Bangalore Trekking Club - Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to Bangalore Trekking Club 

"Can I ask you something," He shrugged.
This kind of question from a guy makes girl's mind swirl around lot of guesses♥ and imaginations. ♥♥♥
"Y....ea...h. Please go ahead," I said with a gleam of excitement glittering in my ♥♥ eyes.
"Well. Why do you trek!?"
"Ahh!?," I exhaled with dismay and replied him, "Well.. To keep me fit"
"Come-on. You are already fit" That one compliment took my heels to heaven.
He snapped and said, "Weekends are meant to take rest and partieeeee!!! Don't you really feel bored to wake up at 5 (sometimes even before) on a Sunday and go for a strenuous activity?"
Well that question really made me to think and even understand the view of people who don’t wish to accelerate their body.

Why do people do trekking? 
Below are my own thoughts and experiences.

To keep fit:

Trekking burns lot of calories. Someone complained, "I do trekking from past 1 month, but not a single pound lost". Well, eating lots of junk foods will neutralize your physical activity. Avoid eating Junk foods during trekking and replace it with healthy fruits. Definitely, trekking on a long run keeps you strong and fit. Observe the passionate trekker figure and fitness.

Rejuvenates the Mind and body:

After 5 days of stressful work, people tend to think taking “Rest and party are the best way to recharge their batteries.”

"Rejuvenate Yourself! This Winters!! Pay Just Rs.2500 for a body message and pamper yourself," I can’t assure whether those beauty parlor advertisement can rejuvenate. But trekking definitely boosts you to the core and keeps you recharged for complete week.

Forget worries:

Most of the articles on love failure in google will suggest "ENGAGE YOURSELF.” But the best way to indulge is TREKKING. You fall in love with nature and all your worries, daily stresses just melt away

Explore the Natural Beauty and learn the history:

Get a chance to explore the untouched treasures of nature. You tend to google about the place and enhance a lot about the place, if-not; one of the co-trekker would tell the history behind it.

Bazillion Photos in Facebook:

Photography has become ubiquitous and photography lovers opt trek to capture the nature. Their clicks never take the excuse, “not a good one”. And of course it’s the best souvenir and always treasures us about the exciting voyage!

P.S: Itching them to capture you more is in your hands :P

These cherished moments might have not been captured in my life without Bangalore trekking club. I would like to thank and congratulate Bangalore trekking club which is celebrating the first anniversary and its massive success. I also thank the Founder Virander, Co-founder Chaitanya Kumar, Organizers Meghraj, Ajita, Anthony, Sangamesh, Channa, Santosh, Abhishek, Kirubadevi, Sushma, Deepthy for taking pain in planning the events and my co-trekkers who helped a lot to come out of my downtime, made me smile, caused stomach ache by making me laugh, Narrate the ambiance in my novel :P, gifting a bunch of good friends who cares and value a lot, strengthened my faith, giving new direction to life, sharing the foods, sharing goggles exclusive for photos… much more

Non-trekkers are now excited about trekking!? How, where, what to do? For those who live in Namma Banglore, Bangalore trekking club is a good option.
When I was a first came across Bangalore trekking club (BTC), many questions popped up!? And my fellow trekkers also said they had the same questions in mind.
I tried to answer few of the repetitive amateur questions that you may be hesitate to ask

If it safe for girls? This is the first question that got in my crazy mind.

I still remember when one of my friend took knife with her during her first night trek :P
Its absolute 100% safe. "No smoking and No alcohol". Their goal is to ensure that all the trekking enthusiasts feel safe and explore the nature. They are youthful and energetic team.


I am humpty dumpty. I never walked even for 1 kms in my life, Will I be able to trek?

Check out the trekking difficult level. - Very easy, easy, moderate and difficult. Just give out a try by choosing Easy mode and give it a try. “The expert in anything was once a beginner.” My personal opinion, it does not matter with the difficult level, people who come for trekking are very constructive and supportive. They will help you, guide you and motivate you. All you need is “I can do it” attitude.

I always had an aversion towards the people at managing level. Principal at school, Manager @ work and oh no!! Again organizers at Trekking!?

BTC organizers are so friendly, down to earth and very open. Have you seen any organizer helping in removing the leeches around your legs by their hand and applying Dettol to leg? They care and do! Have you seen at least in movies any organizer carry your bags along with their bag to the hill top, in case if you are not able to!? They carry and help you!

I don’t have that much money to spend for those leisure activities?

It’s not an expensive one. For one day trekking, it hardly cost you Rs.250-500 and it’s not a big deal when compared visiting a mall and purchasing a dress!! Remember you are investing this for your health and nature!!!

People will be coming with their own SET OF friends, I will be isolated in the entire trekking, If I enroll all alone :(
Of course they are strangers for initial 5 minutes. But the next moment, you hang out like BEST-BUDDIES-FROM-BIRTH. And yes, they do come with friends. But you will be surprised to hear that the friendship was built only in trekking.

Trekking with strangers? Oh no, people may be of personality traits - rebellious, arrogant, ego-centric.
People who come for trek are a bunch of candid, affectionate, flexible and enthusiastic. To till date, I never met anyone who showed an attitude, or with negative mind.

The unique experience you get every time won’t be gathered anywhere. So get ready to derive happiness from trekking and you will realize that trekking has changed your everyday experience.

The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences - Chris McCandless

It’s time to trek and become a slave to nature!

Did I miss out any questions or experience you gathered during trekking?! Please do mention in comment, I would love to add it

Chitra Durga Fort, Jogi Matti Forest, Chandravalli/Ankalagi cave Exploration

“Friends! Interested in Visiting Historic place CHITRADURGA!?”

As soon as my eyes captured the word “HISTORIC”, I cast an eye over “DELETE” option and trashed the email. History was always a boring subject. Remembering monarchs, dynasty, dates, and places were always a problematic one. Neither, I did not had a handsome teacher to fall in love with the subject (SIR?@$) to score good marks or to explore about history.

Second main reason for not registering - At the time of registration, I was down with high temperature. So the possibility of making to the ChitraDurga Exploration was not at all an option. Time Fled way and the Registration was closed.

Just 2 day before the event, I got an email stating there were two drops out and interested folks can make it to ChitraDurga Exploration. Instead of sitting sluggish at home, I thought of making to the trip.

It’s always the people who fight and knock down each other like Tom and Jerry fall in love at the end. Similarly, my aversion towards history had changed after Chitradurga excavation. Now, I am addicted to archaeology.

Enough of my Purana.. Coming to our experience..

Friday Night:

We started our journey by bidding bye to Virander, who was there to give send off. We invited him to join the trip, but he stayed back to watch Dhoom 3 (Oooopps…No comments)

The night ride to ChtiraDurga was an excellent; the road was too good. Of course it has to be, since its a Bangalore – Pune Highways and its a part of Golden Quadrilateral Highway Project. Road Biking to Chitraduraga from Bangalore would be a suggested option.

Drive to ChitraDurga:

We reached ChitraDurga district around 2 AM; Chetan and Shruti were guiding us to the hotel perfectly including Small Street. When we reached Yarti Nivas, I was curious to appreciate their street view knowledge but stepped back when I observed mobiles in their hands and was using google maps for navigation. Thanks to Lars Eilstrup without your google map technology, at those odd hours, it would have been very difficult to find our stay. But a moment later, we realized that we were on wrong Yarti Nivas and drove to the right one finally.

Lodging:

The lodging was simply the best. A Beautiful grass lawn on a balcony exactly opposite to the Fort, 3 puppies playing near the lawn and a hot cup of Coffee as soon as we woke up made the lodging and stay so attractive.

Saturday (Day 1)

We got up well before the sunrise, hired a Guide and started to explore the fort. The Fort welcomed us by treating with a bright Sunrise over the hills, strewn with windmills. The guide started reciting in English, Kanada and Hindi. Apart from him, none understood his English and Hindi narration. So, we requested him to stick to Kanada and appointed Shruthi and Ashwin as translator.


Below are the few attractions from Chitra durga Fort:

1. Snake Inscription: Snake Sculpture at Chitradurga Fort Entrance. - This is a symbolic representation of the fort. Since the way leading to Fort is spiral like a snake.
2. Yenne Kola: A huge rock which is used to store oil.
3. GYM I eagerly gawped into the Gym expecting Treadmills, cycling and Rowing Machines if not at least olden Dumbbell and Kettlebell. But the room was completely empty. Even the door of the Gym was very small, literally just a window. The door was left small purposely for the protection of the king. Just in case, enemies plans to attack him during his work out, only one can enter through the door(window)
   
   
   
4. Akka Thangiyara Honda: (Elder and younger sister ponds) Folklore - Two sisters who were married to the king Madakari Nayaka(last ruler of Chitra Durga) jumped into the ponds after his death.
5. Rocks: The rocks in the fort were all of different shapes. Rabbit shape, Frog shape, Ship shape, elephant shape and many more. On seeing the Ship shaped stone, I thought of posing the famous titanic still of Jack and Rose. But climbing on the stone was difficult so dropped the plan (Note – Me being Rose, Jack would be either Shruti/Swathi/Shwetha)  
6. Onake Obavva: Obavva - Wife of a soldier called Kalanayak was guarding a fort tower, substituting for her husband during a lunch break. She was guarding the Chitradurga Fort at a crack opening, a secret opening (where only one person could barely squeeze through). While fetching water, she heard the muted sounds of enemy soldiers attempting to enter the fort through the crevice. With great presence of mind she immediately hid behind the crevice in the fort and hit at each soldier trying to squeeze through the crevice with Onake, the name given in Kannada to a masse or pestle, a wooden rod used for pounding paddy. In this process, she bravely killed several enemy soldiers. By the time her husband appeared on the scene, she had already dragged several bodies of dead soldiers into the fort wall and was standing around the dead bodies with the blood stained Onake in her hand. Kalanayak blew the bugle when other soldiers also joined him and killed all the enemy soldiers. This brave act saved the fort on that day from further attacks by Hyder Ali’s soldiers. And the Legend Onake Obavva. 



Our professional photographers trying to
capture t he enemies
squeezing out from Crevice

• All adventure lovers squeezed through crevice and Shruthi was standing beside the crevice and hit everyone who popped up their head with Camera Bag. It was little challenging, and few took the other route to come out instead of crevice.
7. Gali Mantapa: There was a huge swing and a lamp post. Those days king worshipped this during festivals. 
8. Monkey man: We were not able to meet Kothi Raja, who climbs the fort walls without any harnesses. But observed the chalk powder(magnesium carbonate powder) in fort walls that was used for by his palms for grip. Also, Kothi Raja's performance was substituted with the amazing climbing and jumping performance of Santosh. 
• Jyothi Raj Alice Kothi Raja – Spider man of Chitradurga
• Santosh Kumar – Monkey man of BTC
9. Murugarajendra Matt: A place that was completely quiet and peaceful.
10. Fish Marks on the Wall - 
11. Large gun powder Grinder:

Lakshmi tiffin:

We decide to have breakfast (Khali Dosa) at Lakshmi tiffin – The oldest and famous hotel in Chitradurga. But we postponed to Sunday due to time constrain

Jogi Matti Forest:

We took permission from forest officers and started our ride. All the Kilometre Stone that indicates Jogi Matti forest had a bird picture which gave a hint that it would be a heaven for bird watchers. But we could not watch even a single bird. We explored the district, by climbing into the view point. Definitely the place would be a calm and full of birds in the early hours. But getting permission from forest officer would be a tough one.

Adumalleshwar zoo:

This place was full of school kids playing. Ashutosh tried to talk to the kids, but they addressed back saying uncle. Thats it, We did not talk a word again to the kids just to be in safer side of not getting tagged as aunty and uncle There were quite few animals and it’s a worth place to watch. By the time, one of our Wicket Chetan was down. So we decide to hit our room. Our day ended by playing UNO game for hours and hours.

Day 2:

Sunday:

Doddahotrangappa Hill (Lord Ranganathaswamy temple)

I loved this temple. The villagers requested us to remove the shoes and slippers saying respect and worship. But there were few of us, who were not used to climb without shoes. We had a tough time in explaining them. Finally few of us trekked without shoes and few with shoes. This was an excellent one for trekking. Infact, had a good peace after visiting the temple.



Chandravalli/Ankalagi cave - A maze of secrets:

The thrilling Experience and interesting facts found during the cave exploration was one of the reason to fall in love with Archaeology.

The Chandravalli cave is present 80feet under the ground and it’s a interesting/confusing maze with multiple secret exits. The cave is moon shaped and it is hugged between two giant rocks. This is like a mini-Ship. Yes, you have everything inside the cave. Temples, mediation hall, bedrooms, shelves, bathroom with a well-planned rain -harvesting system and finally the SECRET conference halls. The challenge was to find the secret conference room, luckily we found the room by ourselves. Still we took a guide. Its better to take a guide as he explains the signifance of minute things. Must say, our guide English (vinglish) was good. Though we requested him to explain in Kanada, he was stubborn to explain in Vinglish. On reaching the secret hall, We switched off the light and observed a complete darkness and silence. Don’t miss out the paintings in cave. It was painted purely with natural elements (herbs). It has been ruined almost 99% now. There were no ventilation inside the cave and it was full of dust, few people got dust allegory and felt suffocation.

Holalkere:

Ganesha statue

Outside view of Ganesha Temple

Holalkera - A place to reconnoiter the Ganesha statue which is more than 500 years old. We started back to Bangalore with a plan to visit Vanivilas Sagar Dam on the way

Vanivilas Sagar Dam:( Mari Kanive)

It’s the oldest dam in the state. We were on the right time and observed the sunset. The Specular reflection of sunlight with sunset was the best part we enjoyed in Marikanive dam. Myself, Swathi, Swetha almost tortured Santhosh to take snaps. One snap with Sun, One in-between sun, One with hill background, one with monkey, One with sunglass, one with hat… and the list goes on.. finally we kept quite when his battery got dried out.

Finally it was 7 PM and we wanted to reach Bangalore by 10, so that we board BMTC buses to our home. We were stunned when the driver stopped the cab and started washing the vehicle. Chaitanya decided to give a hint to him and said we need to be in Bangalore by 9.30 (Almost 150 Kms in 3 hours)

The reply gave him a jerk. “We can reach by 8.30 Sir”.

Immdeitaly he said, “No issues.. Take your time and reach by 9.30”

After his Zig-Zag ride, just like Fort symbolic representation spiral like a snake, we reached Yeswanthpur at 10.00. We took loads of histoieees with and bid bye to them

Highlights of the trip:

• Cave exploration
• Sunrise among the Windmills at Chitradurga and Sunset in Marikanave Dam.
• Endless hours of playing UNO game just to make Saravanan score 6 Points.

Final Touch – A weekend with Archeological Exploration + climbing + Zoo + UNO + Photography