Background about this trek.

It all started with Avinash taking the initiative about this trek. The main intention was to get started as it was a long time since we had trekked. The last of mine was on the April 15/16th of 2000. There were a couple of exchange of mails from all quarters and the numbers as usual increased and finally came down to the magic number of 7. So, the place was decided by me and Avinash that we will trek from Kemmannugundi to Hebbe falls which is around 10kms. The participants were myself, Avinash, Amith, Ranga ( all from HP ), Sajid, Srini and Shyam ( from Eximsoft ).

Avinash had sent a detailed mail to the trekking group about the items which are a must and which must be shared. It was an all-through exhaustive list. The bus tickets couldn't be booked as Ranga and Amith confirmed from the bus-station that we could board any bus to Shimoga, get down at Tarikere and then take a local transport to Kemmannugundi. With this, we left office deciding to meet at Platform no. 4 at the KSRTC bus stand at 22:45hrs.

8th March 2002 ( Friday )

Myself and Ranga had parked our bikes at the office and reached the said meeting point in time. Amith was already there and he had called on my mobile which was in no alert mode, so had to leave him wondering for sometime. Later, our dear Avinash arrived on the scene at around 22:45hrs. We had a brief introduction with our new trekking mates and then decided to find a bus after a loooooooooong discussion. But, since most of us were excited about the trek rather than getting on to the bus, we missed some buses and then took a bus which started at around 00:30hrs. Myself and Ranga could manage to get a seat in the front rows. The remaining were dumped in the last seat. I had a peaceful sleep till Avinash woke me up at some place near Arasikere, wherein the bus stopped for the routine break. Later, I came to know that the back-seaters had a tough time sitting there, forget trying to sleep. But, my guess is that Srini managed to sleep well. The others had their pot of woes to pour about the roads and the driver. One interesting thingy that happened is: I had a water bottle in my hand during the journey, the back packs were parked in some place, but this small bottle proved a liability to me during my sleep. Since, I was at the edge of a seat and I didn't have any place to lean comfortably nor anything to hold the water bottle, it always used to slip out of my hand, but more often than not it settled somewhere next to my seat or in-between my thighs. But, as fate had it, once it so happened that the conductor who was always into some antics with the steering wheel managed to dislodge the water can from my hand and it zoomed like a scud missile on two ladies who were sleeping in a very congested place next to me. The Almighty was great enough to spare me for this carelessness.

Anyways, we reached Tarikere at around 5:10hrs and settled in a nearby place which happened to be the railway station campus. Sajid immediately found a place to stretch himself and then went to sleep. The others were generally chatting and later decided to have breakfast at the nearby roadside shop which was serving some very good idlis. Some of us had a mini face-wash with/without brushing their teeth. The idlis were a good treat after that late bus journey. The Kemmannugundi bus was supposed to arrive at the place at around 6:15hrs, but then due to some reasons, the bus was not going to K*i that day. Some were upset and some enthused to hear that. The next bus was around 8:30hrs which would prove very costly to our trekking schedules. So, went to the other side of the road and tried to stop any vehicle that came across. Finally, the councillor of Tarikere Mr. Dharamraj who was keeping himself drunk till early morning wished us whole heartedly for our trekking plans, when we got a mud/sand lorry which was going to Kemmannugundi. Only 5 of them could get into the driver's cabin, the remaining three of us ( myself, Sajid and Srini ) boarded the lorry to the open top. The red sand stains in the lorry was so much that we successfully brushed our dresses against them. It was a bumpy journey for most part of it. Wuff! Wuff!! I forgot to introduce Ranga as our official cameraman who started off with his camera stunts early in the morning with me and Amith in his first frame. He had a digital camera with 64MB memory which could accommodate around 100 pictures with the best resolution ( 1480X1296 if it sounds ok ). Then, we had Mr. Gandey who was installed in the middle of the road into that intelligent device called digi cam. Ranga tried some stunts by bluntly pointing the camera against the trio who were standing in the lorry. I equally tried my sabotaging stunts on Ranga's ideas. Later, at one point Avinash joined us at the back and we took some snaps with the digicam there. There was Avinash, the professional camera man with his Nikon FM-10, Amith with his Canon SLR and Shyam with his sleek device.

We reached Kemmannugundi at around 8:45hrs. Settled at one side of the road very near to the public toilet. People went in a queue and downloaded their metabolic waste in an orderly fashion. We had to pay Rs. 2/- per person. This is one good aspect in Kemmannugundi. The toilets are maintained relatively neat and clean, definitely better than the ones in our Swacha Bangalore. The trek started at around 9:45hrs with a few oranges as our starters and some dates and chocolates ( were there any ? ). It started off pretty smoothly with Avinash trying to lead and Shyam pulling him all through as a very bad project management strategy. Shyam seemed to be a very planned and meticulous person in everything. He wants people to move steadfast at any point. Sajid was the most silent but was always in the midst of us. Srini was carrying two large rolls of mat on either side of his backpack and was well built to carry that :) Amith too was reserved but had a very good company in Ranga. They were both at logical disputes which was a good treat to me and Avinash, not sure of the others though.

It was a very sunny day and the path looked very bare and dry. There wasn't much of forest for us to cool. The head caps were on most of the time. Sajid had his own style of cooling his head which was unique and effective. Srini was the Mutta Mesthri with a blue band on his forehead. We had a couple of breaks most of them in the open sun either to take a breather or capture some shots in their respective cameras. Avinash's mismanagement was proved when he took us in the wrong route to a place from where we had to walk back for almost a km, which proved very enterprising for most of them in some way or the other. Later, it was almost a cake walk as far as the path was concerned. In the meanwhile, the paths were mostly of red sand and pebbles/stones which was helpful to apply our brakes and also it did some damage to our underfeet. It was very unfortunate when Amith slipped at one place and lost control. He barely fell when he had to rest on his palm and the camera got in touch with the ground with a small impact. Avinash immediately diagnosed the camera and found that the lens subsystem had been damaged. He had to pack his camera accessories safely for the rest of the trek. That was quite unfortunate. We continued further and most of the time, there were two batches, with a group size of 4 and 3. When we were almost approaching the falls, the time read around 13:30hrs. The falls were located in a private estate of the Liquor baron, Mr. Vijay Mallya ( Courtesy: Avinash ). It was serene and nice to walk along the paths. A few metres from the falls we met lot of boys and girls hand in hand most of the time. The latter group was regretting that they would have missed them at the waterfalls as these people were on their way back. Srini was the most disappointed of the lot, though others never expressed out in the open. The falls were a magnificent sight. Immediately, Srini jumped into the waters. Myself and Avinash followed suit. Amith was not willing to as he didn't have his undergarments to change. People gave a viable solution, but he didn't shift from his stance. Shyam and Sajid were also away from the water. Ranga joined in the water lately. Tried some antics in the water and since we were quite hungry, all of us decided to have our "lunch". Avinash, Ranga and myself were captured along with the falls at the backdrop in the digital camera. The lunch consisted of lot of buns with jam and some peanuts. We lazied at that place till around 16:00hrs and we were supposed to reach a place which was along the way around an hour's trek from the falls. So packed ourselves to the destination. Managed to be there quite early at around 17:15hrs. Settled ourselves by spreading our mats. Myself, Shyam and Srini went down the forest to look for water which Avinash pointed at. But, we were unsuccessful, later Avinash showed us the way, which was very useful for our morning rituals. Shyam and others brought water from an other place in the meanwhile. I started to prepare the chulha for preparing rice for our dinner. Some firewood was brought by the others. The rice was ready at around 19:00hrs. Myself and Avinash tried to bring a puliyogare taste by adding the puliyogare paste ( Courtesy: Ranga ). A separate morsel of rice without P*e was served for Shyam. Srini and Amith did the honors for making some great Papad on the hot coal. We completed our dinner and did some ritual for the camp fire before we crashed to our exotic beds. Since the day was very sunny, we expected some cold breeze to soothe our body in the night. But, it didn't turn out as expected. It was a peaceful and silent night. Most of us were awake by around 6:00hrs. All of us went to the forest down where there was a stream flowing waiting for us to clean ourselves. It was a wonderful experience to do our morning ritual in such a wonderful place. Some of us downloaded before that.

I started preparing the morning breakfast and Sajid prepared coffee parallelly. Maggi noodles were a treat to have in that early morning. It came out much better than the evening puliyogare. Later, packed ourselves to start our way back to the place from where we started. It seems that the coffee turned out to be more sweeter because of milkmaid, instead of milk. Avoid maids wherever possible :) One couple who stays very near to the place we stayed wanted us to take some juice the previous evening which we didn't bother. There is a natural source of water just opposite these people's house. Our next stop was at this place to clean our utensils which we used for breakfast and then to prepare lemon juice and carry the remaining for our journey then on. The lady was amused as we prepared juice right in front of her house. Anyways, we continued further and again managed to separate into two groups. Avinash, myself and Amith in one group and the rest in the other. On the way we were totally separated as both the groups two different paths. We could see each other but couldn't communicate. Each group would have felt that the other was wrong. Anyways, with regular breaks along the way, we reached Kemmannugundi at around 13:00hrs in different directions. Again lazed around one side of the road as the previous day. We came to know that the bus is at 16:30hrs. So, peacefully settled on the roadside. I had gone to the loo; Shyam and Srini had gone to find some solid food in the canteen nearby. I was alerted in the loo that there is a bus to Kemmannugundi and was starting off immediately. We all rushed towards the bus and got in comfortably. Reached Tarikere at around 14:50hrs. Came to know that the train to Bangalore is around 15:30hrs. Purchased the tickets in time and got in the train. The train was crowded more than normal. We also came to know that there would be around 6 bogeys which would be added from an other train coming from Davanagere at the next station, which is the Birur junction. The train reached Birur at around 15:30hrs. So, we got out of the bus, hogged some idlis and dosas. Since it was very hot, some of them felt that it is better to go by bus as the connecting train would come at around 16:00hrs and leave only by 16:30hrs. Somehow, the other group managed to convince these people to go by train and we all came by train very comfortably to Bangalore at around 21:15hrs. It was a good trek though a short one.