I was very excited to go on my first trek with GHAC, The plan was to get down at Castle Rock station and walk for 14KM on railway track to Dhoodsagar waterfalls.I was lucky to have Pratik from my company in the group as I did not know anyone. I reached Kachiguda station 15 minutes before the departure time.As I settled in my seat only thing on my mind was to get acquainted with the group so I took out my cam and started taking some pics as it is best ice breaker for any situation.Most of the guys seemed to be early risers and went to sleep early. I, Pratik and Aditya chatted up to 12:30 on general geek stuff .I woke up at 7AM due to loud chattering "I hate early risers" and had some tea, by the time it was 8 we have started playing dumb charades which was fun and was a great way to bond.
we reached Castle Rock station around 12:30PM and it was already raining heavily, I decided to change into my tracks and folded my jeans in my backpack. At station we all had lunch as we had to walk for 14KM to Dhoodsagar and there were no intended stops in between.Once all were packed and ready for trek I took a group pic.
Around 1:30 we started our trek and soon realized it was going to be slippery road when one of our group member Varun fell on his head luckily he did not get serious injury and was courageous enough to continue the trek.Did I tell you guys it was raining? well it was and I was really scared to take out my camera out in the downpour luckily I was able to wrap some plastic around the camera to protect it up to some extent. I have always believed I had someone looking after me probably a guardian or an angel but I never knew my camera also had one, Swapna one of the group members had umbrella and she was always with me protecting my camera so that I could take pics but once the downpour became really heavy I had to stuff my camera inside my bag.
one thing we were most scare about were tunnels and hoped that train would not come when we were in the tunnel, but they say sometimes when we fear something it will always come back to haunt you and in our very first tunnel we had a goods train coming, luckily for us it was a wide tunnel hence we could easily manage by sticking to the walls.
How does it feel to walk for 14KM on railway tracks? painful, pitiful, adventurous, Dangerous .........well I can use many superlatives yet you have to actually walk to experience it. Why the hell did we walk for 14KM when we could have gone by train is that what you are thinking? to answer that let me ask you have you ever come across a scenery and wished that time would stop but it doesn't, for those 14 KM we could stop time when ever we wanted and let the nature's love seep in for eternity.The deep valley,small streams, invisible waterfalls ( we could on hear water gushing) all the sights made it worth walking 14KM.
we reached Dhoodsagar station by 6PM and it was getting dark, Prashant had gone ahead to make arrangements for the group to stay for the night. when we reached there he directed us to small place with which had statue of mother Mary.I looked at it with disbelieve as I knew not more than 10 persons could be accommodate there and we were 20 but soon after Prashant asked us to walk another 1KM to check out the rooms. As we started walking we could hear the sound of waterfall coming closer after walking for another 5 minutes we saw a white veil of water across the tracks and there it was gushing and rushing down the hill. It was so soothing and satisfying to see it at last, probably this is how people feel when they suddenly find water in a desert.
we saw some steps near to the hill which lead to a small room, the room was so near to the falls that all the water from falls was seeping into the room,I wonder how strong were its walls.The room was very dirty from inside but definitely had much better prospects of holding 20 people.
Phani who had come along with prashant had checked another room which was about 200 meters from falls and was protected from the falls water by trees surrounding it,the room was rather like a pent house with a roof but no walls it was at height of 12 feet from ground.
we decided to stay our night out in this room, two tents were put up in the room which could Accommodate 12 people and others would have to sleep in sleeping bags outside the tents. everyone started changing to dry clothes as we had been trekking in heavy rains I followed the lead and opened my bag to get my clothes and to my utter shock all my clothes were wet and I was left with nothing to wear but wet jeans and t-shirt, while sleeping in my sleeping bag I removed my t-shirt and was wearing only wet jeans.As I told you room was like a pent house which had only roof and no walls and any strong wind blew rain water and waterfalls water into the room, every time I tried to sleep water would get sprayed on my face and it was like I was fighting for my right to sleep. Some of the guys did not have sleeping bag so they hurdled together wrapped in shawl talking all the night and taking short naps when ever possible. I got up at 5AM it was pitch dark and was shivering like mad, Prashant suggested me to wear my coat which will help to trap my body heat even though it was wet and it worked like charm (experience helps a lot on such trips and I am very thankful to Prashant).Most of the group was up by 7AM some went to get wet again in falls and others helped packing things up, as for me I was eagerly waiting for train, I need dry clothes they were my salvation and I knew my only hope was Londa Junction where we had to stay for at least 6 hours for another train.
we walked back to the Dhoodsagar station around 8:45 AM and reached Londa around 10AM. Now my only quest was for dry clothes, we had decided that we will go to a small stream nearby and then go to market for new clothes, luckily market was very close and we could find some clothes and hot hot wada pav to eat, Prashant was hesitant to buy clothes first but then I guess he had enough of wet stuff on his body , Ranjit was the third guy who ended up buying clothes from the Market and we were officially Londa Fashion brigade wearing colorful t-shirt and shorts but most important thing was that they were dry.
we boarded train to Hyderabad around 5PM, guys played their usual games till 10PM am but I had not joined them as my energy level was already down. I, Swapna and Nataraj had some pretty animated talk about coffee, girls and stuff..... which we all knew had no direction but was fun to talk.Most of the guys got off at Begumpet and I and Adi got off at Nampally where we parted ways.
When I look back at the trip I know there could not have been a better learning experience, no better way of making friends, no better way of seeing nature.All the time I was trying to sleep that night nature was aware of me and everything living under its shadow, nature does not show discrimination it acknowledges everyone and treats them equally. I was made aware of its existence and it was aware of mine.
NOTE:There is so much more to write but I fear if I add anything more this post might end up being read only by me, may be in future I will add about train talks, mad cave walks, girls being taller than me yet lighter than me, people coming despite fever, the food we all ate on a rainy night, a brother's quest in unknown......................so much to write yet so little time.
Kudos to Nataraj, Shraddha and Prashant for a wonderful experience.
