Madhugiri Hills - A trek covered right on time!

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.

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 ;)

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!)

Trek base - right outside the Fort Gate

View-point

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

Walk across the fort wall

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

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!

View from the top

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!