Trek to Tadiyandmol...(Part I)

Hmmm....from a long time i was waiting this opportunity to trek with BMC group. But as usual plans never seemed to be worked out. But finally i got the chance to travel with the group. The trek was for Tandiyandmol on 26-27Sep2008. For those who know about it...can skip few line from here onwards. TADIYANDAMOL is the highest mountain in Coorg (Mercara) Dist (1750 Mtrs. MSL).

Tadiyandmol Hill

This place is around 250 Kms from Bangalore - via Virajpet. The climb to this mountain is gradient passing through grassland. If you are the type who likes to mingle with nature, see the snow-like mist romance with mountain slopes, feel the tingle of the cool and gentle breeze, watch the leaves flutter in dance-like movements, hear the sounds of chirping birds fill the air, and then Coorg is the place for you. So as planned we were to told to choose one of the pick-up point from 4 pick-up point list. I opt for the Domlur bus stop pick-up point. After this we had 2 more bus stop n finally we started our journey by 11:00pm. I was travellin alone for the first time ......with this gruop n on any kind of trip....so carrying lots of things in my mind...like how it will be to travel alone with others....wil it be good expirence or bla...bla..bla...will tell u answer to these doubts in last of blog... :). We were around 45 people in total so i think its not a good ides to introduce STAR CAST for this trek :)).

....THE GANG....

We reached at Virajpet in morning around 6AM. BMC had booked a decent hotel for all of us to get frest and for the breakfast. We had earlier planed to go to Tandiyandmol hill directly but our leader (Satish) had alterd plan a bit. He told us about a water-fall which was very near by and on-the-way to tandiyandmol hill. Everyone got excited because no one was having idea that we will be going to any water fall also. So we decied to go to water fall first and then towards Tandiyandmol hill. By the time we all got fresh and had breakfast it was around 8:30. We started from there around 8:45 and bus had dropped us at a point by 9:30 from there a deviation goes to Chilvarra falls.

with yogan n arpan on the way to chilvara falls

arpan n me with villege school kids

It was a 3 KM trek from the point where we left the bus. It was a quite decent and beautifull trek with greenary all around the way. you might fall in love with the nature over there...coz on all over the way the greenary and the sound of the river which originates from the fall only fills the music in enviournment. We reached the fall by 10:30AM and had lots of fun over there.

chilvarra falls

We rested over there for haf an hour n got it captured in our camreas. After that we decided to go the bottom of the fall. At the bottom the scene was quite differnt and beautiful. After spending a good time over there we decieded to go back to the bus. It was 1:00PM by the time everybody was back to bus and we were ready to start our next journey. It was 45 minutes to reach to our next stop. From here onwards the trek to Tandiyandmol Peak starts. It as a quite decent place. There was a villege school and a small Tea-shop and last but not the least "King's Palace". This palace had quite intresting history. It was built in 1795 quite hard to believe but yes it is.

Trek to Tadiyandmol....(Part II)

We were carrying all foods items for our lunch, breakfast, dinner on the way with us. The team was told not to go too far away and we can have a look at the old kings palace and they were preparing lunch for us. Initially were not thinking about that palace too much, but after visiting the palace there were quite many things we were forced to give a thought by the history and architecture of palace.

Temple inside the palace

d gang inside of palace

Now its lunch time....we had our lunch over there...by 3:00PM everybody got finished his lunch and was ready to conquerer Tandiyandmol peak.

Lunch Stall.... :)

It was a total 8KM trek fom our place, which consist of 3KM concereet road trek and rest is mud trek. Our leader divided all of us in a team of 4. The idea was like every team had to carry his sleeping bags,tent and food items to the base camp. BMC team also arranged one jeep for to carry all tents and sleeping bags up to one location(which was about 1-5-2KM from where we start our trek.) on trek from where we have to pick the tents and sleeping bags and move ahead.As tent was quite heavy so each team had to roll tent among its team members after carrying for some time. So we were divided in to total 11 team. Each team had got the items to carry and finally were on the trek once again.

and once again journey starts....!!!

Team no. 2 : Arpan, Vijay, Srivatsa, Me [R-L]

As the initial raod trek was quite steep and was difficult in full sunny day. Everyone was enjoying and was just saying to everyone else just move-on buddy...:). We took one or two breaks and finally reached to the point where jeep was waiting for us. From here we had to carry all things with our-selves. There were many scenery on the way to our base camp. So everyone was quite busy in taking lots of snaps on the way.

On the way to base camp

Finally by 4:10 we reached to a place where we were suppose to made our base camp. The plan to pitch basecamp over their was because there was a water stream flowing very near to that place so we can get water easily for our food and drink. Everyone was still full of energy after travelling so many kilometers on their foots. Every team had pitched their tents and took some rest over there.

Pitching our tent...!!!

Some of the members decided to stay back at the base camp and to do prepration for other things like dinner and all...Thanks to satish, janak, apun, meera, manoj, manasi, syamakshi,vinod n prakruti for their dedication for others. So we left the base camp by 4:45 and started to conquer tandiyandmol peak which was about 2-3KM still away from there. Everyone knows that the sun-set at the hill top is quite beautifull so everyone was curious to reached to the top before sun-set. As it would be dark by the time we will come back to our base camp so some of us carrying torchs also with themselves. This part of trek was bit difficult. On the way we had to cross one jungle also, though there were no animals but it was quite dense and wet. So was need to take a bit extra care for leachs n all. Actually there was a series of hills one after the another so our intial guess for the tandiyandmol peak was wrong. The actual peak was behind the peak of the hill which were seeing from bottom so it was getting tuff n tuff. Few of us had decided to stay back and decided to go back to base camp because it seems to be difficult to reach to the top before sun-set and also we were not carrying enough torchs with us and in night(was amawasya...so a bit extra dark night) it would be very difficult for us to get down from hill. Hmmm....but we had not left the hope to conquer the peak so we just moving on to be on the peak before sun-set. And yes we did it we were on the top
by 5:50PM and it was few minutes before sun-set.

View from top of Tadiyandmol hill

The scene from hill top was very beautiful...sourrounding by clouds and from hill top if we see below there was a thick layer of clouds...n only song that got click in my was..... UP ON CLOUD NO.9 from Bryan adams...:).

Trek to tadiyandmol....(Part III)

It was celebration time so everyone was busy to express his happyness and clicking photographs.

d group on top of hill

vijay enjoying d views from top

Now again its time to leave the peak. As we were carryying only limited torchs so we decided to move in teams caryying equal number of torchs. Our first motive while getting down was to cross the jungle part as soon as possible before sun goes down and the night comes up and we were quite sucessfull in acheiveing our goals..:).

on the way back to base camp

So finally night had come and we were moving towards our base camp but the crap...destiny was waiting to play its part for me. While jumping from one the rock on the way i got my right calf mussle pull. It was so much paining i was not able to move my leg by a inch. Rajesh tried to help me but got no relief. Finally we got one physio amond ourselves n it was gagan. He did some pull techticts and asked me to do some stretch exercise.

gagan who rescued me from my muscle pull injury...

Allthough i was feeling the pain but was able to manage to get back to the base camp. After reaching the base camp we had campfire and then we prepare the soup and dinner. Apun tried to bring-out some singing/etc tallent from the people but everyone was so tired that everyone wants to do relax for a while. So we had our dinner and by 11:00PM everybody was in their tent. It was a wonderfull expirience to stayed their in tent with lots of matatgashti. Next day we woke up by 6:00AM in morning and we found that all of our tent was got wet with mist drops.

sun rise @ hills

morning view from our base camp

Few of us again went up to hill to see sun-rise. Sorrounding by clouds and cold breeze over their made it a perfect n memorable morning. Their was a water stream flowing very near to our base camp and we had to fresh over there only and to fill the water for food afterthat. It was 11:00AM by the time we packed our tents n all and had our energetic breakfast(Upma - stil wonders it was for the first time i ate it in my last 3 years in bangalore:))
we had some group photo session n then started moving back.

on the way vijay n srivatsa

Again on the way back we had to leave our tents and sleeping bags in the jeep and carry on our journey to bus. All of reached the bus by 1:30PM and we started again for one more journey. The plan was to had a lunch in some hotel in MEDIKIRI district and after that we had to visit the GOLDEN TEMPLE(dont get it confused it with one in Amritsar). Actually this temple had got a intresting history.

Golden Temple

This temple belongs to Lord Buddha with its tibetans followers. After the Chinese took over Tibet, the refugees were settled at Bylakuppe Near Kushalnagar and the Buddhist Monastery was re-established here in 1972. It houses over 250 monks today. The monastery not only attracts large number of young Tibetans seeking enlightenment and education, but also draws huge tourists from all over India and abroad. but i got wonder by one thing over there. Their are many pictures consist of devils/murder scenes/human skull etc. which i got clicked from walls of the temple.

one of the painting on the wall of temple

Now its time to leave the golden temple. We started from there around 4:30PM towards bangalore. On the way back to bangalore people got mingled with everyone else had lots of fun via singing songs all the way to bangalore and here i am wrapping my this blog.
Hope you wont get iritated via reading it...:))).Anyways full n final the trip was wonderfull and its real heaven for nature lovers and made lots of friends over there. Now i can say that i was not travelled alone there.
Well some more pics from the trip are here :

Things to carry:
================
- Minimum 2 Ltr water
- Energy food (ie. Chocolates, Flavored Curd, Fruits etc)
- Energy Drink (ie. Flavored milk, Fruit juice etc)
- Cap, sun glasses, rain coat, water bottle,
- Shoes: With minimum grips/studs. preferably canvas or soft sole shoes if not rock climbing shoes.
- Swiss knife
- Torch

Those were the best days of my life......

Hi to all who ever will land to this blog. This is a trial to put down college memories at one place. Those were the unforgettable days for any body in his own life. Time will move away....but these were the days you will never forgot and always wish "kash ki wo din fir se laut aayein....".
So here it goes....

College Cricket Team......this match we won by 6 wickets. Find me if you can....

View form my hostel balcony

Mahesh...we call him PAHADI....ye banda mere ko abhi tak samjh me nahi aaya hai.....;-)

wid sandeep and mitesh

Near areodrun in campus

my lab....!!!

sandeep, nikesh, me, vijay, srikanth...

in my hostel room...

hamara bajaj.....

Beetee lamhe....

wid ***%$*,joshi, mitesh

dats me...

Rock n Roll...

vikas....d guru...known by CM....he even wonders till now wat does CM means....!!!

Dangerous but faviourate.....

Well this is smthg special...coz it described about one of my faviourate things. Errr....yaa sankes are one of my faviourate creature which exist on the earth. Hmmm....i m not a bio field in any manners......this is something which i want to tell you which i got to read on net.

[Black Mamba]

Black mambas are one of Africa’s most dangerous and feared snakes. Nothing is truer when you are standing in front of big black mamba hissing loudly, mouth gaping, striking rapidly in your direction. But are all the frightening stories about black mambas true? I don’t think so. On the African continent many myths are told about these wonderful creatures. Stories abound about black mambas chasing people for miles, attacking when they notice you and visiting houses to kill every single person inside. All are exaggerations. Black mambas are not as fierce as people describe them. In captivity black mambas are docile and appreciative animals that show a fantastic and active behaviour when housed in a big enclosure the right way.
Black mambas belong to the genus, Dendroaspis, which translated means "tree snake". They are strong but slender in body with the average size being between 2.4 to 3 metres (7.8 - 9.8 foot). According to some reports they may grow on exception to 4.5 metres (14.7 feet). Black mambas that reach this size are obviously rare and verifiable data is actually hard to track down.

The name "black mamba" is somewhat confusing as this animal is not black at all. The common name is given to the snake because the mouth is inky black on the inside. Most mambas have a dark olive, olive green, greyish brown or metal grey colour. Some of them will show a light banding around their body. Slightly speckled mambas are also not uncommon. Juvenile black mambas are light grey or olive in colour but will darken when older.

Black mambas are widespread over the African continent and occur from Somalia to South Africa. In the past black mambas were recognized in 2 subspecies: Dendroaspis polylepis polylepis and Dendroaspis polylepis antinorii. But research proved antinorii was an invalid subspecies. Venom research has shown us however, that there can be differences in venom composition in black mambas from different localities.

Black mambas are diurnal snakes that hunt prey actively. They live in a permanent lair which they will use for a long time if not disturbed, and also seem to have permanent basking spots which they will return to daily. Black mambas often live in termite mounds and hollow trees, but even when they are not supposed to be arboreal, they can sometimes be found in trees. Typically, when black mambas sense danger, they will slide away to the nearest hiding place, and are capable of doing this at 20 km/h, which makes the black mamba one of the fastest snakes in the world. Black mambas feed mainly on warm-blooded prey such as rodents, ground squirrels, hyraxes and other small mammals. Birds are occasionally taken. Black mambas’ eating reptiles and other snakes is quite rare and there is little documentation to substantiate it.
Black mambas usually bite their prey once or twice and then allow it go off to die before attempting to eat. They may however, bite and hold when eating birds. Their venom is very potent and is mainly based on neurotoxins that are absorbed quickly by the prey. The venom will cause a blockade at the neuromuscular junction which blocks every signal from the brain passing through the nervous system to the muscles which causes systemic paralysis. The prey will die from suffocation due to paralysis of the muscles of respiration.
Even though venom composition varies in black mambas from different localities, there is a good polyvalent antivenom produced by SAIMR (South African Institute of Medical Research) that effectively covers them all. Bites from black mambas to humans are rare, but are seriously life threatening when they occur. A good first aid treatment rapidly enacted is very important. We apply a pressure immobilization bandage as described by Prof. Struan Sutherland. During transport to the hospital, respiratory support for the bitten patient is very important. This can be either mouth to mouth, mouth to mask, or a bag-valve-mask device used by medical personnel. With good pre-hospital first aid and in-hospital antivenom treatment, 99% of victims survive without any complications. Reversal of symptoms is generally quite rapid with early antivenom administration.

Say No To FURRR.....!!!

I was reading a blog which I landed upon through orkut. The posting was talking about how animals are being killed for fur. It had a link to a video which was showing some scenes of how animals are killed and their fur is extracted. It was really brutal and the video affected me a lot. Live animals were beaten on the ground to death or unconscious state and they were hanged down and their limbs were cut and their skin was removed from their body like removing some wrapper over a chocolate. I wasn’t affected that much till I watched half way through the video. Then the video showed the fur being removed from a half conscious animal. The animal was struggling to escape but it couldn’t and the guy was still doing what he was doing. I was thinking, at least he can kill the animal and then remove it, so that it wont be so horrible. But NO. The guy removed the skin when the animal was still alive. Even after removing the skin the animal had life and the camera-man showed the eyes of it and I felt like the animal was trying to say "why have you done this to me??" The animal tried to turn around and heal itself, but it dint have enough energy left with it. Finally it fell dead. The video is not for faint heart people. It may disturb you alot. So just think before opening the link. Here is the link to the video:CLICK HERE.
Gruesome slaughtering of animals for their furs. I would advise anyone who watches this link to have their sounds turned off. And yes, if you find dead animals on road a disturbing feeling, this is gonna disturb you a lot.

I wont fall in vegetarians category. But now onwards before eating non-veg, i have to think twice weather to have it or not. I agree plants are also considered as living things by Science. But then we know the truth.

ROCK ON...!!!

hai ye waqt ka ishara....fir na milegi ye jindagi dobara....!!!!