Trekking at Chembra June 17-18 2006

Bhuke Petwaale Jack Fruit Le Jaayenge - A real life story in Waynaad- June 16-19-2006

Places Visited: Edkal Caves, Soojiparra Falls, Trek to Chembra Peak, Meen Mutthi Falls.
Who all: Hari, Prashi, Naresh, Arun, Raju, Kripal, Parvathi, Senthil, Jagga, Vishal, Rahul, Ambika, Bhanu and myself.
Highlights:
Jack fruit kalla Naresh
Prashi's screaming and the chaos in the tent


My brother and his friends had plannned for a trek at chembra in Waynaad. Around 25 people were informed I believe. 18 seater Swaraj Mazda(SM) was booked. At one point there were 22 people. Gruadually the no came down to 14. My brother calls me and asks me if I can join them along with my other friends tonight. Initially I was reluctant as I had go out with my cousins. But that plan got dropped down and I happily joined the team. I tried pulling in some more people. Called 9, 2 said no, 3 said yes, 3 said will let know and the other guy was already going. But eventually Bhanu alone turned up. The no again came down to 14. We left our house at 11 pm. Picked up few guys (and a gal :) ) on the way to SJM towers, where lot of TCSians were to join us. It was 12:30 when we left there and picked up the last person Naresh at Vijaynagar. Initially guys were disappointed as there was no Mp3 player in the vehicle. But we had a "magic cassette" which could play songs from a MP3 player. To our surprise it also worked for an IPod. We had non-stop music through out the Journey, however we had to keep it at low volume in the night as Paro had to sleep. Picked a tent at Ramanagar. With a few tea breaks in between, we reached Sultan Battery(read it has Bathery).
Picked up some provisions. From there we went to Edkal caves. We had to walk 2-3 Kms to reach the cave entrance.
On the way Naresh flicked a Jack fruit and hid it in the bushes, to be picked up while returning.

Two things that I liked here were - the beautiful scenary from the top and the narrow space between the two rocks. Everyone was hungry and the only thing that everyone could think of was the Jack fruit. On the way back we took the fruit - to some distance carried it and to some distance as a football. Naresh cut it and tasted, only to find it was not sweet. I didn't know that there was one more fruit. This was indeed sweet. That was our breakfast and for the first time I had fruits as a breakfast. There was still half of the fruit left - and we all know who gulped it off. And Kripal's fascination towards the salted mangoes!

From here we went to Meppady to get the permission, to camp at the chembra peak in the night. Much to our disappointment we weren't allowed to camp in the night. Had our lunch in some hotel - was pathetic. Left to chembra, got the pass, half way through and we were told we can't go and stay there in the night. It was 4:30 in the evening and we haven't seen anything but for Edkal caves since morning. Got disappointed and left to Soojiparra .

Found Vinay and his friends. They had already seen lot of places and were boasting of it. And we, we were just roaming all the day just to get the permission to Camp. The falls was 2 km from the place where the vehicle stopped. Bhanu and myself were the first one to , thinking atleast we'll spend some goodtime here. The falls was beautiful . Took snaps, went to valley. Were astonished at the picturesque scenary. Again went near the falls, and managed to get next to the falls. Others had left by then, we went to the valley spot again. This time we were dumb struck. Half-an-hour before it was clear, now it was totally filled with mist . Overall Soojiparra Falls was amazing! But the view of the valley on the other side was simply breath-taking. The slight drizzle added to the romance of the place.

Got back to the vehicle. Evryone was in the tea shop as it was tea time and also time to cook. Had plenty of tea and coffee. Off late have started enjying cooking. Naresh cut the beans with his hands, Myself and parvathi cut the carrots, Hari got the water proportions right . Dont know who prepared it Naresh/Parvathi, the maggi was yummy yummy. We also had deserts in the form of Kearla Banana.

Put up the tents. One was for the couples and other one was for bachelors. Poor Vishaal, he was an odd man out in the couples tent. Prashi with his anthaakshari, dont know what to say entertained or tortured us till mid night. Then at 1 O'clock, Prashi or Naresh started screaming like anything, which lead to a chain reaction and everyone started screaming. People were running around in the tent from one end to other. When we went out, there was a lorry standing way far from the tent. We thought he screamed thinking the lorry had went over us. When asked prashi, he said, he thought elephant went over him. Even Rahul had screamed in the other Tent and his reasoning was - Leapord attack

Next morning, had a bath in the Soojipara falls. Rice with puliyogare mix was our breakfast.

after eating a lot of omelets we headed off to the chembra base. Bhanu and myself, started of in Josh. The trek distance around 5 Kms. Reached the Heart shaped lake within an hour. The fun started from here. We could see just one mountain and nothing beyond it. But when we reached there, we could spot another. This happened thrice, before we actually reached the Peak. Was an awsome experience as we walked in the mist and the clouds in the last part of the trek. By this time I was totally out and was struggling to keep up pace with Bhanu. It was like heaven on Earth on the top. The plastic bag on a stick was our flag and a perfect ending for the trek.

On our way back, met Vinay and his friends. They had covered the distance in 1 1/4 hour which we took close to 2 hours. Vinay with his tummy had to struggle at that pace. Took a different path way back, went thorugh the Tea estate and reached the base. It took 1 1/2 hours to reach there while we had taken 3 hours to reach the Top. From there went to MeenMutti falls.

The falls is amidst Tea estate. We first trekked through the estate and then through the region which was very dense - gives a feel of South American forests. Half way, we asked few to wait and we proceeded. We were descending down and down and down, before we could here the gushing sound. The falls was even more beautiful than Soojiparra , but sad part is you cant get into the water. Took few snaps. Way back we had to climb up, which was really tiresome. Also it was getting dark and we didn't have torches with us. Managed to get to the vehicle. Had raw milk mixed with Sugar. Was like 'amrutha' at that moment.

Truly Kearala is God Own's Country.................

Had dinner and way back took vinay and his friends along with us as we had 5 vacant seats. Reached Bangalore at around 4 in the morning. Reached home and didn't go to the office for the next 10 days. Ahhhh, what a pleasure, vacation followed by vacation.