Inside Out

23 year old Swapna was strolling at the man-made walk area of her corporate office campus. She was the lone support for the day in the midnight shift. There was one more hour to go for her 3.00 a.m. log out and then an hour of journey on unknown lone roads, way back home. The roads she never knew directions of – inspite of having travelled them for months now.

The walk-area was a circular route connecting all the other innumerable glass-buildings inside the campus. Innumerable – was purely her notion, she often felt lost and dazed inside simplest of the glass buildings; this campus was comparatively huge!

‘join us for chai?’ called out Arim , a regular graveyarder from another team on the floor, out of courtesy.

‘aaj nahi, thanks’ – this brand new glamorous world had taught this to her rather faster, of what a ‘chai’ meant in the midnight!

She stood near the compound that faced the main roads and stared at the building that stood in-progess right in front of her, across the road. The world waited for the construction to get over, this was going to be a brand new shopping mall tentatively called the glitz mall – a place to hang out during breaks and time-offs – just a road cross away. To her, it was just a road cross to and from - yet another dim, vague world.

With point-blank mind, she continued walking, looking at the stars. That world felt much familiar than the world she was physically in – she was amused - still looking up the sky.

Just when she was sky-gazing with a slight cheer on her face, a 28’ish year old woman bumped into her. Swapna instantly felt some warmth with the woman’s presence.

‘heyaaaaa’ – cried out the woman, in a tone too loud and confident for a midnight. Swapna noticed a beautiful tattoo in her left arm, a design she could not identify, nevertheless it was an impressive one.

‘hellooo’ – Swapna in a humble tone.

‘I see you often with your teamies, you walking alone today?’

‘low staffing. I am the only one till 3?’

‘ah..i see..i know..holiday week’ – there was energy in every word the lady spoke.

‘by the way, whats your name’ – the lady continued.

‘Swapna’

‘oww…I too am Swapna!’ – both were startled. The 23-year old was rather, happy. She seldom felt so, ever since she had entered this world that never failed to suffocate her.

‘Well, I had always felt like telling you this, never got the right chance, now it is’ – the 28 year old woman was bubbling like a kid.

The 23-year old was surprised. What would a stranger have to tell her at this point of time?! Nevertheless, she agreed – someone to pass some time with. Moreover, she admired every aspect of the woman, for some unknown reasons

‘well this world might seem little weird and totally glitzy n glammy, but it aint that bad either’ – blabbered the woman.

‘huh??’

‘the glass buildings?! ..the sky-rising stuff...the make-ups..and the glam? Everything that ain’t seem natural, rather..real?’

‘aaah..i get it’ – the 23 year old was rather uncomfortable with the candid talks of the stranger. But she was more blown out by the woman’s charisma, she let her continue.

‘I know you don’t feel a belonging here…many feel so.’ – the woman’s voice had depth now.

Swapna could hardly believe, the woman was speaking out Swapna’s mind! She looked into the woman’s eyes.

‘then why does it exist!’ – Swapna blurted out like a child. If this woman was a deity or a statue, she would have knelt down, yelled and poured out to her hearts content.

‘well..i don’t have an answer! But thank it does – to fill some of your needs atleast!’– replied the woman with a curt smile. That was Swapna’s truth indeed!

‘I don’t feel like myself anymore.. this is someone else’s life that I’m living! Where is my world? Where are they?’ – cried Swapna again, not knowing herself as to who were ‘they’, not even realizing what was she blabbering.

The woman cool-headedly took the girl’s cries. She seemed to know what was running in her mind.

‘You know. Sometimes you just need to do what feels just the right thing to do. You may not like it always’ – asserted the woman. She sounded rather strong, although light, in her words.

Swapna’s half-matured mind failed to comprehend the woman’s words. Nevertheless, she hung on, just because the woman’s presence felt warm – the warmth that somehow made her feel good. She looked much more happier than Swapna was! The woman's tattoo seemed to attract her more!

‘as if I have a choice’ – Swapna softened down

‘Responsibilities are not burdens. Your time will come’ - the woman smiled again.

‘its just a part of your journey, a process. Not the end at all! You do need to tread rough roads to reach a beautiful end. An all-smooth journey brings no fun, no adventure, you see’ – the woman spoke in a pop-philosophical way, raising her brows. She seemed to mean what she was talking, all the more quite shrewd in her tone.

The 23-year old felt pleased. The  woman’s words were doing some change into her brain – was it her words, or was it the way she had expressed them – she did not know. All she felt was – an admiration – a lighter feeling – on hearing the woman’s words.

'why am i Never able to figure a way out?'

‘Dude! Find your way within, and then see the world outside you..you will find them..you wil find your home’ – the woman assured, as she pressed Swapna’s shoulder. The words mystified Swapna, although they seemed apt at that moment! Swapna blinked.

‘Find your way within’ – the woman repeated with a shrewd tone, this time poking the girl on her arm.

‘Find your way within’ – the woman’s voice seemed to echo, her poke felt endless.

‘Find your way within’ – the woman seemed stuck with her mantra, that now confused Swapna..her arm started to hurt..

……...

‘Dude! Its 2: 50 am already! you need to go home!’ – it was Arim again, poking Swapna for the last 5 minutes trying to wake her up.

Swapna breathed a deep breath out. ‘Thanks, buddy’ – she thanked, pressing her forehead. It was time to leave.

A trail of tasks in the day – running around for her brother’s admissions, a list of bill payments, a long travel to her work, a half-broken sleep, some desires unaccomplished  – had taken a toll on her – throughout the day she longed for someone who could take away all the burden off her, make her feel free.

‘Thanks for the wake-up call…I wanna go home!’  -  half-sleepy, half-awake, repeating the woman’s words. Arim was already gone!

Before she set out towards the glass building’s basement, she took out her phone and clicked a picture of her name-board that read ‘Swapna K. Thomas’. She packed her bag, boarded her cab, and started yet another journey on the roads she could still not identify with.

 ‘you will find them.’ - the words still mystified her as much as the unknown roads did! who are those 'they'

‘Find your way within..’ – the woman’s words kept ringing in her mind…who was that woman, by the way? – she wondered, but the thought of her still amused Swapna. the woman was all that she was not at that moment, yet so admirable, sso familiar!

Epilogue:

…and here comes the DA bridge – you said take the 3^rd left from under the DA bridge,  2^nd right from the Minar’s grocery store, 5^th building from the Golden Villa under construction – and here’s the Club!! How many times have you been here – lady? All the way from a 35 kms drive!

‘just once, Matty’ – Swapna looked with an attituted at her beau. The couple was heading for a party, just a month before their wedding.

‘..and you were like Bingo at it! Someone said you are pathetic at glass buildings and routes! Who the eff said that..’– Mat made fun of Swapna’s own words, as he winked.

‘I don’t know – honestly’ – the 28 year old Architect kidded.

She grinned as she browsed through an old album in her phone, that of the name-board that bore the name of the girl she was, 5 years ago - Swapna K. Thomas - 

Mat held her hand, and gazed at the enchanting tattoo on Swapna's left arm.

Cloud 9: the Skandagiri night - trek

Cloud 9: the Skandagiri night - trek:

How is it to feel on Cloud 9 – literally?

Its peak midnight. You are on the top of a hill. All you can see is just passing clouds around you. Chillest winds of the nights are blowing, yet you feel a strange sense of peace. You are in a group, yet its just ‘you’, living ‘the moment’. There is utter silence! And it all feels like heaven…

…and we felt that slice of heaven –  in the midnight, at the peak of Skandagiri!

Slice of heaven - aint it :) - View in dawn

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Well..that was one of the highlighting experiences of the Skandagiri night-trek, something that is not captured in pics…hence I chose to start this post from that particular moment.

Rewinding back to the start of trek now…:P

We 22 shortlisted BTCians [including 2 organizers – Abhi and Hiren] boarded the Chikballapur bus at 6pm. After a hilarious attendance session (where every guy in the troupe was recognized as ‘that guy’ by Abhi – we never understood why :P), we started the ragging session. This time, for a change it was a ragging session for the organizers :P Abhishek was the first scapegoat. Starting from his recognition of ‘that guy’, to making everybody his ‘personal friends’, to appreciating his art of identifying all non-BTC people – the participants had an amazing time ragging Abhi that finally he got fed up and shouted out ‘Everybody rags me’ :D phir sabko daya aa gayi, and we decided to give him a break, and moved onto some chit-chat and munching session till we reached Chikballapur.

Reached Chikballapur at around 8.00pm and started walking to find an ‘Isolated place’ (Abhi’s choice for introduction session). Post the introduction round at the isolated place, we started walking towards the trek base.

Trek karo – break lagao – phir trek karo:

The ascend was a full utilization of the dialog – ‘take 100 breaks’ :D. Considering the first-timers (first-time organizer Hiren too!:P) and the ‘moderate-level’ of the trek, Abhi kept the pace of the climb a little chillaxed. Also, since it looked like it had rained recently, we wanted to play it safe and cautious. His fettish for finding an ‘isolated-place’ now turned into a look out for every other ‘open-space’ for having a break! Everytime someone would call out ‘open space aa gaya’, it would follow by Abhi’s ‘chalo break lete hain’ :D – and that followed by narrations of previous trek experiences and some people stories…and then again climbing, till we finally reached the peak.

All about sharing, caring dinner :P :

It was already 12.30 am when we reached the peak, and the last meal most of us had was lunch [and some snacks in between here and there], and so naturally our hunger pangs got the better off us. With no shame, we un-civilizedly (if there is such a word) attacked every lunch box that was opened in the group – first the Roti-walas, second the bread-cheese walas; followed by distribution of veg fried rice prepared by Prathyusha in ‘prasadam’ style – all very instantly!! Well…with this experience, I can say that BTC folks bond very well over foooood – that for sure:D Post this, we settled to a lesser windy location on the peak, and had a proper maggie-break. And the ragging session during the Maggie break now turned towards our co-organizer Hiren, who had escaped the brunt all the while ;)

Camp-fire and the insane fun!

After dinner, few trekkers chose to take rest (smart Abhi also slept off to avoid further ragging:P), while the rest of us (despite sleepy) chose to stay awake and have fun over a camp-fire.

Now, Hiren was the next bakra for getting ragged. After a lott of pleading and shouting, we finally managed to get Hiren and Purvik do some garba steps, on a gujju dandiya song. This followed bhangra by Kanvar and club-dance by Gaurav. The dance session easily broke the ice among us, and it made way for Dumb charades (BvG :P). Did I just mention, dumb charades?! Well..yes..with Gaurav – the man! :D

Must say that dumb charades is one game that has truly no age-bar..no bar for that matter! Every time you play it, you come up with something funny to cherish. And the same happened to us when we 6+7 awake people, started to play. Gaurav’s pose to attempt ‘Albert Pinto ko gussa kyun aata hai’ and the hilarious guesses on Hiren’s attempt to jump on camp-fire, for ‘Ghulam-e-mustafa’ got our tummies hurting outta laughter:D

Camp - fire!!

We wanted to continue the game further, however since there was derth of sticks for the camp-fire, we stopped the game at two movies each side (that was hilarious enough) and then the scene’s background dimmed.

In the dim midnight (with no torches or campfire light on), we half-sleepy zombies formed a straight circle to chit-chat about grave encounters! Kanvar, Sreemoyee and Gaurav’s stories convinced us that ghosts can be funny too! [well..yes..if you don’t believe ask Kanvar and Sreemoyee about the ‘chakrasan’ story and ‘the feel’ of it ; and Gaurav about the ‘fish-fry’ with mirch and nimboo :D]. The grave encounters turned into such a boisterous session that almost 2 hours we continued laughing and commenting :P. {later in the day, we got complains that roars of laughter were heard every 5 seconds, and people were not able to sleep properly :P}

The view, on the other hand, turned spectacular – with the clouds passing by us every now and then giving us an ‘out-of-the-world’ feeling.

It was close to 4.00 am in the morning, when we decided to get up and explore the surrounding, and here’s is when we experienced the ‘heavenly’ feeling [described at the start of my post ;)] – an experience truly unspeakable!

Returned after this breathtaking experience, to our original camp-fire spot. There was 1.5 hours to go for the sunrise. We Btcians – still fighting our sleepiness, for no particular reason – continued our chitchat session. And all the gossips felt like we were some hostelites, talking utter nonsense in the middle of the night. Gaurav’s ‘tippaNi on Bruhaspati’ was the ultimate topic of discussion throughout the dawn:D

A Special moment captured in just hearts – The WOW Surpriiiiiiiseeeeeee!!

As with all the night treks, the Sun-rise was a magical feeling this time too. And an icing to the cake, was the surprise that actually cannot be described in words. Anyways, with the least that I can…

It was close to 6.00 am. By now it was only Hiren, Monu, Shilpa, Sreemoyee and myself awake. We were just staring at the rising sun and clouds, when we heard the screeching sound of the dry bushes behind us. Monu and I turned back to look above, and we spotted 3 girls trekking down towards us. We were confused! I blurted out ‘Only girls?’ to Monu [BTC-WOW is the only girl trekker gang I know of], my mind dazed for a couple of seconds, when suddenly I happened to recognize a familiar face. It was KIRUBAAAAAAAAA [BTC WOW organizer] waving at us. And just when we started jumping and howling out of joy we could see Jyothi (WOW trekker) and then Captain Ajju announcing ‘Girls, do you like Surprises’ in her characteristic way. Having them with us so unexpectedly, swept us off our feet...and the rest was all howls, screams, shouts, emotions and hugs :D. Our howls were literally like an alarm clock that woke up the rest of the folks (and scared a few too!), and there was a wave of energy in the group! [yo..so BTC organizers do love giving their folks a surprise :D]. This experience truly added the ‘WOW’ element to the entire trek – another moment that only our hearts could capture J - ah! watta day!

Pack up and Descend:

Post all the morning hungama, we had a short photo session and then we headed towards the base. The path was little slippery due to mist, and we had to be cautious while descending too. Took our time, made fun and aaram se reached the base, thus completing the trek successfully.

The group - in the Middle of no-where (Monu's words)

Packing up for the Descend!

With the sun rising further, we zombies who were  blabbering the whole night - suddenly turned into some ‘civilized gentlemen and women’ wondering what and how did we come up with so much of crap to spend the whole night :D another ‘woh kya tha’ wala moment :P :D

Start of descend - in the misty morning

Morning view - after some Sun!

A big thanks to Captain Ajju and Sayeesha for having helped us with finding autos till the bus stop [the 4km walk while return was spared].

Stopped over at a restaurant for breakfast, caught a bus to Bangalore, and reached safe with a truly ‘Cloud 9’ feeling!

Coincidentally – this was my 9^th trek with BTC too! No wonder the cloud 9 ;P :D

Thanks to Abhi and Hiren – you were the coolest dudes throughout the trek bearing all our ragging cool-headedly; and yet managing things with diligence :D. And as usual, it was a team effort, so thanks to the entire group for having taken care of each other.

P.C: Shilpa, Prathibha, Monisha,  Gaurav

Cheers!

Swatz

WOW agent on a BTC night-trek to Nandi Range

Friday 18th April, at around 3.45pm:

The scene at Kempe Gowda bus stand, platform 12, terminal 3 was quite hazy. Both Captain Virander and I knew none of the participants that were to arrive. [ok! So Viru knew another guy, Varun, whom I hadn’t known!]. The rest were all gonna be – BTC first timers (most of them first-time trekkers too!).

After a rather vague introduction to each other, the group of 12 BTCians boarded the Chikballapur bus and landed at destination. Took an auto where we packed ourselves like primary school kids and reached a hotel near the base of our trek. Again, the evening snacks-time was little blur -> basically we all were on our own, randomly exchanging conversations while Capt Viru was busy with his own bit of  ‘organizing tasks’. Post snacks, we had a formal round of introduction / take-100-breaks assurance / Rules & regulations; and finally started walking towards the hill.

So, here ends the ‘vague’ part of the journey (that was pretty much expected among people all-new to each other).

Characters and Fun – will come, one-by-one. Read on:P !!

The Group - and the story...:)

At around 6.30 pm:

We started climbing. These 2 Odiya ‘jigri-dosts’ Anand and Rahul, alongwith Saurabh, opened up conversations straight by enquiring more about WOW treks – what kinda events, how are they organized, what levels and blah blah – which I answered with full pride (thanking that our leader was not anywhere around us – else we would get the same old ‘WOW-is-a-part-of-BTC’ blasting from him :P!). At the first pit-stop is when we all got into the core-trekking groove [all puffed-panted and warmed up!].

The difficulty level of the Nandi range is slightly moderate [with steep climbs at certain spots that will challenge your stamina]. Few stretches of bushy-walks are a slight relief in between the climbs - that will help you keep going. The  breeze of air at the open regions of the climb, were a bliss while the core workout was happening!

We continued climbing further, with few halts in between (and the guys discussing everything – from Visa processing, to bikes, to Swiss-bank, photography to topics I never understood and don’t remember at all!). It grew dark as we reached the base of our destination-peak. We had another halt there. And Neeraj aka Neer opened up the topic on grave encounters. A little scared I was with all this, but Neer’s opening of the story with ‘once there was a couple – a girl and a guy’ convinced me it was gonna be a ‘comedy of horrors’! :D After 2 stories, we continued climbing further, and surprisingly reached the peak at around 9.15pm (almost an hour earlier than planned), despite sufficient breaks – yayy! An achievement :D!

The Peak &  the Ice-breaking session:

We settled down, had a nice view of the civilization down-there, enjoyed the short drizzle, had a photo session; and then gathered  for another round of ‘knowing-more-about-each-other’. We had more than sufficient time to kill and we did that efficiently by talking a range of topics - ‘I am Rachit from Kashmir, but I am not a terrorist’; ‘My name is Rahul, but I am not SRK’; Vijay, Abhishek, Neer & Rachit’s sincere Job descriptions; Viru’s love affair with Harley; Neer’s list of girlfriends and his designer role with Allen Solly; Saurabh’s ‘state-of-confusion-in-life’ and so on and so forth. Now-and-then, poor Rachit had to ‘remind’ people to talk more about ‘themselves’ and ‘why did they decide to trek’ and that this was not a job interview :P. Post this session, we changed our spot to a more closed one (for dinner) and had nice Maggi-break.

Campfire - post the dinner :D

12:00 am : Camp-fire and the ‘blast’ :D

After dinner, we collected dry woods from the surrounding; and then lit the camp-fire. And with the camp-fire, the load of fun began!

Fun phase 1: BTC’s traditional ‘first-timer’ ragging session:

Varun, Viru and I (being the only oldies in the group) – called out the freshers one-by-one for dance performance. We realized that we again had a bundle of talents, when the freshers (after a bit of hesitation) finally came in full form, and freaked themselves out dancing to the extent of ‘Baby-doll’ moves [baby-doll = Rachit’s initiative]. That was later followed by Neer's spontaneous acts of proposing the camp-fire [he actually proposed the camp-fire in a brilliant flow of apt dialogs] blowed our minds off :D

Aratrik, stole the show with his act of proposing Viru in a gay-style, his dialog – “Upar chaand hai, neeche aag (pointing to the camp-fire, of course). Ab bol bhi do” became the highlight of the entire trip! :D [poor captain, had to openly declare that he’s straight! :D]

The dance-club (or the Club Baby-doll, if you want to call it) closed at around 1.30 am [no strict deadlines as such, just that we audience – Varun, Akshay, myself and Saurabh started getting little bored of watching repetitive moves]; and we moved on to playing dumb-charades.

Fun phase 2: Dumb-charades:

The guys, high on fun-dose by now, displayed their brilliant acting talents. Rahul's ‘Chickoo-ko-hindi-me-kya-bolte-hain’ wala acting; Anand's 'book-reading' for 3 continous minutes (that kept us totally blank throughout); Rachit’s  ‘monkey’ing around (until Aratrik rightly came across the word ‘Forest’); and Vijay acting ‘Baba Ramdev ki Jai’ (on a totally unrelated movie title) – were some of the highlights! :D

None gave up on distracting the other with funny comments and guesses, but finally we won:P [we = the team of Rachit, Rahul, Anand, Neer, Aratrik and myself \m/].

After an hour of a hilarious session, few decided to sleep. The rest of us moved onto a new game ‘Maafia’

Fun phase 3: Maafia:

With the first 2 failed attempts of the game [considering that most of us were new to it], we finally took form and had an amazing time playing the 3^rd and the 4^th round. Aratrik and Abhishek took the role of god by turns and the gods played really awesome! Rachit (the target always), Rahul (the next target always:P), Saurabh, Abhishek and Anand’s debates got so intense; that towards the end Viru woke up from his sleep [probably to check on what was going on :D]. Whilst 'I' had a good time watching the guys standing in a circle, arguing like school boys over a damn-little game:D The heated debate abruptly silenced down only when Varun's sudden snore scared the hell outta us!

Time passed..It was close to 4.00 a.m. [which meant there was still time left]. We dispersed again, few to our original peak spot (where we had dropped our bags), and few to the other ends of the peak. In few minutes, everyone started dozing off one-by-one. Well, I did not want to be the only watchman in the troupe, and so I started waking up people one-by-one without letting them sleep [thankfully the pro photographer Varun (still half-sleepy), got instantly hooked to his cam with Rahul and Neer as his models]. Anand, Saurabh and Vijay did a hide-and-sleep every now-and-then; waking up, changing places, looking here-n-there, and sleep again –  and it was all kiddish and fun, till the dawn finally broke :D [BTCians – please note -> Captain Viru again slept; failing all of Varun’s and my attempts of waking him up!]

Breaking dawn, the Sun-rise and the Descend:

After spending the long 9 hours on the peak, (by somehow keeping the folks awake for the last 2 hours)..the Light finally dawned in. We all hopped towards the East side of the peak, and witnessed a beautiful sun-rise. The early-morning view was just mesmerizing .... spectacular...and in Neer's words 'pure Happiness' !! :-)

After another photo-session, we packed our bags and headed down-the-hill. Descend, again was much earlier than expected (with sufficient breaks). We had our breakfast and a feedback session, reminisced all the 'comedy-of-errors' that had happened since the last evening; and then headed towards Bangalore with hopes and promises of meeting in some other trek, some other day / evening...

Breaking - Dawn!

....And then a Beautiful Sunrise - pure Happiness...

And thus, Me - the only WOW member in the group had an amazzzing time watching a crazy BTC 'world of men' on the top of a hill, rejoicing their 'first-trek-ever' (that took me down-the-memory-lane of Rayakottai - my first ever trek); while side-by-side I was accomplishing my own purpose and personal challenge I had set from this trek :)

Descend - after a memorable experience! :)

Wouldn't be exaggerating if I say that, every moment of this trek was purely 'childhood thrills re-lived' :) B-)

Virander - you deserve all the credits for managing pretty much everything single-handedly. Hats off and thank you!

To all the other guys - you did a splendid job as first-timers, and thanks for the sporting spirit shown, ensuring a safe-trek for the entire group :)

And finally,

Trust I still have a long way to go, and loads to learn yet, but I'd like to pause and make a special mention to Captain Ajju and Kriba (WOW Organizers), for having hand-held me in my initial steps of trekking l! :) It felt unbelievable to have moved beyond the 'first-timer' feeling! :)

Cheers!

Swatz

P.C: Varun Shankar

Trekkers on a Night to Twin-hills: the Kaurava hills

Late in the afternoon – Bangalore was painted in an Eastman color {due to rains}. It was gonna be a lazy rainy evening. While the majority of Bangaloreans would have planned to chill indoors with some hot cuppa kaapis; few BTCians were gearing up for something different – chill out ‘up-the-hill’….

Satuday, 12th April:

At around 7.45pm: 20 members [some old, some new] out of the shortlisted folks gathered at terminal 3, platform 12 of the Kempe Gowda bus stand, for the Chikkaballapur bus. We randomnly introduced each other and boarded the bus [at 8.20pm]. Bus journey was fun, with the BTCians scattered around, carrying our typical BTC culture – of eating, talking, and helping others too! :P Reached destination at around 10.20pm.

Our adventurous journey began…

    …with a 5km walk, before we could reach the hill. Walking under the moonlight was, the least that one could say, a ‘bbbbeautiful’ experience! During the walk, we had 2 halts in the middle of the road – once, where a formal introduction happened. The second halt was amazing with exploring more people-stories, and realizing we had a bunch of real ‘extremely’ talented people among us [literally to the ‘extreme’, cz one guy - Kishore, could even balance a bicycle on his chin – now think about that! Entertainment had begun with all of us joking around, and Kishore singing a song for us. Post this, we continued walking and reached the base.

At the base, we met 3 more trekkers who had decided to join us uninvited – whether we liked it or not, 3 Doggies - who scared the hell outta Garima and me – and made the entire trek for the 2 of us more ‘challenging’!

The up-hill Climb:

     The Kaurava hills are a mix of a steppy terrain till the Shiva temple, and then a more steepy-rocky one beyond the temple [would remind you of Savandurga, if you have done it before]. We had to collect dry sticks on the way (for the campfire) since there were bare chances of finding any at the top. Starting with the given task from the base itself, we climbed upwards – helping each other, chitchatting, exploring more stories, Garima and I avoiding the doggies, and pulling each others’ legs.

The Shiva-temple [during the descend]

     Had a halt outside the Shiva temple – where we tried to dig out the history behind the name given to this pair of twin hills – why is it named Pandava and Kaurava hills. Of course, the discussion turned out hopeless and shortlived when people started mixing the Pandava exile with Rama’s exile. We gave up and decided to climb further – the more challenging path!

     The sticks on one hand and torch on the other added to this challenge. However, the guys adopted a nice way of making a ‘counter-system’ that made our climbing task easier :P . At some tough junctures, Ankit and Vikram were already present with Ankit calling out ‘sticks dedo, torch dedo’and Vikram calling out 'haath dedo' [kidding guys :D :P]. We had to deposit our stuff there, climb, collect our stuff back and climb further! [I kept wondering how did these guys reach even before us, when the last I had seen them was walking behind us!].

Funny enough, but this really ensured we all climbed safely without letting the sticks, torch and the doggies bothering us much :P So, Kudos!

The Peak, Campfire, the dance-masti, the ‘Crush-night’:

     Reached the peak at around 1.30 am. It was time for Maggiiieeee. And this is when our all-silent organizer, Channa, showed his hidden talent – of cooking Maggie on the camp-fire :P Soon after enjoying the noodles, the group gathered around the camp-fire to start the ragging session for the first-timers. The first timers easily broke the ice by dancing freely, giving solo performances too!. This later followed dance performances by the rest of us (including the organizers):P

     After done with our dance jig, the group settled down for a brief photo session. There was still enough time left for the sunrise [it was around 3.00am], and we decided to kill the time by starting a ‘different’ kind of talking round. Each one of us had to talk about either our first crush, best-crush or love-story [yeah..U missed it!]. As expected, most of them were tragedies, some were beautiful success-stories; and the best was Ramya’s complan-crush story (again a tragedy, but funny:P) [please catch hold of the girl for her story :P]. Sangamesh gave the session a very meaningful closing by suddenly announcing – ‘ab jisko rona hai ro lo’ :D Ironically, sab log has diye :P

Camp-fire

     (Whether it was the after-effect of revealing their tragedies, or was it that they were really tired) some of the folks (even organizers Abhishek, Channa and Virander) decided to take a nap, soon after the story telling session. The rest of us dispersed for exploring the nature’s beauty in our own sweet ways.

     Sky gazer as I am  - just loved watching the starry sky spotting shooting stars, satellites and constellations – along with Kriba and Monu; when others were having a gala time near the camp-fire :P.  Soon, we got a call for coffee-time, and our coffee makers: Ankit and Sangamesh served us nice cappuccino – early in the morning at around 4.00am – a nice experience [folks! Please don’t miss watching Ankit preparing coffee and Sangamesh boiling milk with sheer diligence, whenever you get a chance :P]

Sunday, 13th April - The Sun-Rise:

     Finally, it was time for ‘the moment’ of the trek to arrive. The stars started to fade away as the early hints of the dawn broke. Krupa, Monu and I shifted to another spot on the rock towards the East. As it started getting little brighter, the group spread themselves at their convenient spots waiting for the sun-rise.

     We passed our time simply gazing at the different hues of the light on the sky and having deep conversations. The conversations between Kriba, Monu and I went so deep that we did not notice that Channa was sitting somewhere around us to have some solitude; until he ran away [perhaps we were too loud, and he was unable to tolerate our talks any more :P]

The breaking dawn!

     Shortly  – “the moment” arrived and with the Sun beaming up, we all gave a loud howl, and then gathered for another round of photo session - all happy and cheered up . Did a brief exploration around the peak for a little while [explored an echo-point too ;)] and then geared up for the descend

Descend and the walk to Bus stop:

     Before the heat could beat us, we packed our bags and started to descend. The doggies too followed us , after having a nice night-out! Organizer Channa was at his ‘whistling-best’, and he kept on blowing his whistle at regular intervals, gathering us trekkers together like some goatherd [this was, of course for group photo-sessions, not that we were wandering like goats!!]. Finally we reached the base – safe, sound, successful; and started walking towards the Chikballapur bus stop (the same 5km that we treaded the previous nite)

Descend from the top!

Walking back to the bus-stop :)

     As this walk was post the ascend-descend, we ensured that we were at our ‘nautanki-best’ in order to keep the tiring feeling away. Right from having a running race (with Krupa and Abhi); to doing a group ‘Lamb-dance’ that looked like a funny March-past; to photo-sessions at grapevine and some randomn well; and our super-talented Kishore showing a balance-act with a cap – the return walk felt entertaining and lighter! This time we had three pitstops – one for feedback, second for breakfast and the third for ‘naariyal paani’.

     Reached bus stop, finally! Boarded the Bangalore bus, landed at Majestic – all too wearied that we were unable to even talk. Our farewells were just handshakes and nods with sleepy eyes – the rest was understood. :)

Once again –

A biiig thanks to Channa and Viru for the wonderful planning and execution.

Abhi, Krupa and Sangamesh – your support was incredible! [except that Abhi slept the whole night :P]

Kudos and Thanks to every fellow trekker for making each other feel safe, entertained and creating ‘yet another wonderful BTC memory’ J

For all the crazy and 'different' stuff we did throughout our journey, I’d like to iterate a line by organizer Abhishek, from a previous BTC blog (the Mighty Century):

“Its not always about meeting like-minded people. Sometimes, its just about people who are like-mindedly crazy :P”

Cheers!

Swatz

Photo Credits: Organizer Channa

Reasons why Queen failed to connect

Aint a movie buff, but the much hype about the movie, made me pen down as to why did not Queen – The Film appeal much to me! [respect the opinions of people who could connect to it, though - this is just my perspective of it]

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So the movie starts with the guy(hero) returning from a foreign-trip, getting some incomprehensible sense of freedom within himself, and abruptly calls his marriage a quits with no clear reasons – ‘No clear reasons’ – kept me wondering in the beginning itself as to what was the solid reason behind cancelling his own marriage - just because you returned from a Foreign Land!?? - utter nonsense!

The girl reacts to this – and decides to go on a Honeymoon all by herself - some ray of hope [but I felt she was lucky to be having such a supporting family – had she stayed with them for a while – they (minus relatives) were more than enough to pull her out of this deep shit! Dadi’s strong-headedness impressed me.

Nevertheless, she goes (travel is a good thing to do – agreed!) – and she bumps into the hotel’s waitress who turns out to be a semi-Indian – and there starts the seemingly ‘woman-to-woman’ connection. Now here, I never understood ‘why’ are only the woman who are open to ‘random-encounters-and-party-hard’ are portrayed as having a ‘sense of freedom’? – please give me a break here - I don’t deny that a wardrobe-change, makeover and a drink does something to a woman’s confidence [it does so to a man too!]..but that’s not all about it!! [and if you really want me to appreciate a woman-woman bonding in such glamorous lines, I feel Cocktail (even Fashion for that matter) did a better job]. 

Kangana Ranaut’s dancing in front of the policeman after a hard drink, might have just triggered more ‘false-notion’ about Indians – this is what I thought honestly! [saale log khud ke country me toh police k saamne naach nahi sakte, meri gali aake drama?!] It was funny to watch it though..

Then comes her ‘Roomies’ part –  i felt it a ‘close-to-a-blunder’. How can someone so blindly trust strangers?! - complete strangers from completely different cultures for that matter – shared rooms – and really had a sound sleep?!! Uffff!! [completely unrealistic and impractical I felt]. If this situation had come out of no-option-at-all, then there would have been some meaning and depth to this entire concept of stuffing 4 mixed cultures in a room and learning and making friendships – and more importantly – the girl gaining her own ‘sense of freedom’ out of it. This felt little too gloomy and sore.

Success of pani-puri shop and business-success was okkayyishhh – but we already know any Indian authentic stuff is appreciated in the west – nothing new. [I would have liked it more if she had smooched Alexander than the hotelier guy!:-|]

The only ‘Yo-girl-Do-it’ moment I felt was when she decided to join her roomies for the rock-show with the Kinare song running in the background. Some connection felt here, at last – literally at last – cz that was almost the end of the movie!

Somehow, the entire jig makes the girl feel internally free, she posts stuff on facebook and turns into a queen with her new-found friends from different cultures. Fine! Fair enough! Good and lucky for her  [somehow the film-makers tended to omit the real scheme of things here!].

While I completely empathize with the 'heart-brokenness' and 'shock' of the girl who undergoes such a turmoil all of a sudden; I did not quite buy the way the movie shows her compromising on her basic value system and 'rationality' to gain her 'sense of freedom'. The fact that she suddenly decides to stay with 3 unknown guys and smooches yet another one - and then disclosing it freely to her ex and her own family - in realty - makes such a girl and family more vulnerable to Society-backstabs than the girl gaining personal freedom!

There are much better  ways to explore your freedom - whether heartbroken or not - without compromising on your rationality!

With a high rise of break ups, separations among youth in this age -> a woman's 'sense of freedom' linked wit 'travel' has been among the highest selling points in the industry. And the film makers seem to have just used this formula and weaved some randomn story. There's been no impact as such.

The songs really had more meaning and communicated the concept well – the movie in its entirety failed to do so. Kangana, nevertheless, played her role well and proved herself as an actress yet again – no doubt!

P.S: But then, this all is just 'my' perspective :P

The waves

‘thankfully, atleast you are by my side’ – Laveena looked at the sea waves that dashed the shores on a warm summer evening.

She'd often appreciated the dusky summer evenings than winter and rainy days.

Breathing deeply a breeze of air -  ‘its only You that make me feel….’

‘Romantic ..?’ – Gaurav was watching the shore as well, sitting at a slight distance from her. He thought she was talking to him.

Startled at his reply - ‘oh..I…I think I was…’ after a pause ‘little..lost’ – she covered up with a grin

‘oops…sorry..never mind’ – he apologized; realizing things. He too was kind of... Lost in thoughts!

Both Gaurav and Laveena were strangers to each other. That evening somehow they happened to be in the same state of mind, and were looking for some peace...which they felt, they would find by the sea..

**** 

 Not too late from then, neither too far from Laveena and Gaurav..

‘you hurt me. I don’t want to talk to you’ – cried the girl

‘No. it was You who hurt me! You are a liar’ – came another cry..this time..of a boy

’but I got the game from my brother’ - girl

‘and you ditched me, did not play at all!’ – boy, sounding serious.

‘but you liked the game a lot right, moreover Ishaan and Vikrant were also with you?’ – girl, confused.

‘I wanted to play with you! Just that!’ – he sulked.

‘ but I borrowed from bhaiyaa..just for you..’ – she explained, continuing ‘ and I had a lot of Math assignment to complete – I realized late..i will get a remark from my teacher if I did not complete it’ – she continued getting a tad emotional.

‘I too had my home-work to do. I completed it and came just to play with you!’ – he said, continuing -

‘you are just giving reasons! Anyways, I will buy a game of my own and play with Anup’s gang’

‘okay..do whatever you want. My brother owns the game, I will play with him and his friends..you are not my best friend any more’ – she retaliated.

‘you think without you I cannot do anything! Go..go to your brother and other friends..I don’t want a friend like you....forget being a ‘best friend’’- he revolted back.

.....-  ‘kaheen na kaheen kuch na kuch toh kar hi loonga’ - he grumbled ... as they turned away from each other

 ****

the boy's last line, rather dramatic, made Laveena chuckle..it was too heavy a dialog for a 10-ish year old boy. ‘aaj kal ke bachche’ – she commented - ‘wherever he learnt that dialog from’ - and shrugged

Gaurav, who too was watching silently, did not reply. might be another slip of her thoughts!. He dint want to embarrass himself by responding this time. They continued watching…

****** 

..Near the shore, the little girl involved herself in designing the castle she had planned with her ‘best friend’ – all by herself now. They had almost reached their favourite spot to build this, together, but because they had picked up a row on some old issue, they decided to part ways and build it individually

The boy, never to give up, started digging up sand to build one – of his own..at a distance not too far from the girl.

She had laid a beautiful design for the castle, however her tiny hands struggled to grasp the sand and build it.

  He, on the other hand, managed to dig out enough of the material, but struggled on where to start from for he knew, she knew it better. 

None spoke. Both were determined. They glared a couple of times at each other, and then turned away - pretending to be busy building their own stuff

****

Both Laveena and Gaurav – still silent, considered helping the kids, but then a series of ‘what if’s…?’ held them back. None had enough experience with handling kids. It felt safe to play mute spectators instead, considering the intense mood the kids were in!

****

The little boy and girl gave one more glare at each other, when suddenly out of the blues, a terrible wave gushed in and washed away her design and his heap of sand. She turned to watch in dismay, he shriveled.

‘Damn-it!’ – Gaurav jolted instantly! Laveena could not speak - her own thoughts crossed each other, of course, she was relating to something else – something – rather someone she was on the verge of losing...

*****
The kids looked helplessly at each other for a moment..

Should I go pacify them? A chocolate would do? Or some funny cartoon-story? Or consider patching each other up? – thoughts of the same frequency were now ran in both Gaurav and Laveena’s minds...the silent spectators felt for them..

But before they could come to a decision, a sudden turn of events  –

***** 

‘bas..phir aisa nahi hoga – tu wahaan par design laga.. - announced the boy, clearly determined, pointing to a safer place where waves were not likely to touch –  ‘ye paani apne aapko kya samajhta hai’ - he started digging up the sand once again.

‘haan..aur yeh le’ – as she picked up a broken piece of wood. ‘is par apna mitti daal…koi leher tera kuch nahi bigaad sakta’ – she responded, as they teamed up instantly.

[Engrossed in their task ..]

‘I am very sorry…shaayad meri galti thi..main tujhe thoda pehle bata deti na’ – the girl said meekly.

‘nahi re…tera Maths weak hai na..its okay’ – he smiled back assuring her there was no war between them.

‘tu Anup ki gang ke saath khelne jaayega?’

‘areey pagli..main kyun jaaun..hum dono ko Anup pasand nahi hai na ' .. keeping her engaged...mai tere ghar hi aaunga..Sunday ko khelenge..Vikrant aur Ishaan bhi hai na.’ – as they continued their Sunday plans until a beautiful castle was built up – no wave could touch it...the kids jumped out of sheer excitement at their task accomplished

‘humne iske liye kitni planning ki thi na..Finally ban gaya’ – there was joy twinkling in their eyes. There was joy in two other pair of eyes too…

‘agar hum phir se friends nahi bante toh ye kabhi nahi banta na’ – the girl realized.

‘aise kaise nahi banne deta..hum dono humesha se best friends the’ – finally declaring ‘I am also sorry na’... adding rather precociously  - 'humaara dream-castle zyada important tha, ladaai nahi' - not realizing he had struck 2 chords directly, unbeknown to him

'ab chal ...bigaad humara ghar' - the boy mocked at the sea waves that was far from touching their dream-house.

****

…. the fight? – seemed like they had never happened. It was just the castle and the gut to confront the wave, together,  that had mattered, above all.

 ‘kaash koi camera ya mobile hota humare paas..ek photo le lete’ – as they still stood admiring their creation.

At this, both Gaurav and Laveena, not giving a second thought, sprang up, caught hold of a tourist photographer who was wandering around, and fulfilled the kids wish - ‘is photo ke peeche apna naam aur aaj ki date likh dena, theek hai na?’ – Gaurav instructed to the kids, and they nodded obediently.

The elders’ presence was felt for a short time – for the kids were still in the amazement of fulfilling their dream.

****

It grew little darker. The kids were returning happy..holding each others hands..

Laveena had found her answer – and turned to Gaurav – who somehow shared the same frequency with her that evening. They exchanged a brief smile, and Laveena, parted her way...

For one last time she turned back to look at the happy kids, with a gratitude on her face – ‘aaj kal ke bachche’ and walked towards her car to return to where she had packed her bags from – picking out the separation papers, and crushing them - this was not the solution. a small wave of brawl did not mean the end!

All she wanted to do, was just hug her husband, and remind him of the dreams they had shared together...she knew he was still waiting for her...

 ***

After some time…

****

With the kids and the young lady gone, Gaurav, who was playing his cool all the while, instantly dialled – 

‘Puja....listen. ..i know kuch dinon se humaare beech, kuch galat ho raha hai.. lekin i have realized..it was never about me against you..it's about us, facing it together..shaayad galti meri bhi thi...but I just wanted you to know…’ his voice shivered..’i still..'- he gulped a lump in his throat.. 'i..am waiting for you...please call me back..’ – and he hung his voice message.

He sat staring at the waves waiting... letting only the darkness watch his tears roll down from his eyes...

The phone rang..

The castle the little girl and the boy had built, together,  faced the sea-waves in glory..untouched...

Wander-birds in the night: Night-Trek to Makalidurga

Filmon ki tarah,  kuch Real-life ki adventurous kahaniyan bhi ‘almost-miss hone wali train ko time-par’ pakadne se hi shuru hoti hai! Hum chaar log - Sreemoyee, Sucheta, Shilu n meri night-trek wali kahaani bhi kuch aisi hi shuru hui……

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5.50pm: (Shilu n me - at Majestic bus-stand) Chal! Time par toh pahunch jaayenge. 6 ko milna tha na.? Any idea train kab hai? After a slight pause- 6.10 ko shayad…(skeptical look at each other) OH SHI**.. literally ran outside the bus-stand!!! (and then..after a failed attempt at the barricade-jumping) Yaar..under-pass lena tha. Yahaan toh pura U-turn marna padega. No time for analysis! Just run!

6.00pm: (somehow..inside the station puffing and panting!) Canara Bank ATM kahan hai? [Canara bank was BTC's assembly point] Shayad wahaan..there are many ATMs over there..’hey hi’ {Sreemoyee appears from no-where, in her ever-cool n yo-dude avatar --- totally unaware that we were actually running late}. ‘Where is Canara bank ATM?’ [all 3 in chorus]. ‘where are the rest’ (again in chorus!). all 3 were clueless. Ajita ko call lagao!. (after a quick call)Platform 8 par aana hai! Train at 6.10! confirmed! Hurry up! [and we pull Sreemoyee in our run]

[somewhere close to 6.15’ish]: (still running)..Yaar..train miss na ho jaaye..(fingers crossed - relied totally on Indian Standard Railway timing and prayed the train gets late). Tension situation. (bhaagte-bhaagte) ‘bhaiyaa platform 8 elli?’ – and we blindly trust the guy & run to where his finger pointed to. Time kya hua? (no answer). almost near platform-8. Phew! koi train khadi hai..Sree spots a familiar girl ‘hey, that’s WOW girl ..WOW girl’ (it turned out to be the same girl who overtook us when Shil n I were attempting barricade-jumping to get to the Railway station. :D)

BTC junta kahaan hai? (now 4 pairs of eyes meet quizzically!) Dunno, but they are somewhere around here. Ye wali train hi hai na pakka (Hindupur rail)? lekin baaki log kahaan hai? BTC ka ek banda bhi nahi dikh raha!  [one more call to Ajita and confirm]. Get inside. [somehow knowing that we 4; and the rest of the BTC folks were at totally opposite ends of the train, (and that the train was just about to start) we decided it wise to ensure we were got 'inside’ the train first – meeting&greeting could be done even at the destination]

We 4 climb into some random bogie (away from the rest of the folks) just-in-time! Catch our seats. And the train starts! PHEW!! We breathe out a sigh of relief and give each other a  ‘woh-kya-tha’ wala expression, followed by a  burst of brilliant laughter [the last few minutes had been a real commotion - totally filmy - one slight wrong decision - and the 3 would have missed it!!]….nevertheless, we consoled ourselves saying that we were meant to make it - 'Sab likha hua hai' :P..our journey had already started an ’adventurous' way - bhaagte bhaagte…. :D

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Makalidurga Railway station [at around 7.45pm]:

Reach Makalidurga. Finally, meet the gang (giving a big relief to the Organizers). Had a brief intro round and started walking close to 20 minutes to reach the hill-base. The sky was already clear and starry. Surrounding was perfect serene and silent. and weather - just pleasant. It was comparitively darker due to crescent-moon. With  our torches on, we started ascending as per the sequence planned by the organizers.

trekking -up

The gang - On the top!!

The trek-path here mostly has large stones [you need to watch out for loose stones - that you might tumble upon] Few tumbles here n there did occur that urged our Captain Ajju to keep looking out for any 'retired-hurt' at every break :P [Thankfully, none!]. As we were comparitively a huge number [close to 30 people] - we kept the pace moderate [and focussed more on the whole team being together and safe]. Took sufficient breaks -- had breath-taking views -- did our regular leg-pulling sessions -- @times totally silent (listening to the crushing dry leaves as we tread uphill) -- played with torch-lights -- and thus accomplished the rather tiring climb to the peak..

Peak & Dinner-break:

It took close to 2.15 hours to reach the peak. By then, it turned pitch dark (only torch lights helped). The team now safely dispersed in our respective sub-groups to explore the surrounding. The peak has a small Shiva-Nandi temple, totally ruined remnants of a fort, and a pond beyond a broken wall. The rest of the area is just rocky.

After a while, when our hunger-pangs turned obvious - we gave up our detective-giri and all assembled at a common spot for the much-awaited - DINNER time!

Tough job! Great job - guys! ;) ;)

While the guys gathered around the fire to 'cook-food' (read: 'boil water' :P); the gals enjoyed watching them and eating up the snacks (read: 'starters') that were left over after the climb :D. Highlight was our 'Master Chef' Umang who cooked 'bread-maggi' and almost took Sucheta's life with the dish! :D {Lesson: if you've not lived a hostel-life, you are most likely to not appreciate weird food-combos :P}.

Camp-fire & Dostana-style Lungi dance :P

By the time we finished our dinner it was close to the zeroeth hour. The weather slowly turned freezing chill [apt time for a camp-fire]. We lit the camp-fire and started our 'fun-activities'. Fun began with our Organizer Ajju (supported by Virander also :P) ragging the first-timers among guys for dance. The guys were a real sport and entertained the entire team with their talent ;)

The camp-fire : our saviour in the chill night !

Antakshari me laga di 'Ma' ki: [before you judge this title, please read below ;)]

Post the dance numbers - we started the traditional BTC game - Antakshari  {Boys v/s Girls this time, going by the trek's theme}! 

The game that started just as a game - turned into a 'word-war' with each side bending & breaking rules - arguing and accusing each other of cheating (that we actually did :P) - proving / disapproving the existence of few songs (that were never heard before) -- All this, just to ensure that the opponent gets only the letter 'ma' to sing from :D.

3 hours went by only singing songs from 'ma' :D This session was truly hilarious and fun!

Descend:

Both the sides almost exhausted our list of 'ma' songs - and started to lose interest in the game (after a 3 hour non-stop galata :D). The descend was to be started at 4.45 am, and very less time was left for starting off. After a short story-telling session (by Captain Virander's on his escapades to haunted houses), and back-packing activity, we started to started to descend.

The morning got misty and chill. Descend was more silent than ascend (probably cz we all were half-tired, half-sleepy after a sleepless night) It literally felt like we were some notorious ghosts escaping to peace after a terrific night! We still needed the torch-lights as it was dark. It was still all calm and serene. 

After a good 1.5 hours of descend - helping each other - figuring out the right way -- we reached the base right at breaking dawn [6.15am].

Back on Track:

After a short photo-session, we were made to walk on the railway track by Captain Virander till the station. This too, was, a new experience - experienced the ever clean Indian railway tracks and its aroma :P

Hum jo chalne lage, chalne lagen hain ye raaste....B-)

Reached station. Had a short feedback session. Kept waiting for the train to arrive.

Farewell:

Train arrived {late by an hour}. Team dispersed - after successfully accomplishing the 'first-of-its-kind' & memorable event from BTC...[once again proud to have been a part of this :)}

No matter how crappy, busy, mechanical your weekdays are - a weekend with BTC - and your world changes!

Credits:

A biig thanks to Captains Ajita and Virander for having thoughtfully planned and organized the event. Congratulations on its success :):). Thanks to each and every fellow trekker for being a sport. Team work - was excellent!!

Photo Credits: Ritu P, Ajita and Girish

Cheers!!

Swatz...