Kodaikanal to Munnar; Trekking Expedition
(18th to 24th December, 2014)
Back to treks & trails!
Woohoo! I was so excited, as the scheduled day for trek was approaching near.
This was my first with youth hostels, which I had to book, since I do not get a
trekking partner among my close friends and family, for they hardly take any
interest in climbing mountains, and moreover our schedule always clash. So,
without giving a second thought I clicked the book button on YHAI’s site. And
soon the day came.
Day- 1; Travel to Kodaikanal,
the Base camp
(18th Dec. 14)
The nearest airport to Kodaikanal is Madurai, which is around 135 kms
from there. So, I had already booked return flight to Madurai, and guess which
flight I would have booked? Yess, Spice jet, the same flight which had been
going through a tumbling phase at that time, and had been cancelling and
delaying flights every now and then at the very last moment. So, I decided if
my flight gets cancelled, I would cancel the trek, for my budget also had the
possibility of going out of balance. But I got no such news or intimation of
cancellation of my flight, and with fingers crossed; I pre-booked a taxi to
airport at 4:45 am as my flight was scheduled at 6:15 am. But when I woke up at 4:00 am at the call of
my alarm clock’ the first message on my mobile screen flashed of, was from
spice jet, saying, ‘your flight has been
delayed for one hour.’ Lol I called the taxi and postponed the pickup for
another half an hour. And thank God, the flight took off at 7:30 am, and after
half an hour’s halt at Chennai, it landed at Madurai at around 11:45 am. I
hired a taxi to Bus station which was another 11-12 kms from airport. The same
problem which I faced at Chennai last time, I had to face here also. The boards
displayed were in Tamil only. People spoke in Tamil only. And I had to resort
to sign language only. Lol As I didn’t have my breakfast, and spice jet also
apologized for not being able to serve any food and beverage onboard at that
time, I was feeling damn hungry. I thought it best to have coconut water with
malai, which I saw just at the entrance of the bus station. Well, it quenched
my thirst as well as satisfied my hunger. Sometimes, I think myself smarter
than I really am. Uff. I thought the buses to Madurai would be frequent. So, when
the taxi driver gestured towards a bus, which was about to leave and
said,’Kodaikanal’ I just smiled back and thanked and turned my back to the bus
to walk towards coconut water. And when I went to the bus enquiry counter, I
learnt through gestures that the next bus will leave at 1:20 pm, and I had to
wait for more than an hour. Lol. And again I thought that the bus will take
hardly 2 hours, and I will definitely reach
before it gets dark, but once again my over smart assumption was wrong. Yes,
the bus took more than 4 hours, as the drive after entering kodaikanal forest
area became quite slow, due to upward and curvy hilly roads. The weather also
became cloudy and started raining in between. But I was enjoying at every
juncture as the dark greenery of Western Ghats had so much to offer to ones
senses. The real apprehensive I became, when finally I reached Kodaikanal bus
station and it became quite dark. I asked for direction to Greenland’ (Base
camp) from locals, who said that it’s at a walking distance only. I took out my
phone, but there was no network coverage. I put on the jacket, and walked
faster than I would normally do. I kept walking. There were few roadside shops and hotels, but
no trace of Greenland. It was getting darker, and now I started getting
apprehensive, as some of the guys on bikes and vans started staring and
shouting, “want a ride, or shall we drop
you somewhere?” I maintained my outside calm, and politely said to all of
them, “No, thank you, I would love to walk.”
Then eventually I reached a place, with no trace of human around, but the fogs.
Few shops were there, but all closed. It was dark as fog had engulfed all
around and the pin drop silence amidst the darkness reminded me of some horror
movie. Lol. I kept walking towards the
end and instinctively turned right, when I saw the board, with the arrow marked
over it as ‘Greenland’s’! I sighed
and smiled and entered the gate. Finally I saw some movements and heard some
noise, and assured myself, “Nawi, now chill, you have reached safely finally!” I encountered two girls, who
smiled at me and said, “Hello!” I returned their “Hello” with a broader smile
and walked towards reception. The moment I climbed the steps to the reporting
area, I encountered, Vilas, one of the broker associated with my office. We
both were shocked & surprised to see each other. Lol. He introduced me to his group and to the two
girls I met earlier, Rupa and Kalpna, from Bangalore, who became my good friends
during the course of the trek. I thanked God for always sending angels before
me to guide and guard me, who leaves me never alone and lonely. At the registering counter, the fellow on duty
asked me, “From which group are you?”
I questioned back, “I don’t know, am I
supposed to be in a group?” oh, later
I came to know that all the people who had come there had come in groups or in
pairs. I was the only one to come all alone, and when I told him that I am
alone, he made a surprising gesture and grinned thoughtfully; either
appreciating me to have the courage to come all the way to TN all alone, or
thinking that I am an insane person to have done so. Whatever it was, for me
all felt quite amusing. One big group formed 14 people from Gujarat, which
comprised of 5 couples and 4 individuals, another group of which Vilas was also
a member comprised 14 people, all from Mumbai, another group comprising of 2
couples were from Pune, Rupa and Kalpana from Bangalore was another group and
lastly 1 family comprising of a couple and three kids formed another group. The
above mentioned groups and some other people in total formed a trekking group
of 52 people.
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| "If you ask me to read, I'll read it as 'Jalebi jalebi jalebi....." :P |
Day-2; Trek to Vellagavi
(19th Dec.14)
Early morning tea at 6:00 am! I went outside and a beautiful scenery
around welcomed me; the view around was mesmerizing with full greenery and the
rising clouds from below, playing with the mountains and trees, flirting and
fleeting looked really magical. Though the trek was supposed to start at 9:30,
but due to rain, it started at 10:00 am. As I didn’t have barsaati (sort of
rain sheet) to protect myself from rain, Vilas and friends got one for me too.
And for Lunch box and mug, which I didn’t know that we were supposed to get
along, Devakrishan from TN got me a new set from market. All had been so
helpful and supportive, and my sincere thanks to all of them. So, the trek started
at around 10:15 am. Walking upwards through road for almost 1 km, we finally
entered the real trek route through a narrow entrance towards forest area. The
route was very narrow and sloppy and due to the rain, it had become very
slippery as well. So care had to be taken at every step. For me, the trek was
quite moderate and I felt strong enough to help the kids Alina and Ajab, who
became the best company for whole trek. Walking with full concentration for an
hour or half, we descended down and found a beautiful water stream. We relaxed
our muscles for a while and trekked further. The whole trek was downhill and
was around 7-8 kms and took us around 6 hours. The lush green narrow jungle
full of rich flora, which has the privilege of being the only way to commute during
18th century British India, treated us well.
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| "Hello Happiness!!" |
On reaching our camping site at the village, Vellagavi the first thing
we were taught was that we weren’t supposed to walk in shoes near mandir
premises, and to our wonder we found temples at every corner; every tree as
well as rocks had been turned into temples, and in total there were around 300
temples in this small village with population around 50. And people here walked
barefoot no matter what. This village still doesn’t have a road and people
commute to kodaikanal and nearby cities to get essentials on foot, and wonder
what they walk barefoot and so fast that it’s difficult to match their speed. ‘Bravo Vallagavians! For your undying faith,
and purity of your love for whichever God you pray!’
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| "Yeh galian, Vellagavi ki. <3 " |
From our camping site, we could have a glimpse of our base camp at
Kodaikanal, which was at the top of the hill, and I felt so proud for myself as
well as for the group, for covering that much distance on foot, for in total we
had trekked through three hills, the demarcation being quite visible from
there. (Sigh)
Day-3; Vellagavi--Kumbakarai--Kurangini
(20th Dec. 14)
The trek route was wider and moderate 11 kms trek downhill till
Kumbakarai, from where the YH buses picked us up and dropped us to Kurangini. The
mind refreshing trek, amidst of thick green forest, full of coffee, cardamom
and tamarind trees, was easier than the previous day’s trek, and we covered it
in less than five hours. The weather at the initial phase was quite hazy as
everywhere there were fogs and we had to struggle to see the route, and to
speak the truth I felt as if I was inside deep ocean water, the feeling which
later on Rupa also shared. Later on the weather became quite friendly with us
and we had our share of fun walk; singing, talking and admiring the nature
around for its abundance of beauty in various forms. The rich flora around was
treat to our eyes, and rich fauna in the form of beautiful songs being sung by
different birds (I can’t name them, for lack of knowledge) were treat to our
ears, and together they would co-ordinate in such a lovely way that beautified
our heart and enriched our soul. As the
trek was long, few of the group members felt losing their stamina for the next
day trek and were making up minds to travel by road to Munnar and quit trekking
in the middle. Hmm
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| 'Breathe Nature & be Natural!" |
Day-4; Trek to central Station
(21st Dec. 14)
The trek for the day was for 11-12 kms. And it was the real trek as we
had to go through some of the most challenging routes. Some of the group
members, who didn’t want to trek further, including Azhar and family except
Ajab, and two couples from Pune, left us at Kurangini to directly meet us at
Munnar. The trek was moderate upward trek for first 7 kms, and then the 5 kms tough
ascent through steep hills made every nerve squeeze. It was the toughest of all
the days. The trek started with super shining sun above us. And after trekking
through the roads and some open spaces, we finally felt relieved when we
entered the forest. The track was wide and well defined. I was walking ahead
with Ajab, Devakishan, Sougatha, Datta and father-son duo of Prasad and his
father. Ajab and Devakrishnan were narrating stories to each other, while we
enjoyed the same. Thus the wide,
moderate path led us smoothly, and at around 1:00 pm we reached a small
village, which had a huge resting space under a huge banyan tree with a water
tap nearby. We stopped there for lunch, and during lunchtime, we came to know
that few of our group members, including the group leader, lost the way and
taken some other way. We waited for them, but came to know that they might
reach through the other way only which was a shortcut to central station.
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| "The journey gets easier and memorable if you have the best company around." |
The after lunch trek was what we all call ‘the real trek’! It was so steep, with big disturbing holes cut
through in between. We literally had to crawl and had to gasp for breath as
well. As I along with Prasad & father, Mayuresh & Uncle, Dipen,
Diganta, Ajab, Datta, Deva and Rupa had climbed quite far until we met a
diversion of trail, we had to keep waiting for the other members and guide to
reach who all were quite far down to hear and see us. When they came closer, at
the gesture of the guide we followed the left path, which thinly led us
parallel to the mountain range, though we had to go upward only. But, then the
real tragedy happened. The trail ended in the middle of nowhere. The guide also
seemed a little panicked. Some of us found adventure in that, while some
others, esp the Gujarati group got real angry and started arguing with the
guide and other members. Turning
backwards, we had to go through a path, which was fully covered with bushes and
grasses, and in a slanting position, we had to make way first by clearing the grasses with
one foot, then putting another step we had to walk for a long distance till we
reached the real trail. I held Ajab’s hand, who kept saying,”Didi, I am scared!” Though it was really scary as one slip of the
step, you can fall in the gorge, never to be found again, but I had no option
but to be strong as I was holding one kid’s hand and giving her the assurance
that all would be fine. After covering
that particular path, we reached at a safer side and sighing and smiling we
maintained our pace towards central station.
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| "So, here I come home to Nature." |
Day-5; Trek to Top
Station
(22nd Dec. 14)
It was our last day of trek that too was the shortest one, i.e. 5 kms.
In order not to repeat the other days mistakes, it was decided to stay as close
to the group and after every hour the group walking ahead to wait for the next
group to catch up. The trek began at 9:30, and walking through the jungle
amidst beauty of nature, we reached Top station at 12:30 pm. Oh, here we enter
the road that is the border of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The name Top station is
historic one, as during British rule a ropeway connecting Top station to
central and bottom station was used to transport tea from Munnar to Kottagudi,
which then were used to transport by train to other parts of country and
England. As thousands of tourists throng this area every year, a view point
area had been specifically made for that purpose, from where one can have a
panoramic view of Western Ghats. We were so excited that we just had a cup of
tea each, dropped our bags at the coffee shop only and ran towards the view
point. The view seemed to have been really mesmerizing, but at that point of
the day the looming clouds or say fogs had engulfed the whole valley with zero
visibility down the valley, we had to be satisfied with the foggy valley only,
which looked beautiful at its own place.
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| "To see & envy the peaks from below, and then reaching them and standing side by side them, the feeling I cannot express but feel..." Hmm |
After walking a good length, we got back to the coffee shop. By then
whole group had arrived, including the party who left us at Karangini the other
day to catch us up at Munnar. Ajab was with me all the way, and when her family
met her at Top station, they felt so proud of her for successfully completing
the trek. I suggested to her father, to let her do the Mountaineering course
that I also did last summer, as she was a great kid with all the potential of
being a good mountaineer as well as a good human being. We had our lunch at the
coffee shop only and by the time we finished, the YH jeeps also reached, which
were to fetch us to Munnar, which was 35 kms from there.
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| "Top Station view; The kerala-Tamil Border area!" |
The jeep drove us, and soon we were in Kerala, the lush green tea
gardens on both sides of the road welcoming us with full warmth. We really were
mesmerized and struggled to see through as the jeep drove fast through the
bumpy and curvy mountain road. On the way, the driver stopped the jeep to let
us have sightseeing view of few of the places like Kundala Dam, Echo point,
Tribal village view etc. Through our
excited and happy gestures, one can make out that we were in ‘God’s own real
country’! J
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| "The never ending Tea Gardens." |
Day-6; Travel to
Kollukkamalai Hills
(23rd Dec. 14)
Well, done with the treks, now it was time for some ghumi-firi for
sightseeing. The destination for the day was Kollukamalai peak, where the
highest and oldest tea factory is located. It was about 37-38 kms from Munnar.
The journey started on broad, well metalled and beautifully curved roads with
awe inspiring views around for some distance, soon to enter the estate area
with kacha, stony, bumpy, hilly curvy roads, where only strong tired jeeps can
drive you. As we travelled, we were doing tandav nritya inside the jeep naturally,
with no music at all, for the jeep wobbled in such a way that makes your entire
system have a bubble boil. Our jeep broke down just at the entrance, and
another jeep was called. My silly remark that ‘till now we trekked, and now jeep is trekking and we are the baggages
on jeep’s shoulder having rock
dancing movements that our bags would have had to undergo when we trekked,”
made everyone laugh and agree to same. Lol We all were really tired by the time
we reached up, but after reaching at the point, the soul captivating view of
the Kollukkamali peak and Tamil hills and plains amidst misty haze suspended
throughout, made us forget the tough journey we had to go through.
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| "You can also feel the yummy aroma of the fresh Kolukkumalai tea" |
The highest tea factory made out of wood, which shows you the methods
of processing of tea, is located so beautifully on the top that you won’t feel like
going back. And the nearby outlet, from where you can sip the freshly flavored
tea, welcomes you with most amazing, pure and fresh aroma spreading in the air
around. My friends bought different types of tea to get to home, but I being
lazy and slow in such things, kept myself contented with one cup of strong tea.
We returned with lot of freshness in our minds and souls. The return journey
was less tiring, as it was downward and the driver kept it slow and less jumpy.
We stopped at many places for sightseeing, and in the evening visited Munnar
Market, from where everybody did some shopping to take Munnar special things to
their respective families and friends.
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| "Let the vehicle break down for a while, we have our own things to do. Dil Mangey more of Nature." |
Day-7; Time to go
back
(24th Dec. 14)
I didn’t realize how one week had slipped away like a dream, and soon
it was time to return to the real worldly world. I took 6:30 am morning bus
from Munnar to Madurai, along with Mayuresh and his Uncle, two co-trekkers from
Navi Mumbai. Kalpna, Rupa, Vilas and Ajay dada came to see us off till bus
stop. Let me tell you one thing, that there is some magic in the air around of
western Ghats that make you sleep while travelling even if you are sleep
deprived; for every single person in the bus dozed off, which I observed during
my first day of travel to Kodaikanal from Madurai. Cool, isn’t it? Lol We
reached Madurai at 11:30 am, and after saying good bye to Mayuresh and uncle,
who had their further plans to sight see, I hired an auto and reached airport
at 12:00 pm. As my flight was at 4:00 pm, the security person suggested me to
stay out for I’ll be bored. And I went out to an open coffee house, ordered a
tea and pulled out my lunchbox, in which I had my last meal of the Youth
hostels packed. I had already started missing everything and every moment of
the trek. I was nostalgic at every bite of the paranthas I was eating at that
time, with the hope of, and aspiring for next trek.
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| "Let me squeeze the moment & take it along for forever...Gonna miss ya...:-) |
