MUTTATTHI & 40 BRAVE NUTS

A trek is always a team effort. The success or failure of the trek depends on how cooperative the members of the trek are.

We are so proud of all the trekkers of Aug06 Mutthatti Trek. All the hurdles we had to jump.... just re-living some of the moments gives me the thrill...

The first day, Sat 13 started off with getting the Stuff and the Bus to all the pickup points to pick up a very enthusiastic crowd of 40 Trekkers. I would like to call this particular trek an outing/trip instead. For most of the guys it was first time trekking.

In-order to best utilize the time and make up for the time lost during pickup and waits, we decided to pack breakfast for 40 and have it in the bus. AMIT BOTHE, the great guy, packed breakfast from near his place and got the blessings of a hungry crowd. IDLI WADA Daata Sukhi Bhava!!!!!
This was one of the best decisions of the TREK. I had called Amit the previous day and asked him to arrange the food.

Thankfully Amit had packed extra packs. I am sure VIJAY, KHURRAM, PJ (HEMANT) were glad about it!

The journey was a whole lot of fun, with everybody pulling each other’s leg. Multiple rounds of introduction sessions each time a new person joined the gang while waiting for the pickup bus was the basis of this winsome camaraderie.

NAJI & KHURRAM JODI reminded of JAI & VEERU from SHOLAY. NAJI was JAI, Silent Humor & eyes that spoke volume. And KHURRAM was VEERU PAJI, whose feet were never on ground and whose PJs never ended. The comedy between these two had everybody in splits every time they shot missiles at each other. NAJI introduced KHURRAM exactly the way JAI introduced VEERU to BASANTI'S CHAACHI. KHURRAM teri shaadi kabhi nahin hogi re...............

ADVENTURE follows NAJI. In one of his earlier treks, NAJI was almost trampled by an angry elephant that refused to be photographed by NAJI PAAJI. NAJI had to run his fastest run, and even this could not save him from a kiss of the elephant. He still carries the lipstick marks. Or So He Says. No wonder we had such an adventure on the trip.

UDAY from IBM with a springy sense of humor J kept on poking fun at VIJAY and any other BAKRA he could find. An example of this humor was, HARI BABU became famous as HARI SADU of Naukri.com instead.

TEENA created quite a stir when she got into the bus. The reason for the JAM was revealed at the end of the journey, when we had an INTRO-DO-BADNAAM-KARO GAME. If I mention the reason here, TEENA will kill me.

MADHU told us the most amazing PJs about Ant & Elephants, while VIJAY showed us all how to push KHURRAM differently!!!!!!!!!!!!!! VIJAY declared he was on the TREK to POACH. Now what he had in mind, some of us know.

MALLIKA is a Sweetheart! KEERTI & MALLIKA belong to the gang of WORLD’S BEST CHEFS. MALLIKA, the girl from SIKKIM & I were having a lengthy conversation and were exchanging recipes, when KHURRAM proved something. When girls are talking, guys’ ears are always on HIGH ALERT…. KHURRUM jumped in MOMOS & CHUTNEY and ooooooooohed and aaaaaaaaaaahed over CHILLY CHUTNEY MADE IN SIKKIM. The three of us decided to have a MOMO party after the TREK. This is serious stuff guys; we might issues invites to those who are interested. Let the three of us know.

RAM from Wipro, BISWAROOP the digital imaging expert & SID seemed to be dozing off.
We reached the destination by 11:30. APUN HIRAN, the JAMES BOND was supposed to have reached way ahead of us with our lunch. Indian JAMES BOND was not found, so we took of on a small trek lead by RAHUL, the LOST_ACK. RAHUL promptly lost his herd that was following him blindly and lived up to his name, LOST_ACK indeed. Rahul, does this mean Lost and Acknowledged???? YOU lose WE Acknowledge!!!!

A section of his lost herd found elephants before finding him. SUMAN saw the whole herd of grey elephants (there are white elephants too ;P) swimming in the river so far away from us. What, we found hard to locate through the 12x Optimal Zoomed Lens of the CAM, SUMAN saw through his THIRD EYE. Of course, NAJI, the Elephant Lover was with us. WOW, With SUMAN with us who needs binoculars.

ALL of us who couldn’t see the elephants nodded that we could see them all right.

By the time we reached the PEAK, the herd had gathered with its leader, and RAHUL counted them all and ACKNOWLEDGED his herd. We were all safe.

On our way back ADI told us not to worry!

SUNDER, the great guy had a unique way of remembering the way we took. His efforts were well paid, when he lead us back to our bus without getting us LOST. What did SUNDER do to remember the way? He fell into every thorny bush he came across. While climbing down the hill, he would identify the bush that hurt him, "hey, here is where I fell, we are on the right path…."

RAHUL, you need to learn the TRICK from SUNDER!!!

And lo!! LUNCH was waiting for us. APUN had disappeared. THANK YOU APUN.

We reached the village by 3:30 and started the arrangements for the evening, Firewood, Vessels, Coracles to take us across, 2 Men to help us with that, etc etc etc.

PERMISSIONS: All those who came with us know about it. We were misled and believed that we had the required permissions. We crossed the river like a NOMAD CLAN and set up our BASERA on the shore. We were happily building a temporary civilization on the shore, when the enemy attacked in the form of Forest Officials.

Apparently, there was this KABILA of GORIs and GORAs from VIDESH. Our guys were drooling about the angoors like langoors. Some of the RAMBOs and Tom Cruises of our gang were supposedly invited to join the angoor party. Since no one was missing from RAHUL’s herd, it is well assumed that our guys declined the invites.

The forest officials did not like the idea of having foreigners on foreign shores and wanted everyone out. Oh sweet heaven, it was one hell of a convincing session. Ask me about it!!!

We managed to convince the officer in charge that we had the relevant permissions and would get MAMU (cfo, dfo, rfo, cm, pm, koi bhi mamu chalega!!!!!) call from Bangalore and prove it to him. This actually led to one of the most adventurous coracle ride in the dark.

We reached the opposite bank and found PJ waiting to join the party. Now PRIYA, PJ & ME went in search of the guy who gave us the permission to set up our TABELA, besides the KABILA.

We got back to find SHYAMALA and SHIVASHANKAR waiting to cross the river. RAHUL’S herd was increasing by leaps and bounds. Every LEAP across the river found someone waiting to join the TABELA. The ride back was even more exciting.

We paddled back to join our guys and somehow managed to convince the Officer to let us stay till next daybreak. He told me, “ROOPA MADAM, You see me in my office TOMORROW”, reminding me of my headmistress warning me of severe punishment for blasting my PT Master.

We settled down, pitched tents, the ladies cooked tasty dinner - Maggie & Soup.

While some of us took up the task of getting the kitchen up, some got water for dinner, and others pitched tents. The efforts of 40 people – (SELF CLAIMED LAZY GUYS NOT INCLUDEDJ)), gave way to one of the most beautiful temporary civilizations on the shore. ORANGE BLUE TENTS!

RAGHAVENDRA was caught by a drunken guard, who made RAGHU explain the dangers in the water over and over individually to anyone they came across. The guard would speak in Kannada, and RAGHU would recite in ENGLISH.

When we thought all was settled, another drama unfolded. We saw two lights coming towards us. No animal could have eyes this big and bright, unless may be the extinct dinosaur dropped in to say hello. 8 Forest Officials got out of the JEEP and started towards us. “PERMISSIONS” was their favorite topic.

We claimed to be misled & misplaced innocent (?!?) students who were lost on the shores. We pleaded and begged them to let us stay. We accepted our mistakes and shook a leg. OH MY, ALL OF US WERE ACTORS OF THE FIRST ORDER! When one of the guards asked which class / college we were from, I am sure we could have said ABC year, Xyz College. This was not to be, each one had his own answer. To confuse the guards all the more, one of them added, “We are a mixed group”J.

The officials probably liked us, took us under their wings. This meant more awareness programs and lectures. They informed us that the river level might rise any time. It could be due to opening of KRS Dam Gates in Mysore, or incessant rains any where in Coorg. They asked us not to camp near the shore in future and find high grounds for camping. Anyone could be swept away in high tides and currents. We were also warned about the Elephants and Bears that came to feed on water and fruits on the banks.

Though we took their advice seriously, we did not understand the magnanimity of the issues until the next day morning.

While I wrote an apology letter in English and took responsibility of 40 of the crowd, PJ (Pradeep Jayaram) was caught and was asked to write a statement in Kannada. What a wonderful time PJ had taking dictation from the over zealous guard who wanted to pour in all the words in Kannada Dictionary into THAT ONE LETTER! PJ had some million dollar expressions on his face. PJ, Hats off to you J

At last the guards left us to enjoy the rest of our stay; most of the herd had slept. The rest of us nocturnal gang sat around the campfire. A Veg barbecue was also made not to disappoint the vegetarians.

RAHUL & I explored the white sands that reflected the moon. The serene ambience was breathtaking! After sometime it felt eerie, I was expecting a ware wolf to jump from some bush.

It was 3 AM when the exciting day ended. At around 4:30 somebody screamed that Elephants were coming and there was water near the tents. Move the tents! Move everyone!! It was still dark and people started groping for the luggage and moved to the higher ground.

The coracles were supposed to pick us up by 6:30. The first batch of 20 were to raft that morning were ready, while I conversed with RAMESH-The Coracle Coordinator to shuttle us in the next few trips.

VIJAY & I made TEA. We actually made nearly 40 Liters of ELAICH - ADRAKH CHAAI if not more. ADITYA drank more than 2 Liters of the CHAAI from a MUG. There were others who competed with him in DRIKN-TEA-BEFORE-WE-DROWN Competition. The rest of them cut plastic bottles and made 2 cups of each bottle. Desperate Situations Desperate Measures!

RAHUL took most of the luggage with him and sailed alone to the nearby island – Finding America & then Castaway. Abhishek, Priya Keerti, Raghavendra, Tejal, Pavan, and a few others crossed and reached the luggage island.


The land was sinking. The shore line around the patches of land visible was fast reducing. At first our mind was thinking about the luggage. Will we be able to save the luggage, will the tents drown first? RAHUL PRIYA and gang moved the luggage to the high rock on their island. When the sand on their island disappeared, our worry shifted to the people. We saw life 3 saving coracles coming their way.

The comedy we could see here was, a Lady’s slipper washed away. And RAMESH – the brave man swam the tide to save the slipper. We guys were screaming from the other isle “leave the chappal – go back”. AMIT BOTHE and VIJAY were more worried about their shoes. They made me promise to save their shoes; if that was the last thing I could save before they left the camping site J

VIJAY who was sent alone in the coracle came back went into a silent mode. He was VERY busy trying to save his shoes. We dumped everybody’s shoe into a nice back pack

When at last we saw that the team and the luggage was safe and on the way to shore, we stared at the piece of land we were standing.
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Now the last of us, NAJI, KHURRAM, PJ & PJ (Pradeep & Hemant), VIJAY, BHASKAR & ME were left on the campsite which by then had reduced to a 4 by 5 ft strip of sand patch. We had 2 villagers LOKI & KITTI who stayed with us the previous night.

The water level was fast increasing. Fortunately some very tough nuts to crack and a bunch of Class 1 Comedians were caught amidst this Water-logged Drama.

KHURRAM went Click Click Click with NAJI’s Cam, while we were posing and trying to capture the distress on our faces. He failed miserably, Sher-e-Dil kabhi Darte nahin!

Ironically while we were facing a comic – I-am-gonna-go-down-next situation, The first 20 were having the best rafting of the season. On that particular day, the waters had GRADE 3 RAPIDS. WOW! The rest of them were to have an adventure of the life time.

I was feeling sad about dumping THE TEA into the river. Praan Jaaaaye Par Chaai na Jaaaaye! I also had the business proposition of selling the Thandi Chai to the Foreigners.

KHURRAM was ogling at the Angoors on the nearest shore. But after the Pictures came out we got to know whose eyes were working over time. NAJI – NAAA JEE SHARIEFF Indeed!!!

PJ – HEMANT, who was puffing away to glory, came up with the most famous line of the trek. By this time we were knee deep in water and there was no land to be seen except the far away shore.

This is when PJ – HEMANT Dropped the LINE OF THE TREK. “Meri Girlfriend ki Jhooti kasam ne dubodiya yaar!”

The coracle came to our rescue by the time, I, shortest in the gang, was knee deep in water.

We reached the shore and missed the entire thrill we had left behind. The Angoor Ka Kabila had moved closer to the Langoor ka Tabela. Both of us Gangs were waiting for the Last rides in coracles that would take us to the opposite shore. It was a ‘Me First Me First’ run to secure the coracles. When the GORAs digested the fact that there was no THEM in front of our CHARM, they requested us to take STYLESH oops SHYLESH from their gang with us.

We saw one Angoor go to the local people waiting for the Coracles and shooing them off. Our GANG of GUYS got ROYALLY pissed of with her. When her communication skills failed, she came up to us and asked us to shoo away the people in local language. Our guys started off $#%$$^$% in HINDI, when the Angoor opened her mouth and spoke in EINDI – Rangde Basanti ki Sue!!!!!!!!!!

We got the coracle to take us back. NAJI found a hole in the coracle which the driver was very cleverly hiding by stuffing his towel. NAJI claims that he provided courage and emotional support while KHURRAM and PJ were arguing. We promptly jumped into another, better coracle and saved our souls.

The entire shore was under water. The Paradise of the previous day had vanished in mere 3 hours.

Once we got on the safe side and joined our people and luggage and FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD, we got to know how valiantly PRIYA, RAHUL and guys had saved our FOOD from MONKEY, DOGS & CATTLE ATTACK.

NAREN had by then found a place to bath & freshen up. After living in water with the doubts of ever getting out – BATH was the last thing on mind. MANY others had enjoyed water. It was noticed that NAREN was growing taller every time, guys pulled his legs about DOWNLOADING FILES.

I went in search of the bus to the village, but it was already in the fishing camp. A villager came up to me and said, “ROOPA MADAM, DFO is calling you”. PJ & I went back to DFO’s office.

We were in for a surprise! We were seeing the other side of the DFO. Itna pyaar barsaaya ke hum bin paani doob gaye! Though PJ had to write another letter, we had done a great job at convincing. Apparently, a MAMU had called from Bangalore and VOUCHED for us. HIP HIP HURRAH!

We got permission to camp on the DFO Garden, arranged for rest rooms, firewood, 2 helpers, and ingredients for dinner, vegetables and vessels for evening, camping ground and MANY MORE THINGS.

Meanwhile, RAM, ADITYA, PRIYA, AMIT, PJ, TEENA and the gang began preparing for the noon activity. Tyrolean Traverse; a Rope was tied between two trees at an indecent height. We were to start at one end, atop our bus, and slide down elegantly on the rope to the other end.

Next was lunch. MALLIKA, SHYAMLA, MADHU and rest hungry crowd found out 3 places that would cook lunch for us. One place cooked Veg Food and the other two places cooked Non Veg Food.
While MALLIKA, SHYMALA & RAM were in deep discussion about the menu for the Lunch, TERRIFIC TEENA marched into a local DHABA, took over the kitchen and started rolling out CHAPATIS. THANK YOU TEENA.

ABHISHEK & PJ borrowed bike from another PJ and went scouting for DAL in the nearby villages!!! They had to go all the way to KANAKAPURA to get the precious DAL KEERTI made delicious DAL MAKHANI of! What a Spirit ABHISHEK!!!!

CHANDRESH was the eye doctor. He would call everyone and ask them one question. “Hey, are u wearing contact lens?” When we would go up to him for inspection, he would squeeze SweetLime ka Chilka into our eyes and run away. No dearth of Monkeys in Mutthatti!

When some were working on the noon game, the rest were helping in setting up the place for the evening.

SAMYUKTA & ADITYA joined the herd that evening! While PJ, SHIVSHANKAR & SHYAMALA left the party! NAGARAJ and his gang took over pitching of tents. TEJAL, SHEETAL, DEEPTI, KEERTI, MALLIKA started the dinner preparations. The boys sat down to help the girls. CRAZY amount of Carrots were pealed and grated, Potatoes were washed, and the vessels were cleaned. For the first time our KITCHEN was cooking food for 50 people. And what an amazing fest it was!!!!!

Most of us participated in the Tyrolean Traverse and earned some scrapes and bruises on our legs. TIP: Wear Thick Socks to Save your delicate Legs from bruising. Tyrolean Traverse a technique climbers and mountaineers use to cross over crevasses and stuff!!! It’s no game!! Thanks PJ!!!

Some guys who wanted more adventure ventured into the nearby jungle for another short trek and returned soon. As the day was ending everyone got involved in cooking. We had 4 Choolhas burning. With a starter round of Chaai, everyone got into the groove. BISWAROOP & SID made Vegetable Salad in a Quiet Corner. UDAY learnt the art of washing vessels J. Gobi Manchoori, Nov Veg Barbeque, Dum Aloo, Dry Fruit Pullav, credited to MALLIKA, Daal Makhni was specialty of KEERTI & ABHISHEK, Gaajar Ka Halva was amazing! VIJAY was supervising the Kitchen for sometime.

After a neat dinner, the team of sophisticated & glamorous rag pickers led by TEENA & SAMYUKTA cleared up the mess. The place was spick n span in a matter of minutes. We all settled under the Covered Porch in front of the dormitory. It was decided to go for a moonlight walk. We left the sleeping lot and walked quite a distance. Dog like animals, (mongoose?!?) and a pack of them were visible in the moon light. The thick forest was beautiful in the silver sheen!!

Next morning, we, the 20 indulged in rafting while the previous day rafters prepared breakfast of YUMMY Upma and Kesari Bhaat. After a sumptuous breakfast, it was time to move to the real world. The fantasy life of two days was coming to an end. We settled the accounts with the villagers, thanked everyone who had contributed in his own way to make our trek/trip/outing a success and bid an adieu to Mutthatti........…

On the way back we had a Badnaami Introduction Session where everyone did the POL – KHOL of the other.
RAM KRUISE KANNAN had to fly to CHENNAI that evening. ALL his new friends cooperated and helped RAM be on time by not taking LUNCH BREAK on the way back. Coooooooooool Guys Indeed!!!

Thus ended the Aug06 12-13-14 Weekend but began a spate of new friendships.

Best Regards,
Roopa Sreedhar
98861-62404

Life is like a slate

Life is like a slate. God gives this slate to every person, to write his own story. During the early stages, parents help him write. They teach him the grammar, the usage, the way of writing. When he goes to school, the others influence his writing. When he is capable of thinking and analyzing, he begins writing in his own style.

On this slate called life, we write many things. When we are not satisfied with something that we have written, we wipe it off. But are we able to wipe it out completely? The past lurks from behind, when we try writing something new. There is a shadow, which affects the present. We can either write something new, a new beginning in life, satisfactorily, when slate is very clear, when there is nothing seen of the past writing, or, we can re-write the past again, better this time, because we have learnt from the mistakes made. The choice is ours. Need not to blame God for that. Sometimes, the past leaves such a strong imprint on the slate. No matter how much we try to wipe it, the imprint lasts, marring the slate, making it difficult for any future writing. Even if we try to write on it, what we would have written will be unclear and confusing, a blend of the past, present and future. It is up to us to decide what we want from life, how we want to shape it, how we want it to grow. With a clear mind we can achieve what we want to. Treating life like a slate, we can wipe out unpleasant memories. Write good things and make good memories. When we are old, we can walk down this memory lane that we've made in this God given slate called Life and share a smile!

Roopa Sreedhar