Hmmm. Ok lets go..
Ame = Turtle
dikkel = Tulu word, which means stove.
Went there with BMC, alias Bangalore Mountaineering Club. Alias I don't give a fuck about what your experience is gonna be like, but I'll be cool about how much I know about this and other peaks, and will also bond with ppl who think like me.
Its gonna be easier to list the things that went wrong on this debut trek with this rather apathetic organization, so here goes:
1. The 'bus' arrived almost an hour late.
2. The quotes are needed cos, as my partner in innocence Naren said, we aren't 5th standard kids any more. The bus seemed rather ordinary, with stingy seating space and nails poking outta places where they really shouldn't be poking outta.
3. There were 23 of us altogether. Not at all a good number for this kind of a peak.
4. Due to late departure, more stops and not so great roads, we reached coupla hours later than what we should've, almost all of us sleep deprived due to the absurdly chosen vehicle. Oh, except for the guide that is. He came in a Qualis, with 4 other chosen ones.
5. We get there to find out that for all 24 of us, there's just one cottage. And since we were already late, all of us didn't have the time or luxury OR the bathrooms to take a bath and truly freshen up. A quick release of excretory matter accumulated overnight from the uncomfortable journey and subsequent intake to fill the gastric void. We were off!
6. 10 am is a bad time to start a trek guys...trust me. The Sun eats and drinks you, inside out.
7. Please pick what kind of bag you're taking on a trek. And if you don't intend to eat most of it, please don't take 4 packs of biscuits, 6 nutri bars and assorted chocolates. Cos most of them will get attacked by ants when you'll be sl....wait wait...suspense please, till point 49.
6a. Please also do some reeeesearch about the peak u intend to trek. If it has rained in the past coupla days in that region, don't be absolutely and fundamentally stupid to take the raincoat to the place, but leave it behind in the home stay for the trek, just cos the localites said 'ah no rain no rain'.
8. Try not to carry too many electric gadgets on a trek. Most of them have no use, they slow u down and oh, when u're stuck in the forest getting whipped, owned and severely lashed by Torrential, angry Western Ghats rain for 35 non-fucking stop minutes, u have a chance of ending up with hydrated gadgets, which, while are cool, are eventually of no use.
P.S.A (*) : The point 6a where I mentioned some non-sense about rain coats wouldn't have done you much good if you had spent some quality time with me between 3.40 pm and 4.15 pm amidst the forest near Shishila on Oct 30th, 2010. Basically, nowhere to hide. Thank you.
9. Some extreme piece of serendipity when Naren and I both decided (although he claimed later, in front of the other trekkers, that I held him back) to not complete the entire trek and stopped at around 75% of the trek. We just couldn't go forward. Which also meant we finished the descent earlier than the others, before sunset. Which also meant we got sole access to the 2 bathrooms available. It is not our fault that there was no power at the home stay and the generator kept failing.
10. It is also not our fault that we weren't told to carry our own tents and sleeping bags from the bus, which was parked 2 kms from the homestay. Understanding fellow trekkers lent us a hand and a sleeping bag, and we were able to place ourselves in a not so straight line, in the cramped space available. Last count : 2 nights without good sleep.
A last honorary mention belongs to Leeches. Supposed to be therapeutic, they're any trekkers worst nightmare. In a wet area, no matter how non-chalant u are, that feeling of something creeping up ur sock is, not a very assuring one. And our trek was no exception. We happily offered ourselves and they, literally, hooked themselves onto us and sucked. We were like a nice drink. Like milkshakes. In fact, we became Leechy milkshakes for them.
P.S.A : Public Service Announcement
