JOG FALLS A TRULY WET EXPERIENCE

JOG
FALLS
A TRULY ‘WET’ EXPERIENCE

In life there are so many different kind of affairs –we have political affair,religious affair,social affair,environmental affair etc and yes not to forget two very important affairs- the love affair and the extramarital affair

.Well,you might be confused that where is this leading to.The above explanation leads to our unofficially official last trip where we got in sync with the nature and green environment.The guys who love the beauty of nature coupled with adventure and trekking,had a love affair with this place called SHIMOGA…

the place that we had zeroed down for our GO GREEN trip.While for the few others it was simply an environmental affair.Sorry,but cant expand more on this.Let us get back to business.Whenever any tour had to be planned Chidananda used to be our ‘Man Friday’ and rightly so, as he was a wanderer and had been to almost all places of Karnataka.And in ourselves Chida found a team of wanderlust guys.

There was one particular reason for selecting this particular place…The WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY(JUNE 5) had just passed by and so we had to respond to the ‘call of nature’.And one cannot deny such a call,one has to simply obey.


To ease ourselves of the academic burden we had decided to make the trip a 3 day affair.Hurriedly we buried all the worries of the upcoming sessional and got ourselves soaked into a enthusiastic mood.


We got into the state transport bus(K S R T C) and within 6 hours we found ourselves transported to shimoga.It was around 9 pm.All of us were very hungry.So we attacked on whatever we got at the restaurant(HEVEN IN) .

The guys who were hungry as well as thirsty formed a different group and they quenched their thirst as well as got some food in their stomach.
It had been a long day for all of us traveling,so after having food it was time to catch up with sleep.
But in the room adjacent to which I had to sleep,had a very interesting combination of guys…it was Abhinav,Anup sam,Rajesh,Viral।The child in Abhinav and Anup sam came out (I know its hard to believe but its true that even boys can bring a child out of them)and Rajesh fell a victim to their pranks।The amount,intensity and the frequency of laughter that had evoked that particular night would never get erased from my memory।We screamed out our lungs,ribs were tickled to the maximum extent possible and the food in the stomach also got digested as we had given a lot of exercise to our stomach muscles।The mysterious chemistry that existed between Tom and Jerry came out in full magnitude that night

We caught up with some sleep finally after having a booster dose of the best medicine.We broke the fast of approx 8 hours early in the morning by having a heavy breakfast(IDLY AND VADA)

then headed towards jog falls-which is Asia’a highest waterfalls at a height of 996m.

It was a journey of about 2 hours at the end of which we reached our destination.The Raja,Rani,Rorar and rocket(name of the 4 falls) which together form jog falls were at the peak of their performance as it was raining cats and dogs when we reached over there.

It was a beautiful sight with the fog covering the falls for a few seconds and then again we could see the spectacular free fall of the water.It was a treat to eyes.

One more thing that one cant forget with this trip is that it rained whenever we got out of bus and gave us a ‘wet welcome’.It made us exclaim that this place is ‘cherapunji of karnataka’.

After spending enough time at the jog falls we moved to the next place।We saw the falls from different angles and at particular angles there were atleast a few of us who fell for the fall as it was so beautiful

।

It is said that,’Sometimes the journey traveled turns out to be more beautiful then the destination reached’।In this case the destination turned out to be even more beautiful then the journey।

So on the first day we explored the different areas in and around jog falls।We went to the bridge leading to jog falls and got ourselves fixed into the digital इमागेस।

We then went to the power plant(MAHATHMA GANDI POWER PLANT-KARGAL).

All the while what we saw was not much different.I would like to recall one particular incident where in the process of getting photographed one person blocked the entire view of jog falls.There was no background of falls.Now you decide who is bigger (obviously in size) the jog falls or that person?

So this is all that we did on the first day.The tired legs of everyone did not oblige to walk more anymore and on top of it,it asked for energy.So we decided to keep the rest of the places in our radar for the next day.


But that night at dinner again the thirsty guys got mad as they got their act together and they kept on asking for more and more of licensed water.There was one guy who found out his voice that night - Tom(You know this fellow?I think you definitely do.) as he repeatedly sang one particular song (main shayar toh nahin which according to him is main kayar toh nahin) and the song was indirectly dedicated to Jerry ,with love.

I guess I wont have to spell his name as he is the same guy about whom I have written earlier also.Finally it was time,we went to the room and caught up with some much needed rest.

The rest as I have mentioned was ‘much needed’ as after being to highest waterfalls of Asia,
the next day we were going to climb the highest peak of Karnataka-Kodachadri.
We got up and started our journey by 8:30 am. Quite early…isn’t it?(but that’s only by our standards).

First we went to a temple called Ikkere(AGORESHWARA TEMPLE).The temple was very old but still it had retained its charm and the sun rays making a silent entry on it was a beautiful sight to behold.The intricate carvings and design had a larger message to be conveyed but unfortunately due to lack of time we could not decode it.

Next from there we went to Hasirumakki(Sharawathi back water)।This place was simply mindblowing।It was so simple yet so attractive that one could spend hours over there sitting idle and doing nothing।But we didn’t had that leisure time and so we got ourselves

ferried from one end of it to the other so that we can reach our destination of importance –kodachadri.

Once we reached the base of kudachadri we found that we don’t have liberty of spending more than 3 hours over here।(This was quite unlike the movie ‘Lakshya’ where Hrithik takes 22 years and 18000 feet to find out what his ultimate lakshya is!)For us,the lakshya was clear-to get to the top and then get back to the bottom again

all in 3 hours or else-you miss the bus to Bangalore!And so we decided that we would go by jeep till the actual place from where the climb begins.

And believe it or not this decision proved to be a blessing in disguise(though a few like me initially very strongly felt that we should trek all the way to the top) as otherwise it would have taken more than 3 hours because the road…oh I am sorry, the rocks leading to the peak were very sharp and they were all over the way(for the cartoon like-ing people the road was full of flintstones).

It seemed as if they have not been placed but they have erupted out of earth following a quake.I am sure prior to this trip none of us would have had a such a rocking experience.At the left and right turns we were just tumbling left and right like robots-exactly in the same fashion in which you find the people in that famous fevicol ad.

But all in all it was a very joyous trip in the jeep and we understood the correct meaning of the saying that ‘smooth roads never makes skilful drivers(sailors)’.

We reached the point from where we had to be all on our feet…it was time to start climbing.But not before some last minute instructions by chida.They were

1- Please walk,don’t run.
2- There is a 100 m passage inbetween which is covered on both sides by trees and bushes..A snake bite over there means you are down and out…this gave everyone a shiver down their spine.No amount of snake venom poisoning knowledge of pharmacology will help you.So please- beware.
3- Finally,there are blood sucking leeches all throughout the way from which you have to save your soul.So help yourself to save yourself from them.

Finally we started climbing the peak.It was very pleasant out there.There was a cloud cover,mist,fog and the slow and the gentle rain which was apt for complete enjoyment.Step after step it was getting better and beautiful and no one could feel the agony of climbing against gravity.All they felt was the ecstacy of being to such a place.We took pics,refueled ourselves with biscuits at the top of the peak and finally at a slow and steady pace came down.



The blood sucking leeches had targeted their man and a few had the ugly experience of a leech bite।But hats off to one guy who had a leech in his shoe but that didn’t bite him for some 2 hours then

The reason that we discovered later was that the leech got anaesthetized…all thanks to the X like effect that his shoe contained.






That was all about kudachadri।It was a truly adventurous experience which witnessed no casualties but was jam packed with the leeches

After we got down we still had time for one last spot which was on our way to Shimoga.The last place to which we all went was the Nagara फोर्ट।

which was previously a military fortIt was majestic,covered a very large area and it seemed to be very old.

This was the place where we guys got the RDB kind of photo.The mood was exuberant and everyone had a good and a great time at the fort.

Finally that moment came when we had to say goodbye to such a lovely place.Slowly we started our journey towards shimoga recounting all the joyful experiences that we had had in the past 2 days.
A emotional chida gave what is said to be a emotion in motion (i.e a speech)

before we finally started our return journey back to Bangalore. The trip was good and it was made better by the camaraderie that each one shared with the other.This trip will be remembered for the
(1)mysterious Sam-Rajesh that bloomed like never before.
(2)definitely the Jog falls and the Kudachadri trek which fulfilled the desire of many of us to have atleast one adventurous trip in the final year

(3)And,of course the innumerable funny incidents(now, all cannot be described) associated with this trip.
The torchbearer for almost all the trip that we made in the final year- chida,this goes out for you…

It is said that, “ A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first few steps”. And the steps that lead to jog falls and kodachadri would be cherished by everyone as they were filled with joy,enthusiasm,pranks and laughter and it had enough of it to be described a complete package.This trip will leave a permanent imprint on each one’s mind.


Jagrut Vaishnav