Trek. Drama. Action! – an all-in-one package this event was
– with a bunch of 12 enthusiastic women out on an adventurous spree to the
Madhugiri Hills.
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| The wowie' 12! |
The 12 shortlisted girls (including organizers) gathered at
the Shantala silk house at the specified time, and started out for the
destination ‘dot-on-time-at-7.00 am’ (yeah…the participants did impress us with
their sense of sharp timing! Kudos!). After picking up our Annadaatas (Asha n
Shalini duo), we started our Introduction session. This time again, we had a
mix of first-timers, and experienced trekkers – all equally excited about the
trip. The intro round succeeded some gyaan sessions by Ritz and me – about the
place, the trek level, and to the first-timers on how to handle themselves
while trekking. Kept the gyaan session short-n-sweet (for obvious reasons:P),
and then we shared stories on how Ritz and I had met as stranger-trekmates and happened
to team-up for organizing a trek this day; Ritz ‘king-kong-lady’ title (this has a connection in the later part of
the trek:P); our Annadaatas; Wow-ki-basanti-who-never-danced; and
other WOW experiences that brought smiles to our participants faces. This was
followed by a short dance session and then the ever-hilarious game of Dumb
Charades.
The rest of the hour (until we reached our destination) was
full of laughter with hilarious acting-and-guessing
talents displayed by each participant. [Well..where else can you imagine the
movie ‘Gladiator’ turning into ‘colgate’,
‘we-ate-yesterday’, ‘fridge-me-rakha-hua-khaana’,’omelette-kaise-banaate-hain’…!!!
Well…2 and a half hours of our travel
passed with this ice-breaking session, and by the time we got down at
our destination for breakfast, we were kinda no-more-strangers ;)
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| Our destination peak..at a distance |
Post the breakfast, we started the climb at 10.30 am.
The beautiful gateway to Fortitude:
Madhugiri Fort : Entered the Gate, climbed the initial
stretch of steps, and the place already started giving an ‘out-of-the-world’ feeling (probably because this is one of those
rarest places that have the Fort remnants standing strong right from the trek-base!
In many cases, you find the remains only at the hill-top!). Half of the trek
path is a clear steppy way (a stretch of steps with railings as well), with
beautiful view- points and a couple of doorways (that was apt for breaks, to
beat the heat). The rest half of the climb, is a challenge that defines the ‘moderate’ level of the trek (steep
terrain – no support – help each other - rely on your own confidence :P!)
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| Trek base - right outside the Fort Gate |
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| View-point |
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| The steppy region with metal railings |
We cleared the first half of the trek cracking jokes,
pulling legs, finishing others’ snacks, helping a lone trekker from Netherlands
with first-aid (proud of the WOW team for this!), exploring viewpoints and
photo sessions with our Wow models :P
The next half was when we had to pull up our socks – as
organizers, as participants, and more importantly – as Trekkers! Surprisingly,
with each others’ support and a bit of hand-holding here and there, the girls
cracked this stretch down more easily than expected! The scenic view and the
hovering clouds played motivation factor for this stretch.
Peak, Adventure,
Monkey-business, Lunch:
The place, being a real epitome of fortitude, has a complete
stretch of fort wall remnants intact along the boundary, at the peak – which
means its a great fun for tree-climbers, fence-climbers, gate-jumpers
(basically, people good at monkey businesses:P). After taking a nice walk across the Fort wall,
we got down the fort wall like some ‘chipkalis’
(lizards) under expert supervision of Ritz and Jayashree – and this..was truly
one of the ‘thrilling moments’ of our
adventure – doing something differently! The cheer on everyone’s faces was
worth all the hand-holding and supporting one another. And what more – I got an
additional line to pen down in my blog, on request by participant Shaily,
quoting here – “its all about daring to
do what you thought you cannot” :P
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| Walk across the fort wall |
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| Experts climbing everywhere they could! |
After exploring the other parts of the peak and
photo-session rounds, we landed to a shaded place (the peak’s entrance) and
opened our lunch packets (Thanks to our Annadaatas
who had packed nice sandwiches, appam and sweets..they have always brought
a ‘special’ feel of our treks with
their love – this time it was truly unconditional love :P – oops, I mean, we ate away all of the food
they had brought for us ruthlessly and later felt sorry for it L!)). It did not take
too long for the girls to figure out that the organizers are really ‘bhukkads’; from the way Ritz and I were
fighting over our food-parcels :P
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| A pic post lunch :P |
After lunch, we had another round of climbing-activity
(well..I gave up..and tried my hands at photography, while Ritz took care of
the climbers :P!), and then we started to descend.
Descend – the ‘rain trek’:
Again, with an awesome team effort, we descended the
challenging stretch by applying techniques at certain places, and supporting
each other. It started to get a bit cloudy, when we reached the steppy terrain.
At a distance from our hill, we watched rains pouring down the civilization – a
spectacular view it was!
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| View from the top |
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| View from the top! |
Just when we reached the stretch of the metal-railings, we
realized that the rains that we were enjoying from the distance was actually
approaching us – and throughout this steppy stretch – our trek turned into a de
facto rain-trek :P [technically, my first ever rain-trek:P]. This added to our
challenge, nevertheless, we faced it and, managed to descend down till one of
the doorways all safe! Again surprisingly, the rains stopped exactly when we
reached the end of the railings-area (which made our further descend more
peaceful!) Met our annadaatas who were waiting for us at a doorway, and
continued our further descend.
The continuation of the ‘king-kong’ story:
Post all the thrill and adventure we had had throughout the
day, the final stretch of descend felt rather peaceful! [it was truly like the
Jab we met scene – ‘hey bhagwan, ab life
thodi si boring bana do:P’. But it did not last long. I was sweeping the team,
when suddenly few girls stopped and remarked in chorus – ‘Swatz..your story was
right!’ Well..the girls had really taken note of the ‘king-kong-lady’ story
and giggled looking at Ritz and me when they spotted a bunch of monkeys
preceeding us on the last stretch. We had to wait, until the monkeys finally settled down at their
adda (making a way for us to descend down) :P. Reached the base safe and sound, and explored an old 'us-zamaane-ka-jail' and headed out for chai.
Base, refreshments, Feedback and return journey:
Finally, after completing the series of adventures,
experiencing all the three climates in a single day, we took our much deserved
chai-break. Quickly, we wound up and got into our TT for the return journey.
With whatever energy we were left with, we took the Feedback session (and re-named ‘thumbs up’ to ‘Facebook-Like’ impressed
by the comments that we got :P) and settled down our seats for a nap. This time
again, I was the first one to get down on the way. With a promise of meeting in
some other trek, some other time, got down from the TT and took my way to my
abode.
Thanks to Ritz for planning such a wonderful place and trek
(yayyy! BTC and WOW covered one of the most beautiful trek destinations Madhugiri right on time (before the ban was implemented) !). Congratulations on
your first trek as an Organizer :P Special thanks to Yogita for helping us out
in all aspects, you were a great support indeed! J
Thanks to each team member, it was individual effort and
each other’s support that made the event fun, adventurous and memorable! :D
A Special mention to Asha-Shalini duo for being an awesome
sport and as usual our annadaatas J
WOW is all about knowing yourself, your confidence, and making the right
decisions! Hats off!
Well…and..this post cannot be complete without thanking our
BTC Team for having believed in us on orgainizing this event!
Cheers!
P.C: Ritz, Shaily, and self!
P.C: Ritz, Shaily, and self!
