Trek to Awesomeness

Off we go out of civilization 

What will you need if you have to scramble through a rugged terrain, with a ponderous bag hung over your shoulders, sun beating down hard scorching the skin & sweat oozing out of your body . You may ask for bottles of water, glucose, something to munch on, a pit stop every 10 mins, probably a sun shade, a portable air conditioner or you could also go up to an extent of asking someone to carry you . With due respect to all the other requirements one thing that is far far more respected in my perspective is company you get while doing all that . Every other comfort make it to minimal importance if you have got good fellow mates. And I cannot move further narrating the incredible journey to awesomeness with giving a virtual High-Five to the wonderful company of 19 playmates with brimming contingency.

 We were a bunch of unfamiliar strangers as the clock read 5:15 at the bus station from where we all started our journey . By 5:45 we've become a family . A family which started playing games making a RTC bus seem like a college bus. It took about two and half hours to reach Devarakonda which was our first destination. Done with our refreshments we headed to Kamballapally a remote village which was an other two and half hours of bumpy ride. I was treated with heavy dosage of Tamil which I barely understood . I just made sure I gave a simple grin when everyone around cracked out. A village for me till then was just a movie. Something that I only saw on screen . For the first time have I been to an actual place called village.

Off we went out of civilization and out of cell phone coverage as well. Scrambling up a terrain, I felt for the first time that I was out of my comfort zone . Heart beat racing up, could easily match the all new bullet train The Chinese put to work last month . There were constant signals received demanding a bottle of chilled water.  Scooting through the cotton fields, jumping over wall like structures, with bottles stuffed on either side of the bags we were carrying, managing to get through narrow openings between the boundaries, the trek has already started taking better of our endurance.

After doing all the struggle, view we framed on top of that gigantic cliff was impeccable .The view of blue sky, deep blue water, green pasture lands and finally an island in middle of the waters was a sigh of relief. One may have just sat down, pleasured himself with water and something to eat after all the hard work he has done going up there. But the view of the extraordinary beauty around never let me think of anything else. Personally, the thrill that place made me go through was something more than, greatest of the explanations I can give. I sat down allowing myself to believe I was being treated to an adorable scenic charm. Those things that my retina captured would remain on an in-erasable file with my memory forever.  Sachin's play at Sharja , Liverpool winning over Manchester, Listening to Rehaman's melody or unfolding of Sheldon's suspense towards the climax were some of the fantastic things I recollect again and again, this glimpse of the Island would surely make it to that list. It was a giant conical hillock. With a small temple like structure on the apical. It was way far too away, but I was dying to capture a click of the nature around from there .The place was actually a village by name Mallannagutta which was inundated by back waters as Nagarjuna Sagar Dam was constructed in early 60's.

That was the frame I was talking about.

Not fully willing to leave that place we start our journey towards banks of the river . The trek was now becoming tougher because from now on it was climb down . I found climbing down the hill with pebbles under your feet lot more difficult compared to trekking upwards. May be because while going down you will have to an additional weight of the body to be controlled.

Trekking down for about half an hour, four of us were at a place from where we had no idea which way to take. Some left us far too early and some were still behind. I thought of Robert Frost, but unfortunately the place itself was less traveled and there was a lot of trek to be done before we slept. Four of us there not knowing which way to go finally made a choice and moved forward, which with in no time proved to be a wrong choice. We had to land up on one side of the cliff and we did on the other. In middle of a forest were we, four strangers who had to just get along . Each one of us shared a pinch of nervousness and tons of excitement of getting lost. We knew that we were lost in forest, but then the presence of three others kept us going. It is such a wonderful feel that Me, Dhilip, Anusha and Rajesh were just strangers to each other in the morning and now we had to find a way out. Cracking jokes and making plans of taking a little nap we entered into a green pasture land. It was no less than Sydney Cricket Ground where the out fields are just green all the way . As soon as we got to the banks of the river and cool breeze welcomed our visit. Took our shoes off and we started walking on the banks with water striking our feet gently, toward the side we were supposed to get to.

After a trimmed break our journey towards the island began on a boat which had a tractor engine flange coupled to the propeller . Sun was almost saying good bye for the day, birds chirping, and the water boat making way to the Island. We were travelling on a boat with hill ranges on all the four sides. One side it was dark and the other side the range of hills turned bright yellow with . It was a 20-25 mins ride from the banks of the river and through out the journey I could hear my soul speaking too many things . Too many things to describe, too many things to capture on camera, too many feeling to share and I was missing too many friends of mine.

With clock striking 6 in the evening we were on an island with no one it other than 20 exciting adventure enthusiasts . I will have to become a lexicographer and do etymology to describe the fun we had thereafter on the island . The sun light was slowly fading away & the feel of staying there all alone got better and better . Divided in groups, some went in search of firewood, some started cleaning and others started cutting vegetables for the most exciting dinner that night which was yet to come our way .

I remember my English teacher long ago teaching me one proverb which was always fascinating because it dealt with food and cooks. The proverb read "TOO MANY COOKS SPOIL THE BROTH" . May be for the first time though, the proverb has gone utterly wrong . We were 20 different people working with utmost coordination on 3 different dishes in the darkness with torch lights beaming on from every corner. It was already pitch dark and without torch lights nothing was visible. I was in comfort thinking there would come that blue light that is shown on movies at night time. Believe me there isn't a single ray of any light other than the torches. Helping those master chefs there was the one of the brilliant experiences I had.  And the dinner that followed was simply yummy.

 It was only after the dinner that my focus went on to a completely different zone . It was astronomy this time. It was my first glance on to the sky and I couldn't resist myself from shouting WOW. It was then I realized why people said we cannot count no. of stars. They were as cute as a kindergarten class room with  some of them silent, some twinkling, others bright, remaining dull; it was fantastic. The sky looked so gorgeous. If the first glimpse of the island was impeccable, this was something of an higher order. We started to pack our bags after the dinner and started out trek to the top of hill . Remember it was just darkness, loneliness all around with sound of water splashing the rocks. With my exhaustiveness reaching its break even point, I just collapsed and out I went off my consciousness. I cut all my connections with rest of the world and just gave myself moments of sound sleep. Doing so I did disturb people sleeping besides pulling their blankets. My sister always said I have this habit of pulling blankets, but this was my first affirmative call on that note .

Lovely Dawn Ever

 I woke up to one of the most pleasant dawns I ever saw. I was on top of a steep cliff with water all around it. On top of the water was that fine layer of mist which made the view breath taking. Just then Mr. Sun has started coming out making it just the perfect frame to be clicked. Had to get back to the village to catch the bus before noon. So we had to leave early, trek back to the village where we were treated with excellent hospitality and tasty village lunch. Thus, finally came the full stop of the extreme awesomeness we experienced.





Personally, this trek was something more than an adventure to me. It was an outing where I learnt many things which the routine syllabus of life doesn't allow you to learn. I have been to many outing with my friends, but all of them were inside my radius of comfort. For the first time I had to come out of my comfort zone, and mingle with 19 others which I believe I'v did . Getting along and working as a unit with those amazing mates shall be one thing I would cherish for a long long time. I can bang my hand, head or anything  on a table and say if it hadn't been this group of trekkers, the trek wouldn't have been so sweet .

You guys seriously made my day .

Cheers to you guys.

Sakethursforever : )