All Those Who Wander

Chapter - 1 : Too Many Cooks

'Danish, I'm adding three friends. They're looking to do a trek next weekend too.'

'Danish, one of my friends wants to add two more friends. They would like some familiar company.'

'Danish, our project will end sooner than expected. We're free this weekend - add us to the trek group.'

'Danish, one of my colleagues wants to join. Is there space?'

It had been a month since the Sharavati trip, and extended weekend or not - the time had come for another trek. So, after eliminating Kudremukh and Tadiyandamol owing to the heat, we'd settled on the Kodchadri peak, with Hidlumane Falls en route.

'Are you opening a start-up?' Parag asked in all seriousness, looking at the WhatsApp group. I understood his astonishment - there were 31 people on it - but I knew that on the D-day, we would be 20 odd adventurers remaining.

To my surprise, by Friday, only four people had backed out, leaving a band of 28. Among the veterans were Anurag, Radhika, Rhythm, Abhinav, Surendra, Shankar, Malpani, Jayasimha, Madhulika, Saurabh, Vedant and Vishnu, from previous trips. Kowshik was a colleague, whom I'd recently discovered as a fellow trekking enthusiast. Nalin and Nipun were friends from college, Nelson was an acquaintance from a different trek (the Talacauvery-Mondrute trek by Get Beyond Limits), and I'd met Rituparna before during my internship in Intel. Me and Anurag had added our JPMC colleagues and their friends - Deepti, Krishna, Priya, Abhishek, Pooja, Rachana and Mayank. Kowshik had brought Anand, and Malpani had brought Tapas. Vedant had asked Yash - a fellow BITSian - at the last minute.

Picking them up was like planning a BMTC route for VIP passengers. We got yelled at for delays and reaching early alike. When we'd finally picked Vishnu up, everyone settled down - some preparing to doze off, while some eager to start the fun.

'Hmm, what shall we play, I wonder?' I mused aloud, and the veterans groaned in unison. 'Could it be, say, Mafia?'

Like in a stampede, the veterans shifted to the front of the bus to get busy, leaving me to teach Mafia to the newbies. The JPMC people picked it up quickly, with Pooja and Mayank already playing mind games with the rest. Malpani got booted first - the most untrustworthy faces were eliminated in the first round (which was why God was the safest character for me). The Mafia had almost won, owing to a brilliant double bluff by Jayasimha, but he got too eager in the last round and gave himself away.

We stopped at a roadside stall for some bananas and milk, looking at the night sky, already clear enough to make out constellations.

Everyone succumbed to sleep, and as the lights of the bus and the roads winked out, only the stars remained, making an endless 'connect-the-dots' puzzle in the sky, the answer to which I was still looking for.

I drifted away soon after, with the night as my pillow and the wind as my lullaby.

Chapter - 2 : All Roads

I awoke to Rhythm lightly strumming her ukulele in the front seat. Everyone else was sleeping. Kowshik awoke soon after behind me, rubbing his eyes. 'How long?' he asked. 'About an hour,' I surmised, looking at the time. 'How's Anand?' Anand had a slight motion sickness problem, which had made him reluctant to come along. 

'As long as he doesn't wake up, he'll be fine,' Kowshik chortled. 'In any case, there's a half-cut lemon waiting for him.'

'Can I have that?' Shankar turned around and groaned, stretching his hand. He looked post-op, with heavy eyelids and a flushed face. Sleep was always hard while travelling, even in the most comfortable of vehicles. 

I joined Rhythm, and we sang I'm Yours by Jason Mraz. Nalin came over from the back to join us - we'd played the same song together in one of the performances on campus. He played a guitar, and sang too. We'd never gotten the chance to jam together after college. 

He tried to play Blackbird, by the Beatles, on the ukulele, chuckling to himself. 'We should buy a guitalele next time.'

The bus stopped at Nittur. Shankar called the homestay owner, and he sent a jeep to guide us further in. We entered a dirt road, and the sounds of the forest woke the entire bus up. Me, Rhythm, Nalin and Vishnu sang for a while, until our vehicle came to a halt in front of a cream, cemented house.

'Okay, people. Gather your stuff, and let's freshen up here.' I called out, trying to optimize the harshness of my volume. This was the largest group we had taken yet.

The bathrooms were all right, even though the water supply wasn't. We filled a bucket from a trickling tap and took turns. Some of us were already excited, ready with shoes and jitters on. Deepti, Priya, Mayank and Abhishek tried to sneak away and get some sleep, but thankfully, Anurag got to them and smoked them out to the breakfast room. 

Breakfast was blissful; upma, idlis and coconut chutney. I saw the familiar transition from the band Kiss to Winx Club in everyone, and we moved to the verandah to redistribute our supplies. The veterans would carry the bags, with the supplies for the entire group. 

Our guide appeared and pointed in the direction we had to go, taking off. We looked at each other and hustled, breaking up into several groups and scrambling after him. This was actually the only way to get people to start.

And just like that, the trek had begun.

Chapter - 3 : Rolling Stones

'I hope he's not taking us through the jeep trail,' Nelson told me, looking at the route sceptically. He, Nalin, Nipun and Ritu had been to Kodchadri once, through a different route. 'That'll be really boring. I was expecting a proper trek.'

'Hmm, I'll ask him.' I skipped to the front and pointed to an off-beat, rocky trail, nodding excitedly. He shook his head with the same vigour and pointed to the dirt trail. I gulped and stayed ahead, hoping there was a more challenging path later. 

Thankfully, we cut through a small forest soon, and came upon a rocky path flanked by trees in the embryonic stages of flowering - spring was knocking on this valley's door.

'Hey, hornbills.' I pointed to the topmost branches of a leaf-less tree. The silhouette was obvious enough, and there was a hint of colour in the beak; this was the endemic Malabar Grey Hornbill. 

I turned around to locate Vedant, and realized there were around ten people missing. I gave a SWAT team signal for Shankar to go ahead while I brought them along. He grunted in puzzlement.

'You go ahead, I'll bring them along,' I sighed and waited. The morning had spread its hues over the landscape, adding its colours to the day like paints on a mixing palette. 

The first stop was a place with shade and spiced buttermilk. Everyone downed a glass each, and tore open biscuit and cake packets. 'Guys, there's still a long way to go,' Nalin piped up, visibly alarmed. 'Don't get the big guns out already.' 

We skirted a wide paddy field, coming across a stream lined with pebbles. It curved towards a rocky path, with lines of water breaking through, like roots from a tree. 'We're probably approaching the Hidlumane Falls now.' Kowshik said. Our guide had vanished, probably much farther ahead than us. Fortunately, there were more groups ahead of us, marking the route like human milestones.

We came to the Hidlumane Falls - it had lost half its grandeur along with the water, but there was a tiny pool we could step in, and we could climb up halfway through the rocks. Most of us stepped in, pulling in the more timid ones and guillotining them under the icy water. I and Shankar tried to climb up the waterfall, pulling ourselves up along the vines.

Nalin, Nipun, Ritu and Nelson moved on ahead, calling out to us. I and Shankar took everyone except the JPMC people, whom Anurag would bring. 

We reached a huge clearing not long after, and decided to wait for the rest. We were leaving the forest below us, rising up with the lofty hills. This was the perfect season for vast, unobscured landscapes; and they were starting to peek out at us. Shankar and I went inside a grove, leaving Rhythm, Madhulika, Vishnu, Abhinav and Radhika to rest.

Soon, the JPMC group arrived, and we continued. Now there was a proper ascent, straight up to the top of a viewpoint. Excitement fuelled my legs, and we were at the summit in a matter of minutes. I saw Nipun and the others there. I waited for the rest.

Turning around, I faced the biggest landscape I had seen yet. Rolling hills with patchy forest, and a crystal clear sky, meeting the land only at the lightly hazed horizon; if only I could fly. The wind hit me; unabated, with no hill in its way, or cloud to break its flow. Nobody seemed willing to move.

'Vedant, here's your landscapes!' I called out to him, my voice lost in the breeze. He'd been asking me for cloudless, expansive views ever since the Kumar Parvat trek.

I stayed for a while, feeling like I was standing in flight. I looked at the horizon - it seemed as if my eyes hadn't reached it yet, and they never would. If one could see infinity, this was it.

We tore ourselves away and walked on. The trail meandered around the next hill, moving into another forest area with a tiny stream. There was another steep ascent, at the end of which was the lunch point, where the home stay guys would come with the jeep and food. Again, Nalin and gang rushed on ahead, while we waited for Anurag and the others. 

The lunch point also had buttermilk, lime water and cucumbers. Everyone collapsed there, with arms outstretched. After the elixir, we roamed the valley for a while, rushing up to another rock for the view; there was no such thing as too much of a good thing. Finally, the lunch arrived, and Anurag called us down.

Lunch was sambar, rice, buttermilk, and surprisingly, holige - with ghee. I and Shankar lost it there, remembering our VV Puram Eat Street massacre, and bribed and begged people for their holiges. Since Nalin and Co had moved on ahead, we asked them to take the lunch to the peak.

After the food, people split up further, taking the rest of the trek at their own pace. I trotted ahead with Shankar, Vishnu and Jaya, to get the food to our friends. Our path had now merged with the jeep trail; dusty and gravelly, it was a simple, uphill walk.

The trail ended at a tiny village. There was a toilet and a tap for drinking water, and we dove right into them; separately. We waited for the jeeps to arrive with the lunch. There was no signal on anyone's phones, so we just waited in suspense. The harsh sun was getting to a few people, and they took shelter behind cars or under trees.

'Let's just us go up and tell them we're here, and waiting for lunch? The others can bring it up if and when it arrives.' I postulated to Shankar. Rhythm, Madhulika, Anurag and Rachana had caught up to us, and they decided to wait for lunch.

After a few steps and a short rocky climb, we came face to face with the steepest cliff I had seen in a long time; and the trail was right along its edge. We walked on it, staring in fascination to our left, down into the abyss that was surely below sea level.

There was a tiny spot with more lemon juice and watermelon. We stopped for a while, and our guide materialized out of nowhere.

'What the hell?' Shankar whispered to me, like we were seeing a phantom in a graveyard. 'Can you see him too?'

'Yes, yes,' I chuckled. 'I don't know how he got up so fast, though. He was in the jeep, right? We had at least a twenty-minute start on him.'

'Quicksilver, this guy is,' Shankar muttered, and went over to him to ask him about the lunch and the transport for the way back.

At the end of the trail, was a small, stone temple. I spotted Nalin, Nelson, Ritu and Nipun sitting by its boundary.

'What took you so long?' Ritu scowled, her hands on her hips. 'At this rate, people won't be able to reach the home stay before nightfall.'

'Is this the peak? Where's that famous sunset?' I asked, looking around.

Nipun pointed to the temple. I went behind, and looked on ahead. I stood, transfixed. There was a tiny strip of the Arabian Sea between the hills, and the sun was going down into it.

Chapter - 4 : Out Of Sight

'Let's go to the very edge.' I told Shankar. 'That's the closest point, I think.' 

We climbed down into another cliff, walking up to its rim. There was just the valley between us and the sea, and the glow of the setting sun over it. In about half an hour, we would see a beach sunset from a mountain.

We sat on the rocks, looking at dozens of swifts darting around the hills. I envied birds yet again. I looked back at the temple; the rest of the group was arriving, trickling into the view. 

'Let's bring them here,' I tapped Shankar's shoulder; he seemed lost in thought. 'Then we can all reflect on our lives and make the sun a metaphor for existence or something.'

He chuckled, and we went back to the group. Everyone had arrived, and we were discussing the journey back.

'There's jeeps available,' Nelson spoke up. 'I think they take 2000 for eight people. Anyone willing to join us?'

So, it was decided. Twelve of us stayed back to watch the sunset from the cliff, while the others would go back to the lunch point, see the sunset and jeep it back. 

I, Shankar, Radhika, Anurag, Abhinav, Rachana, Mayank, Surendra, Vishnu, Kowshik, Anand and Jayasimha perched on the rock closest to the sky, and sat in silence. Talks about making a time lapse video started, and we spent about ten minutes trying to find the best position for the mobile.

I was sitting right at the edge. I mimed toppling over once or twice, but no one was impressed. Anurag grabbed my collar for the remainder of the sunset.

'All right, I'll just support it,' Abhinav said, and propped up the mobile near a rock, keeping his finger lightly at its base.

'It'll become really late by the time we get back,' Mayank muttered, as the sun dimmed to a mellow orange, rippling ominously in the tiny strip of water miles away, like a curtain unveiling the grand finale.

There were about twenty people with us, chattering away, their voices carrying down to the valley and darting about like the swifts. Soon, all of them quietened, and the only sounds were the gently whistling wind and the chirping of birds. The audience watched with bated breath, and the last sound as the sunset began was, 'Turn on the camera.'

The sky went down like a sinking ship, with the sun as its captain. The oranges and yellows of the horizon blurred seamlessly into the indigo and cerulean of the young evening, dying away like a fire being extinguished. It seemed as if all the light from the valley was running back to its source, riding the wind towards the infinite sunset. Like a candle winking out, the sun melted into the horizon, taking our thoughts with it. Somewhere, there was now a sunrise.

Night came in swiftly, and the birds fled to their nests. We took one last look at the day, and let go of the light, to return to us in the next sunrise.

Chapter - 5 : For The Night Is Dark

'This is going to be fun,' Vishnu grinned. 'Who knew we would get a night trek out of this?'

I and Shankar decided to race down, till the water tap point. We asked Anurag to bring the others, and we set off, hurtling down at breakneck speeds, jumping on rocks and sliding over gravel. To my right, the cliff looked deadlier than ever, with the depths not even visible now, like an endless fall right to the center of the earth. 

While descending, it was more about finding the right places to brake and arrest momentum, for otherwise, you would keep accelerating and pierce the ground like an arrow at the end. I'd done that once - fortunately, I'd rolled over and come to a stop at a sturdy tree trunk. 

We skidded to a stop at the jeep place, panting and smiling elatedly. This was the closest we could come to flying, with nothing but our feet. Vishnu joined us soon after, and we took our last photo for the day, as the world turned black, and the stars popped out like cat eyes. We looked to the sky and realized the moon was almost full. 

By the time everyone else arrived, the world was a mosaic of swallowing black, haunting blue and faint white, and we were moving as pawns on its various tiles; stepping in shadows and spots illuminated by moonlight like it was a chessboard. After a few slips and falls, we got used to it; measuring the gradient of the ground with our ankles and using our toes as hooves. 

'Hey, man, what's that?' I pointed to a silhouette in the distance. 'And why is it growing bigger?'

Surendra yelped. 'If this is a prank, I'll sit down on a dharna or something. Don't scare me.'

'No no, it's real,' I chortled, immediately making plans to scare him. The silhouette came into focus and parted into two dogs, trotting amicably over to us. 

One of them brushed up against me, its wagging tail hitting me like a jackhammer. The other one flitted through the shadows, disappearing and reappearing like the Nightcrawler. Surendra was looking back and forth at them as if it was one dog. 

The others caught up, and we set off with the dogs, now feeling more confident. We had reached the lunch point now, and the jeep trail was right in front of us, leading straight to the home stay - hopefully.

'Let's tell ghost stories,' Abhinav teased, looking sideways at Surendra.

'Let's not,' Anurag rebuked. 'Let's just go ahead and disappear one by one.'

'Or scream.' Rachana quipped.

'Oh, we could hide in shadows and just jump out at the right people,' Mayank piped up, looking straight at the right people. 

'Screw this, I'm going ahead.' Surendra scampered off and joined Vishnu and Shankar, me in his stead. 

'Damn it, the others are in a mischievous mood,' Surendra muttered to us.

'Others?' Shankar asked in mock puzzlement, looking at me pointedly.

'But it's only the four of us on this trip.' I looked at Surendra in complete seriousness. One of the dogs howled.

'Aaarrgghh,' Surendra grumbled and walked off further, as I, Vishnu and Shankar lost it.

It didn't even feel that dark anymore, with the moon brighter than a floodlight, and the sky having more stars than night in it. The sounds of the forest were deafening; yet, we could hear every whisper, every breath, every crunching footstep and skid. 

We came across a stretch of road in complete darkness; it was as if we had to swim through the river Styx. 

'Okay, people - test the ground before stepping on it, and use only your toes. Don't play pranks now, or we might have an actual horror story on our hands.'

We crossed silently. I was following the dogs, since they seemed to be stepping with ease everywhere. Our eyes adjusted quickly, and we could now see the subtle greys in the ground that told us where the path was. 

'A lot of the ground is sandy, so it's better,' Vishnu broke the silence. 'Otherwise, our heels and ankles would have been dead by now.'

The descent was over, and we were walking on plain ground like it was daytime. There was no familiarity - we were now dependent on the dogs and mobile network. 

We came to a huge entry gate of sorts; fortunately, the guard's hut looked alive, so we went inside to ask him for the route. He didn't know the homestay, but told us that the nearest town - Nittur - was straight ahead, from where we would get jeeps to wherever we wanted. 

We sauntered on, occasionally trying to reach our guide on his cell. We emerged from the forest into Nittur - civilization, at last. 'All right,' I started, as everyone collapsed onto the nearest sitting point. 'We should be getting network here. Let's call our guide and tell him where we are. He'll figure something out.' 

'Damn, where's Quicksilver when you need him?' Shankar smiled wistfully.

My eyes widened in shock.

'He's right behind me, isn't he...' Shankar sighed, and turned around. Our guide was standing there, casually looking at us. He pointed to a jeep in the distance, and set off. 

'Well, on your feet, jelly-legged sea urchins!' I barked, and followed him. Somehow, the twelve of us fit into the vehicle, with Anurag and Vishnu hanging from the back, and we roared away to our home stay. 

'I've never done this, it feels amazing!' Anurag yelled over the sound of the jeep, as we rushed through the night with the wind in our faces. I grinned; there was something for everyone. 

We arrived, hooting and cheering like maniacs, at our cottage. The others were sitting outside, resting their legs. Some had already retired for the night. We walked in through the gate, elation showing on all our faces. I could see Vedant's camera kept on one of the walls, pointed towards the sky. He was getting his night-sky time-lapse video, finally. 

We took off our shoes and walked around, cooling off. It would take a while for the throbbing in our legs to cease. 'We walked 27 kms today. On a hill.' Anurag proclaimed proudly. 

Nalin, Nelson, Ritu and Nipun were sitting outside, looking at us bemusedly. 'Anyone hurt?' Nalin asked.

'Nah,' I told him. 'In fact, people couldn't be happier. A few slips and falls, but they learnt really quickly. We were almost running down towards the end.'

'That's good. You're in a great mood?' Nalin asked again.

My face fell. 'All right, out with it.'

Nalin chortled once, and said, 'There's no bus.'

I stared at him.

To be continued, I guess.

Photos, courtesy of Saurabh Dubey, Anurag Rastogi, Kowshik Kumar, Abhishek Malani, Rachana Kalidindi, Vedant Sapra, Abhinav Sethi and Vishnu Raveendran.


Anjana's Blog : https://anjlifeexperiences.wordpress.com
Vedant's YouTube Channel : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_-wTP-OKAF6HskDOqSeREw
Vedant's Instagram Page : https://www.instagram.com/vedantsapra/