Monday, November 10, 2003

Minutes of Rail trek to Sakleshpur -- Santhosh Kmar C.

Greetings all,



Here's a recapitulation of the magnificent RAIL ROUTE trekking experience we had before the details fade out of our mindset. The end of the trek is a good time to reminisce on the highlights of the trip, cos our energy during the actual trek seemed to be spent mainly in that half-second that it took to put one foot in front of the other and keep moving in the tunnels and along the bridges.



First of all, thanks to all for helping manage/execute the trek admirably. The planning worked like clockwork and right things happened at convenient times, a great showing in all.



Special thanks to Deepak (code named APAC), Naveen, KK, Biju (aka Doc), Muru (Life saver of RaghuP), Arun (The COOK Prachi will still not agree with it since she has got one more name for him), Rajesh (The LiveWire ), Nandini (The BADLA Girl), Prachi (Fighter is there any one with whom she has not fought with J), the Sunfill, Coffee, Tea, Maggi, Cucumber (I know APAC will still be grumbling when I say about this), and the list continues… Excuse me all others of whom I have left off the names here.



Some moments in time stand out like snapshots frozen in memory in the order as I saw:



v The long wait for the trek to start.


v The packing being done with the luggages being distributed equally (Come on Prachi, KK, APAC excuse me if u have got more than what u had expected)


v Boddikuri saying that “ There is a cooker which is just I think 10 liters which can be taken for preparing the food in the trek” and the amusement in the others faces.


v The satisfaction on all the other trekker’s faces when KK finally turning up.



DAY 1




v The early morning rituals in Sakleshpur Bus Stand and the Police who came as a savoir and Rajesh’s leaning ness towards the cigarette <Now please don’t ask me for what>.


v Naveen’s late starts.


v Look of each one of them on crossing the first BRIDGE.


v Walking in the tunnels (a few were more than 500mts) without the lights.


v Was feeling like the Bridge was moving sometimes rather than I am walking when walking over the bridges!!!


v KK and Himanshu’s fear over the BATS.


v My fear to get down into the river after seeing the Viper.


v And the chashmawallas (KK, APAC and Narendra) struggling to see the snake without the glasses.


v Raghu stepping on the CHAMELOEN or rather should I say the other way round????


v Raghu’s fight as whether to drown or to come ashore (He’s very happy that he had attended 15-days training for swimming).


v THE ROPE of ArunC, which finally came in handy for getting Raghu out of water.


v The first signs of Leaches, which was found in Varada’s shoes.


v The walk back to the bridge after finishing the lunch.


v Arun’s cooking (or should I call the marketing for what he has cooked as Prachi calls it in the railway station).


v The Camp Fire of ours compared to the other gang (Was like Gulliver and the DWARF)


v Prachi with her MP3 collection of songs (Even Varada’s MP3 collection was not bad).


v Hats off to apna Gyan Bhai with his fantastic collection of pre-historic songsJ !!!


v Arun C’s uncanny ability of SINGING (I don’t know how many will agree with this).


v Kannada singer RAJ KUMAR who joined with us for the SONGS and GYAN’s desperation to get out of that.


v RAJESH and the BAT links??????


v Naveen’s scoldings in hindi (Abhey maar dhuunga saaley thumhe) <Excuse me for the Hindi>.


v KK & APAC’s Mouse Hunt in the night (Or rather should I call it as GOOSE HUNT).


v KK’s Search For The Candle (Don’t ask me why he was searching that).


v The HP (Cute looking) Bootni’s appearing in front of the Door and KK/APAC trying to scare them out.


v Rajesh tere agal bagal mein kaun soraha tha????????



DAY 2



v Narendra’s expertness in falling in the Tunnels and by the way Narendra wins the race just overtaking Prachi and that was a close encounter.


v Nandini’s BADLA (Read it in Hindi) or THE REVENGE for the walking stick and THE FALL. Please don’t ask anything about this with Boddikuri.


v Boddikuri’s worn out LEE JEANS and of course the yet to be released FADED Addidas shoes too…


v Himanshu’s priced catch (THE SNAKE SKIN…YES SNAKE SKIN. It will be on display very soon to TALISMA public that what I heard form him).


v Boddukuri’s uncanny ability to cut the CUCUMBER. (For more about this just ask Boddikuri to let him show his left hand and the finger he polished with the knife).


v Prachi’s fear on reaching the middle of the Bridge.


v The unforgettable un finish able final TUNNEL.


v LEACH SAMADHI.


v Leach affair, which I had in the fag end of the trek. (I pulled 7 out without any harm done to me and 3 other had sucked my blood).


v Raghup’s secret of keeping the leaches out of him (Maan he had worn two pants and finally the one which was there in his pant went inside Gyan’s shoe when removing it).


v Secret behind the leaches not touching KK (Did he have only one pair of socks and that might have been the Anasthesia).


v Wondering about Varada’s energy even after walking / trekking 40 Kms to get the Swaraj Mazda (Sooraj is still thinking how can she walk for another 0.5 Kms to get the bus!!!)


v The Awsome Sixsome who had a never forgettable Over the top TEMPO drive with our driver Ashok chipping in with his talents.


v The heartening news … Because of LUNAR ECLIPSE the Temple food is cancelled.


v And finally Biju gets the JAYAN award (ask me, Soorajlal or KK for more information about this awardJ) for his excellence in Dress Code and ANGER


v Muru feeling his hunger after waiting for a long time for the Driver.


v Kerala Parata which Biju had promised (Infact it was very tasty!!!!!!)


v The final photo session with all the 20 models together.


v View of Kumaraparvatha behind the Subramanya temple (Which might be our next destination.)


v Praseed’s run back to get The SEAT (We could have send him to Olympics if there was a competition for Musical chair or we can send him to INDIAN POLITICS)J.


v Narendra our Sleeper Coach.


v Narendra’s Upendra Episode with Nandini (Poor Girl she still holds onto the table not to faint if some one says about UP<NAR>endra).


v Boddikuri’s finger PAIN in the night.


v Oops Apna Praseed KK ka t-shirt, pant ya Bag is baaar gira nahin (Please read this in Hindi for a change )!!!


v DJNaveen with his GOOD MORNING and wakeup call on reaching Bangalore.


v Now I know why Rajesh is very Tall (I saw just in the trek all were pulling his leg and of course it was the fact that every one agrees to).


v And by the way tell me how many have lost their weights…




Photos are on their way. That’s it as of now catch u in the next trek… and by the way last but not least Deepak thanks a lot for being the APAC Guide of ours.



Note: - <Kanchan thanks a lot for the sleeping BAGS>



Disclaimer: - This mail is not intended to harm anyone. If anyone is offended by this mail please don’t forgive me. JJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJ