My tete e tete with Nature!
The Dream, The Fantasy, The Wish
It had always been my childhood dream to dive into a cool blue pool from 40 feet and feel the splash of the water in my face… It had always been a fantasy to sleep in the middle of a dense forest with Snakes and Insects for company, staring at the infinite space and counting the stars. It had always been a wish to walk through mountain streams and drink the pure water right from where it originates!!
All these had been dreams, fantasies and wishes.. Until, one day I decided to ask google for help! And I bumped into the Chennai Trekking Club, February of 2011! That one google search for trekking places near Chennai changed my life… Forever!!
4 years later, I’m a person who is envied for my intimate relationship with nature! That is right. I end up in the lap of Nature every now and then, escaping the concrete jungle, pollution and all the unhealthy noises. It gives me a profound peace and tranquillity to be able to stay away from all the madness of the City and spend a night deep within the woods, sleeping on the peak of a hill and bathing in the Crystal blue pools.
My Stint with the Chennai Trekking Club!
I signed up for my first trek with the Chennai Trekking Club the moment I got routed to the website by a google search! This was around January 2011. I got an email informing me about a two days’ trek to a place called Nagala, 100 KMs north of Chennai! The pictures on the email showed amazing waterfalls, blue pools, people enjoying in a campfire in some forest like set up.. I was sceptical about all the pictures since it said 100 KMs from Chennai and I could not believe that there would be anything close to what is depicted in the picture at such a close vicinity!
With all the doubts in mind, I still signed up for the trek along with a friend of mine. And to my surprise I was selected for the trek based on my false allegation that I had trekked before. Well, I have just walked around some hills in Wayanad during a college trip, if that counts as trekking. And the trek was scheduled for the 13th and 14th of February. I was immensly excited about this one trek. On the 11th of February, the friend who was supposed to accompany me, dropped out of the trek. Well, this did not deter me from going anyway. On the 13th morning I set out from home and reached Nathan’s Cafe in Koyambedu, the assembly point where Biju, the trekking lead who had sent the invite, was all busy taking attendance. I was appalled to find that I had to go on this trek with 50 people, total strangers to me at that time. I just thought I’ll be with myself and enjoy the trek. And thus began my stint with CTC!
After a 3 hour long bus journey, in which I already found 2 companions, from Cognizant, we reached a barren land with view of a huge range of mountains in the distant and a big wall of sand in the foreground!
And then it happened!! We climbed up the sand wall and were bamboozled by the scene of a beautiful lake with a mountain in the background, a typical wallpaper material!! And that was it! I had fallen for her, Nagala. The first time I actually fell in love, ever!! And I thought it was an infatuation!
Yes! Nagala was a queen! A queen so Majestic and Pristine, she was totally irresistable! And i never resisted!
That first encounter with Nagala so happened to be on a Valentine’s Day, the love between us was there to stay! It’s so hard to say, but there would be none who could, like her, make me sway! (Ooh!! I just wrote those lines! And they rhymed so nice! See what love can do to you?)