THE GREEN ROUTE

The non-ephemeral nostalgia

(31-01-08 and 01-02-08)

I would not go into the fairy tales of preparation and everything and moreover I have an obscure memory of all that. The only thing that is lucid in my memory are the photos and at once i and athreya contrived take a detour from the bustling mercantile.

The convoy consisted of abhey(confident charlantan), aloka(iconoclast), deepal(football freak), athreya(the ecclesiast), arun antony, me, and akshay.

Now,I will have to trigger the imagination. It was 4 in the morning, amidst the darkness, like the light at the end of the tunnel, rays from a lamp was futting to a board. It showed Sakaleshpur railway station. We got down there and our first duties were to consult the station master and ask permission to trek. Accordingly,we went to him and asked him about the obligations. He advised us to board the same train and reach Donigal and start from there. It was 5 when we reached tat place. The place was an aura by itself. There was a small waterfall besides the track, and we completed the morning routines.

The convoy

THE START:

Asusual, the begin had with it, the vicious vigour with the batallion. We started the trek around 5:30 amidst the darkness. Everyone had a glint in their entire body. There was nothing that bewildered us for 1 hour except some photosessions and the chill weather. We reached a bridge after 1 hour, and the breathtaking view of the western ghats was blissful. At the begin of the bridge, we were able to see some havens in the course. When, we got upto that, we thought that somebody could be lulled into a sense of complacence at the start, seeing the havens. The state of the refuge was pathetic. I wondered how could a man board that refuge when the train is on its course. The blame is to none other than the bloody politicians. We walked along, for another 2 hours and everyone by then had lost their vigour. So, we decided to have our breakfast near the stream, we came across besides. We refilled our enthusiasm, and began our heuristic task. There were intermittent bridges on the course, i have told you only about the full moon. But, now comes the dark side of the moon, the tunnel. We were on the task of countering a 150 or 200 mts tunnel. With torches showing the light of hope, we entered the tunnel. In the mid-way,comes the ogreish roar.

The passage in the midway of the tunnel leading to

the above beauty

THE OGREISH ROAR:

We heard the whistle of a train coming by, and everyone become frenetic. Me, Deepal and Tony ran backwards to a passage routing into the sceneries of western ghats. We 3, didnt have any idea of what was happening inside the tunnel. We came to know about the inside saga, only after coming back and had a look at the photographs.

Train entering the tunnel

THE ONLY ABETTOR:

With the stones pressing the heals hard,everyone was scathing, and the only abettor at that time was the scenic splendor. With a view of that, we pushed ourselves along and after 1 hour, we reached a slightly long bridge(100 mts long) and from the center of the bridge, it was like the pirouette. The spin of the hills pivoted on the bridge. That bridge was the steepest hitherto we came across, and we saw a stream flowing below and we were delighted. That point of the stream was inaccessible and we moved along with this ray of hope. Not to be disappointed, we got a stream besides, after 15 mins. We had the second lifeline near that. We spent 1 hr playing and for having lunch. For everyone, that bath enamored all of us and made ephemeral of the past 5 hours of the herculean completion. The next 2 hours of trek till Yedakumeri was not that tiring but in a nook of the mind of everyone,there still was a glimpse of the hectic past. This speculated for boring. When we thought that everything was over, the enigma arrives.

The splendour

A view of Yedakumeri

THE ENIGMA:

After enquiring about the possibility of the further plans which were programmed, we inferred that it would not be frugal to go ahead. This was because, we had to cross kempehole which is the backwaters of a hydel project and unanticipated release of water from the dams while crossing could be dire. Another local suggested that he would take us to a nearby village, and to make your arrangements from there. Since he told that it would take another 6 kms for us to reach, some of them opined to stay back and wait for the train till dawn and board it. But, then the commando is stimulated in Akshay, he who was the most tired, invokes the imaginary stalwart and persuaded us to follow the villager. Plausibly, the climb was 70 degree and although the view from the grasslands were grotesque and intangible, all were not in a mood to relish such views. It took about 2 hours to reach a village, and I cannot remember the name. From ,there we boarded a jeep to sakaleshpur railway station. It was 9 when we reached the station, train was at 12. We were back to normal routine the next morning.

The complete itinerary of the trek is filled with greenery. This will be perpetual and inextricable from the adventure list of not only mine, but i hope for the whole convoy. Even though the trek was a little tiring, I would like to genuflect for the scenic altar.