praveen's

2010-04-26T20:12:00.000-07:00

Wonderful day-Wonderful person

It was on March 6th this incident had happened. I had to attend a trek early in the morning and then was supposed to be back for lunch with the trek members of dandeli. The trek was at chityal which is 80km far from city. initially before the start of trek I thought that it would not be much fun as I assumed it to be a small hill and thought that we could reach the top in an hr,but it took nearly 2hrs to reach the top as I had to carry 3l of water and snacks along with me and after reaching the top i was happy that it was not as easy as what I had expected it to be and had some great time and then after descending down I had to start back alone as the rest decided to have lunch and do a trek at near by hills. it was 12 noon by the time I had started my return journey and after 90 min of some crazy driving I finally caught up with the other group and I was so happy that they had not finished eating their lunch and that I reached on time. After the lunch, said goodbye to the wonderful gang and I started back home and after about 10 min my bike stopped as there was no fuel and this ruined all my happiness. Somehow I managed to reach till the KBR Park entrance and then I parked my vehicle at the subway and then inquired a person who was standing out at the entrance regarding the petrol station and the person gave me directions. He asked me if I could wait for a while as he had to buy snacks. he was back in 10 min and then he asked me to get on his bike and said that he would drop me at the petrol station and I was very happy for it. After filling the petrol in the bottle that I was carrying in my bag i thanked the guy for his help and said that I would take an auto to go back, he then said that he was waiting to drop me back at my bike. I was so grateful to the person for all his help and I thanked him. I was then surprised to hear his reply asking me to help others who r in need(this concept was shown in a telugu movie and the person was a fan of the hero in that movie. it is then I realized that not all movies are for time pass and that it all depends on how we take it.)

UNPLANNED TRIP

2010-04-15T13:15:00.000-07:00

Hi all. It has been some time since i posted my last blog. In between thought of writing on a couple of events, but being lazy I hadn’t done that. Here I come with another trip which was unexpected one and still we had loads of fun.

After many discussions we had planned to visit Chikmagalur on the 1^st of April and I was really happy to attend this after taking my final exam in the morning, but unfortunately my exam got postponed and the trip was cancelled because of the clashes and the curfew. I was in a dilemma whether to be happy that my exam got postponed or feel sad that the trip was cancelled. After the chikmagalur trip was cancelled we looked up for other places and we could not decide. Then all of a sudden at 8.30 pm I got a call from Jay asking me to join them and I replied back saying that I need time to decide. Later at 9pm I got a call from Ashwin saying that they r starting at 10.30 pm and that I should come to Himanshu’s place to join them. Then I was really worried to tell my parents about my sudden trip and with the help from my sister I was able to convince them and in no time I packed my bag and started for himanshu’s place. In my hurry I forgot to take my shoes and when I realized this there was no chance for me to go back to get my shoes as there was heavy traffic. By the time I reached himanshu’s place it was 10.45 and hmshu and ashwin were waiting for me. We immediately settled down and went to pick up Jay. We had to wait at his place and when he finally arrived we were amazed to see the luggage he was carrying. He was carrying luggage that would be sufficient for a weeks trek. At 11.30pm we 4 started our journey. initially himanshu was amazed to see how the drivers managed to overtake even when the gap was very less, and after a while he settled down and after traveling for almost 2 hrs we stopped at a dabha for refreshment and himanshu rested while ashwin drove the car from here. We enquired about the route and after taking the directions we started and later found that we actually took a longer route and by the time we reached Rajhmundry it was 6.30 am and we still had to cover 200+kms to reach maredumilli. We relied on Jay for the directions as he had some idea about the place and when we finally asked a villager for the direction he told us that we were in the opposite direction and we all got a nice chance to play pranks on Jay. After about another 2 hrs of journey we finally reached our destination around 11.30 pm and we decided to take a cottage that was being maintained by the Forest dept and when we enquired about the rooms the Manager informed us that all the rooms were full and then later after checking the register he told us that the Hill top cottage was available and when we asked him if we could see the rooms he told that it’s a waste of time to go all the way to see the rooms and he immediately settled down in front of his computer and showed us few pictures of the rooms and after seeing the pictures we decided to take the A/C Cottage without knowing if it would be the same as what he had shown in the computer. After entering the room we were amazed to see the place. It was very well maintained and we were provided with an inverter for back up power, fridge and TV. We all had snacks and after taking bath we all took a power nap. We woke up and got ready by 4pm and we started for the 1^st water fall-Jala tarangini which had no water. we took some snaps here and then explored the place for some time and then started again not knowing what our next destination would be. After 15min we stopped at a bridge where there was a water stream and the place was picturesque, so we decided to take some snaps here and by the time we were done it got dark and we decided to start back. on our way back we decided to have bamboo chicken for dinner as it was a popular dish in this part and Jay wanted to record the process of making. We stopped by a house that had a sign board of bamboo chicken and had given advance to Krishna reddy who was the cook and told him that we need to pick up some supplies in the town and asked him not to start until we came back as jay wanted to record. To the disappointment of jay and Ashwin they did not get the booze they desired, but had bought that was available and I was happy to get mine (coke). By the time we went back it was 8.30pm and Krishna reddy started the preparation under the light of torch and jay started recording. It took 1 hr to prepare the chicken and in the mean time they also cooked rice and heated the ready to eat curry for ashwin as he is a vegetarian. After cooking was completed we took all the stuff to the cottage, we settled in the open and had our dinner. It was extra spicy for Himanshu,but he still could manage with it. After our dinner we had to change the room as we had some problem with the a/c. we hit the bed around 12.30am and thought of getting up at 5am to take snaps of the sun rise, but could not and we finally managed to get up at 6.30am for a morning walk except for Himanshu who wished to sleep for more time. We walked along the road in search of a clear water stream, but could not manage to find one. We thought of exploring the place but expecting it to be a sunny day we turned back. By the time we reached the cottage Himanshu was busy washing the car. we then took bath and by the time we hit the roads it was already 10am and we decided to go directly to the 2^nd water fall which was 16km from the cottage and it took us 45min to reach the place as it was a ghat section. We parked the car on the road and we had to cover 800m most of which was down hill trek to reach the water fall. It was slippery as the whole path was covered with dry leaves and we moved cautiously. In 30 min we reached the water fall. We took some snaps here and freshened with the cold waters of the fall. I was more interested in finding out the origin of the fall and so started doing some bouldering, I was initially accompanied by Himanshu for a short distance and then he wished to stay back and I kept going alone. After ascending about 100m I was able to see the origin and when I thought of taking snaps and it is then that I realized that I was no carrying a camera and then I had to go down to get the camera. After climbing back again to the same spot I took some snaps. Later I was in a dilemma whether to climb up further which was risky as I was alone and 1 wrong step can take me to hell or heaven. My adrenaline rush overpowered my fear and I started ascending along the edge of the rock which had an inclination of 50-60 degrees. I took my time in ascending as I had to look for support for each and every step. I some how managed to reach the origin and I was glad for that and at the same time was tensed thinking about the descent. I somehow managed to find a different route to get down and when I got down rest of the guys were ready to leave and after some refreshment we started the uphill journey and we were so exhausted that we had to stop for every 100m and Jay was so exhausted that he wanted a car to pick him up. After about 1 hr we reached the road and after 1hr of journey we reached pamuleru vagu. The information board read that it is dangerous to get into waters as crocodiles are present, but we were not so lucky to find one. It is here for the first time I had seen ducks coming close to us as if they wanted us to take pics of them. We spent some time here and then visited the jungle star nature camp site. While goin to the camp site we had seen a forest fire and while we were retuning back it had spread and it was close to the walking path. We then tried our level best to prevent the spread of fire and I can say that we were successful to an extent. In our 2 days of stay we had seen more than 10 forest fires. By 3.30pm we reached the town and we had lunch. After having lunch we took rest for a while and then we made preparations for camping in the forest. In no time we were able to pitch Ashwin’s 8 member’s tent. We spent some time in the jungle and even after having all the supplies needed for cooking dinner we decided to head back to the town as we wished to start our return journey early in the morning. We then went to the same place where we had our lunch and packed food and came back to our cottage and had our dinner and slept, next day we were all ready by 5am and after taking 1 last group picture we started our return journey. As Jay had no office for the next 2 days, he decided to visit his grandmother’s place and so we dropped him at a nearby village from where he took a bus. Our next stop was at khammam where we had a good break fast and after taking the correct directions we started and by 3pm we were back in city.

For more pictures--http://picasaweb.google.com/pamidipraveen/MaredumilliTrip?feat=directlink

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KiPbjcpXz6w/S8d2IFW5WwI/AAAAAAAAERQ/zGzWKzWrWtk/s1600/IMG_2838.JPG"></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KiPbjcpXz6w/S8d2HUG74ZI/AAAAAAAAERI/HDXoKgUNAI4/s1600/IMG_2607.JPG"></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KiPbjcpXz6w/S8d2GwCBiXI/AAAAAAAAERA/6a8AYGicpwU/s1600/IMG_2458.JPG"></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KiPbjcpXz6w/S8d2GXuf35I/AAAAAAAAEQ4/PI7ZWiUfuEg/s1600/IMG_2326.jpg"></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KiPbjcpXz6w/S8d2Fwm8IuI/AAAAAAAAEQw/GbTdJyWKDCQ/s1600/IMG_2270.jpg"></a> <meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Cpraveen%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><style>  </style> Hi all. It has been some time since i posted my last blog. In between thought of writing on a couple of events, but being lazy I hadn’t done that. Here I come with another trip which was unexpected one and still we had loads of fun. <o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> After many discussions we had planned to visit Chikmagalur on the 1st of April and I was really happy to attend this after taking my final exam in the morning, but unfortunately my exam got postponed and the trip was cancelled because of the clashes and the curfew. I was in a dilemma whether to be happy that my exam got postponed or feel sad that the trip was cancelled. After the chikmagalur trip was cancelled we looked up for other places and we could not decide. Then all of a sudden at 8.30 pm I got a call from Jay asking me to join them and I replied back saying that I need time to decide. Later at 9pm I got a call from Ashwin saying that they r starting at 10.30 pm and that I should come to Himanshu’s place to join them. Then I was really worried to tell my parents about my sudden trip and with the help from my sister I was able to convince them and in no time I packed my bag and started for himanshu’s place. In my hurry I forgot to take my shoes and when I realized this there was no chance for me to go back to get my shoes as there was heavy traffic. By the time I reached himanshu’s place it was 10.45 and hmshu and ashwin were waiting for me. We immediately settled down and went to pick up Jay. We had to wait at his place and when he finally arrived we were amazed to see the luggage he was carrying. He was carrying luggage that would be sufficient for a weeks trek. At 11.30pm we 4 started our journey. initially himanshu was amazed to see how the drivers managed to overtake even when the gap was very less, and after a while he settled down and after traveling for almost 2 hrs we stopped at a dabha for refreshment and himanshu rested while ashwin drove the car from here. We enquired about the route and after taking the directions we started and later found that we actually took a longer route and by the time we reached Rajhmundry it was 6.30 am and we still had to cover 200+kms to reach maredumilli. We relied on Jay for the directions as he had some idea about the place and when we finally asked a villager for the direction he told us that we were in the opposite direction and we all got a nice chance to play pranks on Jay. After about another 2 hrs of journey we finally reached our destination around 11.30 pm and we decided to take a cottage that was being maintained by the Forest dept and when we enquired about the rooms the Manager informed us that all the rooms were full and then later after checking the register he told us that the Hill top cottage was available and when we asked him if we could see the rooms he told that it’s a waste of time to go all the way to see the rooms and he immediately settled down in front of his computer and showed us few pictures of the rooms and after seeing the pictures we decided to take the A/C Cottage without knowing if it would be the same as what he had shown in the computer. After entering the room we were amazed to see the place. It was very well maintained and we were provided with an inverter for back up power, fridge and TV. We all had snacks and after taking bath we all took a power nap. We woke up and got ready by 4pm and we started for the 1st water fall-Jala tarangini which had no water. we took some snaps here and then explored the place for some time and then started again not knowing what our next destination would be. After 15min we stopped at a bridge where there was a water stream and the place was picturesque, so we decided to take some snaps here and by the time we were done it got dark and we decided to start back. on our way back we decided to have bamboo chicken for dinner as it was a popular dish in this part and Jay wanted to record the process of making. We stopped by a house that had a sign board of bamboo chicken and had given advance to Krishna reddy who was the cook and told him that we need to pick up some supplies in the town and asked him not to start until we came back as jay wanted to record. To the disappointment of jay and Ashwin they did not get the booze they desired, but had bought that was available and I was happy to get mine (coke). By the time we went back it was 8.30pm and <st1:place st="on">Krishna</st1:place> reddy started the preparation under the light of torch and jay started recording. It took 1 hr to prepare the chicken and in the mean time they also cooked rice and heated the ready to eat curry for ashwin as he is a vegetarian. After cooking was completed we took all the stuff to the cottage, we settled in the open and had our dinner. It was extra spicy for Himanshu,but he still could manage with it. After our dinner we had to change the room as we had some problem with the a/c. we hit the bed around 12.30am and thought of getting up at 5am to take snaps of the sun rise, but could not and we finally managed to get up at 6.30am for a morning walk except for Himanshu who wished to sleep for more time. We walked along the road in search of a clear water stream, but could not manage to find one. We thought of exploring the place but expecting it to be a sunny day we turned back. By the time we reached the cottage Himanshu was busy washing the car. we then took bath and by the time we hit the roads it was already 10am and we decided to go directly to the 2nd water fall which was 16km from the cottage and it took us 45min to reach the place as it was a ghat section. We parked the car on the road and we had to cover 800m most of which was down hill trek to reach the water fall. It was slippery as the whole path was covered with dry leaves and we moved cautiously. In 30 min we reached the water fall. We took some snaps here and freshened with the cold waters of the fall. I was more interested in finding out the origin of the fall and so started doing some bouldering, I was initially accompanied by Himanshu for a short distance and then he wished to stay back and I kept going alone. After ascending about 100m I was able to see the origin and when I thought of taking snaps and it is then that I realized that I was no carrying a camera and then I had to go down to get the camera. After climbing back again to the same spot I took some snaps. Later I was in a dilemma whether to climb up further which was risky as I was alone and 1 wrong step can take me to hell or heaven. My adrenaline rush overpowered my fear and I started ascending along the edge of the rock which had an inclination of 50-60 degrees. I took my time in ascending as I had to look for support for each and every step. I some how managed to reach the origin and I was glad for that and at the same time was tensed thinking about the descent. I somehow managed to find a different route to get down and when I got down rest of the guys were ready to leave and after some refreshment we started the uphill journey and we were so exhausted that we had to stop for every 100m and Jay was so exhausted that he wanted a car to pick him up. After about 1 hr we reached the road and after 1hr of journey we reached pamuleru vagu. The information board read that it is dangerous to get into waters as crocodiles are present, but we were not so lucky to find one. It is here for the first time I had seen ducks coming close to us as if they wanted us to take pics of them. We spent some time here and then visited the jungle star nature camp site. While goin to the camp site we had seen a forest fire and while we were retuning back it had spread and it was close to the walking path. We then tried our level best to prevent the spread of fire and I can say that we were successful to an extent. In our 2 days of stay we had seen more than 10 forest fires. By 3.30pm we reached the town and we had lunch. After having lunch we took rest for a while and then we made preparations for camping in the forest. In no time we were able to pitch Ashwin’s 8 member’s tent. We spent some time in the jungle and even after having all the supplies needed for cooking dinner we decided to head back to the town as we wished to start our return journey early in the morning. We then went to the same place where we had our lunch and packed food and came back to our cottage and had our dinner and slept, next day we were all ready by 5am and after taking 1 last group picture we started our return journey. As Jay had no office for the next 2 days, he decided to visit his grandmother’s place and so we dropped him at a nearby village from where he took a bus. Our next stop was at khammam where we had a good break fast and after taking the correct directions we started and by 3pm we were back in city.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <o:p> </o:p> High lights of the trip-<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Unplanned and unexpected road trip<o:p></o:p> Never take directions from a drunken man<o:p></o:p> Jay always kept talking about the girls hostel<o:p></o:p> Every dog in maredumilli had bite marks.<o:p></o:p> I had done my best solo bouldering<o:p></o:p> Even after all the freedom given the alcohol consumption was less.<o:p></o:p> Can never forget the taste of Bamboo chicken.<o:p></o:p> Hospitality was very good.<o:p></o:p>

High lights of the trip-

Unplanned and unexpected road trip

Never take directions from a drunken man

Jay always kept talking about the girls hostel

Every dog in maredumilli had bite marks.

I had done my best solo bouldering

Even after all the freedom given the alcohol consumption was less.

Can never forget the taste of Bamboo chicken.

Hospitality was very good.

Gandikota Trek

2010-01-29T05:31:00.000-08:00

I was eagerly waiting for this trek as I had to drop out the coorg trek at the last min and since then I was thirsty for a trek. The day finally arrived and was busy packing until the last min. I was supposed to catch mmts train at hitech city which was scheduled to depart at 6.54 and would arrive at kacheguda at 7.28pm and tht would leave enough time for me to catch venkatadri express which was scheduled to depart at 8.05pm.unfortunately it never happened as planned…

NEVER RELY ON MMTS:: ----------I arrived at HC station and the train had arrived on time and was happy for it, but my happiness did not last long as the train started moving so slow as if people were pushing the train from behind and after 10 min train picked up speed and everything was going on well until the train arrived at secbad station where it was halted for 15 min and it started to bother me again. Finally the train arrived at kacheguda station at 8.20 pm and by then venkatadri express had already left. I informed the same to the grp members and came out of the railway station to check with the bus timings. I immediately called vamsi annaya and he helped me with the directions and I hired an auto and asked him to take me to the nearest travel agency from where I could catch a bus to jammalamadugu and he suggested going to Lakdikapool sayin that there would be many number of buses and I agreed to it .I purchased a ticket at a travel agency in lakdikapool and when enquired about the route the bus would take it was surprising to find out that all the buses would go via kacheguda .the bus started at 10.30pm and arrived at jammalamadugu by 7 am.

Day--1

I met the group members at the jammalamadugu bus station and we had break fast while few of the members had gone out to purchase groceries. At the depot there was a lady who collected money for the usage of urinals, she was a disturbed woman and she liked the sweater that lakshmi was wearing and she wanted it. We gave the woman bananas and saporta to eat. The members of the grp were busy applying sun screen lotion and seeing this the locals had asked if we had come for shooting. we were asked the same question many more times during the trek and it had become a routine question….we all had our breakfast and started our journey .we hired two autos and after 30-40 min of journey we finally arrived at the entrance of the fort where we met sudhanshu who was waiting from 6.30am.we filled the cans with water from an old well. The entire luggage was distributed equally among the members and we started our trek. We had to rest for every 15-20 min as we were carrying heavy loads. After walking for 1 hr we reached the view point and it was so picturesque. We took some photos and started again. We had to cross a barrier of rocks and thorns and on the other side there was a berry tree and we plucked as many as we could and ate. After taking the directions from a local we walked along the wall. After we had walked for 200 mts we had stopped again as we had no clue how to reach the other side of the wall. Diyanat sir came up with an idea of using the rope to descend down the wall and few of the members had some concerns regarding it. Mean while Devyani had done some exploration and she found the SECRET passage and we all were happy .it is so sad that we never got a chance to make use of the rope that we had carried

The passage was a small tunnel along the breadth of the wall. we had our lunch in the tunnel .nimboo paani was prepared by kranti and co and it was refreshing. After resting for a while we all started again and I took the lead. I thought we all were going down to the lake and I walked in that direction. After a while when I turned back to look for the group members I found none. Expecting to meet them enroute I started walking and even after walking for 20 min there was no sight of any of the group members. I heard some sounds and thinking that it could be the grp members I started walking back, I put my bag and the luggage on a rocky elevation and increased my pace and at 1 point I started running, not that I was afraid ,but just to get back to the group asap. After reaching the edge of the gorge to my disappointment I found no one. While running back to pick my luggage a rabbit came out of no where and I was totally taken by surprise and I had to hold my breathe for a min.i picked my luggage and started walking in the opposite direction and after walking for 15 min I spotted the group members who were waiting for me and caught up with them. we had to stop again for a break and we were served with refreshing nimboo paani prepared by ranjitha & co,mean while diya sir and keku had done some exploration and found a place where we could rest for the night. We started again towards the so called- base camp for the trek and after walking for 10 min we finally reached the base camp which was a plain bit of rock. In no time we freed our shoulders and started making preparations for dinner. Ranjitha was the chief cook, under her supervision along with the helping hands from the group members dinner was ready in no time .the dinner menu consisted of aloo+tamatar ,dal ,rice and a spl package of omletes which were made on the portable stove by diyanat sir. After dinner we put up tents and few of us slept while others kept singing. Sentry duties were given and each member had to guard the post for 1 hr. I woke up at 2 am and found vikram and imran guarding the posts,they retired and I along with kranthi took the charge. the night sky was clear and for the first time I had seen so many stars in the sky,it was amazing..after 1hr kranti retired and I did not feel like sleeping and continued guarding the post along with sudhanshu and sukumar. Mean while chaya who kept coughing through out the night woke up to take medication and at the same time lakshmi woke up as she was feeling hungry. they kept talking and I retired to sleep

DAY—2

We all woke up by 7am and I along with daya and sudhanshu had gone to the nearby village to fetch water and by the time we came back break fast was ready. we had vegetable rice, egg burji, bread and cheese for break fast. After taking some group photos we started our journey back.we were supposed to catch a bus to go back to gandikota and it was the only mode of transportation available. As we were nearing the road we had seen the bus and we all shouted and the bus stopped, had we been late by another 2-3min we would have missed the bus and the situation would have been different. We got in the bus and after 10 min of journey we arrived at the gandikota fort. By the time we reached the fort the reporter from ABN news channel was already waiting for us. He took us to a location which was simply superb. If the reporter had not taken us to this place we would have missed it, we are very thankful to the reporter. After a few minutes of talk with the reporter diya,daya,keku,venkat and myself descended down to do some bouldering. After 20-25 min of effort we finally reached the peak. All 5 of us got on to the peak and there r no words to describe the feeling. By the time we reached the peak,rest of the members followed . we returned back to the place where we started while the rest of the members were busy taking some photos. After reaching the starting point venkat had given a good interview to the reporter. Once every 1 reached we went to temple and we all were busy eating pepsis. Every one had eaten a min of 2-3 pepsis and I had eaten 5-6of them. After spending some time we all started back to the bus stop to go to our next destination. The fare for hiring an auto was expensive and we decided to take the bus which left us with spare time of 2hrs. Mean time few of us had gone to the well to fetch some water and we came back.we spent time by singing, playing gilli danda, running for berries, preparing nimboo paani. we
had scrambled eggs, coconut and soft drink for lunch as we had no time to stop again . The bus finally arrived and after 20-30min of journey we reached jammalamadugu .we hired a taxi and all 18 of us got in to a single taxi and after 20 min of journey we reached the dam and most of us got in to the water .it was so refreshing. the sunset was good to watch. We spent an hour and a half in the waters .we then hired 2 autos to get back to jammalamadugu. From there we boarded a bus to prodduturu ,after 40 min of journey we arrived at prodduturu and from there we hired 2 autos to reach yerraguntla station. we all sat down in the waiting hall and had dinner there itself. The train finally arrived and we settled down at our respective seats and had a good night sleep.the train was delayed by an hr and we finally reached kacheguda by 6.50am.we exchanged our contact numbers and took a group photo before dispersing.

link for more photos--http://picasaweb.google.com/pamidipraveen/GandikotaTrek?feat=directlink

This is how you can remember the members of the group

singing troop--pushya,pavithra,vikram,sukumar&kranthi

Chief cook—Ranjitha

Fire expert---Devyani

Anda wala----Venkat(nxt brand ambassador after sachin for NECC)

Youngest------Lakshmi

Guardian-------Sukumar

Animal lover---Keku(he also loves omletes)

Helping hands---Imran

Camera men----Vinit & Jayantha

Water bag------Daya

Translator-----vidyasagar

1st to arrive----sudhanshu

Portable stove---Diyanat

Missed the train---_______

Umamaheshwaram,Mallelateertham,Ishtakameshwari trek

2009-12-10T21:34:00.000-08:00

I was not sure until Dec 1st whether I would be able to attend the trek or not as the exam that was scheduled on Dec 1st could have got postponed to 5th or 7th because of the telangana bandh. Luckily my exam never got postponed and I was happy for it.

Start of our journey

There were 3 pick up points, 1st at the Google office and we were supposed to be there by 4.30am and by the time I reached the place, there were 6 members from the group waiting. Of them i knew vamshi annaya and Anup whom I met in the earlier trek. Said hi to all the members and we kept waiting for Jagan sir to arrive.

After he arrived we started our journey and the next stop was at nagarjuna circle and 11 members boarded here. Said hi to other group members who were going to Medak trek and we left. 3rd stop was at malakpet and 2members boarded here; bringing the total count to 21....At around 8.30 am we stopped for Tiffin and then started of again. Later we stopped at a dam and we climbed up the wall to look around. There were 4 good photographers in the group (jagan,sree,vamshi,vinit),and after a photo session we started of again..

Our next stop was at Umamaheshwaram temple. Here we were welcomed by the monkeys that were in large no. The driver had knowledge about this place, so immediately after parking the vehicle he took out a big stick to drive away the monkeys which kept approaching the van. We started to climb the hill and we reached the top of the hill. The view of the road from this place was picturesque, took some photos here and moved ahead. We had 3 options for our return journey, 1^st was going back in the same path that we had come, 2^nd was to go down through the bushes and the 3^rd was going to the end of the hill and then coming down over the slope which was less bushy. The return journey was left to our choice and many chose the 2^nd path which was adventurous .I and Anup lead the group finding way down. Initially it all looked fine, but after 10 minutes of descend we had encountered thorny bushes all along the path and we had to take steps carefully. I and Anup parted our paths and kept communicating often so as to know which path was easier one and we asked the others to take that path. It was hell lot of adventure making paths through the thorny bushes; the more we tried to avoid them the more we got pricked by the thorns. Believe me or not, every one who had taken the 2^nd path had 2-3 thorns under their skin. As for me I removed 3 thorns from my body 2 days after the trek. The worst part during descend was that I, anup and vinit were wearing sandals .the last quarter distance again was a good path as there were no thorny bushes. After getting to the bottom we kept waiting for the others to turn up. Then all of a sudden we heard voices of people and when we looked around 3 members from the group have not made it to the base .This grp started late and they took the 3^rd path which was easier than the 2^nd path. After waiting for 5mins padmaja, Prasad and Divyani arrived. Mean while ever one was busy pulling out the thorns.we spent 5-10 min here and we started our journey to the 2^nd destination Mallelateertham . on the way we stopped for lunch at Chenchu lakshmi restaurant in Munnanur(nothing but the punnami hotels run by ap tourism)only 7 of us had lunch here and I was one among them and I rate it 2/5,while the rest ate food that was bought by group members. On our way to Mallelateertham we met Arun Raj who is a member of the club. He along with a couple of member’s runs a school that is supported by the govt. the main purpose is to bring awareness among the children and providing them with better opportunities. Prasad, vamshi and few others made some donations for the children which were mainly sports items. Arun raj along with 2 of the students guided us towards the water fall. initially I decided not to get in to the water, but as we started descending down the steps the sound of the water fall made me rethink about the decision that I took earlier and as soon as I reached the water fall even without giving a 2^nd thought I changed my dress and went under the water fall. Water came down as bullets which kept falling from a height more than 150ft. The rock where the water kept falling was slippery and only Jagan managed to climb it as he had experience. Never felt like leaving the place, but as there was one more place to see we left the place half heartedly. We reached the parking place and under the guidance of the two students who came along with us we started for the mouth of the waterfall. After walking for 15 min we reached the place. The view from this point was so picturesque .we spent 30-45 min here, took some snaps and headed back to the parking place. All the members assembled at the parking place and we had introduction of all the members. During the introduction when sree told that they were married for 17yrs, everyone was surprised as they looked like a recently married couple. After the introduction was over we all started for srisailam. We thanked arun and the two students before they got down at the check post. By the time we reached Srisailam it was 8.30pm and Jagan’s aunt and uncle were waiting for us, they handed us the keys for the rooms and we all thanked them for the pains they had taken in securing rooms for us. We dumped our luggage in the rooms and after refreshment we had dinner in Ilapuram restaurant and I rate it4/5. After dinner we went out as vamshi annaya had to buy a video cassette and we were instructed by jagan to get back to the rooms in 15 mins. We spent 45min on the streets going here and there until jagan called vamsi and asked us to get back to the rooms. Chaya took all the blame for us for being late. We all got back in to our rooms and had a good night sleep. I, vamshi and sree were in one room and we woke up at 4.30am and started waking up others. Every one got ready by 6.30am and we handed over the rooms and assembled out and we had Tiffin. We filled our bottles and moved towards the final destination. On our way snacks were distributed (we carried a lot of food).after traveling 11km we reached the check post.

Umamaheshwaram---

Before starting the trek we were clearly instructed by Jagan to take the path of the jeep track only. we started the trek and after walking for 1km I, Anup and sarath decided to take a deroute into the forest and we were lucky to see another water fall which no other member did. We also spotted a peacock, but could not capture any images of it, we heard sounds of a woodpecker pecking wood, and we also plucked some tamarind and ate. We maintained our distance from the jeep track. After walking half of the distance there was a water stream and we had refreshment there and started to walk again. when we were 1km away from the temple we came across 2 people who were carrying a sick woman and when asked why they were not taking a jeep they said that they can reach the road faster than what the jeeps can and tht its much safer than traveling in the jeeps….finally when we reached the destination we found the rest of the members relaxing. A lot of things have changed at the temple, now they started collecting money for entrance in to the temple. after requesting one of the tribal, he allowed us to give a shot with his bow and arrows .after 4^th shot he collected back his bow and arrows as 1 of the arrows broke as it miss hit a rock and feared that we might break the remaining too. We said sorry to him and paid him some money for hiss loss. From there we walked to a near by water fall and had a good photo session. I, vamshi and anup were the last to leave the water fall. After walking back near to the temple we found jaga ,vinit,divyani who missed the water fall taking rest. We accompanied them, had some snacks and started again. While returning a dog kept following us for the entire stretch of 11km.at times it walked ahead of us and looked around and kept waiting for us, it looked as if it was securing the area for us. We fed the dog with biscuits, bread and chocolate. We were all tired during the return journey and finally made it to the road and kept waiting for others to turn up. a small camp fire was started by the initiation of Chaya ,while Prasad and others collected the wood. vamshi walked 2km to the parking place where the van was parked and we all kept waiting for the van. Finally when the van arrived we were amazed to see the dog get down the van and when we asked vamshi, he told that the dog followed him to the van. We extinguished the fire and fed the dog with some bread and boarded the van. It was hard for us to leave the dog behind and started our return journey, before crossing the checkpost we stopped for tea .we decided to have dinner at the same place where we had lunch earlier day and this time the food was even worse than what it was the earlier day .Only boiled egg and pickle tasted good which u get every where. After dinner we all boarded the van and by 12.30am we reached malakpet and by the time I reached home it was 2am.

We all had fun during the entire trip and we thank Jagan sir for organizing this wonderful trek.we all made a good group and I thank all the members for their company.

This is my first blog, so after reading please let me know if I had made any errors and suggest me so that the next time I would be able to write much better.