Almost 5 months in Bangalore and every weekend my feet would itch to go somewhere far. I had heard a lot about Bangalore ASCENDers but never got a chance to travel with them so far. The constant gush of mails from them about upcoming events make me long to go on a trek with this enthusiastic group very soon.
An excited plan to go to Kodachadri failed when I realised that the registrations were closed way too soon. When I was making my own plans for the weekend I saw this mail from Mudassar about a day trek to Shivagange betta. I was excited again. I quickly asked VJ ( my husband ) who announced that he has to work on Saturday ! Blow !! But he quickly suggested that I should go ahead on my own. How kind of him !:) I thought why not and quickly registered. Thank God this time it was accepted.
I was super excited about the trek that I could hardly sleep the night before. 
Woke up too early and reached the station well before time. Started looking for probable hikers among the crowd on the platform. A couple of phone calls to Mudassar proved futile (the man is too busy I say ;) then found Viru and Chaitanya as a matter of chance and then started our journey.
Woke up too early and reached the station well before time. Started looking for probable hikers among the crowd on the platform. A couple of phone calls to Mudassar proved futile (the man is too busy I say ;) then found Viru and Chaitanya as a matter of chance and then started our journey.
Reached Dobbespet in a private bus which tried to entertain us with two TV s and had an interesting conversation with Virender aka Viru in the bus !
After a humpy bumpy auto ride finally reached our base point- Shivagange. A silent prayer to The Lord and then we started The Climb !
And I must say I thoroughly enjoyed the climb. Especially catching up with different people on the way. Initially it was the girls and Ruwise but eventually interacted with most of the other guys- Vaisakh, Arun, Miten, Kushal, Vikas, Chaitanya. Enjoyed being the only doctor in the group too ;-) And I must appreciate Raghu's interest in clicking everyone so patiently..!
A conversation with Mudassar made me realise that he is such a humble and friendly person. Truly passionate about what he has been doing . I felt lucky that my first trek was with the very founder of BASC !
I feel the best part of any trek is the summit ! All your pain and suffering just vanish when you are up there ! The endurance and struggle suddenly seem totally worthy when you reach the top! And I felt the same when I was on the top of Shivagange betta after almost 3 hours of hard work !
A quiet time away from the group for a short while felt great. Thoroughly enjoyed gazing through Rafiq's binoculars. And then joined the gang for more fun! Then followed a never ending series of group photos and they are the best part of any group event !
We had a constant company of our ancestors through out:) who added to the fun. After a much needed lunch break tried my luck with touching the holy water underground..but to my dismay realised that I couldn't. :( but I hadnt wished for anything..how clever am I ;-)
The climbing down part is supposedly easy but quite tricky. It's harder on your feet and you need to be cautious. For most part of my climb down I was enjoying my conversation with Raghu(nandan).. Very interesting and friendly person I must say.
The journey back to Namma Bengaluru proved to be nice with people controlling their yawns and trying to find a place for themselves. And then came a surprise ! The expenditure ! It turned out to be just 140 rs! (When I told Vj about it after getting back home he just couldn't believe it !)
So thus ended my first trek with BASC ! A very memorable one filled with fun..randomness..interesting people full of life ! ;)
See you soon friends !
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Written by: Gayathri
Event organized by: Mudassar
Image Gallery: Vaisakh, Raghunandan, Mohammed Rafiq, Chaitanya, Shreedevi, Kushal Dave, Mudassar
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