SUV Xtreme Mountaineering Trip - May 29, 30 & 31st 2010

Organizers: Ansar, Biju, Manoj, Rajinikandh & John Anand

Written By: Muneer

I walked into Ansar’s office and the first scene I saw was Ansar and Biju talking nonchalantly, making others around them ROFL and Mohan sleeping like a child in another corner, unmindful of anything in the world. Little did I know that I’d have a deja vu of this scene many times in the next three days. Also, little did I know that I’ll take back home bagful of memories and heartful of friendships.

We started a little late and reached our destination very late because Ansar’s car broke down in the middle of nowhere. This gave an opportunity to lie down on tarpaulin by the roadside and watch the stars at 4am on a full moon day. Bliss, I say. When no help came by, it was Scorpio towing Scorpio. And since Ansar - The Speed King was involved; even the towing had to happen at 60kmph.

We stopped at Ambur for lunch. The food was top notch. And it would stay that way throughout the trip. Ansar’s car broke down again and had to be taken to the car hospital for the second time in 12 hours. Most organizers would have called off the trip then, but not our man, Ansar. It had to continue because the-giving-up-gene is not built into CTC’s DNA.

We started off again and reached our destination by 3am. The whiff of fresh air, the sight of the first deer, the drive through the 41 hairpin bends - which from the top looked like a giant curled up python taking a siesta after a heavy meal, and the sounds of chirping crickets made all the tiredness of having slept for only a couple of hours fly away.

Day two started with a drive through what looked like a Sequoia forest. The setting was just right for a well orchestrated symphony. Vocals were by the birds and insects. BGM was by the waterfalls. Human laughter added to the effect. Music from the car speakers sounded like cacophony. We took it all in standing on the rails of our speeding Scorpios.

The Indian Niagra was up next. Truth be told, I was a little disappointed with the falls as the volume of water in the falls was lot less than what I had expected. But that din’t stop us from splashing around for an hour at the source of the falls. Note to self: Visit Athirampally after the rains.

But to compensate for the disappointment, we had a camp fire. And boy did we have a blast. The after-party TV shoot in which John, Biju, Ansar, Rajini, Uday and others spoke to VJ Shareef about the spirit of CTC, the comradeship of sticking together during times of dire straits, and the passion involved in this brotherhood gave us goose bumps. Am sure Leo must have been very happy with this shot. After the parting we rested. No, not in a regular hotel but in a renovated clay-roofed old house. The house reminded me of my now demolished ancestral house in Kerala.

Then came the usually most hated part of the week, Monday morning. But since this wasn’t any monday morning, we spent it at nature’s spa. The creek was about 100m from where we stayed. The strong current made sure that our tired muscles were massaged well.

The trip was almost coming to an end. We were in the slog overs. And like every good team, we made maximum use of the slog overs. Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to Offroading. For people who suffer from lack-of-rush-of-blood-to-the-head, this is a recommended treatment.

In a sense the offroading experience is a metaphor for life. Only the ones who strive and persevere to climb the seemingly impossible steep terrain that disguises stepping stones as obstacles, reach the top to enjoy the view.

The view from the top of Nelliampathy Hills could rival the Eiffel. The strong breeze was cool. The yellow sun turned red with envy, not realizing that she was only adding beauty to an already picture perfect setting. Like in the final scenes of Stanley Kubrick movies, our trips final scene too dint need much dialogue. The visuals did the talking.

The journey back was what made friends out of the acquaintances. Everyone in our car who stayed awake shared their ‘Autograph’ stories. Stories one would share only with the closest of friends. Unable to hold our eyelids open after 4am, we fell asleep. John-The Warrior kept driving (without a Redbull :).

We woke up in Chennai on Tuesday morning. It was Back to office, Back to pollution, Back to the concrete jungle, Back to the mundane world.

I enrolled myself for this trip not knowing any of the participants of this trip. But I’m glad I did, not just for of the awesome experience but also for the kind of people I met during this trip.

I’d like to thank the organizers, for having spent the time and effort to plan and execute the trip. Special thanks to Leo, VJ Shareef and their crew for making a show out of our trip. We’re going to be on TV. Yayyyy :)

One DaY Trip to Pichavaram Mangrove Forest (Sunday 13th Jun 2010) – Bikers & Riders Special

Organizers: Biju & Paayal

Written By: Biju

83 Brave Beautiful Souls left Chennai this Sunday in 13 cars & 18 Bikes towards

The World’s 2^nd Largest Mangrove Forest.

10 hrs fun filled drive on coastal roads and national highways,

2 hrs Wonderful Ride in 8 Tourist Motorboats

20 hrs amazing trip

Beautiful Mangrove & Bird Watching

Fun activities on the GO, Slow speed race competition for bikers, Fun games & Talent competitions @ beach.

What else U need for a Beautiful Weekend

About a stone’s throw away are the mangrove swamps of Pichavaram, great for boating, mangrove watching, bird watching, with a picturesque island thrown in. Another world Pichavaram is all green and blue and white as we set off in the boat. Ahead are the mangroves in shades of emerald, reflected in blue water against an even bluer sky.On the sand bar, thousands of gulls in a long stretch of white, glintsilver against the sun as they take off en masse…

We slow down as we enter a narrow creek, with aerial roots brushing us lightly as we drift by. A lone egret feeds in the shallows. It’s another world out here, where the tidal backwaters mix with fresh river water from the Vellar and the Coleroon to create a unique estuarine ecosystem and some of the most amazing and adaptable life forms.

Most amazing is the mangrove plant itself, growing in a few feet of shallow water,Yet able to withstand the constant ebb and flow of tidal water with the aid of its aerial roots that also enable it to absorb oxygen from the air.

One of the earliest eco-systems of the world, mangroves fascinate wherever they occur.

Our organizers worked day and nite to get this trip organized for last 4 days without sleep.I thank our Co Organizer Paayal for all her Ideas and support for executing the trip.My Special appreciations to our volunteers Kaushik, Sailesh, Suvam, Ajay & Deepak for the excellent work done in all coordination’s.3 Cheers to Nithyan for helping me in transport and to keep me awake throughout the nite. Thanks to Shibin for arranging and packing snacks throughout the nite.Big Thanks to our Pondicherry CTC Volunteers Vijayan & muneesh for arranging yummy breakfast and coordination’s on the go.Thanks to our accounts team Shibin & paayal for their excellent work and time.

CTC also Thanks the Tamilnadu Tourism corporation, tourism manager and guides for arranging special lunch and motorboats for all our members.

We all Thank our CTC Founder Peter for all his inputs and support.

We Thank all our energetic, brilliant Participants for the excellent weekend and the fUN you guys gave to all of us.We also congratulate all ourcompetition winners who became the stars of this trip.

Written By: Sailesh

Pleasant drive through the scenic highway,Hungry breakfast near a century old bridge,lots of fun games and photographers coming out with the best shot,delicious lunch by Tamilnadu tourism,Firing chase on the way to chennai.
WOW! What a day it was.

I would like to give a summary of the trip and here it goes from the start of the day.
At early hours,felt like travelling in a train and after a few seconds realised that it was the earthquake that disturbed my sleep and my sweet dreams.

Early Morning, All were ready to rock the sunday as the earthquake did and we left chennai aroun d 5.40 am.

On the way we saw a exhibit of powerful bikes from Suzuki,Kawasaki,Honda,Yamaha.Thought we can use it for our drive but due to some conditions apply we left the place with our own beast with some group photos and later it was a non-stop drive to pondy and what a drive by Ela that too with a great speed in Ranjith bike. Keep it up Ela.

We reached pondy at 8.00 and refreshed ourselves by having breakfast which was much needed at that time and filled the tanks of the vehicles which was much needed for them also. We reached pichavaram after an hour drive from pondy and we were divided into groups to accommodate in all boats and left to the beach on the other side. The beach was the place where we spent most of our time playing fun games,taking photos and ofcourse! splashing water.Had a good time with Vasan,Sriram and kadir in the water.

All the winners of the fun games will be awarded when we meet again,but the most important thing is participation, not winning. so congratulations to all the participants and better luck next time.

The photographers were doing their best to take the best shot and i think the award for the best photography goes to...... aha..i think only myself and shibin knows... dont worry shibin..nammakullaeyae irukkum.. and still we are expecting more photos from our gang.

We left the beach and headed towards the boat house and we had a welcome board designed by tamilnadu tourism for CTC in front of the hotel where Delicious lunch was served.

After calculating the expense by the finance experts,we had the last fun game of the day, the slow race for bikers and that’s it, we left pichavaram and the final pit-stop was at pondy.

Started from pondy around 8.00 pm racing through ECR and few bikers firing through GST road leaving behind the memories of the day in all hearts.

Many thanks to the organizers - Biju & Paayal for organizing such a wonderful trip and the volunteers for helping out the organizers.

Hope Biju will be converting his sleepless nights into sleepy day and nights till he organizes the next one.

One good news for all is that we will be meeting again and this time with a difference and more fun.
C U All soon.

In Search of the Origins of Nagala - May 8-9 2010

58 brave beautiful souls left chennai in 9 cars and 6 bikes

in search of the origins of nagala (AP)

including 7 members from uFX TV Crew.

Bangalore/Hyderabad members joined at utthukotai and nagalapuram.

The most beautiful things in life are not what we have or what we see...it’s what we remember and what we experience

The Trek started in war with honey bees.
The localities who reached the nagala base pool had disturbed the lifestyle of honey bees which in-turn targeted every one around the first pool.

The localities had left the place running out of angry bees however our CTC battalion faced them without any weapons
It was looking like a war field with 58:2008 (CTC to bees ratio) ratio. finally we were the winners with few minor injuries,
where the bees gang had to surrender.

Very good start welcomed by bees

A trek which started with 40 Feet steep climb and many sliding pools on the way with loads of fun diving,
sliding and more video coverages by the uFX TV Crew had boosted our spirit to know whats more coming on the way
before reaching the peak.

I can feel the heartbeat of every soul enjoying the pools to the maximum and their eyes looking out for more challenges.

Meanwhile Organizers had given a short interview to the uFX TV crew about the trek experiences and challenges.
TV crew were doing a tremendous job by capturing all the beautiful fun filled moments throughout the trek.
Our special thanks to the TV crew (Leonard and team) for their extraordinary work by providing their complete support along with our trekkers.




Few Trekkers went to check the 840m peak on the same day, where others found their camping site.
we got a chance to meet few localites staying in the hill in a small hut near our camp site.They also helped us to know the location better and to get some hot rice where few got the chance to taste the same after a long trek throughout the day.

The stars came out to look for the new visitors in nagala hill and the preperations where ON for preparing tasty soup and yummy noodles.
Teams were divided to setup the cooking place, to get the wooden logs, to get the water and to initiate the camp fire.
We had also prepared sandwich where few got the chance to taste it.

After yummy hot tasty dinner, many had decided to sleep early due to sleepless friday nite and few had already
skipped their dinner and left to sleep.

Sunday Sun rise along with our tasty tea/coffe. Checked the physical status of the team members weather to proceed as per
the plan or to change the trail inorder to reduce the pressure over them. Since 2 had leg injuries, made us to change the trail for their convenience.
The actual plan was to reach the eastern entry through DEAD END POOL however the plan was dropped keeping the injured people in mind.

So took an other trial which would help us reach directly near the temple in eastern entry. The sadest part was that we dint find water as expected
which made everyone to walk through the trail with limited water in the morning hours and with no water during the afternoon hours till 8:00 in the evening.
We had to cross another peak without water to reach the temple. On the other end the TV crew were still capturing the unforgetable moments of the
trek and trail when they were also facing the same issue. I need to appreciate for their dedication towards their work in all circumstances.

Finally the organizers and few volunteers helped to get everyone to cross the 2nd peak during the evening.

We organisers were thinking that we are gonna complete the waterless mission soon but another surprise was waiting for us in the 2nd peak.
We found that few had taken another trail without our knowledge which had delayed our move from their. Its gonna dark soon, so I and peter
came to a conclusion to regroup at another point after getting the people who went through the unknown trail. Peter took the team towards the temple,
but jothivel was found sleeping and was not ready to start along with the group, as he was delayed to start, we made him to go along with 2 sweepers and i went
in search for the missing guys again and found 1 person when i reached back near to the core team. how ever we need to find another 9 members
who took a different trial to reach the eastern entry. Few voluteers along with our organiser went in search for water to get the team back to normal
and to get them reach the water point near the temple at the eastern entry of nagala.

kudos to Peter, Alex, Sherif and other volunteers for the same.

Team regrouped near the temple after enjoying the stream water more than an hour after 8 hours of waterless trail.
I can see their happiness on their faces after spending good hours at the stream however we organisers along with few volunteers where busy analysing
the missed out members. After getting the final attendance, we had reached to a conclusion that all others are safe back to village and3 found missing.
we found that they were jothivel along with our sweeper aswin and anand and i was pretty sure that they may had stopped to proceed further due to lack of
energy after long waterless trail and was expecting from our sweepers that they should be near the hill opposite to the dam so that we can find them when
we reach near the same. The same happened and we were already ready with the water,snacks and medicine to get them back from the top of the hill.
peter took the rescue mission to get the 3 back and at the other end our CTC rescue team has been informed for additional help as per the call given by our
sweepers before they found us.
Peter reached them in less than 1 Hour and served them the water and snacks. meanwhile our rescue team had reached all the way from chennai
to our camp base in less than 2 hours. Our rescue team(Ansar, Guru, Sujai) immediately started the rescue mission to get them back to the base.
All our members have been brought safe back to the camp base. The rescue mission was completed in less than 3 hours.

All other members were eagerly waiting for our 3 dear trekkers. Finally the team started to move back to chennai around 6:00 on monday morning after
everything got settled.

I Respect and thank each and every one for their dedication, involvement, support, coordination and the fun you guys gave to all of us.

Hope this trek had helped us to see both extream faces of nagala and our members to know their maximum capability.

And also hope that the trek had increased ur confidence and mental strength to survive in a desperate situation..

Thanks to Peter for organizing this trek along with me.

Thanks to all BraVe BeAutifuL SouLs Who Made My WeekenD THE BEST EveR!!

Inviting you to check/share photos, experiences, feedback.... with our group at our forum -

http://chennai-trekking-club.32436.n3.nabble.com/In-Search-of-the-Origins-of-Nagala-May-8-9-tp809182p809182.html

Meet u all very soon…

Stay in Touch for more fun filled treks with CTC..

Love nature and U start loving every thing!

Trek Trek and Trek always

Biju V.K

www.chennaitrekkers.org