Trek to Shingani Gudda Part 1 - 18th -19th July, 2009 PART 1

Hectic Week
I had a long week working through various presentations and reports. The whole week was screwed as I was at work for more than 12 hours. Sometimes it just becomes a compulsion more than your desire to do the same. All I was waiting was for Friday evening, when my weekend would be a different one from the normal ones as I was going on a trek.
Strange Things
I was just hoping that the Trek that I had registered with the Bangalore Mountaineering Club (BMC) shouldn’t turn out to be a disaster. I feared as it was the first time I had registered with an adventure club, it was the first time I had decided to go all alone, it was the first time I was going for 2 day trip with people whom I have never met in my life, it was the first time I blindly trusted the organization for all the facilities that they would provide, including my safety amidst the Jungles.
The night began by a pickup at Manipal Hospital, where I saw many people had gathered with bag packs and I was proud of having one too, after all the bag pack was for a trek and not a holiday!
Everyone had come in groups, I was alone. We all boarded the bus and I sat in the bus with hundreds of thoughts running in my head. Various pick up points were there and finally after the MG road pick up the bus was loaded, there was chitter chatter everywhere, talking, mocking, giggling … everything but I was still quiet, all to myself. I did not have anyone next to me. That night I looked out of the window while half the crowd was talking and the other half sleeping, and I said to myself “Why didn’t you get someone with you”? “why is no one approaching and making an effort to be frens” “why is no one responding to my smile” “why am I here” “I would have been better off if I were back in Bangalore” and ‘n’ number of other thoughts. But I have gone through enough of stress in the last few weeks and I convinced myself, “Don’t worry if you are alone, you will be fine and you will enjoy” and I finally slept.
A new beginning
So we were heading to Shingani Gudda, which is a part of the Charmadi ranges, which is near Arsinamakki. One can go to Arsinamakki by taking a deviation from the route to Dharmastala. We entered the Home Stay : Stream of Joy by 7 and I was amazed at the beauty of the Nature. Lush green, various shades of green, wet roads, air so fresh, that you can feel it right from your nose to your lungs and amidst the jungles..Aamzing…Simply beautiful. There were these huge steps that we had to climb down and as we go down the Stream of Joy, there were these gorgeous cottages. A fast flowing river against these cottages with high tides just added a pie on this lovely place.
Adventure begins
Apparently, after reaching that place I realized there were 5 other girls whom I spoke to when we were directed to our cottage. 2 of them married and were here with their hubbies and the rest were like me. It took us hardly few seconds to become frens and I had a big relief, I felt like all the thoughts I had were rubbish and I was confident that my trek would be filled with fun and adventure. We freshened up and there we were all set for the trek. We were served a yumm breakfast which included hot chai/coffee with Paddu and sheera. This is the first time I ate something called Paddu and I fell in love with it.
Life is beautiful with strangers
Finally we all gathered near our Bus and there we were asked to form a circle. I presumed this was for an Introduction which I was weating for a long time. There was this puny little guy named “Ram” who was our leader for the trek, an excellent master at adventure. He taught us the Jigujaaa dance and we were all introduced. In all 31 of us, a huge crowd.
The Trek begins
And then we started a trek to the Shingani Gudda. We had to walk through the forests for around 4 hours to reach the peak and another 4 hours to return back. The forest was dense, it was pouring cats and dogs, there were thorns everywhere, mushrooms which I have never seen, leeches which I had never imagined. Inspite of all this, we did manage a great team work, we all walked in straight lines headed by Ram and the last being Neeraj, the BMC owner. We were instructed very clearly before the trek itself that we should not expect any royal treatments, each one is responsible for their own self and one needs to be brave and not throw up tantrums. So we knew our rules, we just followed it, walked through the forest, filled our bottles with the water flowing through the jungle, ate biscuits and chocolates to keep the energy on, stopped whenever we wanted to do photography or when we were tired of climbing the steeps, the slopes or jumping over broken branches.
Something about Leeches
A leech will be as small as a small baby ant when it sticks to your body. It can walk through your tracks, tshirt, shoes, socks anywhere. It starts sucking your blood and it becomes fatter and bigger. It will suck 3 ml of your blood and then it will fall off. Your body will ooze out 3 times more blood and it will leave a mark which would not go for years together. Anytime you spot the leech, just pour salt on them, or spray deodorant or volini or any spray which has some alcohol content. This would create a burning sensation for the leech and he will leave your skin immediately.
Heaven abode
Once the forest was over, we reached the lowest part of the gudda. We had many more slopes to climb till we reached the peak of the Gudda, which is also known as the “Buddhas Peak”. It was an amazing sight as all we could see was greenery for few meters and all we were surrounded with was Fog and mist. Chilly winds poking thorugh our body made us feel even great. We finally reached the peak, and we were all so hungry that we immediately settled down on the wet rocks, opened the packed food given at the base camp. It consisted of 4 chapathis and aloo sabzi which tasted like heaven then. If one is on a peak and is short of water, one could always survive by plucking the grass and sucking water out of it, after all it’s the “Survival of the fittest”.
Soul is stronger than ever
We again took loadz of pictures and finally headed down the same way. Going down was even more risky as the rocks were wet, the grass was wet, and it was steeper. But we finally reached and it was indeed a great experience.
I overcame the fear of slopes, overcame the fear of all kinds of hallucinations of being on a steep mountain, I overcame the fear of dying of thirst, I overcame a lot of things. By theend of it, I felt proud of being myself, being strong, crossing all the heights, crossing all the boundaries. I know I will survive in the oddest of times.

One life live it with courage
This was all a part of my first day till evening. More to come with the rest of my trekking experience!!