The Green Route Trek!!
An the ancient Chinese saying goes, “The journey of a thosand miles begins with a single step.” I would love to travel the world… and ive started!! but there are miles to go before I sleep!!
Ive tried to categorise my visits and placed them in separate entries. Hope you will like them.
To start with, let metake you through the “Green Route” trek!!
The green route trek was one where all the 13 guys, had un-adulterated joy. In short the statistics of obstacles which had to be overcome were imposing to say the least. Consider this:
The distance to be covered: about 54Kms
Number of tunnels to be surpassed: 57
Number of bridges to be overcome: 81
The trek was spread over two days. the first days’ journey was between, Shakleshpur and Edakumeri. It is roughly half the total distance. We had the pleasure Mr. Girish Navada and Mr. Nagendrappaof, who are our lecturers. Mr. Nagendrappa kept the entire trek very lively. I still remebr him singing kananda songs along the way!! Mr. Navda, trust me, is one person having loads and loads of stamina. His energy and balance are something which would leave one wondering.
On the first day, we got to see a long bridge. We thought this would be the longest amongst the bridges, which we realised is not true on day two!! Under this long bridge, there was a stream flowing. We, crossed the bridge and went down to the stream to plunge ourselves. The pic below, shows us in the stream. This is wout i would call “Happiness Redefined!!”
Immediately, after this bridge, one will find the longest tunnel!!. This is where we lit our torch!!.
The tunnels are infested with bats. It was evening time and we witnessed the home-coming of batman’s lith n kin!! While passing through the tunnels, one must ensure to keep their face downwards, as it would be showering bat spats all over!!
The first day came to an end, when we reached Edakumeri. We spent the night at the station which had no roof!!. We did collect some wood, made bon-fire n all. Honestly, I was afraid to continue the second day, as there is the option of cutting short the journey. I mean one can trek through the forest, separating the highway and edakumeri. But, I couldnt voice my wish of cutting short the trek as I had given a word to Mahesh who took a word from me that he would join the trek provided we cover the entire distance. That night was filled with images of the adventurous trek.
The next morning, we guys had to experience another memorable experience!!.. answering nature’s call!!. I must say there is some kind of pleasure in answering nature’s call in the wild!!.
We covered some distance on day two, when six of us decided to take detour. This left with the remaining six to cover the remainig distance. The guys who took a detour, had their own story to tell. But we guys who covered the remaining distance were to experience a SHOCK of a life time!!
Barely, some distance after we parted, we came cross the longest bridge!!. I can experience that feeling even now as i write!!. On one side of the bridge was the huge hill, while on the other side was the huge.. huge valley, filled with lush greenary. Talking about the bridge, man, standing at one end of the bridge, we couldnt see the other end of the bridge!!..
As we overcame one obstacle after another, we realised the dese ghat section was going past by nus. We could see the foot hills now. The journey was filled with ambiguity, as no one knew the exact distance that had to be covered. There were the railway workers who were busy with the track conversion. These workers, themselves, were not sure about the exact distance. We trek for an hour, ask one passerby, the distance, he says 20kms more. Fine, we wlk for another hour, trust me, we walked like professionals!! Then ask another worker, this time he tells, its another 20 kms. Those were testing times. The sun was ruthless and time was flying by. We had to make it to Kukke, as we cannot afford to take the risk of camping in the forest, especially when we get to see the elephant dungs all over!!
The first sign of Kukke is when we saw a tar road. That was the first time we felt the sense of near accomplishment.
As we neared the station, I ran almost 3/4th Km. I cant believe I actually did it!!.. WE FINALLY ACCOMPLISHED!!!.. we were there, Subramnya Road, Kukke Subramnya. I just got goose bumps!!
We, went to Nethravathi river. Had bath and just made it to the temple at Kukke. We received the Lord’s blessings. Spent the night at the temple. Took the first bus to Mangalore the next morning.
Manis 