were sure to miss the train. So I maintained a constant speed like an old locomotive. We were down in no time, may be a couple of hours. Yet we were on a tight schedule. Yet on our arrival downhill, it was festival-like atmosphere with people going on cycle-rides around the village. Others busy taking bath and freshening up for the Salem chicks. We actually had to wait for the cabs that had started downhill through the road route downhill. They still didn’t reach the base which shows the scorching pace we built up on our descent through a steep wet hill slope. The CTC motto is “When the going gets tough, the tough get tougher”.

Once the cabs reached, we packed everything and started off. There wasn’t lack of thrill there too as we missed Angel and Vinodakka at the village and started off without them. Unfortunately we did come back to pick them up (should have left them there :D). Once we reached the station we barely had time to eat our dinner, so we rushed to the nearest paratha shop and people feasted on the unlimited parathas. I have to congratulate organizers on maintaining this “unlimited" spirit throughout the meals during the trek unlike the other treks. It just adds another dimension to your trekking abilities when you know that at the end of it all u get unlimited food. We finished our dinner and boarded the train for the return to Chennai. Nothing much there in the return as everybody was tired and wanted to crash hard. We reached Chennai early next morning. Everybody bade a final goodbye and left the station. I concluded my trek by rushing home in an auto and crashing till the evening. I guess the “Hill of Death” deserved at least a day off from work.
I have mentioned several mistakes I made in this trek. Life is all about learning from mistakes and not repeating them in future. Well I try not repeating them. When I succeed in doing that I have a great trek. Overall the trek was awesome and an adventure to remember. Great organizing coupled with unexpected surprises made the trek even more memorable. The friends I made in this trek were awesome too especially Madhu, Babu Sir, Vinodakka, Divya … the list goes on. Special thanks to Umakka for saving my life across the stream. The power of the stream was really frightening. I hope to see them in many more treks in future. Forgot the needless to say – Peter was awesome, as he always is.

Venkatagiri

Our trekking started on a fine Saturday morning. We all started from Koyembedu at 6 am with 35 people, 5 cars, 2 bikes and Peter’s Scorpio leading us, and me driving my car with 4 people that includes my colleague Sabari as well, After one and half hour of drive in NH5 (Nice highway), we turned left to Naidupet and stopped for breakfast and to load water. I knew this was going to be my last spot to have a proper food for the weekend, as we knew, it was going to be just packed and canned food for the next 2 days. Everyone got 3 liters of water each, loaded it into the car. Then the route became tricky, we had to follow Peter’s car carefully so not to miss him. At 11.a.m. we reached the village where we were supposed to park the car and meet our trek-mate Chenchu (the native of VenkataGiri town). All things got distributed here: Theplas, Bread, Jam, Snacks and most important – Glucon-D (Peter shouting “guys, pick it up – It’s the Life saver”).

“Here we go… 42nd trek”, said Peter. It was a 2 hour walk to reach the base of the hill. The scorching sun was beating us down at Andhra :( Many first timers and myself began to wonder “How the hell are were going to make it to the top?”, “Was it a bad to decision to have come here?”, but there was Chenchu pushing us to go on and encouraging us to walk.



“Water Water Water No-where” from 11 am till 4 pm. Thorns pierced my t-shirt, my cap and my sleeping mat got torn at all it’s edges. We still kept trekking with all our energy, draining out every minute, thinking and hoping all the way, that it is “just another 5 minutes to the top”. After we kept fooling ourselves withthat 5 min Top thoughts, we reached the 700m base camp of the hill at 3.30 p.m., and Peter, who reached there before us, was happily taking a nap there knowing that these guys will always be late.

Completing our lunch with eggs and sweets (Thanks to Chenchu for carrying it all along :) ) and relaxing, we were surprised on seeing the clouds touching us, we all felt that all the climbing was in fact a nice idea.
But when we were all wondering where the tents were and where do we sleep, Chenchu says we still have another 200m to climb and if we go in a good pace ( :( which we can’t ), he said it would take another hour. The best part of the trek started there. No more heat, no more sun beating us down, just clouds everywhere, telling us to “Catch me if you can” :D

For every meter we ascended, we were able to catch breathtaking views, astonishing greenery, which made our expedition a little easier and we reached the top around 6.p.m. We were all treated and welcomed to the top, by the sunset views, with awesome colors changing every minute in the sky, which made everyone forget all the trouble we had while climbing:) Chenchu and the local guides took all the empty bottles and filled up with water. (We thought there was water stream flowing down somewhere in another path).



People then started unwinding things and each found a place for his/her sleeping mat. Each one kept praising and exclaiming “what a wonderful place this is!” and felt sorry for the people who missed this trek. The guides arranged water for all of us who needed to quench their thirst and mix it for a drink. Peter and some trek-mates claimed the ruined fort, and started enjoying themselves by playing games, having discussions. Then it was time to sleep, and the chillness kept creeping in; good thing that it didn’t rain, otherwise it would have made things worst. Aeolus(Greek God of Wind) tells Zeus (God of rain), “Let me take care of these fellows from CTC, leave ‘em to me”. Then she started with all her strength, changed my sleeping bag into an air-balloon and barely let me sleep with all the noise. We all woke up in the morning with the roaring-wake-up call from Aeolus and then I got ready to capture the sunrise. After enjoying the sunrise we all decided to go down to another edge of the peak to take group photos on the rocks and we could see amazing views again. We left Sam and Viki, at the same place to capture us in their cam when we reach the top. And so we all climbed to the peak again.

After completing the breakfast our descent started. All my thoughts were to go to the water stream and get the 3 litres of water and Chenchu showed us the way to the stream. While I was happily rushing to the water spot I was shocked to see water droplets dripping underneath a rock and all of us needed 3 bottles each (Was this the same place where the guides got water to entire group the previous night? :-?) After accepting that this is the only way to get water from this place (My hundred rupees note in my pocket is of no value here), we started collecting the water slowly from the droplets. We started the descent slowly to reach the 700m area, where we had some rest. Since it was a slow descent I was able to capture some macro shots of insects, butterflies in my cam.



While most of us were resting we heard sounds of people from the other side of the hill. So many questions crossed our mind.. “Whoz that? What’s happening ?” “Did some people take a wrong trail ?”. The answer was “no” :) It was Peter and the pro-trekkers who did not want to go back early and so they decided to reach the other peak. They are indeed great guys, I sincerely wish I could be one of them someday (But certainly not today..ha…ha…:D ), For all of us who thought descending would be easy, we were wrong – “It’s not”, with the toes slamming into the shoes, it was painful throughout the journey. With some tiny breaks inbetween, we reached the ground level. On the way we heard of people shouting and a sudden burst of one name “CCCHHHENNNCHHHHUUUUUUU…………………” :D The group looked relieved and happy, since they lost the trail for about an hour and then saw Chenchu. So they joined us and everybody took a long walk to the village with Glucose in hand, totally exhausted for the weekend, hoping to have a good meal for dinner. We waited for Peter to arrive with the pro-trekkers and we all started at 7 p.m. and reached Chennai at 10:30p.m.

Overall the trekking expedition was amazing. Trek your way to life’s peak, is all I could say :) I wish to thank Peter and organizers for arranging this.

Nagalapuram

My experience about the Nagalapuram Trek -- A first time trekkers FIR
My typical Saturday itinerary is something like this-- get up @ around 12 noon, get hooked to the internet, book any movie running in Satyam Cinemas/mayajaal, Do Pub hopping and hit on a watering hole, Get home late night and crash for the day cursing myself for wasting one day of my weekend.....

There was a unusual twist to my usual cozy Saturday story.... Thanks to Baidik who threw light on this group to me.... I registered to this group on last Monday and through the chain mails realised that a trek is happening in nagalapuram hills.... Never heard of that name before... But I registered for the trek just for the heck of some fun filled TRIP.....



I woke up @ 4am... Rushed to Tidel Park after picking up Raghu - the co trekker on the way... As we came near the Tidel main entrance I saw a set of people chit-chatting, I asked one of them casually whether they are part of Chennai Tekkers Club, He was flummoxed and did know what I meant..I was bulbed... My wandering eyes caught another set of people... I didnt want to be embarrased this time... So i just went near them and tried to figure out myself whether they part of the group .... Bingo !! they were the CTC guys... We waited for 5 mins or so... there came Peter, Balaji and other trekkers... I introduced myself to the other trekkers...Then we headed to koyambedu to pick up the other trekkers...

"The TRIP has begun" My SMS to my mom once we started zipping from the koyambedu CMBT.....We pulled over for some gas in a nearby gas station...We had breakfast in a food joint... Then suddenly the rain god descended on earth, it was so refreshing to see it pour... we waited for about half an hour for it to stop and then we continued with our journey....We reached the base camp at around 9.15... We parked the cars/bikes...back packed ourselves with the snacks and food materials and I embarked on a journey of my life...



Perfect weather, Lush Green forest, thick tree cover and a passionate group of trekkers, I couldn't have wished for more. We were traversing across the thorns, bees and what not.. At one point we were walking across a small piece of rock clinging ourselves to the the wall of the rock...At the moment I almost felt that I have made a mistake by enrolling for the trek...After about 30 minutes we hit on stream with a small waterfall , it was so delightful to eyes... We jumped into it and soothed our aching muscles for sometime..Peter tied a rope across the stream to make sure that non-swimmers were not denied the fun... we lazed in the pool for about 30 mins and continued with our journey... for about one hour we were wading through thorns and steep climbs... and finally we broke for lunch near another stream.... Pooris and Idlis which were in the menu.... But I didn't have much inclination to eat for obvious reasons...I was feeling very thirsty then and all the water we carried were dried up.... so Shubro helped us filling the water bottles from the waterfall which was flowing into the stream... To be very frank I have never tasted any water like that before, so cold, refreshing, straight from mother nature... It felt like ambrosia ...Water has never tasted so good before...
After Lunch we continued with our journey ... I was starting to feel the pain...Aching legs...bruised hands(with thorns and even a bee stung me!!)... fatigued body...All of these wanted me to give up.... but my mind was just keeping me up to go an extra mile..But after a point I decided its the time to give up ..Then came Ram who carried my bag and gave me support and was helping me in the perilous climb... Thanks Ram !!!! We reached the summit at around 2 when the sun was scorching... We took a group photo to mark our conquest...



We began our descend immediately, we increased the pace of our walk and descend was really steep we had to watch our steps as there were many loose stones... After about 30-45 mins we hit on another stream... We decided to follow the stream...As we walked along the stream... we encountered another stream which we had to cross.. Peter did the initial safety checks...and we jumped in and cross the stream with the help of Peter, rope and the other swimmers... We thought we were done with the rivers by then... but we were in for a surprise when we bumped into two more streams one after another....Yes we had to swim across the streams....We were so much connected with the trek that we didnt really feel the pain... We synced perfectly with nature took whatever it had to offer..... Peter and other swimmers were fabulous in helping carrying the bags across the stream.... and also helping the non-swimmers cross the stream seamlessly.... I'm sure we can give Mike Phelps a run for his money!!!!

We were just swimming and climbing and swimming again.... we were kind of unsure where each stream was leading us to.... I was getting a bit apprehensive about getting lost in the woods... We looked like blips on a radar scale when compared the mountains on both the sides.. I was reminded of an Eagles all time hit song "hotel California" -- where they end it like this -
"Relaxed said the nature ("nightman" in the original song) We are programmed to receive,You can check out anytime you like(crossing every stream thinking that this the last), but you can never Leave (never find the way out)"



Then came the good news from Peter and the other senior trekkers that we have finally hit the right spot.... I heaved a great sigh of relief....
The night set in.,... the trekking continued.... We were walking cautiously across the dense forests...It was pitch dark and we were walking with our torches on....
Then we were told to hold back for a minute or so by Peter.... The GPS system stopped working....

But Peter and other trekkers were quickly able to get the trail at the drop of the hat... that was when I realized that when technology fails experience steps in!!!
After that -- In Peter's words "it was just a child's play" and we reached to the base camp and got back to our vehicles... Raghuvir and I were so tired... 100 kms before us looked like Nagalapuram IV to us... but we drove the vehicle like Johnny Depp drove in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and somehow managed to reach home same.......Finally -- Thanks to all you guys for making this TREK (atlast I realized its not a TRIP) a memorable one... Special thanks to Peter, Ram, Vivek, Antony, Balaji and Shubhro for organising such a fantastic trek
Last but not least... I think Robert Frost, the greatest American poet should have been a trekker himself since his lines fit the Club perfectly in his Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening

"The woods are lovely, dark and deep.But I have promises to keep,And miles to go before I sleep,And miles to go before I sleep. "

Tada

I was eagerly waiting for a trek to TADA falls, because many of my colleagues have been to that place and have told lot about it. Finally I got a chance to go there and I am penning down our experience during the TADA trek.

And the journey to TADA falls started finally on April 12th 2008 with a Scorpio, a Santro, two bikes (Enfield and XCD) and 17 trekkers. In this gang 3 were from SA and others excluding John were first time trekkers with the club. As per our schedule the pick-up point started from Thoraipakam. Peter, Nagendran, Vinay, Nailesh and Sheetal got into Scorpio.



Chandramouli joined us in his bike. Then we drove through Madhya Kailash and picked up Vivek and Prathap in Guindy. Prem had a bike (Royal Enfield) joined in near Le Meridian and other five trekkers Kalpa,Sunitha, Yashoda, Kamal, Kunal joined us from Koyembedu in their Santro. Here comes our great photographer BIG John who joined us in Annanagar 15 minutes late. Because of some confusion with the pickup point Prathap had to take bike and pick Supriya. The last trekker to be picked was Lavanya @ Retteri.By the time we reached NH5 it was 6.45 a.m. Peter tried to compensate the 15 minutes delay by squeezing his Scorpio through the chennai traffic, We started to discuss about our experiences of our previous treks, furure trek places and how we got to know about our trek club. Also there was some discussion going on camera, and John-The photographer was answering to those questions.

Now to know more about TADA, the original name for TADA falls is Ubbalamadugu falls, we came to know this through localates there. This place is in the border of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil nadu. Its in Nellore district. You can take NH-5 from Chennai and drive for about 85 kilometers to reach Tada. Just before you enter the town Tada, you hit the Kalahasti Road going west off NH-5.



After reaching the TADA village, we had breakfast (Dosa and Idlyz) and also packed the same for lunch. We bought two cases of water bottle and some plantains. From there we had to travel for another 20 minutes to reach Ubbalamadugu Falls check post. On the way some building construction was going on with full of marbles and from far it was looking really beautiful. We started clicking photos of that building and some poses in front of Scorpio and santro. We drove to check-post which is new to that place. Then we had to pay 50/- rupees for the entry into the falls and another 50/- for each camera.

Scorpio started from check post. Then it was turn for the people in Santro and the Bike-riders to pay for the entry and cameras. The road was either with big stones or loose and sandy. As we didn’t see the Santro following us, we waited on to the side, and within a minute, we got a call from Santro people that they couldn’t drive through that road. Peter had to go back and pick those five trekkers. So totally, the count reached to 13 trekkers squeezed into a single Scorpio and it resembled more like an advertisement for Scorpio.

After travelling to some distance, we tried to park our vehicles under the shade, but one of the localite said that we can take our vehicle for another 2 Km inside. We had some plantains and we drove for another 2 km to park our vehicle in the new Parking space under a dead tree. This 2 km saved around 40 minutes of walking towards the falls. Then Peter distributed 2 water bottles each and lunch packets that each need to carry. Thanks to Chandru, for he opened his tripod and clicked group photos with all of us in frame, before we started our trek.



We started our trek towards the falls with lots of photo sessions in the middle. After sometime we crossed a small water stream, where we could clearly see the stones under water. After which we had to walk in an open space under the hot sun, but it was bearable because of the breeze. On the way we saw a nice view of the hills around. Then we had to cross one more water stream, and thank God for no one fell into the water. Cameras were busy in clicking photos when we crossed. This place was very rich in diverse flora and fauna with lots of colorful butterflies and colorful insects of different size.

The next water stream was a delight to all of us. Everyone jumped into water as it was less deep and swimmers had nice time. Then we resumed our trekking, to meet with a Shiva temple on the way. It was from here that the terrain was fully rocky, boulders and had to jump from one big rock to another. Every now and then, we came across small water streams between the rocks. Then came another beautiful water stream between the boulders. There was one more big rock, which we climbed with the help of wooden log. We could see Lot of small rocks submerged in water. Then came the most challenging part of this trek. We had to climb a big and vertical rock which has some support at few places. Thanks to Peter and Prem, who were helping us to climb this vertical rock. A few were helped to climb, and the rest were pulled up the rock on its smooth and slippery surface.

After climbing the last vertical rock, we walked some distance to find a beautiful pool between the 2 vertical mountain ridges. The water was very clear and freezing too. The pool was very deep, and definitely it would be more than 20 feet. So we started tying shirts and towels together to make a rope. We tied one end of rope ( shirts + towels) to a wood plank and Chandru and Prathap swam to the middle of the pool holding the other end of the rope. Kamal held the wood plank from the bank. Some of the swimmers reached the centre of the pool using the man made rope as support. Peter accompanied every swimmer to give then support whenever needed. A few of us were able to reach the centre of the pool without any help. The rest of us including all the girls, swan on Peter’s back. The last 2 were left behind for clicking photos and to safeguard our food from the monkeys.



After the photo-session was over, we all swam back to have our packed lunch .Kalpa had brought chapathis , pickles , and some deserts like mango, papaya and chikki. We had to share our lunch and deserts with a bunch of Monkeys (The only wild animal we can see in this so called forest). One monkey took “Lays” from Kalpaz bag. This reminded us of the slogan of Lays “ No one can eat just one”.

We started returning from the falls at around 3pm, We had to face the same challenge again, but this time it was climbing down the vertical rock. Climbing down the vertical rock was much easier than climbing up. On our way return from the falls, we reached the last water stream crossing. It was here where we relaxed for some free treatment from the Doctor fish, followed by an intro session. The intro session was the really fun. Then around 5 pm , we reached to the place where our vehicles were parked. To our surprise, no one looked tired. We had to squeeze ourselves into the Scorpio for yet another 13 member ride back to the check post. After reaching the check post, 5 trekkers got into their Santro and left to their home. On the way back to tada village, the bajaj XCD ran out of fuel and we had to go and bring petrol in water bottles. When we reached the village, we had tea, juice and snacks. We drove back towards Chennai , but as usual got stuck in the traffic jam.



This trek is much do-able for anybody; nowadays we even saw a group of granny’s coming to tada. If you know swimming, I am sure that you would really enjoy the most, and for those who does not know how to swim, take help from an experts and you can also float on to their back (provided the area is less deep).
This is the beautiful place, but spoilt by some enthusiastic alcoholics who had broken their beer bottles and filled the place with lots of broken glass pieces all over. So make sure you trek this place with your eyes wide open, so that you don’t step on some glass pieces.