A lesson well learnt , Belthangdi

The Start

We from the MC (mountaineering club) are usually sensible people , 22nd of july was the rare exception . We underestimated mother nature . That as numerous hoarse adventure junkies have told you this is not a risk , its almost suicide (for us it turned out to be only a risk - Thank GOD ! !) .

The Jinxed Trek

 We started a trek at 3PM , a time too old for treks . We climbed , all garrulous 22 of us , only to find one man (a big one !) tiring quickly , Our leader AJAX , trekked downhill secured a warm dry(point to be noted) place in our guides' house and returned . As fate should have it , Our guide got cold feet I guess and did not return with AJAX . 

There we were on a thickly forested side of the hill in the rainy western ghats at 4 in the afternoon all confidant to trek a benumbing 10km all by our very selves . Sounds ludicrious right ? it didn't on that hillside that day . oh I forgot to tell you , there were little pests (blood sucking ugly slimy horrendous blind leeches !!! Besides someone forgot to feed them in the last 6 months!!!!) also , we didn't care much about them as they made little or no dent on our adrenaline pumped brains . Our next major hurdle (minor hurdles included fallen trees and the like) was four callow trekkers getting lost . Simple we used our cellphones to reach them and lead them . Luck . A truckload of luck . It took Mr G (planner and cook) great effort and a lot of yelling from the rest of us to get them back . Now talk about knocking on heavens door . The luck was we had cellphone signal in the middle of a national park , and one of the lost boys had that service providers connection !!

After a setback of around 2 hours in fast fading light we decided plough ahead , the rest of us had made a pit stop near a beautiful peak , I think near the halfway mark . I must tell the scenery was breathtaking , literally . It made everything worth it . 

Damn my memory ! I forgot to tell you again we were all carrying our sacks . I will bet none of the sacks weighed less than 6kgs or more than 35 . And then came the rain , Sheets of rain ! Actually it kept drizzling through out and then suddenly someone decided to flush . 

So here we are , battling leeches , rain , imminent darkness and difficult terrain . Mr G who was leading from the front took us through two wrongs pathways . Then he decided he had enough and we couln't go on any further . So after a confabulation in the middle of the jungle we decided to turn back (others options included staying there for the night or continue , both ridiculous) . 

The Return

7PM is when we decided to turn back  , 11PM is the time we actually managed to get out . Standing instructions included no stopping and picking off leeches , Saving torchlight battery power , AND no talk about naxals or wildlife ! 

We turned out all right , except we were wet till the bone , riddled with leech bite holes and very very tired . Mr G and AJAX had some of the finest maggi ready by 1AM .  

The End