A Peek Beyond the Clouds on the Peak of SkandaGiri
Team outings in an organization are quite common and are much required. Veritably, the impacts are manifold at very different levels. And this time our team, BLN FCC (Bangalore Front End Competence Center), made one of the best choices for the outing, thanks to Ganesh and Praveen for their suggestions. We decided to go on an early morning trek to the relatively less-explored hill of Bangalore, SkandaGiri. 14 of us signed up for the trek. The very plan was just impeccable. We planned to start late in the night from Bangalore on Friday, reach SkandaGiri foothills by 3:45 a.m., start the trek by 4, watch the sunrise at 6 and return by 11 a.m. to Bangalore and spend the rest of the Saturday with family. I couldn’t think of a better plan to spend the weekend. We got to go on the trek, spend time with friends and colleagues, (also turned out to be one of the best experiences once we reached the top) and still spend the Saturday at home.
It was at 1’ o clock that I received the call from Ganesh to start the journey. Likewise, I got on my bike and started riding towards his house all alone making a hell of a noise in the road. Ganesh, as promised, was waiting in his car. Together we started our journey towards SkandaGiri picking one of our other colleagues on the way. Our WhatsApp group was first awakened by Nagesh as soon as he started his journey with other colleagues from the near-by locality. Making a lot of remarks on each other in the group (just to make sure everybody’s up :P) we reached Nandi Upachar at around 2:45 a.m. as per the itinerary. From Nandi Upachar we all left together towards SkandaGiri. The only car missed from reaching Nandi Upachar was Shashi’s. After having one heck of a party the previous night Shashi, Jitendra and Sandeep with all difficulty made it to the foothills by 4:15 a.m. By then we were all set to start the trek. Finally, we started our journey towards the top.
SkandaGiri, also known as Kalavara Durga, is located around 70 km from Bangalore. It offers the most beautiful panoramic views of the night sky and the sunrise. This 8 km trek comprises of ascending and descending through rugged terrains and can be completed within 4-5 hours. To protect Mother Nature from the drunken hooligans, the Department of Forest has imposed a charge on trekkers which can be availed from “myecotrip” website. We all showed our registration to the local security and continued our journey towards the top. At first, everyone kept up the pace. The path was quite flat and wide. It was only a matter of minutes before the actual ascent began. The path was quite tedious thereon. The path was rocky and one had to take huge leaps to climb the rocky path. The timing of the day made the trek both hard and easy. It was quite hard since there was no light except for the torch we carried and was easy because the hilltop was not visible. Had that been visible, at least a few guys would’ve backed out of the trek! In a way, the timing of the day made us think that the top was not all that high. It was only when we descended completely that we appreciated our ascent. Along the way, our group split into many teams. First, few guys kept climbing with as few stops as possible while others rested every now and then. It was Nagesh who was in the lead throughout the trek with inexplicable stamina. Right behind him was me and he was an inspiration to me to keep moving on without breaks. Behind me was Venki and Senthil, who made the wisest choice of watching a movie while climbing up the hill. Ganesh, Bharath, Pradeep and Bhanu followed them. It was pitch dark without the torchlight against the treacherous path. Later, when we reached the top, we learned that one of our groups behind us took a detour and climbed up an 8-foot wall only to realize that all their efforts had gone in vain. About halfway through the ascent Ganesh was all exhausted and offloaded his backpack to me. Nonetheless, he never gave up and kept up the pace.
It was when we reached about 80% of the top that we started noticing the mind-boggling beauty that was about to unfold itself. I could only see rocks, boulders, shrubs and trees until I reached a flat portion of the hill. As soon as I stepped up and starred at the sight before me I saw the lit up Bangalore from 1000 feet above the ground. Since the population of vehicles is drastically scarce in that region the sky was completely clear and flaunted all its twinkling stars. In my line of sight, at 1000 about feet above the ground, I also saw a thick black layer of something, which I could not recognize at that point of time. Meanwhile, the Orange-yellow background had already appeared illuminating the black layer. Nevertheless, we had not yet reached the top and so we continued climbing up. In a few minutes, we finally reached the top. Nagesh, myself, Venki and Ganesh were the first ones to reach. I then realized that the black layer we saw earlier was nothing but a thick layer of clouds. Due to the lack of lighting, we did not recognize it then. Even from the top, it was not all that white, for the Sun had only sent his message; “Arriving any time now”. We had not felt the chill until now, for the ascent was quite enough to maintain the heat. Once we reached the top the cold breeze pervaded all over the place and we started feeling quite cold. In no time I could listen to the chattering teeth and the running zips of jackets. By then, Senthil, Pradeep, Bharath and Bhanu also joined us. All of us got covered up in jackets to keep ourselves warm.
Over the next few minutes, the Sunlight got brighter making the layer clouds whiter. In no time we had enough light to appreciate the actual whiteness of the clouds. It was an absolute treat to our eyes. The sight, right in front of us, was gorgeous. It was as if we were standing in the shores of the crystal white milky ocean, but calm and composed. The formation of clouds seemed to be waves of the ocean only standing still. There was not an iota of evidence of the existence of an entire city as big as Bangalore just underneath it. The clouds seemed to pervade the entirety of the space in front of us. The ambience was filled with tranquility and sereneness. We were rendered speechless. We just sat there starring into the oblivion unable to express the ineffable beauty. The only giants who had the guts to raise their heads up and beyond the milky layer of clouds were the NandiGiri and the Chandragiri hills, the other two of the trio.
As everyone was quite busy with their phones, clicking pics, I kept a vigilant eye for the sunrise. At first sight of the Sun, I shouted “Sun… Sun… Sun…” at the top of my voice to avert everyone’s attention towards the astounding scene. At exactly 6:32 a.m. we marvelled at the Sun as it came slowly above the horizon of the milky white ocean and finally appeared in all of its splendour to bathe the hills and clouds with the illuminating golden-yellow rays. Words run short to describe the indescribable chain of events that happened in less than 15 minutes. Later on, it was all about clicking pictures for silhouettes with the Sun and the milky ocean in the background. We spent about an hour roaming all around the place and finally started our descent. Descent being much easier than the ascent, all of us reached the base of SkandaGiri in less than an hour. It was only when we reached the base that we appreciated the trek we took that morning looking at the majesty of SkandaGiri. Once everyone reached the base, we returned to Nandi Upachar for a sumptuous breakfast and were off to Bangalore.
As mentioned earlier, it was a perfect trip. Less than a day to complete but more than months to relish and cherish. The impact was manifold. The bond between the crew got stronger, many of us realized that we need to get a lot better with our fitness, appreciated the glory and grandeur of the great show put up by Mother Nature, had a great time and, for sure, shared laughter too. All in all, it was a perfect Saturday morning.
Dream. Travel. Explore.
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