A trip down memory lane - Yelagiri

It's been quite some time since we went on a full-fledged team outing. It was January and it was early morning. Very early, to be precise. First it was Bhuvnesh who gave me a wakeup call around 3:15. I was already awake. Infact, I hadn't slept sound since 0058 hours that morning. I was just waiting for my alarm to wake me up formally. It was Dev who called at 3:25. Dudes, are you all preparing for your child's LKG admission?

The bus was supposed to start at 5 (in Bhuvnesh's words) on the dot. Punctuality has never been the team's cup of tea. To everyone's surprise, the 27-odd crowd had gathered at the entrance of Lords' at 5. The bus started at 5:10 on a chill dawn. The windows had to be closed to keep us warm. The pary began with Bhuvi distributing chocolates. We caught up with Sumathi and Joyce on the way. We had the chance to discover the dancing skills of Sankaranarayanan and singing skills of Sam. Singaram had learned some new weird-steps. Still, we managed to enjoy for lack of spirited dancers, barring Sankar.

It was a long beautiful drive to Vellore. Only Suvetha could be seen wearing a light green outfit on a Monday morning on the Vellore highway. We had no other option but to stop and pick her up. Without even having the courtesy to bid Goodbye to her father, we resumed our journey to Yelagiri; err, Vellore. Breakfast is more important for us than catching up with the cool morning in Yelagiri hills. It is a rare scene to see a waiter not wanting to list out the hotel's special dishes. The crowd, for the hotel staff, seemed to be an elephant in a sugarcane field.

We took to the bus to mean business. The hairpin bends on the ghat road to Athanavoor are named after Tamil poets and rulers. We reached Hotel Hills around 10:15. We had to compensate for the lost time. We took to the trek as soon as possible. It was 11:19 when we started our trek to the peak of Swamimalai. Five smart people preferred to stay away from the trek.

The trek started with all the optimism the world could have. Twenty minutes later, we were just looking for reasons to rest. Already, there were only 10 of the 25 people in the vicinity. The path is muddy for a while and rocks all the way later. At some point of time when it seemed like years since we started the trek, we could hear nothing but our own heartbeats and heaves. However, the guide seemed to be living on a different planet. For him, it was like a walk to the grocery store nearby.

RK, Bhuvi, Srinu, Chaithanya and I were among the pioneers to conquer the peak. RK later called it High Altitude Syndrome: He, with Srinu and Chaithanya wanted to feel the real breeze and chose to strip themselves off. Censored photos of the three men, are still residing in someone's archive, which, this author has exclusive access to.

Raja, Joyce, Brindha and Ramesh were the second set of rangers to scale the mount. Others trickled in later. We all flocked the rock top, where the locals apparently light a torch to signify the Kaarthigai festival, celebrated every year on the hill. The guide was the only person to climb the rock with barefoot. Yes. Only he knew the sanctity of the rock. The bird's-eye-view of Athanavoor, from the rock, was simply stunning.

If the climb upwards was evidently challenging, the descent down the hill was equally demanding. I had the privilege of being in company of two of the greatest philosophers, Chennai has ever seen. Two men and two wanting-to-be-men descended down the hill like habitual climbers. Love, Life, Marriage and all topics under the Sun had been covered, by the time we reached the hill foot. It was 14:20 when everyone had boarded the bus back to Hotel Hills. No one ever believed that they were still alive.

A sumptuous lunch awaited us in Hotel Hills. Bhuvnesh seemed to have remotely controlling us with the timings. We were instructed/advised/requested to go for boating or to anyother place we wished, but to return at 5 pm. The fantastic-five who chose to stay away from the trek, had already finished boating and sightseeing. They had spared the Nature park to visit when the trekkers went boating.

Boating on Punganur lake has pedalling boats and rowing boats. Tough people stand through tough times and most of the trekkers chose to take pedalling boats. There was a two-seater boat; Srinu and RK ditched Bhuvi and Chaithanya and took this boat. Others had to go on four-seaters with a fifth thing sitting on the duck back. The two-seater, without throwing any new surprises, got stranded in the middle of the lake. RK and Srinu claimed to have hit the ground where the lake was shallow. We had to tow them back into deep waters, twice. It still remains one of the mysteries: whether they played a trick on us or were they really stranded?

The trekkers-turned-sailors returned to the shores; trained stage-artists they were - did not show any sign of fatigue. All through the stay in the hills, RK tried to have a Mother India-shot, which never materialized without the use of coolers. Most of us had a hell of a steal - Natural honey and jack fruits.

The sad part of the trip was, Dev lost his phone. The bus journey down the hills started around 6 pm. This time, it was a quiet journey back to Chennai. Lalitha had arranged for Biriyani for supper. More than the Biriyani, it was the hand-washing ritual which stole the limelight. Water splashing around from the windows of a speeding bus should have left passengers on other vehicles cursing us. Everyone wished it were a two-day trip. We reached Lords' around 10:30 in the night. We were back into the real world.