Skandagiri Betta
After a heavy chicken meal and enough fluids, lolly and I went in search of a cup of Sulaimani Chaai in Russell market in shivajinagar at 11.45 pm. While coming back, we thought of going for a long drive in his new Santro... Where?
Skandagiri betta ( Aka ) Skandagiri hills.
I have heard from one of my colleagues Ravi TR that its one of the best places to go for a night trek and the sunrise is a must watch from the hill top. Called him again to get the directions and moved towards the Betta which is approximately 65 - 70 Kms travel from Indiranagar. Reached the foothills by around 1:30 am, just to find a dozen of torch bearing guides volunteering to guide us to reach the summit for somewhere between 300 - 800 rupees. Finally we chose a guide named Basawaraj for 150 bucks and followed him. Right from the start he gave us the feeling that we chose the wrong guy. He was drunk, confused, didn’t have a torch light and was beaten by police for some reasons earlier which he did reveal but still fears just the word "police" itself. Adding to his fear, Lolly took out the 3 foot long bamboo stick which we carried from our previous visit to IISC. He assumed that we both were policemen and have come to fine-tune him on the hill top. The fun started there, he became so nocturnal, repeatedly asking us to promise on his head that we weren’t there to beat him to death. As the moon was peeping out of its cloudy blanket, we moved up hill, which seemed very easy at the beginning and when we scaled some altitude, we took enough rest by lying on the rocks gasping for breath. Little did we know that while coming back we would see these places again and wonder that we were fearlessly lying on the deep steep rocks? Basawaraj continued with his cries and was not ready to move further up as I said that I am a Sub-inspector and Lolly is a senior officer from Calcutta and his name is Sivakumar. After a while we said that we were joking and kept talking and pushing him further - he opened up saying that he has 2 daughters to take care and pls not to kill him. LOL! We did promise on his head - Indian style and became friends of the “Deadly Basava” as he calls himself. He often says “Abaya" in a funny tone while walking, I was little scared though as it meant Danger. We didn’t realize the pain of climbing uphill as we were talking to Basawaraj and moving up. We reached the summit at 03:30 am. The breeze was cool, air was thick and cold. We cursed ourselves for not carrying a jerkin and a cap, you dont do the same mistake. There were makeshift shacks which are being run as a snack bar. Maggi Noodles, bread omelet, tea were sold at a reasonable price. We got into a hut as it was very cold. We were very tired now. Basawaraj turned calm and happy as he has completed his task successfully and now ready to see the 150 come out of our pockets. His fellow guides were teasing him, told us about how he blew 5 lakhs in 4 months by drinking. Awesome! Not sure if he drank jack Daniels or the Black label for all the 4 months. Never mind, the logic is he still pushes people to top! We slept in one of the shacks which was occupied by a few other people. A few dare devils were drinking beer under the moonlight in spite of the weather being so unfriendly and cruel. After a couple of hours of intermittent sleep we welcomed the morning with a cup of tea and moved up to see the Sunrise. The view wasn’t breath taking but didn’t disappointed our expectation. We ran out of batteries and couldn’t click good pictures, our mobile phones proved a lil handy. There were a lot of youngsters along with us who made their morning bright by climbing at night, there were a few still coming up. After a Bread omelette breakfast we started our descent. The downhill climb was tougher that the uphill ascent and our legs started trembling of tiredness... ha ha that wouldn’t bog down the adventurer in us on any given day.
Lessons learnt:
1. Don't scare your guide
1. Don't scare your guide
2. Do not forget to take necessary gear for the occasion.
3. Never expect anything but be willing to enjoy every single moment the life gives you.
4. Never forget to carry a bottle of beer along as you may just stare at others enjoying their drink.
5. Make sure you charge your camera batteries and carry a set of standby.
6. Skandagiri is a safe place to trek under the moonlight / Torch light and even in no light.
