Terrific Trek Trip To Tada

WHEN? 10th February 2008

=

WHERE? Chennai>SriKalahasti>Tada Falls>Chennai

WHO?

From Left to Right:

Raghavendra (aka RBI) where again BI for his middle and surname

Amit (aka AKG) where KG = Kumar Gupta although I prefer calling him A-KFC-G for his fascination for KFC chickens!!!

Arun (aka Jat)

I

Dinesh (aka Kaka)

Shyam (aka Bloomberger – for he did his summers in Bloomberg USA)
Nitesh (aka Naughty)
Luma (aka Lums)
Suresh (aka Stalin) took this photograph...

(From back to front - Arun, Dinesh(right), AKG, Naughty, Luma, Shyam, Suresh, I)

The coincidence was that our group was almost a representative sample of India – Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Delhi, Bihar, UP, Haryana and (should i say it Luma?) Rajasthan.

=

HOW? A hired SUV – Tavera

=

WHAT?
We never knew it could be sooooo interesting, thrilling, wonderful, adventurous and terrific trip. Even these adjectives aren’t doing justice to the experience all of us faced during our trip to Tada Falls. We were a group of 9, 2nd year MBA student at the Department of Management Studies, IIT Madras, setting out for a day’s journey to SriKalahasti and Tada. This is how it went:

We were planning for an outing but the problem was where to go. When one thinks of 1 or 2 day tour from Chennai, Pondicherry and Mahabalipuram seem to be the places coming to the mind by default. But we wanted to explore (the word is totally justified) more areas. Thanks to the internet (i think someday it will be called Googlenet and internet users-Goolizens or Googlers (instead of netizens). , Naughty came across a place called Tada Falls.

We could find many things on the net mainly the blogs – what to do, what to take etc. Accordingly, we had imagined what the place would be like. But most of us who went there would agree that it was not the place but the “way” (was there one!!!???) to the place that made the trip so very much interesting.

We had hired a Tavera for the trip. People have rightly mentioned in their blogs that there are no roads and have accordingly advised not to take private vehicles (small and medium sized cars) there. I agree with them. You can take your own SUV or hire one. Sub Urban Trains and Buses from Chennai are other options which we did not explore much.

We got up at mid-night (for us, 5:30 in the morning is akin to midnight!!!). Got ready by 6:45 am. Had breakfast in our mess. And left IIT at around 7:30. The travel agent had suggested that we leave at 6 in the morning. Going by his standards, we were late by 1.5 hours. We planned to go to SriKalahasti first. It took us about two hours to reach there. On the way we strained our vocal cords singing songs. I agreed with Arun when he said that the “generation gap” could be seen by the way different people were singing songs of different ‘eras’. AKG, Luma predominating on one side and RBI, Suresh, Shyam and I on the other. Arun (and unexpectedly for me) Naughty were in the transition era.

(RBI and I)

We reached SriKalahasti at about 10 am. In order to cut the waiting time, we purchased tickets for darshan. Naughty had already gone there the previous week-this helped us to some extent. We had good darshans. After spending about an hour in the temple, we started (back) for Tada Falls.

(SriKalahasti Temple)

We reached the base camp (i donno which is base camp 1 and which is base camp

2). We took our vehicle till where it could goJ. There was another SUV ahead of our vehicle and at some points of time it reminded me of Jurassic Park where one car followed the other (we were also driving at almost the same pace).

We started trekking at 1:20 PM in the afternoon. The first 2.5-3 kms. was normal ‘walking’. The best part of it was that God had his umbrella (clouds) on us!!! Otherwise walking in the sun would have been a tedious task and we would have been drenched with/in sweat. We took lots of snaps on the way to the falls. So much so for the first 3 kms.

And then we came to “Hollywood” (I wonder if those people have seen this place!). Rocky terrain and water stream flowing. There was no road/path/way (whatever you call it). We had to make/search one on our own.

We reached the falls at 3 PM Took bath. Got fresh. Had our lunch. Took lots and lots of snaps. And started back for the base at around 4:30 PM We took some snaps again on our way back. We started for Chennai at 6 PM And reached IIT at 9 PM.

(With Suresh (Above) & With Amit)

As far as my personal story is concerned, it was a bit different from others and because of others (i’ve written “because of others” because had i been alone, i am not sure whether i would have been back!!!). My Woodland shoes were so supportive for the first half of the trekking. They provided an excellent (i mean it) grip on the ground. But on my way to the falls, i slipped into the water (once and then, often) and then it seemed to me as if some one had poured oil on everything that i stepped on. I was able to move just because of these-Luma, Arun, AKG, Suresh, RBI, Dinesh, Naughty. They were there for me at a time even when my Woodland shoes ditched me (no comparison with shoes please, don’t take it that way. I wanna show what friends and friendship means).

("Dagabaaz Joote")

(Under the Falls)

I was not feeling like eating something despite the fact that i was feeling hungry!!! (donno why!) It was Suresh who fed me (“fed me” because usne mujhe apne haathon se khilaya (pata nahi English me kaise likhoon!!!)). That was a wonderful experience for me. And i have thought of this – when i go home now, i’ll ask mummy to ‘feed me’ (i know i am 23+, still i think it would be a experience in itself).

Also for the first time i put on a cut sleeves (t-shirt?). It was a beach wear which ma-pa had brought for me from Goa.

I also broke my specs partly (though they are functioning now but i’ll have to go for a new one). And my hands are feeling the trip much more than my legs. That’s because i had to use them for crawling on the stones because of the wet slippery WOODLAND shoes!!!

I had many new experiences during the trip. But i think there’s nothing new in it. The more you explore the more new experiences you have.

======

Thanks to all those who made sacrifices by taking photos and videos on the trip by voluntarily eliminating themselves - especially RBI, Dinesh, Shyam and Suresh.

======