Acquisitions De ‘09

As the year winds up, looking back at ’09 & summing up, it seems to have been a fabulous year! Our own adventure tribe - “adivaas” kicked off in Jan with a successful expedition to Chembra peak. The year brought in a lot of great expeditions across India & Nepal. This year also reflects in making great acquaintances with a lot of lovely people, which has turned into valuable human relationship.

Financially a near disaster I would say; with companies turning down promotions & appraisals; share markets stagnating & investments draining out; to top it all, living cost in no way tending to reduce. Did these factors affect the consumer attitude? May be, but not mine I must say! The year ’09 finally turned out to be gallant, befitting a true consumer, from techie gizmos to charming wheels.

Western Digital My Passport Essential 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive

Order date: Dec ’08
Ordered at: Amazon
Received on: Jan ’09
Thanks to: Vikram Ganesh
Personal feedback: Sleek & lightweight, seamless access, good transfer rates & has been reliable till now

Tiffen 72mm Photo Essentials Filter Kit


















Order date: June ’09
Ordered at: Amazon
Received on: July ’09
Thanks to: Deepak Kumar Singh
Personal feedback: Great camera accessories, especially the Polarizer provides majestic results

Apple iPod shuffle 4 GB Black (3rd Generation)


















Order date: June ’09
Ordered at: Amazon
Received on: July ’09
Thanks to: Deepak Kumar Singh
Personal feedback: Tiny, cute, great battery backup & suits perfectly for long travel

Maruti Suzuki Ritz

















Order date: July ’09
Ordered at: Mandovi Motors, Lavelle Road, Bengaluru
Received on: Aug ’09
Personal feedback: Comfortable drive & handling, amazing road grip, lovely design, great leg room & spacing, perfect value for money

Casio Men's Pathfinder Watch


















Product code: PAG80T-7V
Order date: Oct ’09
Ordered at: Amazon
Received on: Oct ’09
Thanks to: Rajeesh NR
Personal feedback: Altimeter/Barometer/ Digital Compass are pretty accurate; Titanium case makes it real sturdy & Tough Solar Batteries never die – perfect for a rugged adventurer

Thanks to everyone who made this year a memorable one & hoping the same support for years to come! Marching forward to a brand new year '10, I bid adios to '09 with wide smiles! Hope it brings happiness to all!

Trail Least Taken: Ombattu Gudda

Call it a trail least taken or a trail not to be taken; adivaas successfully conquered Ombattu Gudda in the Shiradi Ghats of Karnataka this December. It was a mysterious & thrilling experience; not to forget was confusing as well. Having us in its cradle for an additional half a day than planned, Shiradi Ghats indeed proved to be a thick & tough jungle to negotiate. It tested our skills to navigate using a map, compass, altimeter & even a GPS device. Each & every moment was exciting & Ombattu Gudda surely stood up to its reputation.

The decision to venture on an expedition to this mysterious peak was decided in October; but due to heavy rains, the plan was postponed to December – must say was the wisest decision. The preparation had already started though. We collected terrestrial maps from Survey of India; GPS maps & began gathering information from people & internet. By November mid, the dates were closed & the preparations were in full swing. The gears (tents, sleeping bags, rope) were arranged; food items were bought & tickets with KSRTC were booked. Couple of us even visited Gundya a week in advance to check on the logistics. We managed to arrange breakfast / lunch from a restaurant very close to the start of the hike. So we were all set on the night of 11th December to depart from Bangalore to an unpredictable wild weekend; few folks with a vague idea of what to expect & a few with no clue.

A pleasant cold morning at the restaurant welcomed us with hot tasty dosas as we arrived at Gundya the next morning. The lunch was also prepared & packed from the same restaurant. A special thanks to the friendly family which runs the restaurant. The gears, other food items & water were distributed among the tribe. We then started our hike, a few minutes past 08:00 IST. We also noticed about 3-4 other groups starting the hike the same morning.

Immediately after the bridge in Gundya, our hike started with an easy estate trail on the right. A mild confusion started as the main estate trail curved to left with another trail going straight into the forest. We were thankfully ushered by the estate workers to head straight into the forest. We crossed few streams before could finally hit the Kabbinhole river. Boom! This is where the actual confusion started – the map depicted a trail to our right & the peak was to NE, which was to our left. After crossing the river, we investigated & tried to find a path; but in vain. We then noticed a yellow arrow mark on a tree directing us to the left (also the NE direction). So we decided to go left making our way along the river.

We had to practically cross several streams, cut through the bushes using our machete & jump over uprooted trees. Not to forget the leeches biting every foot it found & several poisonous vipers alerting us to be very careful. Having hiked for few hours, we decided to break for lunch by around 14:00 IST near a stream & headed towards NE direction after lunch. People began to get exhausted & there was no clue of an open shrub until around 16:00 IST. We could notice couple of other open shrubs; but no glimpse of Ombattu Gudda. We decided to move ahead to the next open shrub to get closer to catch a glimpse of Ombattu Gudda. After reaching the next open shrub, we decided to camp as the area seemed decently flat & we were nearing twilight as the sun was setting. The first evening passed-by with pitching tents, relaxing & finishing our dinner. We also decided to monitor the camp in shifts from 20:00 to 05:00 IST; in teams of 2 for an hour each. People then surrendered to a deep sleep in their tents.

The next morning started with people shooting pictures of the lovely sunrise, packing the equipments & attending to nature’s call of course. We then continued towards Northward direction on the second day, making our own trail through the grassland & forest. We found our last water refill point at a narrow stream & our further ascend was completely through the grassland from one open shrub to another. Alas! At one of the open shrubs, we got a glimpse of the ridge that led directly to Ombattu Gudda! We were finally sure which way we were heading. The ascent got steeper & the weather got hotter. This slowed the pace & people were draining out of energy, which eventually ate up our time. Our breakfast (bread – peanut butter – jam) was around 10:00 IST & lunch (olige) was around 14:00 IST.

After walking for hours, we finally made it to the ridge overlooking the peak by 17:00 IST. We completed the peak summit by around 17:30 & it was indeed a sensational feeling. Our last confusion was either to camp near the peak or to take a chance to trek in the dark to reach Hosakere. Owing to our near extinct water sources & couple of consultations over the phone with the people who had already been there, we decided to move ahead. This part turned out to be an interesting, exhausting long hike. We finally approached the estate office by around 21:00 IST & to our luck there was a water source. Added to it, the care takers were more than happy to allow us to camp there. They also provided us firewood & a vessel for heating our ready-to-eat’s. Thanks to those folks; we had a sumptuous hot dinner & retired to a much needed sleep.

We cleared the camp by 07:00 IST Monday morning, had a cup of tea provided by the estate care takers & headed towards road. We reached by the road well before 08:00 IST & had to wait till 08:45 IST to board a bus to Mudigere. At Mudigere, people spilt in groups to finish breakfast & catch buses to reach namma Bengaluru by evening. Back in Bangalore, we got news from Dayanand (the restaurant guy) that we were the only group to have crossed over to the other side of the jungle & all other teams had returned to Gundya. This added to our sheer feeling of an achievement!

It was an unforgettable experience to negotiate the think jungles & steep slopes of Kabbinhole Reserved Forest. The wild moments are still lingering in minds as I pen down the adventurous experience. Ombattu Gudda truly stood to its reputation, my usual hats off to another wonderful expedition!

More Pictures: Sam's Picasa Album, Anu's Picasa Album, Pacha's Picasa Album, Anand's Picasa Album

Kumara Parvata Expedition

Situated in Sullia taluk of the Western Ghats, these mountains have the reputation of being the toughest hike in Southern India. It had a hiker totally lost for ages in the jungles to finally find himself almost dead. It is also rumored to have sheltered some of the tough naxalites. Some still fear that they would never conquer this second highest peak in the state of Karnataka. But fears are after all fears! Tribe de adventure - "adivaas" planned to beat the odds, kick the fears to explore "the" mountains of Kumara Parvata.

On the 27th day of February 2009, a tribe of 11 adivaasis ventured out from Bangalore on KSRTC Airawat at 23:15 IST. The scheduled arrival at Kushalnagar was 04:15 IST the next day, but the bus dropped us off early by 03:15 IST. Our next ride, Tempo Trax was planned to arrive at 04:15 IST. So the next hour passed in the bus station chatting as a few sleepy heads dozed off. It then took us about 80 minutes to reach Beedhalli Forest Camp.

After having freshened up, we paid the forest entry charges and we were on our feet towards Pushpagiri with Nagaraju, our guide for the expedition. It was around 09:00 IST when we started and the day was already bright. The initial hike was through thick cover of trees and hence was pleasant for first 5kms. There were numerous birds that we could hear, but not many to spot. The entire tribe was quite enthusiastic all along and covered the distance fast. We only took short breaks to catch up with each other's stupid jokes.

We got exposed to open air after 5kms, but the clouds started to cover us for the rest of the hike and kept us cool. The last 2kms had about 3 steep rocks and the climb little tough. This slowed the tribe, but not the enthusiasm. Just before noon, we conquered Pushpagiri peak to witness clouds passing by the heavenly mountains. There was also a view point from where one could get the echoes. People spent time shouting out their names, taking pictures and witnessing the beautiful valleys. People then energized themselves with the packed lunch, mostly bread and jam.

We continued our trek towards Kumara Parvata and the hike was not that long. We reached the peak in an hour. The peak had numerous points which attracted people flocking to get themselves captured in a picture. There was also an unforgettable moment when the a huge disturbed bee colony stormed towards us. Everyone went flat on the ground, but no one was bitten at the end thankfully.

We continued our trek towards Kallu Mantapa and the terrain changed to grasslands with scattered rocks everywhere. A few centuries back, there must have been a huge volcanic eruption which threw up lava generously to form those course looking rocks (well this was at least our imagination). We reached Kallu mantapa before sunset, which is usually the hikers' overnight camping site. We searched a lot for an appropriate camping site with flat surface and without rocks. We then zeroed on a site immediately next to the water pond and everyone got busy learning to put up the tents. Before the tired souls could hide themselves in the tents, the rest of the evening was spent on Antakshari and ready-to-eat dinner.

Om, Nagaraju (our guide) and I were up early the next morning. Om decided to hike up a small hill to get a better glimpse at the sunrise. The rest of the tribe took their own time to get out of their sleeping bags as we cleared the camping site by 08:30IST. Our next stop was the food fueling station at the famous Battermane (which in Kannada means Cook's house). After a worthy breakfast, we then started our trek to Kukke Subramanya. But we surely took it easy and slow this time, as we had good amount of time in our hands. We were also lucky to spot Wood Peckers on the way.

As we reached Kukke Subramanya, we loaded most of our bags in the temple owned free luggage room facility. We were then at Kumara Dhare for the much needed river bathing. We spent a lot of time at the river and not to forget the marvellous mimicry by our very own Hari that we witnessed there. As we got back from Kumara Dhare, people made quick tours to the holy temple. After the dinner, we were in the bus station to catch KSRTC Rajahamsa scheduled for 22:30 IST. The next morning the tribe bid farewells to each other promising to meet soon in another adivaas expedition.

The Kumara Parvata expediton was indeed one of the toughest treks. But the perfect decision to start from Beedhalli made it easier as compared to the start from Kukke Subramanya. The entire expedition team (Vini, Jaga, Dipti, Ganesh, Anu, Hari, Om, Prashanth, Parag & Prasad including me of course) was wonderful fun and everyone was surely a great sport. Hats off to the heavenly western ghats of course!

My Third Half

Well, if you thought I would be talking about my better half, then you are wrong! This is about my third 'half marathon' and the second in Bengaluru Midnight Marathon.

I have always had fun running and never missed an opportunity to be part of marathons since I started at the last Bengaluru Midnight Marathon. This time the Bengaluru Midnight Marathon was jinxed due to security concerns raised from the recent terror attacks in Mumbai. But these terrorist bastards can never ruin the true spirit of runners. The marathon was rescheduled to 10th Jan 2009 instead of 13th Dec 2008 and the event was a great success witnessing an unexpected turn out of around 6000 people from various parts of the world.

12:00 midnight IST ushered the start of half marathon, which involved two loops covering a distance of 21.10kms. The running path was around Whitefield and it was a moderately tough path. The inclination varied at least 4-6 times in a loop and the uphill turned out to be quite difficult. My first 16kms involved pure running; but the last 5kms indeed tested my physical limitations involving both walking and running. Having practiced on the thread mills before the actual run with zero inclination, I thought I would complete in about 2hrs. Reality bites; it actually took me 2.5 hours for the run. It was indeed a tough and fun filled run with high spirits as always!