The Trek!

On one Friday evening hours, our team of adventure enthusiasts had assembled in the den also known as the 'joint'

The year was 1986 and the month was November, our home town was located on the seashore and generally, the evening hours would be comfortable due to the sea breeze

That evening was unusually quite warm 🔅, despite the ceiling fan running at full speed we were all profusely sweating

This triggered our thoughts on the mountains and we being that group of the adventurous type, began to discuss on a trekking trip

We followed one healthy pattern amidst our group, that we all will abide by the majority decision or choice

Our group was well known for those unplanned, unscheduled trips hence when the majority of the group decided in favour of a short trekking trip to Kodaikanal, located in Tamilnadu, South India

We all picked our backpacks which is generally kept ready-packed with the essentials for such unscheduled, unplanned last-minute trips/expeditions

4 members opted out of the trip and hence 6 of us decided to ride in 3 bikes, I rode a mini version of the cruiser bike model and the other two motorcycles were the 350cc Enfield Bullet bikes

It was a 10hour ride, covering approximately 540kms, we checked in at the youth hostel lodge in the early morning hours

Peter, a knowledgeable guide, an avid adventurer and our local team member joined us around 8 am

It was unanimously concluded that we will trek up to the Berijam lake with the Pillar rocks as the starting point and return before the twilight hours

Peter squeezed himself between the rider and the pillion on one of the bikes and we all rode up to Ramdas yettan's The Tea Shop

Yettan had migrated from his home town in the Kerala state of India during the early years of the 1970s

Yetta's The Tea Shop was a mandatory stopover for us and Ramdas was always accommodative of our requests

After a cheerful cup of hot chai, we left our bikes parked adjacent to the tea shop and began our trek

Halfway through the trek, out of the blue, in the literal sense, dark rain clouds ☁️ formed to open up and downpour

We chose to enjoy the natural shower and proceed with our trek, the forest welcomed us with all Her charm, the birds fluttered their feathers and sprinkled our already drenched head with the tiny droplets

Somewhere at a faraway distance an elephant 🐘 trumpeted which were dually seconded by the herd

We took a casual stroll around the lake but had to back trek when we found fresh elephant dung on the path

That elephant herd must have visited the lake just an hour earlier, we were well aware that the elephants take their own sweet time to move from one place to the other

We also knew that any further time spent there might caution the herd of humans presence and Mother Nature can't be held responsible for any untoward incidents

So we began our back trek, reached The Tea shop around 4 pm, filled our hungry stomachs with a couple of hot crispy samosas and topped it with a cup of hot tea

Rode back to the hostel, lit a campfire, guitar 🎸 was taken out, soulful numbers began to play and we all danced to the tunes till our physic cried for some rest

Yet another memorable journey and blissful times rekindled in my mind and shared with you all for the joy of Nature to spread far and wide 👍